The Spider Queen (The Space Merchants Book 5)

by Wendie Nordgren

  I shrugged. “I’m still too numb to think. I keep seeing her.”

  “Stop. You have a job to do. Who are you?”

  “Teagan.”

  “No, who are you?”

  “Um, Sara Eos.”

  “Yes. Are you married?” Eli asked.

  “Yes, I’m married to Jazon Eos, an aspiring tech merchant. We’d buy and sell fuel if we could, but this is our ship, and her cargo hold and our credits won’t allow it.”

  “Good. Keep practicing. Along with your hair, you need to change your walk and alter your speech pattern slightly. Recognition equals ruin. On Luna Eight, Jazon will get into a bar fight. He will be taken into custody, and you will be short the credits to get him released. If our plan goes as we hope, Hiffa will learn of bounty hunters on his trail and arrange for speedy off world transport with Sara Eos, who will be desperate for fast credits. You have two days to prepare.” Drex bowed to me and left.

  We saw no one else on the habitation deck that day. Lorca dyed my hair brown. We explored our small space finding everything we needed for the children, Thunderdrop, and ourselves. I had been provided with a wardrobe of well-worn clothes and shoes. Zared joined us for our meal.

  “Where have you been?” I asked as I went to him for a hug and kiss. Zared pulled me to him both with his arms and our empathic bond. I held on tighter. “We are hunting. We remain focused on our mission. They will not escape us.”

  “I want to help. Give me a job to do.”

  “We have. We need you to capture Hiffa. He would sense us and run. He won’t be easily tricked, and he will scan you before he approaches. If he identifies you and disappears, it will take us much longer to complete our mission.”

  After our quiet dinner, I changed into a drab dress made of cheap fabric and realized how spoiled I had become.

  “Well, how do I look?”

  Pierce frowned. “You look like Teagan in an ugly dress.”

  I scowled at him. “Wait, watch my walk.” I had adopted a sort of watch the ground and look up occasionally depressed kind of walk.

  Zared said, “Here. Use this.” He handed Pierce a scanner. “It has the best recognition program on it.” Zared gave me a passionate kiss before leaving to return to the others.

  Once the children were asleep, I said, “Okay, let’s try it out.”

  Pierce said, “Activating program and go.”

  A digital voice said, “Match confirmed. Teagan Probus, daughter of Tavere Probus of Parvac.”

  “How? We dyed my hair!”

  Pierce said, “Necklaces, eyes, nose…shall I go on?”

  “No. Lorca, please help me with the pin and eye films.” A few minutes later, I was ready to try again.

  “Match confirmed. Teagan Probus, daughter of,” the program announced before Pierce silenced it. We practiced for hours.

  “Teagan, your wedding ring gives you away within seconds,” Lorca said. Pierce had dozed off on one of the couches. I clutched my left hand to my chest. “Let’s get some sleep. We’ll try again in the morning,” Lorca suggested sympathetically.

  I nodded. In my bathroom, I removed the pin and the black eye films. I wasn’t passing as a Laconian woman or anyone else for that matter. I got under the covers and tried to go to sleep. I was failing. I was failing Momma, Papa, and our entire family. Like the soft scent of rose petals on a breeze, I sensed Zared as he entered my mind. He took me into a vision of my bedroom on Ephors. Luxurious sheets caressed our skin, and a crackling fire made shadows flicker and dance like a moth around a flame. Zared sang to me in Laconian until I slept.

  However, a few hours later when his mind was occupied with his work, I woke. Why wasn’t I tricking the program? I had the pin to trick bots from recognizing my face and the films for my eyes. I had one job. Papa, Grandmother, and Uncle Kagan needed me to do this. I had to help bring Momma’s body home.

  What was I doing wrong? Laconian females competed for males the way Parvac men competed for women. Parvac males exercised and trained daily to be attractive to females. Even the least attractive of us could secure several wealthy husbands. Laconian females were seductive. The brown hair, frumpy dress, and mousy walk had been my idea of blending in as the inquisitors seemed to do. A Laconian woman would not want to blend in. She would want males panting after her and her husband jealous enough not to lose interest.

