Cat's Cradle Read online

  “Milo, give him a chance to explain.”

  Silence.

  A strange lilting voice rasped, “Thanks for the opportunity, Liev. And, Milo, for all your brains, you need to learn a little more about human psychology.”

  Charming snorted. “Why? He’s got brains, and that means he doesn’t need anything else.”

  “That’s not true,” she whispered. “And we should probably be quiet in case they can hear us.”

  He shot her a look of disgust. “Whatever.” He lay down, rolled over, and curled into a tight ball.

  “Great. You wake me up, and now you get to sleep.” She glared at the sleeping cat. “How is that working for you?”

  “Quite well. If you’d be quiet, I could actually get some rest.”

  She threw herself down and curled around the bright orange body, hugging him close. “Do you think I should go out there?”

  “No. Absolutely not.” The alarm in his voice reassured her.

  “Right. That’s not a good idea, is it? Then Johan will know for sure that something is odd about me.”

  Charming shuddered. From his twisted-up position, he opened his eyelids and glared at her. “DO NOT GO OUT THERE.” He lifted his head, as if to make sure she was listening. “Liev will handle it. Johan knows we are here. Let them deal with it.”

  “But”—she stared down into the flat face—“what if the brothers are in trouble and need our help?”

  “Not going to happen.” He closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

  “It might.” She lay her head next to his. “You never know.”

  “I know.” He snored gently.

  “But what if you’re wrong?”

  No answer. She closed her eyes and relaxed. Before she realized it, sleep swept her away.

  Liev stared at his old friend and wondered what the hell had happened. The fun-loving guy was gone. This man had a hard edge to him, a well-used look to his face, and his eyes? It seemed they’d seen too much. A second closer look showed heavy bruising on one side of his neck. He held himself slightly hunched over, one arm protecting his potentially damaged ribs.

  This was not good.

  “What happened to you, Johan?” Liev waved him inside, watching his friend move gingerly.

  He winced. “I look that bad, huh? I could use my damn healing pod right about now.”

  “Sit down. I’ll get you a drink.” Ignoring Milo’s disgust and instinctive wariness, Liev poured a stiff drink into a glass and brought it over to Johan. “Here.”

  Johan took it gratefully and tossed it back. He shuddered and then said, “Thanks, I needed that.”

  “I can see that, but why?”

  His friend slouched back, stiffened, then straightened slowly.

  “You’re hurt,” Liev said quietly. “Is it bad?”

  “No. Just took a beating. On an ordinary day, no problem, … but I blew up my pod.” He gave Liev a lopsided grin. “Don’t suppose you’d like to return the favor and let me borrow yours?”

  “No,” Milo snapped. “For all we know, you’re behind the problems we’ve been having.”

  Johan’s eyebrows shot up. “What kinds of problems?” He looked at Liev. “I told you to marry her to protect her.”

  “I did.”

  “Well, congrats, man.” Johan slapped Liev on the shoulder, then groaned at the resulting pain it caused. “That’s great. You’re a married man now.” He shook his head, like he couldn’t believe it. “She must mean a lot to you.”

  “She does.”

  “When do I get to meet her?”

  “Never,” snapped Milo. “Someone is after her. We’re making sure she’s safe.”

  “Why the hell would anyone want to kidnap her?”

  Milo narrowed his gaze. “I didn’t say kidnap.”

  Silence.

  Johan put up both hands. “Hey, I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I have nothing to do with whatever is happening. I’ve been on the run and got into a little trouble myself.”

  “Why?” Liev asked curiously. “What happened to you?”

  “I thought I took everything I needed with me. Instead”—he grimaced—“I left something behind. I’m here to retrieve it.”

  “Have you been up there yet?”

  “No. I was hoping to use your tube to get there, take a quick look around, grab what I needed, and then scoot back down here undetected.” At Liev’s surprised look, Johan added, “I could go through the little rooftop garden you use.”

  Liev shook his head. “And here I thought that area was private. Secret.”

