Shadows (Ultrahumans Book 2) Read online

  ‘The Gallardo. It’s not like we need the armoured one.’

  ‘I’m driving back,’ June said, giggling like a schoolgirl.

  ~~~

  The bright red Lamborghini raced up the drive at a slightly more excessive pace than the rough surface deserved and came to a halt. June was still giddy when she climbed out and reclaimed her bag.

  ‘What a rush,’ she breathed. ‘That thing is awesome.’

  ‘You’re crazy,’ Penny told her.

  ‘Says the girl who tossed Tower Block into the bay this week. Yes, I did see that on the news.’

  ‘Twilight was the one who ran two miles with him chasing her so I could do it.’

  ‘Uh-huh. She’s crazier than you.’ She turned and started toward the house, a three-storey structure built like some modern art wedding cake. ‘I’m going to freshen up and then we can chat. I’ve missed a week of gossip, and I haven’t seen True Powers this week.’

  ‘Okay,’ Penny said, hiding a grin.

  June trooped through the hall and under the hole in the ceiling, which was the only access to the upper floors, and then through to the lounge before turning left to go into her room. Penny followed, but continued on to one of the sofas, managing to sit down and pick up the remote before she heard the squeak from June’s room.

  ‘Red! What are you…? I thought you were busy?’

  ‘Busy getting ready for you coming home, yeah,’ the voice of the Red Huntress said. ‘Now get your dress off…’ And then the door closed and the rest was lost.

  Penny grinned. At least those two had a love life, even if neither she nor Andrea seemed to be able to manage one. She pushed her glasses up her nose and turned on the TV, which was huge. Pretty soon the moaning would start and she did not need to hear that.

  6th March.

  Malls were not Twilight’s favourite places either. Even Andrea found them crass, but in costume they presented a different problem: all the lighting was designed to eliminate shadows.

  She was pretty sure that the three thugs robbing the jewellery store on the second storey had not considered that when picking their target. No, they had been after diamonds. The shop had a selection of cut stones which they could set in whatever manner the buyer wished. They had security, sure, but that had just meant the thugs took out the two guards with silenced pistols as soon as they walked in. That, in Twilight’s book, made them fair game, but harder to take down in the confined space of the shop.

  Which was where her partner came in. Cygnus marched into the shop in her tiny, low-cut, thong-backed swimsuit and stiletto-heeled thigh-high boots as though there was nothing in the world which could harm her, which was not true, but it might as well have been as far as the goons were concerned. And with their attention on her, Twilight slipped in low and behind a display case before anyone could see her.

  ‘You three are under arrest,’ Cygnus snapped, ‘put down your weapons and come quietly or there will be consequences.’ No one moved, but the thugs did look a little disturbed at the turn of events. ‘Still going to have to work on that,’ Cygnus muttered. Louder she added, ‘This place is going to be surrounded by police in a matter of minutes. You’re not getting out of here with the diamonds, and if you give up now you won’t get shot on the way out.’

  ‘F-fuck you, freak!’ one of the men replied, turning his pistol from his hostage toward Cygnus and pulling the trigger as though his life depended on it. Glass shattered and a lone slug hit her in the chest, rapidly turning into a metal pancake.

  Then Twilight appeared from behind a cabinet, her sword swinging up in one, smooth movement. The man let out a scream as his hand, and the pistol in it, became detached from his arm.

  ‘Guns on the floor,’ Twilight snapped. ‘Now!’ There were sudden clattering noises as the other two men dropped their weapons and backed quickly away from their hostages, their hands rising over their heads.

  ‘You see they listen to you,’ Cygnus said, trying not to sound too much like she was whining. She looked at one of the men behind the counter. ‘Would you call an ambulance, please?’

  ‘It’s all in the voice,’ Twilight said as she dropped to her knees beside the thug who was now cradling his stump and mewling on the floor. ‘That and cutting a guy’s hand off for emphasis obviously.’ She pulled a pack from one of her belt pouches and started pulling out bandages. ‘And you can shut up. You killed a man tonight. You’re lucky I’m not letting you bleed out on the floor.’

  ‘You c-cut… my h-hand…’ the thug stammered.

  ‘They can do wonders with microsurgery these days and you’ll get plenty of rest in prison.’ Twilight wrapped a cloth strip around his wrist and yanked it very tight. The man screamed. ‘Don’t be a baby,’ she told him.

