Hero's End (The Black Wing Chronicles Book 2)

by JC Cassels

  Leaning past her to wave to his fans, he brushed her hand away from her weapon.

  Bo met his gaze and his lips quirked in a small smile. Taking her cue from him, she tried to relax. If danger were imminent, he’d be more tense.

  “Somebody get these people back!” Agent Kendall called into his com-set. Seated across from them, he glowered at Blade. “It would be a helluva lot easier if you didn’t encourage them.”

  “You do your job, Ian,” Blade said. “Let me do mine.”

  The gorgeous redhead sandwiched between Chase and Kendall cleared her throat. “Now, Dev, don’t forget to unfasten your jacket before you wave to the crowd.”

  Blade nodded absently, staring out the window at the faces pressed so tightly against the transparisteel their features were flattened and distorted. His fingers toyed with the gemstones dangling from the edges of the scarf covering Bo’s hair. His lips twitched, and he waved as another set of persistent fans replaced the first group banging on the windows.

  “And fasten it back before you pose for the holographers,” she went on. “Remember what we discussed about how to hold your left arm to minimize that bulge your shoulder holster makes because I know that son of a kretch, Yatho, is going to comment on it if it shows up anywhere. The last thing I need is for him to accuse you of wearing an ill fitting suit – again!”

  Chase dropped his arm around her shoulders. “He’s got it, Jes. He’s done this before."

  “Once or twice,” Blade grinned.

  The redhead leaned into Chase in a huff. “Well, excuse me,” she said, “but he makes me nervous.”

  She jabbed a long, manicured finger at Kendall, who bared his teeth in what Bo had decided was his attempt at a smile.

  “Just pretend I’m not here, ma’am,” he said. “I’m only here to ensure Agent Devon’s safety.”

  Bo pressed closer to Blade as another rabid fan screamed his name and threw herself at the window.

  “They make me more nervous than you do, Agent Kendall,” Bo said.

  “It would be easier if we could shoot ‘em,” he sighed.

  Bo lifted her hand to her lips, but didn’t manage to quite stifle her laugh. She’d been thinking much the same thing. Agent Kendall winked at her and they shared a conspiratorial smile.

  “Come on now,” Blade nudged her. “That’s my adoring public. If it weren’t for them, I’d…”

  “You’d still be a bum, sitting on my couch, drinking my liquor, watching daytime holovid.” Chase said.

  “Nah,” Kendall piped in. “With his looks, he’d find a rich woman to live off.” He looked meaningfully at Bo, then peered out the window again and lifted his com-set. “Seriously, Pi-Nan? Can’t you keep these people back?”

  The limo glided closer to the VIP entrance.

  “So how do you know Blade, Agent Kendall?” Jes asked.

  Kendall grunted, but didn’t bother to look at her.

  Jes turned to Blade, lifting her perfect eyebrows in exasperation.

  From the moment Blade had introduced Jes as his stylist, Bo had hated her. Tall, leggy, with perfect, pale skin and features that belonged on the cover of a fashion periodical, she was effortlessly elegant. Next to her, Bo felt awkward and out of place. To make matters worse, the woman treated Blade with far more familiarity than was appropriate for a stylist to treat her client. Sitting there, in a green designer evening gown that fit as if it had been molded to her body for the occasion, she looked like she belonged with the men in their somber evening attire.

  Bo lowered her gaze and smoothed the heavily jeweled and embroidered filmy overskirt that marked her as a contracted companion.

  “Kendall and I trained together in the military.” Blade’s clipped tone did not invite further questions.

  An uncomfortable silence stretched between the occupants of the limo, broken only by the screaming fans outside pounding on the windows.

  “Here we go,” Kendall said into his com-set.

  Blade and Chase exchanged a look as the ground cruiser slowed to a halt in the long line of low, sleek vehicles waiting to drop off their passengers at the VIP entrance.

  “Stay close.” Blade said quietly. “Don’t want anyone hurt if there’s trouble.”

  Chase reached past Jes for the door.

