“I think so,” she replied and looked satisfied. “Do you want to go again?”
“I thought you said you had it.”
“No, another round of sparring, doofus. Let’s see if there’s a trick or two I can teach you.”
Arne pushed to his feet. “Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out.”
He’d barely made it upright before she surged forward hard and fast, forced him to skip back and block, and dodged out of the way before he could retaliate.
“Ha! Not so fast, big guy,” she snapped and grinned like a madwoman as she ducked under his first punch. She followed it by coming in close to step around him and drove a foot into the back of his knee as she passed.
With a stifled grunt, he hit the mat on his knees and rolled but collected a foot to the side of his head as he pushed onto his feet. He fell a second time and she dragged his arm into the lock she’d recently learned. Arne slapped the mat in surrender and lay still while the bells cleared from his head.
“What was that?” he demanded when they faced each other once again.
“A variation of something I learned in ballet?” Amy suggested, and he returned her smirk with one of his own.
“Do you care to see if an old man can learn it?”
Her grin widened. “Why not? I’ve always wondered what you’d look like turning a pirouette.”
He stared at her. “I kinda hope it won’t come to that.”
She shrugged. “It shouldn’t. What’s your flexibility like?”
“Well…” he began, suddenly glad Matthias wasn’t there to see him.
He was blushing like a schoolboy.
The ex-Marine had forgotten about the camera feed to Elizabeth’s office. Fortunately, Matthias was too deep in discussion to watch it.
“We’re gonna need a whole new array of weapons if they make it to Earth,” Elizabeth said.
“And you’re sure you can get them without the Federation knowing?” He couldn’t help but feel a little alarmed at what she was suggesting.
“What’s the point of being a crime queen if I can’t?” she challenged. “I have the supply lines, and the manufacturers Tex was dealing with can be re-tooled easily enough.”
“That only leaves distribution and supply,” he told her, “and the Federation would be too busy dealing with the invasion to worry about us. We’d still need a way to get the materials to them, though.”
He was about to add more when a distinct jingle rang through the office. Falling silent, he waited while Elizabeth opened her bottom drawer and retrieved the communicator that belonged solely to Emerald.
“Speak!” she commanded in the voice he’d come to associate with her crime-boss persona.
Her face changed from command to bewilderment. She raised a finger to her lips, set the communicator in a cradle, and tapped a button so he could hear what was going on.
“…specializing in Earth security,” the male voice continued, and Matthias suppressed a shiver of misapprehension.
He caught her studying his face and didn’t try to hide the shock he felt.
Without a doubt, he knew that voice.
While he couldn’t place it, he knew it—or voices very similar. It was…official, he was sure of it, but the kind of official that was never recognized by the officials.
The heavily modified tones were something he’d hoped to never hear again. With his lips pressed together in distaste, he raised a finger for silence and pressed a button in his earpiece to send an emergency ping to Arne.
He hoped the man wasn’t too far from his comms. The way he and Amy trained, Matthias knew neither of them would have their comms in. He crossed his fingers that they weren’t too far away to hear it.
When the man sent a double ping of acknowledgment, he relaxed. It still took too long before he heard the ex-Master Sergeant’s voice. “We’re on our way.”
Arne sounded like he’d endured a five-mile obstacle course and come off the worse for wear, but he didn’t comment. He’d seen how hard the man trained and knew Amy didn’t take it any easier. Any sparring session with them was a challenge, so he could imagine how tough they were on each other.
Both were still breathing heavily when they arrived. Matthias heard them speak briefly to Bunny and Elle as they passed through Elizabeth’s small reception area. He hoped one of them called Lisa back from her day off. If this was what he thought it was, they would need all hands on deck.
The voice continued. “We understand you offer a very specialized set of services.”
E met that comment with a silence that lasted until Arne opened the door.
“We take it you are not alone?”
“I can speak freely,” she assured the caller and watched the ex-Marine’s reaction.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” the voice insisted.
She gave the handset a sweet smile. “It doesn’t need to.”
Her smile was wasted on the speaker on the other end of the line, and Matthias was grateful. If he was right, the person would take it as a personal challenge to wipe that smile—and any other—from her face.
Arne’s expression said he thought the same thing, and his heart sank. A cold lump of apprehension formed in his chest when the ex-Master Sergeant paled visibly.
Amy gave the man a gentle push to move him clear of the door so she could enter and close it behind her. Her frown said she’d heard the voice and was curious but didn’t have any knowledge of what it meant. The click as the lock engaged was far too audible.
“Is that all of you?” the voice asked and Elizabeth cast a worried glance at the ceiling. She wished BURT was still in the system to reassure her everything was okay and pushed away the sadness that he wasn’t.
He was far safer on the Tempestarii than he ever had been on Earth.
“For someone who wants my services,” she informed the voice, “you’re taking a very long time to come to the point.”
“You have yet to confirm the services you provide.”
“And you have yet to confirm the services you require,” she retorted, “or why you think I can provide them.”
“You came highly recommended,” the voice replied and the slight change in its timbre was audible through the voice-altering software it used.
Before any of them could ask who or how, a familiar voice came on the line. “Emerald?” The crime lord sounded more afraid than Elizabeth would have given him credit for. “They’re legit. They need you.”
“I don’t suppose you can tell me who ‘they’ are,” she asked in her driest Emerald tone.
The criminal drew a breath and cried out in pain. “I…I… Please, Emerald, I can’t. Please, help me.”
Another sharp gasp followed and she tensed.
“Stop!” she commanded. “Leave my people intact.”
“Or what?” the voice asked.
Seeing the look on her face, Matthias laid a hasty hand on her knee. She gave him a sharp glance and caught his pleading look and the brief shake of his head.
“Or I’ll bill you the time and inconvenience of finding a replacement.”
After a short silence, a ragged whimper was followed by the sound of someone being dragged before a door slammed. The modified voice spoke a few seconds later. “Very well.”