Fairchild stared in disbelief. The hair was different now, chopped short and bleached blonde, and the bone structure had been completely rearranged, but the smile was still the same. Fairchild would recognize that smile anywhere.
“But… I saw you die.”
“Did you?” Rook asked. “Think back, Fairchild. What did youactuallysee?”
Fairchild thought back. She saw Rook face down in the snow, her white thermal suit riddled with red holes.Face down.
Slayn chuckled. “I’d been trying for years to get an honest-to-God Merc on my payroll—the ultimate weapon—but your kind are so damned loyal to your Guild. Then, out of the blue, I received an offer from Rook. I suppose you could call it a job application. Naturally, I suspected it was a ruse, so I devised a little loyalty test.”
“The thermal plant,” Fairchild murmured.
“That’s right! My, you are a smart one, aren’t you? That whole situation at the thermal plant was arranged as a test to see if Rook was serious about changing employers. I had to see if she was willing to betray her own teammates. She was.”
Fairchild felt her shock giving way to hot rage.
“Why?” she asked, glaring at Rook again. “Why did you do it?”
“Luxury,” the woman answered. “Why else? With Victor, I can enjoy a lifestyle beyond anything the Guild could offer.”
“But you and Bryce were—”
“Lovers?” Rook scoffed. “Please.Loveis horribly overrated.” She pressed her body into Slayn’s. “Besides, Victor is much better in bed.” She smiled again. “Remember the explosion? I was the one who pushed the button.”
Fairchild’s rage burned hotter, brighter.
“You killed them,” she snarled. “You killed Bryce and Dane.”
“That’s right. And I would have killed you too, if you hadn’t been so quick on your damned feet.”
“Serendipity,” Slayn said. “Because now you’re here with me. Now I owntwolovely Mercs to do my bidding. Five, if we count your comrades on this ill-fated mission.”
Fairchild’s face was burning now.
“If you think I’m going to work for a piece of shit like you, you’re out of your mind.”
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll have any choice in the matter,” Slayn said, smiling. “You see, I’ve got different plans for you, my new pet…”
He stooped and picked something up from the ground. It was a knife. The same one Fairchild had tried to attack him with. It must have fallen from her hand when she got zapped. Slayn hooked a finger inside the top of Fairchild’s red dress and pulled the stretchy fabric away from her skin. Then he slit the dress down the front with the knife, exposing her naked front to the candlelight. The bodyguards holding her arms snickered softly.
“Oh yes,” Slayn said, handing the knife to Rook. “You’ll do nicely. Very nicely indeed.”
He placed both hands on Fairchild’s chest and squeezed, massaging her exposed breasts with his fingers. If her own hands had not been bound behind her back, she would have shoved him away. As it was, she just had to take it.
“Not too big, not too small,” he said. “Just how I like them.”
Slayn lowered his face to her chest and kissed her. He wrapped his lips around one of her nipples and started to suckle, until the flesh began to stiffen from the suction. Revulsion rose in the back of Fairchild’s throat until she could taste it.
Rook glowered hatefully, as if what Slayn was doing was somehow Fairchild’s fault.
He released her nipple and licked his lips. Then he slid one hand down the front of her body until his fingers were between her legs. He stroked her gently, separating her folds. Then he pushed the tip of his middle finger inside.
“This little cunt is going to make me a fortune,” he said.
Fairchild didn’t know what he meant by that. She didn’twantto know. She was too busy biting back the rising tide of her disgust as Slayn pushed his finger deeper and deeper inside, stroking the tender flesh of her front wall.
When she felt the first small tingle of unwanted pleasure, she decided she’d had enough.
She clenched hard, bearing down with the full force of her inner muscles. There was a muffled pop as something broke inside her. Slayn screamed in pain, a high-pitched wail. He tried to pull away, but Fairchild wasn’t about to let him off that easily. There was a second pop as his knuckle dislocated. Tears began pouring down his face.
