“You personify what people see when they think undercover and banker. Just watch a sitcom on television. You’re handsome, worldly, and white. No one questions why you do anything you do to stay alive. It’s expected. It’s held on high when you mix with the enemy and come out walking with the prize gripped in your hand.”
He frowned. “You’re punishing me because of the way others view your profession? That’s insane.”
“It’s the perception, Cantrell. You know exactly what I’m referring to. Women are subjected to ridicule if we don’t behave as Doris Day, prim and proper. Sometimes we have to get dirty to come out alive. Never once did you second-guess if I could cook or clean. Instead of being proud of a woman going into the karuntee camp and coming out with them as allies, you look offended.”
What all had she done with the karuntee?
Oliver shot a look to his crew pretending they couldn’t hear the exchange. Men and women fumbled with their scanners getting back to their work. He returned his attention on Sadie. “Where do you live up here, Sadie? With Farkus on his station? Because I’ve never seen you on the station.” Oliver heard his complaint before he could stop the words from leaving his mouth.
Sadie took a step back. “Are you even listening to me? This isn’t about Captain Farkus.” She hesitated, then caught his hand balled at his thigh. “Did Captain Farkus take something belonging to you, Commander? You have a brick up your behind for him, and now me for that matter.”
His breath caught at her perception. Stepping around the half wall, she eyed the tanks and he eyed her in her cargo uniform. The charcoal-gray skintight pants hugged her curvy hips. The single zipper running between her breasts, separating them into the perfect handfuls had his mouth watering.
“I have to say you’re good, Sadie, because I’ve sat in on Edwards’ meetings every week, and not once have I had an inkling you were listening to his conversations. What can you share with me that I don’t know?”
“You know about Richard using his bank to make the transfers and so far I haven’t heard of any shipment coming from foreign companies. So all our efforts are focused in the states.”
“Anything else?”
“Just that the tanks are marked the same as the oil rigs containers we confiscated last year. Their tanks were coming in marked down here,” she said, angling a hand toward the bottom of the container. “Around the rim there was a small lime green mark.”
“The marina-mark case,” he said in a rush of frustration. “It left toxins in the ocean killing a significant amount of corals.”
She nodded in agreement. “Calcium remains were in the tanks. The same M.O. as the tanks we busted last year. Tainted debris, concealed codes on the tanks, and a barrage of night shipments close to the two-week travel ban...”
“Thus ensuring the delay in returning the contaminated fuel, due to the blackout.”
“Exactly.”
This was bad. Moving around to the next tank, he keyed in the tracking number logging its arrival time.
“Sadie, you’re the maid. When did you acquire detective training? You don’t just go from maid to detective overnight.”
That came out harsher than he wanted, but damn it, this woman had him in knots.
“Thirty cases, Cantrell. Life trained me to listen, to blend into the background when others spoke,” she fired back. “I earned my job because people like you taught me not to take it personal that you could dismiss my intellectual presence because of my skin color or gender.”
“When are you going to stop beating me up for that? I see you Sadie…believe me, I see all of you.”
She closed her eyes and inhaled to blow out a low stream of air. “I’m sorry. I’ve held that in for years listening to my father talk about the unfair way he was treated on the construction site.”
“I can see,” he said feeling her pain, knowing first-hand what it was like to hold in anger. Prison hadn’t been a picnic. “Can I ask you something about Farkus?”
Reluctantly, she nodded once.
“Why you? Why did he select you specifically?”
Sadie’s shoulders dropped. She rested on one hip. “You really don’t like him, do you?”
“What I don’t understand is how you went back after he let you go. That freak had to have tortured you.”
“You don’t have to understand to finish this assignment. My relationship with Farkus doesn’t affect my work. And my personal affairs are that…personal.”
“Hey, if that’s how you like your ship started…”
“This won’t work if you walk around with that junior high chip on your shoulders.”
“I’ll do my job. Just don’t bring your boyfriend around. Karuntees aren’t allowed on the station.”
“On this station, you’re right, not without invitation because there’s too much tension,” she retorted. “Don’t worry, Cantrell, they prefer to socialize with their own species.”
“Yet they welcome you into their tight-knit world?” What had he missed? “What makes you palatable to the aliens?”
That got her back up. “What’s your problem with the karuntees?”
His next words squeezed out under clenched teeth, because although Sadie’s words were haughty and aggressive, a hint of apprehension drew back the bite of her words. She fought when attacked, but never lost the demure undertone that made her Sadie. He took a breath and tried to say in a calmer voice. “You’re seriously questioning me?”
“Not questioning you; I’m wondering about the man standing here as a commander that can’t accept differences among humans and aliens, yet you chose to work amongst them,” she tossed back. “When it rains, does the water puddle in your nose from holding it up so high?” she complained shifting on her boots. “Rejecting someone because they’re different is bigoted.”
He drew up straight offended by her opinion. “I’m a bigot ‘cause I can’t stomach the freaks?” The line across his forehead deepened.
He knew the moment she saw it—his disdain wasn’t for the karuntee, it was the captain. “You don’t hate them ‘cause they’re different. You don’t give away that much of yourself to strangers. You hate the captain and it irks you that I don’t.”
Frustrated seeing her protect Farkus, and her exotic scent closing around him, Oliver was tempted to grab her by the hair and take her mouth until she begged to be taken to bed. But that would kill the relationship hanging on by a ratty cord now. Backtracking his footsteps, he crowded her to the wall. “Sadie, you’re playing with your life. He’s an uncivilized killer.”
“Alright, you’ve warned me from your perspective and experiences. Respect me enough to make my own judgement on his civility.”
“Okay!” He threw his hands up in mock surrender. She had no idea who she played with. “If you came to help, check the tanks in bay three.” He wasn’t going into how Farkus had killed his partner and a great friend. She wouldn’t believe him, driving a bigger wedge between them.
