Stark Surrender (28 page)

* * *

Logan woke with a sense of well-being that lasted just until he turned his head and peered at the pillow next to his. It was empty.

He knifed up, looking around his quiet room, wincing as healing tissues protested. He put a hand to his belly. Hells, he had to remember not to move so fast.

The glowlamps came up with his movement. The room was empty too, no feminine clothing strewn across the foot of the big bed or on the carpet.

Kiri was gone.

His eye narrowed as he threw back the covers and got out of bed. Time to remind his Tyger kitten that she belonged with him now. And he was nothing if not a splendid multi-tasker. He could do it while overseeing their cooperation with law enforcement to catch and imprison Mordacity and his lieutenants.

Then he sighed as he walked into his lav. No, he was the new, improved Logan Stark, and truly he meant to try to go on with what he’d so clumsily begun here. No more laying down the law with the people he cared about. He must request and obtain willing, whole-hearted consent.

Very well, he would persuade Kiri that she belonged beside him at night. He loved a negotiation challenge. Stepping into the hot spray, he smiled to himself.

When he walked into his dining room, it was with an entirely different attitude than the day before. He smiled when he saw Kiri in her place, lovely in cinnamon wool. She looked up when he walked in, and smiled back at him. For the first time, he understood what people meant when they said a woman ‘glowed’. She was luminescent.

Ignoring the others for the time being, Logan paused by his chair and leaned to tip up Kiri’s face and pressed a kiss to her soft, damp lips. Then he smiled into her wide eyes and sat, looking up to meet the fascinated gazes of his brothers and their women.

Joran toasted him with his coffee cup, Taara and Zaë beamed, Creed looked quietly pleased. And beyond Kiri, Kai gave him a blistering glare.

Logan smiled at him, and picked up his vitamin smoothie to down it.

“This is delicious,” he said. “The rest of you really should try one.”

Joran gave him a wicked smile. “You tryin’ to tell us that’s what has you smiling this morning, brother?’

Logan looked at Kiri, who hid behind her coffee cup. “No comment.”

Joran chuckled.

“So,” Taara said brightly, “What are we doing today—manning the battle stations?”

Everyone stared at her, her husband with the hovertray of eggs poised over his plate.

She shrugged. “Look, we’re all worrying about that evil slimer Mordacity. We might as well have a breakfast summit. Then we’ll all know what Logan, Joran and Creed know.”

“Excellent point,” Zaë said briskly. “Why don’t we call Bronc to join us for breakfast? Then he can fill us in on what he’s been doing.”

Joran raised his brows. “Maybe we should let you women run things. Because this is not a bad idea.”

“Sounds good to me,” Creed said. “Last time we were in a tight spot, Taara came through for us with intel that none of the rest of us had noticed.”

Taara beamed at her husband.

“Natan?” Logan called. “Ask Mr. Berenson to join us, please.”

“He’s on his way sir,” Natan said from the doorway. “I’ll set another place.”

“I think Natan should be in charge,” Kiri whispered to Logan. “He knows everything.”

“You are not wrong,” he murmured. At her nod, he served her and himself egg and veg frittata, a berry muffin and crisp vegesausage. Once he was satisfied that she had everything she needed, he began to eat hungrily.

So did Kiri, he was pleased to note. She’d put those pounds back on in no time. He pictured her round with his baby, and his heart swelled with painful tenderness. God, he was a lucky man. He needed to share the incredible news with his brothers, soon.

Bronc appeared within moments, freshly shaven and scrubbed. He accepted a cup of coffee but shook his head at the food. “Already ate, thanks.”

But Kai shoved the hovertray of fresh fruit scones his way. “These go great with coffee.”

Bronc’s eyes lit up. “Oh, thanks.” He took two and pushed the tray gently back to the middle of the table.

“Better have some frittata and sausage with those,” Kai suggested.

Soon Bronc’s plate was loaded like everyone else’s. Logan smiled to himself. Kai was a opening up. Fiercely protective of his sister, and he might just make a good partner for Logan’s security head.

“Any news?” Logan asked Bronc when the man had had time to down most of his food.

Bronc pushed his plate away and wiped his mouth on his napkin. “Yes sir. Afraid there is. The street informants are giving the cops reports of new gangs moving on the city, from north, west and south.” The bay was on the east.

“How many?” Creed asked. The room was still, everyone listening intently.

“Twenty or more groups, anywhere from fifty to two hundred in each group,” Bronc said. “Word is, they’ve been promised a piece of the city. That it will be carved up into the quadrants, and the strongest will get a chunk of territory.”

They all looked to Logan.

“Mordacity,” he said. “He’s behind this.”

“I think you’re right,” Creed said. “Talked with Brother Mondas Tige early this morning. He’s based south of here at the Zhen Monastery in Cordell City. A big aircycle gang passed through there last night, stopped at one of the outlying places to refuel and eat. One of them let drop that they were headed here. Mordacity’s name was mentioned.”

