by Jill Cooper
Jake didn’t have it in him to talk about Marie, about where glistenings now stood with humans. Like he didn’t know. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere safe.”
Jake pressed his lips together. “That’s not an answer.”
Dirk sighed. “Let’s just take a few minutes…”
Jake’s eyes narrowed. “How did we get here? I don’t remember anything.”
“You were upset. Not saying you didn’t have a right. You were upset, so I gave you something to calm you down.”
“So you drugged me? You drugged me like I’m what, an animal?”
“Hey.” Dirk said sharply. “I know you’re not an animal. I don’t feel that way.”
“Sure you don’t.” Jake snorted.
Dirk spoke methodically. “I needed to get us out of there before the area was clamped down. I needed to get us all to safety. So yeah, I didn’t have time to ask your permission. You think Jenna would do it any other way?”
Jake didn’t. “I’m sorry.” He grunted out the words. Didn’t want to apologize. Didn’t have anything to say.
“Were you aware Marie…did you know how she felt about…”
“Did I think she was going to blow herself up?” Jake snorted. “No. Of course not. You think I would have brought her along if I knew what she was planning on doing?” He sighed and leaned his head back against the headboard with a thunk. “She used me. She used me to get her here.”
Dirk nodded, but there was no expression on his face. Jake didn’t know what the guy was thinking and really wanted to shake him to find out.
Jake swallowed. “If Jenna hadn’t made Marie stay…”
“The bomb would have gone off right on the senate floor. She was going to take you out too.”
Jake’s head turned sharply and his eyes threw daggers at Dirk. “You don’t know that.”
“The evidence…”
Jake bared his teeth. “I don’t care about the evidence! She wouldn’t! We were family. Close. We…” Tears stung his eyes. “Can you at least tell me where I am?”
Dirk swallowed and his eyes shifted away. Whatever it was he was going to say, he didn’t know how Jake was going to handle it. “Jenna’s mom has an estate. A compound of doctors, researchers. We’re safe with them.”
Jake scowled. “The one who saved Travis the night he was born?” The unspoken words behind his statement, the one who abandoned Wendy to die?
“She’s a friend. They all are. It was the safest place for us to run to until we figure this thing out. They’re friends, not just to us, but to you. They’re…glistening supporters.”
“Supporters?” Jake knew Rebecca Seers was all for glistening rights, but he didn’t realize there were more. Or enough to band together and protect him. “Why would Jenna’s mom support us?”
Dirk turned his head and sighed. “It’s Jenna’s place to tell you. Not mine.”
“Well, get her in here then. I need to know what’s going on.”
“Jenna’s still unconscious.” Dirk’s jaw pressed together and he went a few degrees paler. “No one knows…when she’s going to wake up.”
Jake’s eyes went wide. “She was hurt in the blast?” He gripped Dirk’s shirt without meaning to.
Dirk nodded. “Something like that. Look, I don’t know anything yet. All right? If I knew when Jenna was going to wake up, I’d tell you. I’m not trying to keep you in the dark. Just….”
“No, I get it. I know you…For what it’s worth, this isn’t how I wanted today to go. It is still today, isn’t it?”
“Getting closer to evening, but yeah….Yeah.” Dirk cleared his throat. “We need to talk about where the other glistenings are. Are there people around who can ID you? If they saw your speech at the senate?”
Jake’s stomach soured further. He hadn’t given much thought to Liz since arriving in DC, but now he felt sick enough to vomit. “They’ll be in danger. They’ll be on the move. Except….”
“Except?” Dirk prodded.
“Victor will want a war.”
****
Dirk left Jake’s room and headed downstairs into the bunker. While upstairs was the living quarters for Jenna’s family, downstairs was a medical compound. He followed a long hallway to where Jenna was being kept.
Jane came out from Jenna’s room.
“Anything?” Dirk asked with hope, but saw how crestfallen and pale she looked. All hope he had a moment earlier, was snuffed out.
Jane shook her head. “Physically she’s fine.”
“The baby? Is it…” Dirk’s voice trailed off. He couldn’t even finish his sentence.
