Black Tie: Book One of the Sparrow Archives

by Kieran Strange

  “That thing she said,” Ronnie suddenly remembered, her eyes widening a bit. “Before she collapsed? Something about it being the end?”

  “‘This is where it ends’,” Flint recalled, word-for-word. He’d probably been listening to it over and over again in his head all night like a broken record, trying to decipher its meaning or value. “All I can assume is that it was some sort of phrase designed to trigger the device into shutting down.”

  “... and shutting her down,” said Ronnie at a much softer volume. “That’s terrible... do you think she was even aware of what was happening? Or even willing at all?”

  Flint shrugged, his expression mildly morbid. “We honestly have no idea, and there’s no way for us to find out... at least, not short of tracking down the people who implanted her with it and organizing a pleasant little heart-to-heart with them.”

  “Sounds more than doable,” came the stern, strained response from the agent handler. She was aware of how her hands were trembling ever so slightly against the paper snaps, of how her palms were starting to sweat. She was fresh to the world of W.A.R.D., greener than Kermit himself, but even in her short time there she had seen some evil and distressing things. She wasn’t entirely sure that any of it came even anywhere close to this.

  Ronnie’s eyes rose, and when they did, they were no longer gushing disbelief and terror. They were harder, colder, and full of resolve.

  “W.A.R.D.’s taking this case, we’re... we’re gonna be looking into it... right...?”

  Epilogue

  “My, my... that’s a shit ton of paperwork.”

  Emiko Bell didn’t need to separate her eyes from her computer screen in order to identify the owner of the slightly faded British accent that followed six seconds after the stairwell door opened to the thirty-third floor. And so, she didn’t even bother looking up. Her fingers continued to dance fervently across the keyboard, which was sitting amid the neat stacks of print-outs and binders that otherwise covered her desk.

  “The new charity,” came the monotone, which clearly conveyed a message of I don’t want to talk to you.

  “Charity?”

  With a scowl, Emiko finally tore her attention from her work to glance up with obvious annoyance at the W.A.R.D. Field Agent. “Is there something I might be able to help you with, Mr. Sparrow?”

  Cabe wasn’t exactly certain what sort of welcome he might receive upon returning to WrightTech the morning after the night everything went to shit. With Emiko, he’d dared to hazard a guess that she would at best be grouchy with him, and at worst maybe try to kill him when nobody else was in earshot. Everyone else was pretty much a mystery.

  Regardless of her extreme need for a personality transplant – stat – Cabe decided to shrug it off and instead of biting back did something he hoped would piss her off more than any amount of sass or sarcasm would.

  He smiled. Nicely.

  “Actually, I just wanted to see if Mr. Wright’s in his office. We need to leave for the PBS thing at two.”

  Despite the fact that she was sitting at a lower altitude, Emiko was somehow still able to look down her nose at him. “You’re almost an hour early.”

  “I know,” Cabe winced, “and I’m sure he’s probably busy right –”

  “He’s upstairs, in his condo.” Emiko’s voice was just as cold as usual as she went back to her typing. “Go through the office and take the back stairwell. Lucky for you, he requested I send you up to him as soon as you arrived.”

  “Lucky for me?”

  “Otherwise I would be telling you to get the fuck out of my office and let me work in peace.”

  Cabe furrowed his brow a little, his smile not fading. “Do you still have some sort of problem with me or something, Ms. Bell? Because I don’t know if you missed it in all the chaos and shouting last night, but I kinda helped save your boss’ arse.”

  “I know.” Emiko’s dark eyes flicked up from the screen for long enough to peer at him, and she smirked as she dropped them again. “Nice headwear, dork.”

  Cabe scoffed, self-consciously checking that no parts of the bandage wrapped around his head were sticking out at funny angles. He would be removing it before he and Elliot left the building, obviously, but for now he wanted to protect it as best he could. “Yeah, well, unlike the esteemed Mr. Wright, I have no shame when it comes to letting my wounds actually heal.”

  “You’re not so bad.”

  For a puzzling moment, Cabe doubted he had heard her correctly. “I’m sorry – what?”

