Eve Vaughn

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Copyright ©2007

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ISBN: 978-1-59596-665-0

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“How can you work for them, knowing they’re behind Bella’s disappearance or don’t you care?” Holly protested, raking her fingers through her thick auburn mane.

Frustration radiated from her like an energy beam.

Sydney raised a brow at her friend, not interested in renewing this topic yet again. Since she’d accepted the position at Cryo Cor as a financial analyst, her friend’s complaints had been non-stop. “I’m not going to give up this wonderful opportunity just because you have a grudge against the Cyrellians. And what’s your deal anyway?

Even before Bella went missing, you were acting paranoid. I think you need a serious vacation. Are you by any chance implying I’m not as upset about our friend being missing as you are?”

Holly shrugged. “I think I pretty much came out and said it. What kind of friend are you?”

Hurt that Holly could have such a low opinion of her, Sydney turned her back toward the angry woman. Not a day went by when she didn’t think about Bella and where she could be. “If that’s how you feel, I can’t see why you’ve bothered to visit.

Maybe it’s best if you left. I don’t have the energy or the time to go back and forth with you on this matter. My head is throbbing and I need to get up early in the morning.” Sydney walked to the door and opened it, emphasizing her point. As painful as it was to end the evening on this note, she simply didn’t want to hear it anymore.

Holly opened her mouth as if to speak, but then closed it again. Instead, she took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “It wasn’t my intention to start an argument. I know you care about Bella, but I wish you’d show it sometimes.” Not one to hold a grudge, she gave Holly a half smile, accepting the apology.

“It’s all right. I’ve never been the emotional type.” Goodness knows, showing how she

- 6 -

truly felt about things had been frowned upon when she was younger. Being raised by parents who treated her as an afterthought had done that to her. Sydney wished she knew how to express herself as passionately as Holly, but her most tender feelings she kept within, still fearful of being judged and made to feel inadequate.

“True, but I had no right to say what I did. It was uncalled for. It’s just… I’m scared we’ll never see her again. It’s almost as if she’s vanished into thin air.” Tears filled light brown eyes as Holly’s bottom lip began to quiver.

Unable to see her friend suffer without offering any comfort, Sydney closed the door gently behind her and strode across the room. Engulfing Holly within her embrace, she cradled and rocked her back and forth.

The redhead broke into loud sobs. “I think she might be dead and the last time we spoke, angry words were exchanged. I’d do anything to have her back, and to tell her how much I love her. I realize I can be a bit overprotective at times because of her disability, but it was only because I cared.”

Sydney stroked the back of Holly’s head. “I’m sure Bella knows how you feel.

And she and I have been putting up with you for years. Besides, we can’t give up hope.

Even though we’ve seen no signs of her, nothing concrete points to foul play yet. For now, I have to believe she’s all right. Our Bella is a fighter and you’ll have to give her credit for that.”

Holly raised her head with tear-filled eyes. “Do you really think so… that she’s safe, I mean?”

Sydney brushed away the wet tracks from Holly’s face. “Yes. I know it sounds strange, but I feel in my heart she’s alive. Believe it or not, I think about her too. And I do pound the pavement and ask people if they’ve seen her. Granted, I may not have devoted as much of my time with it as you have, but I haven’t forgotten her nor do I intend to.”

Holly’s mouth gaped open. “Why haven’t you ever said anything?”

“I didn’t think it was necessary. Surely you couldn’t have believed I’d do nothing?”

- 7 -

“But I said such mean things to you. You let me throw unfounded accusations at your head.”

“We all say stuff in the heat of the moment we don’t mean. You’ve apologized and I’ve accepted, so it’s done. Don’t worry, sweetie, we’ll find her.”

“I pray we do. Look, Syd, at the risk of harping on the same issue, would you at least consider what I’ve said about Cryo Cor?”

Sydney pulled away from Holly and leaned against the closest wall with a heavy sigh. “I’m starting my new position tomorrow. Besides, if I wanted to change my mind about it, I would have in the weeks it’s taken for my clearance to finally go through.”

