Authors: Allie Ritch
But he didn’t smile. Remaining perfectly in character, he narrowed his eyes at her and assumed a harassed expression—the kind that said, “I’m an important business person and don’t have time to deal with riffraff.” It was not a look she’d ever thought to see on his face.
“Look, I’m not this Varion guy you’re so sure about,” he snapped. “My name is Rion Nach. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to.”
Mumble-Peg slowed to a stop while Benni gaped at him. Could she have been mistaken? No, after all their time together—all their
intimate
time together—she knew Varion when she saw him. Apparently, she just didn’t know much else about him.
*
“Damn.” Varion cursed under his breath.
He hated being a jerk to Benni, but she’d caught him by surprise. He hadn’t known what else to do. How could he have guessed she worked here? She hadn’t mentioned riding six-legged animals or performing, yet he’d walked in to see her balanced on one hand on top of that ferocious creature.
Varion had thought she worked as … well, okay, he supposed they’d never discussed their jobs before. Or where they lived. He scowled. Or their families. All right, so most of their conversations had revolved around going out and having fun or sex, or sometimes just fun sex. That didn’t mean he didn’t know her.
“Rion, you coming in or what?” Willyem Gor called out.
Jolted from his thoughts, Varion looked around and discovered he was hovering in the doorway to Palli Farr’s office.
“Sorry.” He stepped in and closed the door behind him. “I was just worried I’d stepped in something.”
“City-slicker.” Palli chortled.
Varion, in his guise as humorless Rion Nach, returned a cool shrug. Secretly, he couldn’t wait to get out of this suit and into something that let him breathe.
“So, Willyem.” Palli kicked her heels up onto her beat-up desk and waved them to a seat. “What do you say we get right down to business?”
“Sounds good. You told me just enough during your call to pique my interest.” Varion’s—or rather, Rion’s—boss took the nearest chair.
Palli just dipped her chin. “As I’m sure you know, the Trilanta Amusement Park and Fairgrounds has been a family business for generations. We were set up here back when this was nothing but a pit stop for pirates and haulers and transitory workers. My many times great grandmother started us out as a tiny rodeo with some showgirls and a couple of backfiring hover carts for rides. The place has grown up a lot since then, but we still remember our roots.
“That’s why my aunt struck a deal with Bluv Binner some years back to handle our concession and merchandising needs. His was a local family business too. Bluv always did a good job for us, and I’ve got no complaints against him. Junior, though—well, he’s a different matter.”
“Junior?” Varion asked.
“Bluv Binner, Jr.,” she clarified. “Bluv’s son isn’t exactly living up to his namesake, though.”
Willyem’s expression sharpened. “What makes you say that?”
Palli Farr ran her fingers through her hair and frowned. “That’s what brings you here today. Before I go into the details, though, I want your word that what I’m about to say doesn’t leave this room. Oh, you can act on the information, of course, but I don’t want the particulars being aired in public. Do I have your handshake on that?”
Curious now, Varion watched as Willyem thought it over and offered his hand. Palli dropped her feet to the floor long enough to reach forward and shake it. The woman looked like she had quite a grip.
“Good man,” she said. “I’ll give it to you straight then. That Junior is nothing but a worm. He’s been cheating me and skimming from his own company besides. The contract we have with Binner and Son is based on percentages of sales, both at the gate and at the concessions. I have a good idea where he’s pulling his figures out of.”
“Why tell us?” Varion asked. “You could always have him audited. Or if you have substantial proof that he’s embezzling funds, you could press charges.”
“All true,” Palli agreed, “but you’re forgetting something. However well deserved, if I start slinging mud, Junior isn’t the only one who’ll get covered in it. It’ll be bad press for the park and fairgrounds, and it’ll tear Bluv’s heart out. Plus Binner and Son’s employees could lose their jobs—people with families to support. I won’t have it.”
“Again,” Willyem said, “why are you telling us this? Gor and Tabbler would be happy to land such a huge client, but it sounds like you’re still locked in with Binner and Son through this contract.”
