by Cathy Pegau
Munching on the crisp, juicy apple, I headed back home. Despite the near-emptiness of the PubTrans car, I took a corner seat to prevent anyone from looking over my shoulder and pulled out my comm.
With the sound muted, I opened the Exeter file and reexamined R. J. Talbot’s facial expressions and body language. She was a serious woman in a serious position, so it would be important to maintain that atmosphere. At first, anyway. Her reserved demeanor heightened the impact of her occasional smile, causing my heart to thump a little harder and drying my mouth. She was beautiful, and a physical reaction to her wasn’t unexpected, but it ended there. My job was to seduce Talbot into trusting me, not be seduced by her. Achieve that, and I’d be fifty million credits richer in no time.
I was heading toward the security of having more creds than I’d ever dreamed of. I still had enough cash on hand to scrape by for a short time if our plans fell through. As long as I wasn’t arrested. I could start over in another city or small town on Nevarro, call in a favor or two if need be. There was always work available if you weren’t too picky. It would take longer to save enough to get off-planet, but that was a risk worth taking. If it went completely to hell and I was arrested and convicted, the Correctional Department provided free room and board. But no matter what happened, I wouldn’t have to wonder if my mother was going to drop by for a visit.
Chapter Seven
“Welcome to Pandalus,” a garbled recording intoned over the speakers in the ceiling of the train as it whined to a stop. “Please disembark on the south platform. Mind the gap.”
Tonio and I gathered our bags and followed the rest of the bleary-eyed masses off the transcontinental train red-eye.
The Pandalus station was almost an exact replica of the Pembroke terminal, from the shops selling cheap goods to the sweaty air. The Transit Authority probably used the identical design for all their hub stations. So much for individuality. If there hadn’t been signs directing us toward unfamiliar restaurants and clubs, I’d have sworn we’d merely gone in one big circle.
We climbed the cement stairs up to the street level. There were fewer people about in the middle of the night, but air and ground car noises grew louder as we approached the exit. We stepped outside into the chill of Pandalus’s early winter.
The city was bigger and brighter than Pembroke, its buildings taller, its citizens cleaner and better dressed. But maybe that was just my newcomer’s view. In the light of day it would look like any other human-inhabited metropolis. And by the time I’d been here a week I’d have the same complaints about it as I did about Pembroke. Noisy, dirty and too crowded.
“There he is,” Tonio said, tugging my sleeve.
Willem stood beside a sleek black-and-silver ground car. Nothing showy or pretentious, but it certainly cost more than my LAC. I didn’t know where Willem got the start-up money for this little task, considering the car, the three-thousand-credit allowance I’d received and Tonio’s flat in Pembroke, and I wasn’t about to ask. But I was definitely going to enjoy it.
We shook hands with Willem, who gave us a tight smile. “Climb in,” he said, rounding the car to the driver’s side. “We’re not far from our building.”
“Front or back?” Tonio asked me.
“Back,” I said, reaching for the door latch. The thought of sitting right beside Willem gave me the proverbial heebie-jeebies.
Tonio slid into the front as I got settled in the back seat. The faux leather charcoal interior was smooth and unblemished. With plenty of leg room, which didn’t matter much for my stature, even Tonio would have been fairly comfortable. I sat back and gazed at the lights of the city around us. I could get used to chauffeured luxury cars. Well, semi-luxury cars—let’s not get too pretentious—but definitely chauffeured.
Willem maneuvered into traffic, the quiet hum of the engine rising to a low purr as he accelerated. “Has Sterling come around again?”
His question startled me out of my fifty-million-credit spending spree musings. “No, not since that one day at Alpha-Omega.” I’d almost forgotten Tonio had told Willem about my surprise visitor. “Are you worried?”
Willem threw a glance over his shoulder at me. “No.”
The coldness in his eyes, in that one word, made me swallow hard. “Oh. Good.”
