by Cora Blu
Oliver frowned. “I bet he does.”
Sadie sat up straight. “Say it, Commander Cantrell, before you explode,” she urged, tilting her angered yet beautiful face. “Let me help you. How can I let one of those karuntee touch me? Am I tainted now? Less than human maybe. I’ve heard it all.”
Sadie’s words blasted him straight in the gut. This reeked of his situation with Katherine. She found the karuntian attractive.
His body tightened. “I’m going down to check the shipments.” He grabbed up his pack, slipping it over his shoulders. “Leave me a blanket on the sofa. I’ll sleep out here tonight.” He watched her take something from her pocket and stand.
“Don’t bother. I’ll send my sister on Earth a message and be out of your hair,” she uttered in that southern drawl he found attractive.
“Wait a minute, Detective,” Captain Holston ordered. “Until this is over, you two work together. The government has Special Forces ready to handle this shipment if everything goes as they say. I want to see those reports.” He ran a hand through his black hair. “You two can kill each other, screw like wild karuntees, however, deal with the tension between you, but do it after this mission is complete. Leslie will deliver any day. I’m in no mood for this shit.”
Oliver caught the stunned look on Sadie’s face. Had what the Captain said been on her mind? Was she aroused as he was seeing her body strain against the uniform? But she rolled her eyes and held her device, scanning her report.
“Where’s your data pod? I need to send in my report,” she said, raising her gaze to look about his home. “I promise not to breathe on your stuff.”
“At the end of the hall there’s a transmission cube in the wall,” Oliver replied a little surly before stepping through the door. He eyed Captain Holston, frowning his irritation.
“I’ll wipe my prints off afterward,” Sadie blurted out.
Fingerprints weren’t his concern. He wanted her and she was sleeping with a karuntee.
Chapter 9
All this time, right under his nose, Sadie worked undercover in the Edwards’ home. The woman had said nothing and he’d missed it; too busy ogling those hips swaying through the house.
He groaned, depressing the code for the bay doors keypad positioned on the wall. They emitted a whisper, opening onto a large steel-gray bay. Twelve-foot slots were sectioned off on the floor by glowing lines with three feet between each shuttle. Inside his crew milled about, working in teams of three, checking in new shipments from all over Earth. Multiple containers of used fuels to filter then recycle into clean non-lethal fuel to power marine vehicles underwater, lined one end of the bay in six-foot cylinders.
He tugged the material of his uniform pant leg over his thighs. Squatting before a recycled tank, now relabeled for melting and recycling to be returned to Earth for train boxcars, he logged the tracking numbers. His mind drifted.
Stop thinking about her, you’ll only drive yourself crazy. Oliver chastised himself for not seeing through her disguise. Chalk it up to female distraction. Like a horny teenager, he’d fallen under her simple beauty and that sweet tea country accent, too humble to be believable. Damn, he needed a woman badly.
Oliver made his rounds, checking the fuel roster for the returning shuttles. If anyone went outside of their zone, it would show when they refueled. And the last thing he needed was for one of his men to have gone rogue.
“Commander.” His foreman walked up handing him the electronic shipping log, “Let me get your sign off, so I can free up a crew to help with this order.”
Oliver studied the states consistently sending clean fuel. The government gave dividends to states that abided by the rules. Once a year they received a kickback for their public school systems.
“How’s Branch and McClain after the fight the other day?” he inquired of the men that fought alongside him when the rogues entered his bay.
“Good. The karuntian captain replaced all the broken equipment and the two-day salaries he reimbursed shows character. I wasn’t expecting him to anti-up without a fight.”
“The one good thing about the treaty is infractions must be dealt with immediately,” he said, jotting his signature with the electric pen.
“Commander…you have a visitor. Is she the one shacking up with the karuntian captain?”
He looked up. Why didn’t he know this and everyone else did? Because he didn’t socialize. “See to your men, Foreman, and check the tanks. If you don’t have enough work…”
The man backed away, shaking his head. “More than enough,” he said, and then spit out orders as he crossed the room.
Oliver pivoted on his boots upon hearing Sadie’s footsteps approaching, signaling their next fight to begin in three, two, one…
“Commander Holston said I’d find you down here in your favorite place,” Detective Ochi said, her voice raised over the hum of his staff testing the equipment as she stepped through the entryway, blending into the flow. The metal door slid from one side to the other with a whisper.
Sadie’s long braided hair hung in a satin rope, bouncing over one breast trapped under the tight uniform with each step. She was always pulled together, he’d noticed. The visual of Aroc running his hands through her hair, leaving her in disarray, had him flexing his hands. Was this Katherine’s situation all over again?
“Transport station can loan you a shuttle when you’re ready. You seemed to have a problem with transporting.”
Her stance stiffened. “Can’t wait to get rid of me? Not a problem. I didn’t come down here so we could throw rocks at one another, Commander. I wanted to apologize for spitting venom at you like that. I’m protective of my relationship with Captain Farkus.”
He gave her a side-glance. “Spare me the sordid details, Detective.”
