Penny laughed, winked at Cea and threw her a thumbs-up sign.
“Agreed,” Tal said, unstrapping the large laser from his back. “Malcolm, since you don't require any rest, would you take the watch? Give us a high sign if anything happens?”
Malcolm nodded then crept back up to the rim of the hill.
Penny lay back with her jacket rolled under her head and looked at the darkening pink and orange sky. “This is a strange moon,” she commented, bending her knees to prop her body firmly against the slope.
“I find it totally fascinating,” Ferret murmured. His gaze fixed on the sight of Penny's shorts as they pulled up to reveal the bottoms of her buttocks nestled on the thick grass.
She relaxed her legs a bit. “It does have some nice features, I must agree.”
Ferret's gaze shifted to the cleft between her legs where the tight shorts emphasized the contour of her pubic mound. He squirmed and licked his lips. “The geography isn't too bad either. Nice ravine. I wonder if it's wet all the time.”
As the sky darkened and the stars came out, Tal and Cea studiously ignored each other while they lay on either side of Malcolm who observed the entrance with his night vision.
“Agent English, I'm not adept at military tactics, but it seems to me there is no way to get inside unless we're invited. Right?”
“I've been thinking about it, too, and contrary to what the lady wants, I'd say that's a fair assessment,” Tal muttered, viewing the opening through night goggles.
“What is your point, Malcolm? Man, it's getting cold,” Cea growled, rubbing her arms and gritting her teeth.
“If that's the only entrance, and it seems to be, then we have no options open to us, except one. We must get ourselves invited inside.” Malcolm said, turning his head to peer at Tal. “I feel our earlier plan is the best. The warrant for your arrest, agent, and the Captain's prison record are tailor-made for a covert operation. So, why not pretend you want to work for him as pirates? Penny is your partner, and I'm the Captain's android, a piece of hardware they won't give a second thought to having around. I know the Captain wants to sneak in, but I think this plan is our only logical recourse.”
Tal lowered his goggles, a grin on his face. “Malcolm, you may not be a soldier, but I'd have you in my unit any day. I'll take logic over temper tantrums any day.” He slapped Malcolm on the shoulder and slid down the slope on his stomach. “Walking in bold as brass balls is the best idea.” He tried to ignore the glorious feel of his erection rubbing against the hard ground.
“Brass balls are what it'll take to pull this off,” Cea whispered before she also scooted back from the crest. “I just hope Tal has ammunition in them.”
“He does, and so does Malcolm. You should know, sweetheart,” Penny murmured with a low giggle. “And so do I.”
Chapter Fifteen
Crowe's meeting hall saturated the senses like a whore's bedroom—bright red walls, brass ornaments, elaborate crystal chandeliers, mirrors, and candles everywhere. Black satin lounge chairs and overstuffed floor pillows littered the room, along with upholstered, oversized ottomans that acted as serving tables.
Half a dozen women, draped in gold lame, served an equal number of men lounging around the room. The combined smells of sex, food, and incense permeated the room like a drug.
At the head of the cavernous room, elevated upon a dais and propped up by several large pillows on a huge black satin couch for two, lay Crowe. His naked body gleamed with oil, emphasizing the overdeveloped muscles in his arms, legs, chest, and belly. The thick black hair covering most of his body, along with the feral gleam of yellow eyes, matched the fanged-hungry look of the Black Panther tattoo covering his entire back.
Beside him, a tall, muscular woman, her long black hair the only thing covering her nakedness, lay with her bare legs draped over his, one arm over her head and a smug smile on her face. Her left hand casually fingered Crowe's penis and testicles.
“Baby, I'm bored,” she purred. “Can we have some entertainment?”
“My venomous Raven. I've run out of slaves for you to torture and fillet. I'm afraid you'll just have to settle for some mundane pastimes until I can buy some more,” he said, eyeing a willowy redhead serving one of his personal bodyguards.
Raven squeezed his testicles and glared at him.
Crowe slowly turned his angry gaze toward her. “Don't ever think you own me, Raven. Not for a moment.” He smiled, but the long canines he displayed when his lips parted didn't convey humor or warmth.
