by Ciarra Sims
As she ran down the stairs she fluffed out her wet hair, ignoring the constant drips of water that soaked the cotton shirt. Ooh, she hated being wet, but there was no time to groom her coat, or hair. She made the best of the situation by remembering Brenton’s body snuggled to hers during the night and the satisfied purring she had kept low in her throat so as not to wake him.
She skidded into the kitchen where a half-filled pot of coffee brewed in the coffeemaker. She was wet and hungry, two worst case scenarios for a feline, but Brenton’s safety was uppermost in her mind as she shouted, “Seline, where are you?”
A dark form came from the pantry shifting in mid-stride. Tabitha found herself envious of Seline’s grace in transforming on the move in one fluid motion. Tabitha always felt awkward during her change, like an inept ballet dancer, having to stop and gather herself for the next step.
Seline’s nakedness was no issue, as she looked Tabitha over. “You glow. That sex stuff agrees with you.”
“There’s no time for that now, Seline. Besides, Grandmother would wash your mouth out with soap if she heard you even say that word! Did you see Brenton leave this morning?”
“No.” Seline sighed, her straight black hair fell in a curtain to her waist hiding her breasts modestly. “But I heard the front door slam. I looked out and saw him jump into his car and roar out of here, like bats were after him.”
“Damn! You should have hidden his clothes!”
“Gram said to give them back after I washed them. They shrunk in the wash though and were terribly wrinkled.”
Tabitha smiled. It amused her to think of Brenton’s expensive dry-clean designer clothes going through the wash. “I should have thought to hide his keys, but damn, last night I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“It’s understandable.” Grandmother’s voice carried from the kitchen doorway. “You couldn’t have prevented his going anyway. The urge to go was stronger than my spell to stay today and without the potion’s effect in binding him to you, he was determined to leave. Must be something urgent he had to attend, to streak out of here like that.”
“Yes, well. That’s why I have to go too. He’s in danger; I can feel it in my Felidaen bones. Do you have the money I gave you, last time I was here, Gram?”
“Of course, child. You asked us to hold it in a safe place and we did. It’s down in the cellar. Did you doubt us?”
Tabitha smiled sheepishly. “No, sorry. It’s just I’m not thinking clearly still.”
“But the potion has worn off.”
“I know.” Tabitha sighed, “It’s just…”
“You care for the human?” Grandmother smiled knowingly.
“I’m afraid so.” Tabitha groaned. “Why did I have to fall for one so unsuitable?”
“’Tis the way of the world.” Grandmother laughed. “Go, child. Go to him and do what needs to be done. Let your instincts guide you. They will never steer you wrong if you truly believe in them. Seline, go get the money.”
Seline left, padding softly for the cellar. Tabitha asked her Grandmother the question that had been haunting her. “Is Seline all right? I mean, her power, is it diminished?”
“She seems unaffected by the events of yesterday. I tested her on Spellspeak this morning and she can conjure and cant the necessary words with unadulterated power. She is almost ready to be initiated. It is well you are leaving though. Not to be harsh, dear, but trouble finds you and those around you. Some are catalysts for fate and you are one of those.”
“I’m sorry, Grandmother. I will be out of your hair in a few moments. Can I borrow your car?”
“Oh, dear. I am sorry. It is not running. I use it so seldom, the battery is dead.”
“I’ll call a cab, then.” Tabitha waited anxiously for the cab to arrive. She borrowed a handbag from Seline and put the nine thousand dollars into it. When the cab arrived she hugged both her relatives and promised to be careful. Grandmother’s sense of humor surfaced again as she bade Tabitha, “Bring that nice young man of yours by again sometime.”
Tabitha couldn’t help smiling. She doubted wild horses could drag Brenton back to the Victorian mansion. She gave the cabby the address to the warehouse and he grudgingly agreed to take her the distance. She had him stop down the block out of sight of the Oriental Dragon’s headquarters. When she got out her hand flew to her mouth. How the hell was she going to pay the cab fare? Damn!