She scrunched her nose. “You’re a puzzle, Cantrell. I’ll just take a look at the tanks…see if there’s anything physical to connect the other men to the shipments. I want them all to pay for sending this crap up here.” She walked across to the contaminated cylinders, studying the markings.
He swivelled around on his feet. “You had me fooled with your big-eyed stares. Chastising me for offering to take you home the other week like some innocent—”
“Watch yourself, Commander. Not allowing you to take me home had nothing to do with innocence and everything to do with perception and safety. Black women turned up missing or dead accepting rides from men that were attracted to them and no one cared.” She sighed setting down the detail roster. “Before I was kidnapped, I was Sadie, the maid. Coming up here, being thrust into a whole other world, I had to learn fast it wasn’t my race but my gender. Right away, men like you had a label for me when I didn’t run screaming away from Aroc…Captain Farkus.”
“Men like me?”
“Yes—men like you. It’s written under your smug smiles and leering looks that you view women—especially black women—as inferior.”
“And you know this from what?” he retorted, biceps bulging under the pressure of his folded arms.
“You personify what people see when they think undercover and banker. Just watch a sitcom on television. You’re handsome, worldly, and white. No one questions why you do anything you do to stay alive. It’s expected. It’s held on high when you mix with the enemy and come out walking with the prize gripped in your hand.”
He frowned. “You’re punishing me because of the way others view your profession? That’s insane.”
“It’s the perception, Cantrell. You know exactly what I’m referring to. Women are subjected to ridicule if we don’t behave as Doris Day, prim and proper. Sometimes we have to get dirty to come out alive. Never once did you second-guess if I could cook or clean. Instead of being proud of a woman going into the karuntee camp and coming out with them as allies, you look offended.”
What all had she done with the karuntee?
Oliver shot a look to his crew pretending they couldn’t hear the exchange. Men and women fumbled with thei
r scanners getting back to their work. He returned his attention on Sadie. “Where do you live up here, Sadie? With Farkus on his station? Because I’ve never seen you on the station.” Oliver heard his complaint before he could stop the words from leaving his mouth.
Sadie took a step back. “Are you even listening to me? This isn’t about Captain Farkus.” She hesitated, then caught his hand balled at his thigh. “Did Captain Farkus take something belonging to you, Commander? You have a brick up your behind for him, and now me for that matter.”
His breath caught at her perception. Stepping around the half wall, she eyed the tanks and he eyed her in her cargo uniform. The charcoal-gray skintight pants hugged her curvy hips. The single zipper running between her breasts, separating them into the perfect handfuls had his mouth watering.
“I have to say you’re good, Sadie, because I’ve sat in on Edwards’ meetings every week, and not once have I had an inkling you were listening to his conversations. What can you share with me that I don’t know?”
“You know about Richard using his bank to make the transfers and so far I haven’t heard of any shipment coming from foreign companies. So all our efforts are focused in the states.”
“Anything else?”
“Just that the tanks are marked the same as the oil rigs containers we confiscated last year. Their tanks were coming in marked down here,” she said, angling a hand toward the bottom of the container. “Around the rim there was a small lime green mark.”
“The marina-mark case,” he said in a rush of frustration. “It left toxins in the ocean killing a significant amount of corals.”
She nodded in agreement. “Calcium remains were in the tanks. The same M.O. as the tanks we busted last year. Tainted debris, concealed codes on the tanks, and a barrage of night shipments close to the two-week travel ban...”
“Thus ensuring the delay in returning the contaminated fuel, due to the blackout.”
“Exactly.”
This was bad. Moving around to the next tank, he keyed in the tracking number logging its arrival time.
“Sadie, you’re the maid. When did you acquire detective training? You don’t just go from maid to detective overnight.”
That came out harsher than he wanted, but damn it, this woman had him in knots.
“Thirty cases, Cantrell. Life trained me to listen, to blend into the background when others spoke,” she fired back. “I earned my job because people like you taught me not to take it personal that you could dismiss my intellectual presence because of my skin color or gender.”
“When are you going to stop beating me up for that? I see you Sadie…believe me, I see all of you.”
She closed her eyes and inhaled to blow out a low stream of air. “I’m sorry. I’ve held that in for years listening to my father talk about the unfair way he was treated on the construction site.”
“I can see,” he said feeling her pain, knowing first-hand what it was like to hold in anger. Prison hadn’t been a picnic. “Can I ask you something about Farkus?”
Reluctantly, she nodded once.
“Why you? Why did he select you specifically?”
Sadie’s shoulders dropped. She rested on one hip. “You really don’t like him, do you?”
“What I don’t understand is how you went back after he let you go. That freak had to have tortured you.”
“You don’t have to understand to finish this assignment. My relationship with Farkus doesn’t affect my work. And my personal affairs are that…personal.”
“Hey, if that’s how you like your ship started…”
“This won’t work if you walk around with that junior high chip on your shoulders.”
“I’ll do my job. Just don’t bring your boyfriend around. Karuntees aren’t allowed on the station.”
“On this station, you’re right, not without invitation because there’s too much tension,” she retorted. “Don’t worry, Cantrell, they prefer to socialize with their own species.”
“Yet they welcome you into their tight-knit world?” What had he missed? “What makes you palatable to the aliens?”
