Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 53529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53529 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
CHAPTER FOUR
This plan is so stupid. For whatever reason, Morris wants me to show up at a place called Parc Monceau, a few miles from the flaming Eiffel Tower.
I can’t come up with any logical reason for the meeting place or why he chose to threaten Paris in the first place, other than maybe the location is convenient? He fled the US, so France could be his new home.
For the record, he’d been arrested for dealing his deadly street drug, but then he was set free. At the time, his formula wasn’t illegal since no one knew it existed. No law was broken. Not technically. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that charges were brought against him for all the deaths he’d caused, but by then he’d skipped town with his sister, Keni. A lot of people in the US were looking for him, though.
“So this is the meet-up spot?” I ask Kyle, who’s holding a photo of a pond with a semicircle of Roman pillars around the edge.
“Yes. And this goes in your pocket.” He hands me a strange-looking metal tube. “It has a tracker inside along with your syringe.”
“Where will Morris be? Where will his syringe be?”
“We don’t know where he is, but he says the injection will be delivered to you along with instructions.”
Again, this plan is lame. I’m only going along with it on the off chance I can get my freedom out of it, which means getting River.
Kyle adds, “Just be sure to take your injection and not his.”
Ugh. This plan is garbage. Way too many things could go wrong. Also, Morris is crazy, not stupid, and we still don’t know what he plans to do with me.
My guess? Drain my body of blood so he can remake the formula that changed me.
I look at the clock. I have five minutes to go. “Please tell Mom and Dad I love them, okay? And tell River I’m sorry for lying.”
“I don’t plan on telling her anything until this is over,” Kyle says. “No one knows this is happening.”
“What about the flaming tower of Parisian fun?” I ask.
“The public is being told the fire is a stunt for a movie being filmed—all special effects.” He produces a long black wig, sunglasses, and a tie-dye T-shirt. “Here, now put these on.”
“You want me to dress like a hippie?”
“Do you want to be recognized?”
“If I’m going to be free after this, I don’t see why not.” I won’t be a secret anymore.
“There are a lot of crazy people out there who’d like to get their hands on you, Huff, so until we have your security detail figured out, I suggest we keep your identity concealed.”
Security detail? He hadn’t mentioned that part of the deal, but whatever. “I just want the government’s guarantee they won’t touch me.”
“Of course.” Kyle claps me on the arm. “You ready?”
“Nope.”
“Thattaboy.”
We move outside the airplane hangar because I prefer to travel outdoors. Mostly because I’m not so sure what my limitations are. Can I travel through metal? Water? I’ve done glass and drywall, but that’s about it.
I look down, and my hands are shaking. I don’t want to mess this up. It could mean the difference between seeing River again—kissing her, holding her, being punched in the balls by her because I made her think I was dead. But I know she loves me more than friends, and I’m hoping she’ll forgive me.
I can handle anything. Just as long as I have her. I look up at the clear blue sky, noting how it seems a little bluer now. Maybe because I have hope.
“Be careful, Huff. And text me once you take out Morris,” Kyle says.
I blink. “Take him out?”
Kyle stares—flat lips, narrowed eyes. “What did you think you were going to do once you lead us to Morris’s lab?”
I’m a fucking idiot sometimes. Well, not an idiot—because I had a four-point-oh GPA in school, and I hardly tried—but I am naïve sometimes. Definitely too kindhearted for my own good. My mind doesn’t instantly jump to scenarios where I have to engage in violence. Or murder. But of course that’s what they want me to do. They want me to kill Morris.
Did I really think the entire plan was about me getting put to sleep for ten minutes and then asking Morris to politely abort his evil plot?
I shake my head at myself. “Kyle, I’m not sure I can kill another person.”
He grabs me by the shoulders and squeezes firmly. “It’s either him or you, Huff. Not to mention the millions of people in Paris. Babies, children, the elderly included.”
I stare, still unsure if I can end another person’s life.
“Puppies and kittens will die, too,” he adds.
Cats are okay, but dogs? I love dogs. Always wanted one. “I’ll rip his head off.”