Page 69

CHAPTER 68

MINISTER KABERA WAS sitting at one end of the bar with two women fawning over him. The one with thick blond bangs and a bare midriff had her hand on his shoulder. A petite Asian woman with rough-cropped black hair was tracing patterns on his thigh. He had his arm around the Asian woman’s waist, his fingers splayed down over her hip. His bodyguards sat one stool away on either side of him, drinking soda water. Or so they thought.

The second time Lial danced into Kabera’s line of sight, he slipped off his stool and made a beeline for her. His bodyguards started to follow, but they were both logy and slow. Kabera waved them back anyway, shooing them like flies.

When he got within a few feet of the dance floor, Lial turned her back on him and plunged back into the crowd, pretending to ignore him. She knew this would only stir the chase response. Men were so damn easy. They could be trained like circus animals. Lial shook her shoulders and allowed Kabera to catch up to her.

It was time to move things along.

Lial had been setting honeytraps since she was sixteen. She considered them cheap and unsavory. But tonight’s scam served two purposes. Cal Savage’s. And hers.

Right on cue, she felt Kabera’s sweaty hand on her shoulder. She turned toward him without breaking her rhythm. He smiled and started to move in sync with her. She smiled back. Not full wattage. Not yet.

Let him earn it.

Kabera wasn’t a bad dancer, just a little stiff on the transitions and restricted by his slim-fitting suit. Lial dumbed down her moves slightly to match his. In the crush and heat of the crowd, perspiration glistened on his face and darkened the blue collar of his shirt.

Lial let him get close. Very close. She felt his hands on her waist, his hips bumping hers. He leaned in toward her ear. “Come outside with me!” he shouted. It was the only way to be heard.

“Why?” Lial shouted back, tilting her chin up toward him.

“I want some time with you!”

This time she brushed her damp hair off her cheek and gave him the full treatment. She dipped her eyes, then raised them again. She flashed her perfect teeth in a shy smile. She gave him a little nod and mouthed, “Okay. You win.”

Lial could read his reaction. She’d seen it a hundred times.

The minister of internal security thought he’d sunk the hook.

But it was the other way around.