“Yeah, funny thing there.” Palli glanced down at her fingernails. “It seems to me it might be easier for everybody here if someone else—a larger company like, oh, Gor and Tabbler, say—were to take over Binner and Son and their contract. With the way Junior has been cooking the books, I bet he could be persuaded to sell for a fine bargain price. I doubt that little worm will stand up to the threat of jail time.”
Her eyes flicked back up, and she shot Willyem a direct stare. “Gor and Tabbler has a good reputation. You’ve got your fingers in a lot of pies, Willyem, but everyone says you’re honest, and you know how to make money.”
Willyem smiled, but Varion could see the shrewd gleam in his boss’s eyes.
“Will you be having a similar talk with any of my competitors?” Willyem asked.
“Depends.” She revealed her own savvy. “If a change of hands gets taken care of quickly and quietly, then there’d be no need to shop around. And if that fancy advertising department of yours should give us a hand marketing to the outer planets, well that would be quite a friendly gesture, wouldn’t it? The kind of cooperation that long-term, profitable relationships are built on.”
Excitement coursed through Varion’s veins as he took in the full import of what was going on here. The biggest recreational facility in Trilanta had just offered up a partnership in exchange for some free advertising and a quiet buy-out of a concession contract any businessman would salivate over. No matter how he looked at it, this meant big bucks. Mr. Vip was going to do cartwheels when Varion told him.
“I think you’ll find Gor and Tabbler very cooperative.” Willyem stood up to shake her hand again. “Just give me and my team here a little time to look into this … worm problem you’re having. We’ll see if we can take care of it nice and quietly for you.”
Sharing a smile with him, Palli nodded and led them out. Once they were all piled back into the company vehicle, Willyem let out a whoop. Varion felt close to dancing himself.
“Did you hear that?” his boss demanded. “This gets top priority. I want you to start digging into Binner and Son’s accounting right away and find out what it’ll take to buy Junior out without a fuss. Rion, you handle things on our end. Shift some of our holdings around if you have to, but arrange to have a check ready. I want this deal to go through quickly and smoothly.”
“Yes, sir.” While playing the role of Rion Nach, Varion kept his grin to himself.
Willyem was silent for a moment, but then he looked up with a warm, satisfied expression. “Do you know, I fell in love with that park the day my father first took me there when I was a boy. The thought of owning even a piece of it… Call me a sentimental fool, but that would be the tail on my comet.”
The look of nostalgia on the older man’s face was something Varion had never expected. Nor was the tiny twinge of guilt that suddenly pinched his gut. He remained silent the rest of the way back to the office.
* * * *
“Idiot.” Mr. Vip’s voice was laced with contempt when Varion called him that night. Fortunately, his real boss wasn’t referring to him. “Did he really think he could keep this quiet? Gor’s getting soft in the head.”
“Quiet was the one thing Ms. Farr emphasized,” Varion pointed out. “She doesn’t want this information made public for fear of how it will reflect on the park and on the rest of the Binner family.”
Vip waved the concern away as if it were nothing, but Varion knew he was paying attention.
“We’ll start digging into those records ourselves,” his boss said. “Discreetly, of course. No need to tip Gor off to our plans. Contact me immediately if Gor and Tabbler starts to make a move. I won’t have them beating us out on this one.”
“Yes—” The screen went black. “Sir,” Varion finished lamely.
His boss had disconnected on him. Again.
Massaging his temples, he pulled up his messages to see who else had called. The sight of Benni’s face filling the screen melted his stress.
“Hey, stranger,” she said in the recording. “No problem changing our plans to Friday. You know I’m flexible, ha-ha. I’m working, so I need to bump things up until 10:30, though. The arcade is open until midnight. That work for you?”
Glancing at the time indicator in the corner of the screen, he realized she’d left this message last night, before he’d run into her today and pretended not to know her. Actually, she’d called at the exact same time he’d been whacking off to thoughts of her in the shower. Would she still want to meet with him? And would he be enjoying her limber body again anytime soon?
* * * *
Benni watched Varion as he walked through the front door to the laser arcade the next evening. She didn’t know how anyone could ever mistake him. As far as she was concerned, his smooth, casual stride was a dead giveaway. Tonight, his skin was flawless ebony, his eyes black as collapsed stars, and his head totally bald. The man beneath the façade, however, hadn’t changed.
