Vin's Rules (Outer Settlement Agency), page 1
Vin's Rules
Outer Settlement Agency
Lyn Brittan
Published by Gryy Brown Press, 2015.
VIN’S RULES
The Outer Settlement Agency Series
Copyright 2015 © Lyn Brittan
www.lynbrittan.com
All rights reserved.
No part of this eBook or bound book may be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. This eBook/Book may not be sold or given to other people. If you would like to share this story, please purchase additional copies.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
***
Also by Lyn Brittan
Cape Elizabeth Series
The Prince
The Traitor
The Chosen
Alecto
Lightning Saga
Rafe's Reward
Qiang's Quest
Juan's Journey
Scott's Solace
Outer Settlement Agency
Solia's Moon
Anja's Star
Quinn's Quasar
Lana's Comet
Outer Settlement Agency Omnibus
Vin's Rules
The Djinn Series
The Genie's Witch
A Genie's Love
The Cowboy Genie's Wife
Waters of London
The Clocks of London
Standalone
Moonlit Embrace
Watch for more at Lyn Brittan’s site.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Also By Lyn Brittan
VIN’S RULES
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Thank you for reading. Visit http://www.eepurl.com/DP0Cv for new release alerts.
Further Reading: Scott's Solace
Also By Lyn Brittan
About the Author
VIN’S RULES
Outer Settlement Agency
By
Lyn Brittan
Website | Mailing List
Chapter One
“Have you rechecked your bearings?”
Vin Dhoma swore under his breath then lowered the shuttle somewhere in the 135th Quadrant of this lame-ass Jupiter moon. “I’ve been doing this a few years, lady.”
The raven-haired beauty rolled her eyes as her head snapped up from her omnitablet. No doubt her hand was tired from noting all of his so-called infractions. “You may refer to me as Inspector Ert’zod.”
“You sure about that? I thought Ert’zods were fun. Your family has pirates and sheriffs and... well... then there’s you. He flipped the dials as they touched the ground. “Why are you so average, Allie Ert’zod?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, I’m just saying that—”
“It’s against Outer Settlement Agency regulations to...”
Blah, blah, blah.
Everything was against regulation with this woman. She probably had him down for breathing wrong too. Since they’d started this trip, he’d been told that his shirt was too long, his flying was too fast, his earrings unapproved, and his language a “touch too coarse.”
Seriously, what the fuck?
“Are you listening to me, Dhoma?”
“Vin and yes.”
No, he wasn’t. How could he? All the words blurred together in a long string of: you’re doing this wrong, interrupted every three words with quoted regulation. Here he was just about to land a shuttle in the middle of a damn near jungle in a space the size of a bathroom. A little congratulations? Maybe a pat on the back?
“And furthermore...”
Nope.
She could have been his type. Curvy, just like he liked them—built to fill a man’s hands. Smart too. Damn, he loved a smart woman. Unfortunately, she was also a smart ass, and that he couldn’t deal with.
Fucking shame.
He sighed, lamenting the loss of a good body and a good mind to OSA’s Regulation Department.
The vessel landed with the barest of touches. Gentle. Easy. Fantastic.
Inspector Boring cleared her throat. “You forgot to check dash screens 426 and 13 for—”
“Lady, sorry, Inspector Ert’zod, I’m pretty awesome.” At her dropping jaw and rising eyebrows, he bit back his grin. “I don’t mean that to sound cocky. But I truly am.”
“Cocky?”
“Awesome. But I appreciate your attempt at humor. I do. It’s a step in the right direction. Now listen, you’ve got my file. You see that I’m one of the highest rated security guys in the Milky Way.”
“The regulations state—”
“Aww, here we go.”
Little trooper that she was, Allie Ert’zod ticked off a few more dozen things he’d done wrong. More, she’d stated her case. Again. That all upper level OSA had to be reviewed every few years. No one got to rest on their laurels within The Agency.
“Allie, I’m sorry.”
“Allison. I mean, Ert’zod. Just call me Ert’zod. I accept your—”
“I’m sorry that you’re not as cool as your father and grandfather. That’s really gotta suck. Note that in your little review too.”
***
She hated him. With every fiber of her being, she hated this man. How could one person not take anything seriously?
She’d grown up with fools like this. Now she had to monitor them. And of course, everything had gone wrong from the start. One of the quieter quadrants had suddenly gone too quiet. The government liked things peaceful but no requests for higher judgments on cases? Not a single petition for, well, anything? It wasn’t normal. OSA needed someone to check in on it and her most recent case, Vin Dhoma, volunteered.
He’d probably done it to try to shake her off. Good luck. Some familial traits had made it into her. Stick-to-it-ness chief among them. The result was that now she was in the back of beyond with a man too dumb and too cute for his own good.
So, okay, he wasn’t dumb.
