Undercover(34)

Still, it was inevitable the ruse would end and reality reassert itself. She may as well ride it out to what she hoped would be a positive outcome.

“Are you ready to go back and meet up with Ash?” she asked Brandt.

“As much as I love having you all to myself, I think we should. Do you feel all right? You do know we’ll keep you safe?”

She laughed and snuggled into his arms. She could strike several killing blows with her bare hands, but they worried for her. Annoying but sweet.

“I trust you both, yes.”

He kissed her temple. “Good.”

He held his hand out, and she took it, giving herself to him in more ways than one.





Chapter 20

After the small privacy the transport afforded, being back in the city was oppressive. Sera sat, her body curled into Brandt’s, as they were ferried to their new cottage. This one was even grander than the last, but she felt a thousand eyes on her when they went inside. Where she found Ash having a very gruff conversation with none other than Kira.

Sera froze, feeling invaded. Brandt squeezed her hand. “Why don’t you go into the bedroom and rest a while?”

It was her cottage, and she had to leave because poor Kira shouldn’t even be exposed to her presence. Sera pulled her hand from his, ignoring his pings through the link, and stormed into the bedroom. It was only mildly satisfying to slam the door in her wake when she really wanted to knock Kira’s smirk from her face.

What Sera hated so much was that she wasn’t a whiny woman. She wasn’t the type to stomp her foot and have tantrums, but this entire situation turned her into one, because she had no recourse. She had no ability to say to Kira exactly what she’d say if she were living her normal life.

She growled at the impotence she felt. She couldn’t confront Kira, she couldn’t speak openly to Brandt and Ash about their relationship, and she had to act like a silly piece of fluff. It galled her because it was the opposite of her normal way of being.

Ah well, at least Sela would stomp out of the room, so she had that one small solace. Of course, Sera would walk up and kiss her on the lips as if being unranked was a disease she could transmit to Kira.

She laughed at the image as she tossed herself on the bed.





“I see you’ve finally learned some manners,” Kira said archly as Brandt approached.

“Too bad you haven’t. Why are you here?” Brandt demanded. He’d had enough of the whole fucking situation, and his sister’s presence just capped it.

“Giles Stander has been murdered.” Ash looked at Brandt, one eyebrow slightly raised.

“What? Here in Nondal Major? Well, have they made arrests?” Brandt’s thoughts went to Sera, not in his sight. He wanted to know she was all right.

“Damn it, Sera, answer me.”

“What?”

Ash actually laughed a moment but covered it with a cough.

“That answers my question. I just wanted to know if you were all right. Stander has been murdered.”

He turned his focus back to Ash. He knew Sera would wait for them to tell her more once they’d dealt with Kira.

“No. They have no suspects at this time.” The sarcasm in Ash’s voice was clear.

Kira interrupted Ash, placing her hand on his forearm, and Brandt shot his friend a confused look. “It’s just awful! What kind of place is this? I’ve always felt safe when Perry and I visited, but Ash tells me you’ve had a break-in, and now this murder. What is the ’Verse coming to?”

“What are you up to, Kira? Why are you here to tell Ash instead of sending a comm or letting us learn from the authorities? And just how often are you out here, anyway?” Brandt crossed his arms over his chest, seeing right through her histrionics.

“Is it wrong to seek out some comfort from my former husband and my brother? Why are you so suspicious? Is that pet of yours trying to turn you against me?” Her artful pout only made Brandt more suspicious.

Ash took her upper arm gently but firmly and led her toward the door. “Kira was just leaving. She’s delivered her news, and now she needs to get back to her husband where she’s safe.”

Kira tried to shake him off but was unsuccessful. “I don’t have a chaperone or an escort back to our rooms. Ash, would you take me?” She fluttered her lashes at Ash, who let go and took three steps back rather quickly.

“I’ll take you, Kira. Although you seem to have made it here just fine.” Brandt hid his smile at Ash’s response.

“I was so shocked, I didn’t stop to think.” She held her hand out, and Brandt took it, placing it on his arm.

“I’ll be back shortly,” he called over his shoulder as he steered Kira out of the cottage and away from Sera.