“I wasn’t sure you’d show up tonight.” She had to look up at him when he drew closer.
His nearly invisible eyebrows shot up in surprise. “And here I was worried
you
wouldn’t show. Why would you think I’d stand you up?”
Benni crossed her arms. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you totally refused to acknowledge me in public yesterday
and
acted like you were someone else. I don’t know why that would raise some doubts.”
At least he had the decency to look sheepish. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I rarely run into someone who knows me personally when I’m on the job, and even then they never recognize me after I shift. You sort of threw me for a loop. You almost blew my cover.”
“Cover?” Benni felt her heart skitter in excitement. “You were working undercover?”
He nodded.
“You’re in code enforcement?”
“No.”
Who else ever worked in disguise? “A secret government agent?”
He answered slowly. “Not exactly. Let’s just say I can’t have anyone who knows me as Rion Nach finding out my real identity. It would cause some serious trouble.”
Awed and more than a little intrigued, Benni just stared at him for a moment. He’d said he wasn’t
exactly
a secret government agent, not that he wasn’t a secret agent at all. Whom did he work for? What kind of assignment was he on? And wait a second—his real identity?
“Is Varion your real name? Did you tell the truth about that?”
Benni was all for a good time, but she at least wanted to know the name of the man she’d been sleeping with.
To her relief he nodded. “Aside from our little run-in yesterday, I’ve never been dishonest with you.” Stepping closer, he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. “Don’t let my work be an issue. It’s just a job. Right now, I’m looking to play.”
His smile was pure boyish enthusiasm.
Pleasantly distracted, she let the issue drop—for now—and struck a challenging pose by planting her hands on her hips. “You think you have what it takes to compete in full-out, zero-g, virtual reality laser tag?”
“I could blast you out of orbit with one shot, little girl. Team up with me, and I’ll tag all our opponents before you even get a shot off.”
“Ha! In your dreams.” Rolling onto the balls of her feet, she shot him a challenging grin. “I’m fast, I’m wily, and I’ll race you to the counter.”
She threw the last word over her shoulder as she turned and sprinted for the admission desk. Behind her, he grumbled something about fair play before sprinting after her.
Minutes after her small footrace victory, they were geared up and standing in line with four other people to get into one of the gaming rooms. The lightweight jumpsuits they wore looked like black combat fatigues and would register even a glancing shot to a player’s head, toe, or anything in between. Every player went in with three lives, and the scoreboard near the entrance to the room recorded each strike and fatality as well as tags against opponents. Tonight everyone was playing as partners, so it was her and Varion against two teams of two.
“Ready?” Varion pointed the firing end of his laser pistol toward the floor as if it were a real weapon.
“You bet,” she said confidently, palming her own gun. “Just try not to get shot right away, big guy. You’re a much bigger target than I am.”
He scoffed. “But I’m harder to see, carrot-top.”
She gave him that one. With his dark skin, he was blacked out from head to toe. Considering they were about to play the Asteroid Belt sim—a space scenario—that was a major advantage.
Before they could exchange more banter, a computerized voice invited them forward, and they walked into a spacious holo-room. Unactivated, the walls were dark gray, and the place was at least three stories high and more than twice as deep.
“Players,” the voice said, “please move to the starting squares for team assignment. Play will commence in fifteen seconds.”
There were red, yellow, and blue squares projected on the floor along the walls. Benni strolled over to the blue area and stepped inside the box with Varion. Immediately, an armband lit up with a dull cerulean glow on each of their jumpsuits. Hers had the number one inscribed in the center, while his had a number two to differentiate them on the scoreboard.
“Here we go.” Varion flashed her a smile.
His teeth looked extra white against his dark skin, especially since the lights were dimming.
The voice started a countdown. “Ten, nine, eight…”
“Have I mentioned you look sexy in a one-piece,” he teased her.
“…seven, six, five…”
“And you look pretty hot holding your … gun,” she told him. “You’d better stay really close to me so I don’t lose you in the dark.”