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  Eleven

  Nia stood in her shower, her head tilted toward the powerful streams of hot water that cascaded over her body. The heated water and steam brought blessed relief to her tired, aching muscles after her run-in with Corp Hudson’s hunters the other night. It was the first time pain lingered in her body for more than a few minutes after an encounter; an unusual feeling for her.

  Her washroom door was wide open, filling her entire room with a thin blanket of warm mist. Nia turned, looked throughout the room behind her, and sighed. Her patience wore thin, and she reached out for the knobs that controlled the water. But Nia stopped a second before she could turn off the shower when a familiar pair of muscular arms suddenly wrapped around her body.

  “Hey!—oh, Bobby. About time,” Nia whispered.

  “Who did you think it was? I’m so glad Charlene works the three-to-eleven schedule now,” Bobby replied as he pulled his naked body into the shower and wrapped his arms around her torso.

  She hung her head and outstretched her arms, planting her palms against a wall of the shower as she pressed her rear against Bobby’s groin. Bobby stroked her with a puff saturated in soap and washed down her body, massaging every inch of her.

  “Bobby, I think I’m losing it,” Nia said, her body trembling as Bobby’s fingers traced a path between her thighs.

  “What do you mean, girl?” Bobby said back, grinning. He was looking forward to this appointment all day, eager to have his hands on Nia’s body yet again. Still, he could tell Nia needed a friend as well as a lover.

  “I was captured the other night by some secret agents—I never came that close before…they had me chained up and—ooh! Do that again…”

  “All right. Don’t even worry about it,” Bobby replied. “You know how good you are. Maybe I’ve been treating you too good…you’re getting lazy. You know what you need to do? You need to go mess up that Darien character for setting you up like that. That’ll help you get your edge back!”

  “I forgot all about—damn, Bobby, who taught you how to do that…” Nia groaned, her knees buckling under Bobby’s touch as she leaned backwards upon his chest, sliding her back up and down across his pectorals.

  “Yeah…just go out there, load up your guns and bust a cap in his ass,” Bobby said. “You keep letting people get over on you like this and your rep’s going to go down the drain.”

  “You say it like it’s so easy,” Nia sighed. “It’s one thing to put the hurt on people, but…Darien Drakonis is big time. He got me good. But I got out of it. I’ll worry about him later. Right now, I’m going to stick to Hudson. Double-D can wait.”

  Bobby’s palms slowly slid across her abdomen, grazing up and down between her thighs and her belly. Nia pressed her own palms atop Bobby’s as she raised her head, reveling in his grasp.

  Bobby stroked and gently twisted her nipples with his fingertips.

  Nia moaned. “Yeah, right there. Some big-ass soldier hit me so hard I still feel it; and then some more of them jumped on my back and tackled me on the floor…my chest was sore all day. Should have shot all their punk asses.”

  “That’s why you have so many enemies,” Bobby went on as he continued to stroke and massage Nia’s body. “You’re always letting them live. They want you dead or alive anyway, you might as well put some people out of your misery.”

  “Maybe,” Nia mumbled, groaning again as her eyes closed. She was half listening and half swooning from Bobby’s seductive caress.

  “I got a present for you,” Bobby snickered.

  “Ooh, gimme, gimme,” Nia stammered, slowly and playfully.

  Bobby slowly slid in front of Nia, kneeled upon the floor of the shower and pressed his face between her thighs, squeezing her butt cheeks as the steamy water rained all over him. He extended and shifted his tongue across and along.

  Nia trembled gently at first. Then Bobby went faster. His tongue went left and right, inside and out; every movement of his followed by a shake of Nia’s middle. She pressed her palms against the walls of the shower in an attempt to support her collapsing body as her gasps of pleasure grew.

  Moaning.

  Howling.

  Screaming.

  Nia threw her head back and exhaled sharply when Bobby finally stopped. Bobby stood, kissed her on the cheek and smiled.

  “You all right now?” Bobby chuckled.

  “Better,” Nia whispered, writhing within the hot rain of the shower, coyly touching her lips with her index finger. “Want me to do something for you?”