She had little choice but to delve into the nine thousand. She would pay Brenton back, anyway. The cabby looked at the hundred she gave him like she’d lost her mind. He held it up to the light then screeched, “Get the hell out of my cab, lady! This bill is as phony as that hair color on your head!”
Tabitha’s eyes narrowed.
The hundred dollar bill phony? No wonder Brenton wanted it back. She held the door of the cab open momentarily and looked at the bill the cabby threw back at her. Sure enough the “ghost” of Ben Franklin wasn’t quite right.
The cabby threatened, “You pay proper money or I’ll call the cops. I can’t believe you think a cabby would fall for the oldest trick in the book, passing bad money! Why I have a mind…”
Tabitha patted her pants pockets helplessly. The sound of crisp money rustled under her hand. Inside the pocket she found a fifty-dollar bill. Thank God for Seline! She knew her sister’s haphazard habits. Tabitha threw the fifty at the driver. “For your info this hair color is all mine. Now you get out of here!” She slammed the cab door, glad she hadn’t tipped him more than a few dollars. Imagine him thinking her rich auburn hair was not natural. She grew it in this color and her coat was always shiny and well-groomed. Err! Men!
As she hurried towards the warehouse she pondered what this new info meant. If the money was counterfeit that explained everything and…nothing. It explained about the crates of merchandise coming in and going out. Undoubtedly the money was being smuggled out of the country inside cheap tourist items. But the money wasn’t good enough to even pass as counterfeit and what was Brenton’s part in all this?
This time Tabitha approached the warehouse directly from Old Harbor Road. The front door of the Oriental Dragon was unlocked. Tabitha didn’t know if she should be relieved or further worried about what this careless oversight meant.
The inside of the warehouse was still dark, the daylight not able to penetrate its depths, causing giant shadows from the hulking furniture to be cast along the walls. Overall it was spooky and Tabitha wondered why she didn’t notice the weird effects before. Probably too lust-intent, she smirked to herself as she negotiated between the furnishings. The wall panel was open and that further set her on her guard. But when she went through the wall into the warehouse next door the hair on the back of her neck prickled and her hackles raised. She smelled blood and a lot of it!
Chapter Ten
The warehouse was silent, eerily so. The bulky machinery was gone. Only a vacant space showed where it had stood twenty-four hours ago. Likewise the crates and boxes were absent. All that was left was an empty warehouse and a body.
Tabitha stared at the form lying on the hard cement flooring. It was pear-shaped and clad in a cheap polyester checkered suit. Blood pooled under the corpse and had spread in a puddle but the liquid had cooled and thickened and no longer ran. Thank God, it wasn’t Brenton! Tabitha’s heart thudded painfully in her chest as she breathed deep, careful to step around the congealed liquid as she covered her nose with her hand to keep from inhaling the strong metallic odor of plasma and the undertones of death. As if in mockery a fat, foul-smelling cigar lay next to the body, unlit but still odoriferous. A snub-nosed pistol was half-covered by the body, drawn but wedged partially beneath, as if ready to do business but too slow to respond before a shot was fired, taking down the culprit.
Her sensitive hearing picked up noises coming from the back office and it was easy to see the door above was open and light was shining weakly from the fluorescent bulbs. Whoever was up there had only turned on a few light panels, perhaps trying to
keep a low-key presence.
Tabitha crept up the stairs and halted at the doorway. A scruffy-looking Brenton stood rifling through the room looking extremely annoyed. Tabitha watched him for a moment forgetting the circumstances downstairs. Brenton hadn’t shaved and his clothes were uncharacteristically rumpled. Tabitha didn’t care; she thought he looked wonderful and sexy. And best of all he was alive and from the looks of things, unhurt.
She must have made a sound or Brenton’s instincts told him he was being watched, because he pivoted to face the door. He was unarmed but had a feral look in his blue eyes that spoke miles in the way of dangerous. Tabitha couldn’t ever remember seeing that hardened look on his face, even when he had been raging angry with her.
His gaze softened, as he looked her over then groaned, “Tabitha, what the hell are you doing here? You have to get out of here! It’s too dangerous.”
“From the look of that body lying down there, I’d say so,” Tabitha answered, still drinking in the sight of Brenton. What was wrong with her? Without the potion she still acted like a lovesick teenager with raging hormones.
