A New Age Dawns Read online

  Deception

  Silver, now casually dressed in civilian clothes, answers the door to the Deputy Commissioner.

  Luka Kinsella.

  The sandy-haired, green-eyed boy who’d been the first ever to hold her hand. In build and height, he and Alex are almost identical. Both are fine specimens of manhood, though Luka is almost a decade younger and his hair shows no hint of turning gray.

  “Morning, sunshine.” He grins at Silver.

  “Is it? Still?”

  Luka checks his watch for confirmation. “‘Fraid so.”

  Reluctant to invite him inside, Silver stands in the doorway and bars his entry. Assuming that he’s come to see Alex, she’s quick to set him straight.

  “He’s not here.”

  “I know.” Luka leans up against the doorframe. “He’s with Maydevine.”

  “Again?”

  “You didn’t know?”

  Silver shrugs, realizing that she’s grown accustomed to the predictability of Alex’s behavior in recent months. “It would’ve been my first guess.” She looks up and down the hallway outside the apartment, making sure it’s empty. “You should hurry the hell up and get out of here before someone sees you. Neither one of us can afford another little indiscretion right now.”

  “Let me in.”

  “Are you deaf? We can’t be alone together, Luka. You know that.”

  “Where was that voice of reason the other night? Besides, I have legitimate Police Division grounds to be here this time.”

  Silver hesitates. At the sound of a neighbor’s front door beginning to open, she panics. She grabs Luka by the shirt and hauls him inside, slamming the door shut behind him. He’s grinning from ear to ear, but she’s not about to let him get too comfortable.

  “Make it quick,” she warns him. “I have to get ready for work.”

  Luka’s brow furrows. “You’re pulling another double? Why? Is Red sick or something?”

  “Sick of paperwork.” Silver putters about getting ready for work. “Over the last few weeks, I’ve come to realize that sleeping is a privilege reserved for those Omega departments not currently running three weeks behind schedule.”

  As she steps into the bedroom to change, leaving the door slightly ajar, Luka hovers in the living room. A full length mirror hanging on the wall in front of him bounces Silver’s reflection back into his eyes as she takes off her civilian clothes and slips into her regulation Hunter Division uniform.

  All too aware of the increasingly thin line he walks on with his boss’s wife, Luka averts his eyes. His hands shoved deep inside his pockets, like a school boy facing the cane, he dips his head and convinces himself that the periphery of his vision is a safe zone.

  Watching her from the corner of his eye, he suppresses his arousal at the fleeting sight of her naked breasts.

  “I thought your old man retired?” He tries to distract himself with conversation. “What do he and Alex do all day together? Play checkers?”

  “I have no idea.” Silver re-enters the room in Division cargo pants and a tight-fitting undershirt.

  In truth, she does have some idea.

  Her burgeoning Fusion senses are crystal clear, and she can tell almost precisely where Alex has been just by the smell of him. Likewise, she knows that Luka wasn’t alone when he awoke this morning: she can smell sex on him.

  Sex and perfume.

  A different kind of perfume than the last time she saw him.

  Still up to his old tricks, Silver thinks, dismissing it.

  Seeking a change of subject, his tie catches her attention. It’s one of many in the trademark collection of crude cartoon patterns that he’s acquired since his promotion to Deputy.

  “Nice tie,” she deflects.

  “Thanks. It’s one of my favorites.” He grins.

  Meow.

  Alex’s cat appears in the doorway.

  Ella.

  Small Ella.

  SmEllie.

  She ambles into the room and targets Luka instantly, rubbing up against his ankles, purring softly. He tries to shoo her away, but she persists.

  “Your cat has attachment issues.” He tries to side-step around her, but she follows him.

  “She likes you.” Silver giggles. “Take her home.”

  Luka laughs. “Yeah, nice try.”

  Trying to dodge the cat, Luka stumbles against a side table and almost knocks a framed picture onto the floor. He catches it just in time. It’s a picture of the Hunter Division Academy graduating class of 2331.

