Page 88 of Minding the Minotaur
I bunch my fists. If they dare touch a hair on her head, I will be over there in seconds. If I blow my cover, too bad. Luckily, they keep their hands off her as they escort her and the man to an elevator and disappear inside it.
When the coast is clear, I scoot over to the elevator andduck behind a large potted plant. I watch the floor indicator stop at level twenty-two.
I wait for what seems forever as more people gather in the foyer, the elevator comes down one floor at a time, then pings. The humans get in. The door closes. This happens several more times and my impatience is growing.
Finally, there’s a lull in traffic. I’m just about to dart out, when another fucking group of humans arrive and stand, waiting for the elevator.
Damn. How many more of these infernal folks are there?
I peek out from behind the thick foliage.
My gaze fixes on a tall woman in a red suit with very weird sparkly spectacles and very high heels, and a cruel set to her bright red lips. She stalks into the elevator. The others follow her in, then the doors slide shut.
The elevator stops at level twenty-two.
Finally things go quiet around me.
I catapult out from my hiding place, stride over to the lift, and hit the control buttons.
Sammy is in grave danger, I know it now for sure.
And I have to get her out of here.
SAMMY
I try desperately not to lose my shit as Dr Petronis hands Marsha a file.
Marsha perches her glasses on the end of her nose and sifts through it with sharp, red-tipped fingers. She slaps it shut impatiently.
“Explain these figures in plain English.”
“Her bloods show enzyme levels five times higher than we’ve been able to achieve in any of our test subjects, Ma’am. Which means the likelihood of the offspring being able to breathe unfiltered oxygen is high.”
“Impressive.” She pulls her mouth into that grimace of a smile. “Though it’s highly unfortunate that natural conception has achieved this. We can’t allow humans to be subjected to such debasement.” She shudders.
I want to scream at her. If only humans knew they were missing the best fuck of their lives… the biggest hearted, most considerate lover, the kindest, gentlest… I sit grinding my teeth and pinching my thigh as hard as I can to stop myself from crying.
“It won’t come to that ma’am,” Dr Petronis says in an obsequious tone. “But this at least gives us a chance to study the gestation period and hopefully extract the necessary hormones to mimic the process in our own embryos.”
She expletes under her breath. “And how long is that going to take, for fuck’s sake?”
“I’m not sure, Ma’am. Having not had this happen before… We don’t know exactly.”
“Well, fucking find out,” she snaps. “We don’t want to risk a hybrid in our midst.”
I bunch my fists. How dare they make out that my baby is some kind of freak?
She bends her head toward Petronis and says, close to his ear, “I want this over and done with as soon as possible. No evidence it ever happened, you understand?”
No! No, you will not harm my baby.I’m screaming inside, but I keep my mouth tethered shut.
I look at Marsha. Her red lips are a hard line, her steel gray eyes glint behind her spectacles, bitterly cold. It feels like there is a lake of hatred inside this woman.
What if she’s a malefic?
And while the thought strikes fear into the very marrow of my bones, the need to protect my unborn child, no matter the cost, rises stronger than anything else inside me. I jump to my feet, power surging through my body, the chair clattering to the ground behind me.
“This is all a huge mistake,” I shout. “You must have mixed my results with someone else’s. You can’t keep me here against my will.” I spin toward the door, which suddenly flies open, but weirdly no-one comes in. I make a run for it nevertheless, but the two guards yank me back. I fight and scream and bite, and then I hear Marsha screech, “Sedate the little bitch.”
