Disgust welled inside me. “Two.”
“I know how to pleasure women,” he whispered suggestively.
“Thr—”
“Home,” he gasped out, his body beginning to tremble like a little girl’s. “I went home to Morevv.”
“Through the solar flare?”
“Yes, yes.” He licked his lips, and his gaze darted from side to side. “Please don’t hurt me.”
“How does the solar flare work?”
“I—I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.” I stepped toward him and punched him again.
Tears filled his eyes and spilled onto his cheeks. He dropped to his knees. “I swear I don’t know how it works. I only know it’s the transit portal. Please don’t hurt me. Please.”
I wished he could see my expression when I said, “Is that how women have begged for your mercy? On their knees, pleading? Did you show them even an ounce?”
His sun-kissed skin paled, giving him a ghostly pallor. “I’ve never raped a woman.”
Busted. “I didn’t mention rape. Did I?”
“So what?” he said with sudden bravado. “They liked what I gave them in the end. Every woman does.”
“Now I know you’re lying, angel cakes, and I don’t like liars.” I pulled the trigger. A blue light flashed, hitting him directly in the chest.
He froze, locked in stun. His features projected shock and fear. I withdrew a small vial from my pocket, closed the distance between us, and poured the liquid down his throat.
“Onadyn,” I said, knowing he heard every word. “Completely undetectable. A deoxygenating drug that some other-worlders use so they can breathe Earth’s air. You—someone who needs oxygen to live—will suffocate in minutes, your every breath ineffective, making it look like you came out for a walk but died of organ failure.”
I saw a muscle twitch in his jaw, and abject terror filled his eyes. I patted his cheek and gave him my sweetest smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of your dog.”
Romeo had named the dog Killer. Since that wouldn’t do, her new name became Agent Luc. A play on the name Lucius. Hopefully he would be properly irritated, especially when he learned this shaggy brown dog with the big, watery brown eyes was female. I smiled. Ah, life was suddenly good.
Agent Luc and I negotiated an understanding on the flight home. She craved affection, and I gave it to her. She’d been nothing more than Romeo’s punching bag. She deserved a little pampering.
When we exited the ITS, she saw Michael waiting at the bottom of the exit steps. His expression was concerned until he saw me. Then a big, relieved grin lit his face. Immediately, Agent Luc began whimpering. I guess she didn’t like males—even those who smiled.
Wise woman, I thought. I gently patted her neck, cooing, “He won’t hurt you. He just looks mean.” I squinted in the harsh daylight, heard another ITS pass overhead, a gentle hum.
Michael’s confused gaze flicked from the dog to me. “You’re late, and you didn’t call” were the first words out of his mouth.
“I was delayed. I’m sorry.” I hoisted my bag over one shoulder. Gripping Agent Luc’s leash in the other hand, I strode from the private airstrip toward Michael’s waiting sedan.
Agent Luc resisted at first, watching me with those sad brown eyes. “Come on, big girl,” I said. “Think of this as an adventure.” She reluctantly fell into step beside me, hopped into the back seat, and curled into a protective ball. She looked out of place against the fine black leather.
“Who’s your friend?” Michael asked, motioning to the dog.
“She used to belong to the Morevv, but now she’s your newest agent.”
He rolled his eyes. “Do I have to pay her?”
“Of course.” I slid into place beside Luc, and Michael settled behind the wheel. “Mission complete,” I told him.
His motions clipped, he spun to face me. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? I was beyond worried about you. After your last injuries…”
“I’m sorry I didn’t call.” I reached over and squeezed his hand. “I got caught up. I should have made the time, anyway, and I was wrong not to. I admit it.” I knew he was a worrier, and I needed to take better care of him. “Forgive me?”
“As if I could stay mad at you,” he said with no heat. Only affection.
I grinned. “What do you know about solar flares?”
“Only a little, and only because they bothered you so much as a child. Why?”
I sidestepped his question. “Tell me what you know first.”
He programmed the self-navigating vehicle to take us home, then shrugged. “They’re sudden eruptions of energy, heat, and light.”
The car jolted into motion, but Michael didn’t have to turn his attention away from me. The car drove smoothly along the road, expertly weaving in and out of traffic. A typical male, Michael had always liked his toys to be expensive, fast, and state of the art.
“What else?” I asked.
“Humans can’t see them, but we think a lot of other-worlders can. They happen more frequently when the sun approaches the maximum apex of its cycle. Now, you tell me something. What’s this have to do with anything?”
“I experienced one.”
“And?” he prompted.
Leaning back in my seat, I propped my feet on the dash. “And I watched an alien disappear in the midst of it.”
“Disappear?” Michael frowned. “Until a few weeks ago, I’d never heard of anyone mastering molecular transfer.”
“I don’t think that’s what happened.”
“Because—” he prompted.
“Because of what was happening around him. Violent winds. High-pitched screams. It wasn’t just molecular transfer. What if solar flares aren’t what we think they are? What if they happen when aliens open portals?”
“Then why can’t we open one? Why can’t you?” Michael’s frown deepened. “Maybe you missed the guy. Maybe—”
“No,” I interjected. “I looked for him, for his tracks. He didn’t simply run or hide, Michael. He vanished.”
“So you think…what?”
“Remember what EenLi said about the portals not always being open?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“That means they are opened and closed. They could be opened and closed through solar flares. Because of solar flares. Cause the solar flares. Something. ”
“Possibilities, yes, but they raise the question of why you have never vanished during one. Over the years, you’ve been in the middle of several.”
True. My hands curled into fists. I was so close to the truth. I knew it. But so close wasn’t what I needed. “There has to be a reason, a catalyst that sucks someone through. When is the next flare due, do you know?”
“I’ll check on it.”
I rubbed my forehead. “I wish my parents were alive. I could ask them how we came to this world.”
Michael stiffened, just as he always did when I mentioned my biological parents. I immediately regretted my wistfulness. I suspected when I spoke of them, Michael felt I was somehow dissatisfied with him. I wasn’t. Michael had worked hard to raise me. Very hard. He hadn’t hired nannies or shuffled me off on other people. No, he’d kept me near him, seen to my every need and want. I loved him all the more for it.
I hurried to change the subject. “Could the other-worlders be using some sort of homing device?”
“Again, it’s a possibility,” he said. “I’ll do a little research on solar flares and keep you posted on what I find.”
“Thank you.”
He patted my hand. “I hope you’ll go to your fitting when we get home,” he said. “That seamstress, what’s her name, Celeste?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know, either.
“She nearly cut out my heart with her needle and thread when I told her you would be gone for an entire day.”