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  “The way you was talking about that boy, it ain’t sound like he’s just another client. I was starting to wonder if I had some competition up in here…”

  “Darien’s just nice, that’s all. He doesn’t bullshit me like other people try to do,” Nia laughed. “Anyway, you better hurry up and get out of here before your girl gets home and notices your big sexy body ain’t in that bed.”

  “Right, right,” Bobby placed a hand upon Nia’s cheek, staring, mesmerized in her eyes. She grasped Bobby’s shoulders and pulled him close to give him another kiss.

  “You be careful, all right?”

  “Bobby, sweetheart, I’m always careful. Look what I have to come home to,” Nia smiled as she stroked his muscular body. “Now get your ass back in your bed!”

  Bobby soon dressed and stealthily left Nia’s room. He crept up the stairs, nary making a sound as he tiptoed across the bare wooden floors. He was unsure how long Charlene might have been gone.

  When he reached his bedroom, he heard the front door close tight. Bobby immediately jumped in the bathroom and turned on the shower.

  Then Charlene, groggy and barely coherent, stepped inside the bathroom wearing her nursing scrubs. She walked stiffly with her eyes almost shut; it was a hard night at the nursing home, even when she worked fewer hours. Noticing the shower running, she drew back the curtain, catching Bobby scouring his butt.

  “Yo, what are you doing?!” Bobby flinched from the cold blast of air that rolled over him. “You’re gonna make me splash water all over the floor!”

  Charlene rubbed her eyes once again, and then looked directly into Bobby’s eyes. “Why are you up so early? Trying to get those hoochies’ crabs off?”

  “You’re funny,” Bobby turned around, back to his shower. “No, I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d get an early start on fixing those shingles you keep bugging me about.”

  “Oh,” Charlene’s eyebrows furrowed as she swiftly yanked the shower curtain closed. “Whatever…”

  Five

  After a quick shower, Nia searched her drawer for an outfit. She selected a black leather sleeveless top and matching pants, donned a silver chain belt and picked out a pair of matching leather boots. Finishing by styling her hair as best she could with a brush and curling iron, she grabbed her equipment, placing it inside of a plush teddy bear backpack. She threw on her leather jacket and the backpack, left the room, locked it behind her and hopped on her sport bike, ready for her meeting with Darien Drakonis.

  Speeding southward, Nia came to a stop at an intersection, sitting behind numerous tractor-trailers as the light turned red.

  She sighed. This light takes forever to change.

  Nia glanced to the side and looked at a diner with a scant few customers sitting inside partaking in breakfast. One man was sitting by the window, facing away, his broad shoulders and chiseled features catching Nia’s eye.

  Hmm. Not bad… she thought. Wonder what he looks like from the front.

  The man must have felt the eyes upon him, because he looked over his shoulder a few moments later, his eyes meeting with Nia.

  She smiled. Cute…

  The man gasped as he took in the sight of the young woman sitting on the rumbling motorcycle. Nia expected a smile.

  But when he shot to his feet and turned to face her, it was Nia’s turn to gasp.

  He had a shiny badge sitting on his chest.

  Nia rolled her eyes. Here we go. Five-Oh.

  She watched as the cop scrambled from his seat, leaving his coffee and donut behind and slapping his partner on the shoulder.

  Nia glanced at the traffic light. Still red.

  The two raced for the door of the diner. They pulled out their sidearms and yelled at her.

  Screw it…

  Nia throttled her bike and sped around the 18-wheeler in front of her, speeding off, cutting between two passing cars like an arrow.

  The cop cars gave chase, hollering into their radio, demanding that Nia turn off her engine and pull over.

  She rolled her eyes at the thought.

  As she swerved between two more sedans and rounded a corner, she realized that she needed to end this chase as quickly as possible. She couldn’t lead them to Darien Drakonis…not if she ever wanted to do any work for him again.

  Then she saw it—her ticket out.

