Deep Indigo (17 page)

“I have a business proposition for you,” she said. “One I think you’ll find attractive.”

“I’m already doing business with your…patron.”

She smiled tightly and his senses sprang to alert.

“How would you like to earn twice that much? Whatever he’s paying you, I will double.”

Cyan smiled back, showing all his teeth. “I’m listening.”

Rra sauntered into the main room of his condo. The huge area was softly lit and equally soft music played. A tray with his favorite drink sat waiting on the long sweep of bar. The doors to the balcony were thrown open and his mistress’s slender form was silhouetted against the lights of the city below, framed between two huge planters trailing delicate blossoms.

He picked up the single goblet waiting and took a long swig. Ah, just as he liked it. He smirked as he looked at the woman on the balcony. She knew how he liked his creature comforts. And she’d learned he would have what he wanted.

His cock hardened as he remembered the two sex performers, muscular bodies gleaming as they thrust into her from both ends, the snake slithering over all of them, while the Serpentian woman sucked his cock. Ah, what a night that had been. He’d come so hard he’d shouted aloud.

He would call that particular service again, very soon. He required a little more stimulation to receive pleasure lately.

Lly had crept off to her room, whimpering and moaning, but she’d recovered by the next day. She’d better, as much as it cost him to keep her. So what if she eyed him like a frightened bunny? It simply reminded him of the power he held over her. He’d plucked her out of the secretarial pool and he could throw her back anytime he chose. Or further.

Strolling out onto the balcony, he joined his mistress at the stone balustrade.

“A fine night,” he said expansively. “Look at the city. Flung out like a great jeweled cape, fit for a king. For me! I tell you, when I’m rid of that quarking Logan Stark and his great white hopes, the
Orion
and the
Cassiopeia
, I will virtually own it all!”

He chuckled richly and reached for Lly, but she sidled away, out of his reach. The moon was down and her eyes were dark shadows in her pale face, her mouth a taut line.

“What’s the matter, little bunny?” he mocked. “Afraid I’ll throw you over?”

He chuckled again and drained his glass. Ebullient power flowed through him like the strongest drink. Turning, he ran lightly up the steps at the end of the balustrade and stood on the edge of the stone, throwing back his head to enjoy the evening breeze on his face.

“You see?” he cried. “Nothing to be afraid of. Not for me, anyway. I’m master of all I survey!”

She stared up at him, frozen. Obviously fascinated by his daring, his magnificence.

He lunged at her and grasped her arm to pull her up with him. “Come, share the moment with me!”

She screamed and writhed desperately in his grasp. “No! No! Let go of me!”

Twisting her head as he hauled her up onto the parapet, she sank her teeth into his wrist and bit him savagely.

“Augh!” Pain shot through his arm as her sharp teeth sank through skin and flesh. “Little bitch! I’ll kill you for this!”

He wrested his arm free of her mouth and backhanded her, sending her tumbling against a huge planter. Straightening, he stepped back, ready to tell the useless little whore exactly what he would do to her.

His foot sank into open air and, with a jolt of terror, he felt himself begin to fall. His last sight was of his gorgeous condo, the lights gleaming in every room and his mistress watching him, his blood smeared dark green across her face, her eyes wide.

He screamed as he plummeted off the balcony, toward the city far below.

Loftan Cyan stepped out from the shadows of the far planter and leaned over to look down off of the balustrade.

“Tsk, tsk,” he said mildly. “Our host seems to have fallen. You’d better call the authorities.” He smiled gently at the slender woman shivering against the other planter. “And do remember—I was never here.”

She wiped her face with the back of her hand and pulled herself upright. Like a young queen, he thought with amused approval.

“I won’t forget. And the currency will be in your account in the morning.”

He bowed. “I don’t doubt it.”

They both knew he could just as easily come back and make her jump off this same balcony. Really, he didn’t know why more Indigons didn’t choose this route. They could rule the universe.

