Free Scarlet by Jordan Summers Page B

forgotten me already? Did our time together mean nothing to you?" He laughed, pain evident in the sound. "I heard about your affair with Morgan Hunter and I don't care. I forgive you."
     
    Shock silenced the food dispensing station.
     
    Her eyes widened. Who was this guy? What was he doing in Nuria? She was positive she'd never seen him before, but that didn't stop a blush from spreading over her face. She didn't need this. Not with everything else. "Listen, mister, I think you have me confused with someone else," Red said, ignoring everyone around her.
     
    He closed the distance between them. She could see his fingers tremble as he reached for her and the uneasy waver in his gaze. Red's hand moved to the laser pistol Morgan had given her.
     
    "There's only one Gina Santiago," he said. "I should know, I've made love to you often enough."
     
    "What?"
     
    Gasps peppered the room. Red could see stunned faces in her peripheral vision. She'd been shown little respect before this man's arrival. This would take weeks to straighten out, and that was only if she could convince everyone this man was a liar. They wouldn't be able to smell it for themselves with the food masking his odor. They wouldn't want to, even if they could. It was easier to believe the worst. She hadn't smelled his lies until she'd gotten close to him. And there was no doubt he was lying. The proof oozed out of his pores. This had gone too far. Whomever this man was, it was time for him to leave.
     
    'You're coming home with me now." The man grabbed her. His grip firmed, pinching her skin. He was stronger than she'd anticipated.
     
    Red didn't think. She reacted. Her pistol was out of its holster before the next breath left her lungs and shoved deep between his ribs.
     
    "I don't know who you are or what game you're playing, but I'm giving you one chance, and one chance only to leave town." She dug the weapon in deeper and he winced in pain.
     
    "Gina. please." he pleaded.
     
    "Stop calling me that. You have no right. You don't know me. The fact that you're calling me Gina is proof. And I sure as hell don't know you. I rarely forget a face, especially one I'm about to blow off."
     
    He whimpered like a wounded animal. "How can you say that?"
     
    "Get out," she hissed, pressing her thumb on the scanner in the handle of her pistol. The gun began to charge. In a second, it would be ready to fire.
     
    The man swallowed hard and released her. "There's no need for violence. I'll go, but I haven't forgotten the promise you made."
     
    What was he talking about? "What promise?" she asked, knowing she wasn't going to like his answer.
     
    'That you'd love me, and only me, forever."
     
    "Get the hell out of here. You're insane."
     
    The voices around them rose. Exclamations of continued shock and disappointment roared through the crowd. Red heard more than one "told you so" muttered and the click of several comlinks. She ignored them all, keeping her eyes trained on the man she knew she'd never met until this moment.
     
    He left reluctantly, looking back over his shoulder more than once.
     
    When the door shut behind him, she strolled back to her table where Raphael was waiting.
     
    "Interesting . . . Who was that?"
     
    "No idea." She shook her head. "I've never seen him be-fore today."
     
    "You sure he's not from your IPTT days?" he asked.
     
    "Positive. Most of those people ended up dead."
     
    "That was quite a show he put on," Raphael said, sitting back to look at her. "Most convincing."
     
    "Yes, it was," Red agreed, glancing back at the door. "Too bad no one but me could smell the fear and lies in his sweat." Red holstered her gun and sat back down, then ran her hands over her face. "Now the question is, who benefits from his performance?"
     

chapter seven
    Night descended upon the Northern Hemisphere, but did little to relieve the heat. The sun might not be out, but it was still hot enough to make the mountains sweat. The cooling unit in my