Love, Lattes and Angel (Mutants)

by Sandra Cox

  Maybe, if I can back to Piper, we can work on each other’s knots. I manage to move my chair an inch.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to get backed up to you, so we can work on each other’s ropes.”

  “Good idea.”

  Inch by inch, I creep closer. I’m just about to move my chair again when the boat rocks from a rough wave. With only two legs on the floor, the chair tilts and I crash. I manage to keep my head from bouncing off the wood surface.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Other than feeling like an idiot, I’m fine.”

  The dolphin chirps and flies around the tank, agitated. I chirp back a reassurance. I wish to hell I could figure out a way to get her out of here.

  “Joel.” Piper’s voice comes from out of the dark, like the notes from a flute carried on the wind.

  “Hmm?”

  “I just want to say thank you.”

  “For what? I haven’t managed to do a damn thing to get us out of here.” I try to fight back the bitterness but there it is.

  “For always being there. For always taking care of Angel and me.”

  I’m doing a damn poor job of it now, but there’s no use in belaboring the point. “Piper, believe me when I say there’s no place I’d rather be than with you and Angel, and nothing I wouldn’t do for either of you.”

  “And if I weren’t engaged to Tyler?”

  The words hang in the air between us. What’s the point? She is engaged to Tyler and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it and still live with myself.

  “I guess that’s my answer then.”

  “Piper…”

  “No, please don’t say anything.”

  Well I’ve botched that one. What if we don’t survive this? She has a right to know how I feel even if she is engaged to Tyler.

  “Piper, I know you love Tyler or you wouldn’t have gotten engaged to him. But if you were free and if I were interested in getting married, you’d be the only girl for me.” Sweat breaks out on my forehead and my heart pounds. Can she read between the lines? Does she understand?

  “There are a lot of if’s there,” she says slowly.

  “Yeah, there are.”

  We subside into silence. At least I’ve given her something to think of other than tomorrow…I hope.

  The night passes slowly. We talk a lot about Angel and occasionally Amy and Gramps. Neither of us mentions Tyler; neither of us mentions love.

  Dawn turns the sky to gray with an edge of indigo and pink. My angle is awkward since I’m watching from the floor. For me, sunrise and sunset are the most beautiful times of day. But today, I wish sunrise would never come. I’m scared spitless. I’d rather go through the procedure a thousand times than have Piper go through it once. It’s time to tell the dolphin what to expect. I chatter quietly. Her response is a sad moan.

  Urgency presses on me. I know Stranger’s procedures. Hadn’t one of them killed my mother? I need to tell Piper I love her. This may be my only chance.

  “Pip, are you awake?” I keep my voice low in case she’s sleeping. I hope to God she is. The reality she’ll encounter on waking is much too grim.

  “Hmm?”

  I should have known better. Who can sleep with the nightmare of the century hanging over your head?

  “There’s something that I’ve got to tell you.”

  The door opens. The moment is lost, maybe forever. I want to shout I love you, but I don’t dare put that power in Stranger’s hands to use against either of us.

  His outline is huge against the shadowy interior. For a moment, he looks like a circling shark, the white lab coat a lifeless gray in the dark dawn. He moves closer and peers down at me. “It appears you spent an uncomfortable night. You just don’t know how to lose, do you? And you are going to lose, unless you tell me where to find my subject.”

  With a grunt, he rights the chair. “Well, what’s it going to be? Are you going to tell me where the subject is or do I start the procedure?”

  I don’t speak. I can’t. My lungs aren’t working. They aren’t taking in or expelling air. My brain is no longer functioning. Is this how it feels to be a zombie? Or am I dying? My heart is aching so bad, I must be.

  “Well, I was expecting this.” He sighs then walks to the tank.

  “Please, I’m begging you. Don’t do this.” Tears are streaming down Piper’s cheeks.

  The cracks in my heart widen. “If you are just looking for a dolph to work on, why not take me?” I lean back on the chair till it’s balancing on two legs and quirk an eyebrow.