  “Wait, Mister Fossey,” Kendall said.

  Bo craned her neck and leaned forward to see around him.

  “My people will open the door,” Kendall nodded towards the two black-clad IC agents pacing outside on the pavement.

  Bo’s hand snaked along her thigh towards her palm blaster. She needed to feel its reassuring bulk. Blade’s hand slid over hers, stopping her. His fingers laced through hers. With a reassuring smile, he lifted her hand to his lips.

  She sighed.

  True to his word, when the other agents received an all-clear, they opened the cruiser door and stood back. Blade stepped out onto the pavement to a crashing wave of cheers, whistles and screaming. If not for his tight grip on her hand, Bo would have fallen as he pulled her along behind him.

  Her heart quickened its pace as he lifted a hand in greeting and waved to the crowd, showing the smile that made him famous.

  No man had the right to be that good looking.

  He switched on the charm full-bore and unleashed it on everyone around him.

  Holocams flashed in rapid succession, blinding her.

  “Blade!”

  “Blade! Look over here!”

  “Blade! Who’s your friend?”

  Bo ducked her head in an effort to escape the attention. She tried to take a step back, but Blade’s firm grip on her hand held her in place.

  “Smile, love,” he said in her ear. “They can see your mouth through your veil.”

  She sighed. She’d insisted on joining him for the premiere of The Watchtower, his latest holofeature. Whether she liked it or not, she was there as his bodyguard. She wouldn’t do him any good cowering behind him.

  Chase and Jes trailed behind them, just out of whatever shot the holographers were trying to get.

  Falling back on Aunt Misou’s training, Bo smiled and settled into a graceful posture while she scanned the rooftops of nearby buildings, marking two Inner Circle Agents with sniper rifles. Four more IC agents patrolled on the edges of the crowd. Two more roamed the broad expanse cordoned off for the celebrities’ arrival. That made twelve with Agent Kendall and the driver.

  Lord Marin must be taking the contract on Blade’s life seriously to merit this kind of protection.

  “Blade! Blade look over here!”

  Blade lowered his hand and turned to the publicist waiting for him beside the security gate. “Iole, good to see you again,” he said, releasing his hold on Bo to shake her hand.

  The well-preserved diminutive woman smiled distractedly. “You, too, Mister Devon.”

  “This is my companion, Marissa Kiara.”

  Bo exchanged a nod with her.

  “And you remember my brother, Chase, my stylist, Jes, and Agent Kendall.”

  The woman acknowledged them with a curt nod.

  “Your crew did a great job,” he said. “I love how you’ve incorporated the mockup of the watchtower beside the entrance.”

  “Thank you,” she said briskly. “We’ve also taken extra security precautions per Agent Kendall’s instructions. Please come this way. You’ll need to stop there on that mark for the holographers.”

  “Holographers?” Bo echoed. “Who were those guys?”

  “Freelance,” Iole said, looking her over with thinly-veiled contempt. “They couldn’t get media credentials.”

  “These are the reporters,” Blade said. He nudged her along with his hand on the small of her back. “I’m expected to stop and talk with these guys. You don’t have to answer any questions. Just smile, look pretty, and if you need to, pretend you don’t understand the language.”

  Conjuring a charming smile, he went to work. He swaggered along the line, greeting fans, signing programs, p
ausing where appropriate for pictures, and talking with reporters. Bo hung back, watching him. In full holofeature hero mode, Blade Devon didn’t simply walk. He strode along the line of reporters and holocams with confident ease and animal grace. The sway of his broad shoulders with each step reminded her of the sinewy coeys he’d shown her on Kah Lahtrec. Like the big tawny cats, he exuded power and danger.

  And he’s all mine.

  “Can’t get a date for your own premiere, Blade?” one reporter teased.

  Blade grinned. “Well, if I’d known you were available, I’d have asked you to come with me,” he winked at her.

  “Are you alone on your big night, Blade?” another reporter asked.

