Authors: April Zyon
Chapter One
There
he was again. It seemed as if every time he came back to their home world he
breezed in and out faster than the wind blew over the ocean. She couldn’t blame
him, of course. She had been friends with his sisters since she was born
because they all lived so close together and went to the same schools, mostly
the same teachers as well so she understood better than anyone just why the man
spent so much time
offworld
. His sisters were pushy,
to say the least, but his mother… That woman put controlling into a whole new
light.
It
wasn’t that she didn’t like Bracken’s sisters, because that would be an
untruth. She actually loved his sisters because they had all taken her under
their wing during their schooling. Sadie had been an incredibly shy young woman
and his sisters had helped to crack that shell and made her feel like she
belonged. That was then. No, she loved them, but they pushed him too hard and
no matter how many times she tried to tell them that they wouldn’t listen to
her. It was during those times that Sadie disliked the women a great deal.
So
Sadie kept to herself and made herself scarce every time that he
came
planetside
, which was mostly
after having a blowup with one of his sisters. Not Cecilia, however. That poor
girl was always hiding and it made Sadie’s heart hurt. Too bad she hadn’t known
ahead of time that he was going to be on site now. He hated her, had only seen
her in passing but couldn’t stand her so she went out of her way to keep away
from Bracken. And anyway, according to his sisters, he was still pining for the
woman he had lost a few years earlier. Although how he could pine for such a
woman was beyond her.
Sadie
took a deep breath and blended back into the shadows, something she was
exceptionally good at. She ducked behind the potted palm and watched as he
moved along. She saw the way that he moved, the slight hitch when he shrugged
into his dress coat, and wondered what had happened to him this time.
Odd.
She
pulled the data pad from her pocket and swiped her finger across the scanner.
Putting the ear bud into her ear, she touched the base of her throat and called
into the unit. “Why wasn’t I told that Colonel
Kauller
was due
planetside
?”
The
crackle came through her ear and she heard, “He had been due back three weeks
prior but ran into issues. Besides, aren’t you on vacation?”
“Yes,
but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be appraised when the colonel’s come
planetside
.”
“Franco
DeMarks
was advised of the situation. He’s handled
everything.”
She
rolled her eyes. She couldn’t help herself. “Thank you.”
“Try
to enjoy your vacation,” she was told before the connection was cut.
Sadie
sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, touching the bun that she had her hair
wrapped up in, then leaned into the shadows once more. God she hated her job
some days. It was her responsibility to inspect the reports from the
destroyers, to ensure that every inch of their weapons systems were all in line
as they should be. It was a position she’d fought her ass off for—and one that,
at the moment, she hated. She had to arrange for another to clear his vessel so
that she never got close to Bracken, a man she had secretly been head over
heels for since she was five—a man that didn’t even
know
who she was.
After
a moment of silence she finally touched the communication device in her neck
once more and said, “Upload all of Colonel
Kauller’s
destroyer stats to my data pad. I would like to see why he was late returning
home.” So she could protect his ass.
Again.
She’d
already done it several times for both him and General Daykin when they were
far closer to
Imarian
space than they should have
been.
“Of course, Dr. Monterey.”
Seconds later, her screen beeped.
“Thank
you, Adam. Please do not allow anyone to know that I have requested this
information.”
“As
always, when it comes to Colonel
Kauller
,” Adam
assured her before the connection cut.
She’d
been so focused on making sure she had everything she needed for Bracken’s ship
that she didn’t see Lord Watkins approach her. When he reached out and touched
her she jumped.
Eyes
wide, she looked at the man.
“My Lord, how do you do.”
She moved in closer to the palm trees. “I’m surprised to see you here. Isn’t
this a function that the unmarried men typically come to in order to try to
obtain a bride?”
“Ah,
then you don’t know. The contract with Felicia is up and I am now a single
male. Would you do me the honor of a dance?”
Damn
.
She seriously needed to learn to keep up with society, even if she hated being
a part of it. Sadie knew exactly who and what she was and exactly the
catch
that men thought of her as. “I
have to decline. Thank you for the wonderful offer, but I have a massive
headache and a five a.m. meeting. Please excuse me?” She stepped around the
large male by walking behind the plant. Slipping the data pad into her pocket
once more, she headed for the exit, grabbing her cloak as she went along.
She
knew just what her night would entail. A glass of wine,
then
poring
over the information from Bracken’s destroyer and ensuring that
whoever went to inspect it knew just what to look for. Yes, the life of being a
shadow.
Chapter Two
Bracken
wasn’t in the best of moods the following day when his first officer informed
him the inspectors were requesting permission to board. Taking the data pad, he
scowled down at the screen. He read through the names and fought the urge to
hurl the pad into the nearest wall.
“No,”
he said. “Permission to board denied.” Pressing his thumb to the screen, he
waited for it to acknowledge who he was, then put it in officially. He handed
the pad back over to his officer before heading for the doors off the command
deck. “Come find me when they send someone with an actual brain. I might let
that one on board.”