“What will the cops do about this?” Joran asked.

“They won’t be able to do enough,” Kiri said. “With the unrest on the docks, and the crime rate in the city … they’ve always been stretched thin.”

She gave Logan a look of fear, not mindless, but born of long experience with this city. “If he can get enough outsiders, his scheme has a chance of working, doesn’t it?”

He nodded once, and placed his hand over hers. “So our job is not to let him.”

“What can we do?” Taara asked.

“The IGSF has been notified,” Bronc said, pushing his empty plate away. “Their nearest squadron is in the southern hemisphere, but they’re in the middle of peace-keeping in a clan war. Federated Marshals will send cops, maybe three cruisers. Their job will be to protect city offices, hospitals, police and fire stations. IBI has a cruiser on Dardaan, they’re on the way. They’ll help with logistics, mostly, make sure communications stay open no matter what. Can’t expect help from other cities in the area—they’ll be hunkering, making sure they don’t end up with blowback.”

“This place, HQ, is armored, but what about your other businesses, Logan?” Kai asked. “What about your employees there?”

“Good point,” Logan said. “If this happens, we’ll send out a notice to shut down all operations until further notice. I’ll want my people off the streets, off the satcom as much as possible, so they’re not targeted.”

“Sir, I believe it’s happening,” Bronc said. “You should send that notice now—send everyone home this morning, tell ‘em to lay low.”

Logan met the man’s steady gaze, and nodded. “All right. Now it is.”

“How many people do we have here on site?” Joran asked.

“Seventy-three employees, four civilians, and you folks,” Bronc said.

“Firepower?”

“Two cruisers, twenty aircycles, ten hovies. Weapons and armored suits stored in lockdown on each floor, military grade. Holocams all over the outside of the building and edges of the property. Deployable spycams, enough water, food and med supplies to take us out two, three months.”

Joran nodded. Kai and Kiri stared, wide-eyed.

Bronc shrugged. “Expect peace, but be prepared for war.”

“Good philosophy,” Kai said. “Is that yours, or Stark’s?”

Bronc smiled faintly. “Mr. Stark gives me a lot of leeway.”

“Mr. Stark, the morning news,” Natan said from the doorway.

“I’m afraid to watch,” Kiri muttered, “after yesterday.”

“It will just be more gossip about the fire-bombings,” Logan said. “Natan, we’ll watch it in the sitting room.”

“Yes, sir.”

Chapter Thirty

“I really don’t want to watch the news,” Kiri told Logan as they walked out of the dining room. I’ll be in my room.” She needed to check in with her employees.

“I do, and I need you to hold my hand, because they’re going to be talking about the bombing again.” When she gave him a look of incredulity, he contrived to look innocent. “It’s a very emotional subject for me, kitten. I liked that penthouse.”

She flung an arm out toward their surroundings. “You have exactly the same penthouse here. I noticed Natan even had your fireglass sculptures moved here.”

“True. But you want to be part of things,” he reminded her.

“Oh, all right,” she said, and sat beside him on the divan. He held onto her hand as he brought up the holovid of a woman smirking from a news stage.

The others gathered quietly around them, Bronc taking a stance behind the divans near Kai.

“New Seattle is still on edge,” the newscaster said with relish, “after the bombings that rocked, not only a popular nightclub in Astra Quadrant, but the exclusive Spectra Quadrant, where the home of magnate Logan Stark was completely destroyed. Luckily no family members were home at the time.

“It’s been revealed to us by a confidential source that Mr. Stark himself has been staying in his corporate headquarters in Nebula Quadrant, and that his entire family is there with him. Speculation is rife that Stark has been ill or in some sort of rehab, and this is why he has not been seen in public for nearly a lunar month.

“As for the source of the bombs, no one has yet stepped forward to claim responsibility. Police suspect some sort of gangland revenge.”

Kiri grimaced in distaste at the woman’s obvious pleasure in imparting her report.

“Nice to see someone who enjoys her job,” she said. “Gossiping bitch.”

Logan grunted. “That’s what she thinks the public wants to hear—tearing down the rich and successful.”

“Well, I’m done,” Kiri said. She moved to rise, but then stopped as the holovid suddenly darkened weirdly, the bright news studio disappearing.

“What’s happening?” Taara asked.

Someone new filled the holovid screen, highlighted against a dark background. He or she—Kiri wasn’t quite sure which—wore a wide-brimmed hat and duster of immaculate cream, the only notes of color a hatband and boutonniere so brilliantly chartreuse they glowed. Only the lower half of the face was visible, bland and humanoid, with oddly plush pink lips.

“Who is that?” Kiri’s entire body stiffened in revulsion.

