~ The Guardian Of Her Heart ~

by

Tamia Dawn Osburn

Blade leaned back in a wooden chair. The pub was dark and smoky and the music was loud and ear-splitting. Topless dancers slid down a metal pole in the middle of the dance floor. He paid them little mind while he waited for Barrick to show up for this meeting. Barrick was already an hour late and Blade was beginning to feel restless. He tilted his head back as he drained the rest of Earth’s whiskey down his throat, hissing between his teeth as it left a burning path down and into his stomach. He slammed the shot glass on the black-glass top and groaned.

The bartender glanced over his shoulder at him. Blade shook his head, pushing the glass away from him with his fingers. He let out a deep sigh pushing away from the bar and spun side to side as the topless girls danced around the pub. Their breasts were painted with various colors and patterns, hiding their nipples from the men’s view, leaving them to wonder what they had hidden under the colorful paint.

Blade glanced away from the women as his green eyes scanned the patrons, searching for Barrick. The man hadn’t come in yet, and Blade was beginning to worry when a lone blonde-haired woman stepped into the pub with hesitating steps. Her eyes raked over the men who were too busy watching the dancers. Then her eyes looked right at him, then past him. She looked as out of place as he did. Blade turned away from her, missing as her eyes flew back to him and she smiled. She pushed her way through the crowd of men ogling the strippers toward him.

Sitting down on the empty stool next to him, she made sure her arm touched his. Tobi kept her eyes straight ahead of her when Blade looked down at her with surprised eyes. Her breath caught in her throat at the jolts of electricity shooting from him, searing her skin. Her heart began to beat at a fast tempo just as when she saw his picture in the file. Tobi wiped her sweaty hands along her denim shorts, inhaling several deep breaths. I’ve been in dozens of pubs but not with a man like Blade Mathews. I need to concentrate on this mission, she told herself with a stern voice.

The bartender stepped up to her. “What’ll be?” He leered down into her face.

“Just plain water, please.” Tobi replied, hating the way her voice sounded so deep and husky. She swallowed past the lump in her throat, not understanding why she was trembling inside or the way she kept fidgeting as the bartender turned away from her. Tobi had done this a thousand of times and she couldn’t understand why she was hesitating. Looking up at the man sitting next to her, the smile froze on her face. Quickly she turned away from the man. He’s better looking in person then in the picture in the files.

“You don’t look like the type to be visiting a place like this,” Blade muttered, turning his gaze down toward her again and smiling. He didn’t know why he’d asked her the question; it slipped from his mouth before he could stop it. Turning away from her before his mouth got him into any trouble, he glanced over his shoulder, searching for Barrick, again. The man still hadn’t shown up yet. What’s taking him so long? Blade asked silently with a shake of his head.

“I usually don’t but I was thirsty and it’s hot as Hades out there.” She pointed over her shoulder at the door to make her point. Her body began to relax but her heart was still beating rapidly. Flutters began to swirl around in her stomach and it clenched. Tobi pressed her trembling hand over her stomach, hoping to stop the fluttering. It didn’t stop. Why is this happening to me? she asked herself--think of the mission.

Blade nodded his head as his hands wrapped around the empty shot glass in front of him. She reached up to throw her hair over her shoulder and sighed. Sweat coated along her skin, it was hot as Hades outside with three suns hovering over the afternoon sky. She lifted her thin-strapped white shirt from her chest and waved it in front of her, trying to cool her burning face.

Blade’s body began to tremble with desire for the woman sitting beside him. He turned away from her as the bartender set down a large glass of ice water in front of her. He waved his hand, indicating that he wanted a refill of whiskey. The bartender nodded his head as he turned to lift a large brown bottle from the shelf behind him. He refilled the glass then set the bottle down.

“What about you? You don’t look like the type to be in this kind of bar either!” she asked Blade after she took a deep gulp of water. She sighed as she set the glass down and turned to him.

Blade tilted his head back as he downed the shot, then slammed the small glass down on the table. He breathed in deeply as his throat burned from the whiskey. He looked down at the woman sitting next to him and his heart began to beat wildly. Blade sensed something in this woman and he couldn’t figure it out what it meant. Shaking his head he looked over his shoulder, looking for the man he was to meet. His hand tightened around the shot glass.

“I’m here to meet someone and he’s late.” Blade muttered, looking over his shoulder again. “And here he is.” Blade stood and made his way through the crowd. He shook hands with the smaller man with graying hair before he pointed to an empty table in the far corner of the room.

“Damn. This isn’t going as I planned it,” Tobi muttered as she spun away from them. This was the first time out on a mission, when her plans weren’t going right. She needed to get Blade out of the pub and into the open where she could get to him. Wracking through her brain, she tried to think of some way to get him off this planet. Drumming her fingers on the table, she looked over her shoulder at Blade with the other man. They were talking, rapidly. The man slipped an envelope across the table, toward Blade. Blade picked it up, peering in to it. Pushing away from the bar, she walked out. “There’s only one way to get the man,” she sighed when she stepped out of the pub.

Blade watched the woman leave the pub. He palmed the envelope off the table, peering inside of it and tucked it in his black leather pants’ pocket as he stood. He nodded his head at Barrick then stepped around him.

“It’s been a great pleasure doing business with you,” Barrick stated and grinned at Blade from across the table. Barrick stood and walked around the bar to where the ladies were dancing.

Blade scratched his chin, trying to decide if he should follow the woman or not. She piqued his curiosity. Blade pushed through the crowd and out the door. The blonde was walking across the dirt path in determined strides.