She withdrew her hand and began to caress one of her nipples until it hardened. “Crowe, my sweet, I would never presume to think such a thing. I just want to do something tonight, instead of watching these...” She nodded at the sated men lying around the room. “...idiots fuck the serving women again.” She pouted. “I'm so bored, honeycakes, and I can be so much fun when I'm not bored.” She licked a finger then ran it down her belly and into the cleft between her legs. Her eyes glazed over as she began to rotate the finger, rubbing the hard nub of her clitoris. “A lot of fun,” she slurred the words in her excitement.
Crowe threw her a look of disgust and stood up. “I'm bored too,” he snapped, “with you.” Then, he moved down the steps and grabbed the redhead around the waist. He grasped the woman's breast and fastened his mouth on hers.
Raven sat up with a jerk and glared at Crowe's back. She reached between the cushions of the lounge and wrapped her hand around a small poison-tipped dagger she kept hidden there. Her fingers tightened on the hilt until they ached.
“Boss!” a gravelly, bass voice roared from the open doorway. “There are some people here who want to join up with us.” The tall bald man with tattoos covering his face, arms and chest pointed a thick thumb back over his shoulder. “Want me to let them in? Or, you entertainin’ tonight?” The man leered at the bare-breasted redhead who now trembled, down on her knees in front of Crowe.
Crowe kicked the woman away, grabbed a long black velvet robe from the floor, slipped it on, then said, “Send them in, Greer. There's nothing entertaining in here, tonight.”
Raven snarled, wrapped some flimsy black material around her body and sat up on the edge of the lounge. She ground her teeth and snapped her fingers at a nearby serving woman. “Get me something to drink. Now!”
The woman jumped then rushed over with a jug to fill Raven's goblet. Raven grabbed the woman's wrist and held it in a viselike grip until the cup was full then she twisted it and shoved the woman away with another snarl.
Greer kicked the door open wider. Tal, Cea, Penny and Malcolm trooped into the room, followed by four armed guards. Around the room Crowe's men reached for the weapons at their sides, yet remained on their chairs and couches, watching Crowe's reaction to the intruders.
The serving women scampered to hide behind the curtains—curtains that hid secret doorways out of the room.
Crowe stood in the center of the room, fists on his hips, head held at an arrogant angle and a sneering smile on his lips. When the group stopped in front of him, Tal in the lead, Crowe stared eye-to-eye with him in the age old stance of two males measuring each other's strength for the coming battle.
“Well, well, well,” Crowe said. “What have we here? Four uninvited guests who boldly come to my moon and walk into my home like they think they have something to offer me, eh?” He glanced at the big man standing at the door. “Did you check them for weapons?”
When the man nodded, Crowe's eyes narrowed and he walked around the foursome, inspecting them like prize cattle. His black eyes quickly scanned the women, briefly lingered on Cea, then took more time, assessing the strength of the two men. Dismissing Malcolm's seven-foot-tall body and placid expression as just another piece of machinery, his gaze rested on Tal, the man he reckoned was the most dangerous of the foursome.
“We meet again, Icarus, although you've changed your looks a bit.” Crowe reached out a hand and flipped a shock of Tal's thick, long hair up into the air. “Nice. Much
nicer than that red you had last time.” He smiled. “Now, Icarus, how did you find me? Oh, sorry, that's not your real name, is it?” he asked, a mocking smile on his face before glancing at his men with a wicked sneer. He turned his attention back to Tal.
Tal maintained eye contact, but didn't return the smile. “My name is Tal English, former Special Agent Tal English of the Intergalactic Space Corps.” He waited for the name to sink in.
Four of the men seated around the room leapt to their feet, lasers in hand and bodies tensed for battle. The other two remained seated, but also had their weapons at hand and gazes fastened on the newcomers.
Crowe's demeanor shifted from a mocking smile to one of studied respect. He held up a hand to his men. “We've all heard of you, English. After my run-in with you and the late Doctor Knight, I made it my business to inquire about Icarus, the so-called killer and pirate, but all I could find out was he was an undercover agent. Interesting that he turns out to be the infamous Agent English, the one man who kept me on the run for years and single-handedly disrupted my business. The man I swore I'd kill on sight. But, even more interesting to me is we didn't hear anything about you being a ‘former’ agent, did we boys?”
