Domestic Duet: Domestic Alliance & Asset (18 page)

She wouldn’t let him intimidate her.

“I have a cake to frost and laundry to fold so if you think of anything before your guests arrive, I’ll be in the kitchen,” she said and effortlessly passed his stare counting the steps to her sanctuary, the kitchen.

An hour later, cake frosted, Sadie closed the door behind the last man to arrive for Richard’s private weekly meeting. Bankers and other businessmen from all over the state filled the living room.

Sadie gave a quick nudge to her pocket, depressing her device to begin recording. “Gentleman,” she greeted. “Mr. Edwards’ office is open with refreshments. You know your way,” she said, accepting their hats and placing them in the guest closet behind the front door.

“Thank you, Sadie, that’ll be all for tonight. And take Friday off…you need a break.”

Sadie could read between the lines. She’d made him nervous. “Thank you,” she replied, her mind already spinning on what she’d learned. “I’ll set out the empty milk bottles before I leave.”

Rushing around the wall, her rubber-soled shoes kept her from slipping on the polished floor. She made her way quickly into the powder room. This was it, the moment she’d get the information to break this case.

Her knees crushed the fluffy seat cover on the toilet as she rested her ear to the cool wall adjoining the office to listen. Her communication device vibrated in her pocket. Angling around to check for anyone that could see her, she tucked the device over her ear.

“Sadie—” the rich voice said warming her body and mind “—Captain Farkus here. Do you have a report on the launch date and time for the next shipment?”

The tiny brown hairs on her arm stood at the caress of his voice licking down her neck, indecent and lurid, but that was her perception…right? She could picture the swirling tattoos down his left arm. His smooth, bald head and long-veined torso supported by sturdy pillars of corded thigh muscles made up the male known as Aroc Farkus. She pushed back her lust for the captain.

“Captain,” she muffled the sound of her voice with a hand. “You know the rules about sharing info. First Captain Holston then you.” She waited for the inevitable complaint.

“No special privileges for a friend, Detective Ochi?”

Wicked male, she mused inwardly.

“Honor the line of protocol, your words not mine, Captain Farkus,” she reminded him, knowing it would get her punished later. Pure nirvana as far as what Aroc would do to her. Deep thumb massages down her back, torture for a karuntee’s sensitive spines, made her limp just thinking about it. Their twisted relationship became the highlight of her week.

Aroc Farkus hissed over the com. “The minute you have the rogue’s name or their clans I expect communication; I’ll do what I can on my end. And Sadie…”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Norese misses you.” The graveled country singer tone thrilled her body every time he spoke, but she hadn’t missed the slight hesitation.

She sighed. “I’ll be there tomorrow—Captain Farkus. Anyone else miss me? Montage or that muscled male running the canteen?” she asked taunting him. Not her shining moment, but surprisingly she could tease the big male.

“Don’t test me, female. I’ve had a long week. Norese has taken to sleeping on my head and I’m showering alone.”

Cranky as a canker sore and that means he’s been awake for two days.

“Captain, I’m not in a secure location,” she whispered into her com while scanning the hallway. “I’ll contact you later.”

His displeasure filled the com on a sigh. “Before you close your eyes tonight, Ochi, I insist on hearing your voice or I’ll come to Earth and remove you from your bed,” he warned in his private low tone he used with her mostly in private. The one her body shivered for and had nothing to do with fear.

And he had no idea she found him sexy.

“Captain Farkus, this isn’t a good time.” If there ever was one, she thought, whispering into the com while keeping her attention trained on the noises filtering through the wall from the office. “You need to get full time help up there. Norese needs a stable influence in her life, not a weekend visitor.”

“You’re making dinner, Sadie, and you’re the only female that I want in my home with my daughter. Captain Aroc out!” he barked.

She rolled her eyes at the soft hum off the fading connection. They weren’t a couple so why did he affect her that way? She filled a void in his world and he promised to let her live. That wasn’t a relationship; that was an agreement. So why did her heart thump whenever she heard his voice? Because she had the best sex of her life in his shower, that’s why.
Face it, you went from being blackmailed to friends and now he’s deep in your heart, but he’s never been more than cordial and thoughtful when you’ve stayed with them.

They’d moved past captor and prisoner, to comrades saving the planets from pollution...

Give in; you think he’s delicious…and he treats you like a delicate flower.

She had…did…he was.

The voice saturating the wall from the other side garnered her drifting attention. The words she’d waited to hear gave her pause.

“There’ll be a special launch for contaminated fuel next week during the time of the fireworks show at the festival.”

Sadie cursed under her breath. The festivals were loud and crowded. Live music and fireworks after to last into the early morning, well after the sun goes down was a perfect time to do dirt.

Mr. Edwards’ voice penetrated the wall. “There’s a two-week shut down on the space station. The aliens cut-off all shipments in or out, so this is where we make our money,” he said. “While they’re shipping security is checking in the last of the transports, our shipments go unnoticed if we have them marked appropriately.”

Sadie heard Colson’s steady even tone interrupting the wave of other voices. “What’s the two-week shut down for?”

The paper-thin walls allowed her to hear Richard had moved to the window along the back wall.

“Think of Alaska’s month of no sun,” he said. “The aliens shut down travel during the two-week blackout.”

This happened on the space station according to Captain Holston, and all communication with the karuntee was denied for fear of being attacked. No, they were dealing with something deeper than they realized. If you’re going to steal from aliens as tough as the karuntee, know what you’re up against. It might be more than you’re willing to give up, because you can’t win.

This confirmed inside help. The shuttle bays were heavily monitored by twenty-four surveillance. No one got in unless they knew where the men were stationed and avoided them.

Ryner needs to hear this now or our plans would go up in smoke.

