Free Code Zero by Jonathan Maberry

stir.
    A soft sound, warm and vulnerable. A rustle of sheets as she turned over, then the deep, slow sound of a sleeper far below the surface.
    He didn’t look at her, preferring instead to remember the way she looked last night. She’d flown into town on a private jet from Atlanta and showed up in a black dress that clung to her curves like a second skin. The delight in peeling that faux skin from her, revealing an electric blue push-up bra and matching thong. Those were probably downstairs with the rest of their clothes. They’d been naked when they made love on the stairs, and in the hallway, and here in the bedroom.
    God, he’d been a lion last night. A tiger.
    A beast.
    He made her scream when she came, and when he came inside her the first time he roared like the beast he was.
    That’s how it always was with her.
    It was never that way with his wife.
    She was a cold fish who had be stoned or smashed before she spread her legs. And the world would have to be burning down to its last hour before she’d open those thin and prissy lips to give him a blow job.
    He wondered if he she knew he was cheating on her.
    Probably. Probably felt relieved, too. The more ass he got elsewhere, the less often she had to act like a sexual being.
    Anger began to creep into his mood and he forced it down, letting memories of last night wash it out of him. He turned and leaned on the window frame to watch the woman sleep. Silky black hair spilled around her like fine lace. The curve of one shoulder and one breast, a nipple that was surprisingly dark against the soft golden tone of her skin. He was glad she didn’t dye her nipples like many Asian women did in the belief that it would be more appealing to white men. Collins thought she was perfect the way God made her. Appealing to each one of his five senses.
    Not bad for the ego, either.
    Though he had to wonder if he was a bigger ego hit for her than she was for him. Vice president of the United States. Even if she couldn’t tell anyone, she knew she was banging the guy who was one heartbeat away from being the most powerful man in the world. A man who had, in fact, been the president twice. Once when the president had bypass surgery, and then last year, during the abduction thing.
    Collins had tasted that power. He had become addicted to it, and he did not apologize to himself for that addiction. It would have been a greater lie to tell himself that he didn’t need or want that power again.
    Goddamn right he did.
    Wanted it, and would have it.
    The anger crept back into his veins, and this time it took hold. It changed the color of the sunshine to an ugly brightness, and transformed the birdsong to irritating noise.
    Collins felt his mouth curl into a snarl.
    He pushed himself away from the windowsill and crossed to the bed, caught the edge of the sheet and whipped it away. The noise and the sudden air shift snapped the woman out of her sleep, and for a moment she recoiled, cringing, her hands instinctively moving to cover her cupcake breasts and smudge of ink-black pubic hair. Then she saw him and her sleepy confusion changed into something different. A smile that was as sly and old as all the corruption in the world ignited fires in those eyes.
    “Well,” she said slyly, moving her hands and rolling onto her back, “good morning to you, too. You look like you’re ready to take a bite out of the day.”
    He grinned down at her, leered at her. Wanted her. “So do you. And it’s a big damn day for you, sweetie.”
    “I know. I have to get back to Atlanta,” she said. A shadow passed through her eyes when she said that.
    “You okay?” asked Collins. “Having second thoughts?”
    The woman took a half beat before answering. “No. It’s just that once this match is lit, this is it. There’s no turning back.”
    “I know.”
    “And we might not see each other again.”
    He gave her his best smile. “Sure we will.”
    “When?”
    “When the game is reset.”
    She shook