And yeah, maybe she didn’t hate-hate him, but she had to nail this assignment. It was her first proper one, all on her own, and she had a reputation to uphold. Or rather, shoot down.
Whatever.
People had to know that Ert’zods were physically capable of following the rules. She’d perform brilliantly and dared anyone to stop her. Especially not this idiot.
“Why are you glaring at me? What did I do now?” he asked, rising from his seat.
“Uh, well, yes. You’re supposed to—sorry—could you stop piddling around while I’m speaking to you? Thank you. Now, you’re supposed to wait for contact before stepping out.”
The gorgeous blond flashed the whitest teeth she’d ever seen on a man. “Sorry, luv. Order fourteen, subsection nine.”
Her fingers flittered across her omnitablet screen to the OSA manual, and she clicked her tongue. Crap, he was right. This wasn’t a contact visit or a required one—both of which demanded immediate contact at landing. This fell under a special heading and therefore... “You appear to be correct.”
“Nice. How much did it hurt you to admit that, Inspector Ert’zod?”
“Let’s just get this over with.”
The man’s wide, muscled shoulders rumbled beneath his skin-tight blue shirt. He could at least have the good grace to hide his laughter. But no, that didn’t seem to be his style. Neither that man nor his choice of clothing hid much.
“You’ve gotta learn to relax, Allie. Tell you what. I’m going to check this place out. See what’s up. You stay here. Watch some funny programs on your omnitablet and try to be in a better mood when I return. Basically, do anything other than being you.”
“My job is to monitor. I go where you go.”
He raked his hands over his cropped hair and shook his head. “Too dangerous. I came here thinking to scare you off.”
“I knew it!”
“But... hey... but, since you had the nerve to stick around—and massive points for that—I need to keep you safe.”
“I can protect myself, Dhoma.”
“Vin.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and held up a hand in surrender. “There’s a good chance you’ll see some unregulated stuff.”
“I highly doubt there’s anything worse out there than you in here.”
“Look at you with another joke. Fun, isn’t it? And lady, for both our sakes, I hope you’re right.”
Chapter Two
They beat back rover-sized green and blue leaves as they exited the shuttle. The fool had not, of course, double checked the air before stepping outside. He even had the nerve to snort when she donned her envirosuit.
“You realize this place was terraformed a few generations ago. Take off the space suit.”
“Yes, Dhoma, I do. However—”
He shook his head and tugged on a leaf drooping down above him. “Regulations, I know. But as I am out of my suit and no
“You’re disgusting.” She turned in the itchy suit and, after another check of the air, removed the helmet. “Aren’t you the least bit concerned that no one has heard from these people in a few years?” she asked, wiping the sweat from her face.
“Yep.”
“So who’s to say that the issue isn’t environmental?” She peered around to see Vin opening a rear hatchway. “Are you getting the cyclerovers?”
“They come up with the dumbest names. Why don’t they ever just call something what it is?”
“It is a cyclerover.”
The man flashed a smile that made her almost un-annoyed by him. “It’s a flying motorcycle. Sounds cooler anyway. And to answer your first question—every sensor on the shuttle told us it was safe. Never mind. Regulations,” he said, air quotes and all.
Rules existed for a reason. For times like this. While he grunted in the back over something, she shed the rest of her suit and cross-checked all the flight data. This would all be sent to OSA automatically, but rules were rules and she always tried to follow them to the letter.
The most important thing she could do now was to be the prime example of correct behavior. That’s what he needed.
Swearing came through the hatchway of the vessel, punctuated with a few clanging tools. Allie dipped around to find a clench-jawed Vin bent over one of the cyclerovers. “Problem?”
“I like to curse and throw shit around.”
“I can help.”
“With sarcasm? No, thank you.”
“That wasn’t sarcasm. Or a question.”
“Oh, really?” His eyebrows shot up at that, and the unusual terseness melted from his face. “Are you about to do something awesome, Inspector Allie?”
“At least you got the inspector part right. That’s something.” She dropped to her knees next to him, ignoring the muddy sludge oozing through her pants. It took all of two seconds to spot the problem. She was the youngest in a long line of machinists. None of them scared of a little hard work on an engine. “The fuel core is—”
“Brand new.”
“Damaged. Maybe you’ve forgotten who my people are, but...” She wiggled out the subpar part and held it up to the light. “But we’re kinda known for this stuff. Exhibit A.”
She didn’t know what to expect, but Vin’s slow and crescendoing clap left her choking back a laugh behind her hand. Silly man.
And... well... go her.
She did a quick half bow and crossed her arms. “Thank you.”
“They didn’t teach you how to swagger at training, Allie.”
“Ert’zod and no, they didn’t. And I wasn’t swaggering, I just—”
“So it’s against regulation that—”
“No. Not exactly... forget it. I’m good with machines. Ert’zod girls are built like that.”
