Double Helix Ch. 13

I laughed nervously at that, careful not to key the mike, but he continued to speak. "I know it's a lot to ask, but I think we should do everything we can to preserve this knowledge."

Tilly reached over and keyed the mike herself. "I'd be happy to," she said. "I have a business address in Portland where you can ship the equipment, if you can manage to get it past customs."

"Are we sure we want to do this, guys?" Wendy asked.

Tilly turned to her, holding down the transmit button for the others to hear. "Yes, I do. Most of the information relating to my model was confiscated by the government. We can't get that back, but I'd like for my model to survive if something should happen to me."

"What do we really have to lose?" Nock asked. "We're already wanted for crimes against humanity just for existing. What's a little illegal gene sequencing and data sharing going to matter?"

"He's right," I said. "Anything that increases our risk of getting caught, we should avoid at all costs. Other than that, who the fuck cares if we break every law in existence?"

"Well said," one of the faculty from São Paulo said. I realized that they had all heard Nock's and my words.

"Hear, hear," Brian in Zurich said.

"Viva la revoluciòn!" someone shouted.

"Calleuque el loro!" Catalina shouted back. In a calmer voice, she went on, "Sorry, all. Someone here got a little excited."

"It's fine, Cat," Nissi said into the mike, laughing. "Revolutions are often sparked from a single act of disobedience, and this is one hell of an act. I think some exuberance is called for."

I thought about that statement as the conference wound down. I had considered our actions since leaving Seattle to be little more than reactions to a dangerous and rapidly changing situation. But this computer network was taking on a life of its own, evolving in ways we had never anticipated in the beginning. Gathering and preserving knowledge of the existing genetic models through dissemination was truly a finger in the eye of the people in power who were working to undo the progress that genetic engineering had made over the last several decades.

"I don't usually like meetings," Nissi said, turning to me, "but that was fun." She leaned in as if to give me a kiss, but stopped just short. "I think I need to write a song."

"A love song?" I asked.

She tapped my nose. "No, silly, something inspirational. You can come help."

"I would, but I'm going into town. Maybe later?"

She mock-pouted, and I took the opportunity to kiss her bulging bottom lip. She then turned into a full-on makeout session, interrupted a few moments later when Wendy began making exaggerated gagging sounds and collapsed on the carpet.

"Grow up," Nissi said, shaking her head at Wendy lying facedown on the floor, pretending to twitch and retch.

"Make me," Wendy said, and resumed her act.

Stansy walked over and stared down at what was apparently left of Wendy in disapproval. "You weren't vomiting a few nights ago when you told me my cousin Daniel had a cute smile."

Wendy stopped abruptly, stood up and crossed her arms. "I said nothing of the sort. I said he had nice teeth and a symmetrical face and that I might actually find his appearance alluring if I paid any attention to that sort of thing. But alas, I know nothing of the ways of human attraction."

"Oh, so then I probably shouldn't bring up what you said about his ass being probably very cute?"

Wendy's eyes narrowed to slits. She dropped into a deep lunge and moved her hands menacingly. Her voice lowered to her best approximation of a growl. "So, suicide by ten-year old girl? Is that really how you want to go? Come get what's coming to you, freakishly large lady."

I stood, ignoring the continuing jibes between the pair, and squeezed Nissi's hand. "I'll be back before dark."

"Stay safe in town, okay?"

"I'll be fine," I promised.

I pulled out my phone to scroll the contacts as I opened the front door. I reached to pull it shut, but a hand caught the edge before I could grasp the handle.

"Hey," Tilly said, stepping out onto the porch and closing the door behind her. "You're going to get plates for the truck? Mind if I tag along?"

"Uh, yeah. I mean, no, I don't mind. You can ride with me."

Tilly and I had not been physical since the once in the back of the stolen truck. Until now, I couldn't recall a single time that we had been alone together since that day. We had an unspoken understanding. Though I did not know where things were going with us, for now, I wanted to keep things quiet.

I got into the delivery truck, which still had Washington plates but I figured was less likely to be traced than the stolen pickup. Tilly climbed in on the passenger side as I started the engine. It was an unusually muggy day, and the air conditioning on the old truck had given out sometime before it ever came into our possession. We both cranked down the windows to counteract the stifling heat that had been trapped in the cab.

