She pulled herself from the floor, still groggy from passing out. Shaking her head and muttering, she stumbled across the room to the workbench. She picked up the hypo loaded with chemicals, then turned and looked at Dean with a narrowed gaze.
“No, I don’t think so,” she said slowly.
Dean turned his head so that he met her gaze. He could feel her mind snaking out to his, probing him. He was alarmed, hoping that she wouldn’t be able to see in him that he had partially freed himself.
But she was looking for other things. “No, we didn’t finish our little discussion, did we? No matter. But what happened to me? Yes…”
Dean said nothing, trying to blank his mind completely.
“Don’t try and be clever, little boy,” she snapped. “I only want to fill in some blanks. I remember standing beside you, then there was a sense of overwhelming danger, and this force that… Oh shit,” she added in a whisper. “This can’t be happening. That fuckwit idiot.” She walked over to Dean, her mind still occupied. He hoped it would stay that way, and that she wouldn’t check his bonds too closely.
Leaning over, she put her face close to his. “You’ll keep, little one. Next time I’ll finish you off properly, yeah?” And he felt her hand on him, squeezing so hard that it made him wince in pleasure and pain.
“Yeah, and your father, too,” she said with a lustful gleam in her eye. “But first I’ve got trouble to settle. So you stay here and think about me. And remember this—if you give me an heir, then you live. If not, well…”
She let the answer hang in the air as she turned to leave him.
Dean closed his eyes, breathing heavily, heart thumping. He heard her leave the room, securing the door. The metal was thick enough that he couldn’t hear her footsteps down the corridor, so he counted to twenty to himself instead, then slipped his freed hand from the loosened restraint.
Now he had some time—although he couldn’t be sure how long—to free himself, find his clothes and try to get the hell out. He began to move, frustratingly aware of how his muscles had ached and cramped from being held in the same position for so long. But he had to ignore the cramps and move before Jenna returned.
BLAKE CLOSED the rough wooden door on the scene of Sunchild’s slaughter. He secured the simple lock on the outside of the door that was designed to keep captives inside. Not that the chilled mutie baron was going anywhere. It was just habit.
“Well, Harv, you’ve got some explaining to do to Alien,” Downey said simply, looking at his sec chief.
“Why?” the sec chief replied. He looked on edge, and there was the faintest hint of a facial tic as he spoke.
“Shit, Harv, he didn’t want Sunchild chilled. He just wanted him interrogated,” Blake exploded in exasperation. “I just dunno what was going on there, but if it’s something we don’t know about—”
“Why would it be that?” Harvey snapped. “Why the fuck would you say that?” He grabbed the smaller sec man by the front of his shirt and slammed him up against the wall.
Jak was the first to react. He snaked between them, his arm flashing as he chopped up, breaking the grip. In one fluid movement, he followed through and pushed Harvey back against the far wall, where Ryan’s tightly muscled arms secured the sec chief.
“Thanks, Jak,” Blake muttered, shaking himself down and trying to keep calm. “Feel like this whole fuckin’ place has gone crazy all of a sudden.”
“Mebbe crazy all time. You notice now,” the albino replied.
“You could have a point there, Whitey,” Downey said slowly. “Listen, Harv. You just go and calm down some. I’ll go and report to Alien, okay? It was an accident, agreed?”
Jak and Ryan exchanged looks. Should they go along with this? Doc merely assented. “It is your ville, dear boy, and your place to make decisions.”
HARVEY STORMED away from the group, and they let him go. For Blake and Downey, it was important to smooth things over with Alien before they found out what the hell was wrong with their sec chief. For Ryan, Jak and Doc, it was important to link up with J.B., then with Mildred and Krysty. If any immediate action was to be taken to find Dean, then they should all know exactly what was going on while they were in the same ville, in order to avoid endangering one another.