LustAfterDeath (3 page)

“Uh…that’s better.” Ignoring the regret tearing a hole in
his already shredded conscience, Bane listened at the door.

Josie’s muscles screamed with pent-up rage. She struggled to
focus her gaze on her new husband’s face, hoping her expression conveyed the
depth of her hurt.

“When I open this door, I want you to run as fast as you
can. Will you do that?”

She dragged her jaw low, forcing her tongue to work.
“Noooooo.” Her voice sounded foreign, sickly, frightening to her own ears.

Bane scrubbed a hand over his face. “Listen, it’s for your
own good. I…” He couldn’t seem to look at her, his gaze swinging to the corners
and shelves.

Her breath dragged into her chest, slow and ragged.
“Nooooooo.” Josie couldn’t… Couldn’t let this man, who’d she’d hoped for so
hard, treat her like a thing. Adam had done that, and it nearly broke her.

His lips pinched. With guilt? She couldn’t tell. Then Bane
crossed his arms and stepped back as far as the tiny room would allow. “All
right, fine,” he whispered. “If I let you go free will you run as fast as you
can?”

Her mind shrieked to refuse, but she chose what would give
her the best chance at freedom. Josie pinched her eyes and gulped hard on her
pride, then nodded.

“I release you.”

She let out her breath and lifted her chin, but refused to
show the depth of her relief.

Bane reached for the handle, not giving her a chance to even
think. “Head for the stairs and out the front door. Don’t turn around, don’t
look at me. I’ll be right behind you. One…” he breathed. “Two…three!”

The door flew open and Josie ran. She’d planned to head to
her room and lock the door once they reached the top, but from behind her,
gunfire erupted. Her vision tunneled, her legs pedaled up the staircase. Josie
stumbled at the top step and her knee smacked down on the marble floor, but
Bane’s arm hooked under her shoulder and hauled her to her feet.

He shoved her across Adam’s living room, and then gripped
her upper arm to haul her outside. All the while, Bane continued firing behind
them, not looking where he shot, but hitting his mark every time.

Cool, fragrant air filled her senses. The heels of her shoes
sank into the damp ground with her every step. She ran as fast as she could,
her legs burning as she fought to keep Bane’s pace. The forest swirled with
life—animals scurried in the underbrush, birds rustled the leaves, waist-high
greenery licked at her dress with waterlogged branches.

The enormous white confection became heavier as she ran, her
shoes burned at her heels and toes. She panted, “I can’t… I have to stop…” Bane
bent over and grabbed her waist and hauled her up, then set her down
immediately. “You wearing anything under that?”

Josie opened her mouth to answer, but he waved his hand.
“Whatever.” Gripping her shoulders, he turned her around and unzipped the back.
Bane shoved the dress to the forest floor and ordered, “Ditch the shoes too.
They’ll only slow you down.”

Too frightened to argue, Josie bent over to tilt her shoes
off then stepped out of the pile of dress. When she rounded on Bane, his
desperate expression forced her to step back and consider running the other
way.

“Damn, babe.” He ripped his shirt over his head. The muscles
of his arms and abdomen rippled as he bunched the cloth in his fists. More
gently than she would have thought, he put it over her head. Josie fed her arms
through the holes and the scent of man and sweat clung to the garment, as did
the heat of his body. Josie wanted to roll around in the cloth like a cat in
the sun.

Bane snatched her around the waist and tossed her over his
shoulder. Then he ran full-steam through the woods.

It was beyond uncomfortable. Josie tensed her abdomen at his
every stride, but his movements battered her stomach. Though the shirt fell to
her thighs while she stood, in this position it failed to cover the cleft of
her rear end. Misty air cooled her exposed flesh. “I can run,” she squeaked.
“Let me down.”

“No time, babe, sorry.” He patted her bottom and she yelped,
reaching behind her to slap at his hand. The movement straightened her spine
and Bane struggled to keep his grip. A sharp slap landed on her left buttock.
“Lie down. We’re almost there.”

Wincing at her pummeled belly, Josie tried to relax. She
rested her cheek, then her chin on the curve of Bane’s back and considered at
what point she should raise her hand to smack the taut behind flexing in her
line of view.

