“I’m sure we can hook you up.”
“Awesome.” She heaved a sigh and slipped down a little in her seat. “This is going to really spork Daddy off.”
Chapter Eleven
Bryn was worried she wouldn’t be allowed to go with Mia into the back of the store, but Turk, who was clearly more than a store clerk, said, “We’re a little low on donors, so you might want your friend along to help you choose.”
“Choose?”
Mia was still holding the tissue to her face, so her expression was hidden, but Bryn heard the dismay in her voice. It probably never occurred to her that she’d have to come face to face with her live donor before she doomed it.
Mia’s discomfort went right over Turk’s head. He led them through a door into a brightly-lit hallway with white walls, ceiling and floors. The lack of color gave the impression of cleanliness, and Mia seemed to relax some. Bryn noted the presence of a dome security camera on the ceiling and turned her face away.
Turk locked the door behind him, chattering away. “We got garter, gopher, bull and corn snakes, bearded dragons, and about ten baby alligators. For you, though, I’d recommend a gecko. We got about seven left, all different colors.”
“What about a—a mouse?” Mia asked. He stopped outside another door and gave her a strange look.
“We don’t do furries. Did you not see the name of the store?”
“What do you feed the snakes?” she asked weakly.
“Mice.” He said it like he was talking to a moron. “Non-bioengineered. I mean, we could totally graft one of ’em on to ya if you want us to, but it wouldn’t stick.”
Bryn put a hand on Mia’s coat sleeve, but then took it away as she realized the gesture of reassurance would probably backfire.
“Take a deep breath,” Bryn said, “and remember why we’re here.”
“Yeah, really,” Turk said.
Mia shot him a look of defiance and pulled the tissue away, but gagged as soon as she inhaled, even though the stink was almost non-existent back here. The tissue went back over her nose as Turk laughed.
“Alright, looks like we should get this over with before you hurl,” he said.
Behind the door were glass cages just like in the store. They were lit with purplish bulbs and most of the occupants were unmoving. Mia stood stock still in the middle of the room, her eyes moving from cage to cage. Bryn fully expected her to back out of it at this point, but then Mia’s eyes narrowed and she walked over to a cage in the corner.
“Oh, that one’s not available,” Turk said. “It’s a special order.”
Bryn went to Mia’s side and looked down at the fat, orange and black lizard that had captured her attention. It was a Gila monster, like Jason’s graft.
“Uh, yeah, you don’t want that one anyway,” Bryn said, glad the lighting in the room wouldn’t give away her blush. “Jason’s had, um, problems with his.”
Jason’s xenofreak name was ‘Dragila,’ after his Gila monster xenograft and tattoo. The graft was extremely sensitive, a fact Bryn knew because she’d touched it and got a response that was more than she’d bargained for.
Turk chuckled suggestively. “I’ll bet. Rumor has it monsters are gonna be a real popular graft soon.”
Mia was still staring at the Gila monster. “How much?”
“Like I said, that one’s not available.”
“Not even for fifty thousand?” Mia asked.
Bryn bit her lip. Mia clearly didn’t understand what she and Turk had been alluding to. Turk said, “Be right back.”
He left them in the room and Bryn did her best to entice Mia with some of the colorful little geckos, but she seemed fixated on the Gila monster. When Turk returned five minutes later, he said cheerfully, “You’re in luck. The boss doesn’t think the person who ordered that little guy can pay the new price, you know, since demand has gone up so much. Let’s get you prepped.” He held the door open.
In the hallway, Bryn swallowed her embarrassment and tried to warn Mia again. “Look, the thing is, Jason’s graft is kind of tied into his, um, nervous system in a sort of special way…”
“Yeah,” Turk interjected, “we’re gonna put performance enhancing drug companies out of business.”
Bryn saw Mia’s chin lift as understanding dawned, but she lowered the hand with the tissue so she could open her purse. She took out the envelope of cash and handed it to Turk. Clutching her purse to her chest, she said, “I’m ready.”
