When Sparks Fly (8 page)

There were a lot of people out and about,
many of them stained blue by mine dust. Some walked, some rode
motor boards or electronic bikes, and there seemed to be more of
them every day. Polaris was changing. It wasn’t much like when
she’d grown up.

She shook her head, dislodging the disquiet
growing there. It was only the recent troubles that had gotten to
her. She loved this place, never wanted to leave. It would take
more than an assassin out for her blood to drive her off. She
planned to hide herself in The Spark and let it protect her. She’d
never need anything else.

It was a fifteen-minute drive to the
military base that was their destination. Gem was belatedly glad
they’d brought Jaq: he made the check-in easy by flashing his
military ID. They were waved inside.

Jaq raised a brow as they stopped at the cop
shop. “You checking up on Blue?”

Gem met his eyes. “Wouldn’t you?”

The old man shrugged and got out. Wondering
at his unconcern, Gem paid the driver and followed.

Like most such places, the military police
station was strictly utilitarian and unfriendly. The austere
atmosphere of the base combined with the air of authority
intimidated her, but Gem concealed that fact as she walked up to
the receptionist and introduced herself. “I need to see someone in
charge,” she added.

“Concerning?” The woman looked at Gem
expectantly. Her short brown hair was held up with a number of
clips and matched the brown spots on her camouflage uniform.

“Concerning an ongoing investigation about
someone who’s shooting at me, and about a veteran I have working
for my family.”

The woman hesitated, her finger hovering
over a buzzer. She got up instead. “One moment. I’ll see if the
chief is in.”

They watched her knock on the chief’s door
and then disappear inside. In a moment she popped back out and
motioned for them to enter.

The chief of military police was
middle-aged, lean and very reserved. His face hinted at American
Indian heritage, as if he’d flown straight from one of Old Earth’s
reservations. Strands of silver streaked his black hair. As he
stood to greet them, Gem saw he was of average height, but he
reeked of authority and command.

“Hello. My name’s Chief Blackwing,” he
said.

“No joke?” Brandy muttered under her
breath.

Gem discreetly pinched her. She smiled and
extended her hand. Security Chief Blackwing took it carefully and
shook, his grip hinting at controlled strength. He performed the
same act with Brandy, and nodded to Jaq. “Mr. Cole. I remember you
from The Spark. You serve good beer.”

Jaq nodded. “Chief.”

The security chief moved back behind his
desk. “What can I do for you?”

Brandy glanced at her, so Gem explained what
had been happening and why they’d come.

Chief Blackwing looked at her, his brown
eyes steady. “I see. What is it exactly you fear? You think this
Blue is the one shooting at you?”

“He might be,” Brandy said stubbornly. “But
it’s more than that. Somehow he convinced my sister to let him be
her bodyguard. For all we know, he doesn’t have a clue what he’s
doing.”

The chief digested that, his eyes going to
the door. “And where is he today? Did you bring him with you?”

“We made him stay home. How were we supposed
to check his story if he was with us?” Brandy explained.

The chief cleared his throat. “I see. Well,
I’m afraid I can’t release his records to you without good cause,
ma’am.
Very
good cause. The military respects the privacy
laws, as I’m sure you can appreciate.”

Gem considered that. She hadn’t really
thought they’d make any progress this way.

Brandy gave the chief a hard smile. “Have
you seen his records, sir? If you can’t give us anything specific,
maybe you can venture an opinion as to whether our lives are in
danger by having him on our property. How would you like it if your
wife or daughter were in this situation?”

His smile cooled a degree. “I’m not married,
ma’am. However…” He looked at his computer screen and typed in a
few commands. Whatever he was looking at took a couple of minutes
to scan, but his grim expression gave nothing away.

He looked at Brandy again before he
addressed Gem. “I feel confident in his ability to set up and
maintain a surveillance system, and to form a protective perimeter
around your property. He has no history of crimes against
women.”

“What about dishonorable conduct? Is he a
violent man?” Brandy demanded.

A faint smile turned up the corner of
Blackwing’s mouth. “All military operatives are violent men. It’s
in the job description, ma’am.”

