Disruptor (23 page)

Dani suppressed a smile. “Those last two
could come in handy.”

Kevin smiled big enough for both of them.
“I’m buying you a cape.”

“No cape.”

“Oh, come on. You’re a superhero. You have to
wear a cape.”

“I am not wearing a cape. And stop calling me
a superhero.”

“Red. The cape should definitely be red.” He
wagged his eyebrows.

Dani narrowed her eyes. “Tell you what. I’ll
wear a cape if you wear tights. What do you say?”

Kevin’s smile disappeared and it was like the
lights dimmed in the room. Sparks danced in his electric blue eyes,
though. “Okay, no cape.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Fine, have it your way.”

“I will.”

“Besides, you just confirmed that you think
of me as your sidekick. You want me to keep helping you. To work
with you and be your partner.” Right then Kevin was all the smug
triumph of a spoiled boy who got exactly what he wanted at
Christmas. “I hate the thought of hiding my pretty face under a
mask, but for you, I’ll make the sacrifice.” Laughter floated just
under the surface of his words.

This time Dani couldn't keep the smile off
her face. The last thing she needed was some playboy billionaire to
take care of, but if she was going to have someone watching her
back, she could do a lot worse. He might be useless at fighting but
he was great at digging up information. Not hard to look at,
either. Maybe she'd finally get a good look at that tattoo on his
right bicep.

He leaned forward and clapped his hands
together. “So what’s my first job as your official sidekick?”

Didn’t superheroes always bone their
sidekicks in the comics? That night in his car had been so, so
good. If they took their time and had a little room to play, how
amazing would it be between them? “I’ll have to get back to you on
that.”

He put one hand on her hip and drew her
closer, then kissed her cheek. “Get some rest. The sidekick’s going
shopping.” She started to protest and he placed a finger over her
lips. “No cape and no tights. Promise.”

Dani knew he would keep that promise. She
just hoped she could keep hers. He might not want to admit it, but
Kevin didn’t want to be involved with a killer. The guilt by
association would eat at him, she knew, until he couldn’t stand to
look at her. If she were being truly honest with herself, she knew
it would do the same to her. She had to find a way to bring down
Bessonov without killing him.

What was the job of a sidekick to a
superhero? That wasn’t a question Kevin ever thought he’d be asking
himself. So far he’d provided aid and comfort, material support,
drove the getaway vehicle twice, conducted research.

Hot sex in the front seat of his car.

Okay, that probably came under aid and
comfort.

What would it take to get Bessonov off the
streets, preferably without killing him? Frankly, he had no ideas.
He had more experience committing crimes, albeit petty rich boy
stuff, than fighting crime. For now, he’d leave that stuff to Dani.
As far as he could figure right now, the best thing he could do was
make sure she was better protected the next time she went up
against Bessonov or any other bad guys. He had a few ideas about
how to do that.

He cleaned up and went shopping, first to a
motorcycle apparel store, then to a BDSM boutique. Dani was still
asleep when he got back, so he arranged everything on the living
room furniture for her to examine. Then he waited, and tried to
avoid thinking about difficult things while he cleaned up his
studio.

That proved impossible.

He wanted her to stay, but the potential
consequences scared him. He didn’t want either of them to get hurt,
or go to jail. He didn’t want either of them to suffer a broken
heart. Helping her, being involved with her in any way, was
dangerous on so many levels. But he couldn’t ask her to leave, or
stop helping her, or stop caring about her. And it wasn’t just
because she’d saved his life. Dani helped people who had no one
else on their side. She was fighting a war within herself, and
Kevin wanted to see her win.

By the time she woke he’d been downstairs for
a while, reading. Her dark hair fell in a mass of thick waves down
her back. She rubbed sleep from her eyes and surveyed the clothes
arrayed on the sofa.

“This stuff.” She picked up a pair of black
straight fit jeans and checked out the pockets right above the
knees. “There’s extra padding here.”

“The denim is also reinforced with
Kevlar.”

“Kevlar?” She looked up at him, grinning.

