Page 7

7 Morning After

My mouth tasted like a rat had climbed inside and died in the night. But it was the pounding in my head that made me groan. I was alone in bed. That too I noted remorsefully. Then I recalled Rain’s possessive demand. Instead of outrage, my mind strolled to the image of Rain’s calloused hand jerking me off. My cock began to throb. At this rate, I’d be spending the whole bloody day nursing an erection.

With another groan, I rolled onto my back with a hand on my cock, jerked and stilled … and sniffed. Coffee. There was a smell of hot coffee in my apartment and … and bacon.

I tried to work out who would be making me bacon and with a frown realised that no one had ever made me coffee and breakfast in the morning, for I was always the first to rise. No one but Andie …

In a flash of panic, I released my cock, jumped out of bed, yanked open the door, and marched down the corridor to the kitchen, whilst my brain tried to recall if Andie still had a key to my flat.

At the door to the kitchen I staggered to a halt.

Rain was sitting in the chair at the table, impeccably dressed in a tailored, perfectly fitting suit, reading the morning paper, sipping a cup of coffee, whilst helping himself to a slice of toast.

He raised his gaze to me. ‘You look like shit. Have some coffee. It’ll wake you up, and there is a plate with eggs and bacon for you next to the stove.’ He perused my body up and down unashamedly. ‘Did you sleep in your clothes?’

Just then my toaster popped out two slices of bread.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ My voice was gruff and husky with sleep, and his gaze instantly heated, as if I just caressed his cock. ‘And how the hell did you get in?’

He shifted in his seat and crossed his legs. ‘I will not insult your intelligence by replying. I thought we’d already established it’s not my first time in your apartment.’

My gaze dropped to the magazine on the table next to his coffee cup. It was one of the ones I hid in my wardrobe. It was my dirty, shameful little secret that I liked to look at Gendrian Men . I developed this fetish when I was fourteen, after we started studying anatomy in school. My curiosity about the differences between Herms and Gendrians quickly developed into something more. It was around that time I began my secret magazine collection of naked hims. The fetish ended after Ma’s murder. Then returned again with fierce vengeance after that night of the masked party. The magazines, however, in all their naked glory, could never prepare you for such a man as the one now sitting in front of me.

Rain Wild was something else entirely. Rugged and sensual and feral like barbarians of old, with his piercing gaze, and strength and authority seeping from his every pore.

‘You’ve been to my room,’ I said dully.

He followed my gaze and smiled over the rim of his coffee cup as he sipped. ‘Quite an eye opener, I must say. You can learn a lot about someone by learning what it is they fantasize about. This one is your favourite issue, if I am not mistaken.’ Taunting me, he lifted the magazine filled with naked Gendrian men. ‘Last night —whilst I was thinking of you and jerking off — I recalled something strange, something I missed before. I had to check my hunch, you see. And there is this man on page thirty-six …’ He flicked through the pages idly. ‘Now let me see. It’s the page that is most obviously well-worn, with bent corners. I would say it’s the one you enjoy the most … and well, I could’t help but notice …’

I marched up to him and snatched the magazine from his hands, and the bastard chuckled. I knew the damned page, knew who the man looked uncannily like.

‘You flatter yourself, Agent Wild …’

‘Call me Rain. I like it best when you say it breathlessly.’ He sipped his coffee.

Hell. It was too early for this, and my head was spinning, whilst my cock was aching and straining just from him being in my kitchen, looking like a walking wet dream. How the hell could anyone seem so damn erotic just sitting down? Even fully clothed, with a blasted newspaper in front of him, he looked like an image from the same pornographic magazine he was taunting me with.

‘Seems to me you yourself fantasise about Herms, Drizzle.’

He folded the newspaper neatly. ‘You, Rockfall. I thought I made myself clear. I fantasise about you . But never mind about that now. That particular conversation can wait. Your shift at the bank starts at eight, which is an hour from now, and we don’t want to be late.’