  He shook his head. “No, I’m here tonight with Chase Fossey who was the stunt coordinator on this feature, my stylist, Jes – she’s amazing – and it’s taken some doing, but I finally talked my special lady into coming with me tonight.”

  “What is her name?”

  “Marissa Kiara.”

  “Kiara?” the reporter echoed. “As in the Kiara D’or Choh of Altair?”

  “The very one,” Blade said with a grin.

  With a nod, he moved to the next set of reporters.

  “Marissa! Marissa! How did an actor contract with a Kiara?”

  Bo smiled for the holographers, but stayed close to Blade. One reporter started after her, but thought better of it when Kendall stepped in front of him.

  “Was it a culture shock to find yourself in the action/adventure clichés again after your work on ‘The Life and Times of Cantrell’?”

  “It was a lot of fun getting back to the action/adventure genre. I’ve always been told that if you play to your strengths you’ll never go wrong, and I’m a very physical person.” He winked at the holocam as if sharing a private joke.

  “You started out as a stunt performer, didn’t you, Blade?”

  He smiled as if pleasantly surprised, and lifted his hand in response to a fan calling his name. “I did. You have a very good memory. I was a driver, though.”

  “Holy Maker, he waved at me!”

  “How do you feel about ‘The Watchtower’?”

  “I’m pretty proud of what we’ve done here. I enjoyed playing the Guardian. The legend of the Watchtower has always been one of my favorites. It was rewarding to get to play this kind of classic, nameless hero.”

  Bo sidled closer to Chase. “Is it always like this?”

  Chase nodded. “This is a little worse than usual,” he said. “He’s been out of the public eye since the Catarrh. Rumors were flying that he’d been maimed or disfigured. That’s why he’s pouring it on extra thick tonight.”

  “Ever since ‘The Life and Times of Cantrell’ you’ve cut back a lot on your partying. I hear that you’re planning to get married. Care to comment on that?”

  Bo’s head snapped around. The female reporter looked directly at her with a smile and held the microphone out to Blade. A slow grin crossed his face and he held out his hand to Bo, waving her over.

  “Why? Are you asking? Have you picked out a dress?”

  Bo took his hand and he pulled her up against his side.

  “I can say with absolute certainty that marriage plans are not in my future.”

  Future? Oh, that clever bastard!

  Bo’s lips parted in a slow smile. So that’s how he was going to play it. With a contracted companion and no future marriage plans, he’d effectively taken himself off the market without alienating his fans.

  “He said no! There’s still hope! Blade, I love you!”

  Holding her tightly, he led her along the row to the next group of reporters.

  “Blade, your critics are saying that ‘The Watchtower’ is just like all the other action/adventures that you’ve done, and they’d like to see you tackle more dramatic roles like you did in ‘The Life and Times of Cantrell.’ What sets this piece apart from everything else out there? What made ‘The Watchtower’ different for you?”

  “Well, one difference is that I hardly wear a shirt in this feature…and the full frontal nudity came as a shock, but after a few drinks on the set, I was ready for pretty much anything.”

  “I can’t believe he’s this gorgeous in person!!”

  “Blade, have there been any more threats on your life? Have they found the person who sabotaged your hovercycle in the Catarrh?”

  He laughed and shook his head. “No, there haven’t been any threats on my life at all. Where do you get this stuff? That hovercycle wasn’t sabotaged. I was overtired and hung over from partying with three Joy Babes the night before, and didn’t pay close attention to my safety check. I overlooked a faulty injector in the hydraulics system. How do these rumors get started? There was no way I’d miss being here tonight. Too many people have worked too hard to see this project to fruition.”

  “Blade! I love you!!!”

  With a final wave to the fans who had gathered, he nodded to Chase and entered the theater.

  He shook hands with a few acquaintances, his holo was taken with other celebrities and select guests. As slowly as they had moved down the line outside, they made their way into the theater lobby.

  “You make that look easy,” Bo said when they were finally alone. “If I hadn’t known better, I never would have guessed your head was on a swivel.”

  “I knew you had my back.” Someone called his name and he lifted his hand in greeting. “I wasn’t worried.”