“Look at you. All cocky and cute.”
“Watch it.”
“I’m this close to breaking the other one.”
“You could, but I’d fix it and write it up in your report.”
“I will be damned.”
And this time, she didn’t hold back her smile. She found his deep, throaty laughter a little less annoying when she joined in on it. “We make a good team.”
Crap.
She opened up her mouth to backtrack, but he held up a warning hand.
“Don’t. This is called fun, Allie. I understand it may be foreign to you, but all kickass people do it. Enjoy it. Regulation 724.9 is very explicit in this.”
“Regulation 724.9 is very explicit about vaccinations.”
“You’re doing it again.” Vin clasped her hands between his. “Fight it. Fight the boringness that pins you down. Shake it off.”
“Stop.”
“Don’t let it take over. No! I see it in your face. Please, Allie—”
“Oh, get up, you big idiot. Let’s get this over with so we can go home.”
“Hey, Inspector Ert’zod?”
“What?”
“You’re smiling.”
“It’s the knowing and sardonic smile when you see someone about to fall on their face. My report on your behavior will be long and thorough.”
“Wow. Okay, you know what? I’ll take it,” he said rising and drawing her up with him. He dropped her hands too, but it didn’t stop the heat from his body from flowing into her own.
She ignored it.
Had to.
What she couldn’t ignore were his reddening eyes and swollen nostrils.
Allergies?
She’d only heard of them in training. Almost no one had them, least of all an OSA security chief. Unless...
He wiped his nose on his sleeve and knuckled his eyes.
Unless Vin was a Kin-humanoid. Products of too much gene manipulation and cloning, they had well known sensitivities.
But surely, he couldn’t be. Kin-humanoids had a tendency to look alike. But his face was angular, rather than soft. He was tall, and his ears weren’t too much different than...
“Are you clone-checking me?”
“No!”
He stepped to her toe to toe, his finger jabbing into her chest. “Because you don’t look like an Ert’zod, lady. You’re a little too dark, and your hair’s kinda kinky for that. Unless your Mama stepped out for a little—”
Her hand cracked his cheek. “I’m adopted. That matters crap all when it comes to family. Genetics has nothing to do with it.”
Vin smirked and eased back. “I know that. Do you have a problem with me being a clone?”
“No, but I’d appreciate if you didn’t use the c-word. Do you have a problem with it?”
He rocked on his heels and crossed his arms. The man’s smirk morphed into an outright grin. “Nope. How long have you been wondering?”
“About as long as you’ve been wondering about my skin color. Can we get back to the actual problem we have? The fuel core—we can’t fix it here. We should fly back and—”
But Vin waved that away. “Nah. That’ll take too long. Plus, it’s an unnecessary expense— and doesn’t OSA love to save money? I’m sure that’s in your files somewhere. Look, we’ll share the other rover. Unless you’re not professional enough to ride a vibrating machine with... I’ll stop.”
“That’s wise.”
“Because you have that look on your face.”
She popped one fist on her elbow and cocked her head to the side. A finger swirled around her face. “And what does this look say?”
“I don’t know exactly, but as I’d like to keep my testicles attached, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“You’re learning, Dhoma.”
“It’s possible. So then, shall we investigate?”
Minutes later, she was on the back of the vehicle with her arms firmly locked around his waist. There had been a minor scrambling over who got to drive, but as he’d been annoyingly pleased to point out, Vin was the one with the most senior objective.
And the one best able to handle any oncoming threat. He punched in the coordinates to the center of town, and off they went.
Even that small task he managed to do with flair—including a waved hand and a wink tossed over his shoulder.
The guy never let up. Whatever. She turned to focus on the world before them and not the man in her arms.
The cyclerover’s enviroshield provided a barrier between them and the rushing landscape outside it. This place was lovely—some of the best terraforming she’d seen. Trees reached up to the sky, and the grass bobbled to and fro.
Every so often, something marred their beauty. A patch of white. A fungus, perhaps? Those were few and far between, though, and instead she focused on the vibrant people-sized flowers that waved as they passed.
The cyclerover weaved and dodged massive tree trunks for an eternity before the forest gave way to open fields.
Vin’s words came back clear and crisp in the enviroshield. “That’s not good.”
“I think it’s beautiful. Do you see something strange?”
“Same thing you see, Ert’zod. Fields. Only they ought to be full, according to the data specs.”
“Maybe there was a contamination or something.”
The cyclerover slowed at Vin’s command, and he turned left for a better look. He pointed to the brown, nearly black soil. “That dirt’s rich with nutrients. You don’t need to do a soil sample to see it. What you don’t see are machine tracks. Over there, everything’s overgrown. Check that. It’s grew and rotted on the vine. It’s going to waste. Something’s wrong here.”
