Transitional Arrangements Page 4

  “Uh, well no, because you said you’d kill me, and I know you think I’m a fool but I’m not that big a fool. Or as suicidal as you think I am,” he added, “so get that out of your head now. You can read my mind,” he said crouching again, and staring into Ajui’s face. “And you know what I have to lose. What I’ve already lost. You might think me incompetent—but with Nev’s life, his future on the line, I won’t betray you.”

  Ajui stopped wriggling and seemed to be concentrating. Finally he said, “All right. Untie me, and I won’t kill you. But I won’t work with you. You’re a liability.”

  “Fine. You can’t exactly stop me trying off my own bat.”

  He jerked the guy to his feet and began to fiddle with the lock on the chains. “Stop!’ Parido barked.

  “Why?” Jesi and Ajui said in unison.

  “The probability of the ceremony failing just dropped to thirty-two percent,” Parido said. “Before you made that idiotic pronouncement, it was fifty-five.”

  Ajui looked at Jesi, and Jesi looked at him. “All right, then we work together,” Ajui said.

  “Forty-three percent,” Parido announced.

  “Huh?” I said. “Why not as high as before?”

  “Because Tinun’s lying, aren’t you, beloved?” he said in a sickly sweet voice that made Ajui scowl. “But Gonlimi’s beginning to wear him down.”

  “You know, I always hated your guts,” Ajui spat.

  “Yes, there was a ninety-seven percent probability you’d say that. But there’s a ninety-nine percent probability that it’s another lie. Tinu—Gonlimi’s all you’ve got. Work with him. That’s an order.”

  “You’re not my boss any more, lover.”

  “Not any more in this life, lover. But I promise to make your life merry hell in the next one if you don’t start behaving.”

  Jesi grinned and continued undoing his complicated bonds. Ajui kept glaring at Parido. “You suck, Keril. You always sucked.”

  “Yes, of course. It’s what made things so satisfying.”

