I promised to give you a sneak peak of Immunity Cage, my work in progress. Below is part of the opening scene where I introduce the protagonist, Jian Rohansi, a genetically modified human. Warning: This sneak peek shows a ménage situation that is important to the story. This is the only scene in the book that has any on-the-page sex. I think it’s tastefully done, but if this kind of thing is likely to offend you, don’t read on.
Immunity Cage Opening Scene: Introducing Protagonist Jian Rohansi, Genetically Modified Human
It was never a good thing when Jian’s slate chirped in the middle of the night. Right now, with reports of a possible novel virus popping up among the beleaguered populations of Europe, it was especially not-good. His last call-up had been less than a month ago, and even though it ended up being for a flu bug that petered out before gaining any kind of traction, it had still kept him away from home for over two weeks. He wasn’t ready, emotionally or psychologically, to go back into isolation.
Another chirp. Heart pounding, he jolted out of bed and made it to the other room, his mind already conjuring the worst. Danica’s sleepy murmur and Cullen’s low reassurance followed him. Snatching the slate off the dining room table, he saw who was calling.
Shit.
Before he could connect the call, there was a banging at the door. His heart kicked and overstrung nerves fired painfully.
He stabbed the connect-button. “Rohansi here.”The banging intensified.
Barrick Dono’s face looked out of the screen at him with an expression that was somewhere between stern and exhausted. Dono was Director of Heredis Corporation’s Genetically Modified Human division, the person with ultimate responsibility for both Jian’s work deployments and his wellbeing. He started to say something and then paused. “What’s that noise?”
“Someone’s at the door. Just a minute.” Jian pulled up the security feed. It showed four grim-faced men out in the foyer, dark military-style jackets and quasers much in evidence, fanned in front of the unit’s entrance.
“That’s your escort.” Dono rubbed his eyes as if he hadn’t slept in a long while. “Let them in.”
Cullen appeared at Jian’s elbow and nudged him back toward the bedroom. Get dressed, he mouthed. He had taken the time to pull on pyjama bottoms, which was more than Jian was wearing.“
Wait.” Jian closed his hand around Cullen’s arm while scowling into the screen at Dono. “My escort for what? What’s going on?”
Dono shut his eyes and expelled a shuddering breath. Then his features settled into hard lines. “We have a sample of the European virus. It looks bad. Adenovirus, designation Ad101-A. You have to come in.”
It was exactly what he’d expected, but it didn’t stop the familiar flash of adrenaline from rocketing his heart all the way into fight-or-flight. Adenovirus was airborne. The index case had been diagnosed in Paris less than ten days ago. Two days later, there had been cases erupting throughout the city, and hundreds had died. A week later, it was showing up across the EU and Britain, helped along by populations from southern Europe and Africa that had been pressing northward for years, trying to escape the baking drought and record temperatures that made the summer resort areas of a hundred years ago unlivable. The sea wall breaches in London, Amsterdam, New York and dozens of other coastal cities on both sides of the ocean had probably lent a hand, too. The warming trends and glacier melt were beyond the humanity’s ability to reverse, now.
Cullen pried the slate away from him and shoved him, this time. “Hello, Barrick,” he said to Dono, taking over the conversation. “This couldn’t wait till morning?”
Jian shut the bedroom door and brought the lights up to a dim glow. Dani was sitting up with the bed-covers pooled around her waist. It was too dark to see the red of her hair, but the moonlike glow was enough to reveal the slim, ethereal beauty that marked her as a Modified. Her field ruffled with concern. “Is it a call-up?”
He nodded. “I have to go right away.” He went to the closet and rummaged for something comfortable to wear.
Voices drifted from the living room. Usually Heredis Corporation sent a single security person and a driver. Four security guards was over the top. He wondered if he’d missed something during his evening web-crawl for disease outbreaks.
Dani climbed out of bed and pushed him out of the way. Picked pants off a hanger and went into a drawer for a dark tee shirt, tossed them onto the tantra chair. Her field hummed along his edges, synchronizing unconsciously with his–she had no conscious awareness of fields like he did, no one had. Sheer instinct had her picking up on the uneasiness he was trying to hide and dampening it under her own offering of comfort, love, distracting need. “You can’t leave without a proper good-bye.” She took his hand and tugged him toward the bathroom.