As he stepped into the PanRra hovie waiting for him, he frowned, rubbing his forehead. Damn, his head ached. Ah, well, he’d take an analgesic as soon as he was back on the Mazarin cruiser. And then he must rest.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

He would destroy Daron Navos and his quarking step-daughter at the same time. Oh, he didn’t need the Cobalt money anymore. It was a piddling amount compared to the fortune he and Beryl Mazarin were amassing. But Nelah was an annoyance to him. Made him nervous to think of her raw power allied with Navos’s.

All that power on the side of right—what a waste.

Chapter Nineteen

Cyan was no longer on Indigo. Nor was Beryl Mazarin, as far as the IBI agents could ascertain. They’d escaped only that night, aboard her new cruiser, according to the Indigon City space port holo-records.

The agents were even now scouring the clinic, and Cyan’s office at the university, for records left behind that might give clues to the co-conspirators and their destination.

Chad was in the infirmary, sedated and unconscious. Tentaclar had studied the implant on the body-scan unit and decided the surgery to remove it was too delicate for him to undertake. As soon as they landed on Cirrius, the boy would be put on a fast cruiser for Indigo and surgery at the university hospital, at LodeStar’s expense.

Hugh would go with him. Navos spoke with him, explaining as much as he could, promising full details after the whole affair was over. Hugh brimmed with excitement that he and his friend were involved in a highly secret criminal investigation. He was also relieved after being reexamined in minute detail for an implant and found to be clear.

“But, sir,” he asked in a hushed voice, his eyes wide. “Can you tell me which professor? I can’t believe any of them would—you know, become involved with criminals.”

Navos eyed him. The boy wouldn’t be able to keep all this to himself, but in any case Chad’s family would demand information. Cyan had exposed himself. Navos would let Hugh do more. Even if Cyan somehow evaded the IBI, he would never work at the university again, or on Indigo.

“It is Professor Cyan,” he said deliberately. “Former professor, that is. He will of course be terminated. He’s a wanted man.”

Hugh was properly horrified and repulsed. “I can scarcely believe it. Why, I had research lab with him just last semester.”

The
Orion
landed on Cirrius in the golden light of early morning, settling down on the expanse of baked earth beside the huge space port terminal. Later on the small planet’s sky would brighten to orange, her brown vegetation unfurling for the day.

The tall, furry natives disembarked from the ship with happy yips, glad to be home. They were followed by a group of tourists, wearing goggles and protective clothing and several hunters carrying long weapon bags. Cirrius was famous for its herds of tall deerbbits, wily and evasive.

Navos watched it all without interest. He was chilled by the realization he might have ripped the bond between himself and his beguiling lady so asunder it could never be repaired. And the thought of living without her, of never again holding her in his arms, of never seeing that glowing smile, of never coaxing her into some new sensual act was, he now discovered, more than he could bear.

She wouldn’t see him when he asked, later that day. Nor the next morning. She was stubborn, he knew that. She’d proven it over and over, refusing to go away when he wouldn’t take her as an intern, triumphing in the tasks he’d given her and arguing with him endlessly when they talked.

He respected her for it. He had no idea how to break through it. And the idea of calling her to him empathically filled him with self-disgust.

He was sitting in his office, gazing unseeingly at Cirrius fading in the distance, when the door hissed open. Steve Craig stood in the opening.

Navos looked up wearily, raising his brows in silent question.

Craig walked in and sat in the chair across the desk. “Daron,” he said. “We’ve known each other for a while. We’re friends.”

“Yes,” Navos agreed, nonplussed at the remark. “We are. Do you need something—”

Craig shook his head. “No, no. I, uh…” He cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable but determined. “Daron, I know you are a very private man. I don’t like to intrude, but damn it, if even a soldier like me can see something like this, it’s pretty clear.”

Navos stared at him, unwillingly fascinated. “And that would be…?”

Craig’s lean cheeks reddened, but he spoke doggedly. “Love. You and Ms. Cobalt. Nelah.”

Navos could not have been more shocked if Steve Craig had struck him across the face. He stared at his captain, feeling heat rise in his cheeks. He had the strong desire to laugh, or curse.

“Love? A maudlin emotion and, while I understand it afflicts most of the planetary beings in the galaxy at one time or another, it is not a state for which I have ever wished.”

