When Sparks Fly (17 page)

Now what?

Xera was brought to Gem late that evening.
With the bad luck that had become Gem’s lot, she wanted to
talk.

“I leave for a little while, and this is
what I come home to,” she grouched as she walked in. She looked
around the hotel room. Unimpressed, she dumped her bags on the
floor.

Gem gave her sister a weary smile. “I’m glad
you’re home. Are you okay?”

“I’m tired and I’ve been interrogated half
the day. Why haven’t you hired a lawyer? How did we get mixed up in
drugs?
The cops explained, but I still don’t believe
it.”

“Tomorrow would be better, sis. We’re both
tired, and I have the mother of all headaches.”

Xera’s eyes narrowed. “As if I could
sleep.”

Her sister’s fierce glare amused Gem. Of
course, after the two shots of scotch she’d had, everything was
looking rosier. It was a sad thing, to be a tavern owner and such a
cheap drunk. Nonetheless, that was the case.

She poured some more scotch into a glass and
slid it across the table. She’d had the bottle fetched from The
Spark. “This’ll help.”

Xera eyed it suspiciously. “You’re drinking
the good stuff?”

Gem grinned. “Why shouldn’t we drink the
good stuff if we want? I’d say the occasion calls for it.”

Xera looked nonplussed. “You hate
scotch.”

“Never say it.” Gem took another drink to
prove how wrong her sister was. The more she had, the better it
tasted; probably because her taste buds were going numb.

Lips pursed, Xera fiddled with her glass but
didn’t drink. “Where’s Blue?”

Gem smiled without humor. “Where’s Blue?
Who’s Blue? We all have questions for him. Your answer is: in the
hospital. He got shot.”

“Shot? What happened?”

Eyebrows raised, Gem sighed fatalistically.
“He took a bullet for me. Sad, isn’t it?”

Xera looked at her funny. “Okaaay. I think
it’s time you went to bed. Come on.”

Even drowning in 50-year-old scotch, Gem
recognized the expertise Xera used as she smoothly rounded the
table and helped her upright. Friendly, unobtrusive. The girl knew
a thing or two about handling drunks. How could she not, after all
the time they’d spent together in The Spark?

Gem giggled in self-mockery. “Aren’t we a
pair? I sell the booze to drunks and you’ve got to deal with them.
No wonder you left.”

Xera grunted. “Good thing you don’t drink
often. You’re crazy as a squirrel on crackweed when you do.”

“What’s a squirrel?”

“Never mind. Watch your feet; I don’t feel
like carrying you.”

“Why not? You should put all those push-up
muscles to good use. I think Mama was on steroids when she carried
you.”

“Jealous, aren’t you?”

“You bet. Sure you don’t want a drink?”

While a little hazy on the details of how
she had gotten to bed, Gem woke up the next morning feeling every
one of the shots she’d drunk pounding in her brain. The swirling in
her stomach took care of itself. As she hung over the rim of the
commode, Gem promised herself she’d find a healthier outlet for her
anger.

Xera came in as Gem was brushing her teeth.
Crisply dressed and groomed, she set a glass of red tonic on the
bathroom counter, along with a white pill.

Gem rinsed her toothbrush and popped the
pill, grimacing at the taste of the tonic she used to wash it down.
“Thanks,” she murmured.

“Hm.” Xera sipped from a steaming mug of
tea. Arms crossed, cup resting against her arm, she said casually,
“I had an informative conversation with Zsak this morning. Amazing,
what the man will say when dragged out of bed at five AM.” She
paused for a moment to study Gem’s bloodshot eyes. “I assume you’re
going to visit Blue today? He’s been moved out of the ICU.”

Gem nodded. “Well, if they let us out of
protective custody. If they do, I also have to check in with our
manager; I want him to give bonuses to those staff members who’ve
stayed with us. And I want to visit Brandy. When we’re done with
her we can tackle Blue.” She brushed past Xera and headed for the
dresser, as eager to grab some clean clothes and take a shower as
she was to end the conversation.

Xera followed. “Does he need tackling? Where
did I lose track? Between you falling in love and him getting shot
protecting you, at what point did he become an enemy?”

