Page 2

2 He

His deep, amused voice rumbled through my body, leaving behind an unsettling echo of a touch. It was a voice of sin and sex and sweaty, passionate nights.

He was both taller and broader than any other Gendrian male I have ever had the pleasure of shooting. There was a rigidity to his form, a type of discipline and strength you found in military personnel. He wore a long black leather coat, over a perfectly fitting black suit and dark blue vest, all of which were perfectly tailored in the most expensive fashion to fit his form. His black boots went half way up his calves. His legs were spread in the authoritative military fashion, and his hands were clasped behind his back. He was elegance and ruggedness, a clash of wilderness and sophistication.

‘You are late, detective.’ The chief inspector’s red-faced bark tore my gaze from the man.

Only then did I become aware of the others watching me with a mix of ribbing amusement and snide glee at my clear loss of control in the presence of a Gendrian.

‘Don’t go pulling your guns out and shooting anyone, Rockhall, this one’s a friendly.’ That was Detective Briggs’ mocking voice.

‘I’ll try to control myself,’ I said dryly as I closed the door behind me and strode into the room.

Bloody hell, there was the whole damned security party in here. Detective Briggs was eyeing me in that way of theirs that always sent a shiver up my spine. I did not like Briggs, it was a secret I did not divulge, not even to the lithe herm whose hands were prone to drunken wandering where they were not wanted. Even sober, there was something altogether sly and unpleasant about them.

Next to Briggs sat Cody Latch, a junior officer who seemed to have developed an almost infantile type of attachment to their mentor, who unfortunately happened to be Briggs. And of course, the two of them were rarely seen without Detective Tate Sanders in tow, another rather well decorated member of our team.

‘Care to tell me what is going on here, chief.’ I raised the file Tay had passed to me in the corridor and my gaze shot pointedly to the Gendrian. ‘Is he a GLF informant who is turning himself in with information? If so, shall we torture him, just to be sure he cooperates fully?’ That earned a laugh from Cody Latch, who was always the one to laugh when no one else saw anything funny.

‘I thought you already filled your weekly quota for dead binaries,’ Briggs scoffed.

I was not proud of my rather morbid claim to fame in the department for having hunted down and killed more Gendrian murderers and terrorists than anyone else on the force. In fact, I recoiled that there were those in our department who kept tabs on the suspects’ death count for all our detectives. Last time I dared to glance at the chalk board with the tally, I was in the solid lead ahead of anyone else.

‘I didn’t realise I had a weakly quota to fill,’ I replied dryly. ‘If I do, then I’d say I am a long way off where I wish to be.’ I cast a menacing look at the Gendrian, who seemed entirely unperturbed by the conversation or my veiled threats.

‘Settle down, Rockhall,’ said the chief. ‘This is Agent Rain Wild,’

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Of course the brute would be called something outrageous like Rain Wild. I quickly stifled my humour, crossed my arms and stared at my feet. ‘Secret service? So, what is this then, a charity outreach? An international exchange project? Do we babysit him for a few days before sending him back to his own people?’

It was an absurd thing to say. He looked nothing like someone needing babysitting. Yet for some reason this Gendrian provoked a sense of infantile rebellion in me and the sense of acute restlessness I could not explain. The need to provoke him was overwhelming.

The other agents raised their eyebrows, whilst the man himself grunted, a deep rumbling sound that caressed my insides. ‘Cute,’ he said dryly, insolently as if I was a child throwing cheap insults. Which, of course, I was. The alternative was to dissect him with my knife. ‘Now that we have been introduced, detective,’ he continued. ‘I suggest we get down to business.’

Fanigan cleared their throat. ‘In case you haven’t heard, Rockhall, the mayor has been taken hostage by GLF. There is no time for petty cock-wagging.’

‘What’s he got to do with it.’ I jerked my head at the enormous primate standing a few paces away.

‘ He is secret service and is in charge of the investigation into Gender Liberation Front’s activities. And he will be your commanding officer in this case. So you will defer to him.’

‘No.’ The denial blurted from my mouth before I had time to consider it. Hell, an ache of need developed in my lower parts, one that had nothing to do with his jawline or the stubble or the rumbling voice, or the challenging stare he levelled at me, and had everything to do with an aura of danger and magnetism surrounding him.

