The Chief Read online

  “I’m about to pass out. When you see my signal drop, please send a pulse and bring me back.”

  “Do you want me to get Officer Cress—”

  “No,” I said sharply. “Nobody can know about this, Lydia. That’s why we’re on a secure channel. This stays between you and me. Okay, baby?”

  “Of course, sweetie. Are you okay?”

  “Not really. Just…”

  I passed out.

  Chapter 3

  My eyes snapped open and my headache was clearing.

  I felt like me again.

  Just to be sure, I thought about Riya back at the Hard Rock. It was a quick fantasy about taking her into one of the side rooms at the casino and playing her like a pool table. My middle extremity began to stir.

  Thank God.

  Next, I thought about helping Fay build her army.

  Nothing.

  Good. So I was back.

  I couldn’t explain how, other than to chalk it up to it being part of my amalgamiteness. Obviously there was something inside my make-up that helped me escape from her clutches.

  “Ian, honey?” said Lydia in a pleading voice.

  “Hey, baby,” I replied, smiling. “I’m here.”

  “Are you okay? You were out for nearly two minutes!”

  “Seriously?” That was a first. I guess there had been a lot of undoing to get done. “Wow.”

  “I had to send multiple pulses before you came to.”

  “Thanks for that,” I said, thinking that I’d probably have been out for hours had Lydia not been around to help. “You didn’t tell anyone, though, right?”

  “I didn’t say a word.”

  “Good.” I took a deep breath. “Lydia, I’m going to have to ask you to trust me on something. This is going to be very difficult for you because of your programming.”

  “Anything for you, lover.”

  We were about to find out if that was true or not. Worst case was that she’d turn me in and I’d be looking at a shorter life than I’d expected. But, Lydia was smart. If I laid it out, she’d have to see the logic.

  “Okay, baby, listen carefully because you’re the only one I can trust right now.”

  I dove into the details of what had happened at the Hard Rock, though I left out the specifics regarding Riya. Lydia wasn’t necessarily the jealous type, but why chance it over something this important?

  “I understand,” she said after a few seconds. That was like an eternity for a computer as powerful as Lydia, so clearly she’d been going through some heavy logic. “It seems that the best course of action would be to notify the other officers and ask for their assistance.”

  “I know that sounds right, Lydia, but it’s not.” I rubbed my aching neck. “We can’t do anything that may tip off the chief or Rachel. If we do, they may contact Fay and then all hell will break loose. We have to play this carefully.”

  “Actually, that makes sense.”

  “Thanks.”

  “What do you suggest then?”

  And here’s where the rubber met the road. I was going to have to ask her to do something that went purely against her programming. If she complied, that meant she was fully on board; if not, I was screwed.

  “Can you simulate my connector’s location as heading back to my condo?”

  “Sure,” she said without hesitation.

  I blinked, feeling somewhat surprised at this.

  “So if anyone checks on my whereabouts, for whatever reason, they’ll see me there and not where I really am, right?”

  “That’s correct, jelly bean.”

  Wow. Great.

  “Okay, please do that,” I said as I got back on the road and headed toward the casino. “I’m going to go pay Fay a visit.”

  “You’re what?”

  “It’s the only way, Lydia. I have to take her out.”

  “You mean like on a date?”

  Lydia was serious. She wasn’t all that great at metaphors.

  “Uh, no…” I paused. Actually, with my horniness back in play, it wasn’t a horrible idea. I shook my head at myself. Idiot. “I mean I’m going to have to kill her.”

  “Oh, right. Yes, that does make more sense.”

  I turned in to the casino parking lot, but decided to park the car myself this time. There was no point in tipping anyone off about my return to the scene just yet. They’d find out soon enough.

  “Once I go in, you’re going to lose my connector.”

  “I know,” she replied. “Please be careful, sugar.”

  “Trust me,” I said, lying, “I plan to be.”

  Chapter 4

  I headed in the side entrance and made my way to the escalators. There was little doubt that I’d already been spotted. Watch the movie Ocean’s Eleven and you’ll know that casino cameras see everything.

  Just in case, I kept a serene look on my face as I stepped through the crowd and went back into the secret room.

  “Back so soon?” Riya said with a raised eyebrow.

  “Well,” I said after a quick glance around to make sure Preston Banks had left, “I’m not one to pass up on a great opportunity. In fact, I had a little fantasy about taking you into that closet right there and doing all sorts of naughty things to you.”

  Her second eyebrow joined the first.

  “Wow, you really are a horndog, aren’t you?”

  I shrugged and gave her a sheepish smile.

  No, now wasn’t the time to play a game of hide-the-bratwurst, but I didn’t want to look too suspicious either. Anyone who knew anything about me wouldn’t think it odd at all that I was already back chatting up Riya and her fine, fine, body.

  I had to stick with the mission, for now.

  Actually, that made me wonder about Riya. Was she not under the same spell as everyone else?

  I’d completely lost my libido, and I could tell that Rachel had lost hers too, based on the little exchange we had before she’d gotten into the chief’s car. As for the chief’s libido, he wasn’t the type to speak about such things. He was kind of old-school.

