Open Arms by Currie Evan

Author:Currie, Evan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-10-09T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

“Wow.”

Grant tipped his head in acquiescence. “She does clean up reasonably well.”

Eri snorted. “You have a talent for understatement, as always.”

Grant sighed, knowing his employer too well for his own comfort. “May I please beg you to be careful, sir? She is armed. You do realize that, I hope?”

Eri laughed. “Of course she’s armed, Grant. If she weren’t, I wouldn’t let that woman in the same room with me. I would assume she was trying to get me to drop my guard.”

Grant sighed, closing his eyes. “As you say, sir.”

The object of their attentions had just entered the grand ballroom of the Red Room, flanked by a rather nondescript human on her right and the Xeno on her left. Grant was mildly irritated to note that the Xeno had clearly been better fitted for his suit than the human. It was a small thing, but it hurt his sense of propriety all the same.

With them on either side of her, the woman in question looked all the more striking in the flowing red gown they had provided to her. She had a dusky skin tone, normally matched only by those who worked in the sun most of their lives, but unmarred by the leathery look that generally followed.

As she walked, his sharp eyes were able to just pick out the dark of the gun holster he knew was attached to her following leg. She was leading with the bare leg, letting that show through the split of the dress and effectively distracting most of the assembled crowd’s attention from the big gun on the other.

Grant had to give her credit for that. If she’d been in his employ, he would have been inclined to increase her pay and give her much tougher assignments. As a potential adversary, however, he found himself concerned as to what she was going to bring down on all their heads.

“Have me introduced,” Eri ordered.

“Yes, sir. Just a moment and I’ll fetch Ranger Dalton.”

*****

Sorilla’s eyes swept the room, implants again recording everything and everyone. The faces here were more likely to be influential on the colony’s culture than the random sampling she’d grabbed earlier.

Most of the people she scanned were automatically registered as green threats, unarmed by any means she could tell. There were several yellows in the crowd, but it was the red threat levels posted around the perimeter that she considered the only real problems, despite not wearing her armor.

She spotted Dalton speaking with a man she didn’t know, then the pair of them crossed the room to a third and all three turned in the direction of herself and her companions.

“Heads up,” she said softly. “Unless I miss my guess, this is our host approaching.”

Kriss and Strickland shifted in her peripheral vision, both falling back a couple steps as she forced a smile and took the lead again.

It was far from the first time, even as a sergeant or earlier. She had often been the first point of contact with people her teams had to deal with.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.