Nexus Point by K. Pimpinella

Author:K. Pimpinella [Pimpinella, K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

28

MISSION: DAY THREE

Sawyer entered the village of Dumont the next day, where he was immediately surrounded by the owners of local inns and taverns. They greeted him at the gate, soliciting their businesses without compunction. Sawyer smiled down at one of the tavern girls, obviously sent out to garner his attention by the way she filled out her dress and reminding him of Aurora coming to his father’s apartment wearing only her trench coat. It seemed like ages ago.

He tied off his horse at the closest stable to the The Boar and entered. Crowded and loud, with cigarette and pipe smoke hovering like a low-lying cloud beneath the oak ceiling rafters, the tavern was everything Sawyer remembered. Except for the patrons. Most of the boisterous customers were too lavishly dressed for such a hole-in-the-wall drinking establishment. Women wore fine silk gloves, men wore long, embroidered coats, and the wigs were atrociously too high or too long down their backs.

After Sawyer had shovelled in more rancid stew and drummed his fingers on the table for a few hours, his team finally arrived along with Santiago. “Checking up on me, Lieutenant Commander?”

Along with Perry and Hawk, she sat and crossed her hands on the table. “From what you described at the asylum, I thought you could use the help. That’s all, sir. Unless, of course, you prefer to do everything yourself? You shouldn’t have gone …”

“Can it, Lieutenant Commander,” replied Sawyer. She’d just arrived and was already trying to undermine him. “I’m in charge, not you.” He sat back to study her better and noticed her costume.

She was dressed in a gown with layers of silk embroidered skirts and petticoats puffing up her dress, and a pair of thinly soled shoes peeked out the bottom. She must have seen Sawyer staring, for she raised her eyebrows and scowled. The dress and wig covering her short haircut gave her an entirely different visage. Again, Sawyer thought back to Aurora and her long blonde hair and easy smile that had initially captured his interests.

“I needed a disguise,” she said, breaking him from his musings. “And without Acclimation to costume me, I didn’t have much choice but to steal some clothes from a nearby estate. That’s why we’re late.”

Perry and Hawk stifled grins.

“I am so tired of this!” she yelled, stuffing the extra dress material between her legs to sit on. Before she said anything further, she yanked the thin shawl draped over her shoulders across the high bodice, which made her breasts look like they were spilling out. “Eyes front, soldiers.”

She reached for the pitcher of ale sitting on the table, blew away the strands of the elaborate wig, which had fallen in her face, then drank straight from the pitcher before slamming it back on the table.

“You look very … refined, Lieutenant Commander,” said Perry.

Santiago glared at him. “Shut it, Specialist. It’s all I have.”

Perry cleared his throat in an obvious attempt to steer the conversation in the proper direction. “What are our

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