  “Didn’t need to know that,” I muttered. Blech.

  ~~~~~~~~

  “Really don’t like this, Jes,” I said as he settled on the bed. I lay beside him—it was so weird that I couldn’t feel him, not his strength or his warmth, or smell him. I guessed it was just as bad for him. This entire situation sucked.

  “There’s very little about that statement that surprises me, you know.” He sighed and put his hands behind his head. “Think Parido can control him?”

  “No, I don’t. But you wouldn’t handcuff him to the bed so if he kills you in your sleep, don’t come crying to me in the spirit world because I don’t wanna know.”

  He chuckled. “Don’t think he’d do that. Maybe after, but he won’t be staying here then and I plan to move as soon as I can.”

  After a lot of arguing and over my forceful objections, Jesi had brought Ajui back to our apartment, which was so many kinds of wrong, I didn’t know where to start, but Parido said the Marauders would be tracking him. This Sasine bitch had made a standing order to kill him on sight, which was charming of her. Neither he nor Ajui were surprised in the slightest, which was pretty disgusting to my mind.

  Jesi was going to dry Ajui out and then learn how to make better shields. Parido was putting together a plan. I’d insisted all of this got left until the morning, after Jesi had had a good night’s sleep. Ajui had been given a pot of coffee to get on with, and had bitched about the lack of sugar and cream—the empty cupboards and fridge had made my heart clench in sorrow. Jesi had really been going to kill himself. Over me. I’d never wanted that. But it wasn’t the right time to talk about it.

  I cupped his face and he winced. “Can you feel that?” I asked.

  “No, which is horrible. You look exactly the same as you did when you were alive—every time you go to touch me, it’s like a shock. Being reminded.”

  I dropped my hand. “Sorry, love.”

  “Nothing you can do about it, Nev. Just having you here is...well, a lot more than I was expecting,” he said with a forced smile.

  “Tomorrow, will you tell me about Luiz and the others?”

  “Yes. Maybe.” His expression wasn’t exactly enthusiastic.

  “You on leave? Will Dipnil expect you back in the morning?”

  “No.” I looked at him. “I quit. After the funeral. Dipnil offered me special leave, I turned it down. I’m not an ESF operative any more.”

  “Aw, babe, why?”

  His dark eyes were bleak. “Because I got you killed. Luiz blamed me, and she was right. The whole team blamed me. I nearly got everyone killed.”

  “Bullshit!” I couldn’t remember a lot about the last few minutes of my life, but I did remember it was strictly by the book mission, same as Jesi always ran. If anything, he was always more cautious than my inclination. “Who’s saying that? Luiz? Why?”

  “Thought we were talking about this in the morning,” he said in a flat voice, his eyes avoiding mine.

  “You brought it up. Why does she think it’s your fault?”

  “We had two ground plans. I missed that they weren’t identical—the guards who got you were in a side room I overlooked. There was a hell of a firefight after you went down—Wevi, Jakel and Carin were all hit, though you were the only death.”

  “Jes, that’s the kind of thing any one of us could have overlooked.”

  “I’m team leader, it’s my responsibility,” he said stubbornly. “It’s not the first time I’ve been caught out, though it’s the first time anyone’s got hurt because of it. I’m slowing down, Nev. Thirty-two, not as sharp as I used to be, and you need to be sharp in this job.”

  “You need to be smart in this job, Jes,” I snapped. “Look, Dipnil was right to offer you leave. You’re not thinking all that straight. Give it a week and you’ll realise shit happens. Luiz will too, she’s just upset.”

  “No,” he said, clenching his jaw. “To both. I’m done.”

  “So you were planning to do what? Grow chickens or something.”

  He turned towards me, his eyes like an empty grave. “No, I was planning to blow my head off. I didn’t have an ‘after’ in mind.”

  Every time I thought about it, I went all cold inside. “I’d never have forgiven you,” I said, voice thick with sadness. “Seriously, Jes, using me being killed as an excuse...I could hate you for that.”

  “I know,” he said, reaching for my arm to stroke it, and after a little hesitation, giving it his best try. His fingers went inside my arm—I couldn’t feel a thing. “Maybe you were right and I wasn’t thinking that clearly. I’ve been so damn tired since you died.”

  “Yeah, I bet,” I said quietly. “So you can sleep now, right?”

  “Certainly going to try. You won’t...leave?”

  “Gonna watch you all night, babe. And be here in the morning,” I added, answered the unspoken question. “Gonna watch the prick as well—I’ll wake you up if he gets frisky.”

  “Probably wise,” he said, grinning. “Good night, Nev. I...didn’t think I’d say that again.”

  “I love you, Jes. Never thought I’d get a chance to say that either, not once.... But I can, and I do.”

  “Me too.” I leaned in, left a ghostly kiss on his face. “Can you feel me at all?”

  “No. But I remember what it felt like. Sleep, love.”