  At the end of an upcoming intersection, a large oil truck was backing toward a house, no doubt preparing to pump oil into a residential heating unit. The driver climbed out and trotted toward the house’s front door.

  Nia whipped out one of her Baby Eagles as her bike screamed toward the cross-section of the street.

  She fired two shots and hit the gas tank of the truck, and it erupted into flames as it leaped off the street. The driver cringed in fright and raced away from the inferno.

  The oil truck fell back down to earth an instant after Nia slashed through the flames, a burning wall of metal crashing directly in front of the police car. The officer behind the wheel floored the brake and the car power-slid to the side, stopping short of the smoldering metal of the oil truck.

  The sounds of flames and the smell of oil slowly left Nia’s nostrils as she flew further away from the scene.

  Now it’s off to the pier…time to get paid. That’s how I like to start my day!

  Nia reached the waterfront and parked near a pier, amid the guttural horns of tugboats and ocean liners. The rain of the previous night left a dense fog over the venue and the morning air was heavy and moist.

  Nia arrived a few minutes early, yet several people awaited her, standing near two parked black sedans with tinted windows. As she turned off the bike and pressed her feet to the ground, her boots clacked on the cobblestone road.

  Nia immediately recognized the lone woman in the group as Xara St. Croix, her contact within Drakonis Inc. She was a lean, athletic woman with a straight and narrow face, her long, shiny auburn hair complementing her light brown skin and dark brown suit. Her professional attire did little to disguise the fact that she had the spirit and inclination of a fighter, and was just as dangerous than the wide-standing, muscular bodyguards in black suits and sunglasses that stood around her like pillars, if not more.

  There was a tall, Puerto Rican man in glasses standing among the group, observing quietly. Nia didn’t recognize him, and he didn’t look like a bodyguard. But Nia’s attention went elsewhere when a striking albino man wearing a cashmere turtleneck sweater and slacks emerged from behind the bodyguards and outstretched a hand in Nia’s direction.

  All eyes fell on him like he was the man of the hour.

  “Nia Black,” said the handsome young man. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person. I’m Darien Drakonis.”

  “I know,” Nia said with a smile, but without accepting his hand. “You’re either on TV or in the paper or on the internet every day for some reason or another. They keep talking about the succession like your father’s on his deathbed.”

  “It’s because I’m the public face of the company now,” Darien explained, withdrawing his hand. “Though my father is still in complete control of Drakonis Incorporated and I’m little more than a figurehead, he thinks I represent a fresh young perspective that makes our business partners more comfortable. The media, of course, runs with it and believes I’m trying to replace him. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

  “So tell me, what’s so important that you came out here yourself? You sure you want to risk your adoring public seeing you deal with a dangerous girl like me?” Nia said, folding her arms and balancing on her hip, her body forming an elegant S-curve.

  Darien smiled. “So beautiful. I thought it was long overdue for us to meet face-to-face, since you have done so much fine work for us in the past.”

  A glint of sunlight started to eat through the fog, cutting across the sky, reminding Nia that time was ticking forward.

  “Enough with the compliments. I’m not a big fan of being outside during the day, so what’s up?�
�

  “It’s about Corp Hudson, naturally. As you know, Drakonis sees them as something of a rival, though Hudson is admittedly so large and powerful that we are nothing more than mosquitoes compared to them. I’m hoping to shift things in our favor. I need you to break into the Hallegan security firm. Xara?”

  Xara immediately stepped forward, drawing a rolled up paper from inside her jacket. She outstretched it on the hood of one of the sedans and Nia leaned over, peering at it.

  It was a printout of a floor layout, with exits, elevators and the like clearly marked.

  “This is the 37th floor of the Hallegan building, where their security department monitors the workstations of the employees in the other parts of the building. We need you to retrieve a disc from…”

  Darien pointed out a room in the center of the floor.