  “Don’t make me say it again, dork.” If she hadn’t been speaking to him, with the way she was continuing to type, he would’ve presumed she was ignoring him entirely. “You heard it perfectly well.”

  “I did, I just... wasn’t sure whether it was a joke, or what.”

  Emiko paused again with an exasperated sigh and leaned back in her leather chair. “Look. I’m not going to lie to you, Sparrow, I’m not a fan of yours, and I’m still not one-hundred percent sure I trust you, let alone trust you with Elliot’s life. That being said...” She rolled her eyes as if she couldn’t believe she was saying it, or as if she was annoyed at herself for wanting to. “He did his Elliot thing, fucked up, and you hauled his ass out of there. That at least earns you... maybe half a point in my book. But don’t think your adorable act of human heroism last night has made me totally drop my guard, because I’m telling you now: the second you put a wing out of line, Sparrow, and the second I’m actually given permission to, I will end you. So don’t ever, ever give me a reason to.”

  A tad breathless after her speech, Cabe waited to ensure she was done before releasing the burning air held in his lungs in a single, shaky exhale. “Well,” he said, the lighter notes of nervous chuckle lifting his tone a touch, “I guess that’s pretty much the closest thing to a ‘thank you’ I’m gonna get outta you, huh?”

  “You’d better believe it.” Emiko’s eyes flashed dangerously, before she flexed her fingers and went back to her typing with no further word, a clear signal that they were done here.

  Well... that went about as well as can be expected.

  As the elevator was still out of service, a quick hike as Emiko had instructed through the wrecked laboratory and up the security staircase brought him to the thirty-eighth floor, but when the open vault door pulled outward to reveal Elliot’s lavish living quarters, the man himself was nowhere in sight.

  I really, really hope he’s not gonna jump out from behind something and shoot pink lightning up my arsehole...

  Gingerly, the Field Agent stepped out of the stairwell, his loafers clicking over the hardwood floor. He cleared his throat as he reached the bar, one hand subconsciously falling on the back of the stool Elliot had occupied the last time he was up here. “Mr. Wright? Sir?”

  “Upstairs,” came the relatively cheerful call from – well – upstairs. Cabe shook his head and smirked as he began to ascend the plush steps to the second level of the penthouse.

  “Your bedroom?” he teased, still wearing that grin as he peered over the top step to look for the young executive. “I thought I was only allowed up here on special occasions?”

  “So, let’s pretend it’s a special occasion,” came the reply, from somewhere to his right. That was when he caught sight of Elliot – or rather, caught sight of his head and the tops of his bare, tan shoulders, which were visible over the rim of the raised indoor jacuzzi.

  Elliot smiled when he saw him, raising a glass – which was likely filled with some sort of alcohol, if Cabe knew him at all by now. “Sparrow! I was wondering how early you’d be.”

  “Really? Most people wonder the opposite.” Cabe crossed his arms neatly over the front of his suit jacket, smirking at the man in the tub. “And I’m glad to see you’re ready for your T.V. spot this afternoon, sir.”

  “I can be twenty minutes late. Hop in.”

  Oh, boy, do I ever want to, but... was the part he didn’t say aloud, which he then followed up with, “If I get in t
here, my devilish good looks and Adonis-like body will distract you far too much, and I wouldn’t want you to miss all of your meetings this afternoon for hot, sweaty sex.”

  Elliot raised a perfectly-groomed eyebrow. “Honestly? I would.”

  Cabe laughed. A real, honest, genuine sound, which... actually felt pretty good as it resonated in his chest. However, despite his distraction, he didn’t miss the way Elliot watched him with half-lidded eyes as he moved.

  “How’s your head?” the wet and naked man asked, and there was a legitimately caring warmth to his words.

  “Eh, it’s fine. Bit of a scrape on the back, doctors are mostly worried about concussion.”

  “Does that mean I have to be gentle with you?” Elliot purred with a cruel smirk that wasn’t quite a pout, and not just because he was really too old to be pouting anymore. Cabe just scoffed at him, still grinning wide.

  “C’mon, sir, we’re gonna be late. I’ll get you a towel.”

