by Gini Koch
“Um, yeah. I assume this is all for show? Since Reader’s alive and going to be well, I mean.”
“You got it. Make it vicious. Oh, and I want Space Bitch here to be drugged out of her man-hating mind. So she can’t do anything. Oh! Quick thought. Do we still have all that truth serum?”
Chuckie started to laugh. “God, you crack me up.”
“Great! Bring it. I want her full of it. No, I don’t care if it’ll cause her brain to stop functioning if we give her too much. Good. Yeah, of course we’ll toss her to the troops once we’re done with her. Right. Of course to rape her in all possible ways. Why would you even need to ask? Maybe we’ll let her mate live long enough to watch.”
“Martini is indicating that our prisoner is starting to cry. Wow, you’re nasty.”
“Yes, I know. She’s a threat to our world security, and her partner will be more of one. I want them both treated like the animals they are.”
“You know, I was a lot nicer than this.”
“I’ll bet. Yeah, that sounds great. I want the one who’s still loose to suffer. A lot. Yeah, of course you can break, shoot, or cut off things that aren’t necessary to survival.”
“Okay. I think she’s broken, or at least close to. Should I put on security for real, however?”
“Yes, make it so.”
“Oh, over and out, Captain Not Quite Picard.”
We hung up, and I turned back to Moira. “You could have cooperated. Pity for you, nice for me. I’ll have some men along shortly to drug you and do horrible things you’ll hate to you. You won’t be able to fight back. I may film it, just for the pure entertainment.”
She was really crying. “Why would you do that? The men I can understand. But you, you should be joining us.”
“You attacked my best friend and tried to kill him. You were proud of yourself for attacking an innocent person whose only goal for the past few years has been to protect other people on this planet from harm. I would never join someone like you. You stand for everything I despise.”
“You don’t understand . . . they have to die.” Moira was still crying.
“Why? You give me a reason I can believe in.”
She shook her head. “They’re men. Men are evil by nature; they can never become good. They’re the reason our world was locked away and kept from the stars, because of the men. We destroyed ours, and we must destroy all the others, to purify the universe.”
My father had given me a lifetime course in comparative religions. He’d spent a lot of time focused on how to spot a fanatic and how little you were likely to be able to do to alter said fanatic’s viewpoint. Logic didn’t work on most in-the-bone fanatics; neither did kindness or any rational idea. The best you could do was understand how their minds worked, then stop them from harming others, as humanely as possible. Sometimes, however, you couldn’t be humane.
I had a fanatic in front of me and probably a more intense fanatic out there, since Moira’s mate was probably older if I took the term more experienced at face value. And I had no way of knowing if they were the only ones here or if more were coming.
A part of me felt pity for Moira. To hate half of the population of most worlds so much, with so little reason. To have dedicated her life to what she saw as right and I saw as pure evil. But she was evil, just as ACE had said. Not evil because of who or what she was, but evil because of how she thought and what she was willing to do, and took joy in doing, without any provocation or cause.
All Reader had done was be loving to me, and she’d done her best to kill him for that—because he was a man, because she’d identified him as one of the overall targets—because she could. And she’d gloated about it. I’d killed several people by now, for what they’d done and wanted to do to Martini and to me and to the people we cared about, but I’d never gloated about it.
“I’m sick and tired of hearing about purity of the race, the world, or the universe. I’ve never heard that argument come from anyone who was sane, or decent, or close to a loving God. If your God truly tells you to do this, then She’s evil and doesn’t deserve anyone’s worship or obedience.”
“Our God is right, and She will help us to smite you and all who stand against us.”
I got right in her face. “Moira? I’ve got one thing to say to you. Bring it, bitch.” Then I reared back and punched her right in the mouth. “That’s for James. Be happy he’s the kind of person who wouldn’t tell me to rip out your throat for what you did to him.”
It was a good hit. My hand hurt a little, but I didn’t massage it. I was ready to hit her again. She licked at the blood running down the side of her mouth. “Nice. Take the straps off me and do that.”
I was about to when the door opened. “All done.” Martini walked in with a needle and pulled me away from Moira. He grabbed her wrist and shoved the needle in. “Time for the crazy chick to go night-night.”
Moira’s eyes got fuzzy, then closed. Her head fell to the side.
Martini kept a hold of me and walked us out of the room. “Love the nasty side of you. You can’t possibly take her, and she was hoping you’d let her out of the restraints so she could kill you. Just in case you were wondering.”
“Oh, okay, fine. Wow, but I hate her, and I think I’m going to hate her mate even more.”
“I’d guess so, yeah. She was scared and upset by what you said, but, honestly, anyone with a penis should be terrified of these women. And there’s a whole planet full of them? No wonder someone put a net up.”
“I think the net turned them into this. I don’t care right now. I want to see James.” And shower. I felt kind of dirty.
Christopher locked the door. “We have guards on all levels.” I saw several of the big Security A-Cs in the hallway.
“Make sure we have someone guarding the pipe. Inside only, though. I don’t want any of our guys exposed outside, just in case.”
“Good point.” Christopher made a call.
I looked around. “Where are Paul and Tito?”
