Page 82 of Lust
Daisy took one of Liza’s elbows, and another soldier—the female—took Liza’s other. Once the chopper’s landing skids hit the ground, they dragged her out. The male soldier took up the rear, his rifle at the ready.
These weren’t untrained Faithful. They were seasoned soldiers, ex-military. Liza could tell by the way their eyes scoped for danger, even in their home territory. The woman had a hard face and piercing eyes. Her jaw remained stoically clenched. She would be of no help.
Two shadowed figures waited for them near one of the warehouse buildings. Light from a door cast a halo around their figures, but they were no angels. One, a scientist in a lab coat. The other, Julius Allcott. A devil’s castoff. Liza may not have met him before, but his features were recognizable. Handsome face, obstinate jaw, wide lips. He had all the Lazarus traits. Dressed in a designer suit, the man looked ridiculous in the dirty industrial setting. A silver chain twinkled around his neck, and a watch glinted at his wrist.
She wanted to punch the entitlement from his face.
A shove to Liza’s back knocked her to her knees.
“Where’s the pregnant one?” Julius demanded from Daisy.
“I couldn’t get her. This is the next best thing. Her DNA is unlocked.”
“You couldn’t what?” he roared, then threw up his hands and paced. “You’re useless. Fucking useless.”
Liza met her father’s eyes and mumbled loudly through her gag. He frowned and then flicked his finger at Daisy, who tugged the mask out of Liza’s mouth. She choked and gasped in air, then smirked.
“What’s up, Dad?”
“Lust,” he sneered.
“What’s the matter, no hello kiss?” She gave him her cheek.
Julius’ pale eyebrow arched. “I’m not stupid.”
She shrugged. It was worth a try. Besides, the shrug helped her move her bound hands closer to the shuriken. The cable tie touched the sharp, short blade.
She opened her mouth, already tasting the bitterness of her poison preparing. Daisy stuffed the mask back in Liza’s mouth and then the two soldiers gathered Liza under her arms and picked her up. She refused to walk, so her feet dragged behind them as they headed for the warehouse. It was better for them to be occupied and not notice that every jostle and bump cut more into her restraints. A couple more ties fell to the ground.
Inside the warehouse, stainless steel conveyors and machinery filled the room. No products or packing supplies, just old equipment.
With a hard grip, they wrenched her arms back and lifted her deadweight with a grunt of effort. She wasn’t going to make it easy on them. They dragged her beyond the rusty equipment and through a small corridor with cattle hooks on a ceiling railing and u-bars that were once filled with 400 volts of electricity.
In the next room, Liza couldn’t hide her astonishment and disgust. Hanging from the hooks on the ceiling conveyor weren’t animal carcasses, but human, covered in plastic, dead faces squished against the clear wrap like sausages. Her stomach revolted, her vision blurred, and it took all her resolve to hide her reaction. She refused to admit weakness.
Julius and his scientist companion stopped.
In the absence of footsteps, disturbing sounds filtered from somewhere. Two doors led from the room. One was solid metal with frost edging along the seam. Must be a refrigerated room. The other door was plain and filtered soft moans of people in pain. Julius studied Liza, pausing to contemplate.
“I think we’ll show her,” he said, almost jauntily, and then opened the cooler door.
He’s insane.
Inside, rows of halogen lights clicked on, illuminating the large room. They dragged Liza inside and dropped her to the cold concrete floor. She sagged the moment she hit the ground.
Replicate tanks filled with grown specimens filled the room. There had to be at least fifty.
Catching the astonishment on Liza’s face, Julius said, “These are only our test subjects. We have facilities around the globe storing more. With the stem cells we harvest from you, we’ll be able to finalize our designs and release the replicates. Our new world is imminent.”
He gestured at his scientist companion, who handed him a touch-screen device. Julius tapped his finger on the screen and activated something. He slid his eyes to Liza, like a child waiting for praise.
He sickened her. She looked through him.
When he received no validation, he gestured at the tanks. “We don’t need anything from you to start our war. We don’t care if these replicates live past a few months, or a few weeks. All they’re good for is destroying. Once they’ve fulfilled their duty, it is to our advantage that they die. They’re full of sin. We want a perfect world. I’m telling you this because I want you to see that your fight is futile. We only need you to solve the expiration problem—”
“And we get the data for her poison mechanism, ja?” the scientist reminded Julius.
“Sure. Whatever,” Julius replied, irritated to be interrupted, and then tapped another finger on the device as the scientist came over to Liza and jabbed a needle into her arm.