His attention back on traffic, Willem turned a corner. In the distance, over the roofs of hundreds of other megascrapers, the golden E of the Exeter headquarters shined like a beacon in the night. A beacon for drawing billions of credits into its coffers, anyway. Exeter’s motto was “We work for you.” Which was a lie. Like all successful companies, they worked for profit. Sure, they had their charitable contributions, but altruism wouldn’t interfere with the bottom line.
We drove for several more minutes then descended into an underground parking area. Our footsteps echoed on the concrete floor of the garage as we headed to the elevator.
“You two are on the fifteenth floor,” Willem told me. “We’re above you.”
“We” being him, Chaz and, I assumed, Natalia. He passed us each a key card.
As the elevator rose I glanced at my card and then at Tonio’s. They looked identical but had no numbers on them. “What flat number?” I asked.
“Fifteen-twenty-seven,” Willem replied.
“We set up the SI units I’d be using for comm surveillance in twenty-seven.” Tonio’s voice held a hint of suspicion. “I thought Liv was in thirty-one?”
Willem watched the numbers on the display. “Change of plans.”
Tonio’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of change?”
“You’re both in twenty-seven.”
I stared at him in stunned silence.
Tonio’s hand tightened around his bag. “We set up two flats on this floor,” he said.
Willem adjusted the sleeves of his coat, his cold blue eyes on Tonio. “I decided it would be better to have you both in one. Easier to keep track of each other.” He tilted his head a notch. “Why? Is there a problem?”
I flicked my gaze over to Willem and back to Tonio, whose mouth was pressed into a thin line, his dark eyes steady on Willem.
“Yes, there’s a problem,” I blurted out right as my ex said, “It’ll be fine.”
For some reason Tonio hadn’t divulged that we’d been lovers, just partners. Maybe Willem didn’t realize there’d been something between us, didn’t think we’d mind sharing a flat. Trouble was, I minded. A lot.
Working together was one thing. I could steel myself against him if given the chance to put some distance between us. But living in the same flat? Tonio looked too inviting fully clothed; if—no, when—I was reintroduced to his just-woke-up tousled sexiness, I’d be in trouble. Huge, regrettable, morning-after trouble.
“We’d already moved in upstairs when I made the decision to lose the other flat. Otherwise we’d all be neighbors.” Willem held my gaze. “If it’s a problem, Tonio can stay with Chaz and Natalia, and I’ll room with you.”
His eyes traveled the length of my body, his lips curled in a grin that was far from pleasant. If he’d acted like he was assessing a used air car when checking me out back in Tonio’s flat, right then I felt like a piece of meat dangling in front of a terrashark. Hot indignation and the chill of unease skittered across my skin, making me a little nauseous.
Tonio’s shoulders tensed and his features stiffened. His hand clenched at his side. Willem was too busy leering to see Tonio’s reaction; he quirked an inquiring eyebrow at me.
Rather than throw up on his shiny shoes in the shiny elevator, I swallowed back bile and faced the brushed steel doors. “Never mind. We’ll be fine.”
Better the devil you know.
The elevator came to a smooth stop at the fifteenth floor, and the doors slid open silently. Tonio and I exited, avoiding each other’s gaze.
“We’ll meet later to go over final plans,” Willem said from inside the elevator.
Damned if I’d let Willem bother me. I met his ice blue eyes. “When do I
start at Exeter?”
“Tomorrow. Get some rest.” He winked as the doors closed.
A shudder twitched though me. Was it worth fifty million credits to put up with him? Was it worth it to have to live with my ex? Was it worth putting myself on display, and possibly more than that, to charm Talbot? Considering my flagging account balance and my desire to live the good life without risking my neck again, yes, it was.
I sighed. It was too late to turn back now.
“Come on.” Tonio sounded as weary as I felt.
Shouldering our bags, we walked down the hall. The cream-colored walls and coffee-brown carpeting was nothing fancy, but it didn’t smell like cheese either.
At number fifteen-twenty-seven, Tonio and I stopped and stared at the door. We hadn’t shared a flat in three years, but surely we’d both matured since then. We could do this without getting involved. We had to do this without getting involved. There was no way we’d accomplish the job if Tonio and I got close again or if he couldn’t control his temper every time someone looked at me. Hell, my part of the scheme required it.