Brenton ran a hand through his sandy-colored hair, also wildly untamed from lack of grooming. “That’s Perry, was Perry. Muscle man and hired gun.”
“And dead.”
“I didn’t kill him. He was dead when I got back here. No doubt he paid the price for trusting me and letting me get too close to the operation. By the time I got back everything had been cleaned out of the warehouse. I’ve got nothing. Months of hard work down the drain. Damn it! I’ve got nothing to show for this!” He seemed to remember who he was talking to and clamped his mouth shut.
“Brenton, what is going on? There’s a dead man lying below and all you babble on about is danger and an empty warehouse. You’re not saying anything I don’t know. You have some explaining to do!”
“Not now, Tabitha. We have to get out of here. Or we’ll both be keeping Perry company in hell.”
“I’m not leaving until you explain about that nine thousand dollars that is plainly counterfeit, among other things!” Tabitha planted herself stubbornly in the doorway.
Brenton looked harassed. “I’ll give you a short version, then we’re getting out of here. Diamond Charlie stole the money from a bad batch and risked the whole operation by passing that money in the United States. It was never supposed to be circulated. There were near flawless bills being printed for shipping out of the country. Charlie was a fool to think he would get away with it.”
“So you killed him?” Tabitha’s soul wrenched with pain. Brenton was a counterfeiter and a killer!
“Tabitha, I didn’t kill him. It was bound to happen though. He was mixed up with some bad company and doubling as a snitch for the government.”
“Government? What are you Brenton, some kind of spy?”
“Something like that. Look, I’ll explain on our way out. All the evidence has been cleared out, except for Perry, there’s nothing left, and an ex-con killed in a warehouse isn’t going to launch much of an investigation even with my word. Tabitha, do you know what your stunt with the potion cost?”
“I… What did it cost? Twenty-four hours of the best sex ever and I love, I mean…”
Brenton ignored her. “I have been undercover for two years getting cozy with the right people to infiltrate this racket. When I disappeared yesterday, it sent up flares of suspicion. They cleared out everything! They’ll move operations to another city or country, and worse, they’ll get away with it!”
“I’m sorry, Brenton. But if you’d been honest with me…”
“What? You wouldn’t have drugged me? Imprisoned me in a sexual chamber where I don’t even want to think about the strange things I thought I saw and experienced. Tabitha…” Brenton groaned in frustration. He changed his tactics. “Let’s go.”
Tabitha ignored him. “Is your name even Brenton Calder?”
“Special Agent Brenton Calder, FBI. My background is real, just tinkered with to make it look like I made a bundle on the Internet when it was a debutante media.”
“You’re not a self-made millionaire?”
Brenton laughed ironically. “On my salary? Not hardly.”
“But the clothes, the car, the hotel.”
“All owned and courtesy of the federal government as window dressing for my cover. As Brenton Calder, owner of the elite Arpel hotel, I am admitted into circles a regular agent can only dream of penetrating. Now can we go, my little curious one?”
She allowed him to take her arm and started down the staircase. “Did you say, your curious one? Then you don’t hate me?”
“Hate you. I’m not sure if I want to strangle you for your little stunt or take you in my arms and try to recapture those feelings. God, it was absolutely intense and a damn turn-on! I get a hard…well, never mind. Now is not the time. I have to keep my mind on matters at hand but just smelling you, touching you, makes it damned near impossible.”
Tabitha’s heart soared. She clutched Brenton’s arm in a half-kneading motion from her nails and a half-caress. Suddenly her hearing picked up the sound of footsteps. “Someone’s coming!”
“I don’t hear anything.” Brenton sounded doubtful. They were only halfway down the stairs but then he must have sensed something as he propelled Tabitha back up. “Tabitha you stay behind the door. If it’s who I think it is, then you duck out as I sidetrack their attention.”
Tabitha tensed.
“Don’t argue. It will cost you your life. I don’t want to even think about that!”
“But Brenton, what about you? Won’t they—”
“Shhh. I’ll try and talk my way out of it. You go find a phone and call this number.” He pushed a paper in her hand.