Pricked by the annoyance in Xera’s voice,
Gem looked at her sibling. “He’s a cop, sis. He and Zsak and who
knows who else, they’re all cops who’ve been investigating The
Spark. They’ve been lying to us. This whole time he’s been working
his way closer, lying every step of the way.” Faintly satisfied by
the shock on Xera’s face, she gathered a pile of clothes and headed
for the shower.

“What do you mean they’re cops? Blue was
just a drifter…”

Xera trailed off in confusion as Gem climbed
into the shower. Over the sound of running water, Gem called,
“Cirrus brought by some papers that show the evidence. I’ll get
them for you when I get out of here. For now, just know that I’m
mad at Blue for a good reason.”

“Well, yeah! I can’t believe Blue used you
like that. I
knew
I didn’t like him.”

“Just don’t pick a fight with Zsak yet. Not
until I confront Blue.”

“Definitely. We’re going to tear him a new
one!”

“Ah, no. Not we. I own this one, Xera. Say
what you like to Zsak, but Blue is mine.”

Xera frowned. “Possessive, are we?”

Gem took her time to answer carefully. Her
emotions were a hornets’ nest, but angry as she was, there were
unresolved issues between them. Logic even argued that the man was
doing his job, and she’d benefited from it twice, if not more. The
key now was to discover just how much of Blue’s actions had been
business.

She decided to simply say: “I’m just not
finished with him yet.”

Blue hurt. They’d taken the breathing tube
out of his throat
,
but there was still a mechanical leech
attached to a tube in his chest that sucked fluids into a
quart-sized plastic bag, which the nurse changed regularly. There
was an IV in his left wrist and various tubes and wires he didn’t
like thinking about, but that wasn’t the worst thing.

Gem hadn’t come.

Zsak had visited, and Blackwing and Azor,
though the latter’s visit had been official. He and Azor didn’t
like each other much. The important thing, however, was that Gem
hadn’t come.

Maybe he was worried for nothing. Zsak said
she’d been pretty torn up. People reacted funnily to things like
this. Maybe she was the type who couldn’t bear to see someone she
cared about hurt.

But that hadn’t stopped her from seeing
Brandy.

Restless, he shifted and paid for it with a
stab of pain. Stupid painkillers weren’t doing their job.

Just as his mind started to cycle through
its loop of worries again, Gem walked in. Blue lit up, until he saw
the guarded expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

A cynical smile curled her mouth. “I was
just wondering whether to address you as Blue or Officer
Santana.”

He stilled. Tension squeezed down on his
chest, making already painful breathing harder. Fighting it, he
concentrated on each breath as it came, his eyes glued to hers.

A shadow of worry darkened her eyes as she
glanced over the tubes and wires poked into him, but she crossed
her arms stubbornly. “I was wondering when you were going to tell
me. After you bedded me? After you
arrested
me?” Her voice
grew harsh. “Just how close are you supposed to get to your
subject, Indigo?”

A horrible crashing started inside him, the
fall of all his recent fantasies about happily-ever-afters.
Wounded, he fell back on sarcasm. “Is there something to arrest you
for?”

“You know there’s not,” she shot back. “I’m
not sure exactly what information you thought you could trick me
into revealing. When all this is over, I’d love to see you fry in
court. I have a feeling you passed the bounds of acceptability,
even for an undercover agent like yourself. Scum.”

“Scum?” he growled. “You let this scum do
some pretty remarkable things to you, baby. Are you willing to have
those details passed around in court?” Just the memory of their
escapade made him want to relive it, especially now that it was too
late: She was never going let him touch her again.

Fury lit her eyes, but her voice never rose
beyond a normal pitch. “Jaq thinks I should let you come back to
the inn; keep an eye on your enemy, and all that. Me, I’m not
willing to make that mistake. Your cover is blown, Officer. There’s
no point in continuing the ruse, and I’m not letting anyone else
get close to me, so you can forget that tack. As soon as I get
home, Zsak is getting the boot, too.” And with one last poisonous
smile, she turned to leave.

“Forgetting something, girl?” he called out,
desperate to make her stay. Pain lanced his chest, but this fight
needed to happen. He couldn’t let her walk away. “I’m lying here
because I took a bullet for you. Zsak took out the sniper. We saved
your life. Doesn’t that count for something? And what are you going
to do with us gone? You think that sniper was the only one after
you? Your little sister is home again, isn’t she? You think you can
protect the both of you by yourself?”

