“All done?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
Her partner nodded.
“Now we only have to hope that Gozeriam is asleep so that we can search the vid chest behind the stage and get the snuff film.”
“We’ll get it.” Cassie snapped her fingers. “It’s as good as ours—let’s go!”
Forty-Nine
“We need to find a way to get to the backstage area where they store Gozeriam’s vid chest without anyone on the stage seeing us,” Stone said. “But I am not sure if that is possible.”
“The Beast said this is the time when Gozeriam and his guards sleep,” Cassie pointed out.
“I very much doubt they all sleep at the same time,” Stone said grimly. “Gozeriam would be leaving himself open to a considerable security risk if at least one of his guards did not keep watch.”
“And all it takes is one to wake him up and sound the alarm.” Cassie frowned thinking hard. “Wait—what if we try the lights?”
“What?” Stone frowned, clearly not following her. But Cassie was already trying her plan.
Tapping the wall beside her she murmured, “By the order of Xempi Gozeriam, take me to the backstage area of the throne room.”
At once a tiny white dot lit up on the wall and soon it was followed by another and another.
“There we go!” Cassie grinned up at her partner. “I knew that light trick Gozeriam’s head writer told us would come in handy at some point.”
“Excellent thinking.” Stone gave her a rare smile. “Come on—let’s follow the dots.”
The lighted dots led them to a small door which opened into the backstage area. The curtain was down, which meant they had no idea if Gozeriam and his guards, who were on the other side, were sleeping or not, but they didn’t hear any noise of talking or conversation, so Cassie hoped they were all taking a nap.
“There, I see it,” she whispered, pointing to the large chest—which looked like something an enterprising pirate might store his booty in. It was sitting beside the curtain, just waiting to be plundered, Cassie thought.
“I’ll go,” Stone murmured but Cassie shook her head.
“No, let me. I’m lighter than you are. Less chance the boards will squeak when I walk on them.”
His face went as dark as a thundercloud.
“I do not like letting you take all the risk.”
“I’ll be fine,” Cassie said impatiently. “Listen, I think they’re all asleep now. We need to get this done while we can.”
“All right.” He sighed. “Get the snuff film. I know Commander Sylvan said to destroy it, but it occurs to me that we might need it for evidence in court.”
“I thought the same thing. I’m going to get ours too, if I can,” Cassie murmured. “I don’t want millions of strangers wanking off to the sight of us, uh, doing what we did.” She felt her cheeks get hot as she remembered the making of their little masterpiece.
“Agreed,” Stone said shortly. He cocked an eye at Cassie. “Although I would not mind watching it again in private, with you.”
“Stone…” Cassie didn’t know what to say to that. So she just shook her head and reached down to unzip her tall black Mistress boots. If she had any hope of sneaking up the stairs onto the broad stage without being heard, she couldn’t be wearing those high-heeled monstrosities.
“Allow me, Mistress,” Stone murmured. He knelt in front of her and began removing her boots for her.
Cassie leaned over, bracing herself for balance, with her hands on her partner’s broad shoulders. This put her half-bare breasts directly in Stone’s face, but she tried not to notice.
It didn’t escape her partner’s attention, though. When he finished getting her boots off, he looked up and placed a soft kiss right between her full mounds.
“Stone?” Cassie looked at him uncertainly.
“For luck,” he rumbled softly. “Be careful, sweetheart.”
“I…I will.” Cassie nodded at him. “Thank you.”
“I’ll be right here,” Stone promised. “If you need me, I’ll be at your side in a moment.”
“Thank you,” she said again, smiling at him. “I know you’ve got my back.”
“Always,” Stone promised. “Now go while it’s still quiet on the other side of the curtain.”
Cassie nodded and straightened up. They were on the floor level and there were about ten steps to get up onto the stage itself. She tested the first one and was glad to see it didn’t creak.
Moving slowly and carefully, she climbed up to the stage and made her way to the vid chest. She was all ready with a tiny lock-pick device she’d stashed in the bodice of her gown, right beside the communicator slash panic button Stone had insisted she wear. But to her surprise, the domed lid of the chest swung open easily and silently. Apparently Gozeriam didn’t think anyone would dare to even try to steal from him—which was probably a good assumption considering what he would do to a thief if he caught them, Cassie thought grimly.
Aware that time was of the essence, she began sifting through the metal balls that filled the box as quickly and quietly as possible. She found the one that she and Stone had done at once—it was right at the top of the pile. She picked it up and placed it carefully between her feet to keep it from rolling away and resumed looking for The Beast’s snuff film.
In the dim lighting, she was glad for the fluorescent markers that had been used to write the title of each vid. Otherwise she would never have been able to read them.
Daring, was the first title she saw.
Well that must be an interesting one, Cassie thought.
The next title she read was Provocative and then the more prosaic, Hot Stuff.
There were some more porny names too like Squlids in Heat and Scratching Jumbo’s Itch. She wondered if that one had anything to do with the weird plants Dr. Sslwx had showed her. If so, she felt sorry for Jumbo’s costar—whoever it had been.
There were some titles that were worse though.
Slime in every Crevice, Cassie read and shuttered. And the next one she saw was Moldy in all the Right Places. Fondled by Feelers, was next and then, Tentacle Torture. She tried really hard not to imagine what that one was about.
Finally, about halfway down in the middle of the chest she found the small silver ball marked, Deadly in bright blue letters.
Ugh! She felt dirty just handling it, but it was, after all, what they had come to get. She scooped it up, shut the lid of the chest as quietly as possible, and then picked up the ball at her feet which contained the vid she and Stone had done. Then, moving as silently as a cat on her bare feet, she left the stage and rejoined her partner.
They were very close to being done with this mission. If only the last part could be as easy as the first two…
Fifty
“Mission accomplished,” Cassandra whispered triumphantly as they made their way out of the backstage area.
“Almost,” Stone reminded her grimly.
“Yeah, but the last part is easy. Guys like The Beast always think with their dick—I’ll have him out to the ship before you can blink!” she told him.