On The Imperium’s Secret Service (Imperium Cicernus) Read Free Page A

have a great deal of work to do.”
     
    But it could be worse, Mariko told herself firmly.  It could be a great deal worse.

Chapter Two
     
    The air was hot and muggy, smelling of burning hydrocarbons and cooking mixed together into an unpleasant stench that pervaded the capital city, but it seemed heavenly compared to the prison.  They hadn’t been allowed to shower, let alone wash themselves thoroughly, and Mariko was painfully aware of her own smell.  The prison had been so bad that she’d worried that they might catch something their enhanced immune systems wouldn't be able to handle.  Now...
     
    Lord Fitzgerald didn't seem to notice how badly his slave girls smelled, but Mariko knew that they couldn't go into public smelling so badly, or everyone would be staring at them.  It was bad enough that they had just walked out of jail with a man wearing clothes from the heights of society...she shook her head, smiling at herself.  She should be grateful that she was alive, if not free.  At least they weren't being marched to face Carlos’s tender mercies.
     
    “I think we will make a brief stop at my hotel and then go shopping,” Lord Fitzgerald said, once they had climbed into a taxi.  The taxi driver seemed about to object until Lord Fitzgerald waved a sheaf of local currency under his nose.  Imperial Credits from Homeworld would go a long way on a third-rate planet on the edge of the Imperium.  “I trust that you have no objection?”
     
    Mariko winced, inwardly.  They were slaves, little better than the Indents who made up most of the labour force along the Rim.  What would it matter if she objected?  “No, Milord,” she said, glancing over at Mai.  Her sister was staring at their buyer with wide admiring eyes.  He’d saved them both from a fate worse than death, after all.  “We do need a wash.”
     
    The Hotel Imperial was easily the most expensive hotel on the planet.  She’d looked at it, trying to determine if the exchange rate between local currency and their small collection of various other currencies made it possible for them to stay there, but it would have been too expensive before they made several other shipping runs.  Lord Fitzgerald, on the other hand, would have had no problems paying for a week’s accommodation at the luxury hotel.  Mariko fought down a flash of envy as the taxi stopped outside the building, allowing them to walk inside and up a flight of stairs that led to a vast suite of rooms.  How could one man need all of that space?  She could have landed a small freighter in his suite without scraping the walls.
     
    “There are towels and soup in the bathroom,” Lord Fitzgerald said.  He seemed oddly concerned for them, in a high-handed manner that Mariko wasn't sure she liked.  Maybe he was just taking care of his investment.  “Wash yourselves clean while I give your clothes to the chambermaids to wash.  We can burn them once we find you some new clothes.”
     
    “Thank you, sir,” Mai said.  She started to undress right in front of him.  Mariko caught her arm and dragged her towards the bathroom, hoping desperately that Lord Fitzgerald hadn't wanted a show.  The guards had made it clear that slaves had no rights.  Even the customary legal protections accorded to indents, protections that were often simply ignored, didn't apply to people sentenced to involuntary servitude.  “Mariko...”
     
    “We’re not safe yet,” Mariko hissed at her sister, the moment she closed the bathroom door behind them.  “We don’t know what he wants, remember?”
     
    She sighed as Mai finished undressing and stepped into the shower.  Her sister was beautiful, her body showing hints of a more mature beauty to come when she finally grew up, yet she was now nothing more than a slave.  And even though she wasn't a slave to Carlos, she had little hope of escape.  Lord Fitzgerald could use them in any way he wanted and they would have no grounds to