  I threw off the covers, grabbed the box of hair dyes, and went toward the bathroom. However, first, I slipped the wedding band from my finger and slipped it onto the necklaces I had worn. The ring didn’t change my feelings for Yukihyo, nothing ever could.

  An hour later, after a hot shower, I examined my reflection. I had dyed my eyebrows and lashes to match my hair. I dried my hair and brushed it until it shined. Then, I lined my eyes in white to make the film covering my eyes look blacker. It took me a bit of searching to find what I wanted to wear in the wardrobe.

  I was Sara Eos, and my husband Jazon was sexy and powerful. I refused to allow his eyes to stray from me to anyone else. I’d rather scratch a bitch’s eyes out than share him. Any woman wanting to be wife number two would have to get through me first. I snatched up the scanner and activated it. I walked away from it and to it like I wanted it to catch me and toss me on the bed.

  “File not found,” the digital voice announced.

  I blew it a kiss. The small gold ball that was supposed to keep my face from being scanned and recognized was now serving as a nose ring in my right nostril.

  I left the habitation ring in search of Jazon. He was on the deck above along with Zared, Luca, Drex, Eli, and a few of the inquisitors’ trusted men. I sauntered over to Jazon with a walk that was part Isidora before she had married Simon and part Fallon Braga. Ignoring the men who had stopped what they were doing to stare, I swiveled Jazon’s chair around and straddled him.

  “You’ve been busy working all night, baby. How about coming to bed and working me?” I grinded against him and then kissed him.

  “Teagan!” Jazon said with eyes wide with shock and a hard bulge in his pants.

  Angry, I slapped him hard across the face. “What the fuck did you just call me? Who the fuck is Teagan?” I slapped him again. “Say my name,” I ordered as I raked my nails down his chest over his shirt.

  “Sara, Sara Eos,” Jazon said huskily as he grew so hard beneath me that it hurt to straddle him.

  “That’s better. Don’t forget it. You’re mine, and I’m not sharing.” I lowered my mouth to his neck and sucked hard as I rolled pleasure through him.

  Jazon’s hands had gone to my ass.

  “Get your hands off of my female,” Zared seethed.

  I released Jazon’s neck from my teeth, proud of the huge hickey I had left behind. “There. Now, my territory is marked.” Jazon’s erection had turned to pudding. I lifted myself off of his lap. “Snap out of it, Jazon. Too much depends on this,” I scolded. Turning, I said, “Zared, when I’m dressed like this, I’m Jazon’s wife, not yours. So, how did I do? Did you recognize me? Did your scanners know it was me?”

  Eli said, “You were perfect. I don’t think Ettie Valen would have recognized you.”

  “Yea!” I said as I clapped my hands and jumped. Relief lightened the load on my shoulders. “Oops, note to self. Sara does not jump up and down or her boob pops out. Sorry.” I pushed my left boob back into the bra that was pushing it up instead of keeping it in.

  Luca walked slowly around me. “You are so sexy.”

  “Aw, thanks. I realized that a Laconian woman with a sexy husband would never be drab, so I decided to be more like your mother and Isidora. Now, I understand why Isidora never wore underpants. With pants this tight, they just ride up into uncomfortable places.”

  “My mother?” Luca asked as he paled.

  I shrugged.

  “You aren’t wearing undergarments?” Drex asked in a pained voice.

  “No, but I must warn you. My husband is very jealous and very dangerous.” I walked to Drex like I had walke
d for the scanner in my room. I ran my hand up his stomach to his chest. “If he catches us together, he’ll kill you.” I looked at Drex like I wanted to suck him dry. I knew my Parvac pheromones were making me irresistible to him. “Do you still want me?” I whispered.

  Drex wound his hands into my inky black hair. Zared cleared his throat.

  I laughed and backed away. “Okay. I feel better now. I was so worried I’d fail. Is there anything else I can do to help?”

  “No, just be ready to play your part on Luna Eight,” Eli said.

  “Okay. Oh, Jazon, I’m sorry about slapping you, but you married a slutty bitch.” I waggled my fingers at all of them as the lift doors closed.

