03 Solar Flare - Spark Series (13 page)

She sneered at him, unwilling to waste more
words. He let her go.

Three days later, she still hadn’t forgiven
him. She’d successfully avoided him the first day by staying in her
room. On the second day she stayed glued to Gem’s side as they made
arrangements to land on Ictharus II, or made certain she had a
nephew with her at all times, knowing Azor wouldn’t start a serious
conversation with them in the room. After that there was the bustle
of transferring to the hotel. Brandy and Gem’s family had rooms
right next to each other, so as long as she didn’t linger in the
hall, it was difficult for him to catch her alone.

Once her sister was settled, Brandy
immediately hooked up to the web and started researching the best
way to get to Xera’s star system. Gem had made vague noises about
Azor taking her farther, but that was not going to happen now. She
wouldn’t allow it.

She told Blue as much that night when she
found him alone in the hall.

Blue looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.
“You haven’t heard him out, have you?”

She didn’t budge. “And I’m not going to.
There’s no excuse for what he pulled.”

“Hm. I thought so at first, too, but I
changed my mind after I heard him speak. He cares about you, you
know.”

She held up her hands. “I don’t want to hear
it! He’s been tried, found guilty and unfortunately, not executed.
On the bright side, he can be left behind, which is what I’m going
to do. I’m giving Gem five days, and then I leave. Don’t worry, I
won’t let the kids and her down. You just keep Azor off my back,
okay?”

He smirked. “That’s your job. You’re the one
who won’t listen, and I’m not aiding and abetting. I think you’d
feel a lot better if you just let him talk to you.”

“Not happening.”

He shrugged. “Are you still going to walk
down to the beach with us tomorrow? The kids are excited about
seeing pink sand and they’ll be a handful. We could use your
help.”

“I’m up for that. Like I said, I’ll be
spending my time with my sister and the kids. I’ll see you at
breakfast.”

She wasn’t spending the evening with her
family, however. Though she was never one for the nightlife, she’d
been cooped up on a ship for far too long. She needed to get out,
and she wanted to be alone.

The dreams were back. Since the night she’d
argued with Azor, they’d begun to torment her. First she’d see the
lovers, the woman with the boots. Last night she’d discovered that
the man had green hair. It raised the down at the back of her neck
as she considered the implications. For a dream, it packed on heck
of a wallop. She took it as a warning to get away from Azor. What
if the woman were her? Could it have any real meaning?

And if it did, what was the connection with
Ryven? She’d begun to see his murderous face in her dreams so
often, she’d developed an intense aversion to him. Could the dreams
be a warning? She’d been over it so often, her head ached. If it
kept up, maybe she would call her doctor.

She called Blue’s cell once she left the
building and told him she’d be out. After all, it was a strange
place, and Gem tended to worry. “I’ll have my com on if you need
me,” she assured him. “I’m just going to the Pentagon to stretch my
legs, maybe buy something for the boys.”

“Do you want company? I can come with,” he
said, though he didn’t sound enthusiastic. She knew he’d rather be
with his family.

“I’ll be fine. Catch you later.” She hung up
and dropped the com in her pocket. Now they could all have an
enjoyable evening.

The Pentagon was a huge mall that was right
across the street from her hotel. She took the sky bridge over the
busy road, admiring the city lights as she walked. There were
floating holo-signs advertising a carnival at the Pentagon, and she
regarded it with mild interest. She’d long since been bored with
the ones on Polaris, but maybe she’d see something new here.

The sky bridge took her to third floor of the
mall, and she ascended the elevator to the fourth floor and worked
her way down. She saw a lot of interesting trinkets, but few that
were practical for travel. She did buy the boys each an interesting
wrist light that was powered by the body’s electrical system,
figuring that it might help to drain off some of their energy. As
an afterthought she grabbed a couple more. She’d need a gift for
Xera’s kids, too, and one never knew.

In the future Gem would have to do her
shopping for her, and though a great deal of her capital was
funding the trip, Brandy had left a sum at home to pay for future
gifts. Hopefully wherever she was on the holidays, she could send
in a shopping order and have it delivered.