“Oliver…I need a partner, not a father. The one I had taught me everything I needed to know about treating people with dignity and respect regardless of the jaded views of others.”
Chapter 10
Detective Ochi watched the ships returning on the far end of the bay as she checked the tanks from the last delivery. Oliver made her back teeth clench.
Such an ass.
Finishing, she hooked up her device, downloaded her finding into the wall retrieval, and then started for the doors. She was starving, and arguing with that sexually frustrated Cantrell would leave her with lockjaw, biting back her comments.
Hearing his voice, she spun around and found herself nose to nose with the egotistical arrogant man.
“Stay,” he offered, those dark blue eyes sincere. “I’m going to the canteen…grab a bite to eat, some gray moon ale. Join me.”
That piqued her interest. She’d acquired a taste for the drink favoring root beer…more beer than root.
“I can’t tonight.” She declined his offer.
“You’re going to see him aren’t you?” He huffed. “You’re serious?”
She gave an impatient snort. “Honestly, Cantrell, why do you care? You’ve already made up your mind about me the moment you heard I’d been with a karuntian. So why keep pissing on me?” She studied the tight way he held his body, angry and sullen, as he towered her.
Startled by him pushing something into her palm, Sadie tilted her head enough to see between them.
“I shouldn’t do this, but I like you, and the last thing I want is for you to get hurt,” he uttered, inches from her face, his displeasure evident by his reddening ears. “This is the code to my home, if you change your mind. You don’t have to play his game with your body as a chess piece.”
Why was he dead set on believing Aroc wanted to hurt her?
She whispered close to his face. “You’re a piece of work, Cantrell. If I share my time with the captain or anyone else, it’s by consent and none of your business.” Flustered, but in control, she closed a hand over his, still holding the piece of paper. “I apologized for being rude earlier, when I barked at you. But don’t hold me responsible for whatever skeleton lies between you two.” Surprised her voice remained steady, she kept her eyes trained on Oliver.
His taut features eased, slightly. He uttered an apology, removed his hand away, and left behind the piece of paper.
“Thanks for helping with the tanks.” Pivoting on his heels Oliver Cantrell stalked off across the room. He never turned to look at her as he spoke to a few workers, but she could feel agitation roaring from his hard body.
“Commander,” she called out over the buzz of the others working around them pretending not to hear their conversation.
His face tightened when he finally angled a stare back to her over one shoulder.
“I see you have women working in here…a huge plus on our road to recovery. And earlier, my outburst on race… Had I not seen racial bias and hatred first-hand, I would have accepted an invitation to dinner from you months ago. Instead, I’m sharing my free time with the head of an alien race that finds rubbing my feet relaxing. Have a good weekend.” Leaving out how erotic the captain’s touch was, sending shivers up to her core.
Spinning on her heels, she left Oliver to ponder her words, while the pressure from his stare escorted her through the open bay doors.
Out in the corridor bustling with life, she greeted a few other Domestic’s she knew to be undercover possibly here to meet with Captain Ryner for new assignments with new families. After filing a case closed, you were assigned a new mission.
“Stay safe out there,” Sadie offered to a passing detective.
The woman adjusted the pack straps on her shoulder before extending her hand. “Sister,” the younger detective replied, “being safe is all we have down on Earth other than each other.” The woman tossed her braids back over her shoulders while looking around, and then leaned in as if sharing a secret. “I hear you have an,
in
, with the karuntee captain.”
They both stepped back out of the flow of traffic as the corridor began to vibrate with the voices bleeding through the air, and boots scuffing the floor during shift change.
She pulled her lapels together. “The captain listens when I talk, that’s about as much pull as I have. I can’t promise what he retains. What’s up?”
The woman’s attention moved around the corridor before settling on Sadie. “Can you put in a good word…get me assigned to their station? You know, on the shuttle bay with the karuntee.”
From the look in her eyes, Sadie knew exactly why she wanted to work up there and it would always be the same answer. No! “You met Commander Montage on the beach when you vacationed on Sector Four, didn’t you?”
The lustful grin of karuntee fever brightened the woman’s brown eyes seconds before reality struck and her face dropped. “Ah, don’t tell me…he’s already mated or married, isn’t he?”
Sadie eyed her watch in an attempt not to see the disappointment in the woman’s eyes. She would be late getting to Aroc’s. “Listen, before you get your heart set on a karuntian lover, Montage is not tolerant of humans. Never has been, but I’ll let you know if the criteria changes for working on their station.
“Thanks. Mmm.” The woman sighed. “Are you sure about Montage? That male is delicious.”
Sadie chuckled. “Believe me, he’s not interested.”
She chewed her lip. “Too bad,” she said angling her body away to leave. “Remember, keep an ear open for me, I have to get up there where everyone’s equal.”
“Hey, the grass is only greener on the other side because it rains a lot.”
The woman whirled around, her eyes serious. “When has the Captain allowed you to get wet?” Sadie watched her slip behind the shuttle bay doors, seconds before she depressed the butterfly under her collar. Earth or the moon, the bad boy was appealing. She’d need more than an umbrella to handle a karuntian male. She held her breath as she travelled through space… in particles.
Inside the glass atrium overlooking the great expanse of black space dotted with shuttles coming and going, Sadie gathered her bearings. Curved arm-like braces supporting the landing bay entrances surrounded the station. It was a fishbowl for anyone traveling by an oddity for a private species, yet it resembled the human station. But who would transport to a colony of warriors without a reason? Not her. Although their technology was centuries ahead of Earth’s, the Karuntee carried themselves as ancient warriors, ready for war. Inside, the different levels were connected by a glass lift. A catwalk circling each floor resembled a sidewalk on Earth.