“Has a strong heartbeat. The ultrasound we ran, so far shows everything is progressing normally.”
Dirk blew out a sigh of relief. Thank God for small favors, but if Jenna didn’t wake up…
“We have her on I.V. fluids and a concentrated dose of the medicine that keeps her stabilized from day to day. She’s responding to the treatment. At this rate, we don’t know why she won’t wake up. Maybe she’s healing.”
“Then why the change? Was it the blast?”
Jane’s eyes moved left and Dirk became irate. “What aren’t you telling me, Jane?”
She sighed. “Dirk…”
“Listen, I know you Morgan woman think you can take on the world by yourselves. You want to do everything alone, but I’m part of this family. Jenna is my wife. My life, so if you know something then I have every right.”
“I don’t know anything. Just suspicions.” Jane sighed and turned back to the window overlooking into Jenna’s room.
Dirk moved beside her and peered at the motionless body in the bed. He could see the machines inside blinking and the only thing he recognized, the only thing that brought him comfort was Jenna’s fire engine red hair. God, he just needed her to wake up.
“She had enough pills stockpiled in your kitchen to last a year or longer. If her glistening traits were still dormant.”
“You think they’re not?” Dirk asked and his mouth went slick with spit. He wiped at the corners of his lips.
Jane took a pill bottle from her pocket and handed it to Dirk. “This was on her body when you brought her in.”
Dirk pushed the cap open and spilled the contents in his hand; only one pill fell out. “She took a full bottle with her.” He sighed and despair crashed all around him.
“I know.” Jane said softly. “It may have been the pregnancy, but it’s too soon to know. If we could just ask her when it started…”
“But we can’t do that, can we?” Dirk asked bitterly. He crushed his hand around the pill. “Why would she keep this from me? Why not just tell me?”
Jane laughed. “Why does Jenna do anything that she does?” Jane swallowed. “She’d have you believe it’s the glistening blood in her veins, but she didn’t know her father. His sweetness. The tenderness. Better than most of the humans I knew, present company excluded of course.”
“She’s too much like me.” Jane said with deep regret and closed her eyes. “Her biggest problem has always been me.”
Dirk frowned. “She loves you, Jane. I know she has trouble saying it.”
“She doesn’t make it easy.” Jane put her hand on the glass of the window. “But I love her too. She’s always been the one thing I wanted to protect. Clearly, I’ve done a bad job of that.”
Dirk rubbed her shoulder. “Nothing can save Jenn from herself.”
Jane smiled, amused. “I always liked you, Dirk. I always knew that if she told you the truth, it would change nothing. Glad to see I’m right about something.”
Dirk thought she was right about more than just that. “We just need her to wake up. Then we can find a way out of this mess.”
Jane didn’t disagree, but the lines on her face deepened when she frowned. “And when she sees what the world has seen, what is playing on the news?”
Her world would be destroyed. But Dirk didn’t say that. He couldn’t. Instead he just rested his head ag
ainst Jane’s and they watched, keeping their eyes trained on the glass for some movement. Something that would prove that Jenna Morgan was on their way back to them.
****
“Jenna Morgan’s a glistening.” Rebecca slammed back a shot of whiskey and winced, it burned going down and it fueled her anger. “A fucking glistening!” She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, not very ladylike, but didn’t care for the first time in a long time. There wasn’t any time left for decorum.
A fucking glistening.
Rebecca Seers wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen the transformation happen in front of her eyes. But there it was, the news reel of footage playing on loop on television, on Internet Vids, and her own Newspaper hologram.
The woman wasn’t identified, but there was no doubt in Rebecca’s mind who it was. From the bright red hair, to Dirk rushing to her aid, the half-turned glistening was Jenna Morgan.
“Have you told anyone else?” Gerard poured her another whiskey before settling back into a leather chair. He leaned forward, his elbows balancing on his knees and studied her.
She slammed the drink back aware his eyes were all over her, studying her. Undressing her. What else was knew? Under his glance, Rebecca grew hot. “No. Of course not. You think I want New Haven to get their hands on her?”