He placed the paper down next to his plate smeared with remnants of fried eggs. Then lifted the last of his toast to his mouth, and an image of that mouth around my cock flashed before my eyes. I suddenly fixated on those lips, opening, slowly biting the toast, the tip of his tongue darting out to lick a drip of butter from his lip. My breath quickened. He was watching me watch him, taunting me just a little, as that wretched knowing smile curved his lips. ‘Want me to take care of that?’ His gaze darted to my cock straining against my trousers.

‘I’m going to have a shower.’ I spun on my heel, felt dizzy doing it and ended up staggering unsteadily out of the kitchen.

I closed and locked the door behind me in the bathroom, turned the shower on, and allowed the steam to fill the room, whilst I brushed my teeth in front of the mirror. He was right, I looked like shit. My hair looked like I’d been dragged backwards through the hedge and my eyes were slightly puffy.

I climbed into the shower, trying hard not to think of Him in my kitchen. Of his piercing blue eyes, of his roguish jaw and chin. Of the way he was looking at me as if I was to be his breakfast after a long fast. Though clean shaven, there was a hint of stubble breaking through, and I tried not to imagine how it rubbed on my neck, my jaw… now it would feel between my legs …

My hand drifted to my aching cock. I gripped and yanked. Damn, I should have fucked Shay and Ezra last night. Except I could not seem to want to think of them. My mind was latched firmly on Rain Wild, as my other hand went to my breasts. They were small, not like Ezra’s large handful, yet somehow, they felt just right in Wild’s hand yesterday. I jerked again, harder this time.

My nipples were hard and I imagined his lips on them.

My hand sped up, but it was not enough. When had it not been enough? Frustrated I hit the tiles with my palms and staggered out of the shower, but my quim and cock were both pounding with need. I needed to fuck. I needed to fucking jerk off. I tried again, closing my eyes, imagining Rain all over again, and the ache intensified …

A knock on the door. ‘Rockhall.’ His gruff voice came through, and my cock jumped in my grip. ‘You alive in there?’

I opened my mouth to say something, but no word would form as my hand worked away.

‘Rockhall, are you awake in there. Been gone a while. Answer me.’

Yes, that was what I needed, his deep voice rumbling through my quim … fuck …

‘Rockhall if you don’t answer I will …’

‘Go away, Drizzle,’ I groaned and my voice sounded strained, gruff, as if I was lying there, dying.

Perhaps I was, or at least I would if I did not …

‘Rockhall, speak to me. You don’t sound so good. I’m going to have to come in …’

Hell, my hand jerked harder, before he …

The lock flicked open and door crashed open, hitting the wall. Rain stepped in looking worried, a lockpick in hand. He stopped and starred at my hand frozen around my cock.

‘Ever heard of privacy,’ I uttered, feeling strangely unashamed. Too far gone to be ashamed when the object of my bloody arousal was two steps away.

Slowly, he raised his gaze to me. I opened my mouth to tell him to get out, but the words would not leave me. He took those two steps forward and put his hands either side of my head in the wall, looking down at my hand on my cock.

‘Do it, Rockfall, let me watch.’ His deep, gruff voice rubbed against my skin in the way that made me almost come there and then.

I began to stroke again, slowly this time.

A groan escaped him. ‘Who were you thinking of, Rockhall?’

I’d rather cut out my tongue than confess the truth to him. My hand stilled, and with a frustrated sight, I leant my head on the wall, closing my eyes. I released my cock and placed my hand on his chest to push him away.

He grabbed my wrists and pinned them either side of my head. Then he kissed me, his lips demanding, tongue pushing against my lips. My mouth opened and took it. He tasted of coffee and man. I moaned into his mouth, and he titled my head to the side and thrust his tongue deep into my mouth. My body reacted without any thought from me and I instantly begin to suck, my hips buckling forward and my erection hitting his. I moaned again. Hell, even through his trousers he felt massive, barbarically so.

He ripped himself away, breathing roughly. ‘Who, Rockhall? Who were you thinking off?’ It was no longer a question but a demand.

‘Fuck you, Wild,’ I breathed. ‘I owe you nothing.’ My voice was hoarse with passion, weak, shaking, belying my harsh words.

