by Lyra Evans
For a time after that, Niko and Cobalt poured over the compiled files of the case, reviewing Indigo's evidence and information, as well as what they’d gathered from the Manor and from both Starla and Sade. Niko put in a request for a blueprint of the sound stage where they planned to go, hoping it would give them an edge for the evening.
After a few hours of studying the files, Niko heard a knock at the door. Getting up to answer it, he stopped dead in the hall. He was still naked. Completely naked. As was Cobalt. They had been the entire time. Niko grabbed for the nearest item of clothing and pulled it on, covering his bottom half at least in order to answer the door. Swinging the door open, assuming it to be room service, Niko was completely unprepared for what he found on the other side. Or rather, who.
Uriah stood in the hall dressed as though he was a courier, a plastic tube slung over his shoulder along with a plain black messenger bag. His eyes lit up momentarily when he saw Niko, but his expression shifted almost immediately to something close to nausea. His yellow hair, dishevelled from wearing a helmet that hung from the messenger bag, flopped slightly into his face. Both in a state of shock, neither spoke for a long few instants.
Uri recovered first. “I—uh—have the documents Mr. Snyder requested,” he said, his voice catching on Cobalt’s alias, pulling at the vowels in a way that grated on Niko.
“Of course,” Niko said, stepping aside to let him in. His stomach clenched as Uri stepped by him, into the suite littered with discarded clothing from the night before. And when Uri’s eyes flashed to Niko’s body, lingering momentarily on his shorts, Niko felt a stone sink in his belly. He was wearing the shorts with the cut-out from the previous night.
“Who is it, Pet?” Cobalt called, perhaps hearing someone coming in. Niko shut his eyes, prepared for the worst when Uri saw Cobalt completely naked, but he didn’t. Cobalt rose from the sofa wearing a plush bathrobe provided by the hotel. Niko wasn’t sure if that was somehow worse.
Niko closed the door, wishing he could somehow escape the awkwardness that was to follow. He turned to find Uri standing in the middle of the suite, his jaw muscles tight enough he may as well have wired his mouth shut. He stared Cobalt down, though Cobalt had a serene expression on his face in response.
“You said you have documents,” Niko said, moving to the table to pour himself something to drink. There was only tea still at temperature, so he poured out the last of it, wishing he had something stronger to cut it with.
“Yeah,” Uri said, the tension in his body evident in every line of his features. Niko tried to ignore it, tried to own the shorts he was wearing, the state of the room, but it was difficult. Uri had always been particularly pointed in his disapproval. “I’ve got the blueprints and schematics you asked for. Captain thought it would be easier and safer to bring them in person. Electronically it could be traced, and Mr. Snyder here can always say I was delivering some real estate contracts.” He added something under his breath that Niko didn’t quite catch.
“What was that?” Cobalt asked, his eyes flashing. Uri either couldn’t guess at the formidable threat Cobalt presented, or he didn’t care.
He stuck out his chin and squared up, like a fool. “I said, it doesn’t look like you’ve been up to much business, if you ask me.”
Cobalt sat himself back down on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back to lounge, as though Uri was no more threatening to him than a minnow. “I’d say it’s a good thing no one asked you, then,” Cobalt answered.
Uri twitched, making to lunge at Cobalt, but got control of himself before Niko had to intervene.
“The blueprints?” Niko asked, downing the scalding tea in a heavy gulp and stepping between Uri and Cobalt. The comments rankled him, but Niko had more important things to worry about than Uri’s posturing and snide remarks about what Niko did when he wasn’t around.
Uri’s eyes found Niko’s, and in them was a hurt so deep it had turned to disdain. It was like being struck in the face with none of the pleasant after-effects. Niko set his jaw, teeth grinding together.
“Sure,” Uri said. He shrugged off the tube over his shoulder, uncapping it and pouring out rolls of thin paper. He set them on the coffee table, brushing aside whatever else was on it to pin the corners of the sheets down with coasters. “I can’t leave without them, so you better take your look and decide what to do.”