  “I thought I explained that yesterday. You’d let me cut you in a hundred pieces to protect someone you care about. But to know you are responsible for someone else’s pain…that’s not such an easy matter is it?”

  He pushes a button and the dolphin goes shooting out of the tank and out of view.

  He opens the door and calls for assistance. The divers come in and untie Piper, dragging her away kicking and screaming. I struggle against my bonds, feeling the burn of rope as I try to break free. For a moment, she stills and looks at me, her eyes glowing in the dark. I mouth I love you, but whether she sees it in the dark shadowy room is anybody’s guess.

  “I’ll be waiting when you get back,” I say softly.

  Chapter 27

  Piper

  My mind blank, I’m led next door. If someone wasn’t holding me up, my legs would collapse. Joel’s I’ll be waiting is the only thing keeping me from total collapse. His lips moved right before they took me out, but I couldn’t figure out what he was trying to say. Does he know in spite of being engaged to Tyler, in spite of loving Tyler, I love him with a passion that’s almost an obsession? Does he feel the same? I don’t know. The signals he sends are always mixed. I do know he feels a complete and total responsibility for me and our child.

  He tried to take my place. The thought warms a small spot of the ice encrusting my heart as they lay me on a cold examining table. Next to the table is a tank so small it allows no movement. The dolphin is in it. We look at each other. Her eyes are large and sad. I try to convey some degree of assurance by smiling at her. Her snout moves up and down. Whatever comes we are in this together.

  Straps scrape my arms and legs. My gaze and the dolphin’s are locked, drawing strength from one another. The water in the tank drains. I keep my eyes fixed on her, ignoring the hot salty tears streaming down my face. I reach my hand toward the tank and put my palm on it.

  Stranger wheels the gurney I’m on away from the tank. I swallow the scream of protest that lodges in my scratchy throat. He takes a syringe attached to a long thick needle, opens a small hatch door in the tank, and plunges in the needle. The dolphin screams. I echo it.

  He pulls back slowly on the plunger and the syringe fills with blood. He takes several vials full. Once he finishes, the door closes and he taps a button. The tank begins to fill, he hits the release button, and the dolphin is shot out of the small chamber, presumably to the larger tank in the room we’re being held in.

  He turns to me, holding the syringe in the air close to my face. “Now it’s your turn.” The needle pierces my skin. A medley of colors swirls in my brain as a thick foreign substance travels through my veins. I whirl in a dizzying circle until everything goes dark.

  * * * *

  “Piper. Piper. Are you all right?” The words come from a long way off. I try to open my eyes but can’t. Oh God, I’m blind. The dolphin DNA made me blind.

  “I can’t see.” My pulse races. Panic screams through my system.

  “It’s okay, your eyes are matted shut.” Joel’s sexy dolph’s voice is shaky. “Are you all right?”

  I try again to open my eyes. I manage to get my right open a slit. My head feels like it weighs twenty pounds. My chin bobs on my chest. I’m tied back in my chair. I push my head up and it flops back down. “Heart hurts,” I mumble. My heart is beating erratically, fast then slow
, then nearly stutters to a stop and takes off again. My blood is flowing sluggishly in my veins.

  “What did he do to you?”

  “Inserted the DNA directly into my bloodstream near my heart.”

  “Why that—” Joel lets loose with a string of obscenities that would be impressive in its vocabulary if I had the energy to appreciate them. I’m too woozy and dizzy. I let my good eye drift shut.

  “Don’t pass out on me again.”

  His words are distorted. They echo. “...again, again, again.” Everything is spinning, a kaleidoscope of colors, tinged heavily with pink. “How long have I been back?”

  “Dawn’s about an hour away. You’ve been out nearly twenty-four hours.”

  The dolphin chatters. I chatter back. “I’m okay. How are you?”

  She whistles that she is okay, just sore.

  “You can talk to the dolphins.”

