by S. E. Smith
“I have no problem with that,” Bahadur grinned, glancing at where Viper was standing.
“In your dreams, Curizan,” Viper growled back.
Viper refused to admit that over the past two months of travel, he had grown to not only respect the Curizan Admiral’s skills as a warrior, but also his quick wit and strange sense of humor. He glanced over to where Adalard lay on the floor of the training room, breathing deeply, and chuckled. Zebulon had been the only smart one of the group. He had decided it was safer to work out with the other warriors.
“I’ve had my ass whipped enough, thank you,” Zebulon groaned after the last match. “I’m getting too old for this.”
Viper had snorted at the excuse. Mandra’s Head of Security was just tired of being caught in the middle between him and Bahadur. He jerked when he felt a hard slap on his shoulder. Scowling at Bahadur, he flashed his teeth in warning.
“Stow your teeth, cat-shifter,” Bahadur murmured. “I have enough of their imprints in my hide. First round of drinks are on me tonight.”
Viper stared suspiciously at Bahadur before giving him a curt nod. “I will meet you in the lounge in a half hour.”
Bahadur winced as he rubbed his arm. Looking down at it, he gave a small snort before gazing back up at Viper with a crooked grin. A wry sense of humor glimmered in his eyes.
“Perfect, that will give me time to have the healer give me a shot,” he replied dryly. “You broke the skin again.”
Viper grinned as he turned away. “I know,” he retorted. “Your blood tastes as foul as I thought it would.”
“Ha ha,” Bahadur muttered, following Viper’s departing back. “I should have made you do first rounds.”
*.*.*
Two hours later, Viper reclined back in a chair next to the large viewport lining the wall, sipping a strong liquor that Bahadur said came from the mountainous areas of his world. He stretched his long legs out in front of him and released a heavy sigh.
“What is it? Still wishing you had killed me?” Bahadur asked, breaking the silence. “It was war. I did what I had to do to protect my people, just as you did.”
Viper took another sip of the strong drink before he lowered it to stare down into the swirling orange colored liquid. He waited as the fire of the liquor burned down his throat, hit his stomach and exploded outward to ignite his blood as it coursed through his system. They were on their third round and he was beginning to feel the power behind the potent blend.
“I know,” Viper replied in a low voice. He looked up at Bahadur. “Senseless deaths on all sides that could have been avoided if we had known the extent of the traitors involved.”
“Raffvin is dead. That is a major blow to them,” Bahadur pointed out in satisfaction.
“Yes, but he was not alone,” Viper responded. “There are others still out there, trying to bring us down.”
Bahadur took a deep gulp of the orange liquor, draining his glass and reaching for the bottle sitting on the low table next to him. He topped his glass off before leaning forward and refilling Viper’s glass when he held it out. Setting the bottle back on the table, he leaned back in his seat and stared at Viper.
“We will find them. The traitors are running, but there is not a place in the star systems where they can hide,” he stated in a rough voice.
“Why are you going to Earth?” Viper suddenly asked, suddenly curious. “I would have thought you would be chasing the traitors.”
A slightly dark smile curled Bahadur’s lips. He released a sardonic chuckle as he looked around the round. There were close to a dozen men sitting around the room. Some were quietly talking while others were looking at tablets, reading or watching vidcoms. The lounge was dimly lit, a contrast to the majority of the ship which was brightly lit. The atmosphere was one of calm, quiet, a place to reflect, unwind, talk with friends, or to be alone without being alone.
He knew what it meant to be alone. He had been alone since he was a young boy. His parents had died in an earthquake that had destroyed most of his village near the sea. He had been taken in by his grandfather who lived by the code of being a fisherman, a code that Bahadur had not inherited. When he turned fifteen summers, he left and never looked back. His grandfather died during a storm that same summer, just two weeks after he left. Now… now, he sailed a sea of black space, just as lonely as the waters near the village he had left so many years ago.
“Even I need a break,” Bahadur admitted with a shrug. “After meeting Mandra’s mate, Ariel, I was curious about her world.”