  “Hey, look at us.”

  In the picture, Luka is in the front row with Silver. Alex, their supervising instructor, is at the back of the group. Luka replaces the picture on the table.

  “Seems like a helluva long time ago.”

  Silver grabs her boots and drops onto the couch. “And after all the blood and sweat, you chose the Police Division anyway.”

  “Yeah, well, I live with the consequences of that every day.”

  Silver laces up her boots. “I know what that feels like.”

  “Regrets?”

  “Plenty.” She gets up off the couch and stretches, her shoulders popping. “Did you want something, Luka?”

  “Same thing you want, I think.” He bites anxiously on his lower lip.

  Silver raises an eyebrow. “A healthy dose of vodka and a bit of a rough fuck on the kitchen table?”

  Caught off-guard by that, it takes Luka a second or two to respond. “That’s actually not what I had in mind, but I’m flexible.”

  Silver laughs that off. “I’d settle for just the vodka, thanks.”

  “I’d settle for just the—”

  “Luka.” She stops him. “I was joking.”

  “I wasn’t.” He winks.

  Silence.

  Silver holsters her weapons. “Alex would punch you out if he found you here alone with me. You know that, right?”

  “I’ll risk it.”

  “Luka … it took him so long to trust you as much as he does. Please, don’t go out of your way to blow the relationship you’ve built with him.”

  “As I said before, you didn’t seem too worried about that last week.”

  Silver rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t thinking clearly, and you took advantage of that.”

  “Oh, come on. You weren’t that drunk.”

  “I was drunk enough that I let you into my home after midnight and spent the next four hours with you, while my husband was …”

  She can’t finish that sentence. She has no idea where Alex was that night, and that’s why she’d embraced Luka’s company so easily, even though she knew she shouldn’t. She’d started drowning herself in a bottle long before he ever knocked on her door.

  He was a welcome distraction.

  “Not where he should’ve been,” Luka finishes for her.

  “I’m sure he was with Maydevine.”

  “While you were alone in bed.”

  Silence.

  Luka reaches out to her, stroking the back of his hand against her cheek. “What man in his right mind would ever leave you alone like that?” Rhetorical.

  Silver almost lets herself get caught up in his eyes, but she can smell another woman under his fingernails and pushes his hand away, moderately disgusted. “It should never have happened. What you and I did that night … it was a mistake.”

  “Really? You wanna look me in the eyes and say that?”

  She can’t.

  Staring at the floor, “We agreed it was just a one-time thing. Remember? For old times’ sake.”

  “Bullshit. I can’t stop thinking about it and neither can you.”

  “You promised you wouldn’t do this, Luka.”

  He takes a step closer to her. “Do what?”

  “Make a big deal out of it.”

  “Yet you’re not stopping me.”

  Deeply conflicted, Silver turns her back on him. “We can’t do this again, Luka. I’m sorry. It’s too risky.”

  “I miss you,
Silver.” He begins to stroke her arm. “We used to be so close.”

  “Too close, Luka. That’s the point.” She shrugs him away.

  “You want this,” he pushes.

  “You have no idea what you’re asking.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “You’re out of your mind.” Silver spins back around to face him. “If he knew even half the stuff we’ve done together, he’d—”

  “No-one will find out. I promise.” Luka zips his mouth shut.

  “Everything we did in the Fringe …”

  “Ancient history.”

  “We’d both be risking our jobs.”

  “Where’s your sense of fun?”

  “Buried deep beneath my sense of responsibility.” Silver sighs. “Look, if anything happened, we’d both be in a whole lot of trouble. Alex would kill me, or you, or both of us. It’s just not worth the risk.”

  “He’s my boss, not my father.”

  Silver tries to hold onto sense and reason, but the reserve supply she’s been clutching is quickly depleting.

  “And he’s not yours either,” Luka presses.

  Silver shakes her head. “You know how I feel about this, Luka.”

  “Yes, I do. That’s why I’m being so persistent.”