Greer, his massively thick body blocking the door behind the group, replied, “We woulda heard about that, for sure, boss. They must be spies.” At his side, his massive arms shook with tension, ready to leap on Tal if Crowe gave the signal.
“Would you believe one of your own snitches?” Tal asked in a calm voice, aware of the tension rising in the room.
“Any day,” Crowe snapped. “Not one of them would dare lie to me. They like living too much.”
At that moment, Ferret peered into the room around the open door. “Hi ya, boss,” he stuttered, eyes rounded with fear and hands wiping sweat onto the front of his tattered shirt. “I hitched a ride with these guys to see if there's anything I can do to help ya with the alien thingie.” He tentatively stepped into the room, shying away from Greer's imposing figure.
Crowe pushed past Tal, stalked to Ferret's cringing figure, grabbed the man by his hair, and pulled him off his feet. “Shut up, you fucking fool!” he roared. “You'll die a long, slow, agonizing death for this, you piece of puny shit.”
Ferret's hand scrambled at Crowe's arms, trying to dislodge the grip. “Wait, boss! Wait! I didn't tell ’em nothin'! Honest! They already knew about you and this place and the alien stuff and all the rest. I just hitched a ride with ’em, nothin’ more. I'm loyal to ya. I swear!” Genuine tears of terror poured down his face. “Please don't kill me, boss. I didn't tell on ya. I promise I didn't,” he whined.
Crowe tossed Ferret aside as if he were flicking away an annoying insect. Ferret hit the floor in a heap and stayed there. Crowe turned back to face the foursome. “Who are these others? And, again, how did you know about me, this place and what I have here? I especially want to hear how you know about my special project, and you'd better make it believable.” Crowe's gaze bored into each of the other crew members’ eyes. One-by-one, to emphasize his meaning.
“First, would it be too much to ask for some common hospitality for the daughter of the man who worked and died for you?” Cea retorted as she strolled over to Crowe, a sensuous walk that nobody could mistake for anything but an invitation.
Crowe's eyes flared with a combination of lust and mistrust. “You look familiar, but then all pussies look the same to me. Who are you?”
Cea fought down an urge to rip his balls off and worked her face into a semblance of lust to match his own. “I'm Bodicea Knight, the daughter of Doctor Phineas Knight, the man who made your clone army for you,” she purred while stepping as close to him as she dared and staring up into his eyes with what she hoped was a look of passion and longing. “I'm here to work for you, too. I'm a good pilot. I have my own ship and am familiar with my father's work. So, I thought I could be of use to you, especially now that I'm an ex-con and wanted again for helping out this son-of-a-bitch.” Cea nodded at Tal. “What do you say? Got something I can do for you?” She smiled at him with a knowing look.
Crowe's face relaxed into an easy grin. “The Bod, huh? Yeah, I remember you. You were too skinny for me to bother with when I worked with your dad, but you sure filled out nice.” He ran his hands over her breasts then down over her hips and belly until one rested on her pubic mound and the other cupped her ass. “Yeah, I have something you can do for me and flying a ship or working in a lab comes second.” The stench of stale wine brushed over her as he laughed into her face.
Cea ran a long nail down his cheek. “Later. Business first. Okay?”
“Sure, why not?” he said. He flicked a hand, and the serving women scrambled to set up a table in the center of the room. “We'll raise a glass and discuss your credentials and your intentions. Of course, you know, I'll have to check out your stories. Then, I'll decide just what to do with you.”
He strode to the table, spread his robe open, revealing his naked body, then slowly sat down as he assessed Cea and Penny's faces for their reaction. When none came, he reached down, grabbed his long semi-flaccid penis and pulled it up so they could admire its full length. “If you stay, you play with me.” His hand began to stroke the organ until it began to harden, expanding its length until the tip was well above the top of the table.
Penny grinned, but Tal, in the process of sitting down at the end of the table in order to watch Crowe, hesitated a fraction of a second before completing the movement. Malcolm sat next Cea, but seemed to ignore Crowe in favor of scanning the room and the men and serving women scattered around it.
