Free Xenofreak Nation, Book Three: XIA by Melissa Conway

her. Carla was a survivor. “Tell Bryn to call me if you hear from her, okay?”
    “Shouldn’t she be at your place?”
    “Yeah, but it turned out my place wasn’t safe either.”
    “Great. Now you got me worried. Will you call if you hear from her first?”
    “If I get a chance. Lot going on.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    After he disconnected, he sat and stared unseeing at his cubicle walls, heightened anxiety and a sense of lingering regret burning a hole in his gut. He’d told Bryn he loved her last night… after she’d fallen asleep. He didn’t regret saying it, he just wished he’d been brave enough to tell her when she could respond back one way or the other.
    “Heard you caught a big fish.”
    It was Jason Alton’s voice, and Scott reluctantly turned around in his chair. Alton had a white strip across his nose and both eyes were surrounded by colorful bruising.
    “What are you doing out of the hospital?” Scott asked. “Aren’t you missing a lung or something?”
    The question came out sounding more antagonistic than he’d intended; not because he didn’t harbor major hostility towards the guy, but because he usually hid that sort of thing better.
    “Nope, all patched up,” Alton said. “Amazing what they can do these days. You should know. What was it – four bullets in the back?”
    Before Scott could point out he’d been wearing bullet-resistant clothing, Lo arrived and tossed him a plastic-wrapped sandwich. “Food court was closed, so I had to hit the machine.”
    He said, “Thanks,” and used his claws to tear into the plastic wrap before shoving the turkey on wheat into his mouth. The cheese tasted funny, but hopefully the sandwich would help settle his stomach.
    Lo turned to Alton. “You on duty already? I thought you were at death’s door.”
    “Felt like it, but I’m alright.”
    “You don’t look alright, but you know what? I have some cream that’ll make you pretty again in no time.” She took off for her cubicle.
    Scott ate his sandwich in silence, happy to have a reason to ignore Alton. He wasn’t jealous exactly – Bryn had very specifically told him she wasn’t interested in him – but it rankled that Alton had gotten close to her. Just because Bryn didn’t want him , didn’t mean he didn’t want her .
    Lo came back with a tube of something that she proceeded to squeeze out onto her finger. Alton jerked his head back when she lifted her hand to his face.
    “What’s in it?”
    “How would I know?” she responded. “It’s for bruising, and trust me, it works miracles.”
    Alton let her smear the stuff around and under his eyes. “Smells terrible.”
    “Shut up.”
    When Lo was finished, she stepped up close to Scott and said, “Your turn.”
    Scott sighed, but tilted his head back obediently. The stuff did smell terrible, but he kept his opinion to himself.
    When she finished, she asked, “You text Shasta?”
    Scott had taken another bite of the sandwich, so he nodded.
    “Heard back?”
    He shook his head no.
    She turned to Alton. “You?”
    “Haven’t heard from her since this morning when she was on the way to the airport with Unger. Have either of you, um, heard from Dr. Padilla?”
    Scott didn’t particularly want to tell Alton about Mia, but Bryn had sent that message telling him they’d been chased out of his apartment hours ago, and Mia should have been in and out of surgery by now.
    “She’s getting grafted,” he said.
    “ What ?” Alton had been leaning against the cubicle frame, but he jerked upright so quickly it must have hurt, because he winced and put a hand to his ribs. “Where?”
    “New Rochelle. Why?”
    “Gangs have been hitting rival dens all over the city, trashing surgeries and robbing customers. Haven’t you been paying attention to the news?”
    Scott clenched his jaw, but didn’t respond to Alton’s implied criticism other than to say, “We’ve been working.” He pulled his holophone out of his pocket and