Not at his face—what she could see of it—but at his whole demeanor. One saw beings from all over the galaxy, and many were very differently configured than humans. This being was deeply creepy.

“What is that?” Kai put in.

Logan gripped Kiri’s hand tightly. “It’s Mordacity. He’s hijacked the feed somehow.”

“Oh, he’s grotesque,” Zaë said.

The being began to speak. Logan held up a hand for silence as a harsh, sibilant voice filled the room.

“Greetings, fellow New Seattlites. I do hope you don’t mind my ... interrupting your morning report this way.” He made a strange, gargling sound that Kiri realized with revulsion was laughter. “All that important gossip about celebrities and crooked unions, but I do think you’ll want to hear this.

“This city contains two men—Logan Stark and Tal Darkrunner. Their presence here places the rest of you in grave danger. You see, they have both been permitted to rule this city for too long, murdering at will and even coercing the police. And if you, the good citizenry of New Seattle, don’t deliver them to me by tomorrow evening, I will be very ... disappointed.’

The pink lips stretched in a travesty of a smile. “What will that disappointment look like, you ask? I’ve prepared a little demonstration.”

“Oh, hells no,” Bronc muttered as the feed changed to show a tall building. Surrounded by empty pavement and various storage units, it stood several stories tall. “That’s the complex right north of us.”

“It’s empty,” Logan said. “Renovations are planned for new businesses.”

His grip on her hand tightened again as a strange rumble sounded from the holovid. Then the building in the holovid bulged in the middle, and exploded outward, huge chunks of it flying up and out before tumbling to the ground.

The floor under Kiri’s chair quivered, and she clung to Logan, trying not to give a squeak of fear. In a few seconds, the other building was nothing but a smoking pile of rubble.

Mordacity appeared again, smiling widely. “That building was empty. The next one, New Seattlites, won’t be. Now, as to delivery of Stark and Darkrunner. Both men should be on the roof of their respective buildings by five o’clock tomorrow evening.”

He disappeared, and the news studio reappeared, with the newscaster looking both flustered and frightened. She began to stammer something, but with a flick of his hand, Logan broke the link.

He rose, and paced to the windows, then turned, his expression dark.

“Well, that was ingenious of Mordacity,” he said. “He’s focused attention on two places, two men. And he’s frightened the hells out of the citizenry, who will be wondering how powerful he is, if he was able to make his way into their homes this way, via their safe daily news feed.”

“I had to guess, I’d say tomorrow evening all those gangs will be ready to close in on the city,” Joran said. “While folks are watching this building, to see if we’ll give you up—and Flash, to see what Darkrunner does. And if you don’t give yourselves up, mobs may form to try and make you—with his help.”

“We’ve got to take that monster down,” Kai said, his face pale under his tan. Kiri nodded, pretty sure she was just as wan. Mordacity wanted Logan, and he’d managed to get close enough to firebomb the building near this place.

“Oh, we will,” Bronc said, cerametal in his voice and every line of his big body, his gaze on the tablet he was manipulating in one hand.

“Don’t worry,” Logan said. “We’ll be safe here.”

“We’re safe,” Kiri realized, “but the rest of the city isn’t.”

“No,” Logan agreed. “Which is why we’ll need to move fast.”

“Just remember, sir,” Bronc said, looking straight at Logan, “Whatever that slimer chooses to do out there isn’t your fault. He’s doing this. We’ll stop him as fast as we can, but there’ll likely be casualties.”

Kiri squeezed Logan’s hand. “He’s right, Logan.”

Logan nodded, but his gaze was dark, and Kiri sighed inwardly. He was taking it all on his shoulders, she could see it happening.

“This means war, you get that, right?” Bronc asked.

They all nodded, Kiri with a cold shiver. She remembered all too well looking down on her bombed-out apartment building from Logan’s cruiser—the explosion of the empty building had brought it all back.

“Good,” Bronc said. “Because none of us can leave. This complex is on complete lockdown for all—that way, no one can get in here, either.”

Kai opened his mouth, and Kiri put her hand on his arm. “It’s good to feel protected. Thank you, Bronc.”

He lifted his chin. “You’re welcome. Now I’ve gotta get busy.” He scrubbed one hand over his short hair and sighed. “Lots of law enforcement people to contact. Not gonna be pleasant.”

Kai shocked Kiri by asking “Can I come with you? I’ll … stay out of the way, but maybe I can help somehow.”

Bronc looked pleased. “Sure, come on.”

“See you later then,” Kiri said. She watched them stride away, then turned back to Logan.

He was watching her with a frown.

“I know you have things to see to,” she said. “Go do them. I’ll be fine.”

He came to her, and bent to give her a firm kiss. “See that you are.”

* * *

The rest of that day would forever be a jumble of images and impressions in Kiri’s mind. In the forefront of nearly every image was Logan.

