by Andrea Tyse
I, Illicit
By Andrea Tyse
I, Illicit
By Andrea Tyse
Published by Andrea Tyse on Kindle.
Copyright @ 2014 Andrea Tyse
[email protected]
Cover photo used with permission of
Cathleen Tarawhiti at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathleen-Tarawhiti-Photographer/95878166172
All characters are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
All sexually active characters are 18 years of age and older. This book is for adult audiences only.
"Jesus is that her?" The men stared into the interrogation room at the woman, who sat on the lone bench. They watched her through a two way mirror. If she had looked at the mirror she would have seen her reflection. Instead there she sat with her long brown hair cloaking her body gazing directly at the door on the other side of the room. Her hands lay gently on her thighs, almost as though they were each placed precisely.
"Does she ever blink?" The younger of the men inquired. Simon was a fit tall blond with a warm welcoming smile.
"Just like anybody else," the gruff reply sounded like a partial sigh.
"She's so pale and thin. I'm not so sure this is a good idea, maybe she's still in shock or something?"
"No, she's always like this, you'll get used to it. Listen, nobody's really sure how she is going to take this thing. She reacted very strongly to his death. She'd slit her wrist and was pouring her own blood into the wound on his chest and rubbing it in with the other hand.” The old man was rubbing the back of his neck almost as if he was at a loss to help her. “She was shaking when I found her, talking to herself."
"So, she's been here ever since she got out of the hospital."
“It's time for her to go to home now. Look you’re one of the best and Bionites like her are still experimental. She's never had family or friends, which was a requirement of the program. He's all she's ever known."
"From the file I've read so far, she's been very efficient for the police, she's saved a lot of lives."
The older man grunted, "That's true, but she's paid the price over and over again. Choosing you as her new partner was a real tricky thing. The upper management went crazy over a young guy as her partner and a stranger to them, but many in the program felt it was a necessity. You've got the brains and the ability to use her to the fullest extent, we need that. She was with her last partner for fifteen years, he taught her everything he knew and he was very good. So is she, but he wasn't getting any younger,” he paused, “still he had years left and no one thought this far ahead."
The older man turned to the younger looking at him hard. The man was in his late twenty's with a strong build and attractive face that spoke of trust and gentle nature, but his eyes were sharp revealing the mind behind the face.
"You realize that this contract never expires, you can't move away can't go on long sabbaticals. This is it. It's a hard life but one that can make a difference in the world if you play your cards right."
Simon turned from his boss’s accessing eyes and looked at the woman again who had not moved, barley seemed to breathe in the other room. Something in her expression made his heart want to break. Maybe it was in the way she sat so still like a child preparing to be called into the principal’s office. Being a child of his father, he knew what that stillness cost her.
"I want to meet her."
"Alright, let's introduce you to your new partner." Before the men entered the interrogation room, Simon asked, "What was she saying over her partner's body when you found her?"
The older man said softly, "Fix him."
She knew people were watching more than likely her superiors trying to decide what to do with her. The hurt inside seemed to radiate in waves that she couldn't stop. So she sat quietly calmly letting the waves pulse over her body and outward into the space of the room.
"Danni, I want to introduce you to someone. This is Simon he's your new partner."
Danni looked up at the two men. Her superior had pulled her bloody hands from His body. She couldn't look him in the eye; he'd seen her emotional outbreak earlier. Shame filled her. She felt as if her clothes constricted like an invisible snake squeezing. Quickly she looked away toward the younger man. He had dark blond hair and blue eyes, over six feet and athletic without excessive fat or muscle. The dark suit fit his body perfectly.
He seemed to be watching her face carefully. She didn't smile nor flirt or send any of the usual signals females did when they first met him. No, she sat still, looked him over quickly and then her sight hovered somewhere between the men but not on either of them.
"Danni, I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I knew Will; he was a good man, great at his job. But we need to get going."
She knew what he was saying, it was time to put this behind her and move on. It was time to buck up like everyone was trained to do and get on with her life. Danni looked down at her hands and saw His blood was still under her fingernails. Tears burned but she shoved the pain down somewhere deep inside. Lifting her face to them she nodded. With quick efficient movement she stood and walked toward the door. The men watch silently as she moved.
Simon's first thought as he walked into her home was empty. The district had housed special people like Danni in sterile controlled environments. The neighborhood was quiet and clean. The only variation from house to house was the shade of green the yard was. She had allowed him to walk her up to the small house and unlock her door. The house was built like many in the area, living room with a couch, TV, chair, a kitchen with a table and chairs, two bed rooms and a bathroom. The house had a feeling of total control; no books piled on tables, no mail waiting to be read. The bathroom was just as stark with only the bare necessities. Simon assumed that Danni's room would be that of a teenager, colorful and bright, as if in rebellion to the whitewash outside. Instead her room was just as bland, no books or photos, just a bed, dresser, table, chair and mirror.