  “Nothing is secret anymore.” As he spoke, he stared straight at Milo. “Haven’t you learned that yet?”

  Milo stared back at him silently, not showing any give in his expression. After what they’d been through, and the secret experiment Milo had accomplished in bringing Lani here, keeping his work private—top secret—was paramount. Milo would do anything to protect his inventions. And, if Liev didn’t quite trust Johan, no way Milo would.

  He was suspicious of everyone.

  Yet, Liev had to concede, Milo appeared to have taken to Lani and to Charming just fine. More than just fine. Maybe he’d run compatibility tests across everyone’s profiles. Yet another thing to ask his brother.

  Later.

  Liev refocused on the issue at hand. “You can use the tube to get to the rooftop.”

  Milo started to protest, took one look at Liev’s glare, and shut up. He stormed from the room.

  “He’s not a happy chap,” Johan noted.

  “We’ve had a rough morning.” Talk about an understatement. Liev half expected to see more Council henchmen here soon enough. Not to mention cops. They would have more questions. No way they wouldn’t. Hell, Liev had a lot more questions himself. He studied Johan carefully. “So you had nothing to do with the bug that came in with my healing pod?”

  “What?”

  His shock was real at least.

  “Don’t you have an automatic bug sweeper here?” Johan’s lips twitched.

  “Yes, we do. But the bug was built to detach at some specific time or at a prearranged signal, then move to a different location in the room.”

  That shut Johan up. He sat back slowly and stared. After a long moment, he shook his head. “What the hell. Whose bug is that?”

  “Milo is tracking it down. At the moment, we have no idea but suspect it belonged to the Defino brothers.”

  “That’s not good.” Johan stared into space, but didn’t sound surprised at the brothers’ name. Then they had a long rap sheet. “I had my pod customized, you know? So it would only transmit specific innocuous data to the database.”

  “Really?” Too bad Johan hadn’t mentioned that fact earlier. It would have saved Liev a lot of worry. “That’s a great idea.”

  “Not good enough. Something still went wrong. It did make me a popular fellow for a long time though.” He grinned, a rueful smile of remembered parties and women, … so many women. “I had the same person rig it that you bought yours from.”

  “How do you know who I got it from?”

  A harsh laugh slid out of Johan’s throat. “Only one supplier has the audacity to do something like this.”

  “Do you have a name?”

  “Nope. No one does.”

  “Damn.” Liev walked over to the window. He wasn’t getting much help here. If he knew Milo, his kid brother would already be out searching the airwaves for information on Johan. Nothing like siccing someone who didn’t trust another to dig out dirt on them. “Paul Defino broke into my house today.”

  “What? I didn’t hear anything about that.” Johan stared.

  “Oh, you will soon. My lawyer was killed during the mess.”

  “Wow.” Johan let a long slow whistle slide through the room. “Okay, now that I definitely don’t know anything about.”

  Chapter 3

  Lani drifted in and out of the pod’s warm healing rays. Some of the conversation from the other room
filtered in. Not enough to truly understand what was going on but enough to stop her from going into a deep sleep. Figures. She yawned and rolled over to face Charming in another attempt to drift off.

  He stared at her. And damn, those whiskers were quivering. His large globe eyes stared into hers, and his small ears peeled back along his head, as if to hear better.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Johan says it’s not him.”

  “What’s not him?” She blinked, trying to process the short, terse message. “None of the mess is?”

  Charming gave a small headshake, sending his fur billowing out.

  She frowned. “Then who is behind all this?”

  “No idea. And we need to find out.”

  “Agreed.” She lay here, thinking, when Johan’s voice filtered in again.

  “Are you sure I can’t use the healing pod? Just for a few moments. I’d sure like to feel better. Honestly, besides the jaw, I’m pretty sure a couple ribs are broken.” His painful gasp could be heard.

  It didn’t sound like he was faking it. And that made her feel guilty as hell.

  “Sorry, Lani is sleeping in it.”