I drove in silence down the dusty driveway to the country road the fronted the farm. When I glanced to my right to check if the road was clear, I caught Tilly staring.

"Sorry," she said. "Just thinking."

"Anything you'd like to share?"

She sighed. "I've missed you." Before I could inquire further, she said, "How have things been with Nissi?"

"Good," I said. "Things have been good."

"But you still care about me." It wasn't a question. Tilly knew. She probably knew more about how I felt than I did.

That was all we said for a while, as we made our way into Corvallis. I put my blinker on at a beat-up stop sign, took a left, and spun the wheel quickly to guide the truck into the narrow space of an alleyway that ran between two old buildings. I coasted to a stop at a large metal roll-up door painted with the words "Jay's Auto Service and Repair".

We got out and I rapped my knuckles three times on the door. Half a minute went by and there was a clunk of metal on metal and a squeal as the door rolled upwards. A man stood there, dressed in a beige jumpsuit with the name "Greg" stenciled on the front. He was bald and had a thick, gray-streaked beard. His eyes widened at seeing Tilly, but his attention quickly settled on me. "You him?"

"Yeah, I'm here for a set of plates," I said, recognizing the description I had been given. "Andy said you got them today."

"Come on in," he said, waving us inside. He led us to a back office and a set of two filing cabinets along one wall. He picked through to the back of one and retrieved a manila envelope, from which he removed two Oregon license plates. "These came off a junked F-250. It's got almost a year left on the registration. Model year probably won't match, but that shouldn't be a problem unless you really get yourselves in trouble and somebody runs the VIN."

I took the plates from him and saw that they had current registration tags. I had already set up electronic payment to an anonymous wallet through Andy. These plates had cost us $1200, but it was worth it to have a second working vehicle, one that wouldn't come up flagged as stolen if the cops ran the plates.

Greg tapped one of the plates. "You did not get these from me, understand?"

"Yeah, sure," I said. I wondered idly if Greg would still be willing to do business with me if he knew I was wanted for murder.

"Thanks for this," Tilly said, shaking his hand.

He grinned, showing a set of slightly yellowed, but straight, teeth. "By the way," he said, still hanging onto Tilly's hand. "Are you and the young fellow there...?"

Tilly glanced at me and I watched her skin tone subtly change. Her cheeks colored ever so slightly and her lips darkened. Her mouth quirked into a flirtatious smirk. She turned back to Greg. "Oh, him? He's got a girlfriend. Why do you ask? Are you looking to cut in?"

"Ah, well," he said, his smile widening. "Funny you should say that. I was just wondering if you like to dance."

"Oh, I don't know," she said, glancing at her feet. She was smiling when she looked back up. "I've never tried. But I'm a quick study."

"You should come out again next Sunday. There's a bar down the street that does ballroom dancing. I'll even buy you a dress if you need one. You can meet me here at the shop at five."

Tilly extracted her hand delicately. "I might have to take you up on that, Greg."

"I didn't catch your name, Miss...?"

"Matilda. You can call me Mattie, if you like. I have your number. I'll let you know if I'm free."

"We should get going," I said. My voice felt strained with the effort to keep my tone civil.

We got in the truck and I looked over to see Greg still watching after us with a faintly dumbfounded expression. I started the truck and maneuvered into the alley. "So, what was that about, exactly?" I said, trying to keep my tone light.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean toI upset you," Tilly said.

"I'm not upset."

"Yes, you are." Quickly, she added, "And don't get mad at me for saying that. You can't lie to me, Norm."

I stewed in silence. Tilly could be damned frustrating to talk to. "Okay," I said at last, "I admit it. I was jealous. So why did you do it?"

"Alright. Reason number one. Greg, if that's his real name, is very close with someone who works for the state of Oregon. Those plates came directly from the DMV. The envelope came from the main office in Salem. That person, whoever they are, is willing to lie and steal for kickbacks. We could use an Oregon driver's license for you. Hell, it probably wouldn't hurt to have new ID's for all of us."

"Fair point," I admitted, "but couldn't we just pay him?"

"Reason number two. We need to know how far we can trust this new contact. If you were part of the criminal underworld and someone came to you asking about fake IDs for half a dozen people, what's the first thing you would suspect?"