“That’s another thing. Why do you have to go through such an extensive background check before you can officially begin your job? I mean, you’ll only be working in the finance department, not around the food. That seems kind of shady to me.”

“They’re very selective about who they hire.”

“But it took two months. You’d think they’d have contacted you sooner than last week.”

“I’m sure they only want to make sure I’m a trustworthy employee. Besides, it’s possible I could come in contact with their recipes and they want to make sure I’m not the type of person who would sell their secrets to a competitor.”

“But --”

Sydney held up her hand. “You accuse me of not being a good friend, but I can say the same for you. While I’m going to do what I have to for my own good with or without your consent, your support would be appreciated.”

“There’s something wrong with their food. It’s making people sick.”

“How would you know? You don’t eat any of their products.”

“I did once, and something seemed off. Besides, I’ve heard things.”

“You’re starting to sound like one of those renegades. Didn’t you learn your lesson when one of these nuts blew up the clinic while you were only a few feet away from it? You could have been killed.”

- 8 -

“But I wasn’t.” Holly nibbled on her bottom lip. “I wonder what happened to him.” She got that far-off look in her eyes, the same one that appeared whenever she referred to the incident. Sydney never pressed for the full story, but she deduced something else must have happened. Otherwise, why else would Holly clam up when her encounter with the renegade was mentioned?

“You never fully disclosed what went on between you and that guy.” Holly furrowed her brows together, turning her lips down into a slight frown.

“There’s not much to tell. He blew up the building and… let’s just say he didn’t stick around long enough to witness the aftermath. Actually, I’d rather talk about you and Cryo Cor.”

“And I’d rather not. Can’t we simply agree to disagree?” Holly scrunched her nose, looking like she wanted to argue. Thankfully she didn’t. Instead, she nodded with obvious reluctance. “Fine, if that’s what I have to do to keep the peace, I won’t say anything else about it, but I’m not happy.”

“But it’s not your life, it’s mine. And if you want to retain this relationship, I think we need to drop the subject altogether.”

“Fine but --”

“No buts.”

“Okay. Even if we don’t see eye to eye on this matter, it doesn’t mean we’ll stop being friends.”

“I know. I think we’re both stressed over Bella, and it’s making us a little crazy.” Sydney stepped away from the wall, took a seat, and patted the empty space next to her.

Holly’s lips tilted into a wide grin as she accepted the invitation and flopped down on the couch. “Okay, since we’re avoiding all talk of you-know-what-Cor, tell me about your latest conquest.”

Sydney grimaced. For some reason Holly and Bella believed her to be some sort of femme fatale. That was far from the truth. Sure she’d dated quite a bit; however,

- 9 -

none of her companions lasted longer than a few months. But it wasn’t because she set out to conquer and discard.

The fact was, the men in her life eventually bored her. In her thirty years, she’d never once met a man who made her pulse race, head spin, or gave her that queasy feeling in her stomach. Considering the clinical way in which she’d been raised, it was a wonder she believed in romance at all. But she did, and wouldn’t settle for anything less. Unfortunately she’d come to the conclusion that since she had gone this long without finding that certain someone, he simply wasn’t out there. Maybe it was all just idyllic foolishness on her part.

“I don’t have a latest anything as you so delicately put it. In fact, I’m through with dating for a while. I want to concentrate on my career.”

“But what about sex?”

“What about it? The last two guys were disasters.” Holly’s eyebrows furrowed together. “They couldn’t have been that bad. Besides, I saw the hunk you were dating a couple weeks ago. He was an ebony god. Sheesh, how could he have been a dud in bed?”

Sydney rolled her eyes. “The problem was, he had too high of an opinion of himself. The bastard had no consideration for my needs as a lover. And on top of that he had a licking problem.”

“Um, what’s wrong with that? I’d love for a guy to run his tongue all over my body.”

“He liked licking my face. Girl, I felt like a doggy treat.” Holly shuddered. “Eww. What happened to the blond before him?”

“That was even worse. He only lasted a couple minutes, rolled off of me then went to sleep. I had to masturbate in order for the night not to be a total loss. Needless to say, I broke things off shortly afterwards.”

