Free Bait by Viola Grace Page B

teeth. It was a skill she had learned in her years as an Enforcer. Many races took the baring of teeth as a threat display. “I wish you a good journey when your time comes.”
    “Thank you. Why do you find yourself here this evening?”
    Billie cocked her head while she contemplated her answer. “I have been sent on a recruiting assignment. It is not a comfortable thing for me, but it is my duty, and I will see it through.”
    “Do you have a mate?”
    More gazes from those at the captain’s table eyed her speculatively.
    She cleared her throat. “I do not. It is not practical for an Enforcer to have a spouse. We travel extensively and are often in danger. It is not fair for our loved ones to wonder if we are coming home.”
    The emissary accepted the answer and turned conversation to a more neutral topic.
    Billie welcomed the discussion of the funding of the Sector Guard, counting the days until she could get off the Heko Mor and onto Chysan.
    One could only stand so many formal dinners after all.
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
     
    Her feet touched the tarmac of the Chysan spaceport with relief. A man was there to greet her, and he smiled with similar relief.
    “Enforcer Praco. Thank goodness you arrived on time. Our leader has been most eager to meet with you.”
    She inclined her head. “That is why I am here. Is there somewhere I can freshen up?”
    He grinned, and she looked up at his ridiculously handsome face. Her brain sighed happily, but she throttled down her hormones. It wasn’t her job to seduce twenty Oefric, just recruit them.
    He took her duffel and led the way through the spaceport, standing by while she was checked through customs and biologic-import control.
    Billie stood still while the scanners ran over her from head to toe, recording her biological processes and making sure that she wasn’t carrying any infectious agents.
    The agent administering the test was precise and thorough. A few UV flashes and she was good to go.
    Her escort loaded her into a skimmer and sealed the top a moment before the skies clouded over and opened up.
    Billie smiled out the window at the natural rain. It had a different scent than the precipitation manufactured by machine and chemistry.
    “We are very excited to have you here, Officer Praco.”
    She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”
    He coloured, and she took in how very young he seemed. His body was adult by any stretch of the imagination, but he had the behaviour markings of a teen. “Really. We were worried you would not be here in time for the reception.”
    “We?”
    “The support staff for the clan chief.”
    His lips tightened as if he had said something he shouldn’t have, but she couldn’t imagine what it had been. Nothing in his words sent off warning bells in her mind.
    The rain was heavy, and it kept her from seeing the view, but her ears popping told her she was heading uphill.
    Absently, Billie adjusted her uniform collar and touched the coil of blonde braid that she had fiercely confined. If she was here as bait for the Oefric to find working with the Alliance enticing, she wasn’t going to make it obvious.
    Her escort hadn’t introduced himself, but she had bigger things to worry about as they slowed in front of a huge building, parking under a canopy that led to the interior of the archway.
    He lifted the duffel and helped her from the skimmer. Her hands were slightly clammy when she realized that her assignment was about to kick into high gear.
    Billie’s talent for being attracted to danger had gotten her this far, but she knew that eventually her luck was going to run out. As she walked into the shadows of the huge building, she had the suspicion that that moment might have come.
    A mature woman stepped out to block her path. “Officer Praco. I am Kadahr, the clan chief’s event organizer. Please come with me.”
    Surprised, she looked to her escort, and he bowed shortly. “Your bag will be in your room. You will be in