Viper raised an eyebrow at Bahadur. “And…,” he said.
Bahadur grinned at Viper. “And I promised Ha’ven that I would watch Adalard’s back. Word has it that he has upset someone who has placed a very large bounty on his head. Until that person is found, Ha’ven asked that I keep an eye on Prince Adalard.”
“And…,” Viper repeated dryly. “Don’t you think it is a little bizarre to have one of the Curizan’s most powerful Admirals acting as a babysitter, even for a royal?”
“I volunteered,” Bahadur replied with a grin, raising his glass up. “Mandra’s mate is… unusual. Her species makes me curious. I wanted to see if all human females were like her.”
“And what do you think will happen if you find out they are?” Viper asked with a doubtful expression.
Bahadur frowned. “I’m not sure,” he admitted in a slow, thoughtful voice before he gave another crooked smile. “I don’t know. That is the strange thing about it. I don’t know. So, why are you here?”
This time it was Viper’s turn to frown. He swallowed the rest of his drink, feeling the fire as it race through him. The realization that Bahadur was stuck doing the same thing as he was pulled a startled chuckle out of him. The more he thought of it, the more ironic humor he found in it. Unable to contain his amusement at their predicament, the chuckle turned into a deep, rusty laugh. It took several minutes before he could answer Bahadur’s question.
“Vox has sent me to deliver some documents to his mate’s sister and return with the female and vicious grandmother,” he finally replied with a deep sigh. “He sends a prince to babysit a couple of females.”
Bahadur reached for the bottle next to him again and held it out to Viper with a sympathetic smile. Viper took the bottle, emptying the last of the liquid into his glass. He set the bottle on the table next to him and held his glass up to where Bahadur was holding his out. The slight ring of glass on glass echoed through the room.
“To Princes, wayward Curizan Admirals, and unusual human females,” Bahadur chuckled. “May the Goddess look down and have pity on the first two, and give us the last as a reward.”
Viper grimaced at the taste, but pulled his glass back and took a sip of his drink. He wondered vaguely if Bahadur had another bottle hidden somewhere. Satisfaction brightened his eyes until they were glowing when he saw another bottle appear. Tonight, he would not worry about their arrival on Earth. Tomorrow, if his head was going to hurt as he suspected it might from the amount he was drinking, he hoped he just didn’t care.
“May the Goddess make this trip smooth and painless,” Viper said as he raised his glass again.
Not likely, his cat sneezed in distaste as the burning fire swirled inside Viper. Human women not what you think. Want me a Riley.
No, we don’t, Viper retorted silently with a shudder before he filled his glass again and again.
Chapter 4
“What the fuck happened to you?” Clifford Knockletter demanded as he shut the back door to the bail bond office.
Douglas Knockletter’s head jerked up from where he was sitting in the chair behind his desk. He emitted a moan as pain radiated out from his jaw and mouth. A cold, damp cloth was pressed against his busted lip. In his left hand, he clutched his missing bottom front tooth.
“What the fuck does it look like?” Douglas growled up at his father. “God, I never thought there could be two vicious bitches in the world like Riley, but there is.”
Douglas sank back wearily in the chair and gazed moodily at his father. He was a hard son-of-a-bitch who ruled Righteous, New Mexico with an iron fist. Two-thirds of the town members were scared shitless, the other one third was either dead or on the payroll.
“Tina St. Claire, Riley’s sister. She came looking for Riley,” Douglas muttered, wincing as he dabbed at the cut on his lip. “She asked about Cuello.”
A low, harsh curse exploded from Clifford’s mouth. He glared at Douglas and leaned forward. His mouth was tight and there was a dangerous look in his eyes.
“What did she say?” Clifford asked in a cold voice.
Douglas shrugged his shoulders. “Not much,” he admitted. “She wanted to know why we were laundering money and who Javier Cuello was.”