  “You don’t have to,” Bobby replied. “I know you’re tired.”

  “I’m not that tired. I want to.”

  Nia slowly stood upright, faced Bobby and pressed her palms upon his trunk, sliding across his undulating, glistening muscles as she guided herself down to her knees. She looked up at his smiling face as the shower water rained across his chest, dripping upon her as she lowered her head again. She grasped his hips and pulled them toward her widening lips as her tongue rolled out. She slowly ran her tongue along the underside of Bobby’s manhood, circling the head, kissing the sides and licking the tip smoothly before finally taking him into her mouth.

  Bobby breathed hard, his abdomen stiffened, his knees buckled and his toes curled. She thought, he probably never thought he’d see the day when Nia would please him this way. The sight of her black-topped head moving back and forth down there must have been driving him wild. The feel of his erection surrounded on all sides by the warmth of Nia’s mouth and her tongue slithering around it like a serpent coiling around a branch was an experience Nia would make sure he’d never forget.

  Bobby’s own grunts of pleasure grew louder and filled the air as he slapped the tiled walls of the shower with his palms. His entire body tingled with every subtle motion of Nia’s tongue as he gasped her name repeatedly, clawing at her waterlogged hair. Nia breathed a slight chuckle and continued to pleasure him for what felt like an eternity until he roared in ecstasy.

  Begging her to stop, he reached down and grasped Nia under her arms.

  “Baby, you want me to stop?” Nia said with a pout. “I’m not making you happy?”

  “Nah, it’s just…you know I’m playing at the club tonight. I don’t want to be too worn out. But tell you what…why don’t you get out of the shower and lay on the bed?”

  “What for?” Nia wondered.

  “I’m going to help you relax, that’s all.”

  Nia did as she was told, stepping out of the shower, taking a towel along with her as she left the washroom and approached her bed. Bobby turned off the water, dried himself off and wrapped another towel around his waist.

  Nia lay prone on her bed, water still beading on her skin as she folded her arms under her head and looked toward Bobby with half-open eyes. He sat next to her, rubbed his palms together, and pressed his fingertips to her calves.

  “What the…oh! Oh, wow,” Nia gasped.

  “You’re tense as hell, baby,” Bobby said. “Just chill. I took a couple of massage classes back in the day. A friend of mine convinced me it was a good way to get girls.”

  “Hmm…” Nia moaned as Bobby made his way up her thighs. “I think I can vouch for that.”

  Bobby gently rubbed his fingers across Nia’s body, massaging her legs, her hips and butt, her lower and upper back, her shoulders, and back again. For taking massage classes ‘a while back’, he was surprisingly talented. Nia lay there feeling like her body was melting into the bed.

  Then she started snoring.

  Bobby smiled, thinking about her as he ran a finger through her drenched, stringy hair. Unconscious and naked, Nia was completely at ease with him; her guard was down completely. She had the utmost trust in him.

  Bobby realized Nia was growing much closer to him than he’d anticipated—dangerously close.

  Damn, this ain’t right… Bobby thought.

  Suddenly, Nia’s telephone rang. Startled, Bobby quickly snatched the receiver from the hook, before the shrill chi
me of the phone could ring again and awaken Nia.

  “Hello?” said Bobby.

  “Yes, I’m looking for Charlene Wright?” the voice on the receiver answered.

  “I’m her fiancée. What you want?”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  The line suddenly clicked.

  “People need to stop playing on the phone,” he sighed as he replaced the handset on the receiver.

  “Who was that?” Nia mumbled with a yawn.

  “I don’t know,” Bobby said. “They hung up. Sorry; I ain’t want to wake you.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I heard it ring. Who did they ask for?”

  “Charlene. Don’t worry; it was probably somebody from the club playing a joke. They always do that when my birthday starts coming up—what, did you think it was for you?”

  “It might have been my friend, he’s the only one I know that’s got the house number, and he knows not to ask for me directly on the phone just in case someone’s tapping the line,” Nia said as she lifted herself from the bed. “Speaking of, I need to go holler at him. Let me get dressed.”