“I don’t know that it’s enough to stop a
bullet.” He gestured at the clothing. “This is all motorcycle gear.
All reinforced with Kevlar. Padding at the knees and elbows. It’s
not armor, but it will protect you better than regular clothing and
you can still walk around in it and not be noticed.” He picked up a
long sleeve black tee. “The guy at the store said you need to wear
a regular cotton tee underneath this. Apparently Kevlar isn’t quite
as bad as road rash but it’s still not fun in a crash.”

She nodded and moved on to another piece. It
was a fitted denim jacket with an attached black hood made of soft
sweatshirt material. After that was a long sleeve black leather
shirt, then a black and white flannel plaid. More pants, both denim
and leather. Two pairs of boots.

He picked up the pair with three buckles on
the sides. “Nice functional heel and steel toes. Thought you’d like
that.”

“Hell, yeah. This stuff is awesome.”

“There’s more.” Kevin retrieved a glossy
black shopping bag from beside his desk. “A hood’s not really good
enough and the ski mask can’t be the most comfortable thing to wear
this time of year. So I got these for you to try.” He took two
black leather masks from the bag and held them out for her
inspection. One was a simple domino mask. The other had more to it
and would cover the top half of her face. It also had –

“Cat ears?” Dani gave him a death glare.

He coughed. “There wasn’t a lot to choose
from.”

“You were doing so good with all the
reinforced with Kevlar and the functional heels. But cat ears?
Dude.”

“I restrained myself from buying you a cape.
And I never seriously considered the skin tight leather body suit
and stilettos. Don’t I at least get credit for that?” Another death
glare. Okay, so no credit for that.

Dani grabbed the domino mask then gathered up
a pair of jeans, the black tee, the flannel shirt, and the denim
jacket with the hoodie. “What about gloves?”

He dug through another shopping bag then came
up with a pair of black leather motorcycle gloves. She shifted
everything to one arm and took the gloves. “I don’t know about
these holes at the knuckles.”

Kevin swore. “I didn’t even think about that.
Sorry.”

She pointed at the boots. “Can you hand me
those?”

He did as asked. “I was thinking I could
create a logo for you.”

Dani grimaced. “I don’t like being called a
ghost.” She headed for the stairs.

“Have you thought about another name?”

“Nope.”

“We could add a few splashes of hot pink to
all the black and you could call yourself Girl Power.”

“Ooh, and your sidekick name could be Boy
Toy.”

“I would actually be okay with that.”

Dani came to a stop on the third step. “What
the hell kind of girl power is this, letting a guy buy my clothes
for me?”

Now it was Kevin’s turn to grimace. “You’re
unemployed and broke. I’m unemployed too but I have that handy
trust fund.”

“I don’t know what I want,” she said. “But
living off somebody else isn’t it.”

That didn’t surprise him. “You’ll figure it
out. Until then…I told people I hired you to teach me self-defense.
Just because it’s not the whole truth doesn’t mean it can’t be
true.”

“Teach you self-defense to pay for all these
clothes?” She hefted the load in her arms.

“Seems like a fair trade to me.” He
approached the stairs and gazed up at her. “I owe you my life. Let
me help you until you get on your feet. I understand why you’re not
entirely comfortable with the situation. I wouldn’t be if I were in
your place. But don’t let pride keep you from accepting help when
you need it.”

Dani gazed at the bundle of clothes in her
arms. “I guess the whole brooding loner thing is overrated.”

Kevin smiled. “Why brood alone when you can
brood with a friend?”

Her mouth tipped up in a slight smile. “You
never brooded in your life, Boy Toy.”

“I’m Irish. Believe me, I brood.”

“Thank you for this,” she said.

“Shakedown run tonight?”

Dani nodded. “Then check in with
Housecat.”

“I’ve got to be at the shelter tonight.”

She let out a soft, brief burst of
laughter.

“What?”

She said, “We’re both doing community service
to atone for our sins.”

Kevin looked away. “That we are.” He
indicated the clothes. “Go change. I want to see you in that mask.”
He wagged his eyebrows.