Niko shot a glance at Cobalt before kneeling down beside the table to better study the schematics. Cobalt sat forward, leaning over the edge of the table. Uri turned his attention to the banquet of food, deciding he’d help himself, though Niko was surprised he could eat given how apparently disgusted he was with everything in the room.
“It looks like the last major change to the building’s layout was a couple years ago,” Niko said, trying his best to focus on the task at hand. “The place is essentially a massive warehouse. The stage itself is the easiest for them to mold to their needs.”
Cobalt scanned the page. “A number of exits, unfortunately. From the two separate lobbies, the emergency exits at the stairwells, and the kitchen and dining areas. Not to mention the loading dock at the back of the stage. I imagine they’ll block off all the exits but one for the sake of the guests.” He sighed. “But if we get our chance to shut this down and confront them, there’s no way to cover every exit.”
Niko shook his head. “Not without the whole force on standby. Which we can’t have.” He traced routes from each lobby to the main stage. “My guess is by seven tonight, this neighbourhood will be dead, so clients can arrive via the front entrance without worry. The only cameras on the grounds belong to Desert Sun Productions, anyway. Those feeds will be visible to the small security booth, if they’re even active for this. I doubt the Woods wants any kind of evidence of their presence there, so they might have different security measures in place. Probably some temporary warding and manned posts at strategic locations. That cuts down our possible escape routes, but doesn’t limit theirs.” Niko pointed to the locations he’d have manned if he were the one planning it. “My guess is the people in charge will be in the monitoring room until the auction at least. Which means they would have only one point of egress, right through the main stage.”
“Seems risky for the Woods to corner themselves in, no?” Cobalt asked.
Niko considered. “But the monitoring room would have the vantage of watching everything going on in the main stage.” He stopped, thinking it over. “The only other place I can see them setting up is the production office, but that’s too disconnected from everything else going on.” Picking at the edge of the blueprint, Niko moved a coaster and rolled it back to see the blueprint underneath it. “Wait, look. The monitoring room used to have two exits. One into the main stage and one into the lobby. Putting a door back in wouldn’t be hard, would it? Would they have to get that approved?”
Uri appeared next to Niko, munching on some grapes. Niko tensed at his closeness. “Not necessarily. The doors are interior doors, not exterior ones. And when they submitted this blueprint with their permit, they were expanding the green room, which meant destroying and reconstructing the outer walls. They probably added all their renovations to cover their asses.”
Niko frowned. “So those two doors might be there, they might not. And that means any other interior doors could be present?” Niko shook his head. “How the fuck are we supposed to prepare if this might not even be accurate?”
Uri glared at him. “Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just telling you what I know. They can’t put in brand new doors where there never were any. They can’t put up full walls anywhere without permits. Anything built on the soundstage has to be essentially incomplete. Like cubicles more than rooms. So while whatever they put up in there might cut off line of sight, it can’t block access to emergency exits or anything. You can count on that, at least.”
“They’ll likely house the prisoners they have in the green room,” Cobalt said, ignoring both of them. “Possibly also
the makeup room. They’re adjacent, so it doesn’t matter a great deal. But the green room and makeup room will be contained and they funnel directly onto the sound stage without outside point of entry.” He flipped through the other blueprints to confirm. “Now that also means there is only one way for us to remove the victims, and that would take us directly through the main areas. Furthermore, they will likely have those rooms blocked off to guests.”
Niko nodded. “Yeah, but there is a ventilation system accessible from the green room that leads out to the exterior.” He traced it over with his finger.
“You intend to funnel victims through an air shaft?” Uri asked. “That shit only works in movies, Nik.”
Rolling his eyes, Niko said, “I’m not putting the victims through there. But the air vents might provide some options. A weak point in the warding, as well as a place to signal for backup.” A thought occurred to him, though he didn’t think the Captain would be happy about it. “We might even be able to use that to plant an explosive. Take out the wall in a worst-case-scenario.”
