| |
The next morning
I didn’t think I’d fallen asleep, but a whiskered face nuzzling my neck awakened me. I sprang upright, slamming my forehead into Bane’s.
“Ow!” he and I both yelped.
I flung my arms around his neck. “You’re here! I was getting worried.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t break away.” He held me tight. “The debriefing took a while, and I wasn’t allowed to contact you until we were done.”
“I understand. I’m just happy you’re here now.” I hadn’t seen him since yesterday. After leaving the dunes, we’d arrived at C-Force headquarters in early evening. He had blindfolded me before we entered Città, explaining it was standard security protocol.
At headquarters, he’d led me to an interview room where Quint had grilled me for hours about government and corporate plans, Kathryn Jodane’s political operations and aspirations, the people in her employ, and her daughter, Sandra. Drilling down to minute detail, he’d extracted from me information even I hadn’t been aware I knew. I’d observed way more than I realized.
No wonder Jodane had wanted me dead.
Relentless, Quint had asked the same questions multiple times in different ways. His unnerving metallic eyes missed nothing. I got the sense he noted and recorded every blink, every swallow, every breath I took. He was like a cyborg lie detector. I had no secrets to hide anymore, but it was intimidating as hell. It would have been even scarier if Bane hadn’t been there.
The interview extended into the night then Bane disappeared into a private session with Quint, and I was blindfolded again and escorted by Gunner to the safe house.
I’d figured Bane’s debriefing would take a while, but I hadn’t expected he’d be gone all night. Despite his assurances he wouldn’t be returning to Earth, I’d feared I might never see him again. Maybe Quint had deemed us being together a security risk. Maybe Quint had dispatched him on a mission. Maybe this. Maybe that.
“Is Gunner still outside?” I asked.
After depositing me in the safe house, the cyborg had taken up his post outside.
“No, I relieved him.” He scanned my face. “How are you faring? Are you okay?”
“I am now that you’re here.” I fingered the fasteners on his shirt. He’d removed his jacket but still wore his holstered blaster. “You’re not going back to Earth, right?” I sought reassurance.
“No. My cover was blown. But, like I promised, I’d resign before I’d leave you here and go to Earth. I did receive new orders though. A new assignment.”
“Doing what?” He might not be sent to Earth, but his next mission could take him anywhere.
He flashed a grin. “Being your bodyguard.”
“Really?”
“Really. That way I can keep a real close eye on you.” He scooted on the mattress to lean against the headboard and then scooped me onto his lap. “Close, like this.” He smelled like soap and had changed into a long-sleeved tan pullover and brown tactical pants.
“Did you shower?” Having been buried in aliens, I’d brushed myself off and bathed as soon as I had arrived at the safe house.
He nodded. “At headquarters.” He rubbed his jaw. “Forgot to shave though.”
“You’re sexy with a little scruff.” He looked far less formidable, more approachable this way although possibly only my opinion had changed. Once, he’d scared me to death. Now, I trusted him completely.
“This, however, can come off.” I tugged at the holstered blaster digging into my ribs.
He removed it and set it on the bed stand.
“If your job is guarding me, what am I supposed to do?” I’d logged long hours as an attorney in a law firm and then insane hours as a presidential corporate liaison. Some downtime would be welcome, but eventually I would have to get a job to keep busy, or I’d go stir crazy,
Eyes the color of ice floes twinkled. “Have lots of sex with me.”
“I meant for a job!” I said, but I smiled.
“Oh, you want another job?” he joked. “Well, you’re cleared to work at Geo-Tech if you still want to. Logistics to be determined, but Breeze will get in touch in the next day or two. You will be assigned a new identity. Quint has arranged for your demise to be reported to the authorities on Earth. The official cause will remain the explosion. However, C-Force will leak to Jodane that you were not in the crash, but that Stephanie succeeded in carrying out her orders, and then I killed her.”
“Rather than saying she got swept up in a dust devil? If people realize how dangerous the sand can be, wouldn’t that motivate them to leave?”
“Yes, but it might also motivate the government to try to destroy the sand. If we report Stephanie died in a dust storm, and news breaks that we’re dealing with an alien life-form, somebody will make the connection that Stephanie wasn’t killed by a weather event but by the alien.”
I shuddered, remembering how Stephanie’s solution to the sand problem had been to kill it. “So, what happens with Jodane? Can she be brought up on charges?”
He sighed. “Unfortunately, no.”
“No? No? She committed attempted murder! She ordered a hit on me! She told you to kill me. And then ordered Stephanie to do it. What more proof do you need?”
“But the way she told me is not indictable. She instructed me to relieve you of your duties. That meant kill you, but to everyone else, she might have been telling me to fire you. Since Stephanie is dead, we’ll never know how she phrased the order to her.”
Most likely it was similar. Stephanie said something to that effect—Bane hadn’t done his job, therefore she had to.
“Furthermore, no president has ever been arrested by a policing agency. Only five presidents in three hundred fifty years have been impeached, that is, charged with a crime and tried, and none were removed from office as a result. A sitting president is well-insulated from the consequences of his or her actions.”
“So, she gets away with attempted murder?”
He shook his head. “No. C-Force will bring her to justice; we’re collecting evidence and building a case.”
“Since you’re staying with me on Sajave, does C-Force have anyone on the inside anymore?”
“I don’t know. I expect Quint does have a contingency plan, but what that might be is anybody’s guess.” His arms tightened around me. “Until Jodane is prosecuted, I’ll keep you safe.”
“I know you will. I trust you.”
He took a breath and released it. “I always told you you could, and then I screwed up. I won’t let you down—”
I pressed my palm to his mouth. “Don’t blame yourself. We both faced a dynamic situation, and neither of us had the information we needed.”
We’d been in a Catch-22. We couldn’t reveal ourselves until we trusted the other; we couldn’t trust until we’d revealed ourselves. Undercover, Bane hadn’t been at liberty to reveal his identity. Immersed in the culture of fear and secrecy, I’d been wary of accepting assistance from the president’s enforcer.
Somehow, we’d overcome the distrust.
I traced his lips with my thumb. He pressed a kiss to my palm.
“You make me feel, Tempest.” The naked vulnerability in his gaze revealed he was saying much, much more.
I’m falling in love with you, too. I’d speak the words after he got more comfortable with feelings again. Warmth kindled in my body and spread through my soul. We formed a good team. He’d safeguard my life; I’d protect his heart. “You make me feel, too,” I said.
He smiled. I smiled. And then our lips met, and I started my new job—having lots of sex.