He waved his key card in front of the black square screen under the numbers. The little indicator light went from red to green, and a click sounded within the door.
Inside, the flat’s lights came up to a soft glow as Tonio closed the door behind us. The living room was tastefully furnished with a royal blue upholstered couch and chairs. The honey-wood floors and tables looked like real wood, but it was hard to say. Two doors on the right-hand wall stood open, revealing the bedrooms. Two bedrooms. With a lav between them. Thank goodness. An archway opposite the bedrooms led to the kitchen, and a bank of windows gave us a fabulous view of Pandalus just before dawn. Beside a desk laden with electronics, there were several packages addressed to Olivia Baines—my new moniker—from the shops in Pembroke. My wardrobe had arrived as promised.
Everything smelled clean, looked new.
I could get used to living like this.
“I didn’t know, Liv.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Yeah, well, after his little tease about Talbot’s sexual preference, we should have realized Willem would mess with us.”
Tonio nodded and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t like this any more than you do.”
I gave him a wry grin. “Was I that hard to live with?”
He returned the grin. “Yes.” We both laughed and some of the tension eased between us. But then his smile faded. “I could get a hotel room.”
Dumping my bag on the couch, I shook my head. “No, you need to have the computer equipment here. We’re adults, Tonio. We can handle living under the same roof for a few weeks.”
“Absolutely,” he said with what sounded like forced enthusiasm. Had I been that terrible? Tonio tossed his bag toward the nearest bedroom door. “I call that one. Willem was supposed to stock the kitchen before we arrived. Want something for breakfast, or are you gonna get some rest before we meet with the others?”
“If you’re cooking, I’m eating.”
After devouring Tonio’s signature huevos rancheros, taking a nap—in our separate rooms—and each grabbing a shower, we met with Willem and Chaz to finalize plans. Natalia was there too, dressed in a tight red sweater, matching micro skirt, net stockings and ten-centi heels. She reclined on one of the living room chairs, gazing into space. I wondered what her job would be in the scheme of things, so I asked.
Chaz shot a hostile glare from me to Willem, which Willem ignored.
Natalia blinked slowly, as if waking up from a drug-induced stupor. “My part’s over,” she said in her husky, I-just-got-out-of-bed-after-fabulous-sex voice. She paused, as if she was going to say more, but turned her head away from the rest of us to stare out the window.
Whatever her part had been, I hoped it hadn’t required long bouts of concentration.
“We have you set up at Exeter, Liv,” Willem said, acting as if Natalia hadn’t spoken. He took a long sip of coffee. We’d all filled and refilled our cups several times. Yes, we were big-time felons with caffeine addictions. “Check in at their Human Resources department tomorrow and take it from there.”
For what seemed like the millionth time, I tapped the applications icon on my comm and flicked through the information on the data stick he’d given me. “I’m looking for any files on the K-73 filtration system, particularly design, testing facilities, dates confirming how long it’s been in place and anything else to show Exeter isn’t playing nice.”
I’d set aside my earlier reaction to Willem’s suggestion about the two of us. We were talking business now. Being creeped out was one of those personal reactions that had to be ignored unless it impeded the job.
“Right,” the elder Grey said. “As safety equipment, it falls under the Colonial Mining Authority’s doctrine on technology sharing. Exeter has never filed it with the CMA, so we know they aren’t allowing A-O and Blue Mountain access.”
If Willem was right, and Exeter was being selfish, the CMA would hit them with huge fines. Plus the public black-eye of endangering the common man would damage Exeter’s relatively squeaky-clean reputation. At least until the next big company screwed up.
“You’ll also be monitoring any communications she has regarding the filters. Chaz started on their security’s night shift, and Tonio will monitor the rest of Exeter’s comm traffic.”
My eyebrows rose with surprise. “All of it? That’s a lot of chatter.”
