Free Xenofreak Nation by Melissa Conway Page B

eyes, porcupine quills sticking out of her head every-which-way.
    “Where’d they get that picture?” she asked.
    “Just listen.”
    The newscaster was saying something about the case. “…in broad daylight and forced to undergo a xenotransplant. Three of the four wanted kidnappers were in custody until this morning when two of them, Scott Harding and Padme Lango,” the picture behind him changed to side-by-side mug shots, “assaulted a security guard and escaped just hours ago from a low-security federal facility. Police are advising the public to take extreme caution and to consider the pair armed and dangerous.”
    Bryn was outraged, but not so much that she didn’t notice a couple of shocking details.
    “That’s not Scott! And Padme has cow ears!” The photos were close enough likenesses, but the one that was supposed to be Scott looked like a hardened criminal a decade his senior and the one of “Padme” had perfect, shell-like human ears. Bryn looked at her father and stated emphatically, “They have the wrong pictures.”
    Harry Vega clapped his hands together and turned to Bryn’s friends. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to cut the party short.”
    Maria got off the bed and said, “Wow, girl, this reeks.”
    “Yeah, are the cops stupid, or what?” Kim said.
    After they’d gone, Bryn expected her father to come back into her room so they could discuss the turn of events, but after a few minutes she heard his low voice coming from the kitchen. She assumed he was calling the XIA to let them know they’d made some kind of terrible mistake. Either they’d captured the wrong people in the first place, or someone in the records department screwed up.
    Thoughts spinning, she picked up the box of birthday chocolates Maria had given her and wandered down the hall with the intention of leaving it on the counter for her father. Just as she was about to round the corner into the kitchen, she heard him say, “…and donations coming in. You’ll get your money.”
    It wasn’t what he said, but the harsh way he said it that made her pause and listen.
    “It’ll have to be next week after the check clears the bank. I’ll meet you—” He stopped and then said in a defensive tone, “Okay, okay…fine.”
    Bryn heard the little beep that indicated he’d ended the call. She walked into the kitchen and asked, “What was that all about?”
    Her dad jumped and put a hand to his heart. “How much did you hear?”
    She frowned. He looked not only guilty, but almost frightened. Slowly, she said, “You owe someone money..?”
    He set the holophone in its charger and took a few deep breaths before responding. “It’s politics. Sometimes you have to grease the wheels to get anything done.”
    “You’re bribing someone? With PHS money? Can you do that?”
    He sighed. “Technically, no, Sweetheart. Essentially what I’m doing is wrong, especially given that the money was donated and PHS is a non-profit organization. It’s hard for me to think of it as embezzlement, though, when it’s so very necessary to the cause. These guys—you know, the legislators—are all on the take these days, even though it’s considered legal. They only listen to their caucuses, the groups who fund their elections who are in turn funded by big business. Caucuses influence the way they vote, caucuses even write the damned bills for them!”
    Bryn recognized that he was getting worked up for one of his lectures, so she interrupted. “What about the photos?”
    “I had to take that, Brynnie. It was—oh, the mug shots. Um, yeah, let me call Agent Smart. Heh, ‘Agent Smart,’ that kills me.”
    Bryn had no idea why her father thought Agent Smart’s name was so amusing, but she did wonder what he’d started to say about the photos. He picked up the holophone again just as it occurred to her: the picture of her on the newscast—the one with her porcupine hair in all its glory—had been taken right here in the kitchen. It