Chapter Twelve
On the drive back to XIA headquarters, they ran into a road block. Traffic was crawling, so Scott took the opportunity to check his messages. He must have had a scowl on his face when he read the one from Bryn, because Lo asked, “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head and dialed Mia’s number. A holo with the CDC’s logo popped up and Mia’s voice said, “I’m unavailable to take your call. Leave a message.”
Scott didn’t want to say anything personal, so he just said, “Call me back ASAP.”
Next, he sent an email to Shasta letting her know who they had in custody.
Up ahead, there was a bend in the road, and from here he could see the roadblock was manned by two soldiers with automatic rifles. The soldiers waved several cars through, then stopped a Mercedes. One of the soldiers stood in front of the car with his rifle pointed almost casually at the windshield while the other walked around to the driver’s side and made a gesture with his hand to roll down the window. Over the top of the car, Scott saw him duck down to converse with the driver.
“What do you ‘spose they’re looking for?” Lo asked.
“I don’t know, but that soldier’s hair is kinda long, isn’t it?”
“Think he’s National Guard and got called in before he could get a crew cut?”
Scott looked down the line of cars, pausing at a shiny red Audi Electrica. “Let’s see who they stop next.”
Lo’s face fell. “Ya think?”
“Yeah, I’d bet on it.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Nicola asked.
Savvy cleared his throat. “They aren’t real soldiers. They’re robbing people.”
Scott gave Savvy a dirty look, which the savant seemed not to notice.
“Is that true?” Nicola asked. “Are you going to arrest them?”
Lo shook her head. “They’ve got too much firepower. I’m sure one of their victims already called the police.”
“Who are obviously not responding.” Nicola’s voice was acerbic. “I thought you said you helped people.”
“Right now we’re a little busy trying to help you,” Scott said. “If we take them on, you’ll be in danger. Do you understand that?”
Nicola pressed her lips together, but nodded.
The soldiers let the Mercedes go and waved several cars through, but as Scott predicted, they stopped the Audi.
“They won’t stop us, will they?” Nicola asked.
“Unlikely,” Scott replied, not taking his eyes off the soldiers. “We don’t look rich.”
They waited in tense silence as the ‘soldier’ spoke to the driver of the Audi. It was taking a long time; much longer than the Mercedes, which only meant one thing.
“Come on,” Scott said under his breath, mentally urging the driver to cooperate and hand over his wallet. He couldn’t see the driver, but the passenger was a woman. Her pale face was turned in his direction.
He took his eye patch off, pleased to find the swelling had gone down enough for him to see, then looked at Lo and jerked his head in Nicola and Savvy’s direction. “They’ll be okay here. There’s like ten cars ahead of us.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” she replied. She reached under her jacket for her weapon and turned to Nicola. “Stay in the car. Keep your heads down. And don’t think about running for it. I’m going to lock you in.”
Lo slipped out the driver’s side door and Scott crawled across the console to exit that way, too, since the second soldier would have seen him from the passenger side
. Lo beeped the locks.
He pulled his gun and let Lo take the lead. Bent down, they ran past several cars, finally stopping next to a pickup truck four cars back from the Audi.
“Dude,” Scott heard. He looked up. The driver of the truck had his window rolled down and was shaking his head at him. “What are you doing?”
“We’re cops. Those aren’t soldiers. Get down.”
The driver of the truck didn’t wait to be told twice, sinking down below the bottom of the window, but Scott heard him say, “Don’t shoot up my truck, man. It’s almost paid off.”
“Yeah, that’s my main concern,” Scott muttered, but his voice was drowned out by the soldier standing by the Audi, shouting at the driver, “I’m gonna kill you man! Don’t you get that?”
Lo looked around at him. “You wearing a vest?”
Both of them had been shot two days ago, but her vest and his bullet-resistant clothing had saved them.
“Nope. Not today.”
“Me neither. What’s the plan?”
“We got to draw them away from these cars. Too many civilians.”
She glanced over at the metal guardrail, which had a sturdy concrete barrier at its base. “I’ll go.”