He
knew his denial would raise a stink with the marshal’s office. Not like it was
the first time he’d done it. Bracken was very particular about who he let mess
with his systems. And all the brownnosers on the list were not among the few he
trusted. Given what he,
Fintan
, and
Adira’s
brother Petr were up to he had to be even more
careful about who had access to his systems.
With
that foremost in his mind he headed for the main systems room. He needed to
make sure that every last crumb of information of what he’d been up to of late
wasn’t to be found. While he trusted certain inspectors and engineers, even
those he trusted couldn’t come across what he’d been up to.
Sealing
himself into the server room, he went to the main console and logged into the
system. Slowly and systematically he began to go over the time period he was on
the border. Oddly enough it was clean. Which had the fine hairs on the back of
his neck rising. Running a hand through his short dark auburn hair, Bracken
frowned at the monitors. “There is no way you should be so pristine. What the
fuck is going on?”
Then
it came to him. Taking a trick he’d learned from one of the programmers, he
slipped through a backdoor of the system to look at who’d been logging in
remotely. There were very few who could do it, especially with the destroyer
not in port. There were fewer still who could actually get through what he’d
put into place with the help of his programmer friend. What he found had him
staring. Then a slow smile curled his lips. “Well, well, well. You have been a
very naughty girl,
Dr. Monterey
.”
Feeling
more than a little feral, he dropped in a little message that he knew she’d
find soon enough. Especially since she’d been in his system no less than forty
times in the last two days they’d been in port. “Come
out,
come out wherever you are, doc.” Bracken had known who it was the moment he saw
the coding. He knew it was the woman,
Sadie, that
had
always been kicking her heels in a run to get away from him. Yes, he knew who
Sadie Monterey was and she was damn well going to come out and play. No more
running.
****
Sadie
looked at the message and frowned. No, this was not good. She took a deep
breath and tapped her short nails to the desk in her home. She was on forced
vacation
right now, but it didn’t stop
her from protecting Bracken and his crew. And now he’d found her backdoor.
Damn.
Swiping
her hand over the desk top, she pulled up the
holo
image screen and altered her appearance as she always did when
talking
to Bracken and put in the call.
She never let him know who she truly was, or anyone for that matter. He still
didn’t know what she truly looked like and she was fine with that. To him she
was simply Dr. Monterey. No first name, no initials, just her position and last
name.
She
didn’t start with a greeting when his face appeared on the screen. Instead, she
ordered, “You need to let my inspectors on board. That’s an order. You know
that each time you port you have to allow my inspectors on board. Just do it,
Colonel
Kauller
. It will make life much easier.”
“Actually,
I don’t,” he said with a bored expression on his face. “Besides, you’ve been
mucking about in my systems for the last two days so I’m pretty sure you know
exactly what’s going on there. I also don’t trust a single one of the
inspectors the marshal’s offices sent out here. They are not among those I’ve
personally vetted to be allowed on my ship. If you can get those I do trust to
come out, then I might consider letting them on under armed guard.
But otherwise, no.”
“And
who exactly would you suggest, Colonel?” she asked with a frown and shifted
slightly. “I have only done what I’ve needed to do.” She tapped her finger on
the desk once more, a nervous habit she’d had since childhood.
His
cognac-colored eyes with the black outer ring narrowed on her image. “
You,
and only you. Or we leave without the inspection, which
I can override at any time as you well know. So you come do the inspection, or
I leave without it and you can attempt to write me up.”
“That’s
not something that will happen. They won’t allow you out of our space and you
know it. There’s only so much I can do in order to protect you,” she muttered.
“I don’t make visits to the ships. You know that.” She did, actually. She just
didn’t visit his ship. She never visited his ship because it was too much and
far too close to him.
“Actually,
you do, yet you’ve never once set foot on mine. Strange, don’t you think? The
person in charge of ensuring our systems are
the latest,
greatest, and completely impenetrable and yet you’ve never once gotten near my
destroyer. You come out here, or I’ll let the marshal’s offices know you
refused despite my concerns about the seriously bumbling antics of the lackeys
you attempted to foist on me after I voiced a very real concern that needed
someone of a top level to address it. I’m sure they’ll let me go toddling off
to one of the moon bases to attend to things, right about the time they hand
you your walking papers.
Get your ass
on my ship by
midday tomorrow, Doctor Monterey, or start looking for another job.” He shot
her a feral snarl before he ended the communication.
God
he’s an ass.
Taking a deep breath, she sighed and
tapped her fingers in a faster rhythm. She didn’t know if she could face him.
Crap. Standing, she moved to her closet and pulled out the suit that she needed
to help alter her appearance. With that done she pulled her hair down from its
bun and headed to the docks. She was at least content with the fact that he
only knew her as Dr. Monterey and with four Dr.
Montereys
in the Ministries she knew she was safe. After all, he never would have known
that she had accomplished all she had in the years since he had last seen her.
She
pulled the facial film into place, then queued up the alterations process and
was soon headed toward the ship of the man that should have been the other part
of her soul, a man that would never acknowledge it because of how badly he had
been harmed by
her.
A woman that
Sadie herself would pay good money to kill.
****
“Dr.