He reached across the table and stroked her hand. Goosebumps rose up on her flesh. “What do you think we should do?”
Rebecca spun the glass on the tabletop. “I know what we have to do.” She closed her eyes and felt fear, regret, clenching at her heart. “But if she catches on, she’ll kill us.”
“Then we won’t give her the chance.” Gerard leaned back in his seat, a smug gladness settling in on his face.
“I should have suspected.” Rebecca murmured. “Her temper. How hotheaded she can be. Her lips, her eyes, her soft delicate skin like she’s still only nineteen.”
Gerard smirked. “Careful, your jealousy is showing.”
Rebecca threw him an angry glower. “And why shouldn’t I be jealous? I can’t even put chapstick on without worrying about the chemicals in it. What it might do to me.”
“She is the answer.” Gerard placed his fingers on top of the manila folder on the table and slid it over to Rebecca. “Everything the human race needs is locked inside of these monsters. And Jenna, a functional half breed. Her human DNA living in harmony with the glistening mutations. Does she have to drink blood to survive?”
“I don’t know.” Rebecca muttered.
“Well, find out.” Gerard scowled, his voice forceful. “If she’s not, if somehow she doesn’t need the blood to live, the answer is in her DNA strain. We must have her. We must find her. She could be the very answer we seek for the fountain of youth, and our fortune.”
Rebecca swallowed hard. “And the glistenings?”
Gerard laughed. “We’ll have no need for them anymore. What the government does to them once we no longer need test subjects, hell, let them all burn.”
For her part in it, Rebecca gave a sigh of relief. If Jake and the others knew what a traitor she was, she would be a dead woman. “And I’ll be first?” Rebecca eyes were wide with promise, like a child on Christmas morning. “You promise once the gene therapy is perfected, I’ll be first?”
Leaning forward, Gerard planted a kiss on Rebecca’s lips. “I never lie to a lover. You will be as beautiful as you were when you were twenty. Maybe even eighteen.”
Rebecca could have it all back. Everything time stole from her.“All our dreams will come true.”
“And the rich will pay handsomely for our new service. We will be so rich, darling Rebecca, we will have money to burn.”
“I can drink to that. But, we still need to find her.”
“Oh don’t worry,” Gerard stroked his chin. “Leave that to me. I have…an inside track.”
Chapter Eighteen Liz
Nuefeld Farm
Rural Saskatchewan Territory of the Canadian State
Liz sat at the dinner table a full plate of food in front of her, untouched and cooling. She couldn’t begin to bring herself to eat. In the background the radio played the local news bulletin.
“Signs continue to build that the Mexican government is making a move for the north west. Satellite imagery shows a movement of ground troops and weapons to the border. President Rodriquez says it is only a training exercise, but in response, American troops and missiles have moved south.”
As if there wasn’t enough to worry about. Liz stared down at her food. Jackie prodded her. “You need to eat something.”
“I wouldn’t be able to eat if I was her.” Mark put on his jacket and went to his closet to get his rifle.
“Mark!” Jackie hissed and narrowed her eyes. “She’s upset enough.”
“She kissed a glistening. A glistening! On our porch. In front of our house. And then she bragged about it. Bragged!” Mark slammed his palm down on the kitchen table, rattling glasses and silverware. Under the table the dog whined.
“I didn’t know!” Liz shouted, jumping up to her feet. “I didn’t know!”
“Really? Or are you just telling me what I want to hear?”
“I wouldn’t lie. Daddy, how can you think I’d lie to you?” Liz covered her mouth. “I’ve never lied, ever! Now my word means nothing?”
His eyes softened. “I don’t know, Liz. I don’t know. All I know is you better hope everyone believes you. I’ve done what I can to secure our place in the community, but you can’t go around talking like Nick was a nice, misunderstood guy. You hear me?”
Liz mashed her fingers together. “Yes, Sir.” Her cheeked flamed red.
“From this point forward, no one utters the name Nick. He is no friend of this family. Do you understand?”
