“We need to talk,” T. said.
“You don’t say,” Helen drawled. A thought had flashed in her mind when Armando sang that lyric. Might her monitor be one of these COS commandos?
Eight
He watched T. turning her favorite ring round and round as she sat there quietly watching the wound in his left arm being stitched by a medic. Dry blood caked parts of his chest.
Another exceptionally dangerous woman. He smiled at her, tilting his head to one side enquiringly. Flirting with T. was hazardous, but he enjoyed it. Both as a man and as an opponent.
“She had questions about Armando’s act,” T. said, getting up.
“She thinks it’s an act, then?” He’d been watching the young man since he became the newest member of the commandos. An asset with baggage. But who wasn’t? “You brought him here, T.,” he added, reminding her with gentle mockery.
The medic cut the thread. T. pulled the wet towel from the medical tray, walked over and handed it to him. “Hell is a trained mind probe.”
He noticed that she’d ignored his dig about Armando. “Better than you?” he asked, ignoring the offered towel.
She accepted his silent challenge, her amber-gold eyes gleaming with humor. She came closer. Her strokes were slow and sure as she wiped off the dried blood. “She’s more intuitive than me,” she said, “and she follows her instincts very naturally when she starts a session. She gets the information she needs more quickly than most.”
“Do you think she will probe Armando for answers?” T. arched her eyebrows delicately. “Is your blood red?” She paused in the middle of wiping. “You have to stop it.”
He smiled again, amused. “How, with a spell? Perhaps Armando can take care of himself. Tess, things aren’t always what they seem, you know that.”
“Yes, but his act’s making some people nervous, darling. I find it amusing but the more extreme it becomes, the more likely it’ll put people in dangerous situations.”
She laid the soiled towel on the side of the tray and picked up a clean dry one, handing it to him. He took it this time, and waved away the offer of a Band-Aid from the medic. “We’ll have to be extra careful, then,” he said. He turned to the medic and added, “Thank you. I can take care of everything else.”
He knew T. was waiting for them to be alone. As usual, she took her time getting to her point, priming her target with suggestions. She didn’t need to do that with him but she did, anyway, and they both enjoyed the exercise. It was a game, one that most people wouldn’t take up. One slip, and the loser gave away a lot of secrets. And when it came to T. and him, the stakes in secrets were high. But their enjoyment was private and mutual. And a secret between them.
“Armando isn’t really needed in the operations.”
“All the commandos are needed sooner or later, T.”
“Hell’s getting mixed messages about the serum. It might not be good for the situation.”
“I’m satisfied with the situation.” T. walked over to a dresser, opened a drawer and pulled out a folded shirt. She flapped it open, then put it against her body. “You just like to play with everyone’s mind, that’s your problem.”
Here it comes.“And you don’t?” His lips curled up in mockery.
T. laughed. “Darling, we’re two of a kind but I sometimes wonder whether that’s good for the operations.”
He strode toward her. “You fit in here, Tess.” He ran a finger lightly on the shirt hanging loosely against her. “You know I wanted you…for this experiment.”
“Don’t flirt, darling…you’re afraid of Hell,” T. said, realization dawning in her voice. “What did you two do during the VR session, hmmm? Besides learning how to communicate?”
“Just like when you’re in the CAVE with me,” he replied smoothly. So this was what T. was after. Hell was keeping things close to her chest. “Learning to communicate.”
T. laughed again. “I cannot see what an imaginary figure programmed to look like a blond Greek god with a rather large protrusion could be communicating about with one of my best operatives.” She dropped the shirt. He caught it. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she added, “I know you. You can’t resist a complex woman with secrets. That’s always been your weakness. You’ve always flirted with me, and you’re totally without rules in the CAVE, even with me, but the challenge here’s different, isn’t it? Hell’s giving you a run for your money, isn’t she?”
He, too, could evade when he chose. “You don’t have to look so smug about it, Tess. No one can give me a runaround like you do with all your different personas, you know that. You’ve practiced all of them on me, so I know how potent you are in real life.”
He slipped on the shirt, buttoning it with one hand. T. took a step closer. He didn’t mind her testing him so deliberately. After all, he’d done the same when he’d first met her. Looking for that kink in a dangerous woman was his thing. And he now knew what T.’s was. He’d never use it against her. Unless necessary.
Of course she was aware of having been exposed. And like a woman, she was determined to find his Achilles’ heel. The tension between them brought into sharp focus how much he wanted Helen. With T., it was just a matter of male fun and female ego; with Helen, the temptation to go deeper was a constant ache. And this was just in virtual reality. In the flesh…he had an idea he would give in to temptation very quickly.
“A mysterious and elusive man, uncatchable like a shadow,” T. said, the tone of her voice soft and sexy, the one she probably used when she was going in for the kill. “Only a shadow tends to lurk close by. You play with the light and dark until one’s never sure whether you’re really truly here.”
He chose to attack first. He lifted a lock of her hair and twined it around his finger. He tugged at it. “Tess, Tasha, Talia…who can compete with you?”