  “This room. Hallegan is developing a new security system for Corp Hudson. They deal in defense contracting, but a new form of electronic security system encroaches on our market. We can’t allow the Corp to become a monopoly and drive us out of business. Therefore, you breach Hallegan and remove their main systems disc, and Hallegan will have to spend their time and resources recovering their own system before they can be trusted to make something for Hudson. Does that make sense?”

  Nia rolled her eyes. “Get in there, take a disc, and get out, right? Okay. You got my money?”

  Darien looked back at one of the bodyguards and nodded his head. As if a switch on his back were pressed, the bodyguard immediately stepped forward and drew a metal clip from his jacket, several crisp hundred dollar bills clasped together.

  “That’s double the usual fee,” Darien said with a smile. “Consider it a bonus because you have made my day already, just by being here and looking so lovely.”

  “You better be careful,” Nia giggled, counting the money. “Ain’t that your girl right there?”

  “Oh, Xara knows I’m a hopeless flirt. But she also knows she’s the only one for me. Don’t you, Xara?”

  Xara stood still, unmoved.

  Darien’s face fell. “Oh well. We haven’t had breakfast yet…maybe that’s making her feel down. With that, we should be going. Meet with Xara in the usual place with the item and we will have more work for you.”

  Nia wrapped up the blueprints, folded the poster into a neat little square and placed it inside of her inside pocket, before turning toward her bike.

  “Thanks, Double-D. Nice meeting you and all that. See you later!”

  She leaped upon her motorcycle and drove off.

  Darien turned toward his sedan. One of the bodyguards opened the rear driver’s side door for him, he sat inside. The Puerto Rican man in glasses climbed in the rear passenger-side door, sitting next to Darien Drakonis.

  “Thank you,” he said, handing Darien a digital tablet. “The person you were looking for, the one with that item you’re interested in…everything we know about her is in here.”

  “Finally…it pains me to have to lose such a valuable asset, but there are always others. My treasure will be worth it. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Alvarez,” Darien said, shaking his hand. “Good luck.”

  “To you as well, Mr. Drakonis.”

  The Puerto Rican climbed out of the sedan and backed away as they drove off. He drew his cell phone and walked toward a sporty blue coupe parked some distance away.

  Six

  At daybreak, once empty roadways slowly filled with roaming vehicles, and people embarked upon the daily metropolitan ritual of school and business commutes.

  Nia Black swerved around cars and trucks on her bike, enjoying the advantages of a motorcycle as she again became withdrawn by her thoughts.

  It’d be real messed up if Charlene tossed that boy out. If it wasn’t for Bobby, I don’t know where I would have ended up living. I was lucky to meet him. He doesn’t care what I do, as long as the bills are paid. But I wish he wasn’t with that skinny, irritating-ass bitch. He needs to just tell her the truth and be out…with me. He know he’d rather have all this plushy body next to him every night instead of that skin-and-bones chick.

  Nia chuckled to herself when she thought about Charlene. Nia was certain Charlene felt a twinge of envy every time she compared herself to Nia, wondering how Bobby sized up the two of them in his mind. Between Nia and Charlene was a power keg of animosity, and there was no telling when it would finally reach critical mass.

  Or was there?

  When Nia finally returned home, the sound of plastic crashing against a hardwood floor jerked her attention to a second-story window of the house, the window of her landlord’s bedroom. Charlene and Bobby were visible through the window, darting back and forth, and objects flailing through the air. Many other neighbors had gathered in front of their home as spectators of yet another of their fierce arguments, the air heavy with Charlene’s screaming voice. This time, she was loud enough that Nia didn’t even have to enter the house to hear. Her heart jumped when she heard Charlene’s words, the warning Nia gave Bobby after their rendezvous ringing dangerously true.

  “Tell me you weren’t in her room last night! Go ahead and lie!” hollered Charlene. “Tell me you’re not fucking that skank! I knew you were in her room last night when I caught you showering her funk off of you this morning. You don’t ever get up that early!”

