Author's Note: First off—thank you to all of you who have been reading this story from jump and all of the new people who are reading/following this story. I can't begin to tell you how much of a thrill I get when I see a review or a comment or a pm about this story—it really does make my day and inspire me to write more. So, please keep those comments and suggestions and questions coming and I'll be a very happy, prolific, super-hyper writer.
Disclaimer: See chapter One. I still own nothing and am making no profits from this story.
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Chapter Eight: A Little Recreational Homicide
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The sound of her holocommunicator beeping woke Caer. Groaning, she slowly pulled herself from the incredibly warm and comfortable embrace of a sleeping Malavai Quinn. Sometime during the night he'd finally given up all pretense of trying to keep to "his side," instead allowing her to curl around him like a tame Nexu kitten. Indeed, were it not for the fact that only Keeper and Kaliyo had this particular holofrequency, she might have ignored the beeping and just burrowed deeper into the bed with Malavai.
But, since it was someone who might have vital information, Caer swung her legs over the edge of the bed and padded to the communicator. Tapping it, she crossed her arms over her chest and waited.
"Ah, good morning, Agent," came the cheerful tones of Doctor Lokin, the balding scientist offering her a warm grin. "How are you finding Hutta and the company of Captain Quinn?" The sparkle in the older man's eyes was a little too knowing for either Caer's or Lokin's good.
Caer grimaced. "Fine, Lokin. Is this a social call or is this important?"
Lokin sobered, though there was a touch of a smile still on his bearded face. "Quite right, Agent. To business, then. A certain Zabrak fellow has been making none-too-subtle inquiries about the return of the Red Blade. A Dheno Rey—does he sound familiar?"
Caer's face flushed with anger as her body went rigid. "That rat bastard. Yes, I've met the cretin. Is he on Hutta?"
Lokin nodded, consulting a datapad he had in his hand. "Apparently, Mr. Rey claims to be a close personal friend of the Red Blade. From what I've been able to find in the files, he's a two-bit hustler with a bad habit of crossing any number of criminal elements. There's even a bounty on him from the Mandalorians—interesting." He tapped another screen before meeting Caer's gaze. "Overall he's a simple thug, often without funds, who enjoys manipulating and scamming others to get by. Do you want me to send Kaliyo to deal with him?" The question of how the Zabrak would be dealt with wasn't in question—you didn't threaten an intelligence operation and walk away.
Caer shook her head, tapping her chin with one manicured nail. "No. I need Kaliyo to work with Karrels Javis. We'll need Karrels Javis to secure our credentials with the Hutts. I'll handle this problem personally. Thank you, Lokin."
Doctor Lokin nodded benignly. "Very good, Agent. Do be careful, though. Operations can get messy."
Caer flicked off the communicator and glanced back at the sleeping Quinn. Time to get to work.
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"Ah, come on, sweetheart. Just let me in to see the boss," leered Dheno Rey, staring down at the petite Twi'lek known as Juno.
Juda arched a brow, lavender eyes narrowing. "Dheno, Nem'ro is very busy today. And you're not welcome, Dheno." To say that she did not like the Zabrak would have been an understatement. The man had a tendency to lurk and loved to harass anything remotely female. Everything about the hustler made the paymaster's skin crawl. And the fact that she was alone with him made her even more nervous than usual.
Dheno's smile evaporated, a hardness filling his eyes. "And you're nothing but a pirate's slut." He planted his fists on the tabletop of her desk, leaning towards the smaller woman. "I have information that the Hutt will find interesting. Don't make me angry, sweetheart—I know how to play rough, too."
"Insulting the lady, Dheno?" chided Caer from behind the Zabrak, arms crossed over her chest as she glared at Dheno Rey. She remembered him—the brown-and-cream-horned alien had played her back when she first was on Hutta. Right after she'd agreed to bed him to keep her secret is when the real Red Blade's men had first appeared. Yeah, Caer didn't believe in coincidences. And she had a definite score to settle with this particular bastard. "That's not wise."
Juda allowed a tiny smile of thanks for Caer at the pirate's interruption. She recognized the woman—the Red Blade—from her last visit to Hutta. The curvy pirate had been the talk of the palace and neighboring Jiguuna for weeks after she'd left with Kaliyo-though much of the talk had been why someone hadn't thought of making a more than provocative holovid of the two women together. Now, as Juda watched the pirate queen advance on Dheno Rey, the human's expression predatory at best, Juda too wondered at the profits that would have been spawned by such an enterprise. "Good morning, Red Blade. Nem'ro's waiting for you."