  ~~~

  ‘That went moderately well,’ Cygnus said as they walked away from the shop. ‘I mean, it’ll take them a while to get the blood out of the linoleum, but we got the bad guys.’

  ‘The two guards probably wished we’d got there faster,’ Twilight replied.

  ‘One of them’s going to live, probably.’ She stopped, looking in one of the shop windows.

  ‘It would have been better if… What on Earth are you looking at?’ Twilight stopped and looked where her partner was staring. It was the window of a lingerie shop and the dummy in the window was wearing a black, lacy bra and panties, a choker, and a lacy mask.

  ‘Another kind of mask,’ Cygnus replied.

  ‘You have got to be kidding me. I can’t wear–’

  ‘Why not? You’d look amazing. He’d fall over his tongue.’

  ‘That place is hideously expensive,’ Twilight protested.

  Cygnus reached into the top of her boot and produced a plastic card. ‘My treat,’ she said, grinning. ‘One of us should have a love life and I don’t think it’s going to be me for the foreseeable future.’ She started forward before Twilight could present further arguments.

  Well… Well, it was probably going to be worth it for the look on the assistants’ faces when they were presented with two heroines lingerie shopping.

  7th March.

  Jacob Dannon opened his bedroom door and stepped through. There was a limited amount of moonlight coming in through the window, casting the bed itself in silver and turning the shadows into total darkness. He reached for the light switch.

  ‘Don’t.’

  The voice caught him by surprise and he stopped moving, peering in the direction it had come from but seeing nothing. His eyes were still acclimated to the light in the lounge and his night vision was shot. It had sounded like a voice he knew, but a less certain version of it. He pushed the door closed behind him.

  ‘How long have you been standing there in the dark?’ he asked.

  ‘A while,’ the voice replied. ‘I was trying… to decide.’

  ‘Decide? Decide on what?’

  ‘Whether I should do this.’

  Dannon frowned. ‘You’re usually a bit less cryptic, Twilight.’ His eyes were adjusting and he thought he could see her shape in the shadows in the corner of the room. It looked paler than usual. ‘What’s going on?’

  She took a step forward and the light caught her skin. There was a lot of skin on show. The bra and thong set left little to the imagination, but she was still wearing a mask, of sorts. He took in the slim, toned body, the mop of tousled, black hair…

  ‘I…’ he began, and realised he was not sure how to continue. His body knew what it wanted, but his brain was taking its own sweet time to catch up. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

  ‘Well… tell me to go or ask me to stay,’ she replied.

  He did neither. Instead, he took the couple of steps needed to close the distance between them. He bent forward and their lips met. It was tentative at first, then her arms looped around his neck and they were kissing feverishly, as though both had been waiting for this for decades. His hands slid over her buttocks, pulling her against him, and she moaned into his mouth.

  Then h
e broke the kiss. ‘Stay,’ he whispered.

  ~~~

  Penny watched the couples on the dance floor of the Huntress’ Den through Cygnus’ eyes and wished that she was out there with them, dancing with Bobby. But Bobby was dead, murdered to get to her, and there was nothing she could do about that aside from remembering him. There had been offers; plenty of men wanted to dance with her, vertically or horizontally. She knew he would want her to move on with her life, but it was too soon. She was not ready to let anyone else in that far.

  ‘No Andrea tonight?’ June asked from her place on the stool beside Penny’s.

  ‘Hopefully, if she hasn’t chickened out, she’s banging a UID Special Agent about now.’

  ‘Oh! That’s… unexpected.’

  ‘You haven’t seen the way they look at each other.’

  ‘I mean… Well, she’s always seemed a bit… cold? Though I guess she has lightened up a bit since Christmas.’

  ‘Since Ghostfire died, actually. There’s a bit of Latin hot blood in there somewhere, but she was just very focussed before.’

  ‘Isn’t it going to be a bit odd? I mean, with the mask?’

  ‘We came up with a solution. I mean, maybe she’ll just tell him who she is, but it’s probably safer if he doesn’t know. I sort of wish you didn’t know about me, but at least my secret identity is, uh, more secret.’

  ‘I’m not sorry,’ June replied. ‘I wouldn’t change it for the world.’

  Penny nodded, not trusting her voice. She hoped June would never have to regret that attitude.