This time her glare came with a hint of a
smile. While he waited, he folded the rest of the clothes and put
them all in one big shopping bag. After a short time he heard boot
falls on the stairs.

Dani stood on the bottom step. All in black.
Fierce. Beautiful. And sexy as hell in that domino mask.

Kevin whistled. “If you wear the mask with
the kitty ears, I’ll let you do naughty things to me.”

“As if it would take even that much.”

He laughed. “True.”

She plunged her hands into her hair and
untied the mask then shoved the leather into a pocket. “Anything on
the hashtag?”

“Just chatter. You heading out?”

“Time for a workout.” Excitement lit her up
like the city lights at night, her eyes gleaming with
anticipation.

“Okay. Be careful. Or at least not too
egregiously reckless.”

“Sure thing.” She came close, so close that
the warmth of her body did funny things to his insides. And some of
his outsides. “But just in case, come to the shelter in that stupid
fast car.” It wasn’t a request.

He didn’t even mind. “You got it.”

Dani grabbed his collar and pulled him down.
Before he knew what hit him, her mouth was on his. The kiss was
sweet and a little feral and before it could become a competition
for dominance, it was over. She left without another word.

Dani fairly flew through the night. Side
streets and back alleys, rooftop to rooftop. She pushed her body,
then pushed a little further still. The speed, endurance, and
agility given to her by the lab’s enhancements were on full
display, and she gloried in it. Adrenaline raced through her veins.
Surprisingly, so did pride. The lab may have remade her into
something new and different, but she was the one in charge of how
to use these gifts. She was nobody’s property, nobody’s lab rat.
This body was all hers now and she would keep it that way.

The clothes moved easily with her as she
shifted from a straight run into parkour. The boots were a perfect
fit. The mask allowed her to see unimpeded. Kevin sure knew how to
pick out clothes for her. As long as she didn’t think too much
about the fact that she was letting a man take care of her, she was
okay with him handling the shopping. At some point she was going to
have to do something about it. Right now, the idea of getting a job
and a place to live was more than a little intimidating. For one
thing, it meant admitting she planned to stay in Point Sable.

Of all the decisions she could make, staying
was the most reckless. Knowing that might not stop her, though.

Figuring all that out was a job for another
day. Tonight, all she wanted was to put her body through its
paces.

She dashed into an alley. Catapulted herself
up a fire escape and to the roof. A leap to the opposite roof and a
rolling landing that flowed easily into standing. She stood still,
hands at her sides, chest rising and falling. With a mental tap,
she activated the neural interface. Her night vision came online
with no more effort than it took for her to twitch a finger. After
years of training and practice, the interface operated as part of
her nervous system. Basic functions operated seamlessly. Or they
were supposed to, after recovering from shock overload.

The dark pockets of Cabrini glowed with a
greenish tinge thanks to her night vision. Once her breathing
slowed to normal, she tried to both relax and brace herself for the
worst. She tested the zoom and was able to read the graffiti on a
street sign three blocks away without getting a stabbing headache.
Next she dialed up her hearing. Thankfully, rather than painful
feedback, the cochlear implant and interface brought her sounds
from two streets away, three, four. By fine-tuning her focus she
could make out distinct voices and conversations. Music coming from
several locations. A car trying to make it on a flat tire.

Now for something a little more complicated.
She found the best view of the Cabrini lights she could and snapped
a couple of photos. A helicopter in the distance caught her
attention and she took video until it was out of sight. When she
got back to Kevin’s she would download the media files. That would
be the final test. For now, everything looked good.

Half an hour later she was sitting in
Housecat’s office, waiting for him to take a break from running his
club.

He came to a halt after closing the door and
looked her up and down. “Nice mask.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Only a little.” He moved gracefully to the
chair behind his desk but didn’t sit. “You okay? Heard it got ugly
in Dogtown.”

Dani nodded. “Masha didn’t make it out.
Bessonov showed up.”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard.”

“You come up with anything on Tatiana’s
whereabouts yet?”