Martini put his arm around me and hugged me to him. “James is awake. They went to see him.” I opened my mouth, and he shut it, gently. “Yes, we’re heading there now.” He bent and kissed my forehead. “You’re quite the little tiger, aren’t you?”
I didn’t feel tigerish all of a sudden. Martini picked it up and picked me up as well. I wrapped myself around him and didn’t worry that Chuckie and Christopher were right there. I just wanted to feel safe.
Martini kissed the side of my head. “It’s okay now, baby.”
“Not yet. But I’m going to make sure that it will be.”
He chuckled. “That’s my girl.”
CHAPTER 24
WE GOT UPSTAIRS TO THE MEDICAL BAY. Tito and Gower were in the room with Reader, and there were Security guards all over the place. “Figure James is too vulnerable to leave without guard,” Martini said. I agreed and was glad he’d thought of it already. Of course, that was pretty much his life’s work, protecting people.
He put me down, and we went into the room. Tito stepped aside so I could get near Reader’s head. He looked like he was in a lot of pain, but his eyes looked the way they always had.
“Hey,” he said.
I grabbed his free hand; Gower had the other. “Hey yourself. How’re you feeling?”
He managed a weak chuckle. “Like I was hit by a Mac truck. Love that outfit on you. Try to not wreck it.”
“Probably too late for that.”
“Yeah.” Reader looked at Gower.
“Be right back, Jamie,” Gower said quietly. Reader nodded, just a tiny bit. Gower gave me a small smile, then he and Tito left. I realized Martini wasn’t in the room, either.
“James, I’m so sorry.” I felt like I was going to start bawling.
“For what, girlfriend? Saving my life?”
“I’m the reason you got hurt.”
“Hardly. That crazy chick was the reason.” He closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry.” I bent
and kissed his cheek. “I’ll get Paul back in here.”
Reader tightened his hold on my hand. “No. Just you right now. I . . . need to tell you something.”
My throat got tight. “Okay.”
He opened his eyes and managed about half of his standard cover-boy grin. It was still great. “I was dead, you know.”
“No, you were close.”
“No. I was dead. I saw the light, I heard . . . voices. And I heard you, you and ACE. Then I heard ACE tell Tito what to do to bring me back.” He swallowed. “I know you think, and ACE thinks, that it was what ACE told Tito to do that saved me. It helped, of course, but . . . I was already dead.”
“I don’t understand.”
He reached his other hand up to my face. “God decided you needed to have someone around you could talk to.”
The tears rolled down my face. “He chose well.”
Reader tugged at my hand. “Come here, you need to rest.”
I figured the medical team would throw a fit, but I’d handle that when they came in screaming at me. I crawled onto the bed next to him. It was an A-C facility so the bed, like everything else, was top of the line, and it was large for a hospital bed, easily fitting two on it.
Reader put his arm around me and gently put my head onto his chest. “Relax. Nothing hurts but my head.”
I managed a laugh, though I was still crying. “Jeff and Paul are going to wonder about this.”
“They wonder about us already.” He stroked my arm. “I wouldn’t have wanted you to kill her.”
“I know. But I would have anyway.”
“Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t complain, I think it’s why I’m back, so to speak.”
“Why?” I closed my eyes. I wasn’t used to leaning on a chest with a single heartbeat in it anymore, but it always felt good when Reader held me.
“One act can change someone. If you’d killed her, or any of the others had done it, it would have made you what she is, just like ACE was afraid of.” He hugged me. “We’re here for a reason. It’s not always a clear reason, and we’re never going to win every time, but our reason is to stop evil, not become just like it.”
“She’s still alive and wants to kill every man in the universe. And she’s not alone.”
“Not saying evil’s got a pass, girlfriend. Just saying I don’t want you to go to that side of the house.”
“Good thing you’re still alive and functioning then.”
“Like I said.” He hugged me again. “You know, it was interesting.”
“Being dead, or almost dead?”
“Yeah. I saw a lot of things.”
“Like what?”
“Can’t remember them all—they’re fading more the longer I’m conscious. I think I’ll forget this, what I’ve been telling you, soon. Maybe not the light, but most of the rest. You might forget it, too. Consciously. But I think it’ll always be inside us.”
“Okay. Do you remember anything else?”
“Yeah.” He laughed softly. “I saw a lot of universes . . . I saw myself reflected in a lot of them.”
“What were you like?”
“Pretty much me.” He hugged me tighter. “You were in all of them. We were always together, in some way.”
“Good.”
“We were married in about half of them.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Happily, too.”
“I don’t think we want to share that with Jeff or Paul.”
“Nope. I just want you to know, though . . . if something happens to me here, and I’m not with you, I’ll be with you in all those other universes.”
“I love you, James.”
“I love you, too, Kitty.”
We lay there together, and I let the hatred for Moira and what she’d done subside and ebb away. It was hard to hold onto the hatred, lying here, next to Reader, knowing he was alive and going to be okay. I started to get sleepy. “James?”
“Yeah, babe?” He sounded as drowsy as I felt.
“I’m not buying my wedding dress without you.”