  “Fuck,” Luca said. “Fuck. What the fuck did you unleash, Eli Beck?”

  “Someone determined to get the job done. Let’s get back to work.”

  On the habitation deck, Pierce woke up and pulled a blaster on me. Slowly, I raised my hands in the air. “Intruder alert. Habitation deck.”

  “Look again,” Drex announced through the intercom.

  “Teagan?” Pierce asked as he lowered the weapon.

  I turned in a circle. “How do I look?”

  “Nothing like yourself.”

  “Good, but I’d better change that quick before the babies wake up.”

  After removing the eye films, changing my clothes, and putting my solid black hair up in a bun, I covered it with a scarf. I removed the facial recognition distorter and put it away. When Neema woke up, she still looked at me funny.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The ship was fast. We docked on Luna Eight the next evening. By then, the teams of inquisitors had discovered every known acquaintance and associate of Hiffa. Jazon and Rozz went out to try and sell some cheap tech to the only general store in town. In two hours, I was supposed to go alone to the town bar to find my wayward husband. To say I was a nervous wreck was an understatement. Pierce and Lorca took the children to the nursery when it was time for me to get ready.

  Sara Eos strutted down the lowered ramp of her husband’s ship and then secured the hatch. She was pissed that he had left her alone for the past two hours. She had a blaster holstered on her left hip and a sharp knife strapped to her right thigh. There wasn’t much on Luna Eight. It had a habitation dome containing a store, medical facility, enforcer headquarters, and a bar with rooms above it that men who hadn’t yet been hired by the mine could rent out. She looked for her husband and his brother in the general store. They hadn’t been at any of the kiosks around the grimy land port or in its offices. She looked up and could see a few stars through a couple of view ports, but the dome hadn’t been made to look pretty. Sara walked into the bar.

  A few dangerous looking men played stones or drank at metal tables that appeared to have survived several bar fights. One of the men, who leaned against the wall with a drink in his hand, whistled at me. I turned, stared into his eyes, and blew him a kiss.

  Another man in the bar grabbed me and pulled me down to his lap. “You’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen on Luna Eight,” he said.

  “Just on Luna Eight?” I asked with seductive anger. I got up and gave him a withering look.

  I scanned the bar that was full of unhygienic males until I spotted Jazon. I ignored the slap to my ass as I walked to him. He turned on his barstool when he sensed me, as any Laconian male would sense his wife, and raised his shot glass to me. Sauntering up to him, I hopped up and sat on the bar facing him.

  “If you were coming here, why didn’t you come and get me?”

  Jazon looked annoyed. “Female, I don’t answer to you. Remember who is in charge.”

  I threw my head back and laughed. Then, I hopped down from the bar. “Any luck?” I asked quietly.

  Jazon said, “I sold the tools, but I haven’t had any luck with anything else.”

  “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll tell you what. You can get lucky with me all you want.”

  Jazon’s hands went around my waist as he pulled me to him. Our lips touched, and our tongues moved sinuously against each other. Jazon moved a hand down to cup my rear making heat pool between my legs.

  “Come home with me,” I purred seductively.

  “Hey, merchant, that’s a mighty fine woman you got there. I’ll pay you four hundred credits for an hour alone with her,” a male voice said.

  “Shit. I’ll pay you double, but looking at that tight little ass, I won’t be lasting an hour,” another miner said.

  I tensed. “Jazon, let’s just go.”

  “Stay out of the way, Sara.” Jazon stood and faced the leering drunks. “She ain’t no whore. She’s my wife, and you two just disrespected her.”

  “I ain’t yet begun disrespecting her. I’ve still got my pants on.”

  Male laughter filled the bar. Jazon struck out punching the man square in the face. Rozz jumped up as two of the man’s buddies came at him. I punched a man in the throat who came at Jazon from behind. Rozz picked me up, put my ass on the bar, and slid me off the other side where the barkeeper caught me. He pushed me down and caught a bottle in his right hand as it sailed through the air at us. A sonic blast had us all holding our ears as the Enforcers came and put an end to the fighting. Jazon, Rozz, and the two men who had started the fighting were taken into custody.

