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“Wow.” Va
Gilda nodded. “We’re saving our race from extinction.”
“Are they going to make us pets or kill us? I’m kind of confused,” Va
“It’s what will happen.” Gilda nodded vigorously. “First we’ll be turned into livestock to breed their evil spawn and then they’ll slaughter us after they’ve built up an army of them.”
“I hate to point this out but um, wouldn’t that make their children more human than New Species? I mean, try to be rational. They look mostly human already.”
“Pastor Woods said otherwise.” Mable glared at Va
“Mercile Industries doesn’t exist anymore. The company was shut down.” Va
“Then a new lab can contain them,” Gilda snapped. “Or they could be put down if zoos don’t want them.”
“They aren’t creatures. They are people.”
Mable huffed, shooting a disgusted look at Gilda. “Stop wasting your breath on this one. She’s not listening. I told Carl she wasn’t good enough for him. Miss Slut here had to go and chase after one of those creatures.”
Gilda shuddered. “That’s so sad. I pity her. Don’t you? It must have been horrible.”
Va
Gilda frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re not getting away with this,” Va
“Ignore her. Pastor Woods said he’s taken care of it. She won’t dare do anything but exactly what he wants.” Her gaze locked with Va
“Fuck you, Mable.”
“Bruce!” the bitch yelled.
The door opened and the guard stepped out of the way. Bruce entered the room. He wore a dark suit and a pissed-off look. “Is she giving you trouble?”
“She’s making threats of jail.”
He opened his jacket and showed off his gun. “It would be the last thing she does.”
“What are you going to do? Shoot me at the press conference?” Va
“You will.” He allowed his jacket to close and withdrew his cell phone. A few taps of his screen and he turned it toward her. Even from five feet away she could make out the photo. It was Beth taking out the trash. Bruce gri
Va
“I also will have that package delivered to the NSO that we talked about. Do you want to know what that means? We’ll want you dead. They will want you dead. You won’t have anywhere to hide and one of us will take you out.”
“I hate you.” She said the words softly but meant every one.
He backed out of the room and the guard closed it. Mable beamed. “I knew he’d shut that foul mouth of yours. Now stand still and let me fix your makeup.”
Va
But how?
Chapter Nine
“It’s time to go,” Mable a
“I’m going to be sick.” Va
She flushed the toilet, hoping it would mask the sound as she shuffled around the contents of the bag, searching frantically for the eyeliner pencil. It was at the bottom. She tugged it out and hid it inside her underwear, hoping it wouldn’t fall out, then returned the small bag to the counter. She ran water in the sink and opened the door.
Both Mable and Gilda stood there staring at her.
“False alarm. Gas.”
“Disgusting,” Mable hissed.
“I haven’t eaten. No one bothered to feed me last night or this morning. That’s probably a good thing or I would be throwing up my guts. You people make me sick.” She moved away from the door and crossed the room, hugging her waist, hoping it would help keep the eyeliner in place. She pressed her fingertips against it.
The door opened. Bruce and the other guard entered. “Let’s move. We don’t want to be late.”
Va
“Get in.”
Va
Gregory wasn’t inside the limousine. It was empty and her desperate escape plan was destroyed. She climbed in and moved toward the bar, wanting to be far away from the big man who climbed in after her. Bruce sat in the center of the bench seat between the two doors. She looked out the window, watching the other guard enter the driver’s side. Privacy glass blocked the front compartment from the back. It was possible Gregory was in the passenger seat.
“We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Great.” She hoped Bruce recognized sarcasm.
“Do you want to go over the cards one more time? I have a copy of them in my pocket.”
“No. Gilda covered it fine. I can read them.”
He grunted but didn’t reach for his seatbelt when the engine started. She didn’t either. She had twenty minutes to escape the limousine and find a phone. Va
“Nervous? Just read the damn cards and act the way you were told.”
She held his stare.
“We’ll enter from the side of the church and go directly to the front where the press will be set up. Gregory and Carl are already there. Carl is going to take your arm and hold your hand. Allow it or so help me, I’ll break your damn fingers one at a time. You’re still a couple and you will pretend to be grateful that he’s standing by your side during this difficult time.”
Va
“Get that damn look off your face.”
She lowered her gaze and turned her head away. The small bar contained a few glass bottles, drinking glasses and bottled water. Her attention lingered on the dark bottle of alcohol. “May I have a drink?”
“Fuck no. The last thing we need is for you to be drunk.”