The Dawn of Dae (Dae Portals Book 1) (37 page)

“You let one of those women kiss you?”

“She just went and did it all on her own. She got excited to see me. Warned me Kenneth was pissed and thought I’d be a liability. Won’t be a problem if I show up with those drugs and sufficient cash. The naked woman slicked with sweat and oil, and fresh from sex was Monica, by the way.” I was proud of myself; I didn’t curse at Kenneth, Monica,
or
Rob, not once. I ducked my head and started the safety check on the second harness, which proved to be Rob’s. It, too, checked out.

Was I just being paranoid? I frowned, wondering if the card was a dud. A faulty access card would land us both in hot water fast, although with Rob around to help, I had a decent chance of escaping without ending up a permanent resident of some far-off detention center.

I was so focused on checking over Rob’s gear a second time he took me by surprise when he grabbed my shoulders, turned me towards him, and crushed his mouth against mine. As he had in bed, he pulled me to him with desperate need and desire. I kissed him back until my lungs burned with the need for air before I managed to tear myself away from him.

“The only woman I want to see fresh from sex and slicked up with my sweat is you,” he said, his voice husky. “And don’t you worry about Kenneth Smith. If he even thinks about hurting you, I’m going to take my time ruining him.”

Rob held me with one arm while reaching for the glove box with the other. He pulled out a syringe, flicked off the cap, and before I could stop him, he stabbed me in the thigh with it. I yelped, jerking in his hold. He depressed the plunger. With another flick of his wrist, he discarded the needle in the backseat.

“Mommy!” Colby squawked moments before it ate the evidence of Rob drugging me.

“What the hell!” I demanded, struggling to pull free of him. A tingle spread from my leg and swept upwards, leaving me numb and lethargic. When the sensation reached my head, it took all my strength to keep my eyes open.

“You were wheezing,” he informed me before brushing his lips against mine once more. “Don’t worry. You’ll only be out for an hour or so before it wears off, which gives us plenty of time to finish Smith’s dirty work tonight so we can be rid of him once and for all.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

I woke to Rob patting my cheeks. When he noticed me blinking at him, he smiled at me.

Exhaustion robbed me of the ability to smack the smug expression off his face. “You drugged me again.”

My uncooperative tongue was thick in my mouth, and my words slurred into one another. While I remembered Monica kissing me in her enthusiasm, my face didn’t itch, burn, or feel swollen. I reached up to touch my cheek, puzzled by the lack of pain.

Rob caught my hand. “I put a bandage over it with anesthetic. No one is going to notice any marks unless they’re close and looking for it. If someone asks, you can make up a story, I’m sure. Really, Miss Daegberht. Couldn’t you have waited at least a couple of hours before undoing my hard work?”

Pulling free of his hold, I rubbed at my eyes. “What the hell did you drug me with?”

“An antihistamine coupled with a sedative and muscle relaxer. It’s designed to suppress an allergic reaction while reopening the airways. When you stopped wheezing, I used a secondary long-term suppressant. If you want me to cease drugging you, then stop putting yourself in a position where you require it.” Rob retreated to the driver’s side of the car, resting his elbow on the steering wheel. “We have work to do. We’re parked three blocks away from the skyscraper; it’s the closest they’re letting vehicles to the place right now. That’s good for us, because not even the residents are able to get their cars in and out of there.”

“What’s going on?”

“It’s from a few weeks ago. Fighting dae tore up the roads, and they haven’t had a chance to fix them yet.”

“What time is it?”

“Three in the morning. While you were napping, I got more appropriate cases for the gear.” Rob gestured to the back seat. The duffel bags had been replaced by two large briefcases; there wouldn’t be room for much other than the harnesses, but they would have plenty of space for Kenneth’s drugs and cash if we found any.

They were made of metal and had straps for carrying over the shoulder.

“That’ll work,” I conceded.

“So glad you approve. I don’t suppose you’re going to fill me in on what our plan is now that I’ve spent a small fortune on this expedition?”

“Will you fit in one of those cases, Colby?” I asked.

“Mommy,” my roommate confirmed.

“Rob, you’re playing a lawyer, and you’re delivering important time-sensitive documentation due in the morning to a client. If asked, you’re going to stubbornly refuse to give the name and apartment number of your client in the interest of preserving their confidentiality. You’ll give them the floor we’re going to and state you will be waiting for signatures before you leave.” The ruse was a trick I’d learned from Kenneth; important business negotiations often happened in the dead of night to help prevent others from overhearing and acting on a new deal.

“I can do that.”

“You won’t have to work very hard to pull it off,” I muttered. Yawning, I unbuckled my seatbelt and sat straighter. “Colby, you’re going to be our guard and clock watcher for this. Rob, you’re going to help me do the search of the place once we’re in. From the moment we
 
get by the security desk, we’ll have a maximum of thirty minutes. With the entry card, we can pretend the door has been answered and walk in, so it’ll look good for the hallway cameras.”

“You’ve done this before.”

Clapping, I glowered at the dae beside me. “Shocking. Colby, it seems Captain Obvious has seen fit to join us. I thought my shopping list would have tipped you off.”

Colby snickered, “Mommy.”

“You really do have a nasty mouth,” Rob muttered. “Don’t side with her, Colby.”

“Mommy.”

“Well, I see where your allegiances are. Thanks, Colby. Thanks a lot.”