  He closed his eyes, and with the speed of the truly and utterly exhausted, he was asleep in seconds. I guessed sleeping was out for me, but then I didn’t feel tired. Plenty of time to think over what he’d just told me—and to wish more than ever I could boot some people where it hurt the most.

  Chapter 4 — Transitional Arrangements

  “Wake up, Gonlimi!”

  “Leave him alone!” I shouted, but the prick couldn’t hear me. Even if he could, he wouldn’t have listened anyway. I could only watch in frustration as he continued to shake Jesi. Damn it, didn’t he know Jesi needed the sleep?

  But the nex
t second, Jesi was bolt upright, and his hands were tight around Ajui’s nasty little throat, choking the life out of him. Ajui was turning a lovely shade of purple. I’m telling you, it was a wonderful sight.

  “If he kills him, which is all Tinun deserves, then we’re all dead,” Parido said beside me. He didn’t sound too concerned.

  “Yeah, I know. Let him go, babe,” I said. Jesi glanced at me, grinned, then dropped the fucker. Ajui lay on the ground gasping and clawing at his neck. “Not exactly a pro, is he?”

  “I think he might have underestimated me,” Jesi said, deadpan. “Knock it off, Ajui, if I wanted you dead, you’d be on the other side banging boots with Parido.” He swung out of bed, not bothered in the least by the fact he was stark naked.

  “I can see why he bottoms,” Parido said, smirking. “That’d hurt.”

  “Shut up, you bastard. Jes, do you need to put on a floor show?”

  “Did I ask them into my room?” Unhurriedly he found his bathrobe, though I was kinda sad to see his beautiful body covered up again. “Get up, Ajui. And what was so bloody urgent you had to risk death to wake me up?”

  Ajui glared up at him. “There’s no food in this shit hole. Or aspirin. Or, or....”

  “Alcohol? Not before breakfast. You could have gone out to get something, you know. Your legs aren’t painted on.”

  “No key, you fuckwit.”

  “Ah. Well, you’ll have to wait. I need a shower. Oh, and don’t nick the keys while I’m in the bathroom—I’ve got a deadbolt and I’m not afraid to use it.” Jesi winked at me as he passed. Ajui made a kind of choking noise.

  I figured it was going to be more fun watching Jesi wet and naked than staying in here and watching Parido mooning over his grotty little lover, so I followed Jesi in. I couldn’t be sure Parido wasn’t keeping an eye on us, but hey, if he wanted to know what he’d been missing out on, that wasn’t my problem.

  Once out of Ajui’s sight, Jesi slumped a little. “Still tired?” I said.

  “Yes. But better. Just...thinking about the size of the job and who I’ll have to work with. I’d prefer to have you at my back.”

  “I’ll be there. I guess being woken up that way didn’t help.”

  “No, but I don’t think he’ll do it again,” he said, grinning. “That was a lot more fun than it should have been.”

  “Hell, maybe I should have let you just finish it.”

  “Then I’d have a trash disposal problem and no ESF to help out. We probably do need him though.” He slipped off the bathrobe and hung it up. “He’s sloppy, a lot more than I would have expected. You think he’s still using?”

  “Probably.” It wasn’t like Jesi had strip-searched him before they left that cheap hotel. “Bit of a worry, that.”

  “Yes. You need to get Parido onto it. This mission’s going to be hard enough without accommodating a druggie.”

  I let him get on with his shower, just revelling in the sight of the water slipping down his honed, golden body—getting old, my arse—and the simple pleasure of watching him shave, white foam across sculpted features that had only got more handsome over the years I’d known him. I sighed quietly, admiring and sad at the same time, but I hid my reaction from him. He was carrying enough on his back.

  Ajui wasn’t in his bedroom when Jesi came out, but he was still in the apartment. “Parido?” I called.

  “Do I have to? Has he got clothes on yet?”

  “Almost—you’re missing a great show.” Jesi raised an eyebrow as he pulled on his underpants. “Show’s over,” I said mournfully.

  “Good,” Parido snapped, coming into view beside me. “What did you want?”

  “What’s your boyfriend on?” Jesi asked as he drew on his trousers—my favourites, the black leather. I missed them.

  “At a guess, something to keep his telepathy muted. I suspected as much last night—now I’m sure. He’s done it before, when he gets overstressed—otherwise the thoughts of strangers overwhelm him.”

  “He’s going to have to stop taking it and sharpen up. I could have killed him this morning, and you know it.”

  “Yes,” Parido said without a hint of mockery. “But you still need him and he needs you.”

  Jesi finished buttoning up his blue linen shirt, and I got a little wistful remembering going shopping for that particular one. It had been a birthday present—not easy to find shirts for men with Jesi’s build. “I don’t need someone who’s going to get himself killed or me killed—at least, not before we do this. Talk some sense into him.”

  “Right now he’s bitching about his headache, his sore throat and his empty belly. Fix those before you ask me to talk to him because he won’t pay any attention.” Parido sounded a little put upon. His lover sure was high-maintenance.