He kicked at a small stone before he looked up as she disappeared around the corner of a single story building made out of scrap metal. He started after her as he tucked his hands into his pockets.

Blade paused as he came around the building. His eyes landed on a ship as he searched for her. “Where did she disappear to?” he asked himself quietly, then he stiffened as he felt something cold and metal at his back.

“Don’t turn around,” a soft female voice spoke in his ear. Her breath at the back of his neck sent shivers dancing down his spine. He couldn’t sense any real danger from the woman behind him.

“Don’t move,” she ordered again in a determined voice. He knew that voice. It belonged to the woman from the pub. His spine stiffened and he inhaled a sharp breath while his heart began to pound in a fast tempo. He couldn’t move; there was a laser pressing into his back. His eyes closed briefly then he opened them when the laser pressed deeper into his muscle.

Tobi looked over her shoulder, feeling she was being watched. She placed her hand on his back as she shoved the laser deeper into his spine.

“Move,” she said softly, turning her gaze back to him.

“You said not to move,” Blade replied, trying to even out his breathing. He was wondering why this was happening in the first place and who this woman was.

“I don’t have time for games. You’re coming with me,” she spoke harshly, pushing his back, trying to get him to move.

“Is it the money in my pocket? You can have it.” Blade started to lower his hand to reach for the envelope containing the money.

“It’s not the money I want, but your life,” Tobi spoke, pushing the laser harder into his back. “Let’s go,” Tobi ordered, pushing her hand into his shoulder, again, to get him moving. She looked over her shoulder then started moving him away from the building toward her ship that was waiting for their arrival. The hatch opened for them.

“What’s going on?” Blade murmured, hesitating at the bottom of the ramp. His heart beat as he looked up into the small scout-ship.

“I don’t have time to explain everything right now. If you want to live, you better get on this ship,” Tobi muttered and shoved him up the ramp.

Blade stumbled at the bottom of the steps, then righted himself and started up the ramp. Tobi paused at the bottom of the ramp when she felt a slight brushing in her mind. She frowned and a crease formed in the center of her forehead. She turned around to search the area behind her when a hand grabbed her neck and her laser was yanked out of her hands. A hard-male body was pressed too close behind her. She was backed up the ramp, the hatch closing in front of her.

Her arms were shoved behind her back as she was led down the short corridor and into the control room. Blade held her laser in his hand, aiming it right at her. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded through his teeth. He was acting harsh and didn’t like this one damn bit. Gritting his teeth, he stared down into her face.

“I’m here to save your life. Someone wants you dead.” Tobi spun around and began the sequence for lift-off.

Blade felt the slight vibrations under his feet. He couldn’t believe what she’d just told him. The laser lowered to his side as he reached up to press his hand on his forehead while he looked away from her. “Who?” he asked softly, looking back down at her with wide green eyes. “Who wants me dead?” he gritted through his teeth.

“Damn it, I don’t have time to go into details right now,” she muttered, as the ship began to lift off the ground. Turning in her chair, she faced him when she spoke, “If you must know, I was paid to do the job.”

Blade jerked his gaze away from the keyboard toward her. “You were paid... to kill me?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His mouth dropped open as he stared down at her, clearly stunned by what she’d just told him. Shaking his head, he tried to clear the troubled thoughts swirling through his mind.

“You’d better sit down and strap yourself in. This is going to get really intense.” She pointed to a chair beside her, telling Blade to settle himself in.

His head was whipped back when the ship shot through the clouds and into space in a matter of seconds. He’d never heard of a ship that could travel this fast. “Who the hell are you?” Unstrapping the harness he stood, his voice harsh as he spoke. He pointed the laser at her, eyes hard and fierce; his body shook with anger.

“Tobi Wright. Commander Tobi Wright of the Confederation Security Personnel.” She stood and faced him, looking him in the eyes as pride shone in her gray eyes. “I’ve been working undercover for the past two years searching for a man named Jim Grogan, former president of Earth. He paid me to assassinate you and a man name Kai Morgan. Why, I don’t know, I have yet to figure that one out and he never told me why,” she stated before she sat back down in the pilot’s chair and put in a call through to the Colonel.

Blade sat back down in the chair he’d vacated moments ago. “He’s still alive. After two years, he’s still alive. That son of a bitch.” Muttering in awe, he stood then started to pace around the ship in a daze. I can’t believe Jim Grogan is still alive, after all these years, Blade silently told himself, staring ahead of him with unseeing eyes.

Even after two hours of puttering around her ship and past one door he couldn’t get into, he was still in a daze. “We have to go to Paradise. Inform Kai that there’s a mark on his head.” Blade spoke for the first time in two hours as he sat across from Tobi in the galley.

“He’s already been informed.” Tobi replied, spooning cold beef into her mouth.

“You already informed him?” Blade asked, staring at her with wide green eyes.

“The Colonel already informed him, yes,” she answered while tossing the empty plate down the trash-recycle bin, then resting her hands on her hips.

“I still want him to hear it from me. Get this ship on a course to Paradise,” he ordered her through thin lips.

“Look, I am ordered to get you to Danonia right away before someone else goes after you. As far as I am concerned, Kai has a security team of his own who is more than capable of watching him. Right now I need to get you to a safe house until this job is over,” Tobi told him in a stern voice as she gazed into the swirling green depths of his eyes. Inhaling a shaky breath, she forced herself to turn away from him. Throwing her hands in the air, she growled with agitation.

“I understand,” Blade murmured, spinning on his heels, storming out of the galley.