‘This is not a request, Rockhall,’ the chief snapped. ‘If you don’t think you can handle this assignment, leave your badge behind and take some time off to re-evaluate your life’s choices. I told him you’re our best. Perhaps I was mistaken.’

I gritted my teeth and said nothing.

Fanigan seemed placated somewhat. ‘Good. Now to the point of being late. You’ve missed most of the briefing. I tried to call you …’

‘Won’t happen again, Sir.’

‘You said that the last time, Rockhall.’

‘And the time before that,’ Briggs added helpfully. ‘Rough night, Rock? Last I saw you, you were dancing on the bar tables, whilst downing chaser shots.’

I gave them a dry look. ‘Whilst you were trying to wipe your own vomit from your date’s lap, if I recall correctly. I take it they didn’t return home with you.’

‘Unfortunately, my date deserted me for Cody here.’ They jerked their thumb with disgust at the young officer.

Cody reddened. ‘I didn’t know they were meant to be your date. I don’t even remember their name.’

Briggs patted them sympathetically on the back. ‘Neither do I, kid. Neither do I.’

‘As I was saying,’ Fanigan interrupted abruptly. ‘City Hall is currently in the hands of GLF terrorists. They’ve executed one hostage not an hour ago.’

‘What are their demands?’ I asked.

‘The usual,’ said the agent’s deep voice, patronising in its calmness. ‘Release of their members from prison, independence for Southern Gendria, return of southern neutral zone to their control. That sort of thing.’

I gritted my teeth at his smug, condescending tone. And was I seeing things or did the monstrosity in his overly well-fitting pants move.

‘Anything more specific, rather than just the usual cock-wagging?’ And damn it, but my gaze fell to his crotch again, before jumping back up to his face.

Briggs, Cody and Tate hid their laughter behind a cough. The captain, stared at the ceiling in evident embarrassment at my errant glance.

‘Indeed,’ the agent said slowly, completely unfazed. ‘They are demanding the legislation to be passed giving the right for the binaries to reproduce without a licence in Brandria, like the Herms.’

Maybe long ago, I might have sympathised with their cause. But that was before a Gendrian destroyed me. Now, I could raise no sympathy, not for myself and not for them.

The long, bloody wars between our kind, the Gender Wars, as they were now known, ended over a hundred years ago. Though our government claimed victory and redrew the geopolitical lines along the division in our society, I always thought that no one was the victor in truth. Brandria took over most of Gendria’s southern territory after the war. Since then, Gendria’s population had been in near constant decline, whilst Herms were now a majority of the continent’s population.

GLF blamed the decline of the Gendrian race on the Post war population management, which was still strictly enforced in Brandria. The truth, however, was that the Gendrian population had been on the decline for centuries leading up to the wars, whilst the Herm population was on the rise. Hell, it’s not like we stopped them from fucking and breeding. Gendrians were allowed to live in peace, shag and have children. True, in our country they needed a licence to breed. But the binaries could always return to Gendria if they wanted, to breed with no licence on their own soil. This last century, we left them in peace. If only they could return the favour.

I turned back to Finigan and waved the file in the air. ‘I still fail to see why this is on our table here. This is Stateguard’s jurisdiction.’

A clearing of the throat. I turned my gaze back to the Gendrian. ‘As your captain explained, this is the secret service matter, the finer details of which I am not at liberty to divulge right now.’

‘You’re in our jurisdiction. Gendrian secret service has no…’

‘I work for your secret service, detective. Or rather our Brandrian secret service. I am a born and raised Brandrian. And this is my case, which means you report to me.’

I spun my head to the chief inspector. Fanigan shrugged. ‘They asked … … ahem, I mean he asked for you directly. This is the department of security matter and they want our best.’

For a moment I was rendered speechless. Not least because there were Gendrians in our secret service, but because they knew of me …

‘We’ve been following your career for quite some time, Detective Rockhall,’ said the agent, his face serious. ‘Now how about we have a private chat.’

I turned to the captain. ‘Unless you have anything else for me, I’ll take this in my office.’

‘Report back when you are finished, detective,’ the chief said, and there was an odd watchful glint behind his eyes, one that an animal might get when they sensed danger.

I stalked to the door. ‘Let’s get started then, Agent Drizzle.’

‘Name’s Rain … Rain Wild, detective.’