His breathing grew even more ragged, for I saw in his gaze he knew exactly who I was thinking about. His hands, released me, travelling slowly down to my body, cupping my breast. His lips lowered to my nipple and he sucked, My whole body jerked towards him, as my eyes shuttered closed. He lifted his face, leaning his head against the tile beside my head, as his hand ran lower and lower, until it came to my cock. He rubbed the tip of it with his thumb, before mowing lower still, until he reached my quim.

Slowly, probingly, his fingers ran along the seam, ever so gently, so tentatively, moving towards the entrance, stroking it.

‘I want to hear you say it, Ari. Tell me who you were thinking of whilst touching yourself.’

I moved my hips, desperately needing release. But he continued to caress me far too gently, taunting, making me almost wild with need.

‘Say it, Ari, and I will give you what you want.’

I was past caring, past pride. I wanted only him. ‘You,’ I ground out. ‘I was thinking of you.’

His finger slipped into me, and he groaned as if in pain. ‘You are so fucking wet for me.’ Slowly, ever so slowly he withdrew and inserted two fingers instead.

I gripped his shoulders with a gasp. My hips arched towards him and I moaned, ‘Rain …’ His name escaped my lips, for I could not keep it inside any longer.

Two of his fingers were wider than any cock I had ever known. They stretched and filled me, and when they slid in deeper, I almost came out of my skin.

‘You are so fucking wet for me, you are dripping on my hand,’ he rumbled haltingly as he withdrew his fingers and pushed them inside again.

I was beyond speech, beyond mere want. I dug my fingers into his hair, pulling him closer and closer …I was nothing but flesh, a carnal creature his to do with as he wanted. My hips undulated forward, senselessly, mindlessly, meeting his thrusts. His thumb found my clitoris and began to stroke. I groaned again and put my forehead on his shoulder.

His fingers curled inside me, and I moaned at the dizzying pleasure of it. Slowly he withdrew before plundering inside me again.

‘I jerked off twice last night, Rockfall,’ he was saying hoarsely as he moved his fingers in and out. ‘And once again this morning whilst thinking of you.’ At his words, the walls of my quim clenched, drawing his fingers deeper inside. He groaned in appreciation, before delving deeper, harder. ‘Do you know what I was thinking?’

In reply I moaned, unable to speak to even think beyond the building tension in my cunny.

‘I was thinking of just this,’ he continued, his hand moving faster now, wringing out another low moan from me. ‘I was thinking of how badly I wanted to be inside you, of what it would feel like to have your walls clench around my fingers, my tongue, my cock …’

The walls of my quim clenched again, and my hips were no longer my own, riding his fingers with wild abandon. My other hand griped my cock.

‘That’s it, love, come for me, now. I want to feel you come on my fingers,’ his voice rumbled wickedly into my ear, and I was there, on the praecipes … he kissed my neck, sucking and licking and claiming, then bit me firmly, juts enough to give me a small flash of pain that sent me over the edge. Pleasure ripped through my cunt, racing hot and intense through my body. My hips jerked forward and I cried out, shuddering and shaking and gripping his hair, pulling him towards me, falling apart …

When the crisis passed, and my head began to clear, the first thing I realised was that there was no second wave of pleasure from my cock. Mild disappointment echoed deep inside me, beneath the lethargy and weakness and sated repleteness, for I was certain this would be my ever evasive double climax.

The second thing I realised was that I was gripping Rain’s head to my neck. He was breathing harshly, his body tense, as he struggled to compose himself. I became aware of his erection pressing against my leg, knew he had found no release himself.

I just had my most powerful orgasm in years, and all I could think about was that he had not come. I have never left a lover unsatisfied. Slowly, his fingers moved out from inside me. My hand moved to touch his erection. The moment I did, he stepped away, looking wild, rugged. He lifted his two fingers to his mouth and licked them, looking at me all the while.

‘You are most delicious, darling,’ he said huskily and turned away. ‘Get dressed, Rockfall, we don’t have all morning to fuck away.’ He said casually without turning around as he strode out the door and down the corridor back to the kitchen.