He chuckled. “Good. I want you looking like the hottest thing on two legs. No one I trust with that job besides myself, other than Jeff, and he’s not supposed to see the dress beforehand. A-Cs have the custom just like we do.”
“You really think mermaid style would look okay?”
“I think you’ll look beyond beautiful. Just like always.”
“Coming from the best-looking human in the world, that means a lot.”
“Good. Go to sleep now, you need the rest.”
“You too, but . . . I don’t want to. I don’t want to forget.”
“Me either. But, it won’t change anything between us, even if we do.”
“You sure?”
“I’m positive.” He hugged me. “I saw it. Always together, one way or another.”
“That’s all right, then.”
“Yeah, that’s my opinion, too.” He yawned. “Go to sleep, Kitty. Big days coming. We need to be ready.”
“They’ll differ from our other days how?”
“The prosecution rests.”
CHAPTER 25
I FELT SOMEONE LIFT ME UP. “What’s going on?”
Martini cradled me in his arms. “You were asleep on the bed with James. I’ll discuss how cozy you two looked later. You okay?”
“Yeah.” My mind felt fuzzy. “We were . . . talking about important stuff.”
“Well, he’s asleep, which is good, and you obviously need a longer nap.”
I wanted to remember something. “James is alive.”
“Yes, he is. Miraculously.”
There was something about that word I wanted to remember, or comment on, or something. But I couldn’t grasp it.
“Where’re we going?”
“Well, Paul’s going to stay with James tonight. Tito’s going to stay with them. Paul will use the time when James is asleep and they’re awake to bring Tito up to speed on what being an agent is like.”
“He already has a good idea.”
“Yeah, he’s bright. I think he’s as smart as you and James.”
“Good. What about everyone else?”
“Reynolds and Christopher are back in Vegas with the rest of the team. Reachable via phone if we need them, the usual.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the Lair. If you can handle being on the same floor as whatshername.”
“Moira. And, yeah, as long as we have a lot of security and we’re both sleeping with an eye open.”
“Check and check.” We were in an elevator. I didn’t feel amorous; I just wanted Martini to hold me. He shifted me so I could wrap my arms and legs around him. “Just hold on, baby,” he said softly. “We’ll be in bed soon.”
“Mmm hmmm.” His arms were around me, one supporting my bottom, the other my neck and upper back. It reminded me of when I was little and my father would carry me to bed. “You’re going to be such a good daddy.”
“I hope so. And soon.” He hugged me. “As soon as you’re ready.”
“Not tonight.”
He laughed. “No. I don’t even think we’re practicing tonight.”
I thought about that. “Maybe later.” I yawned against his neck. “Sleepy.”
“I know, baby.”
We were in the bedroom, or at least I assumed we were, because Martini laid me down on a bed. He didn’t undress either me or himself, just lay down and pulled me next to him. I draped over his body, held onto his shoulder, and went back to sleep.
I woke up, all senses alert. I could feel Martini was awake, too. He slid his hand over my mouth, and I nodded. It was dark in the room, just a tiny nightlight glow, meaning we were in the middle of the night.
I listened hard. I could hear Martini’s breathing, shallow, to stay quiet. I was doing the same. But it was there, at the edge of my hearing—breathing that wasn’t ours. I had no clear idea where my purse was, so no way to get to a weapon.
Martin
i still had his arm around me, and he tightened his hold. I relaxed as much as possible—it was easier for him to move me that way.
The advantage we’d have, the only one, was that we lived here and our intruder didn’t. I wasn’t confident this would be enough.
Something was different—the breathing was closer. Martini rolled me over him and us both off the bed, and he hit the intercom button while he shoved me behind him. This took less time than I needed to blink.
“Yes, Commander?” Gladys’ voice came through the com.
We looked around the room. We were alone in it as far as we could see. “Intruder, somewhere on level fifteen,” Martini said.
“Are you endangered, Commander?”
“Potentially.” The lights came on like it was midday.
“Security on the way.”
I looked around during this exchange. Where would someone be able to go in such a short time? I didn’t doubt someone was in here with us—I might be wrong, Martini might be wrong, but we were rarely wrong at the same time. Plus, there were too many intruder possibilities for me to assume we were just jumpy.
The closet could work, but the door was open, it wasn’t all that big, and we were on the same side of the bed as it was, so we should have felt the intruder go by. I looked back at the bed. It seemed so obvious . . . but we weren’t looking there, were we?
I nudged Martini and pointed to the bed. He gave me a look that said I was crazy. I shrugged—probably, but it was worth a shot.
He didn’t want me near the bed, and he didn’t want to let go of me. I could tell by the way he was moving, or not moving. Oh, well, impetuous was apparently my middle name. I pulled out of Martini’s hand, jumped on the bed, and started bouncing. Impetuous, yes. Stupid? Not so much.
It didn’t take long, I heard someone make an “oomphing” sound. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
Martini rolled his eyes. “Only my girl.” He grabbed a pair of my stilettos from the closet and sent them under the bed, hard and fast.
“OUCH! Stop!”
“Crawl out and maybe we won’t kill you,” Martini growled. I didn’t stop bouncing. It was kind of fun.