The trees cleared and Josie smelled salt. “Let! Me! Down!”

To her surprise, Bane did as she said and dropped her to her
feet. He turned to stride away, so she swung hard and landed a stinging slap on
the seat of his trousers. He only spared her a glance and a snort before
walking away. “That there is a ‘dock’ and that’s a ‘boat’, you walk down one to
get the other.”

“I knew that!” she shouted after him, though she filed the
information away in her memory. The boat was small, maybe a little over twenty
feet long, and had an enclosed cabin and a rear section covered with plastic
and awnings.

Bane didn’t look back as he walked the pathway toward the
dock. Josie followed behind, careful with her bare feet on the twig-strewn
ground. The bay was beautiful. Gray-green water met gray-blue sky. In the
distance, black islands hovered in welcome.

The single boat swayed in the water alongside the dock.
“Hurry up, babe. They may have brought backup.”

Josie turned to study the forest. “Who were they?” A hand
closed around hers and Bane led her again, onto the rotting-plank dock.

“They work for Synaviv. A company that manufactures steins
like you.” He stepped down into the back of the boat and grabbed her other hand
to help her in. Their eyes met. “Like me.” He looked away and Josie wondered
whether the moment happened.

Josie followed Bane into the boat’s cabin. The interior
space stretched only about six feet by eight and was filled with cabinets, a
kitchenette and a small table. Bane’s nearness beat a warm, living pulse
against her consciousness. “But you’re not like me, you’re like Adam.” She bit
at her bottom lip.

He stood by the steering wheel and started the engine, not
looking her direction. “I had a maker, just like you. But Frank saved me and
he’ll fix you up as well.” Bane turned and strode past her out the door of the
cabin. She watched him jump onto the dock and untie the ropes attaching the
boat. He came back a moment later, picked up a fleece sweater and tossed it to
her. “Put it on before you freeze.”

The boat rumbled below her feet and pulled away from the
dock. Josie stumbled and grabbed the back of the dinette for support. Pulling
herself forward, she angled her hip around to sit on the bench and pulled the
fuzzy material over her head. It smelled like salt and musk and felt warm and
cuddly on her flesh. Her eyes traveled to the back of the man motoring out of
the bay into open water. His pale-gold skin, marked at odd intervals with
scars, was naked from the point where his olive-colored pants hung low on his
hips. Josie wondered if he was cold, but lingering anger clouded her concern.
”You shouldn’t have done that to me.”

Shots rang toward them from the shore. Josie ducked her head
below the table, and Bane pressed a lever forward and the boat sped faster.

“I am not talking to you until I get some miles between us
and that island.” He didn’t look at her as he spoke, but she noted the tensing
muscles at his shoulders, and that he released the black steering wheel to clench
and unclench his fist.

“I liked you before.” Josie hoped he didn’t hear the longing
in her voice. She peered out the window at the island retreating. The tall,
darkened trees thinned at the tip of the island, showing only rocks. Black
waves lapped at beachy shores. She spotted Adam’s house jutting around the
other side. From this distance it looked blank, like the eye of a machine
staring out.

“And now?” Bane’s voice was steady, measured.

She watched her home disappear out the window. “Now I don't
like you very much.”

Bane lowered his hand to a small machine sitting atop his
console. He clicked it a few times. “I didn’t think you would.”

Sound exploded in the cabin, a driving beat that assaulted
her ears. The pummeling rhythm overwhelmed her senses and Josie’s vision
darkened. Arms swept under her shoulders and legs and jostled her from the
bench. She felt a soft surface under her back, though her eyes refused to open.
The music faded to a drum. “G’Night, babe.”

* * * * *

Light. A slow beam of it speared his optic nerve and 402’s
brain reactivated. His GPS reported his location to headquarters even before
his proprioceptors registered that he was lying down. The concrete floor bit
into his twisted leg.

With a hand on his hip, 402 wrenched his leg back into
place. He surveyed the hallway. Three other Synaviv operatives lay fallen. He
relayed the information, making sure their numbers got deleted or reassigned.
They didn’t have the upgrades he did and wouldn’t survive their wounds.

He mentally scanned his team throughout the island. One
soldier had found and shot at Connor’s boat before dying. Calculations showed
the bullets likely connected with the boat’s motor. Perhaps they’d gotten
lucky.