  “So, did you see my press conference this morning?” came Elliot’s buoyant voice from behind him as he headed for the en suite bathroom. “It was on... well, it was on every station, who am I kidding.”

  All right, apparently we’re not ‘coming on’. Cabe sighed, the large fluffy towel already hanging over his arm as he crossed the bedroom back to the jacuzzi. Elliot was apparently enjoying the art of bathing the way nature had intended him to, and more to keep a handle on his own willpower, Cabe kept his eyes averted as he perched on the edge of the tub across from him.

  “I missed it, I slept for about a hundred hours. Wanna give me the Cole’s notes, or should I just find it on YouTube?”

  Elliot relaxed more fully in the frothy, bubbling water, closing his eyes as he propped the back of his head on the side of the tub. “This morning, I founded a new charity... something I’ve wanted to do for over two years now: a drop-in center and emergency shelter for Anomaly youths and young adults, providing resources such as legal representation and counsel, solo and group therapy, assistance with employment or applying for government welfare, education and healthcare... whatever we can do to help W.A.R.D. reintegrate young Anomalies back into society.”

  Cabe realized his mouth was hanging open, and was grateful Elliot’s eyes were closed and he had missed it. “Wow. That’s... that’s quite the laundry list.” No wonder Emiko’s pissed off about her new workload...

  “I don’t do anything by halves, Sparrow.”

  “No, sir, you certainly fucking do not.”

  “There are so many Anomalies out there with abilities that seem terrifying,” the executive continued with a pleasant sigh, and Cabe did his best not to notice the way his smooth, toned chest rose and fell through the rippling surface of the water, “but which they have completely under control, and have no desire to hurt anybody with. Even some of the most extreme – sonic speed, intangibility...”

  “Being able to shoot lightning from your fingertips?” Cabe asked, and when Elliot opened his eyes his bodyguard was staring at him with a smug, bitchy grin on his face.

  “Ah, yes. I wondered when that was going to come up again.” Elliot resettled himself snugly in the heat, allowing his eyes to drift lazily closed again. “Piezoelectricity – a quality some stones possess which enables them to create an electrical charge when mechanical stress or pressure is applied.”

  Cabe was silent and waiting for at least a half dozen seconds before he remembered he would have to reward the arrogant bastard with a little attention before he continued. “That doesn’t explain how you were able to transfer it from that stone in your ring –” (Elliot’s eyes flew open and he brightened, probably at the realization that Cabe was clever enough to have figured out the stone was held in his signet ring) “– through your body?”

  “Well,” said Elliot, sitting up more attentively in the tub, as if Cabe’s perceptiveness had reinvigorated his interest, “that’s where my little bit of magic comes in. I wasn’t lying when I said my Anomaly ability was clairvoyance, Peaches... I just neglected to mention the fact that it wasn’t my only ability.”

  With a groan, Cabe shook his head. “Git,” he muttered. “So... you can make electricity somehow?”

  “Not make it, Peaches. But my body seems to... I suppose the closest thing I could compare it to is a Tesla coil. My body acts as a transformer, which boosts the tiny electrical current into a massive voltage, which I’m then able to concentrate into a single stream of energy. That’s what gives it that sexy lightning bolt effect.” Elliot winked at Cabe, drawing another sigh of exasperation from the older man.

  “And you couldn’t have told me all this last week?”

  “Where’s the fun in that, Peaches?” Elliot rolled forward onto his knees and floated across the tub toward the edge where his Sparrow was perched, draping himself next to the agent. “Besides. I still wasn’t entirely sure about you... my bubble is a very private place.”

  “Weren’t you inside of me?”

  It was Elliot’s turn to laugh, a light and graceful titter of amusement. He leaned there for a couple of lengthy moments, leisurely raking his eyes over every inch of the other man’s suited frame.

  “Have you ever wondered what the hands of the future hold for you, Sparrow?”

  “Please tell me you’re not about to read my palm lines.”

  “My new C.T. scanner arrives this afternoon.” The elegant fingers of one hand were crawling their way along the lip of the tub, walking their way around the occasional drop of water. “I should have all the modifications finished by mid-week, because please, why spend an hour in that hell-hole when you can get away with fifteen minutes?