  Bobby gazed at Nia’s physique as she climbed off the bed and crossed the room. He never grew tired of seeing Nia’s perfect body naked.

  “Must you?”

  “Yeah,” Nia retorted, bending over and reaching inside of her drawers. Bobby grew rigid with excitement as he watched her bare body in motion.

  “At least let me get a picture,” Bobby smiled.

  “What?”

  “Let me get a photo of you naked,” Bobby repeated.

  “…You’re crazy. You’ve seen me enough times. What you need a picture for?”

  “Come on,” Bobby urged. “I want something to look at when you’re not around, you know, to remember you by. You have a camera in your drawer, don’t you?”

  Nia sighed. Bobby could be persistent at times. She pointed to her top drawer before throwing herself on the bed. She rested her weight upon her arms, leaned back and crossed her legs.

  “Hurry up. I’m getting cold.”

  “That’s what’s up!” Bobby cheered as he grabbed the digital camera. He pressed the shutter repeatedly as Nia moved about, selecting different poses for each shot. She would cross and spread her legs, lie on her belly and raise her butt, and maneuver her tongue in and out of her mouth seductively. Bobby simply kept pressing the shutter until Nia got bored, stood up and snatched the camera from him.

  “Now, you get on the bed,” she said, gently shoving Bobby in the chest and snatching his towel away at the same time. He flopped on the mattress on his butt.

  “It’s my turn.”

  Nia grabbed the camera and started snapping pictures, and suddenly the blushing Bobby became rowdy. He lunged toward Nia, wrapping one arm around her waist while reaching for the camera, while Nia continued to flash picture after poorly aligned picture. The two played about, wrestling for control of the camera, bumping against the walls and crashing upon the bed, both laughing hysterically all the while.

  Later, Nia and Bobby dressed.

  “So where you off to again?” asked Bobby, watching as Nia repaired her saturated hair with her dryer and comb.

  “Like I said, I’m going to meet my friend. I need to get some information,” said Nia.

  “Oh, right, right. Say hi to the old chink for me.”

  “Damn, Bobby, have some respect,” Nia groaned. “First of all, he isn’t even from China. I mean, that was real ignorant of you—the man’s like my father.”

  Bobby suddenly looked down, embarrassed. “My bad…listen; I’ll let you know when the show starts at the Jazz Hall. Those record producers I told you about—they’re coming through tonight. I’m trying out some new songs, some stuff I hooked up while I was thinking about you.”

  “That’s what’s up,” Nia responded with a smile. “Make sure you page me, all right? I want to be right there when you tell them, ‘This fine sister right here was my inspiration.’”

  “Where is that pager, anyway?” Bobby chuckled.

  “In my black leather jacket, like always. Don’t worry. You act like that thing is so valuable. I mean, you’re a big jazz musician and that’s the most expensive thing you ever bought me.”

  “Hey, you’re the one with all the money!”

  “I’m serious, Bobby,” Nia said with a sigh. “You know, you could try treating me like your girl sometimes.”

  Bobby fell quiet and scratched his head. Nia shrugged her shoulders, turned and grabbed her jacket.

  “You better get going yourself,” she went on. “You never know, Charlene might just come home early.”

  “You worry too much.”

  Nia showed Bobby out of her room, kissing him goodbye. “Oh yeah, make sure you leave the memory stick in my room. We wouldn’t want what’s-her-face finding those pictures.”

  “Right.”

  Twelve

  Nia sped along the streetlamp-lit roadways on her beloved motorcycle. She was relieved that she opted to leave it home the night she ventured out to break into the Hallegan building.

  She drove toward the southeast section of the city, pulling into the wide open doors of a seemingly abandoned storehouse in the district. She parked her bike in front of a single desk that sat dead center in the building’s main room. On the desk sat a laptop computer brimming with life. Its subtle glow illuminated the creases in the withered face of an older, Oriental man wearing a T-shirt under dust-ridden overalls. He greeted Nia with a smile, bringing life to his thin face as he sat at the desk.