  Anyway, the point was that Riya was obviously fond of the idea of playing some no-no.

  I studied the area and saw a sea of faces all engaged in either serious discussions or a little bit of flirtatiousness. One couple near the back was making out like their plane was going down.

  Did that mean that only some of these people were under Fay’s control? Or maybe it was just the PPD members who were affected in this way? That could be, since all of us were genetically enhanced and our horny levels were above the norm.

  “Listen, babe,” I said smoothly, “I don’t suppose the security chief is around for a chat?”

  “I haven’t seen him all day,” she replied. “Usually he swings through here at least a few times to check on things. He’s probably been in meetings or something.”

  He?

  Fay was certainly not a he.

  I then thought about that. Seeing that we were in Vegas, it was actually quite possible that Fay was a he. I’d been fooled before.

  “Uh…right. Yeah. I was talking about Fay.”

  She furrowed her brow. “Who?”

  So she didn’t know who Fay was. That was interesting. Then again, maybe it wasn’t. What would Fay need with someone like Riya? Unless she was an undercover badass or something.

  I grinned evilly to myself thinking about how I was bound to learn how good she was…undercover.

  “Fay is just one of the regular security officers,” I clarified, trying to keep things covert. “We met with her when I was here earlier. I have some information that she’d asked for.”

  “Ah.” Riya tapped on her iPad and then spun it around. “No Officer Fay that I see in the system.”

  “I’m guessing Fay is her first name.”

  “Nope. Nobody with that first name, either.”

  Her look was accusatory.

  “What?”

  “You’re just amazing is all,” she said with a disbelie
ving laugh. “You come in here and you already have me and Fay ready to jump in the sack with you.”

  “At the same time?” I said, thinking that it was cool Riya was into that sort of thing. Fay probably wasn’t, but who knows? “I mean, that sounds rockin’ and all, but…”

  She flipped my card back at me. “Ew.”

  Damn.

  “Look, I didn’t have anything like that going on with Fay.” She clearly didn’t believe me. “Honest! I really do have information for her.”

  “There’s nobody on staff with the name Fay, Officer Dex.”

  Great, she went formal on me.

  “Then I got her name wrong.”

  “You?” She scoffed at that. “You got a woman’s name wrong?”

  “It’s happened.”

  Her look was dull. “I doubt it.”

  “Well, I’m going to go and see if she’s back there,” I said, pointing toward the corridor. “Then we can discuss this further.”

  “No, thanks.” She looked at her watch. “My shift is about over and I have better things to do tonight than waste time with you.”

  “Ouch.”

  She motioned for me to go away. I gave her a pouty look, but that only caused her to roll her eyes and then turn her back on me.

  I carefully dropped my card back on her desk and then headed down the hallway to the little door at the end.

  When I opened it, I found a smaller contingency of guards standing at attention than were there earlier.

  They all turned to look at me, including Fay the fae.

  “Officer Dex?” she said as she tilted her head. “What are you doing here?”

  Chapter 5

  My first thought was to reach for my gun, but I held myself in check.

  “I think there’s something wrong with my phase-over thing,” I said like a moron.

  Her brow creased. “Your what?”

  “The light show thing you did with that device,” I said, pointing. “When I was here earlier with the chief and Officer Cress, I mean.” This caused a couple of her entourage to turn toward me with menace in their eyes. “I feel part of the pull, ya know? But something is definitely off.”

  “That’s strange.”

  She reached for the device and aimed it at me again.

  The light flew out of it and hit my eyes. It stung a little, but apparently I’d already been vaccinated against its effects from the last interaction. Still—though Rachel would most assuredly disagree—I wasn’t an idiot, so I staggered a bit and let my eyes go dull.

  “Better?” she said, placing the device on the table in front of her.

  I forced myself to stand up taller. “Yes, ma’am.”

  This calmed the guards.

  “Good.” She held up a file. “I’ve been going over your records, Officer Dex. It seems as though you are different than the other officers in the PPD. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that you’re different than any known being.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “An amalgamite,” she read from the sheet. “I’ll be honest that I’ve never heard of such a thing.” Fay dropped the paper on the table. “This doesn’t mention anything about your parents or where you came from, but I would imagine they were of your kind as well, or are you a genetic defect of some sort?”

  I had to fight my default reaction of staring daggers at her. Not a lot ruffled my feathers, but it didn’t sit well with me when people talked about my parents. Especially people like Fay.

  Still, I had to play the part of a good little soldier.

  “My parents died when I was very young, ma’am. I have no real information regarding them other than the fact that they left me a sizable trust fund.” I kept my voice even, adding, “It would be my honor to donate all that I have to your cause, ma’am.”

  “Yes, we’ll make arrangements for that soon enough, Officer Dex.” She began glancing around at the guards. “Everyone but Officer Dex will leave the room.”

  Within seconds, the room was cleared out.

  I tried to contain my surprise. This was a serious error in judgment, from my perspective. I’d just walked in here claiming that her tech didn’t quite work. She knew of my particular situation, too, so that should have been a huge red flag.