That got her back up. “What’s your problem with the karuntees?”
His next words squeezed out under clenched teeth, because although Sadie’s words were haughty and aggressive, a hint of apprehension drew back the bite of her words. She fought when attacked, but never lost the demure undertone that made her Sadie. He took a breath and tried to say in a calmer voice. “You’re seriously questioning me?”
“Not questioning you; I’m wondering about the man standing here as a commander that can’t accept differences among humans and aliens, yet you chose to work amongst them,” she tossed back. “When it rains, does the water puddle in your nose from holding it up so high?” she complained shifting on her boots. “Rejecting someone because they’re different is bigoted.”
He drew up straight offended by her opinion. “I’m a bigot ‘cause I can’t stomach the freaks?” The line across his forehead deepened.
He knew the moment she saw it—his disdain wasn’t for the karuntee, it was the captain. “You don’t hate them ‘cause they’re different. You don’t give away that much of yourself to strangers. You hate the captain and it irks you that I don’t.”
Frustrated seeing her protect Farkus, and her exotic scent closing around him, Oliver was tempted to grab her by the hair and take her mouth until she begged to be taken to bed. But that would kill the relationship hanging on by a ratty cord now. Backtracking his footsteps, he crowded her to the wall. “Sadie, you’re playing with your life. He’s an uncivilized killer.”
“Alright, you’ve warned me from your perspective and experiences. Respect me enough to make my own judgement on his civility.”
“Okay!” He threw his hands up in mock surrender. She had no idea who she played with. “If you came to help, check the tanks in bay three.” He wasn’t going into how Farkus had killed his partner and a great friend. She wouldn’t believe him, driving a bigger wedge between them.
“Oliver…I need a partner, not a father. The one I had taught me everything I needed to know about treating people with dignity and respect regardless of the jaded views of others.”
Chapter 10
Detective Ochi watched the ships returning on the far end of the bay as she checked the tanks from the last delivery. Oliver made her back teeth clench. Such an ass.
Finishing, she hooked up her device, downloaded her finding into the wall retrieval, and then started for the doors. She was starving, and arguing with that sexually frustrated Cantrell would leave her with lockjaw, biting back her comments.
Hearing his voice, she spun around and found herself nose to nose with the egotistical arrogant man.
“Stay,” he offered, those dark blue eyes sincere. “I’m going to the canteen…grab a bite to eat, some gray moon ale. Join me.”
That piqued her interest. She’d acquired a taste for the drink favoring root beer…more beer than root.
“I can’t tonight.” She declined his offer.
“You’re going to see him aren’t you?” He huffed. “You’re serious?”
She gave an impatient snort. “Honestly, Cantrell, why do you care? You’ve already made up your mind about me the moment you heard I’d been with a karuntian. So why keep pissing on me?” She studied the tight way he held his body, angry and sullen, as he towered her.
Startled by him pushing something into her palm, Sadie tilted her head enough to see between them.
“I shouldn’t do this, but I like you, and the last thing I want is for you to get hurt,” he uttered, inches from her face, his displeasure evident by his reddening ears. “This is the code to my home, if you change your mind. You don’t have to play his game with your body as a chess piece.”
Why was he dead set on believing Aroc wanted to hurt her?
She whispered close to his face. “You’re a piece of work, Cantrell. If I share my time with the captain or anyone else, it’s by consen
t and none of your business.” Flustered, but in control, she closed a hand over his, still holding the piece of paper. “I apologized for being rude earlier, when I barked at you. But don’t hold me responsible for whatever skeleton lies between you two.” Surprised her voice remained steady, she kept her eyes trained on Oliver.
His taut features eased, slightly. He uttered an apology, removed his hand away, and left behind the piece of paper.
“Thanks for helping with the tanks.” Pivoting on his heels Oliver Cantrell stalked off across the room. He never turned to look at her as he spoke to a few workers, but she could feel agitation roaring from his hard body.
“Commander,” she called out over the buzz of the others working around them pretending not to hear their conversation.
His face tightened when he finally angled a stare back to her over one shoulder.
“I see you have women working in here…a huge plus on our road to recovery. And earlier, my outburst on race… Had I not seen racial bias and hatred first-hand, I would have accepted an invitation to dinner from you months ago. Instead, I’m sharing my free time with the head of an alien race that finds rubbing my feet relaxing. Have a good weekend.” Leaving out how erotic the captain’s touch was, sending shivers up to her core.
Spinning on her heels, she left Oliver to ponder her words, while the pressure from his stare escorted her through the open bay doors.
Out in the corridor bustling with life, she greeted a few other Domestic’s she knew to be undercover possibly here to meet with Captain Ryner for new assignments with new families. After filing a case closed, you were assigned a new mission.
“Stay safe out there,” Sadie offered to a passing detective.
The woman adjusted the pack straps on her shoulder before extending her hand. “Sister,” the younger detective replied, “being safe is all we have down on Earth other than each other.” The woman tossed her braids back over her shoulders while looking around, and then leaned in as if sharing a secret. “I hear you have an, in, with the karuntee captain.”