My legs wobbled, and I slid to the floor, catching my breath, wondering what the hell just happened? My cock was still semi-erect. I could still feel his fingers inside me, on my breasts, my skin. There was a slightly tender spot on my neck where he bit me, marked me. I could feel him all over, as if he had branded every part of me. Even my fingers tingled with the faint imprint of his cock I briefly felt through his trousers.

After the afterglow and weakness subsided, I returned to my room, dressed in my usual style of suit, pulled on my red stilettos and combed my hair. A brief examination in the mirror was enough to satisfy me that I didn’t look like I just had the most intense orgasm of my life.

In the kitchen, a plate filled with bacon, eggs and toast awaited me, with a steaming mug of fresh coffee beside it.

Rain was reading the paper again, as if he did not just fuck me with his fingers, then licked them clean. As if this was just a regular morning for him.

‘I am still waiting to learn why you are here,’ I said dryly.

‘You mean aside from the intense need to see you and touch you,’ he said equally dryly without looking up from his paper. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a folded note and threw it on the table. ‘Some light reading for you during your breakfast.’

‘Listen, Wild …’ I began.

He turned the leaf of the newspaper. ‘Focus on the work, Rockhall, unless you want me to bend you over this table and do what I’ve been wanting to do for far longer than you care to imagine.’ His voice was mild, indifferent almost, yet I heard great restraint in it.

I sat down before he did just that. Not because I didn’t want him to, but the exact opposite. I suddenly wanted to spend the whole day fucking and be fucked by Rain Wild.

I bit into my toast and read the note.

‘Let this one go, or we go after Serpent.’

‘When did you get this?’ I asked.

‘This morning. It was put under the door of my apartment.’

‘Someone who knows that you are investigating this case? I thought it was meant to be a secret.’

‘It was,’ he said wryly.

‘You have a mole in the agency.’

‘So, it would seem. Unless someone in our agency is also involved in the situation with the mayor. Thankfully, they don’t know about you.’

‘Unless they are following you,’ I pointed out and bit into my bacon, followed by a swig of coffee.

He did not look pleased by the prospect. ‘It’s possible, but I’m not an easy target to follow. I can sense when I am being tracked.’

I studied the note again. ‘Who is Serpent to you, and why go after them?’

‘Serpent is a she and happens to be my ex-wife.’

A sharp and instant pang of jealousy hit me, that his wife would be the legendary Serpent. ‘Are there any Herms in our secret service, or is it completely infiltrated by Gendrians?’ I said levelly, hoping my face betrayed no emotion.

Damn his smile. When it came, it felt like a naughty dip of his finger inside me. ‘Not all Gendrians want to see a rift between our genders. The wars have claimed enough lives on both our sides. Most of our agents are in fact Herms, just as there are Herms in the Gendrian secret service. We are actually on good terms with their agency.’

‘You’ll need to let your wife know a threat’s been made against her.’

‘Ex-wife,’ he corrected. ‘We are irreparably divorced. And I have already sent her a message.’

I finished the last of the toast, drained my coffee. ‘We’ll need to speak with my Pa on the way to the bank. I don’t believe this is a coincidence. Grant’s emergence, the threat against your ex, and the attack on my Ma a decade ago. Someone knew who Ma was and betrayed them, and Grant was part of that too. I think Pa knows more than they are willing to share. It’s time I made them share it,’ I added grimly.

Rain folded the paper and tucked it under his arm as he rose to his feet. He checked his pocket watch. ‘We’d better make it quick then. I don’t want you to be late for your shift at the bank.’

Shortly, Rain was pulling in his car outside my Pa’s home and coming to a sharp stop.

His car was a flash two-seater, an iridescent red Maserati, shamelessly bold like everything about him. When I first got in, I couldn’t help shake my head wryly. Clearly, secret service was far more lucrative than company security. ‘Don’t believe in keeping a low profile?’ I had said to him.

‘Now what fun would that be? Us special agents like to stand out.’

‘I though the idea was shadows and discretion with an emphasis on secret.’