Once they’d gotten a bit away from the cottage, he turned to his sister. “Now, as we’re out and about and things are noisy and a bit chaotic, why don’t you tell me what the hells you’ve gotten yourself into? This isn’t playtime; just ask Giles. Oh, but you can’t.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about or why you keep accusing me. Giles was a friend of my husband’s.” She sniffed, offended, and Brandt wanted to grind his teeth.

“You’re out here frequently; you’re involved with these people. I’m warning you, Kira, for your own safety, stop to think about whatever it is you and Perry are involved in. People are dying.”

“Here we are. Thank you for escorting me. Perry and I are leaving in several hours, so I suppose this is farewell.” She kissed the air above his cheek, and he sighed as she rushed inside without a backward glance.

When he returned to the cottage, Sera and Ash stood stiffly side by side watching a vid screen. He moved to catch the footage of another destroyed outpost, one he knew was an important relay station.

“Fifty-three people were killed.” Sera answered the question he hadn’t asked yet.

“They’re saying it was an accident. The electrical station had a malfunction and set off a series of explosions. The enviro-tent over the settlement was destroyed, and the pressure killed those the explosions hadn’t.” Ash’s eyes lit with anger. They had friends at that station. More than that, they’d just met a man who had connections to weapons traffickers who dealt in the kinds of explosives that Brandt suspected had been used.

“We need to make our way back toward the Center.” Brandt couldn’t tear his eyes from the scenes of devastation on the screen.

“I’d like to say good-bye to Rina.”

“That’s not going to be possible, Sela. We should get moving now. I don’t like you here with all this anarchy.” Brandt moved to brush a hand down her arm, but she stepped back and narrowed her eyes at him.

“Don’t you even try to tell me what to do. I’m going to see her. I have something for her. And you can fuck right off, along with Ash and your stupid sister, too,” Sera said through the link.

But Sela simply smiled. “While your worry for me is touching, Rina is a friend. I will say good-bye.”

“Every time with this, Sera. It’s really rather tedious. You get angry for something I can’t control.” Brandt didn’t bother to hide his annoyance.

“Well, don’t let my tedium at repeatedly being treated as a whore get in your way then, Brandt. And don’t tell me she was just here to deliver the news about Stander. She was here for Ash. I’m not stupid.”

Brandt turned to Ash with a smile, hoping to look casual, but Ash’s face told him Sera’s accusation was on the mark.

She moved to the comm center to arrange for a chaperone, but Ash negated the order.

“I will escort you. You have no need of a chaperone when you have Brandt and me here.”

“Fine,” she said through clenched teeth and went out the door without waiting for either man.





Sera moved rather quickly toward Rina’s home. Instead of her usual towering heels, she wore flat sandals, and she didn’t care a bit that Brandt and Ash had to rush around people to keep up with her.

Men were so blind sometimes! She wasn’t mad at them for having to leave the room when Kira was there. That was work; she knew her cover, and even though it galled her, she did what the job called for.

She wasn’t jealous of Kira, either. She saw the way Ash reacted to his ex-wife, and he didn’t look at the two of them the same at all.

She was sick of the ruse and sick of the situation, and then they had the nerve to try to forbid her from helping the one woman they’d dealt with who did deserve the help. Of course, that went right over Brandt’s head, and she would have just told him that via the link, but then he’d gotten all snotty and high-handed, so he could just wait now.

As for Kira? Sera snorted. Kira was a sly bitch, but it didn’t escape her notice how often she’d been around, and it sure as hells wasn’t to visit with her brother. Sera did see some measure of affection between brother and sister, but what she saw on Kira’s face was the same thing she saw on the faces of children. Kira didn’t necessarily want Ash, but she didn’t like it one bit when he didn’t want her. What made it all the more irksome was that Sera couldn’t simply tell the woman off and stake her territory.

The atmosphere had changed, even up there on the higher levels. More police milled around, and the normally carefree-looking Nondalese upper classes didn’t look so comfortable. They’d been faced with something pretty unheard-of for them. The constant supervision by cameras had rendered their society one with very little violent or property crime. She supposed it was an exchange many people were willing to make.