Featured Title
Bulletproof
Mindy
MacKay
Excerpt
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Kiera tried to calm her jitters with a series of
slow, deep exhales. "Well, you did it," she said. "You've turned
the kid into another human nuke. What are we going to do once your brother gets
his hands on him again?"
"See,
if you hadn't been getting all hot and bothered over dissecting him, maybe you
would have thought up an answer to that," said Isabella.
"Fortunately, I did. We're going to need to install a failsafe that we can
detonate from the outside at the first sign of treachery."
"You
mean like a bomb within the bomb?"
"Actually,
I was thinking a poison sac that would release its contents into his
bloodstream at our command, but if you can build a bomb in the boy, go for
it!" The Queen grinned evilly.
Suppressing
a yawn, as it was getting quite late, Kiera dug through some drawers. "I'm
sure I can improvise a bomb out of something in here…what's this tubing
for?" She held up a length of soft plastic tubing about the width of the
tooth of a comb.
"I
can tell you five things it's not for."
Rolling
her eyes, Kiera looked through a few more cabinets, eventually collecting three
vials and pouring all of their contents into the tubing so that they mixed.
"These three combined are explosive when lit. Cham taught me," she
said. Her jittery scalpel hand carved deep incisions down each of Colin's limbs
and she wound the tubes around and around his bones. With a touch and a
thought, she sealed up the cuts as quickly as she'd made them. As a finishing
touch, she built a primitive switch and implanted it where the tubes came
together, under Colin's heart and over the slit nerve. "One spark, and
then…kaboom!"
"Now
all we need is a detonator," said Isabella.
"Can
I build it in the morning?" Kiera pleaded. "If I have to concentrate
for one more second, I think I'll
explode."
"Of
course. It's late. Of to bed with you."
As
they left the lab and began to retreat to their separate bedrooms, Kiera looked
over her shoulder. "Is?"
"What
is it, Kiera?"
"How
long are you going to keep messing with my head like this?"
Isabella
grinned darkly. "Only until you start messing back."
~ * ~
Colin
awoke naked in a strange room. He felt stiff, as if he'd gotten some new ligaments
installed and hadn't had the time to break them in. On the table next to him
was a note:
Dear William,
The injuries you sustained in your car accident
required treatment via invasive surgery, so I took the liberty of saving your
life. You may feel a little sore. It's nothing to worry about. Take the two
pills on the console to your left if the pain becomes too bothersome.
Hoping you are well,
Isabella Sordeno, M.D. (In case you were worried)
Colin
plucked the pills off of a small metal tray and swallowed them without water.
They knocked him out in a heartbeat.
~ * ~
Kiera
awoke with her cheek pressed against the bathroom floor, facing the toilet. She
felt stiff, as if she'd been sleeping in her current tangled position all
night. On top of the toilet tank was a note:
Esteemed colleague,
Well, I hope you're happy. I told you to quit
knocking yourself out with Tongue of the Reaper, but you just don't listen to
the doctor's orders, do you? I do hope you haven't killed yourself this time,
and if you are alive, you should be ashamed of yourself. You think this is any
better than the alcohol problem you had a few years back? Well, it isn't.
I suppose I owe you an apology for having a laugh
at your expense last night. So I'm sorry. But think about it. Your fascination
with bodily mutilation truly is funny, and how do you suppose you'll live with
it if you can't have a laugh at yourself once in a while?
You're probably not too happy about my forcing you
to perform a surgery you were underqualified for, either. I can see why you
might have needed to search for solace after that, but trust me, you won't find
it in the afterlife. I know. I was there once, remember?
All that said, if you aren't dead yet, please get
to work building that detonator for Colin's bomb. You might feel a little
nauseous, which is why I moved you next to the crapper. If you need to vomit,
go on and vomit, but after that, get to work.
All my grudging respect,
Isabella.
Relieved
to find she wasn't nauseous, Kiera pulled herself off the floor and headed to
the lab.
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