“That’s all?” Clifford asked suspiciously, never taking his eyes off of Douglas’ bruised face. “She just came in here, asked about money laundering, Cuello, and then proceeded to beat the shit out of you while you did nothing?”
“No,” Douglas snorted angrily, glaring back at his father. “I was trying to get information out of her about Riley. The bitch hit me with a hammer in the fucking jaw! She hit me so hard she knocked my fucking tooth out!” He snarled, opening his left hand and tossing the tooth onto the desk. “Then, she handcuffed me to the fucking radiator while I was unconscious. Did I mention that she hit me in the face with a fucking hammer?!”
Clifford’s eyes narrowed on the tooth. Rage and fear coursed through him. Cuello wasn’t a man you messed with. The crazy South American had men working for him that liked to kill for fun. He didn’t hire men who got their asses handed to them on a platter by a woman, much less the chubby brunette that had been walking down the street.
“Did she take anything? Did you tell her anything?” Clifford asked in a quiet, urgent voice, looking back at Douglas. “What did you tell her?”
“I didn’t tell her a fucking thing!” Douglas snapped defensively before a frown creased his brow. “I told her I wanted to find her sister too. I told her… I told her that she could tell her hello when they met in hell.”
Clifford rose up out of the chair and turned to stare at the back wall. Running a hand down his face, his mind raced. They had to find Riley St. Claire and now her sister. The bitches could destroy everything. Riley had taken enough information to at least open an investigation, an investigation that would lead them to the bodies of the dead agent and half a dozen other men.
“Did she take anything?” Clifford asked in a quiet voice, turning to stare down at his son’s worried face.
“I… I don’t think so,” Douglas replied, opening the top drawer in the desk. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a manila folder that his dad had given him that morning. It contained their overseas account numbers. It also contained pictures that they could use as blackmail against Cuello if he tried anything. Pulling it out, he opened it and paled. Frantically thumbing through it, his hands began to shake when all he saw was blank white papers. “Oh, God. No!” He choked out.
“What is it?” Clifford asked.
Douglas swallowed as he looked up at his dad. They were dead if they didn’t get the information back. If Tina St. Claire turned the information over to the police in San Diego, they would never make it to jail. Part of the contained locations, maps, even photos of some very high powered U.S. politicians in very compromising positions.
“She took everything,” he whispered.
*.*.*
One week later:
“Tina, did you get that order in for the beer?” Grandma Pearl’s muffled voice echoed from behind the bar. “Hah! Another treasure trove.”
“It should be here by ten o’clock,” Tina replied, stepping out of her office. “What are you doing now?”
Tina’s eyes glittered with amusement when she saw a flash of red feathers coming out from behind the bar where her grandmother was obviously at. She grinned and bent down to open her arms. A moment later, Ruby, Tina’s pet hen, lay nestled in her arms.
Pearl St. Claire’s short crop of silver white hair popped up from where she had been looking under the bar. Tina bit back a grin when she saw three light brown eggs in her hands. Ruby, a six month old Orpington Chicken, had been a surprise early one morning when Tina went to throw out some trash and discovered the poor chick in a box by the dumpster. Tina figured someone had second thoughts about giving the bird as an Easter present.
She had brought the chick inside and it had adopted her and Pearl, following them everywhere. During non-business hours, Tina allowed Ruby to pretty much run free. During the evenings, she stayed with her in her office or upstairs in her ‘coop’ that Tiny had built for her.
“We now have eggs,” Pearl commented. “This is the third batch I’ve found in the past week.”
Tina watched her grandmother carefully wash the eggs before placing them on a bar towel. At fifty-eight, Pearl looked more like she was in her mid-forties. Her hair was a silver-white and cut short, so she could spike it. She was a tall woman, almost six feet in her bare feet. The warm glow of her blue eyes reminded Tina so much of Riley, that she had to blink back the flash of burning in her eyes.
Pearl was wearing her usual black tank top covered by a black leather jacket with silver grommets on it and black leather pants tucked into knee high black boots. The stark contrast of her pale skin made her look… like a pearl.
