Final Protocol Read Online Free Page B

those clothes, everything about him was golden. Hair, eyes, skin, all golden, like kir, the potent liquor brewed in the back alleys in this quadrant.
    The kir was safer though. You might end up so intoxicated that you’d get robbed blind and never remember anything of the past night, but with Gold? You could lose your soul—and you’d remember, regret every single moment. And sometimes, you’d lie awake at night, burning to feel it again, even as you hated yourself for it.
    I knew it from experience. He was an addiction I’d suffered from for more than ten years and I still hadn’t been able to kick the habit. I’d do it soon though. This would be my last taste. And maybe he’d make it easy. Maybe he’d be in the mood to bring me pain on his own. That made it easier. Pain was so much easier to ignore than pleasure.
    Today, he wore all black, the fine silk clinging to a long, lean body, stark in its simplicity, and foreboding, if you knew enough about him.
    Gold was a fickle bastard, and a showy one.
    He dressed to suit his moods, and it wasn’t unusual to see him strutting about like one of the peacocks you could see in the New Earth zoos, populated with animals from Old Earth. Just like the exotic birds, he liked color and flash, going with bright hues that set off his extraordinary eyes and gleamed against bronzed skin. More than a few people had mistaken his affinity for luxury and taken him for an easy mark. More than a few of those were dead.
    Today, he wore all black and it served as a warning.
    But when he met my eyes, he smiled.
    I didn’t let myself move. Didn’t let myself respond. Part of me still hoped I’d get out of here without hating myself all over again.
    “You failed me, Silence,” he murmured. He reached up and stroked a finger down my cheek.
    “I explained the circumstances,” I said, keeping my voice steady.
    “Hmmm.” He slid a hand around, his fingers idly probing the spot at the nape of my neck. To some, it might look like a lazy caress. To me, it was a dire threat. The bioseal was buried there, inside my brain matter, locked within me.
    His hand fell away and he looked over my shoulder.
    And even though he’d done this more than once, even though I’d suspected he’d do it again, there was no time to brace myself.
    The biotronic system was too fast to evade, and in a heartbeat, I was trapped in what looked like a gossamer web but felt like bonds of ’stene. As it tightened around me, I sucked in as much air as I could, expanding my rib cage. Once, he’d done this and it had wrapped around me so tightly, I’d thought I’d smother.
    But that wasn’t his torture today. It stopped when it had me restrained, and Gold went about stripping my weapons away.
    Biotronic arms slid out from behind me, grabbing the weapons from him and whisking them away. He found every last one, including the garrote I’d tucked inside my collar, every last dart I carried on me and the stunners. There was a small glass vial of poison and he took that, holding it up to the light and studying it before turning it over to the biotronic arms. In moments, he was done and I felt stripped bare.
    I’d rather have weapons and be naked when I had to deal with him than have no weapons and face him like this. Bound and trapped.
    “One might think you didn’t feel safe coming to see me,” he said, studying me from under the thick fringe of his lashes.
    “Safety is an illusion with you.” I clenched my hands into fists. If I could get free, I could kill him with my bare hands. I knew how. He’d seen to that. Even though it wouldn’t be as easy as I’d like, I thought I could do it.
    His eyes glinted as he lowered his head. A smile curved his lips. He knew what I was thinking.
    The bastard.
    Evil, smug bastard.
    His hands came up, pushed into my black hair. He tangled the short strands around his fingers and tugged, pulling my head back until I looked up at him. “You are as safe with me as you choose to