Cea's lips turned up in a slight smile as she struggled to mask her disgust. “So, Crowe,” she said, sitting to his right. “What exactly do you need to know to set your mind at ease about us?” Cea braced her chin on the palm of her hand and gazed into his eyes. She made sure there was plenty of cleavage in plain view for him to admire.
He let his penis fall back onto his thighs and took a long drink of his wine, then suddenly surged to his left and grabbed Penny's wrist. “Okay, as you say, business first. For one thing, who is this little red-haired bitch? She hasn't been explained yet.”
Penny remained cool and unmoving. “Tal picked me up at a smuggler's way station where I was hiring out as a contract assassin. We thought you might be interested in my services, so I came along when he told me where he was headed. End of story.”
“What's your name and who have you killed?” Crowe's eyes gleamed as they drilled into Penny's.
She didn't flinch. With lightning speed, her wrist twisted inside his hand, came around and captured his wrist. Then she grabbed his index finger and bent it until the tendon stood out. “My name is Penny, and I may be small but as you can see, I'm quicker than a snake and very good at what I do. Talk to Ravel on Krass IV. He keeps my books for me.” She smiled, straightened his finger, lifted his hand to her mouth, kissed it, then lay it back down on the table.
A bellowing laugh erupted from his mouth and the men around him who had froze when Penny made her move now joined in. “I can't wait to try you out, Red. I love dangerous women.” He licked his lips and turned back to look at Cea. He reached over and ran a hand over Cea's breast while using the other hand to fondle Penny's small breast. “Yes, baby, I do love dangerous women, and you two will give me many hours of pleasure.”
Suddenly a large metal goblet came crashing down in front of Cea's chest, sloshing what was left of the wine over her breasts and Crowe's hand. The hand holding the goblet was white from the strain of gripping the glass. A woman's long black nails stood out like talons.
Raven thrust her face between Cea's and Crowe's. “We'll need a lot more information out of you before we trust you, you filthy cunt! For all we know, the lot of you might be ISC spies sent here to destroy us.”
Cea, startled by the furious woman's actions, leaned away.
Crowe's heavily muscled forearm slammed across Raven's throat, throwing her back away from the table. She sprawled
on the floor, a heap of naked limbs and filmy black fabric. Recovering with catlike speed, she sprang to her feet, crouched over with hands poised into claws, ready to leap at Crowe or Cea.
She hissed with rage.
“If you ever do anything like that again, Raven, I'll kill you without a second thought!” Crowe bellowed as he stood up and faced the woman glaring at him. His right hand held a long, twisted dagger and his left bunched into a fist.
Raven scrambled backward, stood, then ran out a side door, knocking two of the serving women to the floor in her fury.
Crowe turned back to the table and sat down, his face thunderous with anger. He glared at Tal and Malcolm, both standing at the end of the table. Both men had leapt to their feet at the potential threat to Cea.
Crowe barked, “Sit the fuck down! Let's get this show on the road!” He beckoned to a serving woman. “Get us some food and wine. Be quick!”
Tal leaned his arms on the table then locked gazes with Crowe. “Let's cut the crap, Crowe. I'm not working for the government anymore; I'm wanted for murder, just like you. I'm on the run.” He nodded at his companions. “So are they. Cea here...” he nodded at Cea. “...owns the ship we arrived here in. Like she already told you, she's a pilot and her father's daughter. She's also wanted. Malcolm...” he angled his head toward the android, “...is her navigator. Penny is a partner I picked up along the way. You can check it all out with your resources; you'll find out it's not bullshit.”
Tal returned his gaze to Crowe who registered no noticeable reaction to Tal's information. “Our ship was damaged. We stopped at Ratland for repairs, heard you might be looking for good space jockeys, and came here to sign up. I knew about your operation and its location by squeezing some people I captured then killed. But, I never told the higher ups in the government. I'm not that stupid.” He grinned. “I figured I'd get caught one day and would need a place to go and people to contact. Figured I could cash in on some of the stuff I was supposed to be busting. And, as good an agent as I was, I'm sure you've wondered why I never actually busted you.” He spread his palms and grinned more widely. “So, now that I'm on the run, I came to you, the best of the best when it comes to making some real money.”
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