by Dena Christy
In the chair behind the desk slumped a slain Angis. His face was forever frozen in a mask of horror and his throat had been cut. The shirt he had worn was stained by his life's blood.
He heard a gasp behind him.
"Don't look at it."
"Too late." She put her hand on his waist and he could feel her head resting against his back. "Who did this?"
"We need to leave." He turned quickly and grasped her by the arm. His hold was gentle but firm as he led her out of the office. "We need to get out of this building, and out of the city, now."
* * *
Cheria sat in shocked silence beside an equally silent Rone as the vehicle sped out of Tari A'Veloo. Of all the things she expected to see when she got to Rone's boss' office was his dead body.
"You didn't do it, did you?"
Rone's voice sliced through the silence. She looked at him in disbelief. She'd been with him the entire morning, how could she have killed his boss?
"I didn't kill your boss."
Rone made a noise of frustration. "I know that. I'm not talking about him. You didn't kill the man in the hotel did you?"
"Don't tell me you bought into the news report too. I may be a lot of things, but a killer isn’t one of them. I had nothing to do with the death of the man in the hotel. I was lucky to escape there with my life, thank you very much."
Cheria's mouth tightened as she reached out to push the button on the dash that would engage the radio. She couldn't believe that he would actually think that she'd killed her client.
The station was set to a news channel and she reached out to switch it to something else when she heard her alias' name again.
"Authorities still have no leads in the hunt for Juno Moneta. Two more bodies have been added to the tally of victims she is suspected of killing. In addition to the man authorities have identified as Barton Randolph, who was found dead at the Kestral Hotel, two more bodies linked to Juno Moneta have been found. Xander Monson, owner of the Omnie Dance Club, and his bodyguard, Broge Jenkings, were both found brutally slain in the upstairs office of the Omnie club. Again, citizens are reminded that Juno Moneta is extremely dangerous—“
Rone turned off the radio as a cold wave washed over Cheria's body. They were dead. Xander and Broge were dead.
Her lower lip trembled and a tear slipped from her lower lashes and down her cheek.
He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. It was large and warm and offered no comfort what so ever. But something made her body move sideways toward him and lean her head against his shoulder. He put his arm around her.
Guilt, heavy and strong, weighed down on Cheria as she leaned against Rone. It was her fault, all her fault, that Xander and Broge were dead. If she had not run away, if she'd not gone to the club, the killer would not have tracked her there. And her friend would not have been killed.
The memory of Broge the last time she saw him flashed through her mind. He'd only been concerned about her safety and had allowed her to go to his home, promising that he would be with her soon. She did not know what she'd done to deserve his care and concern. And a fresh wave of grief went through her.
Her body shook as she cried and Rone moved so that they were both freed of the seatbelts.
"Your seatbelts are off."
"Override." Rone's voice was a growl as he put his arms around her, and she pressed herself tight against his big, male body. This had nothing to do with her plan to get him to lower his guard and everything to do with her need for comfort in the wake of the news that Xander and Broge were dead.
Eventually she had no more tears to shed and she moved away from him. His arms fell away from her and she leaned back against her seat and closed her eyes.
"I am sorry." His voice was a deep, quiet rumble and it soothed her a little.
"So am I. It's my fault they're dead. If I hadn't gone there, he would not have killed them. I should have known that Broge hadn't been able to stop him when he didn't show up at his apartment last night."
She opened her eyes and looked at him. The muscle worked in his jaw as he stared out the windshield. She remembered that she wasn't the only one affected by death today.
"I'm sorry too, for what happened to your boss."
He nodded and looked over at her. "Do you know who he is? The man who killed your friends?"
"He killed my client." And ice went through her when she thought about how close she'd come to death, not once but twice yesterday. It had only been having an escape route out of Xander's office that had saved her from the killer. "I saw it happen. He used a blade and stabbed him. The client was one I'd never dealt with before. And he had never sold information before. It was obvious. He was nervous and I'm sure he didn't take the necessary precautions to prevent someone from following him."
"He must have led the killer to the hotel." He seemed quiet and thoughtful as he looked over at her, and he must have seen her tremble slightly because he reached out and took her hand in his. "How did you get away?"
"I was in the bedroom. I had gone in there to do the data transfer and once it was finished the client asked me if he could leave. I told him to go while I stayed in the bedroom to finish. The killer must have been waiting and he must have come in when my client went to leave. I heard him cry out. I went to the bedroom door and watched him get stabbed through a crack in the door. When I meet clients it's always at the Kestral Hotel. All their rooms are equipped with a small cubby inside the bedroom closet. It looks like a mirrored wall but there is a space behind it. They don't advertise it, since I don't think they want to actively promote that they are an ideal location for shady activities. I only found out by accident a few years ago and had never had an occasion to use it until today."
So you hid? Did you happen to get a look at him? Did you see what species he was?"
