Depths of Blue Page 6
Dammit, Neal, she thought. You could have given me much better background on these assholes.
She proceeded through the house, attended closely by her armed escort. To her eye, everything seemed more sinister this evening. The men she passed seemed to be watching her more closely, judging her and finding her wanting. Once again she wondered at the total absence of any other women. To the best of her knowledge, she was the only female on the premises. She’d assumed that she would see some women as her unexpected stay lengthened, but so far she had seen none.
They stopped in front of the overly ornate double doors to the dining room. Her personal guard nodded to the two men stationed there. The massive doors groaned as the soldiers muscled them open.
“Miss Ivanov for dinner, sir,” the one on the left announced. Torrin was not entirely comfortable with the way he phrased his announcement. It made her sound like she was the main course.
At the head of the long table, Hutchinson rose from his chair and walked over to them. He grasped her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it soundly. Torrin supposed he thought the action was gallant, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the intensity of his grasp. If he was going to be charming, he really shouldn’t have tried to crush her fingers. She smiled faintly in response.
“Torrin, my dear, how are you?” he boomed. He waved the assortment of sentries away. They retreated from the room, closing the doors firmly behind them. Torrin tried not to flinch as the latches clicked shut.
“I’m sure you’ve been extremely busy trying to clear a path to my vessel through those hordes of enemy fighters,” she said, not answering his query.
“Of course, of course,” he said absently, tucking her hand in the crook of his elbow and escorting her to the table. Its surface was piled so high with food that she could hardly make out any open space. “My men have been working valiantly on your behalf.”
“Please be seated.” He pulled out the chair directly to the left of his. As she sat, he pushed it in. She preferred this side of the table to the other. The other side put her back to the windows, which not only made her a little twitchy but didn’t afford her the gorgeous view. Windows ran the entire length of the room and looked out onto the wide deck—which itself spilled out onto the slope that went up and met the tree line. During the day, the slope was covered by a stunning display of blue and purple flowering bushes.
“You aren’t wearing my gift.” Hutchinson interrupted her internal monologue.
“Oh, it was lovely, but it’s not really to my taste,” she replied blithely. “I’m a woman of simple tastes and it was much too ornate for me.”
“I’d have liked to seen you in it.” He frowned in disapproval, lips tightening. “I chose it especially for you.”
“I appreciate the thought, I really do, but I’m more comfortable in my own clothes,” she said firmly. “So where are the charming Major Yonkman and his attendants?”
“Miles won’t be joining us tonight. We’ve talked entirely too much business while you’ve been our guest. I wanted to show you that there’s more to us than just work. Hence the feast.”
“It’s certainly impressive.”
“I’m so glad you approve, I had our chef prepare all sorts of local delicacies.” He pushed his chair back and picked up her plate. “I’ll just serve you up some choice morsels.”
“You don’t have to worry about that; I’m happy to serve myself.”
“Nonsense,” he said, waving the spoon in his hand dismissively at her. Specks of the dark brown gravy in which he’d just smothered a slice of meat flicked off the end of the spoon and splatted onto the table. “I know which dishes are which, and it’s my pleasure to introduce you to the best we have to offer.”
She wished that all of his statements didn’t sound so ominous. Her skin was prickling so much it was a wonder that it hadn’t crawled off her body. To hide her discomfort she took a sip from the glass at her elbow and choked when she recognized the spirits that she’d first encountered in the sitting room. After a glance his way to see if he’d noticed, she discreetly poured the offending beverage into a soup tureen by her elbow. Fortunately, Hutchinson was much too busy piling her plate high with food to catch what she’d just done. She poured herself a drink from the carafe just beyond it. She hoped the clear, slightly blue-tinged liquid might be water, but it proved to be more Haefonian whiskey.
“And there you are, Torrin.” Hutchinson placed the heaping plate in front of her. The odors that drifted off the mound of food did indeed smell delicious. Her mouth should have watered in anticipation, but she was too anxious to summon up even a drop of saliva.
“I see you’re thirsty.” He nodded approvingly at the glass in front of her. “Drink as much as you want. Tonight’s about fun, not work.”
“Of course, Colonel,” Torrin said. “I must say the food looks and smells wonderful. I hope I’ll get to meet your chef. He must be very accomplished.”
Hutchinson strode back to his place at the head of the table and dropped his own plate to the table with a thump. Heeding his own advice, he downed a generous swig from his glass. “Our men do not cook,” he replied.
“Then I’d love to meet her,” Torrin said, intrigued. This was the first indication she’d gotten that there were any women on the premises.
“That won’t be possible. She’s extremely busy, especially at night.” The colonel dug into his plateful of food with a small smirk. “But we don’t want to insult her. Dig in!”
Torrin picked up her knife and fork and cut off a slice of meat slathered in brown gravy. The morsel was delicious and almost melted in her mouth, but it was very salty. She quickly sampled each item on her plate, chatting blithely to Hutchinson about the weather she’d observed from her window. She finally found one dish that didn’t seem to be as salty as the others and filled up on that. The occasional sip from her glass gave the appearance that she was drinking but in reality, very little whiskey passed her lips. The colonel had no such compunction; she lost track of how many tumblers of the blue liquid he downed. His naturally pale complexion grew flushed and ruddy from the effects of the alcohol.