‘And what better way to be inconspicuous than to be brazenly obvious? I thought you of all people would appreciate that detective.’ His heated gaze raked over me, lingering pointedly on my red stilettos.

Giving him a wry look, I got out of the car and faced the home of my childhood for the second time in as many days. Usually I barely came here twice a year. I preferred to meet Pa in a coffee shop somewhere, or a cheap diner. Detective salary rarely stretched to fancy restaurants.

With an internal curse I strode towards the door. It opened before I reached it. Pa was looking older than ever. Their gaze went past me and settled on Rain leaning casually against his car with his arms folded.

‘What are you doing here, Wild?’ Pa asked him.

‘Good to see you, Robin,’ he drawled.

Pa looked my way. ‘So, you told Ari.’

Deep inside me anger clambered away at me. I did not let it seep into my voice as I said, ‘You lied to me, Pa.’

‘We need to talk,’ said Rain as he strode inside.

‘I take it you are the Gendrian ‘consultant’ on the case involving Casey’s murderer.’ Pa closed the door behind us and led the way to the kitchen, where they went about making tea.

Pa never knew this, but I hated being in the kitchen more than any other room in this house. It was the one room where I had my happiest memories of Ma, of our dinners filled with laughter, and excellent food, family games and occasional arguments. Even those I missed.

I wanted to escape as soon as I sat at the table, carefully avoiding Ma’s favourite seat. ‘What case were you working on when Ma was killed?’

Pa froze, their back to me. ‘Why don’t you ask him beside you?’ They turned around then, and a different person gazed out of Pa’s eyes, one with a cold intellect and a hardness I had not seen in them before. For the first time in my life, I felt like I did not know my Pa, for I suddenly saw the echoes of a ruthless secret service agent in them. One who had likely killed men and daily faced danger. They were looking directly at Rain. ‘Hey, Hawk? How about it. Why don’t you tell my kid what truly got their Ma killed?’

My mind staggered to a halt … Hawk … Black Hawk? I turned my gaze at the agent. Bloody Hell, it could not be. ‘You’re Black Hawk?’ I uttered.

Rain met my question with a silent purse of his lips.

‘Didn’t tell them even that much?’ Pa asked with a note of venom. ‘Ari doesn’t even know who they are working for.’

‘Need to know only, Finch,’ Rain drawled. ‘As well you know.’

Finch. The notorious Blue Finch was my Pa.

Black Hawk had been kissing me … touching me …

Everything suddenly felt unreal, spinning out of my control. Reality shifted and blurred, became brittle. I looked from one to the other as the two of them stared each other down, seemingly exchanging some unspoken communication.

‘I want to hear it from you, Pa,’ I said into their glaring silence.

‘We were investigating a link between Stateguard and GLF,’ Pa replied at length.

I absorbed that information in the long pause that followed. Ten years ago, Stateguard won the lucrative government security and policing contract based on their handling of GLF insurgence and violence.

‘What was the link?’ I asked, though vile suspicions were already unfolding in my mind.

‘Your Ma and I spoke to an informant who claimed Stateguard were funding the GLF’s attacks in our city, which spread to encompass the whole of the country, nearly leading to another war with Gendria. The attacks increased in number and severity in the lead up to the new government security tender.’

I remembered those days leading up not only to the new security tender, but also to the election of the new president. With six months to go, there were a large spate of attacks against Brandria. Bombs, mass shootings, rapes and murders. Hundreds died, my Ma one of them. I almost joined the tally, had Pa not found me when they did. Then Stateguard won the government contract for the security of the city, and the violence died down with GLF fleeing to Gendria. Stateguard, of course, backed President Wilson who went on to win another term in office.

I watched the TV from the hospital bed, watched as heavily armed Stateguard security took control of the city, stopping the violence and civil unrest.

‘You believed the violence was orchestrated to undermine Secureforce,’ I said. ‘Making them appear incompetent and forcing the government to back out of their contract with Secureforce.’ I regarded Pa. It was outlandish and did not quite fit. ‘Why would GLF care who won the government contract in Brandia. What did they get from it?

‘That was the thing we could not understand ourselves. Money perhaps, infiltration of our government … I don’t know.’