“She said yes.” Jackie said heated and stood up. “Don’t badger the girl, Mark. We’re all in this together. Don’t make this something it isn’t.”
“Together, huh?” Mark shook his head and slung the rifle over his shoulder. “Don’t make me out to be the bad guy in this. I’m not the glistening. I’m just trying to see us through to the other side.”
Jackie rushed to her feet and grabbed his arm. “I wish you wouldn’t go. It could be dangerous.”
“And if I don’t? If I get labeled a glistening supporter? We’ve done enough to help them. Now it’s time we get them out of here before the government shows up. What if they decide not to leave? What if the government seizes our land like they did in Quebec and Newfoundland? They could replace us with government workers and we’ll be fighting for scraps. What is it I always say, Jackie?”
She sighed. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Mark nodded. “And if they see our farms, our crops, they might see dollar signs. Before you know it…They’ve let us live in peace for generations, but if they come now, they might want to end our arrangement. You got it? We could starve. Be out of our home. Forced to move to the US.”
Liz thought he was overreacting. The government wasn’t that bad. If it was that bad, why did they sell their grain and vegetables to them? The government gave them a hefty sum for their product and because of them, they lived in a nice house on a large piece of land. She knew that not everyone could say the same.
She saw the pictures of what people lived like in the states. Except for fishing ports and the rich elite, most lived in apartment buildings. The Nuefelds were some of the lucky few. Liz hoped her dad wasn’t right.
The front doorbell rang. Followed by a clamoring of knocks.
Mark scowled. “What the hell?” He went to the front door and Liz followed. On her heels Jackie was close behind. Mark opened the door. Liz couldn’t see who was at the door, but she heard angry voices as she tried to peer over her Dad’s hefty frame.
“Where’s your daughter?” A voice said and Liz recognized it, but couldn’t place it. “We have questions for her.”
Mark’s legs shifted wide and his arms held out in a defensive stance. “Well you can’t talk to
her. She’s busy.”
“Doing what? We want to talk to her!”
“Where’s the glistening lover? We demand to talk to her. Find out what she knows!”
Liz’s heart pounded. Jackie wrapped her arms around her. Gazing up, Liz hoped to see calm in her face, but all she saw was panic. Fear. “Mom?” She whispered.
The crowd tried to push through Mark, but he edged them back. “Get off my property or I swear to God, I will force you all off.” He held his rifle up and took aim at the crowd. Not at anyone specifically.
He threw a nod back. “Go upstairs. Lock the doors.”
Jackie took Liz by the hand and led her away toward the front stairs. The back door in the kitchen was kicked open. Men charged inside. Liz screamed, grabbed the handrail and raced up the first few steps.
But she was seized by the waist. “Now just hold on, Lizzie.” The voice crackled in her ear.
Liz’s insides raced. She clawed at the wall as she was lifted up like a rag doll. She knew that voice. She knew who it was… “Let me go!” She screamed, her legs kicking, but it wasn’t just Charles. Suddenly there were many arms grabbing at her arms and legs. She was pinned down like an animal on an examination table.
“Mark!” Jackie’s voice reached a screeching pitch and was shoved down against the wall by someone.
“Mom!” Liz screamed, the room spinning as Charles pivoted and made his way toward the kitchen.
“Damn you!” Mark’s voice was filled with terror. Several gun shots went off in the next room and then the rush of footsteps into the room.
Liz clawed at Charles’ shoulder as he bolted outside. She was thrown into the back of the pickup truck, Charles squatted down beside her. He slammed his hand on the cab and the vehicle took off with squealing tires.
She looked up with fear building in her chest. Charles put a hand on her chest to keep her pinned down. He cackled. “Heh heh heh. Now we’ll see where your glistening lover is. We’ll see who you really answer to Lizzie.”
“Screw you!” Liz spat at him.
Charles coiled his hand into a fist and belted her across the jaw. Her head rocked back and smacked hard into the metal so it reverberated through her teeth. Her eyes trained on the night sky and through the moonlight she saw several large wings in flight.
