Mantis rising, p.14
Mantis Rising, page 14
“I’m immune to practically everything, Oleon, including your chemically induced influence. We are sure about this. Doctor Crawford showed me his DNA models and explained it to me in detail. I didn’t understand any of it, but I did see the differences he was pointing out.”
Crawford said, “We don’t know how much time after exposure is required for it to take effect. When you were kidnapped recently on Koveen, it probably wouldn’t have worked for you to have touched them and told them to let you go.”
Oleon said, “I don’t believe it.”
Crawford said, “I don’t approve of this, but it is why the Captain insisted Ema be here.” He handed Ema a surgical knife. “Ema, take this and plunge it into Oleon’s arm.”
Looking shocked, Ema said, “I won’t! We’re friends.”
MC said, speaking gently, “Here’s the thing, honey. Oleon is dangerous. She needs to understand that and understand why she’s dangerous. We’re in the sickbay. Doctor Crawford will repair any damage you do to her immediately. She won’t even have a scar. It is our belief that you won’t be able to do it because of what he’s been calling the Oleon Effect.”
She paused as the two girls looked at each other. “Now, if you don’t do this, I am going to lock Oleon in her cabin until we make our next landfall. Then I am going to toss her off the ship. I doubt you’ll be able to resist leaving with her. You’ll come up with a convincing argument for yourself as to why you want to go with her, just like Brother Mason and Doctor Crawford did when she ran from Haliayan.”
Ema looked around at the other three. Oleon said, “They have to be wrong, Ema. Do what she asks. MC is right — the doctor can fix it.”
Ema took a deep breath and plunged the tool down, aiming for the large muscle in Oleon’s bare forearm. At the last second, she missed and plunged the point into her own thigh. She shrieked, her eyes rolled up in her head, and she fainted.
Crawford shook his head. “Captain, if you’d lift her onto the table and pull her pants down, I’ll dress her wound.”
Oleon was crying. While Doctor Crawford worked on Ema’s thigh, MC held Oleon in her lap.
While her crew took care of the details of onloading cargo, servicing the ship, and stocking up on supplies, MC went bar hopping. Being the boss does have its privileges. In this case, she wasn’t out for fun. She was on the job. What did the job entail? Hanging out in bars.
Once she had returned to the ship with the ladies and their purchases, she left again to prowl. She wore a new outfit she had picked out in a boutique just that afternoon. She hired a car to take her to an uptown bar where she believed there was a good chance she would find someone able to satisfy her needs. She sat at the bar, her hair and her makeup done to perfection, looking sad and lonely. She discouraged a few potential suitors, politely asking to be left alone.
There was a famous woman, a former vid star, who made her home here — not quite in this spaceport city, but on this continent. Her main compound was just over an hour’s flight in a fast autogyro from where Roge had landed the High Runner. The woman’s name was Rici’annabella’cumerlingati. It was a long name that rolled nicely off of the tongue when correctly pronounced.
MC quietly let it be known that she was hunting Rici. Rici hadn’t really been on her hit list — she was still young — barely thirty — and still aspiring for membership in the purely evil club. Since MC needed a mark for her plan to work, her feeling was why not deal with Rici before she earned that status.
MC was on her second cocktail when a man who just might be what she was looking for walked into the bar. From the entrance, she saw him give the room a quick once over. She watched him walk confidently toward the bar — not directly toward her, but his trajectory would land him no more than a stool of two away. He was alert as he made his way through the people standing, laughing, and dancing who were in his way. For a man that size, he was light on his feet. She wondered if he was cybernetically enhanced — which might make him ideal. He was well-dressed, well-groomed, handsome, and decently muscular. He was smaller than Hamy, but she always thought that Hamy took the muscle-building too far.
The man ordered a flight of whiskey shots. His eyes met hers when he glanced her way after knocking back the first one. He winked at her before taking a sip of his second shot. When he set the small glass down, he said, “Please, excuse my manners. I’m Lord Iridim Brak. At your service, milady.”
She smiled back. “A courtly gentleman? What a surprise. I’m Kitty.”
He offered his hand and they shook. His grip was strong. She couldn’t tell if there were any cybernetic enhancements in there or not. She kept her own grip light and gentle, as befitted an athletic-looking woman who was looking to be seduced.
Lord Iridim Brak laughed. “If I’m being courtly, I should mention that ‘Lord’ is my first name, not a title. Both of my parents taught history, ancient Earth history, at the university. I assume that’s where they got the idea that Lord would a terrific first name to lay on their son. My friends call me Brak. It’s much less pretentious.”
She laughed as well. “Kitty is my first name. It’s what my friends call me, too.” She sipped her drink. He finished his second shot. “If you want to slide over to this empty seat between us, I’m amenable.”
Once he was settled, she waved the bartender over and ordered herself a third drink. She said, “Ancient Earth history? I always thought Old Earth was a myth.”