‘More importantly, this seems a dangerous game to play by Stateguard. Had this come to light, through say GLF themselves, Stateguard would be ruined. They would be dismantled from inside out. This is too big even for a rogue company CEO to cover up.’

‘That was exactly what confounded us,’ Rain replied in Pa’s stead. ‘There was no evidence of Stateguard being in league with GLF, only one informant who died within hours of approaching us.’

‘That was when Casey and I were sent to look into this matter.’ Pa sagged where they stood near the stove, their tea forgotten. ‘We were trying to find out who the players were and their motives.’

‘What was Ma’s operative name?’ I asked softly as another suspicious bloomed in my head.

‘Golden Fly,’ Pa replied.

I looked down at the table. How dearly I wished I had known this of Ma. That my hero from childhood fantasies of adventure and daring was my Ma. I’d have been so proud. When Golden Fly disappeared from the papers after those dreadful days of violence, it felt as if my last link to childhood dreams had been severed.

‘You have to understand, Ari, that we could not tell you,’ Pa said into my silence. ‘One day we would have …’

I raised my eyes to them. ‘When, Pa?’

They rake a hand through their hair. ‘I don’t know. The longer a lie festers, the harder it is to purge it.’

I bit back a reply, for there was no turning back the time, no rage I could unleash that would undo the choices they had made. ‘What happened next, Pa?’ I said instead.

‘Casey eventually found evidence of a number of meetings between Stateguard’s CEO and GLF. Sums of money were transferred … There were photos …’ Pa rubbed their eyes, as the festering grief aged their features. ‘None of it was enough to bring them down. Lane Parson was far smarter than that. Then evidence began to go missing from the Office of National Security. That was when Casey and I realised that this thing went far deeper and higher than just Stateguard. There was an insider in National Security who knew what was going on and were trying to keep it under wraps.’

I cast Rain a look. This was where this whole investigation started.

‘You did not tell me this, Robin,’ Rain said smoothly, but I felt his restrained anger simmer beneath. It was clear this information was new to him. ‘That was when you and Casey went rogue. You did not trust me.’ Something akin to regret flashed in his eyes.

‘We did not trust anyone, Hawk. And you were the one who sent us into the lion’s maw. The evidence that went missing was left on your desk.’

‘I never saw it,’ said Rain whilst steadily regarding Pa. ‘And you told me later you didn’t know what was in that file. That Casey never told you before they died.’

‘It did not matter by then anyway. Our cover was gone … we were going to make a run for it … But the bastards got to us before we could.’

‘You did not trust Wild,’ I said to Pa. ‘Yet you put my name and profile on his desk. Put me forward as a recruit for his team.’

‘By then I knew Hawk was not a traitor. Someone else was. And you were out of control, Ari. You were brilliant yet so angry, and so alone. I saw the agency as a place for you to grow and mature. They are like a family. I wanted you to have a family. After Casey’s death, I failed you in in that regard, so I wanted to make it right.’

‘How could you be certain I was not a traitor?’ Rain asked Pa.

‘Because I profiled you myself. I put your name forward to take over after Grey Lion’s death. I convinced Kyle Snow there was no one better for the Head of First Division. But most of all, it was because I saw your face at Casey’s funeral. I saw what you were like afterwards. You took their death as personally as I did. No one is that good an actor.’

I glanced at Rain. ‘You knew it was a hit, made to look like a random attack.’

‘We suspected it, though we didn’t know who authorised it. Our investigation ended with the missing evidence Casey had gathered against Stateguard. We’ve been watching them ever since, but there had been no more meetings. Any link between them and GLF was cut off when Stateguard took over the government’s security.’ Rain never once looked at me as he spoke, his gaze scrutinising Pa. ‘But the main reason we couldn’t get to the truth of the matter was that our only other witness, the operative who was working the case could tell us nothing else. You know who authorised the hit, don’t you, Robin?’

‘Pa? Did you keep information back that would have led the investigators to Ma’s killer?’

Their gaze was anguished, yet unrelenting. ‘Casey was dead. But you weren’t. I had a choice; speak out and lose you to these bastards or accept the deal they gave me.’