He followed her because he couldn’t not. He made a half-hearted attempt at reason. “Sweetheart, there isn’t time.”
“Then you’d better be quick.” She claimed his mouth and backed him into the warm mist.
And he went, already too aroused to do otherwise, the whole thing made worse by the thudding pulse of her need, her field an aurora of desire, of Sex… Wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, she nestled her buttocks into his hands and let him lower her onto his hardness.
This was how it was in a Triad. Each one of them part of a whole. They were missing Cullen, and Jian had to be careful not to spill too much of the joining over to him; Cullen was holding the outsiders at bay for them. But even with just the two of them, this moment, now–the breathless arousal never got old: fields lapping against each other, emotions resonating and bodies striving, the crescendo of pleasure blurring boundaries and making hearts pound in unison…
Panting, Dani lowered her feet to the wet acrylic, kissed him hard, and shoved the sponge at him. “Alright, mister, you’d better hustle.”
He left the bedroom short minutes later with towel-damp hair and a calm in his core that was Dani’s gift. Strode in and found Cullen engaged in frowning conversation with one of the guards.
These weren’t his usual bodyguards. For the first time he realized they weren’t even Heredis Corporation guards. The black uniforms were Federal Security, which made his gut crawl with unease. Their fascinated attention fixed on him as soon as he appeared, and then on Danica who’d stopped in the bedroom door, wrapped in her robe and toweling the wet from her hair. She and he shared the same darkly shaded eye-markings. He’d been told those kohl-dark lids made them look even more exotic than the usual Genetically Modified Human. It was at times like this that he envied Cullen his lack of distinguishing marks; it was easier for Cullen to blend in. Without too much effort he could pass as a Normal.
Cullen looked up and saw him. “Excuse us for just a moment.” He moved away from the group and came to Jian. His field was shrunk tight with concern. He handed Jian back his slate.“What the matter?” Jian slid the unit into his pocket.
“They’re taking you to the new federal facility.”“Why?” Heredis Corporation had its own facility for immunity trials. It was where he’d been going since he was a kid.
“Politics. Management argued against it but had to give in.”
Which explained Barrick Dono’s earlier slumped demeanor. Dono would have been the one raising the objections.
Jian took in the contracted tightness of Cullen’s field. Cullen was concerned. Deeply worried. Wrapping his fingers around the back of Cullen’s neck, Jian drew his head close so their foreheads touched. “’New’,” he said, low, “means it’ll have all the latest bells and whistles. Stop worrying.”
“It’s never been used for an immunity trial yet. The personnel are inexperienced.”
“Well, I’m very experienced. I’ll whip them into shape, don’t you worry.” It was an effort not to let Cullen see his unease. Cullen and Dani suffered enough during his absences. He always made a point of burying his own misgivings deep enough that neither of them would ever guess how scared he was. Not because he could die; he’d grown used to that fear long ago. But afraid for them, if he should die. These periods of being away were torture for all of them. Triads were fashioned to be together. He and Dani and Cullen, they were three parts of a single whole. If he died…He couldn’t bear to think of them having to deal with that.
He kissed Cullen’s forehead and then his lips, cupped his bearded cheek, and let him go. Glanced back at Dani with a reassuring smile.
And turned his back resolutely on both of them. He never looked back when he was leaving on a call-up. It was hard enough to see the worry in their fields, and maintain the pretence that he was as blind to fields as everyone else. He wouldn’t be able to bear it if he saw it in their faces.
They surrounded him, these Federal Security men, and ushered him out into the foyer and over to the elevator. Their fields jumped and twitched with a mix of alertness and self-importance. This night-time assignment was a big deal to them.
The elevator whisked them all the way down to the underground garage. At three in the morning, the space was deserted save for the rows of caged vehicles tethered to blinking battery chargers, and three bulldog-weight vans parked in a row on the exit ramp.
“This way.” A stocky man led him to the middle van. The back door was already open, and Jian slid in beside another guard who was sitting on the far side of the bench. Stocky Man moved in behind Jian so he was hemmed in on both sides. The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror, nodded vaguely, then ignored him. His partner in the passenger seat was talking code into a slate. No one else spoke. Within moments, the four-man escort had dispersed between the remaining vans, and the convoy was moving.