  “Mmm hmm,” Bo smiled. “The dozen or so IC agents scattered around have nothing to do with your feeling of security, I’m sure.”

  He grinned. “You spotted them?”

  She nodded. “They’re a little conspicuous,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper.

  “Damn,” he looked around. “I’m going to have to work on that.”

  “You really are that connected,” she said. “So Kendall was right. Your hovercycle was deliberately tampered with.”

  “Do we have to talk about this now?”

  “You played it off like it was nothing.”

  He stopped and faced her with a grin. “Love, if I hadn’t let you think I was playing fast and loose with my safety, would you have come?” he asked. “I knew you wouldn’t let anything happen to me. You’re cute that way.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she tried to conjure an angry glare. Failing that, her lips quirked in amusement.

  He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “I love that look,” he said softly.

  “What look would that be?”

  “The one where you can’t decide whether you should be angry with me or laugh.”

  “Hmm. I seem to feel that way a lot when you’re around.”

  He grinned and glanced around. “I’m surprised no one’s handed us a drink yet,” he said. “They usually hit you with a glass as soon as you come through the door.”

  “I haven’t seen anything but this lightweight fruity thing the servers keep trying to pass around.”

  “And you’re not going to compromise your cover by ordering what you really want, are you?”

  “No.”

  He leaned closer to her. “Tell you what – I’ll order a Gallis Rye and you can drink it. I’ll even make a show of it coaxing you to try it. But you can’t toss it back like you usually do. You have to cough and sputter and make faces…deal?”

  She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “You’re too good to me.”

  “Not at all,” he said. “I just want to keep up my bad boy image; let everyone think I’m getting you drunk so I can have my wicked way with you later.”

  She peered up at him with a small smile. “You can have your wicked way with me now, if you like.”

  He glanced at his chrono and looked around. The door to a storage room stood open. Changing direction, he headed that way. “Don’t have to tell me twice,” he said.

  “Dev!” Bo chided in a whisper. “Someone is going to miss you.”

  He grinned at her. “Let them.”

  Wit
h one last look around, she noted the attention of a few scattered bystanders on them, including one gossip reporter.

  “Like I said, I have a bad boy reputation to consider. This way, when you start drinking my Gallis Rye, they’ll think I’ve corrupted a Joy Babe.”

  She laughed. “That truly takes talent,” she conceded, “and a commitment to debauchery.”

  “You’ve been telling me for a long time that I should be committed.”

  He pulled her into the cramped storage room and touched the controls beside the door. It slid shut and locked behind them. “Let the debauchery begin.”

  ***

  The dance music thundered over the sound system in a heart-pumping rhythm. On the dance floor, the glitterati undulated to the beat, celebrating the triumph of a well-received premiere. Bo stood at the base of the wide steps leading down into the ballroom, craning her neck in search of Blade. She’d only excused herself for a moment to visit the lav. She hadn’t counted on the long line waiting to get in.

  A small group of holographers roamed the hall catching images of the beautiful people at play. Bo eyed them warily. A handful of Kendall’s Inner Circle agents stood guard, watching the crowd. She bit her lip in annoyance. No doubt they knew where Blade was. The agent closest to her slowly turned to look directly at her. He reached up to touch his communicator and spoke quietly.

  Bo’s breath froze.

  Despite her uneasy truce with Kendall, she didn’t trust him to keep her identity to himself. Here on Cormoran the reward for her capture was certainly more than he could ever count on receiving in his pension…if he made it to retirement age. It hadn’t escaped her notice that the tight security made an excellent snare. Not only would it keep potential assassins at bay, it would also effectively clip her black wings. Without her ship, her regular weaponry, or her holofeature hero, she was far more vulnerable than she liked.

  Her heart slammed against her ribs. She swallowed hard and licked her suddenly dry lips.

  Protocol dictated that a dangerous target be removed as quickly and quietly as possible. According to Second Sector authorities, she was about as dangerous as they come.

  Funny. She didn’t feel particularly dangerous at the moment.