Free Xenofreak Nation, Book Three: XIA by Melissa Conway Page B

antiseptic.
    A man in blue scrubs saw Dundee and said, “Hey, you can’t be back here.”
    “Just leaving,” he replied. He nodded towards Mia and told Bryn, “Get your friend, or I will.”
    She didn’t ask how he knew she was with Mia. There were cameras in every room. Fournier installed them in all his facilities. Bryn had kept her quills hidden until that xeno thug had pulled her hood off. If he hadn’t done that, would she be out there blending in with the other customers right now? Or had Fournier known she was here all along?
    As soon as Mia saw Bryn she jumped up from her chair. She was clutching a white plastic bag, but her purse, which had been in her lap, slid to the floor. She started to bend down, but stopped and looked up at Bryn.
    “Can you get that for me?” She extended her hand towards the purse.
    Bryn picked it up, but Dundee snapped his fingers and she handed it over. Mia didn’t seem to notice. From the dull look on her face, Bryn figured they’d given her a hefty dose of something to kill the pain. Before she took Mia’s elbow, she asked quietly, “Where did you get it? Your back?”
    Mia nodded and then held up the plastic bag. “Post-op inshr...instructions.”
    Dundee loomed over them and Bryn gently took Mia’s arm. “We have to go now.”
    Mia smiled up at Dundee. “Who’s your friend?”
    Bryn almost said, “He’s not my friend,” but didn’t think it would be wise to aggravate him. “His name’s Dundee. Come on.” Bryn tugged on Mia’s arm now.
    “Okay, okay. Grumpy.”
    She wobbled the first few steps as Bryn helped her into the hallway. Dundee led them to the back door, which opened onto an alley. An older full-size truck was waiting, engine running.
    “Where we goin’?” Mia asked.
    “We’re getting a ride,” Bryn replied. The lie made her feel worse than lousy, but she didn’t see any alternative. Bryn might be able to outrun Dundee, but Mia was in no shape to do more than walk unsteadily. Explaining the circumstances would only upset her.
    Dundee put them both in the back, got into the driver’s seat, and turned all the way around so he was facing them. He reached up to his face with both hands and for a moment, Bryn was afraid he was going to take the mask off and expose Mia to the typhoid. Instead, he removed his sunglasses with careful precision and just looked at them. It took her a minute to realize he was revealing his eyes, and there was no mistaking his pride.
    There were no scars to speak of, even though Bryn had left at least half a dozen quills sticking out of his face. Fournier must have fixed them, just like he fixed Dundee’s eyes. They were large and round, an inhuman golden green with slit pupils. No white showed around the iris at all.
    He chuckled at the looks on their faces and turned back around to put the truck into gear.
    “What are those?” Mia had already been leaning forward to avoid putting pressure on her back, but now she grasped the top of Dundee’s seat. “Cat’s eyes?”
    Dundee snorted. “I got a croc graft on my face, lady. No, they’re not cat eyes.”
    “ Crocodile eyes? That’s amazing.” Mia seemed to have completely missed his sarcasm. “Do you see color? Is your vision sharper? Crocodiles have excellent night vision, you know.”
    “Yes, yes, and yes, they do.”
    Bryn knew Dundee to be a violent psychopath, but he answered Mia’s questions almost indulgently.
    “Have you got the nictitating membrane?” Mia asked. She stumbled over the word nictitating, but as soon as Dundee said no, she blithely barreled on. “How did they seat them in the socket properly? Crocodiles are huge. Surely their eyes are, too.”
    “Depends on the kind of croc,” Dundee said.
    “Oh,” Mia said. Her questions stopped as she considered it. Bryn figured the new eyes had come from one of the smaller, probably endangered, crocodile species. Mia must have come to the same conclusion, because she said, “Right,” and looked