Monterey reporting as Colonel
Kauller
demanded,” she
said when she placed her hand onto the communications screen. Her disguise was
in place and she was comfortable in knowing that he would never recognize her.
Ever.
There
was a long moment of silence before she was given permission to board. The
first officer was there to greet her. He asked her to follow him,
then
turned to lead her through the ship. He took her down
to the server room where Bracken sat waiting. The man didn’t even bother to get
to his feet. Hell, he didn’t even greet her, just thanked his officer and sat
staring at her.
“Now,
I need to look over your ship. I will be in and out before you know it.” She
didn’t move, didn’t shift from foot to foot. Instead she simply watched him.
“Without my approval you won’t leave this port and you damn well know it. Now
the question is, why me?”
“Curiosity
mostly,” he said. “I was curious about the woman who had such control over our
destroyers. And I was curious as to how you’d look when you got here. Not quite
the face I’d have picked, given your bone structure, but it’s passable. You
really should have thought about the nose, though. It doesn’t suit very well.”
Reaching out, he hit a button and up popped a candid image of her true face. “I
know it’s from several years ago, but I prefer it over this facade. It took me
some time to figure out, but now that I have it makes things so much clearer.”
“How
did you get that?” she demanded. “You shouldn’t have that.” It was a carefree
moment, one where she’d been watching him playing some sort of game with his
crew and his best friend’s crew. She had been happy in that moment, until she
had seen him grab and kiss the woman that he had been interested in. “I have
control over the destroyers because I’m the best.” She didn’t waffle in her
tones. She simply told it like it was. She was the best.
Period.
She had also gone through great lengths to ensure that the
real
her
never made it out there to the
public and now Bracken knew who she really was.
“It’s
not the only one I have, Sadie. I have about three dozen others as well.
Some from earlier days but none beyond this point.
You
started to avoid coming around after this. I could speculate as to why, but
that would be pointless.” He surged to his feet then, a hand moving to erase
the image before he walked toward her. “You have two hours before I’m leaving.
With or without your sign-off.
Orders from the marshal’s
office came in prior to your arrival. We have no choice. Oh, and they’ll be
sending a bag along to ensure you’re comfortable for the trip.” Bracken headed
for the door, leaving her standing there trying to comprehend his words.
Her
mouth opened and closed several times. With a frown she keyed up the
communications device and demanded, “What the hell is going on? What does
Colonel
Kauller
mean that a bag is being sent to me
for the
trip.
What’s happening?”
“The
marshal’s office sent through the orders to your device. They’ve pulled you
from vacation, and you are temporarily assigned to his destroyer for the
duration of his current mission. They believe something is going on, and they
need you to discover the truth of the matter. Full confidential orders are in
the packet. Read it, and then destroy it,” came through to her.
As
if she would ever give Bracken up. She let out a breath and nodded.
“Acknowledged,” she agreed, then killed the connection, turned off and
completely blocked any communications from command. If they thought Bracken and
his friends were up to something it was going to be up to her to make sure they
were protected, all without them knowing that it was her doing it.
Fucking great.
She
felt the cool air hit her skin as she peeled the film from her face.
Great.
Just fucking great.
For
the next two hours Sadie encrypted every single packet of data she could find
on Bracken’s whereabouts and hid them where no one would ever find them. She
felt it then, the ship moving from port.
“This
is going to suck,” she muttered. Facial film back in place, she left the room
and headed toward command so that she could get her room assignments and try to
figure out the best way to avoid Bracken for as long as she possibly could.
The
first officer met her at the command deck doors. She could see Bracken at a
terminal, leaning in talking to one of the junior officers. “Doctor, if you’re
ready I will show you to the quarters you’ll have during your stay with us.”
The officer waved her back up the corridor, never letting her onto the command
deck. Once she was moving he followed her to the lifts and inside. He took them
down a couple of levels to the command crew level and led her to a door. After
keying in a code he looked to her.
“If you’ll put your hand
on the scanner.
This will allow you entrance into the room at any time.
The head of security and the colonel are the only other two with access to
these rooms at any moment.
But only in a time of emergency.
Your bags have already been put inside, as well as a package that the courier
told us was for your eyes only from the marshal’s offices. If you require
anything, there is a directory next to the communications vid screen to get you
through to the various members of the crew.”
“Thank
you, I appreciate that,” she told him and looked at the package. She had no
idea what was in it but knew whatever it
was,
it
wasn’t good for Bracken or his crew. Once she was alone she removed the facial
film and the suit that altered her image. Grabbing clean and fresh comfortable
clothing from her bag, she sat down at the desk and opened the package.
Her
hands were shaking when she finished listening to the instructions on the
recording device. She took a deep breath and made a verbal-only call to
Bracken. “You have far more issues than you realize. I need to meet with you.”
Which meant getting back into the uncomfortable suit and facial film, but both
were necessary. He might say that he knew what she looked like, but he didn’t,
not really. He didn’t know about the long scar that ran from forehead to chin
on her face. He didn’t know about the markings because she tried to keep it
private, her shame. No, there was much about her that he didn’t know—and never
would, if she could survive this trip with him.