Pa’s words were brutal and shocking. Ma’s mutilated body flashed before my eyes, echoes of the bastard’s laughter filled my ears.

‘How could you, Pa?’ My voice was a broken whisper.

‘When you have your own children, Ari, judge me then. Casey would have done the same in my stead. The bastards left a note for me pinned with a knife to your hospital bed.’ Their voice choked on that confession.

Rain stiffened next to me. ‘Damn you, Robin. You did not report that. We could have protected you and Ari.’

‘Like you protected Casey?’ they bit back.

‘Who, Pa?’ I asked mildly. ‘Who threatened us?’

They shook their head, refusing to answer. ‘I can’t, Ari. I can’t lose you, too.’

‘Pa, I’m no longer a little Herm to protect. I’ll not stop until I find out who authorised the hit on Ma. You’ll give me a better chance at coming out alive through it if you tell me all you know.’

Pa’s eyes were tired, yet sharp. Dark, like mine. ‘Ari, please … let this one go.’

‘Was it Stateguard?’ I demanded, the detective in me rising to face Pa. ‘They had the most to lose by your investigation. Did Lane Parson authorise the hit? Did they target you?’

They shook their head. ‘It was not Stateguard.’

Rain cursed violently and ran his hand through his hair. ‘It was the blasted Office of National Security.’

‘Kyle Snow,’ I said calmly, giving voice to the target now before us.

‘Casey and I knew there was a traitor inside the agency. We had tapped the phones of the most senior staff. The day before their death, Casey was listening and overheard Kyle Snow reassuring Lane Parson that the agents snooping around would be taken care of. Casey told me this the same night. We thought we had more time. We planned to take you to a safehouse the next day after school. I went into the office as usual, so as not to rouse suspicion. When Casey did not report in at our agreed time, I raced home …’ Pa shook their head, unable to voice the horror they were witnessing again and again. Just as I was.

‘Damn it, Robin,’ Rain said quietly. ‘You should have told me then. You should have told me this years ago.’

Pa said nothing. I understood the choice they made to protect me, understood the sickening fear of going through that horror again.

I rose to my feet. ‘I’ll get the bastards, Pa. I swear it. I’ll make them pay.’

Rain followed me out. I climbed into his car and slammed the door behind me. I was pissed, furious even, at Pa and Ma and Rain … or rather Black Hawk. He got into the car, calm as a spring breeze.

‘Before you dig your claws into me,’ he said as he pulled out the choke and started the engine. ‘Remember that I’m not your enemy here, Rockhall.’ He reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigar and held it out to me.

Espanian, my favourite. The gesture instantly disarmed me. I took the cigar and he held out a match to light it. I inhaled deeply. It calmed me instantly.

‘Do you smoke?’ I asked gruffly, opening the window.

Rain began to drive. ‘Not so much anymore. I prefer Cubans when I do.’

‘I find them a little too sweet for my tastes,’ I said, ceding something, feeling suddenly as if the world was righting itself around me. I took another long, slow draw before speaking again. ‘If all this does lead to Kyle Snow, what do they gain by any of this?’

Rain was thoughtful, his eyes on the road ahead. ‘Me and Kyle go back a long way. They were head of department when I joined straight out of military.’

I glanced at him. ‘You were Brandrian military before this?’

‘Special forces. Joined when I was sixteen. Turns out I was good at two things, killing and leading. By eighteen I made sergeant. That was when Kyle Snow noticed me and thought I was wasted in the military. They poached me for national security, second division. Kyle was my mentor for some years. By the time I was twenty-two, First Division brought me into their ranks. By twenty-five, I was leading it.’

‘Where you’ve remained ever since,’ I noted absently, musingly.

He cast me a look. ‘It suits me. I enjoy it. I have no wish to climb higher and overthrow Kyle Snow. And even if I did, the president would never sign off on a Gendrian taking over the office. There would likely be riots and a coup.’

I glanced out the window, taking another breath of smoke and my head fell back against the seat. ‘Question is whether Snow is content to be where they are, or whether they wish to climb higher.’