402 forced himself to stand and limped to the lab to find
some A-positive and an IV kit. In the meantime, headquarters spoke in his mind.
“Is the doctor still available?”

He tugged open the door to a small refrigerator and pulled
out a bag of blood, then winced as he tied a tourniquet around his arm and
pierced his vein. Taping the tube in place, 402 lifted the bag over his head
and walked upstairs. The doctor’s lifeless body lay on the table. His eyes
stretched wide and glassy.

“We can acquire him. You have the information from the lab,
correct?”

“Affirmative.”

If 402 didn’t know better, he’d say the voice from
headquarters sounded relieved. “Do what you can to preserve the body until we
arrive.”

402 walked over to the doctor and ran his hand over his
back. He patted the corpse for reassurance. “I’ll make sure our brother pulls
through just fine.”

Chapter Four

The first rays of morning sun shone under the cloud cover as
Bane motored into the bay at Sucia Island. The boat bucked and rolled, the tiny
backup engine fighting a losing battle against the late-fall chop. Synaviv’s
guy must have hit the main one, because it had stuttered and konked out about
ten minutes from Patos.

Bane pulled his sleeping bag more tightly around his
shoulders, cursing his bad luck. Sucia was beautiful, sure, but isolated and
too exposed should Synaviv arrive with reinforcements. He surveyed potential
hiding spots among the pines and cedars rising from one end of the island. To
the other side, a long spit of a beach curved—a great spot to keep watch. A
seagull streamed alongside the boat, visible through his window, seeming to
mock his predicament.

Three boats clung to buoys in the center of the bay, but the
dock itself was empty. Bane breathed a sigh of relief at the first break he’d
gotten this trip. Frank hadn’t sprung for a dinghy to get to shore, and he
didn’t think her highness sleeping soundly in the V-berth would take kindly to
being told she had to swim to reach the can.

He shifted to neutral as he reached the dock, the vibration
slowing under his feet. “Wake up, babe! I need your help.”

Her eyelashes fluttered over the pink spots high on her
cheeks. She stretched her arms over her head, causing his t-shirt to ride high
on her hips. Bane craned his neck to peek under the hem before dragging his
gaze up to the approaching dock. “Up, princess!” He nudged her naked leg with
the toe of his boot. When she rolled to her stomach instead of responding, he
tapped his foot on the swell of her rear.

She squealed and pulled the material down over her ass and
glared at him. “What do you want?” Black hair streaked her face like tar on
sand. When she rose to standing, the stein peered around the cabin, looking
confused.

“Help me dock.” Bane grabbed her hand and hauled her to the
wheel, ignoring her yelp when she tripped over her feet. “Put your hands here
and here.”

He pulled Josie in front of him and positioned her hands on
the black plastic wheel. Bane kept precious inches between his front and her
back. “You feel the boat pulling?”

The girl nodded, her fingers sliding along the ridges of the
steering wheel, the move oddly provocative.

“Is driving anywhere in your program?” The rosemary and
lavender scent of her hair filled his nose. She shook her head and some of her
mane brushed against his chest. Bane felt it through the worn material of his
t-shirt.

“I don’t know what you want me to do.” Her voice rose and
fell, plaintive with a touch of self-doubt. One of her wandering hands
feathered to the dashboard to touch the edging on each of the controls.

Bane snatched her hand back to the wheel. The dock approached
on the right, but Bane clasped his fingers over hers, turning the column to the
left. “Let’s circle the bay first. Get you used to her.”

Josie leaned over the wheel, going on tiptoe as she caressed
the boat into a turn. “Can we go faster?”

Bane blinked in surprise. All tension had left the stein’s
shoulders and she craned her head to study the boat’s controls. “Sure, babe.
Just grab hold of this.” He loosened her hold on the wheel and placed it on the
“T” of the shift. “And press forward like this.” He eased her hand, adding a
little gas at a time so as not to scare her.

She stiffened at the feel of the motor speeding up, then
shoved forward on the gas. The boat jumped beneath them and her laughter pealed
through the cabin. Bane stumbled as the kicker engine groaned up the side of
one wave, then lurched over the other. “You’re going to wake the other boats!”