“Excuse me, what?” Uri said, blinking dramatically at Niko. “You think the department is going to okay the use of explosives on private property near innocent bystanders and potential victims? Are you fucking high?”
Shooting Uri a look, Niko snapped, “I said worst-case scenario. I will not leave victims in the hands of sex traffickers, no matter the damage to property.”
Uri scrubbed his face with his hands. “You’ve lost your fucking mind.”
“It will not come to that,” Cobalt said. “I will facilitate our escape with the victims, should it be necessary, but I intend to capture as many people involved in this heinous auction as possible. I will do whatever is necessary to see these people put to justice.”
Niko and Uri dropped it, glancing at Cobalt. A shiver ran down Niko’s spine, as it did when Cobalt spoke with such determination and ferocity. Uri seemed somewhat pale.
“Explosives aside, your idea of signal was better,” Uri said. He rummaged through his messenger bag and pulled out a tiny green candy, handing it to Niko. “Use this if you need to signal the department. It’ll get through the grate of a vent without trouble and only communicate your message to whoever you trust to send it to.” He gave Niko a meaningful look. “Now if you’re done, I should take these back.” Uri rolled up the blueprints and slipped them back into the tube. He shouldered it and made his way back to the door.
Niko set the green candy down on the table and followed after him. “Uri, wait,” he said. Uri turned, a look of resignation on his face. He gripped the shoulder strap of the tube as though he needed to. “I—” But now Niko faced him, he didn’t know what to say. “I didn’t know they’d send you. When I asked for the blueprints.”
It wasn’t quite what he meant, but Uri seemed more hurt by it than reassured. His face crumpled briefly before frustration drew itself on his features.
“I asked to come,” he said. “I wanted to help, to check in on you. Like I didn’t last time. But seems like you’re doing fine.”
Niko’s hand snapped to Uriah’s wrist, catching him before he could turn to leave. “That’s the whole point, isn’t it?” Niko snapped. Uri glanced down at his wrist in Niko’s grasp, then up at Niko’s furious face. “If you had checked in on me last time, you would have said the same thing. Thought I was having fun. Just getting my kicks with a free pass because I was on the job.” He spat the last words, shaking his head. “I was fucking beaten, abused, r—assaulted, and shot, and you thought I was cheating. So you went out, picked up some asshole at a club, and decided to even things out.”
There was nothing but horror on Uri’s face now, bald and clear. Niko didn’t care at that moment. He let Uri’s hand go as though it was filthy.
“I—I was confused, Nik. I was angry and scared and confused.” He shook his head. “I felt betrayed, and yeah, I fucked up. Big time. But seeing you here, wearing those, with him,” he said, gesturing down the hall to Cobalt who sat very determinately with his back to them. “It’s just killing me. He’s not good for you, Nik.”
Anger flaring in his chest, Niko shot, “Oh, good like you were? Cheating on me while I was in hospital?” Uri flinched and Niko grimaced. “You don’t know shit about him.”
“Do you?” Uri asked. “Do you really know who he is, what he wants, what he’s doing here? Do you know what kind of man he is, deep down?”
Niko glared at him. A million answers bubbled up in him, trying to burst forth, but Niko swallowed them all. “You know what, Uri? It doesn’t fucking matter. It doesn’t matter whether I’m fucking Cobalt or why. It’s none of your fucking business.”
“I care about you, Niko!” Uri yelled, his face a warped mess of emotions. Niko shook his head.
“Then be a fucking friend,” he said. “Because whatever this is,” he gestured between them, “isn’t working for me.” Niko opened the door and ushered Uri out into the hall. He stood gaping at Niko, his eyes pleading something Niko didn’t care to hear. “Thanks for the delivery.”
He shut the door behind him and walked back to the main area. His body buzzed with pent up frustration, with the simmering anger and resentment he held inside. He may never have been in love with Uri, but he’d cared about him. Still did, in a way. He had tried so hard not to hurt Uri outright, but he was done apologizing for what happened to him, for what he had done to survive, to close his case, to move on and recover. He was tired of never letting himself live, for one reason or another.