  I slowly reached for my gun.

  She stood up and began unbuttoning her blouse.

  Apparently, I was reaching for the wrong gun.

  “Your record says that you have certain…skills.”

  Ah. Now we were in my ballpark…in a manner of speaking.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said, probably a bit too enthusiastically. I recovered with, “It’s a side-effect of my genetic enhancements.”

  “Speaking of your ‘enhancements,’ why don’t you disrobe and join me over here?”

  Okay, so Fay had stopped thinking with her nefarious mind and started thinking with her naughty bits. Of course, she may have been thinking with both, which could be good or bad, depending on your perspective. Being that it was my perspective, though, I found it good.

  I moved to her side of the table, removing my suit jacket seductively in the process.

  By the time we were within touching distance, it was clear that Fay spent a little time at the gym.

  “It appears that you like what you see,” she said with her eyes focused on my midsection. “I’m…impressed, Officer Dex.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” I said, noting that my pants weren’t exactly hiding my excitement.

  “Why don’t you come over to mommy and give her a little lovin’?”

  Okay, so there were very few things that turned my dial down. One of them was when chicks called themselves “mommy,” or worse, asked me to call them that. I didn’t know if it was some Freudian thing or what, but seeing as how I didn’t remember my own mother, I found that unlikely. Regardless, the word “ew” bounced around in my head.

  But I was playing a role here and so I deadened my thoughts on the subject and instead focused on her fine feminine form.

  As I caressed her body, her eyes closed and I glanced over at the piece of tech she’d been using for mind control. I wanted to reach out for it, but wasn’t quite sure how it worked and I needed to make certain that she was in the throes of passion before I did anything rash. In other words, I had to employ a bit of mind control of my own first.

  “Don’t hold back, Officer Dex,” Fay said seductively, “I can handle a lot before using a safe word.”

  “And what is your safe word, ma’am?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered. “I’ve never had to use one.”

  “Right.” I gulped. “Before we begin, though—”

  “I thought we’d already begun,” she said, placing her hands on my hips.

  “Well…yeah, but…” I scratched my ear. “Anyway, if we get vocal here and you start yelling out commands, I wouldn’t want your guards to come in and shoot me.”

  “Doesn’t work that way, Officer Dex,” she said while starting to kiss my neck. “I have to actively think my commands or stare at one of my minions straight in the eyes while speaking to them.”

  “Is that so?”

  Fay froze and looked at me.

  “Shit,” was all she got out before I karate-chopped her on the neck.

  I caught her as she was falling and leaned her forward on the table in front of me. The sight of her in this position was rather intoxicating, but a) it wasn’t gentlemanly to take advantage of a lady in this situation, and b) I had a job to do.

  She started to slide down, so I stood behind her and reached out for the device she’d been using to control us with. I took comfort in the fact that my pants were still on, meaning our nudie bits weren’t able to intermingle.

  The door opened and I looked up.

  It was Riya.

  Damn it.

  “Ian,” she called out as she entered the room, “I was thinking about what you…” She stopped and stared at the scene of me standing behind the partially nude fae, who was bent over
the table. “You’re unbelievable.”

  “Wait,” I said, holding up a hand. “I can explain.”

  Riya crossed her arms. “Go ahead, then.”

  “She’s a bad person,” I started, pointing at Fay. “She’s been trying to use mind control to get people to do her bidding.”

  “Seems to be working.”

  “What?” I said with my eyes opened wide. “No, no! That’s just it. I’m not affected by her wiles at all.”

  Riya looked back down at Fay and then up at me again.

  “Obviously.”

  I sighed and pushed away from Fay, showing that I still had my pants on.

  “As you can see, I’m not fully nude here.”

  “Nor are you fully clothed,” countered Riya.

  “True…but…” Honestly there just wasn’t any way out of this, so I shrugged. “Fine, believe what you want to believe. Honestly, though, I’m here to stop this woman from doing nasty things.”

  Fay slid off the table and slumped onto the floor.

  “Right,” Riya said slowly. “You’re trying to stop her from doing nasty things.”

  “Listen, I…” was all I could say before I felt a rush of searing pain radiate from my groin all the way up to my brain.

  Fay had awoken from my karate chop and she’d punched me right in the marbles.

  Chapter 6

  As I curled up in the fetal position wondering why I’d even gotten out of bed this morning, I heard Riya shout out, “Stop, or I’ll stick a bullet in your head.”

  What?

  I opened my eyes enough to see that Fay was still wobbly. Even though it took everything I had, I slung a punch right at her groin. Apparently, it has a similar effect on chicks as it does on dudes because she shrieked and fell down, holding herself.

  “Asshole,” she hissed.

  “Back at ya, sister,” I groaned.

  Riya rushed over, training her gun on Fay again.

  “Are you two just going to keep punching each other in the privates all day or can I get on with my arrest?”

  I frowned and grunted, “Your what?”

  “I’m from the Bombay Paranormal Police Department,” she said, pulling out a badge with her free hand.