  Silver’s weakening. He’s wearing her down.

  “Won’t anyone notice that you’re gone?”

  “The city’s in order. The streets are patrolled, and to be frank, the Fringers don’t take up nearly as much of our time since you got yourself repatriated.”

  “Asshole.” Silver laughs, shoving him playfully in the shoulder. “But seriously, with Alex AWOL, you’re the senior Agent in charge.”

  “His absence does nothing to change the fact that it’s my day off.” Luka grins.

  “Agents get days off?”

  “I’ve tried telling Alex, but he doesn’t listen.”

  “He has a selective hearing problem. Wasn’t he supposed to take on the Sector Eighteen rebuild today? On the Governor’s order?”

  “Rain halted the rebuild. No-one’s been in that sector for over a week.”

  “I bet the Governor’s thrilled.”

  Luka shrugs. “At least the uncooperative weather is nobody’s fault. However pissed she is now, it’s nothing compared to how ballistic things are going to get when she sees the assignment sheets for the rest of the week.”

  “Those sheets aren’t due to be released until tomorrow morning.” Silver frowns. “How could you possibly have seen them already?”

  Luka digs a sleek black PDA out of his jacket pocket. “The excuse I’m going to use to explain why I came over here this morning, if anyone traces my tag.” He hands it to her. “It belongs to Alex.”

  “Why do you have it?”

  “Last time I saw him, we were in a meeting with the armory department, discussing plans for weapons upgrades in the Police Division. I must’ve picked his up by mistake. He probably has mine. I didn’t even notice the switch until I went to e-file a report to the Governor’s office and stumbled onto the assignment sheets instead. They’re programmed to auto-release tomorrow morning.”

  “And?”

  “Between you and me?”

  Silver nods her assurance.

  “As of tomorrow, Alex is reassigning me to the Sector Eighteen rebuild.”

  Silver’s frown deepens. “He can’t do that. That’s a direct violation of the Governor’s order.”

  Luka shrugs. “I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

  “That’s wishful thinking,” Silver sneers, handing him back the PDA. “And I’m sure you’ll see him before I will, so you can give this back to him yourself.”

  Luka puts it back in his jacket for safe keeping and leans up against the wall beside her, his hands in his pockets and concern in his eyes. “Do I sense a hint of disharmony in the King-Cross household?”

  Silver hesitates to answer, uncertain whether or not she should further blur the lines of what should be a purely professional relationship with the intimate details of her personal life.

  She settles on: “It’s complicated.”

  “You’re fighting?”

  “He told you?”

  “He doesn’t have to. You only ever flirt with me when you’re fighting.”

  Silence folds over them again, and Luka pounces on her raw vulnerability.

  “I think you could use some friendly company today.”

  A hand slips out of his pocket to poke her gently in the ribs, trying to elicit a response. She bats his hand away, holding back a smile. Undeterred, he reaches out again and attempts a light tickle instead.

  The smile breaks free.

  Rewarded, his actions reinforced, his other hand joins in, targeting her ribs with determination. She pushes him away, but softly, letting him advance upon her again, slowly backing her up against the wall.

  “You had fun before. I know you did.” He holds her there. “It’d break my heart if I found out you were faking.”

  Silver can’t hold back the smile, and she doesn’t even try. “I don’t fake.”

  Her final wall of defense slips away with a giggle as Smellie leaps off the sideboard onto Luka’s shoulders and begins rubbing herself up against his neck, still purring enthusiastically.

  “I think she has a crush on you.” Silver smiles.

  “I’ve gotta be honest with you, your cat’s kind of a whore.”

  Silver picks Smellie up and deposits her back on the floor, aimed toward the kitchen. “It’s not my fault that my husband can’t keep his females in line.”

  “I’ll tell him you said that.”

  “He’ll give you a black eye.”

  “In that case, if I’m getting beaten up regardless, we’d better at least make it worthwhile.”