Edwards said, “The last shipment for this week left at midnight from the open field behind the botanical garden. We’ll shoot for next week, giving everyone ample time to notify their customers and make arrangements. There will be two coded shipments to Sector Five: this delivery and one uncoded to Sector Twelve—the unfiltered fuel.”

Sadie released a heavy sigh flicking her gaze up to the ceiling, annoyed by their arrogance.

“After I receive confirmation that the ship will be there, deposits will be transferred to the Caymans, then in a week, Switzerland. After a month you’ll start receiving your deposits in five-thousand-dollar increments or less.”

Men groaned, their irritated voices a heavy weight on the air.

“Either we do this my way or leave. I’ll refund eighty percent of your funds. The twenty I’ll keep as a reminder never to do business with you again.” Richard could be ruthless when money was involved.

In unison, the men confirmed they were in until the end.

Sadie dropped her gaze to her hands folded in her lap. This was happening.

“First Friends Bank went down for being sloppy. I go down, you go down. Do we understand one another men?” he asked and Sadie could picture the color bleeding out around Richard’s compressed lips through the silence. “Good, any questions?”

“My clients from Gimbal Steel want in. Is it too late?”

Sadie identified the voice belonging to Colson.

“If they sign the waiver of discretion and understand I never want them in my bank, have their shipment ready to go next week.”

“The code word…” Wixom spoke and his voice moved around the room.

“After this is over, destroy the code word and make certain you leave no papers with it anywhere. Remember, never use a code word twice and never write it down outside of my office other than the tanks.”

“Wixom,” Mr. Edwards said. “Your clients from Moore’s Manufacturing and Colson’s from Penn’s Petroleum, those are slated to go to Sector Twelve.”

“What about your other contact?” a soft-spoken man said on the other side of the wall in an uncertain query. His voice cracked. “My customers are expecting a deal. The thirty percent discount you mentioned last week. This shipment won’t pass Federal inspection, but they need to sell it fast.”

This is utterly unacceptable. They’re cheating the country selling contaminated fuel. Don’t they see this will jeopardize future treaties and possibly start a war?

The shuffle of feet then the clunk of a rock glass on the Formica counter top penetrated the wall, placing someone close to the window. It also meant Richard might have noticed the key to the safe had shifted. She’d realigned the glue marks from the tape the best she could for the time she had.

Her nails curled over the tank lid as she listened, the tortuous moments passing slowly before anyone made a sound.

“Now we have to make certain the legal clean shipments are two, even three to one when they unload the cylinders. They’ll check the outside then load it quickly.”

Voices mingled.

“Fifty grand for clean fuel. And they’ll shave ten grand off your cut if you’re ten minutes late,” Wixom added. “Everything is time-sensitive.”

No one spoke.

Oliver Cantrell cleared his throat. “Gentlemen, we’re one leg of an expensive operation so take this seriously.” The sounds dwindled to nothing. Oliver continued, “Having the government officials look the other way, keeping the media at bay, and cloaking the perimeter…thousands.”

How much money was Edwards worth to be able to buy off the police? This could be the biggest heist take-down of her career. Her eyelids lowered as she focused to listen.

“The plane leaves to meet the shuttle at midnight at an undisclosed site. You must have your fuel ready to be loaded onto the plane an hour before lift-off,” Richard Edwards said. “Fast operation. It’ll appear as any delivery when it’s loaded. And we’ll have police escort surrounding the plane, so get in then get out.”

The apprehension in Colson’s words leeched through the wall. “The local cops?”

“The government has sanctioned these deliveries and I’ve made certain only a select staff works on the loading dock. They won’t remember your faces.”

This guy has his hands in everybody’s pocket.

A few words passed she couldn’t make out. Sadie wanted to go in and shake Mr. Edwards. It was finally coming down to this house. An overwhelming sense of loss filled her chest.

Legs cramping from the long held position, she reached down to rub her calves. Loud laughter came through the wall.

“Has anyone ever seen those things on the dark side of the moon?”

Sadie leaned in closer. Wiggling the numbness from her behind, resting on her heels, with her palm, she rubbed away the numbness. She could hear them battling for floor time, voices rising over the other. One voice broke through.

“I’ve heard so much about these aliens since coming on board… What are they called? Karuntee. How does the government keep something this big out of the media? Rumor is they don’t come into the light.”

The karuntee were killers, yet they never bothered humans unless provoked. Captain Aroc Farkus, the leader of the karuntee, despised humans…most of them. Sadie found him to be a gentleman at times, and an animal at other times.

“Henry,” Richard said to Mr. Colson. His voice revealed his irritation. “Just take the tanks and let us make a profit. The karuntee do exist and you’ll do well to never have to face one.”

A moment of silence ensued before the men burst out laughing. Ignorance revealed itself in many forms.

“Good one, Edwards. Now tell me the Tooth Fairy lives on planet Pretty Wings.”

Laughter rumbled through the walls of the powder room.
They are so ignorant. Captain Farkus is nothing to play with.

“Okay, okay…” Mr. Wixom, said excitedly. “Remember, white cargo van behind the warehouse on the north side. We have to be at the open field behind the Georgia Botanical on time. If anyone’s late, my people get an extra ten grand for supplying the trucks. They need to be at the launch pad by midnight so they can get their trucks back unnoticed.”

The longer she listened the more she resented these men conniving and plotting to steal from the karuntian. Captain Ryner Holston would blow a vein once she told him of their plans.

Shifting her butt to rest against the toilet tank, she nearly lost balance on her knees, and caught the towel bar. Now would be a colossal bad time to make noise. With her ear pressed to the cold wall, Sadie listened, focused on the white floor scale with the wastebasket perched over the little glass window. She could hear their words leeching through the drywall.