Craig eyed him wisely. “Uh-huh,” he said. “You’re not exempt, you know. You may be Indigon and cool as ice, but when the right female comes along, even the mightiest of us fall.”

“That is lust, surely, and ingrained for the procreation of species.”

“Oh, sure. But so much more.” His silvery eyes softened and a smile kicked up the corner of his mouth. “It’s when just the sight of her punches you right in the gut and you get that great big swell of pride in your chest, because she’s yours. Out of all the fools in the galaxy, she picked you.”

His gaze hardened and he looked like the warrior he was. “It’s when you’d gladly die to protect her, when you’d give up anything to keep her safe and happy.”

His brows drew together thoughtfully as he considered Navos.

“And for men like me and you, it’s when her happiness is more important than your own stiff-necked male pride.”

Navos absorbed all of this. He stared down at his hands on the desk.

“I would do…anything to make her happy again,” he whispered, forcing the words out. “But, I—I have no idea what that is. She won’t…speak with me.”

To his shock, Craig chuckled, a richly satisfied sound. “Ah. That bad, huh? Well, then. If you’re in that deep, my friend, you’ll figure it out.”

He clapped one hand on Navos’s shoulder and then left. Navos could have sworn he heard whistling fading in the distance.

Navos’s next visitor was Sirena. He sensed her before she arrived, of course. The fiery Serpentian had an aura so strong the air around her simmered.

He rose politely as she sauntered into his office, expecting to discuss the investigation. But having seated herself with languid grace in the chair opposite his desk, she studied him with a look that sent suspicion skating over his shoulders. He lifted his brows at her in inquiry.

When she straightened in her chair, he tensed. She was up to something.

She smiled faintly. “You look as wary as a man watching a serpent coil to strike, Commander. Don’t worry, I’m here to help you.”

“With the investigation? Your assistance has been invaluable,” he said politely.

She dismissed the life-threatening situation with a wave of her hand. “No, no. With something equally as important. But which I fear you are ill-equipped to handle.”

He gripped the arms of his chair. Oh, seven hells, no. Not again! “Madame, if you are here to offer your advice on a personal matter, I beg of you, save us both the embarrassment.”

She raised an eyebrow in delicate astonishment. “I’m not embarrassed. And you shouldn’t be, although I see by the look of princely haughtiness on your face that you are.”

She shook her head. “And save the no-doubt killing retort trembling on your lips. I will make this short and then I’ll never speak to you so again. Daron, you are an exceptional man. As tactician and second-in-command of this ship, there is no one any of us would rather have at our sides. But you are a man.” Her sultry smile reminded him she was a renowned expert on his sex.

“And you are a man of deep feelings. Don’t think you can go through your life and ignore them. You and I have more in common than you realize,” she said, rising to pace over to the porthole and gaze out at black space. “I thought I could go through life without opening my heart to anyone—without making myself vulnerable.”

She turned on him, her lovely eyes haunted. “I shudder to think what would have become of me—a pathetic, lonely old woman, comforting myself with memories of my conquests, if my splendid Dragolin hadn’t broken through my defenses.

“And such will be your fate, if you don’t reach out and take this lovely young woman who is so obviously your equal in talent and intellect. And who looks at you, I might add, with such banked passion in her eyes I’m surprised your flight suit does not burst into flames.”

Navos held up his hands, unable to bear any more. “All right,” he said. “All right. Thank you, Sirena.”

She was silent and he let his hands fall to his desk. Unwelcome or not, this proud woman had opened her heart to him, made herself vulnerable. “I…I do hear you,” he said. “I do.”

She nodded slowly. “I see that you do,” she answered softly. “Then the rest is simple, Commander. Do what you must.”

She glided out of the room.

Navos rose to stalk over to the window. As unwelcome as their outspoken advice had been, Craig and Sirena were both right. He could not lose her.

When the door opened yet again, he whirled to see Ogg’s short, wiry figure in the doorway.

Navos scowled at him. “Ogg, I warn you. If you are here to offer romantic advice, turn around and go away.”

The mechanic’s weathered face screwed up in a grimace. “Romantic advice,” he repeated as if it were a phrase in a new language. “Who in the seven hells do I look like? Dr. Lovejoy?”