  “Sleeping? Dude, she should be warming up your bed, not snoozing in a healing pod.” Amused envy laced Johan’s voice. That sounded more like the party-giving Johan that Lani expected to hear. The sexy party animal looking to score and not understanding his buddy’s reticence.

  There was a heavy silence. Lani winced. If the guy was hurt, it was the right thing to do to give it to him. Did she get up and walk out, as if she had just woken up? How else would they know she was awake and willing to leave the safety of the pod? “Charming, can you contact Milo?”

  One eyelid slid open. How did Charming manage to look insulted? “Of course.”

  She didn’t want to be seen. She didn’t want to meet any more strangers. Any more bad guys. “Can you tell him that I’m leaving here and going to Liev’s room, so the pod is free for Johan?”

  “Yes.” Charming stood and arched his back. “If that’s what you want.”

  “Are you coming with me?” She sat up gently and slid to the side of the pod. “Or are you going to stay and visit with Johan?”

  He gave an odd mewl that she took for a snort, then he jumped down. To the speaker system, he said, “Message for Milo only.” She stared as he said, “Lani and I are switching to Liev’s room. The pod is free for Johan.” He twisted, gave her a look, and, when she didn’t understand, he sighed. “Open door. Stealth to remain on.”

  The door opened silently.

  Damn. She hadn’t even realized the door was voice-controlled. Hating the things she didn’t understand, she motioned for him to go first. “Lead the way so we can’t be seen.”

  He shrugged. “Configure to keep us in stealth.” And he walked out.

  She followed, a low burning irritation with a touch of envy washing through her. “How am I ever supposed to get used to you knowing how to do all this when, only a couple days ago, you didn’t even talk?” she muttered.

  “We’ve been over this. I could always talk. You’re the one who just learned how to understand.” He groaned. “Now if only you’d learn the rest of this stuff faster.”

  He ran down the hallway, and she had to pick up the pace to keep up with him. With his tail in the air, he looked like a normal feline. Under that pouf of orange fur, he was anything but.

  Still, that mess could be laid at Milo’s feet.

  Charming disappeared up ahead. She entered a room and came to a dead stop. The door closed silently behind her. She gasped. She was inside a huge chateau-type room that could have come from anywhere in the Swiss Alps. The open beam structure with log walls and wood details were awesome, but the huge bed on a platform beside a roaring fire really got to her. “Is that fire real?”

  “As real as anything here can be.” Charming padded over and tilted his face up to catch the warm rays.

  She had to see for herself. It was, indeed, warm and cozy. She felt safe here. Comfy. She smiled. This was gorgeous and said a lot about Liev. She turned to warm her back and studied the huge bed. The coverings appeared fluffy and light. Maybe down-filled. But she suspected it was as much of an illusion as anything else here.

  An illusion she wanted to believe in. The idea of sharing that huge bed with Liev? Luscious!

  “Pull your tongue back into your mouth.” Charming stalked to the huge bed and hopped up. He sank into the middle and turned around several times before lying down. He yawned. “This will do nicely.”

  “Ha. Who said that’s for you?”

  “Losers weepers,” he replied, using an old phrase from back in her time.

  She stared at him. “How is it you can adapt so quickly? Why are you not bothered about how different things are here in this time?”

  He lifted his head. “What’s different? Bad guys. Good guys. Kidnappings. Murders. They are the same in both times. The technology is more advanced—and so it should be. But honestly it doesn’t look like humanity improved much. Besides, I only need food, love, warmth, and a cozy bed to keep my world balanced.” He closed his eyes, then opened one. “It’s the same for you.”

  Was it, she wondered. “I need to be safe.”

  “And you will be. Soon.”

  Milo clicked away on the comp in his hand, essentially ignoring Johan and the rest of the conversation. Liev studied his brother for a brief second. Then returned his gaze to Johan. Who looked to be fading. “Do you want to retrieve your property and come back? The pod will be waiting for you.”