  Silver looks at him, weighing him up, then hangs her head in defeat. “If we do this, you have to promise me something.”

  “Anything.”

  “Never tell Alex. He can never know. Once could be written off as a mistake, but twice … now it begins to look as if we’re making a habit out of it.”

  “Whatever you say, General.” He crosses his heart.

  “And don’t you dare make me regret this,” she adds. “Else I’ll kill you myself.”

  “You couldn’t. You’d miss me.”

  “Don’t count on it.” She shoves him away from her. “You know where the bedroom is. Now hurry up and get your clothes off. We don’t have much time.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Divergence

  Silver knocks on the door to the bedroom she shares with Alex, waiting a second or two before pushing it open and peering inside.

  “You decent?”

  Luka is fastening Alex’s Kevlar vest, putting the finishing touches to the Police Division combat uniform that’s been abandoned in the closet since Alex’s promotion to Commissioner.

  “How do I look?” He beams.

  Silver, swept up in a sudden wave of emotion, loses the smile she’s been trying so hard to keep pinned to her face. A sudden tightness in her chest draws her attention to the sense of unease rising up within her: a flourishing uncertainty that’s desperately unfamiliar. Running her eyes over the uniform, her stomach performs the obligatory—and recently conspicuously absent—somersault, her emotions tumbling into nausea when her gaze reaches the face of the man inside it.

  Not Alex.

  She crosses the room to Luka, brushing a sentimental hand across Alex’s embroidered name on the vest. Her palm flat against his chest, she can feel his heart beating beneath the layers of Kevlar.

  “Nervous?” She looks up at him.

  “Like the new kid in school.”

  “Wanna back out?”

  “What do you think?”

  Silver hesitates, realizing that her touch has lingered. Self-conscious, she retracts her hand.

  “Think I can pull it off?” he diffuses.

  Silver reaches up and strokes her fingers against Luka’s cheek.
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  “You make for a pretty decent impersonation, but I’ve gotta say …” She pulls back her hand. “My old fella wears it better.”

  “Your old fella’s gotta quit the habit.” Luka roots around in pockets, pulling out packets of cigarettes. “Seriously, they’re all over the place.” He pulls out a half empty packet from a pocket in the Kevlar vest. “You know what this pocket’s meant to be for? Medical supplies. So in a moment of crisis, your hubby would rather have a cigarette than save a limb.”

  “He didn’t smoke as much when he was in the Hunter Division.”

  “He’s smoked since he was eight.”

  “Yeah, but not like this. And it’s been worse since Maydevine retired.” Silver scoops up all the cigarette packets and lighters, dumping them down on top of the dresser. “I don’t know why he’s so tense all the time. His behavior makes no sense to me lately.”

  She feels Luka move in close behind her, his breath against her neck. He wraps his arms around her and holds himself close.

  “Everything’s going to be okay, El.” He kisses the side of her head. “What’s on the cards for today?”

  “Nothing like what we did before. That time, we just gate crashed a routine training exercise. This is going to be the real thing: a reclamation Sector I’ve never been in before. Are you really sure you’re up for this?”

  “It’s routine extermination, right?”

  Silver nods. “Hopefully nothing too out of the ordinary.”

  “Hopefully?”

  “Yeah, if you’re lucky. Otherwise, I’ll have to dispose of your corpse and then lie about it.” She peels herself away from him. “Now grab the helmet and let’s go.”

  *************************

  A naked woman lies on an unmade bed. The bed is old and broken, one corner of it propped up on bricks. Her breathing is erratic, and sweat’s beading on her skin. Her violet eyes roll back inside her skull, Alex watching her slow demise from the edge of the darkened room.

  Unconcerned, he lights up a cigarette, his face devoid of any meaningful expression as the woman’s body goes limp.

  *************************

  Silver and Luka—his real identity disguised by the helmet—approach the ready and waiting Hunter Division in front of the Bin. As Silver leads Luka toward the principal vehicle in the convoy, she motions for the guards to open up the gates.