I nodded. "I would guess that that they were genemods. And the reward for turning in a genemod is a hundred grand."

"Right. That's a lot of money for a small-timer like Greg. If I go dancing with him, I can ask a few discreet questions and gauge how well we can trust him. Oh, speaking of which, let me borrow your phone."

I handed my phone over with a frown. Tilly punched a few buttons and put the phone up to her ear. She smiled as she began to speak. "Hey, Greg, it's Mattie again. Aw, that's sweet of you. Listen, I have a favor to ask. I lost my driver's license a few weeks back, and it just occurred to me that I'll need ID to get into that bar, but I can't make time to get to the DMV this week. Yeah, I figured you could. Really? That's great. Yeah, I can get you a picture tomorrow. Are you sure it's no trouble? Okay, then, I'll see you Sunday."

"Just like that?" I asked, raising a brow at her.

"Being female and cute does have its perks. He didn't even ask for money. This way, we'll get a sample and we can verify whether it really is a valid license."

"Wait, how did you know he would ask you out to a bar?"

Tilly shrugged. "I put the idea in his head when I mentioned him cutting in. If dancing weren't his thing, I would have suggested going out for a drink. In any case, it worked like a charm."

"I can't deny that. Anything else?"

"Reason number three. I felt sorry for the guy. He's been through at least one divorce and he was awfully attracted to me." I prickled and Tilly sighed in reaction. "Don't worry, Norm. I'm not going to sleep with him. I'll dance, maybe have a few drinks, but I won't lead him on. You trust me, don't you?"

I glanced over at her and saw that she was watching me intently. "He's probably thirty years older than you, you know."

She laughed. "What are you going to say in thirty years when you're pushing sixty? I'll be fifty, but I will still look the way I do now."

"That's different," I grumbled. It was a disconcerting thought, though. Even assuming we all lived that long, what would compel them to stay when they remained youthful and beautiful?

Tilly broke my reverie. "Hey, turn left up there, will you?"

"Why?" I asked, but moved over into the turn lane all the same.

"There's a hotel a couple blocks down."

I thought to object, but Tilly sensed my mood and guessed what I was going to say. "You're tense and irritated. Your system is probably flooded with cortisol. You need to relax. I've got plenty of padding in the greenhouse budget. When was the last time you and Nissi had sex, anyway? Four nights ago?"

Of course Tilly heard everything, no matter how hard we tried to be quiet. There was no sense being embarrassed about it. "Yeah, I think so," I admitted. I had been more and more busy of late, speaking with our contacts in the underworld, arranging meetings, and helping everyone else out with little tasks when they needed it. On top of that, I had taken it upon myself to fix up the house and other projects. I had been clearing away a lot of the old tools and equipment in the barn to make room for our vehicles inside. The past two nights, I had collapsed into bed after a hot shower and gone to sleep almost immediately.

"You should try not to deprive Nissi. I could feel her disappointment oozing right across the hall last night after you started snoring. You need to take care of your woman tonight or she's going to start to make her displeasure known."

I pulled into the hotel parking lot and drove towards the back of the lot, feeling suddenly reckless for going through with this afternoon booty call. The truth was that my stomach was fluttering with excitement. It was just too risky for me and Tilly to do anything together at the farm, and I was hungry for more of what I had experienced with her in the back of that truck. Nissi should be enough, a small voice whispered in my head.

"I'll be right back," I said, and yanked the parking brake on. I paid in cash at the front counter and went back to the truck for Tilly. We entered through the side door. It was the middle of the week and early afternoon, so there was hardly anyone else in the building. The carpets in the hallway were garish and worn, but when I opened the door the room smelled fresh.

Tilly wandered in ahead of me to inspect the accomodations, her body and her movements utterly feminine yet grounded in humanity and all its little flaws. Where Nissi was grace personified, Tilly was merely elegant, but that too, made me desire her all the more. They were both more than human, but I cared for them deeply and in their own way.

"I love you," I said.

Tilly paused in her sauntering walk and she cast a lazy sidelong look over her shoulder. "Even though I feel it when you look at me, and your heart quickens, or your breath has that little catch, I still love it when you say it out loud."