  He didn’t know why he made the offer, but it seemed the right thing to do. He sensed an odd stillness come over Milo, before his clicking started in earnest. He was up to something.

  Then again, so was Liev.

  Johan struggled to stand, his face wreathed in smiles. “Thank you. I surely appreciate that. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He staggered down the corridor to the front entrance.

  Liev walked behind him. At the door, he asked, “Do you want company?”

  Johan paused to look at him, considered the suggestion, then shook his head. “I’ll be fine, and it will be better if you aren’t seen with me. It will just get you into more trouble. Stay here and stay safe. I’ll be back before you know it.” And he entered the tube and disappeared. Liev stepped back inside and reset the security.

  “How long do we have?” Milo asked from behind him.

  “Maybe ten minutes.” Liev turned to face him.

  Milo had secretly followed his brother and Johan down to the hallway. “Then we’d better get moving.”

  “Moving where? What are you up to?”

  “Setting up video in the pod room,” Milo said.

  Liev stared at his brother as he raced into the room where Lani lay sleeping. “Why? Wait. Don’t scare her.”

  “She’s in your bedroom. Charming told me that they’d moved so Johan could use the pod. Lani felt guilty.”

  Raising both hands in the air in surrender, Liev ran to catch up. Since when had Lani moved? “How did they even know about Johan being hurt?”

  “Charming turned on the audio in the pod room. They heard the whole conversation.”

  “Sweet.” He entered the room to find Milo tinkering with the comp on the wall. “How long do you need?”

  “More than ten minutes,” he muttered, tapping the console quickly. “I’d really like to know why he wants to use the pod. Oh, he’s hurt all right. But, while he’s in here, is he going to retrieve information on us? Will he send messages from our location? Is he really badly hurt? Or did he pay someone to rough him up to add some weight to his story and to get him into the pod?”

  “He looks hurt. I’m sure the pod would help heal him.” Any number of pods were available to Johan, but not as many were unregistered. If he used a registered pod, then his name would be sent to the databanks. He could expect a convoy of ComBots and police to be at his side within minutes. Here, he could stay undetected.

&n
bsp; “Do you believe his story?” Milo asked.

  “No. I don’t.” Liev added, “But it is quite possible that he is looking to retrieve something he missed from his place.”

  Milo shrugged. “I don’t trust him.”

  Liev said, “Neither do I.”

  Chapter 4

  Lani curled up in Liev’s bed. It felt wonderful. And yet so right. Special. Illicit. Which, considering she was married to the man, was just plain stupid. She sank a little deeper into the covers, enjoying the feel of Charming kneading her belly. They’d had lots of mornings in the past where it was just the two of them. Time together to enjoy a late morning spent in bed. Time to spoil each other and to gain the comfort each offered so freely. Times had changed. In more ways than one. “It’s been tough, hasn’t it, Charming?”

  The kneading paused. “In some ways.”

  She smiled. “It’s nice that we can really talk now.”

  “Yep.”

  “Do you think …” She had to stop. What she was going to say sounded stupid.

  “What?”

  “Nah, it doesn’t matter.”

  “Except, if it’s bugging you, it does matter.”

  She gave a small laugh, startled at the wisdom coming from his mouth. “I shouldn’t let it bother me.”

  “And again, that has nothing to do with it. Just because we shouldn’t think about something doesn’t mean we don’t. And, if it’s in your mind, then far better to share it.”

  True. She said in a thoughtful voice, “I just wondered if any of the enhancements Milo added to our transport came to me. Or if you got all of it.”

  “Them.”

  “Them?” She twisted slightly to look at him. “You mean, you received more than one enhancement?”

  “I don’t know that. I do know he added more than one. It’s Milo. How could he resist?”

  “Yeah.” She sank back into the pillows thinking about it. “He’d think it would all work out perfectly as he had planned anyway.”

  “Of course, and, for the most part, it did.”

  “Does it bother you that you are communicating at the level you are now?”