The thought of being away from home saddened
her, so she tried to distract herself. She was supposed to be
having fun.

She bought a hot drink and looked down at the
open center of the mall to the carnival below. When was the last
time she’d played an arcade game? Suddenly it seemed like a good
idea. She rented a locker that the mall provided for shopper’s
convenience and entered the arcade, choosing an interesting robotic
exoskeleton with holographic interface. She climbed into the
mechanical suit and it automatically snapped closed over her body,
engulfing her in vaguely sweaty smelling metal and padding. She
chose a desert world program from the visual interface and waited
as sand dunes assembled before her. In moments she was happily
immersed in blasting blood-sucking alien scum.

Several games later, she took off the helmet.
She was drenched in sweat from the workout, but it had been a long
time since she’d had such fun. She was smiling…until she saw Azor
waiting for her.

“Gem worries,” he said in explanation.

“I’m a little old to believe in fairytales,”
she said in annoyance as she shed the exoskeleton. She instantly
felt thirty pounds lighter. Funny, it hadn’t seemed so heavy while
wearing it. “You guys use her as an excuse.”

He shrugged and followed her out of the noisy
arcade. “The deal is, you let me follow you around and I don’t
bring up things you don’t want to talk about—tonight,” he added,
just to be clear.

She considered him with some skepticism.
“Aren’t there things you’d rather be doing?”

“I’m doing them.” He wore his usual cool
expression, the one that was so good at hiding lies. It was
impossible to tell what he really thought.

She looked around for something he might find
less than thrilling and smiled. Right next door was a funhouse
where people threw cream filled balloons at each other. She watched
a balloon miss a guy’s head and smack into the clear glasstick
wall. Unable to stick to the slick surface, the pink blob slowly
trailed to the floor, leaving a clean wall behind. Everywhere
pastel blobs splattered against the walls and the players, causing
hoots of laughter.

She sent Azor a challenging look and got in
line to buy a ticket. He might follow her in, but she couldn’t
imagine the ever-immaculate cop enjoying himself.

He smiled slowly back and bought his own. “I
hope you’re a good aim.”

“We’ll find out,” she said with a smile that
was all teeth. How she’d enjoy throwing things at his head! She
grabbed a couple of slick blobs from the trough inside, surprised
to find they were slippery and very squishy, like jellied lizard
eggs. It was all she could do to hold onto them.

He grinned and ducked her first toss, then
lobbed a wobbly ball that hit her square in the chest. It hit her
with a loud SPLUSH!

She gasped as wetness seeped through her
shirt and hit him in the shoulder with her first toss. After that
the balls flew fast and furiously. She ducked behind padded
pillars, but he still had excellent aim. It didn’t take long before
she was completely coated in pastel foam.

“Hold!” she said, stepping from behind a
pillar. She wiped away wet fluff from her eyes and grinned as she
lobbed one last ball at his face. He ducked and it landed in his
hair, leaving a pink mess in the emerald green locks.

“I let you have that one,” he bragged. “You
looked winded.”

She huffed at him. “Not everyone is a health
nut, Nutty. Ugh! I need to hose off.” They trooped to the end of
the enclosure, dodging the occasional stray ball. There were hoses
at the end where the players could hose each other off, getting in
a little more fun.

She wasn’t shy about turning hers on him full
blast. Maybe she should do this sort of thing more often. It was a
great way to get out her aggression. Maybe that’s why Xera had
always been so fond of martial arts—a girl could hit something
legally.

Azor returned the favor, spraying her until
there couldn’t possibly be a speck of cream left. When they’d
finally had enough of trying to drown each other, they trooped out
of the enclosure, looking like a couple of wet cats.

Brandy sat on one of the benches meant for
drying. There was a steady stream of hot air blowing out of the
large vents at their feet. She took off her wet shoes and finger
combed her hair, knowing it was going to come out looking wild.

Azor slicked back his hair and sat beside
her. They watched the others in the funhouse in silence as the
water evaporated from their clothes. It was fairly peaceful.