Caer nodded, eyes narrowed at Dheno. "Dheno Rey, my old friend," acid dripped from her tone as she glared at the man. "Juda, please let the mighty Nem'ro know that I'm going to be slightly late. I'm just dealing with a trash problem first."
Juda nodded, already keying a quick message to her employer as she watched the drama in front of her play out. It was like watching a Nexu cat play with its food. Caer gripped Dheno's arm, guiding him away from Juno's desk and down the hallway closer to the main common area of the palace. Once they were out of earshot, Caer forced the man into an alcove. It might have almost been romantic, had Caer's expression not bordered on murderous. "Dheno, I don't like being double-crossed. And I like you even less than most people who do double-cross me," she warned through gritted teeth.
Dheno gulped. "Why, Blade?" he whined, stumbling as the surprisingly strong woman pushed him against the wall. "I thought we were good together. And I would never betray you." His attempts at flattery and charm floundered.
Caer stepped closer, the vibroblade that she had palmed out of sight of the Zabrak's gaze. "Now, that's funny, Dheno. Because I've checked you out since that first time we met. You betrayed Andronikos Revelwhen his crew mutinied. You threw your old pal Tyresius Lokai under the transport when things got hot on Corellia. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. You've made a living out of betraying anyone you could just to save your own skin and make a quick credit." She stepped closer, her breath ghosting against his throat, smelling the fear coming off the man in waves. "And you know what the universal opinion of you is, Dheno? That you'd be better off dead."
Dheno's mouth opened in a silent scream as she drove the vibroblade into his chest.
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The sound of the refresher woke Quinn. He slowly sat up, covers pooling around his hips as he stretched catlike. Once he'd come back to bed with Caer, he'd slept soundly. Then again, he'd been dead exhausted. A quick glance at the chrono beside the bed told him that it was still early, though later than he was accustomed to sleeping. He'd not even felt Caer leave their bed, which surprised him. Usually the Captain was a light sleeper.
Sometime during the night he'd abandoned his sleep shirt in deference to the seeping humidity of the Hutta night air. Tossing off the sheets, he stood and padded to the refresher. The door was ajar; he stepped through the open space. He rubbed the sleep from his blue eyes as he leaned against the counter. "Good morning," he offered in the direction of the pounding spray.
The shower stopped, and he heard a sharp intake of breath. Moments later the door to the 'fresher had opened, letting out billowing clouds of steam into the room. Out stepped Caer from the refresher, her body wrapped in a thick, plushy robe that covered her from neck to ankle. "Good morning, Malavai. I didn't mean to wake you," she admitted, running fingers through the wet strands of her hair that hung past her shoulders as she brushed past him to stand at the counter beside him.
"I didn't hear you get up."
Caer watched the man in the mirror. His posture was deliberately, carefully casual as he watched her, his profile in the mirror. Even just standing in his pajama bottoms and bare feet, he still radiated that cool complexity that was Quinn. But it was his eyes—those sapphire pools framed by those ebony lashes—that held her. Made her want to tell the truth, she realized with a start and a touch of fear. His hip leaned against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. She had to wrench her gaze away as she started to follow his pectoral and abdominal muscles to dangerous territories. "I was quiet. I had a little recreational murder to commit."
Quinn chuckled. "Recreational murder? Is body disposal on the morning's agenda?"
Caer shook her head, biting her lip as she stared at his profile in the slightly steamed mirror. "Not necessary. The body's already been tossed to the Akk dogs behind the palace—it should be barely bones by now." She stepped back from the counter, cinching the belt of her robe tighter to her body. "Nem'ro's paymaster arranged for the body to get tossed out."
Quinn sobered, leaning closer. Now that was interesting. "Si'na's mistress?"
Caer smiled enigmatically, leading Quinn from the refresher room to the bedroom proper. Stepping to the wardrobe and behind the semi-opaque privacy screen, she dropped the robe and quickly slipped into her clothes. Once she was dressed she stepped back into view, noting that Quinn's lips twitched at her seemingly out-of-character display of modesty. "You might want to get dressed, Malavai. We are having drinks with Juno and Hiram Si'na."
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