  “Yeah, it appears I can.” I blink as fast and hard as I can and manage to open my gritty eyes. “You look like hell. Bet I don’t look too good either.” I giggle. He looks more haggard than I’ve ever seen him. Even when he had an infection from the shark bite he looked better than this. His eyes are bloodshot and pressed together like he’s fighting a pounding headache, his jawline is tight and there’s a tic in his cheek like that of a clock.

  “I thought they’d killed you.”

  For one horrified moment, I’m afraid my tough guy is going to cry. He swallows hard and gains control. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No not really.” Just thinking about it makes me nauseous. But no matter how hard it is on me, it’s worse on him. “I’m sorry. At least they didn’t add any body parts.” I shudder.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about. I’m the one that’s sorry.”

  “Because it’s me and not you?”

  “Of course!”

  “That’s the one thing that Stranger got right. He’s hurting you a lot worse than if he’d performed surgery on you.”

  “Piper, there’s something that you’ve got to know.”

  His voice is filled with so much urgency, he’s panting. The door opens and Stranger walks in. “Jeez, is this your version of Groundhog Day?”

  Stranger looks at him oddly. Probably never watched a movie in his life. “I have no idea what you are talking about. Now are you ready to make that trade?”

  Joel lunges against the ropes and completely loses his cool. Even in my sluggish state, I’m amazed. He yells obscenities at Stranger that are hardly complimentary to Stranger’s mother.

  Stranger looks at him for a long moment then steps out. Joel’s chest heaves as he tries to regain control. Moments later Stranger steps back in with a syringe.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Joel warns as Stranger plunges it into his arm. Joel’s head falls forward.

  “I can wait a few hours for his decision.” The door closes behind him.

  My heart continues to beat erratically. It can’t seem to find a normal rhythm. I’m not sure I’ll survive another procedure.

  “You need saltwater,” the dolphin chirps.

  “Yes,” I respond. I close my eyes and let my mind carry me to cool lapping waves that wash over my body and slow the rhythm of my heart. Her fluke flips back and forth, swishing the water. It’s hypnotic, relaxing me, slowing my pulse. My heart calms, its beats steady, and then slows, coming to a halt. It’s giving out, rejecting the dolphin’s blood.

  “Stay. Stay.” The dolphin chirps frantically.

  My mind, which is trying to leave my body and wander in the clouds, focuses. I can do this. I can survive. Once again, an image of the ocean fills my head. Is it mine or the dolphin’s? Does it matter? My heart gives a little sputter and starts beating again, still erratic. I don’t think it will level out until I’m in the water. I may not survive another procedure but I can stay alive another day. I look at the dolphin and she looks at me. I share her blood. She’s now a part of me. Kin. We chatter back and forth and in spite of my murmuring heart, I’m feeling better.

  The dolphin stops chattering and begins to quiver. A second later, the door opens and Stranger sticks his head in. I press hard against the seat, wanting to crawl into a hole, get as far from this monster as possible. My heart explodes, beating at a rate it can’t possibly maintain. I begin gasping for air.

  The dolphin chirps frantically.

  Stranger looks at me. “You need to breath deep and calm your heart rate, your body is trying to reject the dolphin’s blood. I added a pint.”

  I don’t respond. What’s the point? It’s not like he cares except from a clearly clinical point of view.

  “Are you willing to tell me now where my subject is?”

  My insides quiver. I tighten my muscles, raise my chin, and look away from him.

  “You know, I’m not sure your body can handle another injection. You really don’t look that good. Your color is off. Even from here I can see your heart racing and beads of perspiration on your face.”

  He comes closer. If he touches me, I’ll die. He lays a cool hand on my forehead. My skin crawling, I jerk my head away.

  “Well, perhaps we’ll wait until Joel comes to and see if he’s changed his mind.”

  “He won’t.”

  “I can’t believe he’ll be willing for you to go through another procedure.”

  “He won’t give up our daughter.”

