Читать книгу Rayven's Keep - Kylie Wolft - Страница 9

Chapter 5

Nick returned to the lower floor to seek Seth and Callen and entered the formal office designed for visiting clients. He’d richly appointed the room with a large barrow wood desk gleaming with the deep, russet grain of the native tree. Positioned in front of the window overlooking the gardens, it made a statement and drew the eye. Comfortable chairs flanked the desk and discreet art decorated the paneled walls. The elegant, masculine room represented the business face Nick liked to present his clients.

The real heart of the operation, on the other hand, lay hidden behind a section of wall to the left of his desk. Silently, the panel slid open and Nick stepped into the room. Callen worked at a haloviz console extrapolating data, while Seth made notes on a lightweight, flexible tablet. Both men stopped working when he walked in.

“Have we heard from Wulf?” Nick asked.

Burke Wulfric, the other member of the team, was on assignment escorting a dignitary from Paladin Minor to take her newly elected seat with the governing body of the Unified Alliance of Planets on Fionne. Raven Security hadn’t protected individuals in the past, but when the company had been approached to offer discreet security for the new ambassador, Nick had agreed.

Nick assigned Wulf the job because he had a background with the diplomatic corps on Tonlith. Not that he’d been particularly forthcoming about his experience, but Nick used it as leverage when he’d needed an agent for the job. Wulf was also deadly in close-quarter fighting, if needed. He wasn’t expected back for at least a standard moon cycle, but Nick required his agents to report.

“He checked in early this morning. He mentioned a few problems to take care of, but didn’t go into detail. You know Wulf; he’ll handle whatever gets in his way.” Seth chuckled. “It seems Ambassador D’Kir is proving to be more of a challenge than anticipated and isn’t following orders very well. That boy has picked up some very interesting language since he’s been gone.”

Nick snorted as he crossed the room.

“Callen, have you been able to find any information on the head of Lodestone Mining besides the usual drivel?”

“I’ve been doing some digging but don’t have anything concrete yet. It looks like Malvin Sonne is a figurehead for the corporation. I haven’t discovered the real power behind the man yet.” Callen’s voice was thoughtful and he frowned. “But you can be sure I’ll find him, given a little time.”

Nick nodded. Whoever had faked the advisory on him and Tru wouldn’t stay hidden for long, not with Callen hot on his trail. The man was a genius with information.

“I liberated the pouch you brought home from its hidey hole on the Messenger.” Seth put his tablet down and snagged the pouch from the console in front of him. He tossed it up and down, testing its weight. “This sure is a tiny package for something you tell me might revolutionize star-drive technology. Have you looked inside yet?”

“I was a bit busy,” Nick answered, his tone dry. He pulled up a chair, sat down and crossed an ankle over the opposite knee. He slouched back and laced his fingers behind his head. “I’m not happy Axyl Hargrave changed the drop without consulting me first. I haven’t quite made up my mind if Tru and the object you’re holding are connected, but my gut tells me it’s a distinct possibility. Regardless, I’ve taken the job of getting it to Dendera Labs for Geotern and I’ve plenty of credits riding on doing just that.”

Seth stopped bouncing the pouch and set it back on the console. He leaned back, stretched out his long legs and grinned. “So, boss man, what do you plan on doing about Tru Creighton?”

“Damned if I know.” Nick rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess it all depends on what she tells me. So far she hasn’t been real forthcoming about what happened on Lodestone.”

“She’s in trouble, huh?” Callen didn’t raise his eyes from the console pad on which he tapped. As usual, his focus remained on searching along another path of information.

“She was certainly running scared. Whatever she’s involved with frightened her enough to follow me back to my ship in hopes of persuading me to take her with me.” Nick scratched his whiskered jaw.

“It got her off-world though, didn’t it?” Seth said.

“Yeah, I guess. The problem is, if she recognized me then someone else might have as well. It could explain how our names got connected. Damn it, the trip was supposed to be a quick in and out without any fanfare. Only the head of Geotern knew the day I planned to be there and he was invested in keeping it quiet. Hell, I even dressed like a friggin’ transport pilot to blend in.”

Seth snorted and shook his head. Even Callen stopped working to stare.

“What?” Nick snapped, daring either of them to say anything. When they suddenly became interested elsewhere, he grinned. Sometimes it was good to be the boss.