“You know what I mean,” Brandy replied. But
her voice held a false sweetness that signaled she was losing
patience.

Blackwing clicked a button on his keyboard
and laced his hands over his stomach. “If it would ease your mind,
ma’am, I can make an informal visit to The Spark this evening. You
can introduce me to Blue and I’ll let you know what I think.”

Brandy looked to the side and blew out a
slow breath.

Gem looked at her sister and tried not to
smile. She was sure the chief had been as helpful as the
constraints of his office would allow, so she stood up and gave him
a polite smile. “That won’t be necessary, but thank you for your
time.”

He came around his desk, walked her the two
steps to his door and opened it. Then he said, “I don’t mind coming
tonight. I never need an excuse to stop in for a good beer.”

The front door to the military police
outpost had barely shut behind them before Brandy growled, “Well,
that was useless.”

Gem laughed.

“What?” her sister snapped.

“Sometimes you remind me so much of Xera,”
Gem said teasingly. She elbowed Brandy. “He was cute, though,
wasn’t he?”

“He’s too old for you,” Brandy said.

“I meant for you. And old? Looked to me like
he was still in pretty good shape. Besides, he put up with your
mouth without losing his temper. Maybe that’s just the kind of guy
you need.”

Jaq guffawed. Their transport was pulling
back up, and he moved to open the door.

“I’m trying to protect you and no one is
taking me seriously,” Brandy complained as she slid in.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Jaq responded, closing
the door. He gave her a dark look. “Blue tried to be here, too, but
you wouldn’t have him.”

“I don’t trust him,” she muttered.

Jaq looked at Gem. “He’s gone out of his way
to help, even though you refuse to pay him.”

Her eyes widened on learning that the old
man was privy to so much information. She flushed. “I was being
bulldozed, Jaq! I barely know him, and he asked for a fortune. What
was I supposed to do? For that matter,
he
told
me
he
was no longer on my payroll.”

“Man’s got to eat,” Jaq said, settling back
in his seat.

“He eats,” Brandy remarked. “Jamir is about
to quit over how much he eats. Apparently he’s also got a free room
now, too; conveniently near Gem’s.” She gave Gem a black glare.

Fed up, Gem glared back. She was tired of
her sister’s recent attitude. “What are you so afraid of? That I
might get a man while you keep chasing them off? Get a life, girl!
I’m not Dad, and I don’t plan to drop dead on you. Even if I were
Dad, you can’t protect me all the time.”

Brandy crossed her arms and looked out the
window.

Gem grimaced, regretting her harsh words.
She needed Brandy to back off; she couldn’t deal with the hysterics
right now; but she didn’t want to hurt her sister. She searched for
a peace offering. “Look, we can give him one of the guest rooms to
use as soon as someone clears out. That will get him out of our
suite.”

“You won’t get him out,” Brandy predicted
grimly. “You weren’t going to let him be your bodyguard, either.
You’ve got putty for a spine where he’s concerned.”

“I don’t!”

“Yeah? I’ve seen the way you look at him.
All he has to do is smile and you blush like a teenager. You
want
him near you.”

A betraying heat crawled up Gem’s neck.
“That’s not true.”

But was it?

Determined to prove Brandy wrong, Gem
planned to confront Blue as soon as they got back. They sprinted
into The Spark, coached by Jaq, who swore they ran like a couple of
girls. Disgusted, he turned them over to a tense Blue and resumed
control of his bar.

“Congratulations,” Blue said coolly, his
expression as hard as quartz. “You’re alive.”

Brandy glowered at him and took off, likely
headed for the bowels of the inn, to bang around something
fragile.

“That girl needs to get laid,” Zsak said,
passing by. He was wearing a tool belt and a perturbed
expression.

“Excuse me?” Gem demanded.

Zsak held up his hands and kept going,
though he spun and walked backward, dodging tables. “Hey, not by
me. I’m not suffering from cold sheets.” He turned around and
strode off. Gem barely caught his muttered, “Besides, she’d freeze
it off.”

Gem opened her mouth, but Zsak was already
gone. Frustrated, she turned her attention to Blue. “We need to
talk,” she said.