"I saw him quite clearly, since he looked directly at the mirror I was hiding behind. He looked rather ordinary, except he had the coldest blue eyes I've ever seen. I waited until I was sure it was safe to come out. I went into the room where the client was, and he was dead. I saw the killer again about a block away from the hotel but thankfully he didn't realize I was the one he was looking for. I made my way to my apartment and found you there waiting for me."
"So he must not have known what you look like. Did he say anything to your client to indicate that he knew you were the courier?"
"No. He asked for the courier but didn't mention me by name." Perhaps he hadn't known that she was the courier at first. Maybe the killer had followed the client, knowing that he was trying to sell information but didn't know who too. "If he didn't know I was the courier before, it is obvious that he discovered it. Otherwise he would not have known to look for me at Xander's club."
"And you are positive it was him you saw at the club?"
"I'll never forget his face. I'm positive it was him."
"When you dealt with anyone at the club did you use your real name?"
"Both Xander and Broge knew my real name but any correspondence between Xander and I was through my alias Juno. Anyone working at the club would know me as Juno as well. I've always been very careful to keep my real life separate from my job. Not careful enough, as it turns out."
"I don't think he knows your real identity."
Was it possible that the killer had tracked her through her alias? That he didn't know who she really was?
The thought offered some comfort but that comfort was short lived. "How can you be sure? You found out who I really was, and it was on the bounty."
He shook his head. "The bounty is out for Juno Moneta, not Cheria Warders. The address listed on the bounty is the address you gave the hotel when you booked your room, not your real address."
"If that's true, how is it you found me?"
"Angis's son has developed a proprietary software that uses facial recognition to comb government databases. He put your surveillance picture in his system and your legitimate information came up."
Cheria felt only slightly better that the killer may not know her true identity. It didn't change the fact that he was after her, that the news was broadcasting her picture and the name of her alias.
"So that's how you found me."
"That is how I found you. Who knows how long the media was broadcasting the information about the hotel murder. Maybe the killer saw it, and traced Juno Moneta to the club."
Cheria's head was spinning with all the information swirling in her brain.
"Do you think he is the same person that killed your boss?"
The muscle worked in his jaw and she could see that despite his stoic demeanor, the death of his boss hit him hard.
"It stretches the limits of disbelief to think there are two blade wielding killers in our vicinity. Until we learn more, that is the assumption we are going to make."
He shifted over in his seat, and looped his arm through his seatbelt. It wrapped around him, and the closeness they'd shared in the last few minutes vanished.
Cheria did the same and settled back in her seat. The soft hum of the vehicle lulled her. One final thing to say to him occurred to her and she looked over at him.
"I didn't say it before, but I'm sorry I stunned you." If she'd known that she would be safest in his hands she would not have tried to escape him.
"No, you are not." He looked over at her as a smile pulled up the corner of his mouth. She didn't know if it was the smile or if it was his holding her a few moments before that made him seem softer, seem much more approachable than he had thus far. "We will be riding for most of the day until we get to Bano Iberi."
"Why are we stopping there?"
"There is someone we must see." And it seemed that he no longer wanted to talk and turned his face to the window.
She let him be, and turned her head toward her own window. She didn't dare close her eyes because she knew that she would be seeing Broge's dead body if she did.
Chapter 11
As the bright lights of Bano Iberi came into view in the distance, Rone was no closer to a solution to their predicament. This job had been wrong from the start. There was only one thing he was certain of now.
He glanced over at Cheria's face as she dozed. She was not a killer. Even if they had not found Angis' body which disproved her as the killer, her grief over the loss of the two men at the night club had been too raw, too genuine to be faked.
It was telling how much Agnis' death affected him when his first instinct at the sight of her tears had been to hold her. He had done it as much for him as he'd done it for himself. In some strange way, she felt right in his arms and he felt something shift between them when her body was pressed against him and her scent was in his nose.
He could no longer see her as his enemy, as someone to match his wits against. And he knew as certainly as he knew that he was a Thonaxian warrior that they would not be going to Tukso M'Kedi and he would not be collecting the bounty. To do so would certainly lead her to her death, and for all that she traded in stolen information, she was an innocent woman and certainly not deserving of death.
She made a startled noise and jerked upright in her seat. She looked around with frightened eyes before relaxing back.
"What is it?"
She looked over at him and smiled. It was strange looking at her disguised self. The eyes were hers and the smile was too, but he had to admit that he preferred to look at her without all the make up. And he liked her shiny black hair better than the red wig.
"Bad dream. I see we have arrived. How long are we going to stay here?"
"I am not certain. At least for the night. There is someone I need to see."
"Who?"
"Angis' son, Landis. He needs to know what happened to his father, if the news has not reached him already. I know him, not well, but he has opened his house to me before when I have been here on hunts. News as devastating as the death of a loved one should come from someone other than a stranger."
A sad look crossed her face. "Or from the news."
