The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Unwanted Small Talk

"Do you have business in Toronto?"  a soft woman's voice asked with just a hint of sensuality. Frowning, Mordecai looked to his left to the leggy brunette on the aisle, the source of the question.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked, thankful for once that his lost abilities weren't morphing the beautifully sculpted features before him into an all too familiar death's head mask. She was a lovely woman and he didn't mind appreciating her beauty for a moment.

Faced now with the intense dark blue eyes and direct attention of the arrogantly handsome man that would be her fellow passenger, the woman actually blushed, smiling prettily as she cleared her throat.

"Uh, I was just wondering if you had business in Toronto." She deepened her smile slightly, as if in apology for disturbing him. That direct gaze was somewhat disconcerting, even for a woman whose beauty easily garnered her the adoring attention of not a few men, both rich and powerful. Somehow she sensed that this man was much more than any one of them. And that fact drew her to him like a moth to a flame.

Mordecai smiled faintly before he turned his gaze forward. Moment of admiration over.

"You could say that," he rumbled. Then both he and the woman were drawing their legs back as Lash joined them, the big vampire taking the final seat next to the window.

"All secured," the Qos Viran commander murmured for Mordecai's ears only before he eased into place, quickly doing up his seat belt. He too had done more than his fair share of flying over the years.

Mordecai nodded in acknowledgement before he began to settle himself in, preparing to catch a little sleep. The long night of working to complete the various devices from the future database he had downloaded during his unusual hop into the future had completely exhausted the big man, who had been running on low resources to begin with. The three -hour flight to Toronto would be a welcome respite and an opportunity to recoup some of the resources he had burned off, frantically attempting to take advantage of the unexpected technology that had fallen into their hands.

But, before he could begin a quick fall into slumber, again the woman beside him piped up, her voice hopeful.

"I'm actually going to Toronto myself for a job interview," she confessed, her attempt to strike up a conversation almost blatant as she paused, expecting the big man to ask her about the job she was interviewing for.

When it didn't come, she bulled ahead to explain herself, finding herself oddly desperate to impress the broodingly intense man sitting beside her.

"Uh, it's actually a job with CTV. I'm interviewing for one of their anchor positions that have just opened up with their evening prime time news program. You see, I was working for CFCN here, in Calgary, one of CTV's local affiliates, as an anchor. I learned just a couple of days ago that the position in Toronto opened up and figured, what the hell? Might as well give it a shot!" She laughed softly and somewhat nervously as Mordecai continued to be unresponsive. Damn, what did she have to do to get this guy's attention? Reach over and grab him by the nuts?

Deciding that was perhaps a bit extreme, she still decided that the direct approach might be the best one. She stuck out her hand with a smile.

"I'm Katherine Hollingcott. I don't think I caught your name."

Mordecai slowly turned his head to look first at the extended hand, then Katherine's blushing face. Abruptly he decided that it wouldn't hurt to be at least civil. Pasting a wintry smile on his face, he reached out to take Katherine's slender and rather delicate looking hand and give it a firm, yet careful shake.