  ~~~

  It was agony, and it was ecstasy, and Andrea never wanted it to end, but no matter how she drew it out with changes of pace and teasing pauses, the end was always the same. When it came, when they came, it was as though her body was exploding with pleasure and she almost collapsed on top of Jacob as the detonation subsided, her breathing ragged.

  She almost did not notice him reaching toward her face, but she felt his fingers against the mask. It and the choker were the only thing she was still wearing. His thumbs started to push the lace upward and she reached up, taking his hands in hers.

  ‘Why not?’ he whispered.

  ‘Let’s leave a little mystery,’ she replied. ‘If you ever need to, you can still say you’ve never seen my face.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘This has to be our secret, Jacob. Cygnus lost Bobby… I don’t want to have to turn up to your funeral.’ She lifted off him, swinging around and sitting on the edge of the bed. Then she reached down to retrieve her bra from where it had fallen.

  He slid up behind her, his knees to either side of her hips, and his arms slid around her waist. The moonlight made her dusky skin paler and turned his dark skin even darker against it.

  ‘So you sneak into my house at night and slip away again before anyone can see you? How do you do that anyway?’

  ‘Yes, and it’s a trade secret. It’s better this way. For now anyway.’

  ‘Better for who?’

  ‘Both of us. You don’t need to lie, and I don’t need to worry about you. It’s really hard to get dressed with you holding me like that. Even if I don’t really want you to let go.’

  He laughed and the tension in her stomach released. He was going to be okay with this, at least for a while. He let her go and settled back onto the pillows, a grin on his face.

  ‘I guess I can live with that. Heather’s going to know, y’know? Soon as she next sees us together, she’ll know. She’s perceptive like that.’

  ‘Is that going to be a problem?’

  Another laugh. ‘Only for me. She’s going to want to know all the intimate details.’

  Andrea chuckled in reply. ‘Going to tell her?’

  ‘I might exaggerate a bit. A man has a reputation to uphold.’

  ‘Four times isn’t enough to hold up your rep? I was impressed.’

  He shrugged, even if he did look pleased with that. ‘So I won’t need to exaggerate much.’

  8th March.

  The problem with what she had spent Friday night doing was that it made what she had to do on Saturday night harder. She told herself that Twilight had taken Jacob to bed, and Andrea was the one walking into Lena’s rooms. Not even the real Andrea, she added firmly. Andrea was heterosexual, except when playing a prostitute for David Tonaldo’s lesbian daughter. Somehow, though, Friday night had turned the subterfuge into a real lie.

  Then again, the bright smile she got from the top-heavy blonde helped push that aside. Lena was an unwitting source of information about the criminal activities of her father and his organisation, but she lived for the nights when one of her lovers was allowed up to her apartment. Andrea had put a lot of effort into making sure that she was Lena’s favourite, the one she asked for most often. It was hard to be entirely unmoved by the level of devotion Lena had for her.

  ‘I’ve had a bit of a sucky week,’ Lena said. ‘I’m glad you could come tonight.’

  ‘I had to move a couple of appointments,’ Andrea lied, slipping her coat off to reveal the tiny, black mini-dress she was wearing beneath it. ‘But you know I’ll do that for you. I’ll make you forget all about your problems, don’t you worry.’

  ‘It won’t be easy. Poppa’s been in a foul mood since that diamond heist Cygnus and Twilight broke up.’

  ‘Was that one of his?’ Andrea asked, keeping her voice light. She crossed over to the sofa, settling beside her client. None of the intelligence suggested the Tonaldos had been behind the robbery.

  ‘No. That’s what’s bothering him. Some team from out of the city. He doesn’t like competition.’

  Leaning over, Andrea kissed Lena’s neck just under her left ear, eliciting a soft gasp. ‘I think I have a few tricks that’ll take your mind off it,’ Andrea purred.