Logan conferring grimly, with Joran, Creed and Bronc, but then turning to find her with his gaze. And relaxing slightly, as if she and Peabean were his lodestone. As if he could only relax if he knew she was somewhere near.

Logan, striding into the dining room of the penthouse at lunch time, everyone else already there, to give her a swift, warm kiss and then sit at the head of the table, the head of his family, conferring as they consumed another gourmet meal from Natan—although none of them paid much attention to what they were eating.

Logan, including Kai in their discussions of the increasingly taut situation in the city, treating her brother—who remained prickly and untrusting with him—as a valued equal. This made Kiri’s heart swell with tenderness,

Logan, visibly weary and tense as the day wore on, refusing to rest while the others monitored holovid screens from all over the city, showing an increasingly ugly scene of barricades going up and swarms of gangers roaming the streets. As the early autumn dusk fell, a few fires broke out, were quenched by police escorted fire cruisers.

The evening darkened into night, and while raucous parties were reported in the streets, there was no fighting.

“Quiet for tonight,” Joran said, leaning on the wall with arms crossed. “Tomorrow, we’ll see. Logan, you’re all in. Better get to bed, if you’re gonna be any good to us.”

“All right,” Logan said, rubbing a hand over his face. “I’ll take your advice, brother.”

He rose, and held out a hand to Kiri. She walked with him to the passageway outside their bedroom doors.

Bending his head, he gave her a soft, slow kiss that turned wet and deep. She leaned into him, her knees melting like warm butter.

“Sleep well,” he murmured, trailing his fingertips over her cheek and down her throat to her high collar. And then he left her there, biting her lip to stop from calling plaintively to him to come back.

She stared after him, bewildered, aroused and more than a little grouchy. How dare he tease her like this? She marched into her own room, yanking clothing off and flinging it onto the rack in her dressing room.

It was while she slipped her nightie on that an idea for revenge popped into her head. Smiling to herself, she hurriedly cleaned her teeth and face, and then crossed the hall. His door stood open a little way, as if he’d expected her to follow him. Well, fine, she accepted his challenge.

Slipping into his room, Kiri heard him in his lav. She sauntered across the room to the long cupboards on either side of his big bed. She had her hand on the left side one when he spoke behind her.

“Help you find something, kitten?” A dangerous note in his voice belied the politeness of his words.

She shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, since you’re not feeling up to ... doing anything, I thought I’d see if you had any of your toys here. I’m sure I can amuse myself.”

She felt rather than heard him close behind her, an electric charge of heat that shimmered down her back, bare in her brief nightie. She barely contained the shiver of pleasure and need that ran through her body.

“Only if you let me watch,” he said, his warm breath puffing against her nape. “That’s the only way I share my toys.”

“Oh,” she said, turning away with an effort. “In that case, I’ll just go.”

She made it only a few steps before the door slid shut across the room, locking with a solid snick. She turned on him, her hands fisted at her sides. “That’s the matter, Logan, can’t take a joke?”

His eyes narrowed, and he moved forward, stalking her with a smooth stride. “I do find you amusing, kitten. And maddening. And a pain in my ass.”

“I’m the pain?” She set her hands on her hips. “You don’t want to go there, Logan.”

He grinned at her, showing his teeth. “Oh, I do. I want to go everywhere with you. And I intend to ... now that you’ve finally gotten off your lovely ass.”

His arm shot out and caged her between the cupboard and the wall, his warm, smooth skin igniting a fire under her own skin.

She glared up at him. “You’re the ass. A skrog’s ass. And I’ve followed you half way across the galaxy, so don’t talk to me about getting off mine.”

“You did, didn’t you?” he said thoughtfully. “And I have to wonder why you’d do that, and then tease me by giving me a taste of you and then slipping away while I sleep.”

“Tease you?” Heat exploded inside her, so hot she couldn’t contain the flames. She slapped her hands on his chest and shoved, hard. He jolted back, then surged forward again, holding her there. “I was trying to take this slowly—do what’s best for me and Peabean. Of course you would think it was a tease, you—”

He dove at her, kissing her hard, his mouth surrounding hers and swallowing her words, drinking her fury like the finest elixir. Kiri fought him for supremacy of the kiss, shoving her hands up between them to grasp his head and hold him there. He slid his tongue into her mouth, then withdrew, and she chased it with her own, demanding a response, so angry she wanted—she wanted to ... she wanted the words. She pulled her head back, and glared at him.

“I’ve finally put my life back together after I lost you the first time, Logan. How do I know that won’t happen again?”

Logan lifted her with his hands on her waist, pressing into her with the length of his hard, hot body, his cock fitting perfectly into the furrow of her sex. Whimpering with shock and pleasure, Kiri lifted her legs and wrapped them around his lean hips, digging her heels into his ass.