Simon watched as she strode over to the dresser and began to pack her clothes into a suitcase he'd picked up on the way over for her. He watched as she calmly packed her belongings. Her clothes didn't need to be refolded to be packed neatly and efficiently; they came out of the dresser drawers that way. Simon didn't say anything, but he was getting a slightly sick feeling in the pit of his stomach trying to picture this woman as a child growing up here.
"I'm ready to go now. I believe that the precinct will take care of everything else here." Her soft voice was appealing but the blandness in her tone made him wary because she still hadn’t turned away from the dresser, speaking to him with her back to him.
She stood like a statue until she finally turned around but still not really looking at him. He wanted to see her eyes. He didn't like the fact that she didn't feel comfortable with him even though they’d just met. It made Simon angry at the precinct for not taking more precautions with her for not letting her grow up a normal kid, a kid with friends, lovers and family. This woman had no one and it showed on her face, in her possessions, and in the way she wouldn't look him in the eye.
Simon felt like he had to put on kid gloves to handle her, she had the look of a woman his mother would have loved to take under her wing. She reminded him of all the pity cases he took on in school, the kids no one would talk to because they didn't have enough social position to do so unscathed. Simon had been a good looking, charming kid and he wasn't mean spirited. It gave him the ability to talk to the coolest kids and to the most unpopular outcasts. Simon looked at her from her pale oval almost too narrow face, to her straight as a board long hair. Her brown coat that was cut to hip length and the black skirt and boots she wore looked almost new. She dressed fashionably but somehow she looked like she wa
s wearing a uniform that she couldn't wait to peel away. Her large eyes were studying the carpet or his shoes, he wasn't sure which but he couldn't stand not touching her in this place of separation but he held back.
"It's going to be alright, you know, if it means so much to you, you can stay; I'll clear it with the precinct. I can also take you home like I planned but it's up to you now." His words were gentle like to a wounded child.
Her head snapped up and she looked at him sharply the dull glaze evaporating. "You mean I can decide where to live?"
"Yes, to a degree."
She seemed to ponder this, the look on her face was closed but Simon sensed she was weighing invisible options.
"You're really giving me the choice?" The disbelief she held was apparent.
"Yes."
She nodded as though to herself and straightened. She walked past him out the door. He followed her to his car and then got in.
"I suppose this means you’re coming with me."
She nodded.
Simon smiled to himself as he started the car.
Simon took Danni to his home, which was not the usual government housing she'd known her entire life. This was a home, one that had multiple rooms and a big backyard. The house was two floors with a large living room, kitchen with all the latest gadgets and two bathrooms. Her bedroom was across the hall from Simons. It was bright and pleasant something she found a little bit foreign. Her room had multiple entertainment consoles but Danni did not touch anything as she looked around the room. She just stood in the center as if she'd get lost if she didn’t keep track of Simon standing in the doorway.
He looked like he wanted to walk away and forget she was there. Danni fisted her hands at her sides, nails digging deep. She was used to being forgotten being a piece of furniture in someone else’s life. William had been a great partner he had raised her from a gangly seven year old. For 15 years he had been all she had and now she would never see him again. Danni could feel the burning in her chest deepen. He may have sometimes treated her like a high maintenance piece of machinery but he had also tried his best to be a surrogate father to her in his own way.
“Do you need anything?” Danni relaxed her fingers feeling the throb of the crescents left in her palms. He was still there standing in the doorway, his big body filling it up looking at her like he wasn’t sure she wouldn’t tear his place apart if he left her alone. She had to pull it together and act like a professional like William had taught her.
“I have everything I require.” Danni wanted to wince, she sounded like a robot he could unplug at night.
“I will leave you to get yourself settled in.” Simon paused in the doorway hesitant to leave. “If you need me I’ll be across the hall here just shout out and I’ll hear you.” With that he shoved away from her door and left her standing in the middle of the room feeling like the sun had just gone out.
She could feel them crawling under her skin again, the microscopic things that kept repairing her body. The little Nano machines that were modified to use viruses and bacteria circulated around her system seeking out repairs and improvements that each had been programmed specifically by scientists to do. Danni wanted to scratch at her arms. She hated it when they came close to the surface making her skin itch. The little bugs made it possible for her to do things that most people couldn’t, like not die when most would. The crawling itch was getting worse soon they would dive deeper under the surface into her nerve endings. She willed herself to stay calm and let this needed healing take place.
Simon came awake away with a start. He was sprawled face down on his bed his big feet dangling off the side when his whole body seemed to have snapped awake. The military had taught him to awaken in a state of readiness and his body never forgot those lessons. Rolling over and grabbing his watch off the nightstand he saw it was only 2am. Rubbing his palms over his face he smoothed his hands over his skull trying to tame the wild blond spikes on his head. Then he heard it again, a very small sound. Jumping out of bed Simon grabbed his gun out of his pants pocket and crept slowly toward his door, it was slightly ajar like he’d left it when he fell into bed earlier. Checking the dark hallway, no signs of life were present. Simon moved toward the guest bedroom, no now Danni’s room he corrected. Another sound like a whimper caught his attention and he flattened his palm against the wood of her door and pushed slowly inward. No Danni in sight. Moving quickly into the room he started circling the bed only to trip over her on the far side of it.