“So, Torrin…” He interrupted her in the middle of her point on the loveliness of the cloud formations on Haefen. “How does someone end up in a dangerous profession like smuggling?”
“Please, Colonel,” she replied with a professional smile. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
“Please.” He snorted and gestured at her with his knife. “Smuggling is a dangerous job. I’m surprised you’re not too delicate for that kind of work.”
“I assure you that I’m nothing of the sort. I can handle myself, but it’s kind of you to be worried on my behalf.” She bared her teeth at him in a poor excuse for a smile.
“Damn right it is. What you need is a keeper. Otherwise you wouldn’t be getting yourself into these dangerous situations.”
A frisson of fear shot down Torrin’s spine. “Dangerous situations? You mean the Devonites who have impeded my progress back to my ship?”
Hutchinson guffawed and heaved himself up out of his chair. He swayed a little bit, but only barely. If she hadn’t known how much alcohol he’d consumed, she might have missed it.
“You don’t have to worry about them,” he said. He strode over to her chair, pulled it away from the table and spun it to face him. His handling of her and the heavy chair were very deft. He leaned down toward her and placed his hands on the edge of the chair’s arms, effectively pinning her back into the chair. “I’ll protect you.”
“That’s awfully nice,” she gritted out past clenched teeth. “But you don’t need to worry on my account.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He tried to close the distance between their faces, but Torrin turned her head and his questing lips only met her jaw. Fear heightened her reflexes and her foot shot out, sweeping one leg out from under him. As he stumbled to one side, she slid out of the chair in the gap that was created.
Hutchinson laughed, braying his amusement. “A dyke? We haven’t had any of those lately. I knew you’d be spirited. I look forward to breaking you. When I’m done with you, you won’t even think of women again, you’ll be addicted to this.” He reached down and cupped himself crudely through his pants.
“You do this and you won’t be getting any tech from me,” she threatened in desperation.
“That’s all right,” he shot back blithely, taking a step toward her. “We found your ship earlier today. Once we get into it, one of our old pilots will fly it off this place and we’ll get our own tech.”
Good luck with that, she thought. Tien wouldn’t let them in and would lock the whole ship down; they’d never be able to fly it off planet. Every fiber in her body screamed at her to run, to escape. She sidled away from him, and he closed the distance between them in a leap, any trace of his earlier inebriation all but gone. She needed to get him out the door, but he had her arm in a steel grip. He brought his lips down atop hers, crushing her own lips cruelly against her teeth until she tasted blood and had to open her mouth. His tongue plunged into her mouth, stabbing into its depths while she tried not to gag. His other hand grabbed her by the rump and pulled her closer against him where she could feel his hardness pressing into her hip. When he finally came up for air, she sagged against him as if suddenly faint.
“Wow,” she moaned, “that was amazing. No one’s ever kissed me like that. I didn’t know it could be so good.”
“That’s because you’ve never had a real man,” he said, full of pride at his prowess. “Once you’ve been with a real man, you’ll never go back to women.”
“It’s so hot in here,” she said, still hanging off him. “I feel like I’m going to pass out. Can we go somewhere cooler? I’d hate to faint and miss this.”
“Of course, my dear,” he said, magnanimous in victory. He was still pressed up against her, grinding painfully against her. “Let’s go onto the terrace.”
Perfect, she thought. With an escape route, she’d have a fighting chance. “That would be nice” was all she said as he disengaged from her.
He kept a grip on her elbow and escorted her to the large glass doors that led out onto the deck. He reached past her, not-so-subtly grazing the side of her breast with his arm, and pushed open the door onto the massive deck that ran the length of the back of the house. She preceded him out into the night. The cool air was a welcome reprieve from the oppressive closeness of the dining room. He let go of her to close the door behind him, and she made her way to the railing. She needed to incapacitate him somehow so he couldn’t chase her into the night. The fastest route away from the house looked to be up the hill. She couldn’t make out the wall in the dark, but she knew that in daylight she would have just been able to see it.
Hutchinson came up and stood behind and to the side of her. He put his hand down on top of hers. She turned her head away from him and grimaced in disgust. He put his other hand around her waist and tried to pull her closer as she leaned away. Feeling her resistance, he jerked her against him and leaned over to whisper in her ear.
“You know, I will have you one way or the other.” His breath, heavy with alcohol, made her eyes water. “It will be so much better for you if you can come to enjoy my touch. With me, you would be first among my favored women, but if you can’t bring yourself to be with me after we finish, I can always give you to my men. They’ll use you without any consideration.” He trailed a hand across her arm, up to her shoulder. “Aside from the aberrant dyke streak that I’m going to take care of, I can tell you have strong blood. I can’t wait to see the sons you will give me.”