My heart was beating fast now as I strode over to her with purpose. My arms encircled her waist and I bent my head. Strands of silken brown hair brushed my cheek. My lips touched her neck and she quivered and pressed her body back against me. My hands slid up her body to her full breasts and cupped them, gently but firmly, eliciting a moan from her.

"You're making me wet," she murmured.

I groaned in sudden need and turned her around to kiss her fully, deeply on the lips, my hand still squeezing and caressing one breast through her blouse. I fumbled one-handed at the button on her jeans while she unclasped my belt. By the time I got the thing undone, she had already opened the fly on my slacks and she reached inside to encircle my cock with a warm and delicate hand.

"I need you now," I said, drawing back slightly to watch her, still close enough to feel her breath on my lips.

She opened her eyes and gazed back into mine. "I'm yours, Norm." My cock was rock-hard as she stroked it lightly with her fingers. She leaned in to kiss me, her lips parting to invite me inside. I clawed at the buttons of her blouse. It was a wonder I didn't tear it in my rush to get it off. I pushed it off of her shoulders and slid her jeans down over her hips. She stepped out of them, but before I could do more,she slipped from my grasp.

She didn't go far, lowering herself to her knees in front of me. My slacks came down and Tilly bobbed forward, catching my cock neatly in her mouth. The warm, liquid pleasure made me sway as my knees threatened to give out. Her eyes were twin pools of wonder and admiration as she met my gaze and held it. Soon, they were lidded in pleasure as the attention she lavished on me was reflected back to her.

It was different than the last time we had done this. That had been frantic, needful, driven by adrenaline and frustrated desire. This was far more sensual and erotic, with her lips, her tongue, and even her teeth drawing out my pleasure in long, teasing strokes. I put one hand on the back of her head, as I had often done with Nissi, but remained still, letting her control the depth and speed of the penetration. Her mouth felt heavenly on my cock.

I stopped when I felt the tension that signaled I was getting close. I was about to tell Tilly what I wanted her to do, but she rose without a word, mounted the bed on hands and knees and lowered her head to rest on her forearms. I could see that her panties were, indeed, soaking wet.

I took my time undressing, admiring her prostrate form, letting her hear me and anticipate what was to come. Once I was naked, I moved to the bed. I let my fingers trail up her thighs before hooking them beneath the waistband of her panties. I tugged on them and she helped by moving her legs and twisting her rump from side to side that was more than a little suggestive. I moved in close and nuzzled the inside of her thighs. Her scent, so close and rich, was intoxicating.

Her whole body shuddered when my lips touched her pussy. "Yes, you want it so badly," I whispered, and she moaned as my breath tickled her swollen mons. A drop of clear liquid trickled down her leg. I grinned, revelling in her reaction, in my control. "Tell me what you want, Tilly."

She grunted, a frustrated sound.

"What's that?" I said, my lips giving her sex the slightest touch. "I couldn't hear you."

She spoke haltingly. "I want you to-to lick me."

I ran my tongue up along her pussy to the baby-soft skin of her perineum. She let out a sound that rose in pitch, fading to a soft, strangled moan as I drew back. I dove in again, pushing my tongue into her damp folds, caressing them with my lips. Her breathing came faster, her moans growing longer and louder.

I could have let her come. A few more strokes with my tongue would have done it, but I had other plans for her. As I licked upwards, I continued on past the top edge of her pussy, across her perineum to the divot of her ass. She gave an "oh" of surprise but made no move to stop me. Like Nissi, Tilly's digestive system was sanitized, and I tasted nothing but the slight salt tang of her skin. I thought that I would rim her for a bit, let her come down from the edge.

But it was Tilly's turn to surprise me, as I could tell by her reactions that she was once more climbing towards orgasm. The thought so intrigued me that I didn't back off and deny her, as I had intended, but continued to pleasure her ass with light touches of my tongue, punctuated by teasing penetrations with the tip of my tongue. The climax that I was expecting did not come, but the tension continued to build ever higher, making her shake and squirm from the sheer intensity of it. She cried out wordlessly, caught somewhere between ecstasy and agony, unable to crest, but unwilling to stop.

I was very nearly to the point of putting an end to it with the flick of a fingertip across her clitoris, when she stiffened and made a sound that was somewhere between a whimper and a moan. I stopped, lifting my head to get a look at her. Her eyes were shut tightly and her mouth opened and closed as though trying to form words.