  Stranger sighs. “You keep forgetting she is your daughter only in the biological sense. She is mine. My creation.” His voice holds the first hint of passion I have ever heard in the man.

  “To be sold to the highest bidder?”

  “Not until she’s old enough for an egg extraction. After that, of course.”

  He dismisses her so easily. The fiend. I loathe him with every fiber of my being. And the way she’s growing, she could go through puberty within a year.

  “You. Can’t. Have. Her.” I put every ounce of hate I have for him in my voice, in my eyes.

  “Make no mistake, one way or the other, I will get her back.” He turns on his heel and leaves.

  Misery floods my system, leaving me exhausted and weak. I take a deep breath and think of the ocean. I can’t give in to the despair. I can’t. At least Angel won’t be alone when we’re gone. She’ll have Gramps, Amy, Molita and Mina, and maybe Tyler. She’ll be raised a vodou priestess. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Though, as long as Gramps is alive…maybe not.

  I glance at Joel, his head on his chest, his skin pale, a five-o’clock shadow on his chin. I love him. How can I not? And I love Tyler. It’s just that Tyler isn’t my other half. The half I can’t do without. At least, this is one problem it looks like I won’t have to face.

  Joel’s head lifts. His eyes glazed, he looks around. “Piper?”

  “I’m here.” I push back the queasiness and give him all the reassurance I can.

  He’s more alert now. “They didn’t…”

  “No. I believe he’s waiting for you to wake up for the encore. Joel…”

  “Yes.”

  “I want you to know. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  “Well if given the choice, there are a few things I’d change.” He gives me his old cocky grin.

  “And what would that be?”

  The grin disappears. “I would have rescued my daughter on my own, without depending on Tyler and his connections.”

  Some of the iciness inside me thaws. “And the other women,” I ask cautiously.

  Again that cocky smile. “They’d just have to get along without me.”

  “I heard what you told Tyler, about not limiting yourself to one person. It wouldn’t have worked, Joel. I don’t share.”

  “You know, Piper, for having such a brilliant mind, you are extremely gullible. How could you possibly have believed that?”

  “I don’t understand.” My head is whirling. Is he saying he lied? But why?

  “What’s to und
erstand?”

  What indeed? And it doesn’t really matter. What I do understand is what Joel’s not telling me. That he loves me. Heat in languid, warm waves sweeps through me. A smile pushes at my cheeks. Knowing he loves me gives me strength. I can do this. Whether I survive it or not. I can do it.

  With that thought comes a sense of urgency. I push against my bonds and try to lean forward. “Whether I survive or not, you escape if the opportunity offers. Get the dolphin out and go.”

  His voice grows rough. “What do you mean whether you survive or not? Of course you’re going to survive. Don’t you even think about checking out on me.”

  “I mean it, Joel. Angel should have at least one of her parents growing up.”

  “She’s going to have both of them.”

  “Joel…”

  “That’s the end of it, Piper. I’m not leaving without you. Once it gets dark, I’ll try again to get to you so we can back up and work on each other’s knots.”

  I know it’s hopeless to ask him again. His mind is made up. We’ll escape together or we won’t go at all.

  “Then maybe I can meet you in the middle.”

  He smiles. It lights his face and warms his eyes. “Maybe you can.” I soak it up like a physical touch.

  The dolphin begins nervous chatter. This time I’m prepared when Stranger walks in.

  “Ah, Joel, I see you’re awake. Have you given any more thought to telling me where my subject is?”

  “Go to hell.”

  “All in good time. Have you taken a look at the other mutant in this room? She really doesn’t look that well.”

  I shrink back in my chair as he comes toward me. He feels my forehead then checks my pulse. “Fever, racing heart, clammy skin. The pulse is much too rapid. If it keeps up at this rate, her heart is going to explode. Her blood must be having problems with the insertion of the foreign DNA. I’m afraid another go-round just may put her over the top.”

  Joel’s face has gone white, his pupils have dilated to the point there is nothing but a rim of turquoise visible. “Stranger, don’t do this.”