He stood, grabbed his chair and spun it back in place. He had too much to do to spend time in idle speculation about Tru. There was the small matter of the package delivery. It had priority above his own curiosity.

Idly, he scratched his jaw, felt the rough stubble on his face and grimaced at the dirt under his fingernails. His beard annoyed him and the grit left over from Lodestone irritated places it shouldn’t have reached. Standing under a shower was just what he needed to wash away some of his annoyance from this trip.

As he sauntered out of the hidden room, he made sure the panel slid back into place behind him. He crossed through the front office and headed toward the stairs. He took them two at a time, and reached the top without being out of breath. Long strides took him to his suite of rooms at the opposite end of the hallway from Tru. Shutting his bedroom door, he took a deep breath and allowed some of the cares of the day to drop away.

A place to belong was important to him, as with the others. His home was his sanctuary. Losing everything that mattered to him after Tonlith’s destruction had been a blow he’d never gotten over. After the disastrous final battle, he’d drifted from one world to the next, never satisfied, always restless. Angry. Disillusioned.

By sheer accident he’d discovered Seth in the middle of a bar fight, outnumbered, bloody and refusing to quit. Nick had been amazed the man had any fight left in him, but he had no interest in getting involved. About to turn away, he’d stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the man taunting his attackers in a language he never thought to hear again. It had snapped his attention back to the man.

Nick hadn’t heard Tonlithian spoken in at least a year. A long, barren year. It was reason enough to wade into the brawl and help the other man. Maybe a good fight was just what he’d needed after all and hearing his native language soothed his battered soul. Introductions would wait.

After it was over, the two were barely standing. The same couldn’t be said for their opponents.

A seedy bar, in a rough and tumble town on the world Euphonie, had been the last place Nick ever thought he’d find a fellow exile. For the first time he’d allowed himself to consider if they had survived impossible odds, then maybe others had too. It ignited a spark in both men and laid the groundwork for a strong friendship. Eventually, they found Wulf and then Callen. Theirs was a bond forged from the fires of war and the consequences, which had cast them adrift. Something none of them would ever forget.

When the idea for Rayven Security was born, they agreed on the planet Alludra as their base. The surrounding land was close enough to what they remembered of Tonlith to bring them all a measure of comfort. It was a start.

Shaking off his memories, Nick shed his clothing as he headed for the rain shower. The hot water was a welcome relief as it flowed over taut muscles and sloughed off the gritty dirt clinging to him. Closing his eyes, he placed his hands on the tiled wall in front of him and bowed his head, letting the water run in rivulets down his skin. His mind buzzed with unanswered questions and most of them seemed to lead back to Tru. Every time she got near, his body reacted, leaving him in a semi-aroused state, and it was playing hell with his nerves. The first time she raised those incredible blue eyes to his had been like a punch to his solar plexus and left him scrambling to form a coherent thought. That jolt, that sizzle of bone deep awareness hadn’t stopped since, if anything it had gotten worse. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so affected by a woman.

Growling, he slapped the wall and firmly pushed the images of Tru out of his mind. He had a job to do and he was not going to let hormones get in his way. What he needed was a quick trip to the pleasure houses in Glendoran to take care of his sexual needs. Maybe then, he could ignore the attraction heating his blood whenever she was around. A simple solution and one he needed to find time for.

The water had long since cooled before Nick shut it off. He grabbed a drying cloth draped it low on his hips and secured it with a quick fold. Moisture hung heavy in the air, and he wiped condensation off the sink mirror, getting a good look at himself in the process. Deciding there wasn’t much he could do about his looks other than shave off the whiskers wasn’t much comfort. His face looked lived-in, hard and unforgiving. The scar dissecting his eyebrow was a constant reminder of things he would rather forget. He’d been lucky the shrapnel hadn’t cut his eye. He had learned to live with his past, had found a reason to keep living, but it had been hard won and it showed.

A droplet of water from his wet hair dripped onto his chest and traced a meandering path from his collarbone to the tattoo over his heart. Nick brushed the artistically scrolled letters, removing the water. The men in his unit had each sported the same tattoo design after a memorable shore leave. Reaching for his shaver, he ignored the flash of grief and concentrated on getting rid of the stubble on his face.