“Fresh eggs are good for you. We can sell them, too. By the way, I like your new earrings,” Tina commented as she set Ruby down onto one of the bar stools and slid onto the one next to her. “They have a lot of movement.”
“Silver Forest, darling,” Pearl replied with a frown. “The damn wire to the alarm under the bar was cut.”
“Cut?” Tina repeated in surprise. “Do you think something got caught on it.”
“Hell, no,” Pearl grumbled. “It was sliced with a knife or scissors. When I find out who did it, I’m going to bust their balls. Safety is…”
“Something you take seriously, otherwise you end up dead,” Tina finished with a sigh as she quoted Pearl rule number five. She reached over and ran her hand down over Ruby’s silky feathers when Ruby clucked at Pearl’s tone. “Why would anyone here cut it? They know you had it installed in case some idiot goes bat shit and tries to either bust up the bar or rob it.”
“Yeah, well, someone must have missed the memo,” Pearl snorted. “I want you to check the video and see if you can tell who did it.”
Tina sighed and pushed her thick hair back over her shoulder. She had been running around like a chicken with its head cut off ever since she got back from Righteous, New Mexico a week ago. She cast an apologetic glance at Ruby, thankful the chicken couldn’t read her thoughts. Still, the bar had been a mess when she returned.
It appeared that some biker wanna be’s made the mistake of picking on some of the locals. She had arrived ‘home’ in time to sidestep the body that came flying out of the door. Craig, aka Tiny Johnson their bouncer, was helping Randy and Trey, two of the locals who liked to hang out at The White Pearl, escort the instigators out of the bar after a fight broke out at the pool tables.
Pearl hadn’t wanted to file an insurance claim. Instead, she threatened those involved with a lawsuit if they didn’t pay for the damage. It turned out that two of the weekend warriors were attorneys and one was an insurance adjuster. They had quickly paid up to avoid Pearl filing a police and insurance report.
Tina glanced at the four new chairs, two new tables, and complete set of brand new pool sticks hanging on the wall. She had been the one to get estimates, order the items, and have a local contractor come in to fix the holes in the wall.
During the repairs, their phones had stopped working. T
ina figured one of the men replacing the sheet rock must have cut through a wire. The phone company had sent out a guy to repair the phones, but now there was an annoying click on it every time she tried to use it. She had finally given up using the landline and started using her cell phone.
If that hadn’t been enough to deal with, two of their employees had unexpectedly quit and she was forced to cover for them on top of everything else. Fortunately, Pearl was a pro behind the bar and could handle it while Tina worked the back. She released a tired sigh.
“What is it, luv?” Pearl asked as she stopped and leaned against the bar so she could look at Tina. “Have I told you how proud I am of you for helping out the way you’ve been doing?”
Tina chuckled and shook her head. “You mean without complaining?” She teased before the smile on her lips faded. Reaching over, Tina gently lifted the sleeping chicken into her arms and cuddled it against her breast. “Grandma, where do you think Riley is?”
*.*.*
Pearl’s eyes clouded for a moment before a mischievous, determined light filled them. She was worried about her oldest granddaughter, but she also had a gut feeling that Riley wasn’t dead. She had known the moment when Teri, Riley and Tina’s mother and her only child, had died. A gapping hole had opened in her gut even before she received the phone call from the Los Angeles Police department.
She had learned a long time ago to trust her gut. It had been a painful lesson, but she would be the first to admit that she could be a little hard-headed. She had fallen like a ton of bricks for Teri’s father when she was barely seventeen. He had been in the Army and their one night together had produced her beautiful daughter. Her parents had kicked her out of the house when they found out. She hadn’t cared. She had faced the world with the defiance that only someone as naïve as a young girl in love could.
It hadn’t been easy, but she had never asked for easy. She had worked any and every job she could to provide a good home for her daughter, but it hadn’t been enough. Teri had fallen into the wrong crowd when she was fifteen. Pearl had done everything she could to help her daughter, but it hadn’t been enough.