Mr. Dark 5 (Tamed #5)(15)

I stayed where I was, knowing that if I stood up my already painful erection would become even more visible than it probably already was. Sophie leaned down and gave me a peck on the lips, then whispered in my ear. "Later tonight, my love. I promise you that."

I nodded and watched as the two beautiful women turned to leave the living room. "For what it was worth, it was a hell of a show," Tabby said to Sophie as they walked away. "I hope I only paused the action, and didn't cancel it."

"Tabs, it would take wild horses, an ice storm, and probably the sun exploding to totally cancel it," Sophie replied. "Trust me on that."

"You still haven't given me all the details," I heard Tabby joke. I couldn't hear Sophie's reply, but Tabby's reply of "whooo-oooo-oooo" certainly did wonders for my self esteem.





Chapter 7





Sophie





The next day, Tabby and I went shopping. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the sort of shopping trip that she and I had indulged in when we were students.

"I can't even pronounce some of this stuff," Tabby said as she looked at the list Mark had given us. "Is this in Latin?"

"Not quite," I replied with a laugh. "It's just chemistry with a good smattering of brand names thrown in. Remember, you majored in business, I majored in medicine. I got exposed to a lot of this stuff during my undergrad and medical classes."

"So what is all this stuff supposed to make, anyway?" she asked, as she ran her finger underneath the third ingredient on the list. "And what is di-methyl-po..... I dunno?"

"Well, depends on what you want to use it for," I replied. "From what Mark told me, he's going to use it to make a bomb."

"A buh...?" Tabby said.

"Not a buh, a bomb," I said, unable to resist indulging in the classic corny joke line. Tabby also had a chuckle before I continued. "It's part of Mark's plan. To really keep the Confederation confused, each of the four eliminations we're making are going to be done in different ways. Han Faoxin was hand to hand. Illuysas Petrokias by long range shot. The next two are going to be done by bomb, and by poison."

"Which is what we're shopping for," Tabby said. "I don't think they have this sort of stuff over at Wal-Mart."

"You'd be surprised," I said in reply. "Actually, other than one or two things that Mark wants me to get at a medical supply place, we can get most of it at Home Depot."

"Really? I would have thought that it would be harder to get the stuff for a bomb or a poison."

"It is, normally. But so much of the regular world runs on chemicals nowadays, its impossible to control fully. Did you know that the difference between aspirin and LSD is really only a few molecules?" We pulled into the parking lot of the Home Depot, and got out. "And that you can, with a few interesting additions you can get from here, you can convert one into the other?"

Tabby shook her head, and looked at me, impressed. "I guess you learn something new every day. It's going to be fun working with you guys. You ever whip something up just for fun?"

I shook my head. After one time being slipped some Ecstasy at a dance party that had left me with a splitting headache and not much else, I didn't mess with mind altering chemicals. "Nope. You?"

Tabby grinned at me as I shut off the engine. "Hell no, it's too much fun being me most of the time. But I gotta keep my eye on my staff, you know. After all, I already found you trying to have sex in my entertainment room."

"Were you not entertained?" I replied, causing her to laugh and blush at the same time. Since staying with us every day other than work, Tabby had returned to her former self, although there was still an undercurrent of seriousness that hadn't been there before. In some ways it was refreshing, but still I missed the irreverent girl she'd always been.

The inside of the home center was cavernous, and I tried to think back to the last time I had been inside such a place. Finally it came to me, it had been when I had needed to get some plaster patch for Tabby and my dorm room after she and a nighttime visitor had gotten a little too enthusiastic, and had put two divots in the wall above her headboard. I'd also bought a pair of foam pads that had been taped to the headboard to prevent further incidents, which Tabby had gleefully left there for the rest of our time living together.

Our first stop was in the car supplies, where we picked up road flares, some power steering fluid, a jug of antifreeze and a canister of refrigerant for air conditioning. After that we went over to plumbing where I got a jug of industrial strength drain cleaner, before swinging through the kitchen section for a hand mixer, and then finally picking up a five pound can of honey roasted peanuts next to the checkout. "What are the peanuts for?"

"I'm hungry, and they are awesome in homemade peanut butter," I replied. "So I decided on the really big can. Besides, looks a little better this way, doesn't it?"

Tabby thought for a moment before grabbing two root beers from the cooler next to the register. "No, now it looks better. Root beer goes great with peanut butter."

The rest of our shopping went equally smooth, with at each of our stops Tabby or I added a few other items to make it look like we weren't just shopping for chemicals. Still, it took half a dozen stops to complete our errands, and it was already early afternoon by the time we got back to Mount Zion. "You have a lab here?"