“Okay, get Colby into one of the cases, Rob. Since prissy elite don’t carry their own things, I’ll be playing your delivery woman.”

“You’ll keep your pretty mouth closed, then. I don’t let my mules talk when I’m working,” Rob countered.

“I’m going to enjoy killing you for that comment alone,” I hissed at him through clenched teeth.

Smirking at me, the dae got out of the car. “You do your job and I’ll do mine, Miss Daegberht. And don’t worry, I do plan on enjoying every minute of it. Now, get out of the car and grab the cases. Your job is to be seen, not heard.”

Spitting curses at him, I obeyed. Rob didn’t lift a finger to help me situate our things for the heist, leaving me to adjust the case with my harness to make room for Colby inside. I cursed him the entire time.

He smiled.

Rob led the way, and I followed him hauling the two heavy cases. My shoulders throbbed by the time we made it the two blocks, but like every other worker fortunate enough to be hired by the elite, I kept my chin up and hid my discomfort behind a forced smile.

Once upon a time, the downtown core had been part of the Inner Harbor, but engineers had reconfigured the river port after the creation of the caste system, leaving many of the city’s skyscrapers a safer distance from the shore. I’m sure the building had a name before the overhaul of the United States government system, but I didn’t know what it was. Most just called the structure the Ivory Tower despite the fact it was a blue-gray steel and glass monstrosity.

That Terry Moore lived on the top floor was a boon to our efforts. It wasn’t the tallest skyscraper in the area, but if we ran out of time, it’d be easy enough to get to the roof, which boasted a garden and plenty of hiding places. Unless things had changed, they didn’t actively monitor the stairwell from the fortieth floor to the gardens.

Rob pushed through the front doors and headed for the front desk, leaving me to shoulder my way inside while struggling with both of the cases. I squeezed through, grimacing at the ache across my shoulders at the extra effort.

The residents were wealthy enough to live in Baltimore’s exclusive property. Why couldn’t they have had automatic doors?

I kept smiling, catching up to Rob.

“We have an appointment on the fortieth floor,” Rob announced, standing at ease with his hands in his pants pockets. The way he slouched spoke volumes about what he thought of the security guard, a young man wearing the tower’s cream-colored polo shirt.

I pegged him to belong to one of the middle castes; they wouldn’t hire someone from the fringe to protect the elites.

“Condominium number?” the young man demanded.

I recognized the faint stench of sulfur in the air and the pale yellow eyes of a fire-breather. Every muscle in my body tensed, and I remembered the heat of Arthur’s flame and the burn of his touch on my sensitive skin. Trembling, I forced myself to stand still, drawing slow and even breaths so I wouldn’t obey my initial instinct and run for the doors.

“I’m here on confidential business,” Rob snapped, and the way he straightened had me recoiling, shuffling back a pace before I caught myself. The guard’s gaze turned to me, taking in the two cases slung over my shoulders. I grabbed their carry handles in a tight grip.

As I was on elite business, I straightened and glared at the floor, hoping he’d read that Rob was bad news from how he carried himself.

“What sort of confidential business?”

“The sort you’re not cleared to know. I will be awaiting my client’s signature. These need to be transferred to the appropriate office in the morning.” Rob pushed back his sleeve
 
and checked his watch. “In five hours.”

“Last elevator on the right,” the guard mumbled, and I glanced up in time to watch the young man rise and gesture to the back of the lobby. He pulled out a card and led the way, unlocking the elevator with a single swipe.

Conscious of the security cameras in the elevator, I pressed the button for the fortieth floor. The elite wouldn’t stoop to doing something so mundane with a servant around to do it for them, and I resented the role I had assigned Rob—and myself.

It didn’t take long for the elevator to zip us to the top floor. By the time the door dinged open and Rob stepped through, my heart had taken up residence in the black boots Rob had purchased for me. Rob stepped out onto the black and gold-veined marble floor, striding down the hall without acknowledging my presence. I hurried after him, keeping my head down, glancing at the door numbers.

Stopping in front of Terry Moore’s unit, Rob knocked three times, waited until the count of twenty, and with a twist of his wrist, he swiped the all-access card. The door pinged and popped open. Rob let himself in, and I followed in his wake.

Not only was Terry Moore an egotistical ass, he was also a slob, one who held parties in his condominium without cleaning up after himself. Empty beer bottles littered the floor along with half-filled bottles of bourbon. The case of vodka surprised me; the United States had ceased active imports from Russia over a decade ago.

I kicked the door closed behind me, set down the cases, and let Colby out.

“Put your harness on under your suit. Snap the thigh and hip bands to the chest ring unless we need them to hide them under our jackets. In that case, we’ll open the harness and hang the straps to the sides. Let’s just hope that isn’t necessary.” I wiggled out of my jacket to put mine on. If we needed to leave in a hurry, stopping long enough to gear up would cost us far too much time.

“Why didn’t we do this in the car?” Rob demanded, although he did take off his jacket before grabbing the case with his harness in it.

“A good security guard would have noticed them on our way in. They might not notice on our way out, and if all goes well, we’ll need the cases for other things.” I did a full check of the top buckles, and satisfied the harness was secure in place, I put my coat back on and zipped it up.

Once Rob harnessed up, I double checked his, too. Maybe he annoyed me, but I wasn’t thrilled by the idea of him ending up a smear on the sidewalk. “That should do it. Don’t fiddle with it. Those buckles are all that’s coming between you and a very, very messy death.”