  9th March.

  ‘So you didn’t chicken out?’ Cygnus asked, grinning mischievously.

  ‘No,’ Twilight replied, ‘I didn’t. And don’t think you’ll distract me by trying to discuss it.’

  ‘Would I?’ Cygnus threw a feinted punch and Twilight blocked the real attack, a low kick, with apparent ease. ‘How was he?’

  ‘I wasn’t disappointed.’

  Cygnus turned, one leg swinging up for a back-kick. Twilight caught her ankle and pushed.

  ‘I won’t say “I told you so,”’ Cygnus said from the floor.

  ‘You just did. It made seeing Lena last night a little more… stressful than usual, but I did get something useful.’

  Pushing herself upright, Cygnus turned in the air and floated to a standing position. Her expression suggested she wanted an explanation.

  ‘Those thieves we caught? The diamond robbery? They were from out of town. Tonaldo is worried about it.’

  Cygnus gave a shrug before shifting into a sequence of punches and leg sweeps which Twilight stepped clear of, backing slowly across the floor.

  ‘We left a power vacuum when we took out Ghostfire,’ Cygnus said. ‘Tonaldo hasn’t managed to solidify his control in the zones Ghostfire held. He’s bound to see externals coming in.’

  Twilight stepped under a punch, pushed her elbow into Cygnus’ chest, hooked her leg, and there was an ‘Oof!’ as the tall blonde landed on her back. Grinning, Twilight held out a hand to help her up.

  ‘Yeah, but Lena seemed to think this was more significant. Something to do with the target. Maybe we should have someone look into that shop.’

  ‘I’ll see if Red can dig anything up. But you’re the one with the UID contact. Quite a lot of contact.’

  ‘Four times,’ Twilight replied.

  Cygnus raised her eyebrows. ‘Well, he’s got stamina.’

  11th March.

  ‘There’s not much noise about it,’ Red said as she watched Penny chopping vegetables. ‘Definitely not a local team. No one knows them and there wasn’t any indication that they were coming in to pull the job before they arrived.’

  ‘No clue why Tonaldo would be up in arms about it?’ Penny as
ked.

  ‘Nothing that anyone’s saying. He put word out that he would pay for information about the backer, which means he doesn’t think they were acting under their own instruction.’

  ‘Huh. Maybe Twilight can get something out of her new boyfriend.’

  ‘She did it then?’

  ‘They did it, four times, and she wasn’t disappointed.’ There was a slightly melancholy edge to Penny’s voice which Red did not fail to notice.

  ‘You’re going to see Last soon, aren’t you?’ Red said, mostly to change the subject.

  ‘Doctor Ultimate? Yes, day after tomorrow.’

  ‘He’s okay, but be careful of the Union. They probably haven’t got over you declining their offer.’

  ‘I’m going to see him, not them.’

  ‘He was one of the founders. Just, keep your eyes open, okay?’

  Penny glanced at her and then nodded. ‘Okay,’ she said.

  Unity Base, Antarctica, 13th March.

  Stepping through a warp portal was a little like being sucked through a straw. It was not painful, but it was far from comfortable as dimensions were compressed and reality did a double-take at what was happening to it, and apparently decided that the best course of action was to stick its fingers in its ears and hum very loudly.

  On the other hand, if you were trying to get from North America to Antarctica, there were few faster ways of doing it. The members of the Union of Ultrahumans did it all the time, Cygnus reminded herself as she tried to figure out whether her limbs were still attached on the other side.

  ‘It takes a little getting used to.’ The voice came from a slim woman with long, red hair who was standing in the doorway of the room Cygnus had arrived in. She looked somewhere in her late thirties, maybe early forties; she had a calm confidence about her which seemed to come from age and being around Ultras, though Cygnus suspected that she was not one herself, because whoever this woman was, she was not anyone recognisable.

  ‘I guess people must, otherwise the Union would never get anything done,’ Cygnus replied. ‘I’m–’

  ‘My husband’s latest infatuation,’ the woman replied without rancour. ‘Cygnus. He’s been talking about you on and off since before Christmas.’