Scorpio

Chapter IX

Zirconia was standing in an empty hallway under a brass lamp. Killian was next to her. She leaned against the art deco wallpaper. Her pointy toed snakeskin pumps dug into the plush carpet. Her arms were crossed over her empire-waisted turquoise chiffon gown, and the gold bangles on her wrists reflected the dim light.

Down the hall, a rectangle of light promised frivolity and gaiety. Other dinner guests were laughing, eating, and drinking as they sat around circular tables set with silver flatware and blood red tablecloths. Lobster claws crackled as some of the guests crunched into the exoskeleton with rubber-handled clamps. The sounds of champagne flutes clinking and wine corks popping beckoned them to rejoin the party.

Another woman dressed in a black mermaid gown, her hair swept into a fancy updo and held in place by a pearl clasp, sashayed out of the ladies' room. The woman passed by Zirconia and headed back to the charity dinner.

Probably more eager to get her hands on some business cards and the caviar than to reach her hands out for the starving kids in the developing world, Zirconia smirked to herself.

She waited for the woman to disappear back inside the dining room before speaking.

"Everything good?" she asked.

Killian stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, that little Ned pulled through, according to the guy he reports to."

"He has the balls after all," she sneered.

"Oh, yeah. Really freaked that dude out. It's the freshies that are the most creative sometimes."

"Do you think he'll actually follow through?"

"What other choice does he have? That's been the rule for generations."

"Hmm..." She tilted her head up and pursed her glossy lips. "I don't think he's the type to stick it out until the end."

"Why not?"

"I think he's the type to try to wheedle his way out of things, I think he isn't that cold-blooded."

"He's followed protocol so far," he argued.

"Yes, but so far, nothing serious has been thrown at him," she pointed out.

A man walked towards them, in a beeline for the marked mahogany door across the hallway. Zirconia grabbed her boyfriend's arm and spun him around to face her. She pretended to dust invisible intruders off the shoulders and lapels of his immaculate, dry-cleaned virgin wool suit. She adjusted the silk handkerchief—turquoise, to match her dress—that was sticking out of the front chest pocket in a crisply folded triangle.

The man entered the restroom, and she returned to her original position, pushing Killian back against the wall with her.

"Think about his track record when things turned serious," she said. "Think about why he's recruiting in the first place. He's not the type to stick a sticky situation out."

"Then why the h—— did you have me go through all this trouble?" his eyes flashed icicles in the warm lamplight. "If you never thought things would work out."

She laughed once. Her golden dangly earrings trembled. "I never said things wouldn't work out. You shouldn't doubt me."

The man exited the room across them. The mahogany door swung shut. Zirconia leaned into Killian's neck. She whispered into his ear while the man made his way back to the party.

"Not everyone is as docile as your pet snake," she said.

"This whole situation is getting on my nerves," he growled in a low voice.