A rumbling sound of approval came from Rain. ‘Very good, Rockhall. I dare say this will be our next line of enquiry.’

‘What we know, is that Stateguard have nothing to gain in hiring GLF to take the mayor hostage and executing their family and staff. Stateguard is tasked with protecting all government agencies as well as major civilian centres. This whole thing makes them look bad, and the government is about to put out their next five-year security tender …’ I drifted off, turned my head abruptly to stare at Rain. His face was his usual impassive self. There was no surprise there, no emotion to where my conclusion just led me. The car slowed to a stop at a red traffic light, and he gave me a level look, as if waiting for me to grasp the depths of his play. ‘You bloody bastard.’

‘Come now, Rockhall. I believe that may be one of your favourite things about me.’

‘You are infiltrating our office. Through me. This was never about testing me about whether I was a suitable candidate for your team. You are playing me. Secureforce has the most to gain in this, and you believe we are responsible for the hostage situation.’

‘Not you, Rockhall, but someone in your office, starting with your boss.’

‘The crap about recruiting me into your agency …’

‘I have already recruited you,’ he growled and faced the road again, driving more furiously now. ‘ You are our agent inside Secureforce.’

‘How do you know I’m not one of the traitors?’

He pulled abruptly to the side of the road and stared at me with such heat, I was torn between punching him and throwing myself at him. ‘Because I fucking know you, Rockhall.’ As if unable to stop himself, he reached to my cheek, and rubbed his finger along my lips, looking at them wistfully. ‘No time for this,’ he said gruffly and dropped his hand.

I took the last, long and very satisfying draw of the cigar and looked out the window at the street ahead. The bank was around the corner. ‘This thing about Kyle Snow makes no sense, Wild. If Kyle was a player ten years ago when Stateguard made a deal with GLF to get the contract, whose side is he on now?’

‘Perhaps they had a falling out with Lane Parson.’

‘In that file you gave me, there was a record of Snow having dinner with Parson recently. Two months ago, in fact, and once again ten days ago, in Golden Casket Restaurant. It was very public and official, and there was a newspaper cut out in the file next to the restaurant bill. The papers claim that Kyle Snow is backing Stateguard for the presidential security tender, just as they had backed them before.’ I turned my face to look at Rain. He was watching me very intently. ‘The only Herm higher than Kyle Snow is the president themself.’

His lips turned up. ‘I will look into it at my end, Rockhall. You are two minutes away from being late to work. Grant will likely make an appearance today at the bank. I’ll be watching. I doubt he will recognise, but you are not to let him see you. Understood?’

‘Understood,’ I said.

‘When he leaves, make excuses and follow him. I will also trail, at a distance. Do not engage him.’ The last he said with military command. ‘Is that clear, Rockhall?’

‘As clear as murky water, sergeant,’ I mocked gently. ‘Though seeing as I don’t have a car at this present time, if Grant gets into one, you’ll be on your own.’

Rain reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a set of ignition keys. He threw them for me to catch. ‘There’s a green Ferry Cavrolitta parked across the street from the bank. It’s yours.’

‘What?’ I stared at him. The Ferry was the sexiest car around; small, fast, and as curvy as a Gendrian woman. It also happened to be my dream car, which I would never be able to save enough to buy.

His lips quirked. ‘Agency issue, Rockhall. I’m not yet ready to bestow such expensive gifts on you. I’d expect at least one proper date before that.’

Damn it all, but my face heated. ‘I wasn’t thinking that.’

‘Sure, you were.’ His grin widened.

‘Listen, Wild … about earlier.’

‘We’ll discuss it later, Rockhall. Right now, you need to do your job.’ He glanced at his pocket watch. ‘You have two minutes to get to your desk at the bank.’

‘Later then,’ I said.

His smile was wicked. ‘Perhaps over a glass of wine and some Italian pasta.’

‘Do you walk with a permanent erection, Drizzle?’ I asked grimly as I got out of the car.

‘Only when you’re near, darling.’ I caught his reply just as I shut the door behind me.