She walked toward her office, but halted
when she realized he wasn’t keeping pace. A glance showed he was
following, walking with the same control he seemed to be exerting
over his expression.

Straightening her spine, Gem entered her
office and motioned for him to close the door. She glanced at the
log of visitors. “We’ve got a guest moving out this afternoon. You
can move your equipment to that room.”

“Why?” he asked. His stern face and bright
eyes were making her nervous.

“We need our privacy. Besides, Brandy and I
have reputations to maintain. We don’t bring men to our rooms, and
they don’t stay overnight. You can’t be seen coming and going from
our suite at all hours. As a former employee; or current one,
whatever; it would look doubly bad.”

“So you’d rather look good than live?”

Gem took a deep breath to lock down her
temper. “We need another solution rather than having you camped
outside our door.”

He smiled without humor. “As I recall, we
tried to install the equipment in here. Close, but not underfoot.
Discreet.”

A slow burn of chagrin started in her gut
and spread to Gem’s head. He
had
tried, and she’d screwed it
up. She’d forced him into working in her family suite.

She fiddled with her wristwatch, giving
herself a moment to find her voice. “I apologize. I don’t do well
when things are sprung on me. I’m a planner; spur of the moment
things confuse me. In the future, if you have something you want to
do like this, please warn me.
Is
there anything you need to
do?”

He shook his head, a glitter in his eye.
“You don’t want to go offering me carte blanche like that.”

She rolled her eyes for show and slipped
behind her desk, needing its bulk between her and Blue. Needing a
chair to rest her weak knees. She was three seconds from sinking to
the ground before him and begging him to finish that aborted kiss.
It was appalling, but she couldn’t seem to wipe the fog from her
mind.

“Probably not,” she finally said. Her
faintly shaky voice made her frown. Clearing her throat, she added
more sternly, “About your pay…”

“I told you, I’m not on your payroll.”

“And then you asked for a huge amount of
money,” she pointed out. There, that was better. Business was
clearing her head.

“That was before,” he remarked.

“Before what?” She shook her head. “As Jaq
pointed out, you are actually doing the job. Of course, how does he
know anything? He’s a great listener, but I hadn’t pictured you
spilling everything to the first available ear.”

Blue canted his head. “Jaq’s no ordinary
ear, and I asked him to be our backup. He’s the closest thing you
have to muscle around here, and he already knew what was happening.
He’s smart and capable. I trust him.”

“Lucky thing for you that I do, too,” she
said with a hint of amusement. Then, realizing that there was no
easy answer and she didn’t feel like dealing with the situation,
she added, “Well, I’m sure you have things to do.” Pulling some
paperwork in front of her, she glanced down at it.

“One last thing,” he said. He placed both
hands on her desk and leaned close. “That was the last time you
leave this place without me.” His eyes offered no compromise.

“Blue…”

“I’m discreet,” he said. “If you have
someone to meet at night, or you need to be alone…”

“Blue!” she choked, realizing what he was
implying. “I don’t go out at night and I don’t ‘meet anyone alone,’
okay? Back off! I’ll take you with us next time. Now, go…do
something.” She waved him away before she died of embarrassment.
She didn’t know how he’d been raised, but her family had been much
more traditional and very strict. Not to mention that she’d be
ruined personally and professionally if she did the things he
suggested.

“Fine.” He straightened.

She waited until the door clicked closed
behind him and put her head in her arms. She had to do something
about this. He was turning her into something she was not: a
spineless shadow of herself. She didn’t know how to deal with
desire this strong, but giving in wasn’t an option. What was the
solution?

For the first time, Gem started to realize
what drove Brandy. Her sister had always been a passionate person.
Maybe she really was frustrated, as Zsak had implied; maybe they
both were. They were both getting older. Perhaps it was time Gem
admitted certain needs to herself and got serious about a search
for a husband.

Unfortunately, the only true candidate had
broken her heart. But while she wasn’t stupid enough to go back to
him, maybe investigating the reasons behind Cirrus’s new interest
would give her a new direction.