  “You can’t arrest him! My husband was within his rights. He was defending me!”

  The enforcer scoffed. “Ma’am, your husband smells as though he has been imbibing. If he fought while intoxicated, his impaired judgement becomes a factor. You can take him after he is either cleared or charged.”

  I followed after them with haughty disdain. An hour later, the enforcer told me it would cost me two hundred credits a piece to get Jazon and Rozz out. Otherwise, they would be spending two weeks in containment.

  “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll come up with the credits somehow,” I promised as I kissed Jazon.

  “Ask double what we want for our cargo. Let them bargain you down,” Jazon whispered.

  I nodded. I began at the general store and worked my way through the kiosks. I made fifty credits on an energy coil.

  “Seems you’re having trouble making a profit,” a male voice said from the shadows.

  “It’ll all turn out alright.” I bent slightly to adjust my holster, so the stranger could see down my shirt a little. “You interested in a new vid-screen? It must get boring out here.”

  The man came a foot closer to me. I gave him a seductive grin and looked him up and down. I took a moment to stare at his lips. He had sheathed knives at his chest, blasters like the ones soldiers used at his hips, and a sniper blaster on his back.

  “I don’t want a vid-screen, but I would like something else.”

  Thrusting my hip forward, I asked, “What might that be?” Sara was thinking about tearing the stranger’s clothes off and tossing him to the ground. She grinned.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Let me guess. You need to know what to yell out after I have my way with you.” I laughed and held out my hand. “I’m Sara Eos. Who are you?”

  He gripped my hand firmly and pulled me close. Bending down, he stared at my eyes. I let my lids lower and puckered up for a kiss. He didn’t kiss me, but he whispered in my ear. “I’m Hiffa. Is there somewhere private where we can discuss business?”

  “What kind of business?” I asked as I cupped his rear.

  “You need credits. I need transport.”

  “Where to? We ain’t got much fuel or the means to get more.”

  “If you and your crew take me to Amphictyon, I’ll have your ship refueled.”

  Sara perked up. “Sounds good, but my crew is stuck for two weeks unless I come up with the credits to get ‘em out.”

  Hiffa lifted a hand to the back of my head, burying his fingers in my hair. “I might be persuaded to assist.” He had a scar along his cheek and cold green eyes that made me shiver.

  “How might I go about the persuading?” I asked breathles
sly.

  “Ride my cock like you’re on a horse. If I like the way your titties bounce, I’ll go get your crew out myself.”

  “Are you gonna be worth mounting?” Sara asked huskily.

  “I’ve never had any complaints.”

  “My husband can’t find out.”

  “I can keep a secret if you can.”

  “Follow me.”

  Hiffa’s dangerous sex appeal had gotten Sara wet. She turned to make sure he followed. When she got to her ship, she turned to Hiffa before hitting the code. Sara grabbed his belt and dragged him close. Then, she brought her lips to his. When his tongue touched hers, she rubbed her hand against the front of his pants to feel his erection. He was big and hard. Sara lowered the ramp and pulled him inside of the cargo bay. She closed the ramp as she opened her shirt.

  “I want you right now. Drop those,” Sara said. She pointed to his pants and let her shirt fall to the decking.

  Hiffa’s hand went to his belt. Sara, noting his hesitancy, let her bra drop and then began to jiggle out of her tight pants. The mercenary removed his weapons and walked forward while unfastening his pants. A security field slammed him immobile to the decking.

  Eli, Drex, Luca, and several officers with drawn weapons surrounded him. Zared moved to stand protectively in front of me. He picked up my shirt and bra, handing them to me. Then, he escorted me to my room.

  “How long before we have another lead?” I asked as I tossed the clothes into a basket and removed the metal ball from my nose. The films came off of my eyes next. After rummaging in the box, I found what I needed for my hair.

  “It won’t be long.”

  “Zared, please tell me as soon as you learn anything. Right now, I want to wash Sara away. She served her purpose.”

  “She did. Hiffa was so distracted that he didn’t have time to send a distress call. We will be able to catch his associates off guard.”