“Wow. That’s unfortunate.”

“Tell me about it,” Sydney snorted.

“But all your former lovers couldn’t have been that bad.”

- 10 -

“No. Some were actually very nice in the sack, but there’s been no fireworks.

Maybe I’m simply not the orgasmic type when I’m with men. I get more pleasure getting myself off.”

“Either that or you haven’t met the right guy to give it to you like a real man should.”

“Possibly, but then again, so-called real men are the ones who always disappoint.

No thanks. Like I said, I’ll focus on my job and find fulfillment there. With all the losers coming my way lately, any man who brags about his prowess in bed is likely to have me running the other way.”

* * *

Jack watched the workers head into Cryo Cor headquarters. He’d been waiting for his contact to arrive for the past hour. Where the hell was he? Had the man lost his nerve? Or had
they
gotten to him? The thought made him cringe. It hadn’t been his intention to put a civilian’s life at risk, but he needed a contact on the inside to get proof of what the Cyrellians were up to.

Maybe he was jumping the gun; something could have come up. Perhaps Weems was just getting to work late. Whatever the reason was, Jack realized he’d have to be patient, even though it was difficult. Knowing how close his band of rebels were to waking the rest of their people up to the dangers surrounding them gave him the will to persevere.

He scanned the throng of people until he found a person of interest. It wouldn’t hurt to have a backup in case Weems fell through. Jack spotted a nondescript man of medium height. He could easily blend in a crowd.

Lifting his eye patch, Jack scanned his potential mark with his bionic eye, using the zooming feature. Upon closer inspection there seemed to be something unsettling about the man. The way his hands shook and the sweat stains on his shirt told Jack the man might be a little too high strung to handle any mission. Besides, judging from the yellow sheen of his perspiration, the man was in the first stages of the wasting disease that had already killed hundreds of people.

- 11 -

It made Jack sick to his stomach to know how the Cyrellians had everyone fooled to the point where the Humans were unknowingly poisoning themselves with the food the aliens provided, and Cryo Cor was the main culprit.

Shit.

Where was Weems and how did Jack get stuck with this particular assignment?

He would much rather have been the one to blow up the clinic, but instead he’d given the honor to Chase. Or at the very least, he should be back at camp coming up with a strategy to get the message to the people. Instead he was here, waiting for someone who might or might not show up -- the person who would help him bring down Cryo Cor.

Jack stuck around for another hour before coming to the conclusion that Weems wasn’t going to show up. He’d risked his neck to sneak into the city for nothing and he was pissed. The only way he could salvage this trip was to find someone else -- a contact who wasn’t likely to betray his presence. But who? It had taken him weeks to find Weems.

For one thing, if he chose someone who was too brainwashed by the Cyrellian propaganda, he took a chance of having the whistle blown on him and the rest of his band of Freedom Fighters.

Was it only three short years ago when he too believed in the so-called friendly aliens? He’d defended and trusted that they had the people of Earth’s interests at heart.

His error had nearly cost him his life. Jack was so deep in thought he nearly missed one of the most spectacular visions he’d ever seen.

Coming out of the building, and striding confidently on a pair of long shapely legs that seemed to go on forever, the woman drew several stares in her direction. With rich dark brown skin, exotically tilted light brown eyes, and a full set of lips made for sinning, she moved as if unaware of the effect she had on the men surrounding her.

Her shapely figure was encased in a black pant suit and a red top with the first three buttons undone to show off just enough of her skin while maintaining her

- 12 -

professionalism. The gorgeous creature’s shorn locks hugged her scalp, showing off high cheekbones to perfection.

It had been a while since he’d had some pussy and he certainly wouldn’t mind giving her a shot. To his surprise she walked in his direction. When she was only a few feet away, she halted.

Jack ducked behind the tree so he could continue to watch her unobserved. She seemed agitated as she dug into her purse for something. After searching for a minute, she finally pulled out a small communicator and punched some numbers in. Rocking back and forth on those incredible legs of hers, she seemed to be waiting for someone on the other end to answer.