The girl tasted like apathy and delusion. She lay perfectly still as he kissed her neck and lowered himself onto her.
Her stillness irritated him. He wanted a participant. Not a zombie.
“You like me,” he whispered in her ear. “You want this.”
Instantly her body responded. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer. She opened her mouth to his kiss. She even moaned as his tongue slid between her teeth.
She felt amazing beneath him. Her slender frame inviting him into her. It had been far too long since he’d been with anyone. And he needed this. Needed it to stay focused. Needed it to do his job without feeling distracted every five seconds.
It was a stressful job. But this would help.
Plus, he told himself he was ultimately doing the scientists a favor. The persuasion serum was still in its early test phases. They hadn’t irrefutably proved that it worked on humans yet. Well, now Raze had. This woman—a lab assistant from the Aerospace Sector—was clearly fully amenable to the power of his suggestion.
Not that he needed a woman to be completely mind-warped in order to be with her. He wasn’t unattractive. But this was certainly cheaper than buying three rounds of drinks at some seedy bar. And decidedly faster.
Director Raze didn’t have time for the chase. He had an entire research compound to watch over.
But a short break wouldn’t hurt anyone. He was fairly certain the headquarters of Diotech Corporation would still be standing when he was done.
Which is why he’d had no qualms about deactivating all his comm devices before he slipped into the woman’s room. Why he’d disconnected from the central network so he couldn’t be tracked here. And, of course, why he’d temporarily cut the security feeds in the Residential Sector. If anyone were to investigate the gap in coverage, it could easily be blamed on a short-term systems malfunction.
In other words, he was alone.
He groaned into her mouth, running his hand down to her waist. He could feel her body stiffen at his touch but he quickly eased her softened mind with another suggestive whisper.
She instantly relaxed.
He pulled back long enough to study her features. It was a pretty face, framed by thin blonde hair. He wished her blue eyes didn’t look quite so empty when they stared back at him, an unavoidable side effect of the serum, he supposed. But he was in no position to be choosy.
“Close your eyes,” he commanded, and she did.
God, if only women in the real world were this easy. The last woman he’d been with had been a real piece of work. It was because of her Raze didn’t do relationships anymore. Not that he had time for one. Intelligence Director and Head of Security at Diotech Headquarters was a full-time job. One that didn’t come with much free time. If any.
Raze dipped his head to kiss the girl’s neck, sighing at the supple feel of her skin.
Yes, he definitely deserved this.
The door beeped open just then and his chief operative, Agent Vas burst breathlessly into the room.
It clearly took a moment for Vas to make sense of what he had just interrupted, and once the comprehension registered, he blushed and turned his back to the scene.
“What the hell?” Raze bellowed. “What are you doing here? Get out! I’m busy!”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Vas apologized, but he didn’t leave. “There’s been a situation. We’ve been trying to ping you but your comms are down.”“I went off-line,” Raze growled. “Now get out before I throw your ass out.”
But still Vas didn’t move and Raze felt the familiar rage boil up inside of him. The same rage that had gotten him kicked out of the Army.
“You need to come back to the ICC with me now.”
Raze balked at Vas’s directive. Since when did he give Raze orders? Since never. Raze climbed off the woman’s bed and started barreling toward his subordinate. “What did you say to me?”
Vas, still facing the door, cowered at the sound of Raze’s angry footsteps but stayed firmly planted to the spot. “There’s been a C9 breach,” he shouted before Raze could reach him (and more than likely wring his neck).
This stopped Raze in his tracks. “A C9, you say?”
Vas nodded in the direction of the door. Raze could see the beads of sweat on the back of his agent’s neck. He’d clearly been running around the sector looking for him. Most likely he’d followed him to the last spot the system had tracked him before he went off-line, and then had to resort to searching the old fashion way.
“Flux,” Raze swore, grabbing his coat from a chair by the door. “Fine. Let’s go.”
He reluctantly followed Vas out of the room. But not before casting one final glance behind him at the woman lying on the bed, her eyes still closed, her breathing fast and shallow from their prematurely halted activities.
So close.
Now he supposed he’d just have to go back to buying women drinks in bars.
##
This story continues in Chapter Two.