She was bunched up in a ball. Her eyes squeezed shut her face tense with pain. Sweat was running down her face, her hair damp with it.
“Danni what’s wrong, honey?” He couldn’t hide the concern in his voice as he bent down and squatted before her. He reached out and slowly touched her for the first time. His hand slowly stroked a cheek that was soft and smooth. Her skin was flawless, he couldn’t tell if it was natural or from the nanites inside her body.
She froze as if time stood still. She didn’t seem to even breathe as his palm cradled the side of her face. She just stared at him as if she totally couldn’t comprehend what he was doing.
“Danni are you alright, what’s paining you?” He tried to get closer to her, his big body crowding around her.
“I…I’m burning.” Her words were tinted with something like shame as if she was embarrassed by her body’s mechanics. Understanding lit his eyes as he watched her, he may not have had a lot of experience with being the partner of a Bionite but he had been trained and worked with a few on and off to know what was going on. Hunching his shoulders he reached around her and lifted her off the floor. She was an inflexible ball in his arms but he didn’t mind. He carried her as if she weighed nothing toward his room flipping on the hall light as he went.
Danni buried her nose in her arms as he placed her carefully on his bed. The room was still dark with only the light from the hallway casting shadows in the room. He flipped the light switch on the wall and went into the bathroom attached to his bedroom. Danni closed her eyes against seeing all the muscles and beautiful structure of his back. The pain in her hands and face was eating at her making her want to panic.
“Here open up.” His voice was close to her as he shoved a cup of water in her hand. “I don’t have an injectable here but I’ll pick some up for you later.” Danni looked at his hand that held a pill; he was obviously waiting for her to do something as he didn’t just give it to her.
“Open your mouth for me.” He waved his hand around in front of her face. Not really understanding she opened her mouth like a little bird and he tossed the pill onto her tongue. She drank the cool water and handed him back the cup.
“Good girl,” he said as he strode away.
When he came back into the room she was still balled up, lying on her side. He flipped the light off and walked toward the bed. He picked her up and pulled the covers back sliding her body under his blankets then followed her down into the soft cocoon of warmth they provided. She was completely rigid next to him and he was pretty sure it wasn’t just because of the pain from the nanites she was experiencing.
“It’s ok I won’t ever hurt you.” He pulled her back against him and simply fitted himself against her. He tried to use his body to send a message, that he would shelter and protect her from here on out. He would have never believed it but from the first moment he had seen the sorrow in her big dark eyes he knew she was his. He would have never believed in love at first sight, but this was more than just lust. That’s why he had signed on the dotted line merging his life with hers forever. He knew there would be trouble when his boss found out. Rules were rules and you were not supposed to feel anything for a Bionite they were tools to be used for highly dangerous work. But as he settled in to sleep, she smelled good to him and he rubbed his nose across the back of her nape and knew he had done the right thing.
For weeks she couldn’t look Simon in the eye as they drove around picking up things he felt she needed like injections and other goods. Who k
new that shopping for things could take days, she was used to things being delivered at the door of her old house. She didn’t understand him at all. He treated her like she had always been beside him instead of just for a few short weeks. Danni was a function, an extension of someone else, of the law mostly. She wanted to ask him a million questions but instead she kept silent. She had learned from a young age that Will had not liked to answer a million questions that children often ask. She had learned to be patient and observe and that in time most questions she had would be answered.
However things that Simon had done that first night like holding her caring for her was something she didn’t know how to react to. The pain had been overwhelming and in all honesty when he had rubbed his big body against hers in the night a new kind of panic had started. As the painkillers worked to silence her nerve endings, her body reacted in a whole other way to him. An ache below her navel had bloomed when his hips spooned her. She had wanted to push back against the cradle of his flesh. Her nipples had turned to diamond points that almost hurt. She didn’t know what to do with all these new feelings. She had never before experienced this rush of heat between her legs. She was mortified that she could feel wetness growing between her thighs. Something in that pill must have made her body go completely haywire. She would have to tell him next time, no pill, she didn’t think that side effect was very pleasant at all.
“Hungry?” He asked as he drove the car down the street that was unknown to her even though the nanites in her brain were showing her a GPS map of it in her mind. She could never get lost as long as she had signal from the satellite, it was a comfort and in some ways annoying. It was a reminder she was different. They debated on what to eat and settled on pizza. She had never had pizza before. She had never eaten in a public place that wasn’t filled with military personnel or police. They got a booth and ordered their food or really Simon took over ordering pizza and drinks for the both of them since she looked at the menu and basically had no idea what she would like or wouldn’t like. She was so used to eating the same thing every day, military issued food specifically engineered for her nanite rich body. Each bite packed with micro fragments of helpful building blocks for the nanites living inside of her. Once the pizza made an appearance however she could smell the delicious aroma and hunger took over. She ate three pieces before she looked up at Simon. He was sitting back just watching her, his pizza slice dangling from his fingers.