  “Anyway...” he continued in a playful, not quite sexual tone of voice, his eyes raising slowly to meet the hard, brown ones that were staring back at him with vexation. “Providing you’re more comfortable with needles than you are airplanes, a small amount of my serum...”

  “Stop.”

  And Elliot did, primarily because the sharp edge to the agent’s tone caught him off-guard. He hadn’t quite expected that volatile of a reaction. “I apologize, I wasn’t aware that was a touchy subject for you.”

  “No – it’s fine, I’m sorry,” said Cabe, shaking his head. “It’s not, it’s not a touchy subject at all...”

  “But?”

  Cabe’s chest deflated weakly. He hadn’t wanted to discuss this with anyone, least of all Elliot Wright... but that being said, thinking about it now, a part of him wondered if Elliot might actually be the perfect person to talk to about it, given his passionately philosophical approach to life.

  “I’ve honestly been thinking about it since I saw the lab... wondering about what would happen if you scanned me... what you’d find. I don’t even think I can count on my hands anymore how many times I’ve nearly asked you...”

  “What stopped you?”

  Cabe smiled at him with candor. “I don’t want to know.”

  Elliot’s lips pulled together in a tight, thin line, but he nodded firmly up at the other man, and when he did, it was with respect and understanding. “Say no more, Peaches. But if you change your mind... the offer’s always on the table.”

  “I appreciate it.” Cabe stood up from the edge of the tub. “Now c’mon, we’re seriously gonna be super fucking late to the –”

  “Do you know why I asked Lara Flynn to wait in my bed for you on your first day here? Pretending to be some airhead I’d just fucked, who questioned you about Anomalies with her tits out?”

  Cabe sighed in annoyance. “Because you were testing me? But if that’s not the right answer, I’m willing to bet you’re about to tell me what it is.”

  Elliot snorted – which was more of a compliment to Cabe than an insult, because it was a sign the executive had actually been listening for his response rather than just ignorantly gabbing at him. But then, when the C.E.O. spoke again, his voice was surprisingly pensive. “I don’t usually go to the effort I went to with you, Sparrow, when it comes to testing and investig
ating new recruits to the WrightTech family.”

  “Is this the part where I’m supposed to ask why you cared so much?” came the decisively snide response.

  “Yes.”

  “All right,” Cabe half-laughed, well-aware of how the other man worked by now, and knowing he would have to actually properly ask, “why did you care so much, sir?”

  When Elliot craned his neck again to look up at him, Cabe wasn’t expecting those blue eyes – usually so cool, frosty, and shallow – to be warmed and deepened with so much raw emotion. It was as if he could read every single thought running through the beautiful asshole’s head at that moment, even without any Anomaly abilities.

  “Because. I only bother rigorously testing those I actually want to let into my personal bubble... as opposed to most, who I keep at arm’s length. I wanted to know what parts of myself I could show you... what parts I could trust you with.”

  Elliot’s hand was now crawling its way up Cabe’s pants leg, over his stomach, and the brunet rose to his knees in the tub in order to wrap his fingers delicately around the bottom point of his bodyguard’s tie.

  “And congratulations, Sparrow. You passed.”

  Elliot’s fingers curled into a tight fist, and with a single yank he’d wrenched Cabe – fully clothed – down into the tub on top of him. The frothy, sudsy water sloshed up wildly over the sides, drenching the carpet as Cabe landed with his knees either side of his client, chest-to-chest in his now sopping wet Armani suit. Elliot’s free hand was sliding into Cabe’s hair before the latter could properly react, dragging the man who had saved his life twice now that he knew of in for a hungry, passionate kiss.

  Cabe only thought of Boone briefly, and the stab of guilt that had started to accompany it since he’d realized his feelings for Elliot were something more than purely sexual, only lasted a heartbeat or two.

  After that, it was temporarily replaced with a memory of his boyfriend, just a short one, and just for a split second. It was one he had smothered and suppressed for fifteen months now, one that was absolutely crucial for getting on with his life in the wake of losing the man he had loved.