He shook his head. “No, it seems to be — or at least, to have been — quite real. I can tell by your accent you weren’t born here, so you probably don’t know that we have one of the original colony ships with largely intact databanks here. We’re quite proud that we were able to preserve it.”
She nodded, starting on her fresh drink. “Do you teach too? And, do you know anything about Old Earth religions?”
“No, I don’t teach. I’m more of an administrator. If you want to discuss defunct religions, you’re talking to the wrong guy. I suppose I could take you home to meet my mother, though. Why the interest?”
MC laughed. “We been talking for ten minutes and already the man wants to take me home to meet his parents? That’s moving too fast for me, lover. I’m up for taking you to meet my hotel room, if you like.” She waited while he polished off his third shot. She took another sip of her drink to be sociable. “No, my interest in old religions stems from my middle name, which I understand was an important holiday back then.”
“I can’t stand the suspense. What holiday graced you with its name?”
She laughed. She had been laughing a lot since Brak had sat down at the bar. Only part of it was an act on her part. She had no idea how much he was acting. They did seem to have good chemistry between them. “You are a courtly gentleman, you know? My middle name is Christmas. I think I’ll keep my last name to myself, for now, at least.”
He grinned at her. “OK, Kitty Christmas, I have one shot left and you have half of your drink to finish. I propose that we finish up here and then you introduce me to your hotel room.”
MC smiled seductively. “It’s a plan, my lord.”
Chapter 26
Job Interview - MC Style
Male and female clothing went flying in all directions once the door was locked behind them. MC embraced Brak while they were both still standing, getting a feel for his body. She liked how he felt. Without her heels, the top of her head came to the level of his eyes. He didn’t rush her. He held her passionately, but not crushingly. He was running his hands along her body, too. His voice husky, he said, “Damn, girl, you feel strong.”
She laughed. “You have no idea.” Then she picked him up and tossed him onto the bed. “I am. Let me show you…”
Enjoying the afterglow, MC slowed and deepened her breathing, appearing to doze, while draped over Brak’s chest. She felt his body shift as he reached over and rather deftly, considering he was using only one hand and not watching what he was doing, removed a syringe from a small metal case he had set on the night table before undressing.
Despite having her eyes closed, she watched him doing it. After one of her surgeries, she had woken up with trick eyelids that could be made transparent from the inside while appearing normal on the outside. She could see through them when she wanted to. That had taken some getting used to. The liquid crystals in her irises gave her the ability to change her eye color, too. She had yet to encounter a situation where it made sense to do that.
He brought the old-style needle close to her neck. She didn’t think she was in much, if any, danger. Most needles bent when jabbed into her. Depending on the material and the force used, it wasn’t unusual for one to snap. Since she didn’t particularly want him to know that about her, she caught and snapped his wrist as it came close to her neck.
She flipped over him, picking up a small dagger from her discarded frock as she backed away. He sprang out of bed directly at her, ignoring the pain in this wrist. MC was mildly impressed. He was decently fast — fast enough for her to suspect a degree of genetic engineering. She dodged and swept his legs out from under him. He landed without putting any weight on his broken wrist.
Brak jumped back to his feet. Good balance. He seemed to be angling toward his jacket. Possible stunner? They can make them pretty small these days. Or an aerosol like my lip color? That’s the most likely. She swung her right foot up and around, hitting him solidly in the chest and sending him crashing back onto the bed.
When he got back up, he was far more wary of her. She knew that last kick hadn’t injured him, except maybe for his pride. “I told you I was strong, Brak. Is this foreplay for a second round on the bed? I’ll tell, you this isn’t exciting me.” She glanced at his crotch. “It doesn’t seem to be doing much for you along those lines, either.”
She nimbly ducked under his lunge, slashing with the dagger. Brak was both stronger and faster than normal. Definitely some genetic tinkering in his makeup.
He froze, wary and watchful, but unmoving, with his arms at his sides. He hadn’t seen the blade coming. “You could have killed me.” He looked down at the shallow wound in his chest and the blood oozing out of it. “You didn’t. So, what is this, a game? Are you playing with me?”
“Not a game, Brak. Nor am I playing with you. I know what you are. In fact, I was hoping to come across someone like you. Are you freelance or corporate?”
“They warned me you might be good. I should have carried a phase pistol. I don’t see any reason to make things easy for you if you’re going to kill me in the end.”
MC shook her head, offering her “you fools amuse me” smile. He had already seen her “seductive smile.” Several times, in fact. “If I was interested in taking information from you, believe me, just talking would be making it easy on you, not me. I’m not going to kill you, Brak. Well, not unless you attack me again. That would show a fatal lack of judgment on your part making you completely unsuitable.”
“You’re not?” He sounded puzzled. “What do you mean unsuitable?”
“No, I have no plans to kill you. When we finish here I’ll either allow you to go, free and clear, or leave you unconscious on the bed with no hard feelings on my part. We all have to earn a living some way, don’t we? If you don’t walk out of here with me, I don’t guarantee you won’t have a headache when you wake up.”
