Her wince deepened. “Yeah.”
“Fine.” He walked away, his jaw clenched.
“Fine?”
He heard the wounded note in her question and smiled grimly. “Whatever you want, baby,” he said baldly.
Derek hit the release for the cargo door and exited into the bustling terminal. He felt Sable following him and reached out with his mind, using stealth so she remained unaware of his probing. Her sadness was deep and almost tangible. Derek’s chest tightened. He could deal with her anger—hell, he’d love a good screaming match right now—but her sadness ripped at his insides. That sharp flare of pain made him realize how much he cared for her.
Not that he was completely clueless. He’d known he liked her a great deal and wanted to spend some exclusive time to get to know her better, but he hadn’t quite understood that she had the power to wound him, as well as arouse him. It was a risk he wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with.
He stopped at the maintenance counter and made arrangements for repairs to be done to the damaged Starwing. Then he continued on to the taxi terminal.
“I’m sorry,” Sable said in a whisper behind him. “I don’t want it to be like this. Please believe that.”
Derek gritted his teeth. Why couldn’t he have felt this way about a different woman? Someone open, with nothing to hide. Someone who wanted him as much as he wanted her.
He didn’t speak to her again for hours.
Catching a cab, they worked their way through the multi-tiered traffic and headed toward the hotel they’d booked. The air and streets were clogged with tourists of all species. Riotous banners stretched from skyscraper to skyscraper just above the teaming transports. The overall effect of the city was one of prosperity and celebration, but the mood didn’t impress upon him or Sable. After the closeness they’d just shared, this pained silence was like an ice water bath.
They reached the hotel and she blatantly ignored him as she checked in. She grabbed her keycard and left him staring after her as she ascended in the elevator without him. Just to spite her, he insisted on taking the room that adjoined hers. He’d be damned if he took a separate floor just to please her skewed sense of propriety.
Pissed off, Derek left the hotel and went shopping for clothes and toiletries. After changing in the dressing room of a clothing store, he sent his uniform and purchases back to the hotel and headed for a nearby telecomm café. Settling into a booth away from the large glass window and the prying eyes of the pedestrians on the other side, he inserted his identi-card and waited only a moment before his assistant appeared on the screen.
“Hello, sir,” Charles Stein greeted with a smile. He glanced away from the monitor and then said, “On Rashier 6, I see. Great time of year to visit. They’re in the middle of their Retro-bration, aren’t they?”
“I have no idea,” Derek said dryly. He hadn’t been paying any attention to his surroundings because he was too angry at Sable. That was a sure sign that he was screwed. His entire life was centered on the need to know what the hell was going on around him. “I need all the information you can locate on a woman named Sable Taylor. Namely service work or maintenance done on her Starwing.”
“Just a moment.” Stein frowned, then typed furiously on his keyboard. “Well, there’s not much in the Council database.” Distracted, his voice lowered as he read from the screen. “In fact, there is no record at all for Ms. Taylor prior to ten years ago.”
Derek scowled. “That’s not possible. She’s a vamp, at least a hundred and fifty years old. I’ve checked her file before and it was a kilometer long.” He tried to remember what he could about the contents of that file and then sighed at the realization that he’d been more interested in the photos than the details about her transportation.
Stein typed some more, digging deep into the Council’s records. “Sorry, sir. Her file isn’t hidden, it’s been erased.”
Erased? Impossible. It took the authority of the Interstellar Council’s majority vote to delete information from the database. “What’s left in her file?”
“Her name, address and bank account info.”
“Her personal history is gone?” Derek asked. “No dating history, no family records, no next of kin?”
“Nothing at all of a personal nature.”
“Shit.” Derek rocked back in his chair. “Who was the last person to access her file?”
Stein checked, then whistled softly. “Marius Drake, President of the Interstellar Council General Assembly.”
Derek nodded grimly, not the least bit surprised, but aching with the news just the same. “And one of the few people with high enough access to tamper with the database.”
“That’s true. It’s still illegal, but he could pull it off, if his need was strong enough.” Stein looked back into the monitor at Derek. “Why would President Drake have an interest in a bounty hunter? Whatever the reason, it can’t be good.”
“Yeah, my luck to get involved with trouble.”
“Involved?” Stein blinked. “As in a ‘personal’ type of involved?”
“Don’t look so shocked.”
“I’ve known you a long time, sir, and in that time you’ve never been ‘involved’ with anyone.”