After a few moments, she glanced at him, only
to find him watching her with a gentle expression. Her stomach
fluttered. She quickly looked away, unwilling to ponder what it
meant.

Seeking distraction, she pointed at a vender
across the way. “I want one of those bubble things everyone’s
drinking out of. Maybe they have something good to eat, too.” She
shoved her mostly dry shoes on and headed over, trying to ignore
the awareness of him as he walked by her side. The man had a way of
consuming her thoughts, and that wasn’t healthy. He was deceptive,
and she was leaving. They shouldn’t be together like this.

Azor got ahead of her and slipped his cash
card into the pay slot before she could. She frowned at his old
fashioned manners, but waved her hand for him to place the
order.

“I’d like two garizini bladders, please,”
Azor said nonchalantly, grinning at her surprised expression.
“We’ll take an order of road kill, too, and a bag of corbat
wings.”

She grimaced. Road kill? A garizini was a
kind of translucent fish, wasn’t it? Was the name some kind of
slang, or were those drinks really fish organs? A glance at the
menu didn’t enlighten her. Wondering if she was about to be
poisoned, she wandered over and found a clean booth that was partly
screened by small herb trees. Azor joined her in a couple of
minutes with their order.

“Here you go.” He placed a somewhat squishy,
crystal clear globe in front of her. It was flat on the bottom,
with a nub on top. She frowned at it. It looked more like female
anatomy than a fish bladder. She looked at him quizzically.

He grinned and took a pull of his. “Try it.
It tastes like sweet water. Very healthy.” A drop of liquid slipped
out and he caught it with a quick lap.

She looked away, uncomfortable in a way she
didn’t want to examine. She was breathless, couldn’t seem to sit
still. She didn’t think it was all do to the titillating jug.

Everywhere she looked, people of all ages
were drinking from the orbs. No one else seemed phased. “Is this
really a fish bladder?” she couldn’t help asking.

“I’m not going to tell you,” he said, amused.
“Here, have some road kill.” He set a paper container between them
that was filled with steaming brown chunks. There were long, flat
crackers to scoop out the food. She tried a bite and found it was
sweet, pleasantly salty and spicy, which forced her to take a drink
from the jug. She nearly choked when she caught the intent
expression on his face as she drank.

“Easy,” he said, reaching over to hand her a
napkin. “Take it slow.”

She grunted and tried a corbat wing. It was
too leathery and chewy for her tastes, but Azor had no problem
finishing them off. He seemed to be having a good time.

She wasn’t so sure that was a good thing, so
when they were finished eating, she said she was going back. “You
can stay, though. Enjoy your vacation.”

“I’ll walk you back first,” he said, dumping
their trash in the recycling unit. “We nutty types need our
exercise.”

She didn’t know what to make of this teasing,
smiling Azor, so she didn’t say much as they walked back, and he
seemed content with silence. The thought occurred to her that
perhaps she didn’t know him as well as she thought.

Of all the things he could have gone
undercover as, why pose as a stripper? If it didn’t mean bringing
up things she’d rather not discuss, she’d ask him. The question had
been eating at her.

She glanced casually at the crowd as they
left the mall. There were lots of tourists among the locals, she
supposed, and the occasional Kiuyian, though not as many as there
were back home. She wondered about that. There did seem to be more
of them every year. She was about to ask Azor about that when her
eye caught a particular face in the crowd. Her step hitched, but
no, it wasn’t M’acht. How could it be? Yet she stopped to watch the
man, ignoring the crowd that flowed around them.

The man was roughly M’acht’s age, and he
seemed to be looking for someone. He glanced down, then smiled and
lifted a little girl in his arms. She had pale green hair that
curled charmingly around her ears. She smiled at the man—her
father?—and rested her head against his chest. She was about the
age her daughter would have been, if she’d had one. M’acht just
didn’t have any interest in trying.

With her, at least. Her former father in law
had taken the trouble to visit her one day, with the express
purpose of crowing about his son’s new wife. His Kiuyian wife.

“She’s pregnant,” he’d gloated, for he was
the type who loved to salt a wound. “I knew once he’d found a
proper woman that things would work out.”