  Jesi rolled his eyes, then pulled on his boots. “If I go out, is he going to search the apartment?”

  “Of course.”

  “Fine, then he comes with me, and if someone shoots him, that’s not my problem. Does he own any normal clothes?”

  “Define ‘normal’,” Parido asked cautiously. At the moment Ajui was running around in a pair of raggedy shorts cut so high he could have used them as a belt, an artistically torn black T-shirt which showed a nipple and several homemade and unattractive tattoos, and calf-high boots. It was honestly the trashiest outfit I’d ever seen on a man outside of a private club, and he didn’t have the body to carry it off. Allegedly he and Parido had a shitload of money stashed in a secret account that the Marauders knew nothing about. You’d never know it from looking at him.

  “Ones that don’t make him look like a prostitute,” I said, still smarting over the ‘rentboy’ crack the night before. If I looked like a rentboy, Ajui looked like the kind of hooker you’d make sure used a condom before you let him blow you.

  “Ah—no, that’s pretty much his normal wardrobe. We have a uniform for missions,” Parido said primly.

  “Big deal,” I said. “Jes, make the prick buy the food and the clothes.”

  “Feed him first,” Parido insisted. “You don’t know what he’s like when he’s hungry.”

  “Oh, I think I got a little idea,” Jesi said wryly. He went to the cupboard where we kept our medical supplies—which weren’t in the bathroom because the kit had some highly classified things in it and the last thing we’d wanted was some stupid burglar breaking in and dying of an overdose because it would make for paperwork. He extracted a dose of heavy duty painkillers, got a glass of water from the bathroom, and then went looking for sulky nuts.

  Ajui was in the kitchen, pawing unhappily through the drawers and cupboards. “No food,” he wailed. I swear, he actually pouted, and seriously, he did not have the lips to make that look good.

  “Here, take this,” Jesi said, putting the pills and glass on the counter in front of him. “Put your shoes on, check the attitude, and I’ll buy you a big breakfast. Then we go shopping, and then we get to work.”

  Ajui snatched up the pills and gulped them and the entire glass of water down, before slamming it back on the counter and glaring at him. “Let’s be clear about one thing here, Gonlimi—I’m in charge.”

  “Not bloody likely. Parido says you’ve never led a mission in your life, and right now, because of the drugs you’re taking, even your telepathy’s more of a liability than an asset.” He folded his arms and looked at the little prick. I was sure even if Ajui was scraping Jesi’s mind down to the floor, he’d see nothing but implacable resolve. Balls of steel, Jesi had. No one on our team jerked him around—no one dared try more than once. “That’s the deal. Me top dog, you beta male. I understand that’s your natural position,” he added, less than tactfully but who could blame him?

  Ajui picked up the glass, clearly thought about throwing it, then pursed his lips. “You’re a dead man once we complete this mission.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Jesi said calmly. “Shoes.”

  Ajui turned to face me and Parido. “You got noth
ing to say about this, Keril?”

  “No, I think you’ve suffered enough,” Parido said unkindly. “He’s right—he has to be in charge.” Huh—some change in attitude there, I thought. “What are you taking for the telepathy?”

  Ajui jerked. “I’m not taking anything.”

  “Tinu.”

  “Just Moxi, okay? Keril, you know I need to sometimes.”

  “Yes, but not when you’ve got no back up, and Sasine and her people are hunting you. You know they turned up at the hotel an hour after we got here?”

  Ajui’s green eyes got all round. “Really? Fuck.” I have to admit I was surprised—but Ajui had made it easy for them. The wonder was that he’d lasted this long.

  “Yes, fuck. So right now, Gonlimi will keep you alive because he’s got a reason to. You sharpen up, lover—only take the Moxi at night, and one tablet. Give Gonlimi the bottle.”

  “No!” His hand went protectively over his jeans’ pocket, and Jesi sighed. “I’ll kill him if he tries to take it.”

  Typical druggie, I thought disgustedly. “It’s not like he’ll throw it away, you moron,” I said. “But if that drug makes you act even more like a tit than you did this morning, you’re no use to anyone, including yourself. Jesi will keep it safe and make sure you don’t put both of you at risk.”

  “I don’t need a keeper, Langse,” he snarled.

  “Damn well do, Tinun,” Parido said. “Behave. I mean it. Give Gonlimi the bottle now.”

  He narrowed his eyes, and pursed his lips, but he did it anyway. “When I kill you, I’m going to make it slow,” he hissed at Jesi.

  “Naturally,” Jesi said dryly, putting the bottle into his breast pocket. “Shoes, for the third damn time. Do you need someone to tell you how to dress?”

  It was like having a criminally minded, murderous three-year-old to manage, I thought, watching the sulky face on the guy as he yanked his boots on. “What on earth do you see in him?” I whispered to Parido, genuinely curious.