Love in an Undead Age, A.M. Geever [best contemporary novels txt] 📗
- Author: A.M. Geever
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She was halfway out when she saw him in the headlights.
Miranda instinctively recoiled and began struggling with her rescuer. Catching the man by surprise, she shrugged him off. Lacking better options, she tried to scoot back into the Rover. Two sets of hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her out again.
“We’re here to help you!”
Miranda looked at Mario, wild-eyed. He had her under one arm, the first ‘rescuer’ had her by the other. She bucked and kicked as they dragged her from the Rover.
“Let me go! Even I never thought you’d stoop this low!”
When her feet hit the pavement, she pushed. All three fell back in a heap. She elbowed Mario in the ribs as hard as she could. His cry of pain was satisfying, but the tactic ineffective. Almost instantly he was on top of her, pinning her hands above her head.
“We’re here to save you!” Mario shouted, rain dripping from his nose. He motioned toward the crashed SUVs with his head. “They were trying to hurt you, not us! Settle the fuck down!”
Connor limped into view behind Mario, leaning on one of the armed men in black. “Hey!”
“Get him off me!” Miranda shrieked.
Mario moved aside and Miranda bolted to Connor. The motion made her head swim so much she thought she would pass out. She’d lost her Desert Eagle in the crash and apparently Connor had lost his gun, too. Six armed men surrounded them in addition to Mario. One of them had Delilah by the collar.
“We do not have time for this,” Mario said urgently. “The Council is after you. We have to go.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Miranda snarled.
“We just saved you from people who were trying to harm you, and you think I’m going to hurt you?” Mario pointed at Connor. “He’s Emily’s cousin, for Christ’s sake! What kind of person do you think I am?”
“You can say that with a straight face? For all we know you staged this whole thing.”
“You are the most pigheaded, vindictive woman on the planet,” Mario shouted. “Get in the goddamned car!”
“They did save us, Miri,” Connor said.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“We can’t stay here.”
“We can try one of the other SUVs,” she said. Which is totally stupid, the rational part of her mind piped up. Connor was right. They had to get out of here before anyone else showed up.
The scowl on Mario’s face hardened. Despite his assurances, Miranda thought he would happily kill her if the look on his face was any indication.
Mario shifted his attention from her to Connor. “Will you come with us, or would you rather stand here in the rain and wait for the next hit squad?”
“He’s not going with you,” Miranda said, not giving Connor a chance to speak. “Let’s try the other SUVs first,” she said, desperate, but her mind shouted, Go with him, you idiot! It’s the only way. “I know going with them seems like the smart thing, but you can’t trust him.”
“You’re being irrational.” Connor grabbed Miranda’s arm and dragged her with him toward Mario. “We’re coming with you.”
“No, we’re not!” Miranda cried, trying to pull free of Connor.
“Thank God someone has some sense,” Mario muttered. He turned to the man closest to him. “Find their weapons if you can and get them in the car. And if she fights you, tie her up.”
“I didn’t agree to that!” Connor protested.
Mario headed for the SUV. “Tie him up, too, if you have to.”
She would kill him. If she ever got out of these restraints, she would hunt Mario down, to the ends of the Earth if that’s what it took. She would rip his beating heart out of his chest with her bare hands and make him watch while she fed it to Delilah. She had not thought it possible to hate him more than she already did, but once again he had proved her wrong.
She would kill Connor, too, she decided. He sat next to her, unbound. He decided to go with them and dragged her along, then stood by and did nothing when they bound and gagged her. He had the gall to try and pat her arm after she was unceremoniously dumped into the back seat of the SUV. She had shrugged him off with venom enough that he had not tried again.
You have only yourself to blame, her conscience said unhelpfully, if you had just gone with them you wouldn’t be so vulnerable, tied up and at his mercy, but oh no… You had to fight, knowing you never had a chance.
Miranda glared at Delilah, sitting happily in the front seat next to Mario. She was relieved Delilah had made it through the crash with just a few scratches, but still. Her dog, her faithful companion, had snuggled up to Mario without missing a beat.
You little flea-bitten traitor, your taste in men is as bad as Karen’s. I’ll get a new dog to feed his heart to.
“Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Connor asked Mario again.
“No,” Mario answered. “I’ll let them explain. She’ll never believe it coming from me.”
“Who are ‘they’?” Connor persisted.
“We’re almost there,” Mario replied. “You can see for yourself in a minute.”
The SUV exited the Expressway. Between the tinted windows of the SUV and the inky darkness made blacker by the rain, not to mention her pounding head, Miranda could not tell where they were. Connor looked over at her, giving what she supposed was meant to be an encouraging smile. After a few more minutes the SUV slowed, then drove through a gate.
Miranda strained to see beyond the tinted windows as the SUV stopped. A moment later the doors on either side of Miranda and Connor opened. Rough hands hauled her out and cut the restraints on her ankles. She looked at the building before her, dumbfounded.
They were in front of the Jesuit Residence.
Miranda and Connor were propelled through the foyer and down the hall by Mario’s armed goons so quickly that Miranda did not have time to feel humiliated by the shocked stares of the people they passed. They shoved her through the chapel doors. The world was spinning again. Before she could steady herself, Walter and Doug rushed in.
“God save us, Mario! Was this really necessary?” Walter cried, shock plain on his face. He hurried over to Miranda and unfastened the gag and wrist restraints, then handed her a hanky to dry her face.
“It was,” Mario answered, leaning against a pew. He winced and cradled his side. “I think she cracked a rib.”
“What the hell is he doing here?” Miranda blurted as she spit out the gag. She rubbed her wrists and looked around the room. “What is going on?”
Walter put his hands on her shoulders. “There are some things you don’t know, Miranda.”
“Well no fucking shit,” she said, shrugging Walter off.
The room got very quiet. The sinking feeling Miranda had had on the Expressway when she saw the first SUV returned.
“Mario’s been working with us,” Walter said.
Miranda started to laugh. It was too absurd. She looked from Walter to Mario and Doug, saw identical expressions on their faces. They all looked guilty.
“Mario’s been working with us to get the vaccine back. He’s been our man at GeneSys.”
Miranda stared at Walter. “What are you talking about? He betrayed you. He betrayed all of us.”
“He was always on our side, Miranda,” Walter said softly, his hazel eyes brimming with sympathy. “I am so very sorry, more than you can know, but he never betrayed us. He’s been on our side the whole time.”
The chapel was silent except for the rain battering the windows. Miranda stared at Walter, unable to comprehend his words. Her chest felt tight. Blood roared in her ears. A drop of water trickled down between her shoulder blades.
“I don’t know what he told you–”
“He’s always been on our side, Miranda. He didn’t betray anyone.”
Miranda shook her head. Why was Walter saying these things? She felt Delilah rub against her leg, whining in response to Miranda’s growing distress.
“That’s not true,” she insisted. Her voice wavered, and she began to shake. “If that were true, I would have known.”
“He couldn’t tell you, Miri, none of us could. It was safer if you thought—”
“It was safer?”
Miranda looked from Walter to Mario and abruptly realized what Walter was saying to her was true. The sorrow she saw on Mario’s face was real, and he had apologized to her, said that he missed her. It had not made any sense at the time, but if he had lied to her…
Comprehension—a white-hot spike—crashed through her skull. Mario had lied to her. They all had, every last one of them.
“I know you can never forgive me,” Mario said, voice hoarse, his relief at ending the
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