"Was he your lover? That man Broge, who was killed?" He didn't know why it mattered to him the relationship status she had with the man. They had to be close for her to grieve him so and for her to have access to his apartment. He remembered her threatening that man against him when she'd hidden herself in the bedroom.
"No, we weren't lovers. I'm sure he would have been over the moon if we were. I aways saw him as my friend and he was always kind to me." She looked at him, her eyes swimming for a moment. She waved her hands in front of face and he wished he hadn't asked. She cleared her throat. "Are we going straight to Landis' house?"
"No, we will find someplace to stay and have something to eat before we go to Landis’.” He wasn't eager to share his bad news with Landis, and he knew that he was stalling but they did need to deal with the business of their accommodations. It would be too much to impose on Landis after delivering the blow of his father's death to him. He reached out and touched a button on the dash board. "Computer, is there a Kestral Hotel in Bano Iberi?"
"Searching... my records indicate there is one approximately seven city blocks from current position."
"Please take us there."
"Calculating route, destination inputted."
"Did you pick the Kestral Hotel because you think we might have need to hide in the closet?” The smile she gave him said she was joking but it didn't touch the worry in her eyes.
"No. There is no reason to assume that the killer knows we have left the city. We will be safe here for the time being."
It didn’t take long for their vehicle to arrive at the Kestral Hotel and it turned in the opening to the underground parking garage. It detected an empty housing, hovered over it and settled into it smoothly.
"Arrival at destination. Have a good evening, Rone." The seatbelts disengaged and the vehicle shut off.
He and Cheria got out of the car and he went around to the storage hatch at the back to retrieved their bags. Cheria stretched and moved her arms in a circle as he moved over to her.
"You will have to go to the front desk and get us a room. I am much too distinctive and memorable. While I am certain that the killer did not follow us here, I do not know how much he might have learned from his search of Angis' office. If he knows that the bounty hunter sent for you is a Thonaxian, I don't want to risk anyone remember seeing a woman in the company of a Thonaxian warrior."
Her smile faded for a second as he reminded her of the danger she was in. He wished it wasn't so, but it would be healthier for her to be on her guard than it would be for him to pretend to her that there was no risk to them, however remote.
They left the parking garage and went up into the lobby of the hotel. She moved toward the front desk while he waited for her by the elevators. He stood quietly as he waited for her to book them a room. Fortunately there was no one else in the lobby at the moment, no one who would remark on the presence of a Thonaxian.
After several minutes Cheria came back to him with a keycard in her hand.
"We are on the seventh floor and I don't care how good the exercise is, I'm not taking the stairs."
A smile crossed his face as he nodded. He picked up the bags while she hit the elevator’s call button. It was empty when the door opened and they stepped inside.
The ride up to the seventh floor was smooth, and she led the way down the hall toward where their room was at the end of it.
"I'm afraid that I booked the same type of suite that I usually book when I meet clients. They are usually quite nice and fortunately I still have the cash my client gave me, and pared with an old alias of mine, we should be nice and anonymous while we are here."
She swiped the key card and opened the door. The suite of rooms was much larger than Rone was expecting, and the door led to a lounge area with a small dining area set up by the huge picture window that looked out over Bano Iberi. Through a door on one side of the lounge he could see a huge bed. There was no sign of any other bedroom.
They'd w
orry about sleeping arrangements later. All he had eaten was the meal replacement bar and he needed food. He set their bags down and she put her hand on his arm and looked up at him.
"I'm going to get rid of this wig and make-up. But first I should give this back to you." She reached into the pocket of her jacket and took out her stunner. He hadn't forgotten that he had given it to her but had not asked for it back because he had been testing her. The fact that she voluntarily offered it back told him that she could be trusted not to turn it against him. It also meant there was something he needed to do as well.
"Keep it. It would be safer for you to have a weapon." After she'd tucked it back in her jacket pocket with a surprised look, he reached out and took hold of the arm that bore the restraining cuff.
He took the thin, metal pin out that would unlock it and pushed her sleeve back to expose the cuff. He inserted the prong of the pin into the side of the cuff and it sprang open. He took the cuff and bent to put it in his bag. He would no longer need it.
He glanced up at her as she stood there rubbing her wrist with a questioning look on her face.
"We will talk once you finish cleaning up. I will arrange for some food while you do that."
* * *
It was only her desire to get out of this wig and make-up and feel more like her normal self that stopped her from asking questions.
She stepped into the bathroom and set her make-up kit on the vanity and pulled the wig off. With a groaned she rubbed her scalp. The red wig was older and not as expensive as the ones she'd switched to a few years ago and the fit was a little uncomfortable. It was a relief to get it off.
What did it mean, his letting her keep the stunner and taking off the cuff? Was he prepared to trust her not to turn against him? As little as two days ago she would have thought him a fool for doing so. But it had taken three dead bodies for her to realize that he was not her enemy, where as it had only taken him one. It begged the question of who was the bigger fool.