Willem shook his head and sipped his coffee. “We’ve isolated the comm bands used by the personnel involved in the financing and placement of equipment. We initiated passive recording earlier this week, so Tonio, you have a little catching up to do.” He glanced at Tonio, who nodded. “With certain key words flagged, it shouldn’t be too difficult, just tedious. If you miss any of Talbot’s comms, Liv, Tonio should be able to catch them.”
“It’s not as exciting as wading through files,” Tonio said with a grin, “but I can work from here in my pajamas if I want to.”
The men laughed. Natalia stared out the window.
I took a swallow of coffee and closed my eyes, as if savoring the flavor instead of imagining Tonio in the blue-striped duro-silk pajama bottoms I’d given him for his birthday one year. It was the only thing he’d worn to bed after that, and his silk-covered manliness sent tingles through my entire body.
Then, not now. No, no, no. Not now. I hoped he’d opted for something a little more prudent since then, like a parka and wool pants.
“But the next step is almost entirely up to you, Liv,” Willem said. “Corporate spies from A-O and Blue Mountain may catch on to this information as well, if they haven’t already, so you’ll have to work fast.”
Banishing thoughts of Tonio’s body from my mind, I opened my eyes and nodded. “I’m ready.”
Chaz grunted. “You sure? Word is, Talbot’s a real hard-ass. If you fuck up, we’re screwed.” His eyes narrowed with malice. “And if we’re screwed…”
As confident as I was in handling Talbot and information retrieval, Chaz’s less-than-subtle threat sent a quiver of doubt and fear through my gut.
“Knock it off,” Tonio growled at him.
Chaz slowly swung his gaze to Tonio, like a snake sensing prey. “She needs to understand the consequences.”
Consequences like their missing ex-partner had probably suffered? I was sure “suffered” was an appropriate word here. Chaz Grey didn’t look like the type to make consequences fast and painless.
Clearing my throat brought their attention to me. “I do understand,” I said, my voice stronger than I’d feared it would be. “I’ll get what we need.”
Chaz shot Tonio one more glare then sat back to drink his coffee. From the corner of my eye, I saw Willem nod, a satisfied expression on his face. He had let the three of us smooth things out for ourselves rather than jump in to defend or protect any of us. Knowing when he needed to rein in the troops made him a good leader, even if he was creepy. But did he keep Chaz on
a tight enough leash? I doubted it would take much to send the younger Grey brother on a rampage.
Willem drained the rest of the coffee from his cup and set it on the table. “We’ll talk again tomorrow.” He rose, followed by Chaz and Natalia.
“Good luck,” she said to me as they walked toward the door. “You’re gonna need it.”
There was an intensity in her eyes I couldn’t interpret. What was her problem? Was she mad about something? Before I had the chance to ask, Chaz took her arm and opened the door.
Tonio stayed on the couch, his dark eyes hooded and shoulders tense.
When the others left, I turned toward him. “There’s nothing to worry about. I can do this, Tonio. You wouldn’t have come to me if you didn’t think I could handle it.”
“I know you can,” he said softly. His confidence in me was encouraging, and it made me more than sure I could do my part. “But if Chaz ever…” His voice trailed off, and he shook his head, unable to voice what he’d do if Chaz found reason to mete out his consequences.
Tonio cared about what happened to me, and not just because of the job. Despite the need to keep things professional, our relationship was too complex. And I admit, knowing he still cared for me put a lump in my throat.
I crossed the room, sat beside him and laid a hand on his arm. Through the sleeve of his white shirt, the muscles and tendons of his forearm were tense. I rubbed my hand along his arm to try to set him at ease. He stared down at the contact, and his jaw tightened.
“You want to protect me.” I cleared my throat when my voice roughened. “I appreciate that. But I know what I’ve gotten myself into.” He brought his eyes up to meet mine, his concern for me clear. I gave him a grim smile. “I’m not dumb enough to cross Chaz or Willem. I like breathing too much to risk their wrath.”
“You were always stronger than I gave you credit for, Liv. But I’m learning you can take care of yourself.”
I raised my eyebrows in mock alarm. “I’ll still need backup, so don’t get too comfortable.”
He laughed. “I won’t.”