They didn’t have time to work out another plan, so he covered her from the front of the truck as she leapt the barrier and ran, hunched over. He halfway expected the second soldier to see her, but the guy was focused on his partner, who was counting down loudly.
“Six, five, four…”
Scott could tell Lo wasn’t going to make it into position in time, so he ran back behind the pickup truck and burst out from behind it. From this angle, the soldiers wouldn’t have to shoot over cars, potentially hitting someone. Scott ran into an overgrown field and threw himself down as he shouted, “Drop your weapons!”
As expected, the soldier counting down straightened up and aimed. The second soldier also turned in his direction, but then Lo yelled, “Lower your weapons, now!”
Maybe it would have worked, but the driver of the Audi inexplicably decided to gun the engine and run down the second soldier with a sickening thud. The first soldier opened fire on the Audi and it came to a sudden stop. Lo shot the soldier in the back, twice.
As the soldier fell, it looked like the danger was over, but Scott didn’t take anything for granted. Gun arm extended out in front of him, he ran towards the Audi. Lo had already arrived at the body of the man she’d shot. Her hand was at his throat, feeling for a pulse. She spotted Scott and shook her head. He rounded the front of the Audi and saw the top half of the second man. His bottom half was under the car. His eyes were open and so was his mouth, which was filled with blood. Scott knelt down as the blood spilled over and trailed down the side of his face. He was obviously dead, but Scott checked his pulse to be sure.
When he straightened up, he saw Lo checking the occupants of the Audi. The driver was dead, but the passenger had a non-life-threatening wound to the lower leg. She was crying hysterically. “We told them we didn’t have any money. We stole this car! Why would we steal a car if we had money?”
Lo called it in, then went back to the sedan, got in, and drove off the road into the field. She parked it in an out of the way place, while Scott went to the first four vehicles behind the Audi and told the drivers they’d need to stay to give a statement to the police when they got here. One of the drivers was a nurse, and she offered to look at the Audi passenger’s wound.
The driver of the pickup truck tried to argue when Scott told him he’d have to stay put. “Come on, man, I’m late for work.”
“Well, you got a good excuse, don’t you?”
“Am I gonna have to go to court?”
“Maybe,” Scott replied irritably. “Why don’t you shut your mouth and do your civic duty, okay?”
Lo left Nicola and Savvy sitting in the sedan and met up with Scott at the side of the road. “Dispatch says it’s going to be hours before anyone responds. The city’s a mess.”
Scott flexed his claws and asked, “You okay?”
“What, the kill? Fine.”
He nodded. “I guess we got a looong morning of directing traffic ahead of us.”
She pointed to a car and waved to the driver that he should leave the road and go around the other cars. “Booya.”
Chapter Thirteen
It wasn’t until Bryn had been waiting for ten minutes or so before she realized she should have asked Mia for her holophone. She wandered around the pet store, looking at all the animals on display and trying to avoid the other customers. Their conversations told her that some of them had family or friends in the back room getting grafted, while others were waiting their turn. One disgruntled man made a point of commenting within Bryn’s hearing that rich people were going to be the only ones to survive the super typhoid. It was a dig at Mia, who’d cut ahead of everyone.
Scott had said it would only take a few hours, but two hours came and went and Mia had still not made an appearance. Turk had been coming and going between the back room and the front counter as people came and went. Currently, he was nowhere to be seen. It was so warm in the store Bryn was dying to take her coat off, but she couldn’t, not without revealing her quills. Her lower back had begun to ache and she wished she’d gotten Mia’s keys so she could sit in the car. A few of the other customers had planted themselves on the ground and she was considering doing so as well, when the bell on the front door jingled.
Everyone looked up at the newcomers, including Bryn, who froze in place when she saw who it was. The same four men who’d been casing the crowd at the tattoo place strolled in nonchalantly.
Bryn didn’t know for certain whether the men had robbed those people, since she and Mia had gotten out of there before it went down, but her first instinct was to head for the door. She did so, acting just as nonchalantly as the four thugs, but when she started to walk past one of them, he blocked her way and said loudly, “Nobody leaves. Everyone in the center aisle. Now!”