  Damn, Nia thought. I told that boy she ain’t stupid…

  “Listen to me, Charlene,” responded Bobby, his voice trembling. “You got it all wrong…”

  “No, you got it wrong, thinking you’re going to sit up in my house and play me…”

  Uh oh, Nia thought, racing into the house. This is getting serious…she’s about to kick his ass out—and that means I’d be out too!

  Nia crept into Bobby and Charlene’s room and immediately ducked as a vase shattered into a thousand shards against the wall near the bedroom door.

  She calmly picked up the shards of broken pottery as she looked around. Apparently, the two were going at it for quite some time. Bobby’s clothes had been tossed from the drawers to the floor, and several objects littered the floor including broken drink glasses, a clock and his pillows.

  “And what you want, ho?” Charlene snapped toward Nia, staring tear-drenched daggers at her at first sight. “You want him, your broke ass can have him. Hope you’re happy together living on the damn street, ‘cause you’re both getting the hell out of here!”

  “Charlene, why you trippin’?!” Bobby gasped. “I told you why I got up so early!”

  “Yeah, I remember what you said; your punk ass was too scared to even look me in my face while you were telling me that shit,” Charlene stammered.

  Bobby suddenly turned away from Charlene to Nia with a look that said follow my lead.

  “Where were you last night, Nia? I was worried when you didn’t come home; I checked your room but you weren’t there.”

  “…I had to go see my boyfriend,” Nia answered. “He called me last night, talking about how he got into a fight with his brother again, and I had to break it up. That boy is such a punk…”

  “Yeah, whatever,” Charlene muttered, rubbing her eyes. She was so certain Bobby betrayed her that she couldn’t fight her tears. But Nia herself had never shown animosity or clear dishonesty toward her. Charlene didn’t know what to think. She said the first thing that entered her mind.

  “Where’s my rent at? I want to see it!”

  “Here,” Nia immediately drew five hundred dollars from her jacket pocket—from the cash she’d just gotten from Darien—and gently placed it in Charlene’s hand with a slow smile, belying her repressed frustration.

  “Happy? That’s for this month and next.”

  Charlene stared in shock at the crisp bills sitting in her palm. Usually, Bobby collected Nia’s rent. At least that’s what he’d told her.

  Nia figured Charlene was anticipating a geyser of excuses about how she had to wait until the weekend or the first of the month or some other date to give her
any money, and must have been shocked to see Nia draw so much cash on demand.

  “Where the hell did you get all this from?” Charlene gasped. “Where did she get this, Bobby? Did you give this to her just to shut me up?!”

  “Bobby! You ain’t told her what I do?” Nia laughed, continuing her façade. “No wonder she’s all agitated! She probably thinks you’re letting me stay here for free and we’re messing around behind her back. People get suspicious when you keep things to yourself, Bob. You gotta be clear about these things.”

  Bobby’s eyebrows shot up.

  Nia turned to Charlene. “Girl, I’m a dancer. You can’t tell? I mean, I don’t get naked, but the little bit I do wear shows enough to pay the bills, you know what I’m saying?”

  Nia chuckled and initiated a mock dance routine. She laced her fingers together, outstretched her arms as if she were grasping a pole, and stuck her butt out, pivoting her hips about in a half circle. She hummed the chorus of one of her favorite R&B songs for good measure.

  Charlene stared at her, still furious with watery eyes and quivering lips.

  “You know, I didn’t want to tell you because you know how some sisters get about that sort of thing,” Nia went on. “‘Oh, she’s a dancer; she must be some kind of ho; going to have all types of nasty-ass men up in here’, but trust me, it ain’t like that. I always thought you knew though, especially after all the money I gave you when we first met. I’m surprised Bobby never told you. That’s not something I would keep from somebody I was with.”

  Bobby gave Nia a sour look.

  Charlene continued to wipe her tears as Nia approached, placing a hand on her shoulder in a gesture of friendliness.

  “You were with your boyfriend last night?” Charlene muttered, looking Nia in the eyes.