He seemed to think about that. He finally said, “I’m freelance.”
“And your assignment?”
“To capture you. You weren’t to be killed. There were only drugs to render you unconscious in the syringe. It was a strong cocktail but shouldn’t have been a fatal one. For someone who should know better, you were ridiculously easy to track down. You asked the clerk at the boutique where you bought that dress — you looked really good in it, by the way — if she could recommend a pickup bar. I don’t understand what the big deal concerning you was.”
“I would think that after fighting with me for a few minutes, you would understand what the big deal is. I wanted someone to come after me, my lord. I’m not particularly interested in terminating Rici’annabella’cumerlingati. Does that clear anything up for you?”
“You wanted to meet an assassin in a bar? Why?
“Not necessarily an assassin. A hard man with a similar set of skills.” She shrugged. “Then again, maybe I was just horny. How was the sex for you?”
He grinned. “Really? You have to ask?”
She grinned back. It wasn’t the same kind of grin. “On a scale of ten, I’ll give you an eight for guile. You played your role well. Looks, overall, nine. Your self-defense skills suck, so we’ll go with a three on that one. You’re going to need more training. Reflexes and agility exceed acceptable. Seven. Sexual prowess, six.”
“You’re kidding, right? Only a six? You seemed to have enjoyed it far more than just a six. And why are you grading me anyway?”
MC shrugged. “Get up and sit back on the bed. I’m in the market for a bodyguard.”
Brak grimaced. “Lady, we both know if you wanted me dead I would be dead now. I’ve never met anyone who moves like you do. I hate to admit it, but yes, hand-to-hand, you’re that much better than me. I doubt you need a bodyguard. I was told that you wiped out the entire crew of a pirate ship pretty much single-handedly. Besides, like you’re reported to be, I am primarily an assassin. I’m good at it, too.”
“It wasn’t the entire crew, Brak. I kept some of them. They work for me now. It’s a bit of a problem for me that anything about that is known here. I am going to want to know who you heard that from. But, to your point, the bodyguard isn’t for me. Over the last months, I’ve been accumulating people. I’m still not really sure how that happened. One of them is a young woman. She’s more or less defenseless. Either that, or she’s the most powerful weapon in the galaxy. I suppose they’re not mutually exclusive. Both could be possible. The bodyguard is for her.”
He looked incredulous. “Are you telling me this was a job interview?”
“Of course. Although, I’ll admit that I enjoyed our dalliance. If you’re interested in bodyguarding for a while, my doctor will have to check you out before we discuss terms. You’re augmented, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You move too fast. Good work, though. I didn’t see any scars. Are you chipped?”
“Chipped?”
“Yes.” Her patience was running thin. “Do you have a chip in your head, or anywhere else for that matter?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Get dressed. Are you going to come with me when I leave or not?”
“About that. You’ve put me in a bad spot, Kitty. Rici’annabella’cumerlingati hired me to bring you to her. She doesn’t handle failure well. Oh, she’s the one who mentioned you versus the pirates.”
MC smiled. “I admit that I’m curious about how she acquired knowledge about my involvement with a crew of pirates. I don’t have a problem with spending another day here and taking off her head. I don’t want to keep it — that would be disgusting.”
“Really? Why would you?”
“My father was the kind of person she’s striving to become. The galaxy became a better place after I killed him. I’m willing to make it just a little bit better before I leave here. If I make the effort, I want you for my ship. I was serious about having a need for a bodyguard.”
He grunted. “I was considering leaving here before too much longer, anyway. I’m becoming known. I’ll take the job, Kitty. I’m going to want to take the time to clean out my bank accounts.”
“Of course. You can do that while I’m eliminating Rici’annabella’cumerlingati. And Brak, on my ship I’m addressed as ‘Captain.’ If we’re alone and I’m not being the captain at the moment, you can call me ‘MC.’ I made up ‘Kitty.’”
Before Rici’annabella’cumerlingati took her final breath, she experienced more pain than she would have believed possible. MC had mentioned to others that she could be brutal, and this time, she was. The woman spent the last minutes of her life sobbing, staring at her fingers on the desktop in front of her. They weren’t attached to her hands anymore. MC had to take the interrogation that far before the woman answered what MC wanted to know. Once MC had that information, she painlessly ended the woman’s life.
Sadly, her information wasn’t very useful. Despite the ship’s altered name, it had been recognized at the port as one that Rici’annabella’cumerlingati had on more than one occasion hired to smuggle people for her. Hesta had been an easy target after she had left the ship alone for some R and R. She had been picked up in a bar, drugged, and questioned. She spilled everything about what had happened to the prior crew. She also disclosed that her new captain had training as an assassin. Then she was told to forget about the questioning. Due to the drug, she did.
MC musingly wondered if she needed to find people like Brak to accompany all of her crew.
