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DEEDECK DESIGN
Chapter 5
“That was not nice,” Nat admonished with resignation in her tone. “How many times do I have to tell you not to antagonize the clients?”
Jax ignored her, calling up the images of Moira Bannen again. He was curious to see if she’d have the same impact on him, now that he’d met the personality behind the face. He looked into those soft grey eyes and shook his head. Not the same impact—worse.
His gut knotted as if someone had just punched him, and he took a measured breath. She wasn’t beautiful, not like Nat with her flawless ebony skin, aristocratic features, and killer body. The doctor’s face reminded him of a fox, narrow, delicate, and clever, but not classically beautiful. Thick, dark hair with a suggestion of mahogany fire softened her features and enhanced the paleness of her skin, but it was her eyes that really got to him. Soft as velvet, mysterious as a misty morning, and edged with luscious dark lashes, her eyes made invitations that her cool smile denied. Contradiction and challenge.
Jax frowned. His reaction to her was a complication he didn’t need. Even worse was his reaction to seeing her in his body. It should have been creepy and unsettling, and it was to an extent, watching his face react in ways foreign to him. He’d never seen himself blush before. But what had really thrown him off of his stride was the idea that she’d put her hands on him. His clone had been fully dressed, which meant she’d stripped off the revival robe and touched him naked. The thought had driven such a sharp stab of lust through him that he’d made a total ass of himself and pissed her off but good.
“If I was her, I’d be giving you a body wax and piercings in soft places,” Nat continued with an arch of one sleek brow.
“That’s because you’re vindictive,” he responded absently, getting rid of the doctor’s disturbing image with a flick of his finger and calling up the info they had on her so far.
“She might be, too. She had a temper.”
“I noticed,” he muttered, skimming her record.
“I noticed that you noticed,” Nat answered with a smirk. “You always did like women with fire.”
He sent her a level look. “Leave it, Nat. She’s got an impressive rate of success with infectious epidemics. DeeDeck’s not talking about why she’s in Bode. Can you pry it out of them?”
“I thought you wanted us to stay legal.”
“With your talent for persuasion, not your other talents.”
“I don’t know, Jax. DeeDeckers aren’t known for their persuadability. Not a single one has a sense of humor.”
“You were going to tell jokes?”
She rolled her eyes and glided toward the exit. “Fine, I’ll just flash cleavage.”
“Like I said, talent.”
She bared her bright teeth at him in a humorless, feral smile before she flowed out the door. Jax waited until the door closed before he allowed himself to grin. Then his eyes returned to the accumulating background check on Moira Bannen and his grin faded.
If he believed the transfer tech—and from the way the nervous officials of the transfer station tried to downplay the occurrence, he was leaning towards belief—the good doctor had been the victim of a rather sophisticated hit. But why? Why her, and why such an elaborate method? There were much easier ways to kill someone.
But he couldn’t think of a less personal or more emotionless way to kill. Sabotaging the TSU and affecting the buffer to degrade her pattern—totally bloodless. Someone who had a personal vendetta against her would show more emotion, like strangulation or hit-and-run. Impersonal usually meant professional. But why put a professional hit on a doctor?
So far, her stats were running clean as sunfire. From what he could see, she was dedicated and driven. She’d worked her way through various scholastic endeavors, finally earning several medical degrees. She was picked up by the DDEC as her first post-graduate employment, and she’d been with them for the past ten years. During that time, she had worked her way swiftly up through the ranks of the DDEC until she’d reached her current posting as a triage specialist for infectious outbreaks. He guessed that her presence in the Bode Galaxy meant there was an outbreak, but the DDEC was keeping quiet on the specifics of that situation. As a civilian company without proof of any shady activities, he couldn’t force them to divulge information. But he had faith in Nat’s ability to dazzle and coax cooperation.
Aside from her education and employment histories, there was no evidence that Moira Bannen had ever broken a single law, with not even a docking zone ticket to her name. He also couldn’t see any hints of activities that could get her in trouble, like gambling or socializing with the wrong people. From what he could see, it didn’t look like the woman ever socialized. No wonder she was strung so tight.
But without her financials and more personal info, he couldn’t be sure that there was nothing incriminating in her past or present life. “Nobody could be this clean,” he muttered, thinking that even if she was a law-abiding citizen, she might have a boyfriend or family member that wasn’t. He could already see that she wasn’t married and never had been. This gave him a strange sense of satisfaction, though he tried to shrug it off as relief for not having to track down a disgruntled ex-spouse.
The com buzzed under his hand and he flicked it on.
“Sir, our boys have the package. They’re in transit to the destination.”
Jax felt a spurt of humor for Daily’s overly dramatic report, but he made sure it didn’t show on his face. “Good. Is she cooperating?”
Daily’s round face puckered with worry. “She—the, uh, package is no trouble, sir.”
“You don’t have to be so covert, Daily. We want people to know that she’s under our protection. Make the hitter think before taking another shot at her, hmm?”
The youngster’s face cleared, though he looked a bit disappointed. “Right. Yes, sir. Am I, uh, still on point over here, sir?”
“You’re still coordinating things until I can transfer to Bode. Any issues with the team?”
Usually Jax handled these kinds of operations, so his personnel may be a little disconcerted to have him offsite and young Daily working the case. But Daily was in position to coordinate all aspects of the case, from the doctor’s protection to the gathering of onsite information to keeping close contact with him.
Daily grimaced. “You mean is anybody having trouble with me as lead? Not yet. Everybody’s following orders so far.”
“Let’s keep it that way. Your only problem is confidence, boy. You know what to do and the rest of the team knows you do, so just get it done.”
“Yes, sir,” Daily responded quietly, but his face was more determined when he ended the transmission.
Jax watched the information accumulate on Moira Bannen and ran a hand through his hair impatiently. He needed her codes. He’d have to contact her again and try not to antagonize her this time. A surge of unwelcome anticipation made him scowl. He should get out of this case as soon as possible, let DeeDeck take over when his clone investment was safe. But he was already looking forward to making the transfer and meeting her in person. To seeing those eyes up close.
You always were a reckless prick, Coltier.
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