They were back in the office and Brenton pushed her behind the door as he walked across the room and stood by the long, empty table that had held heaps of money yesterday. His careless pose belied his tenseness, but from her hiding place Tabitha observed every muscle in his body was taut with anticipation.
It was only moments before a voice, deep and threatening came from the doorway. Tabitha held her breath as she glanced through the crack where the door was hinged.
“Well, well. The prodigal traitor returns. Any last words, Calder?”
“Listen, Mr. Lister. I can explain. It’s not how it looks.”
“Uh-huh. Let’s see, you fail to return our nine thousand in bad bills. You take up with that little dish from hotel security, then you disappear for twenty-four hours, leaving the warehouse unattended. I have killed men for less. Look at Perry lying on a slab of cement downstairs. And all he did was fail to kill your little girlfriend. Now, I’m gonna put you on a similar slab, just as stone-cold dead, Mr. Millionaire Playboy.”
Tabitha listened intently. Apparently Brenton’s cover wasn’t really blown. He was just being taught a lesson. Not that being threatened for dereliction of duty was any better than being found out for a government agent, but it sounded better anyway. Maybe they would go easy on him. How good was Brenton at talking? Tabitha remembered how he talked to her, in bed and out, just the timbre of his voice turning her on. Too bad this Lister fellow wasn’t a woman.
As if reading her mind, a feminine voice reverberated across the room. “Now, Taos, don’t be too hard on the fellow. He wanted a little pussy and obviously he wasn’t getting enough from me.”
“Now, Meggie…” Brenton began.
Meggie? Ooh, Tabitha wanted to rip the girl’s blonde roots out. Meggie was part of this and obviously on the wrong side of justice.
“Shut up, both of you.” The man known as Taos Lister yelled. “Meggie, you slut. I warned you not to get involved with one of my boys, no matter how much money he has. He’s my bitch, just as you are. You want a piece of meat, girl? After I shoot your cheatin’ boyfriend here, I’ll give you a piece of meat. I’ll fuck you over his dead corpse, then if I’m not satisfied, I’ll put a bullet in you too.”
“Now Taos, I know you told me only to
get close to Brenton, but I wanted to make sure he was the real deal,” Meggie wheedled. “You are my baby, my big baby and I love your big cock inside me. It does more than Calder’s ever did. Honest. Would I lie to you, baby?”
“Yeah, you would, bitch.” Lister’s deep voice laughed. “But you’re a good lay and I think I might keep you around to service me any time and anywhere. Yeah, that’s it. Your penance is to be treated like the whore you are. Got it? Now you want to plead for your lover’s life?”
“Hell, no. Shoot him and when I find that little redheaded tramp, I’ll kill her too.” Meggie’s voice took on a hard edge. Apparently her good manners were a feeble veneer that had worn thin and cracked. When Tabitha had witnessed her in bed with Brenton before the potion, she had seemed a common prostitute, maybe that’s what she was.
Brenton’s laughter came from across the room. Only Tabitha’s sensitive ears could pick out the brittle undertones. “Hey. Let’s talk about it. Come in, have a seat. I can explain. There’s no need to be uncivil. Meggie, I have no hard feelings, so why the vengeance? It’s not like you were in love with me. Taos here sends you out to all his clients, isn’t that right, Taos? Then our sweet Meggie keeps an eye on your clients. What better place to do it from, than bed? I guess we both used each other, didn’t we, Meggie?”
“You’re smart, Calder,” Taos cackled. “You knew Meggie was a plant, did ya? Don’t worry I’m not going to shoot your pretty little girlfriend for Meg’s sake. I’m gonna shoot her for meddling in my business. No one takes what’s mine, counterfeit or not. I taught Diamond Charlie that much, before he dove off that balcony, with my help. Now let’s see. I’ll shoot you with Perry’s gun in the stomach. You’ll bleed out even if someone does come to your aid. I shot Perry with the gun you left here yesterday. Perfect. It’ll look like you and our ex-con Perry got in an argument and you shot him, but he got off a round before he died and gut-shot you.”