She grasped his hand where it rested on her shoulder and looked over her shoulder and into his leering eyes. As she opened her mouth to respond to him, his forehead disappeared in a gout of blood, bone and brain matter. His eyes, glassy and wide in blank surprise, held hers as he toppled slowly backward and hit the deck’s planking with a thud.
Torrin stood there, rooted to the ground, shocked. Dazed, she wiped clumsily at the blood that speckled the side of her face. She caught movement from the corner of her eye and looked out into the darkness. Just inside the edge of the light cast by the dining room windows a bush stood up and separated itself from the shrubbery around it. An arm reached out and pushed a hood down and she looked into the grim face of an absurdly young man.
“You need to come with me,” he whispered harshly. He leveled a huge gun at her. The muzzle’s bore yawned at her and she couldn’t rip her eyes from it. “Now.”
Chapter Five
After Hutchinson’s sudden death at her side, it took Torrin a moment to follow what the man was saying. He jerked his head to the side, gesturing for her to join him. She wiped again at the blood on her face, then numbly climbed over the rail. Her captor lunged forward and grabbed her forearm, then dragged her up the slope while keeping an eye on the house behind them. Torrin was surprised that the house hadn’t swarmed with angry activity when Hutchinson’s forehead had exploded, but no one seemed to have noticed. The compound was eerily silent as she was hustled away from it. Her pace slowed when she glanced over her shoulder.
“Keep moving, keep moving,” her captor (rescuer?) whispered harshly and propelled her forward with a jostle to the small of her back. He ran easily while she stumbled the rest of the way up the slope. The bushes and undergrowth caught at her feet, always threatening to slow her down or to trip her up completely. He had no such problem, even with the long strips of fabric attached to his clothes. He never seemed to get hung up and constantly pushed and urged her faster up the slope.
“Shit, a blind man could follow this trail,” he muttered, and Torrin wondered if he was admonishing her. She was too stunned by the sudden turn of events to do more than wonder. “Can’t be helped. They’ll figure it out fast enough.”
They reached the top of the slope, and he dragged her along the wall, keeping a close eye on its base as they moved.
“Dig here.” He stopped and gestured at a mound of dirt. She stared at him numbly, not understanding. Incongruously, she noticed how short he was now that they stood next to each other. She hadn’t noticed anybody this diminutive among Hutchinson’s men.
“For the love of—” he snapped. “Pay attention!” He kicked the mound and dirt sprayed off the pile. “I can’t watch our backs and dig this out. You need to do it. Now!”
The urgency in his voice snapped her out of her daze and she knelt, shoveling dirt out of the way with both hands. Even though it was loosely packed, the dirt caught at her nails and tore them, but she kept digging as if her life depended on it. The mound dwindled quickly to reveal a narrow tunnel, not much more than a hole really, under the wall. She widened it as much as she could before the hard pack of the sides prevented her from increasing its size any further.
“Get through it,” he said, gesturing with the muzzle of his rifle. She eyed the opening dubiously. The small tunnel didn’t look wide enough even for her shoulders. She dropped to her belly, but he grabbed her shoulder, bringing her to a stop. “Don’t even think of taking off once you get through. Run and I’ll just let your friends track you down. For all they know, you took out their precious colonel.”
“You have no idea—”
“Just get going.” Once again, that hand propelled her forward, this time wrapped around her belt and heaving her off the ground. “We don’t have time for chitchat.”
She snorted but crawled forward into the hole. Of all the nerve, he’d started it. Hell, he’d dragged her along. His target was dead; he didn’t need her. Her hair snagged on the tunnel’s rough walls and she whispered a curse. With a jerk of her head and a flash of pain, she tore out the trapped strands. She had a moment of difficulty when her shoulders proved too wide for the tunnel’s walls. There was sudden warmth along her
back as her short captor covered her body with his, and she had a momentary flash of panic until she realized he was pushing her left shoulder down into a small gap. That did it and she was swiftly freed up and scrambling out the other side. She moved to the right of the opening and leaned her back against the wall, trying to get her bearings and hoping her eyes would soon adjust to the dark. He popped out through the opening and took a quick look up and down the length of the wall.
“I don’t believe it. We’re still in the clear.” In his surprise he sounded less harsh. His voice was surprisingly light. He cleared his throat. “Come on, we can’t let up now.” The harsh whisper was back, and a hand wrapped around her arm in an unbreakable grip, pulling her away from her resting place. They sprinted into the woods.
It was dark among the trees. He ran on, unconcerned by the impenetrable blackness. She hadn’t noticed any night vision equipment and she wondered how he could see. She came back to herself painfully as she tripped and went down hard, skidding a few meters down the slope on her belly. Pain brought her back to reality in a hurry. The further they got from Hutchinson’s compound, the steeper and more challenging the terrain was getting.
She wondered if they were far enough from the compound that she’d be able to contact Tien. Having the AI’s take on the situation would help, as would any extra information she could supply. Torrin reached for the subdermal transmitter behind her ear and missed grabbing onto a branch to steady herself on the downslope. She crashed into her captor’s back.