Gem froze with her hand on the door. Her
eyes upon it, she ground out, “Didn’t you know? We’re in protective
custody now.”

Blue sighed in relief. “Thank God for small
favors. You can’t solve your problems by yourself, Gem. Not this
time.” He let that soak in for a moment, then added, “No more
games. You know who we are. Fine. It’ll be easier with the truth
between us.”

Slowly, she turned and gave him a brittle
smile. “What will be easier? You think I’m going to trust you
again?”

He ignored the question. “I won’t be here
forever.”

Her eyebrows rose. “In the hospital? So
what? What do you think you’re going to do when you get out? You’re
going to be too weak to even take care of yourself for some time to
come, let alone try to interfere with me again.”

“Then you shouldn’t feel threatened by me
coming home.”

A vulnerable flash in her eyes gave him
hope, but then she looked away. “The Spark is not your home.”

He played on what he’d seen, praying it
would work. Quietly he said, “It’s more home than anywhere else.
Please.” He would have held his breath, but pain made that
impossible.

She wouldn’t look at him. Keeping her eyes
trained on the wall, she finally said, “I’m not even home right
now; at least, I’m not living there. I’m not even sure where
they’re keeping me, or for how long. You’d only complicate
things.”

“We’ll see,” he replied.

She stalked out of the room, sparing him
only one last dark look.

Blue went limp. After a lifetime of avoiding
romantic entanglements, he’d finally fallen in love with a gorgon.
God had a wicked sense of humor.

“How’d it go?”

Gem kept her eyes forward. Xera had been
waiting outside the door, eager to hear the results. Maybe the lack
of shouting had worried her.

It worried Gem, to be honest. She hadn’t
liked how hollow she’d felt, seeing Blue so pale and tethered to a
bed by wires. He’d almost died for her. Seeing him today…Well, it
had been too close.

“Gem,” Xera said warningly.

Frustrated, Gem glanced at her sister,
forced a smile. “Zsak is all yours.”

An evil smile lit Xera’s face. “I can hardly
wait.”

Unfortunately, Gem’s sister’s enthusiasm was
blunted by the urgent expression on Blue’s friend’s face. Zsak
pulled them both into an empty room and shut the door. “They’ve
found Hamish Nasser’s body,” he said.

“Who?” Xera demanded.

Gem took a cautious breath. “The man who
beat up Brandy. I think I’m getting a little behind, Zsak. I
thought the sniper you caught
was
Hamish Nasser.”

He frowned. “No. Why did you think
that?”

“Well…it seemed too improbable that they
would be two different people.”

Xera held up a hand. “Hold it. You’re saying
two different groups are attacking our family? How likely is
that?”

“Very, since they both link back to the drug
case,” Zsak replied.

“I see. And how close are you to solving
that case, Officer?” Xera asked. Her tone was caustic.

Zsak stiffened. “I can’t say.”

“Typical.”

Blue’s friend drew a calming breath. “There
are things in progress.”

“You can do better than that,” Gem
snapped.

“I’m sorry. Some of it’s restricted
information. I wish I could tell you more but I can’t.”

Xera moved forward. “Let me hit him. Just
once.”

Gem grabbed her biceps. “Don’t.”

Xera shrugged, rolled her shoulders. She
shook her head and told Zsak, “Well, I guess we should hear about
this Nasser guy. Where does this take our case? Where was he
found?”

“That’s need-to-know right now. But I can
tell you that the body was quite decomposed by the time it was
found.”

Gem winced, but Xera pushed for more
gruesome details. “How long ago did the murder happen? Any
suspects?”

“We imagine the man who sent Nasser after
Brandy was the one to kill him. Perhaps police presence was too
high, and maybe he feared discovery.”

“Who do you suspect?” Xera asked again,
watching Zsak intently.

Blue’s friend glanced one way and then
another, as if considering his options. Finally he sighed and
admitted: “Cirrus.”

There was a beat of silence. The two sisters
exchanged glances.

“Cirrus? Why?” Gem asked.

Zsak looked around again. “Look, not here,
okay? Let’s go somewhere more secure before we discuss this.”

He waited until they were back in the hotel
room where Azor had put them up. Then he shrugged and said, “Here’s
what we think is going on. Cirrus has been living big, beyond his
income. He needs money. He’s already got his fingers in the illegal
exports gig, and would like to break into drugs.”