After a shocked moment, the customers hurried to comply. One of the men pulled a gun and in a voice like a carnie at the fair attempting to attract people to his booth, called out, “Purses, wallets, watches, and jewelry!”
The man who’d stopped her held out his hand. He had a heavy silver ring hanging from his nose and smelled like sauerkraut. “Empty your pockets.”
She’d run out of Scott’s apartment with nothing, but knew better than to argue. She stuck her hands into her jean pockets and turned them inside out.
He grunted and reached out to thrust his hands into her coat pockets, then when he didn’t find anything, reached both arms around her so he could shove his hands into the back pockets of her jeans. She managed to cross her arms over her chest, using her elbows to keep him from pressing up against her. Still, he took his time, chuckling lasciviously. She had to actively suppress the urge to knee him in the groin.
He finally let her go, just as a woman cried, “No! Please, I need this graft. I don’t want to die.”
“Everyone dies,” one of the men replied. Bryn glanced around just as the man ripped the woman’s wallet out of her hand and shoved her. She stumbled backwards until her calves hit the edge of turtle pond, then her arms did a full rotation windmill before she lost her fight for balance and fell into it. Water sloshed out onto the linoleum as the men laughed.
Bryn thought the thug with the ring in his nose was done harassing her, but he suddenly grabbed the hood of her coat and yanked it down.
“Whoa,” he said, taking a step back. “You’re that porcupine chick.”
“Yeah, and I’m broke, okay? I’m just waiting for my—my boyfriend. He’s in the back getting a graft.”
“Alright, sister. It’s cool.” He seemed about to say something else, but the man with the gun barked, “Hey Bull! Get behind the counter and check the register!”
The man named Bull gave Bryn one last creepy look, like he thought he’d bonded with her and didn’t want to leave, before heading for th
e front desk.
Bryn wondered about Turk and the staff in the back. Did they know what was going on out here? She looked up and spied another camera dome. Was there a live feed in the back or was the camera just recording? Turk had been gone an awful long time. In the two hours she’d been here, he’d always responded to the bell on the front door, but when those men had come in, he didn’t.
Just when she was thinking she didn’t blame him, the bell over the front door jingled again. Her first thought was, Oh, no, some poor customer stumbling in on all this. But when she turned, she saw two men with shotguns. She didn’t even have time to register surprise before the first man raised his gun to his shoulder and fired off a shot, hitting one of the thugs in the chest. Instinctively, she dropped into a crouch, then scooted behind a display of terrarium figurines.
More shots followed. A woman, Bryn thought it was the same one who’d gone into the turtle pond, screamed shrilly. There was a crash and the sound of broken glass like someone had smashed into a glass cage. Bryn lay flat, her cheek pressed into the cold floor, eyes wide open even though she couldn’t see anything. The acrid scent of gunpowder overpowered the animal odor.
Through it all, one terrifying fact stood out: she’d recognized the man who’d come in first, gun blazing. He was wearing sunglasses, but his blonde hair and the crocodile xenograft on his face were unmistakable. She was already frightened, but now terror blossomed in her gut.
Had he seen her?
That question was answered far more quickly than she expected. The shooting stopped and other than some moans and whimpers, a relative silence fell. The next thing she heard was heavy footsteps coming closer. She felt a firm hand on her shoulder and was rolled onto her back. She saw her own frightened face reflected back at her in his mirrored sunglasses.
Dundee grinned, a feral show of teeth. “Look what the dingo dragged in.”
Chapter Fourteen
A group of about fifty people was gathered on the sidewalk and steps outside the building housing XIA headquarters. It was a secure building, an unprepossessing nine stories tall, and had several government agencies ensconced within. The XIA took up the top two floors and was open for business, but because of the riots, the other agencies had closed up shop. A notice had been posted on the main glass doors that the building was closed to the public.
Xenofreak Nation, Book Three: XIA Page 5
