Read Bianca D'Arc for Free Online Page A

were inside
and had coasted out into the stream of traffic in the station’s
zero G transport system.
    Lila slid into the cramped pod and Chip took
his place beside her, crowding her. The pods were sufficient for
two civilian sized people to fit comfortably, but this civ station
didn’t take soldier size into account. Only the biggest and baddest
from each human planet, colony, or station went into the military.
Soldiers were head and shoulders above most of civ men and military
stations and ships took that into account. Not so, the civ
stations.
    Which suited Chip just fine in this
situation. He most definitely didn’t mind getting close to Lila,
even if it was just for a short hop from ring to ring ensconced in
a private pod.
    Chip input her destination into the onboard
computer manually.
    “You know where I live?” Lila raised one
eyebrow in question when he turned to look at her. There wasn’t a
lot of room in the pod for his shoulders, so he lifted one arm over
her to settle along the back of the seats.
    “I know all sorts of things.” It was one of
his typical noncommittal answers, but he softened it with a grin
that she seemed to respond to. The charm offensive was still in
full force and she’d softened toward him over the past few
days.
    He told himself it was for the good of his
mission, but really, he just wanted her to think well of him. Chip
didn’t examine his reasons too closely.
    “I’ll bet you do,” she responded in the same
teasing spirit as she sat back, appearing more than comfortable
with his arm nearly around her.
    She surprised him by taking a small device
out of her pocket and switching it on. It was a scrambler that
would shield their conversation from any eavesdropping device,
should there be one in the pod. Chip knew there wasn’t, but he
couldn’t tell her how he knew, so he let her continue as she
was.
    “Bjornson and Beezus met briefly tonight,
just outside the entrance. I saw them through the panel in the
door, but it was too fast for me to run in and focus the outside
pickups on them,” she said quietly.
    The mood turned serious in a heartbeat. He
didn’t bother asking her why she hadn’t alerted him. There’d been a
lot of people in the bar tonight, including almost the entire group
they’d identified as being involved with the conspiracy. They’d
been watching him—and every patron of the bar—as hard as he’d been
watching them. The conspirators were getting more edgy. That wasn’t
a good sign.
    “What did you see?”
    “Bjornson passed something to Beezus when
they shook hands. It couldn’t be seen from the hall, but through
the door panel, I could see a slip of bright yellow between their
palms. It seemed like luck that I would see it, but I’m not sure…”
she trailed off.
    “You think it was a set up? Maybe they want
to try to trick you into revealing yourself?”
    “It’s possible, but my other senses tell me
no.” She bit one corner of her lip, looking absolutely adorable,
even though her gaze was clouded with concern.
    He’d read her file—the parts that weren’t
heavily redacted—and he knew enough by now to listen when she had
one of her feelings.
    “Clairvoyance?” He still wasn’t sure he
believed in such things, though Lila’s sister had given him
information years ago that had saved his life.
    “Not exactly. No. I get feelings about truth
or falsehood. I can usually tell when someone is lying or using
subterfuge and whether it’s benign or malevolent. In your case, I
sense whatever you’re hiding, it’s mostly benign, so I don’t make
anything of it.” Her gaze challenged him but he did his best not to
react. “When I first saw Bjornson, my senses screamed at me that
something was very wrong about him and his motives. He was lying to
everyone he talked to that first time in the bar, when I was still
waiting tables close enough to hear some of their conversation with
my own ears. I stumbled a few times. Dropped things. That’s