  “It has been a while,” he said calmly.

  “What’s up, Kim?” Nia smiled. She was pleased to see her former caretaker and trainer, and current mentor and informant, in good health.

  “I have looked into the matter as you requested, my dear. Would you like to hear it?”

  Nia snorted. “What do you think? I came all this way just to say hi?”

  “Well, one never knows with you,” Kim laughed. “You are as sharp-tongued as ever.”

  “There are things you didn’t tell me before, Kim,” Nia continued. “I want to know. I’m old enough to handle it.”

  “Then I will get right to the crux of the matter,” Kim sighed, taking a deep breath. “This is about Corp Hudson, correct?”

  “Yeah,” Nia replied. “At first I thought they were just trying to kill me. They had me cold the other night, when I broke into Hallegan. Their guys could have put a bullet in my head right then and there, but they didn’t. The guy said something about me being ‘valuable’. I don’t get it.”

  “It is not difficult to decipher,” said Kim. “It is clear Corp Hudson knows full well who you are and what you can do, and they view you as a threat. They would rather control you than kill you.”

  “But that’s what I don’t get,” Nia said. “Yeah, I’m stronger, faster and have better reflexes and senses than most regular people, but I fought guys the last couple of days that were way beyond me. One guy had a damn mini-gun for an arm and didn’t feel pain, mostly. Another guy could make himself bigger if he wanted. I couldn’t even take that second guy. What do they need little ol’ me for?”

  “Yet, here you are, Nia,” Kim said. “You clashed with both of them, and you remain alive and free. As powerful as those opponents seem to have been, clearly, you have something greater, and I have an idea as to what. To put it simply, you are naturally gifted.”

  Nia sighed. “You and I both know there ain’t nothing natural about a girl who can see, hear and move like I can…a girl who can leap to the top of a roof with high heels on…who can jump across skyscrapers like some—”

  “Corp Hudson’s superhuman assets all have one thing in common; their abilities were granted to them somehow,” Kim interrupted. “Their bodies have been outfitted with technology, or altered biologically to make them into weapons. These approaches make them powerful, but they are not without flaws. You are different. Everything you do, while it may seem remarkable to most people, is se
cond nature to you; no training, no additives, no re-application required. You are intuitively more powerful than any human being, or even any superhuman, any Exceptional, will ever be. This is what sets you apart. And I would guess that this is what Corp Hudson seeks to understand, and control.”

  “Well, at least I know that I matter to them. Maybe I can use the fact that they don’t want to kill me to my advantage or something.”

  Nia turned back toward her bike, then stopped.

  “Anything on that other matter I asked you about?”

  Kim shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”

  Nia exhaled. “…I’m sorry. I know you said you would tell me the moment you learned anything about him, and I keep bugging you about it.”

  “Do not apologize,” Kim sighed. “It is only natural that you would want to know what has become of your father. It was easy to keep tabs on his world-spanning exploits as a mercenary, but the fact that he disappeared completely off the grid a year ago…that is unsettling.”

  “I don’t even know why I care,” Nia grumbled. “The man left us when we were only little kids. Left us to fend for ourselves while he went off to be a soldier of fortune or whatever, and I guess he got his selfish ass killed, and what does he leave me? Nothing. Not even a damn note.”

  Kim watched as Nia repressed sorrow and wiped away tears. This happened often. He knew Nia had to put on a display of strength in front of others, but times would come where Nia needed to release all the emotions she so often held inside. That was why she would visit him, even if she were not on a mission, even if she weren’t looking for information. Kim was the closest thing Nia had to a relative, a listener—a true confidant.

  Nia forced her sadness back in the recesses of her mind.

  “Thanks, Kim,” Nia sniffed. “I need to go—oh shoot! What time is it?”

  Kim glanced at the corner of his computer monitor. “It is about eleven…are you in a rush?”

  “A friend of mine was supposed to page me; he probably did while I was riding on my bike. I wouldn’t have been able to hear it over the engine…I don’t think.”