Cobalt got to his feet, standing close as he dared to Niko, which was about two feet away. His face was soft and mournful, his eyes beckoning Niko to meet them. But Niko was too angry, too raw.
“I’m sorry,” Cobalt said. His words were quiet, and Niko knew exactly what he meant. But it wasn’t for him to apologize either. Torn between wanting to be held and wanting to thrash and destroy everything around him, Niko was vaguely aware that Cobalt was very carefully not touching him.
“I need to clear my head,” Niko said roughly, turning toward the bathroom. “I’m going to shower. You should call for dinner and the car.”
Niko made for the bathroom, but Cobalt suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him. He wrapped Niko into his arms, catching Niko’s lips in a crushing kiss. Fighting for only a moment, Niko let himself succumb to the embrace, tasting Cobalt’s tongue and letting the anger and resentment drain out of him. When Cobalt released him, Niko was almost calm again. Desire coiled in his belly, popping on the surface with his angry energy. He wanted Cobalt to throw him down and fuck him hard, to hit him and choke him and ruin him. But Cobalt shook his head.
“Go shower,” he said. “I will take care of the rest.”
Niko went to the bathroom and turned on the shower, closing his eyes, head leaning against the cold tile as steam filled the room. Niko rarely trusted anyone else to take care of things for him. He liked being in control. But when Cobalt said it, for some reason, Niko believed him. He just didn’t have time, right then, to let himself wonder why.
Chapter 26
Standing at the edge of the bed covered in garments, Niko weighed the value of each item of clothing in his mind. He would be in a different position over the weekend than he had been at The RACK. He was still Cobalt’s pet, yes, but playing the submissive in a blindfold and leash could be the wrong tactic for this event. Cobalt had told Preston and the others that he wanted Niko involved, which made Niko think he should ditch the blindfold tonight. But would that make the others anxious? After all, Cobalt—or rather Cobb Snyder—was the one vetted by the Woods, not Niko. Not Kilo Beech.
He picked up a pair of Fae-made, fitted black pants. The fabric of them was soft to the touch, with just enough give to move, but they looked almost like body paint when on, and they emphasized his ass. The harness would go well with them, but perhaps that was too much. It was meant to be an elegant event, lavish with money and power and the abuses that come with them.
“You won’t be
wearing any of those,” Cobalt said, appearing in the doorway. Niko turned, his skin tingling. He wore only a towel wrapped around his waist and was very aware of it. Cobalt leaned against the doorframe, eating Niko alive with a look, and Niko inhaled a long, slow breath. “I’ve something else in mind.”
Niko raised an eyebrow, his mind flashing with thoughts of the previous night. Feeling more playful than he had in years, Niko said, “I think they’ll take issue with me showing up completely naked.”
Eyes flashing, Cobalt turned to pull something from the closet, his mouth quirked up. “Appealing as that idea is, I did have clothing picked out.” He removed a hanger covered in a cloth garment bag. Hanging it on the hook outside the closet, Cobalt unzipped the front and revealed the outfit inside. “You’ll dress to match me.”
Breath in his chest, Niko reached out to touch the impossibly soft fabric of the suit that hung for him. It was black on black, the shade of the jacket and pants slightly blacker, if possible, than the shirt beneath. The weave of the suit was so fine it felt almost like water under Niko’s fingers, the collar shining just slightly in the light.
“When did you get this?” Niko asked, slipping the jacket off the hanger. It felt light as air but cut so sharp it left no room for indecision. This suit was confidence in a fabric. He shrugged it on, checking the fit, and found it to be perfect, as though someone had tailored it while on him. “How did you know my measurements?”
Cobalt smiled hungrily. “I’m observant,” he said, and Niko shivered. The cloth on his naked skin was like hot water on sore muscles. “And I assumed we would both need attire for our mission; I picked it up when I picked up everything else. There are also shoes for you.”
