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  And Trent. Just because they'd apparently had some torrid romance in another world didn't mean it was a forgone conclusion here. Their history together was murky at best. Why should she trust him? Maybe he kept bringing her back from the dead just to mess with her. Maybe he was behind all the bad stuff. Could she ever really trust him, even if he did make her melt into a puddle of longing? One thing she knew, she needed to stop allowing the assumed intimacy. It fried her already scrambled brains.

  Seffy squared her shoulders. Despite her exhaustion, she had a duty to make sure her friends were safe, even if it looked like she wanted them dead.

  Chapter Seven

  Trent waited for the guard at Fenn's residence to let him pass. He knew Fenn had given orders that he was to be allowed in at any time. Maybe this guard hadn't heard the news. The sullen-faced man spoke quietly into a walkie-talkie requesting clearance and finally got it. His expression became even more sullen as he stepped aside to let Trent pass.

  Inside, Trent found Fiona and a slightly improved Fenn sitting on the couch in the living room. Fenn wore a black turtleneck with khaki cargo pants. He nodded in greeting. Fiona wasn't quite as polite, dressed as always in the circa 1980 MTV look.

  She sneered. “What do you want?”

  Fenn touched her arm and shook his head.

  Trent sank onto the opposite couch and regarded the oddly-matched pair. Fenn, with his black hair, intense blue eyes, and chiseled features looked like a man who knew what he wanted. And yet Trent knew he was losing his struggle to heroin—while losing the compound in the process.

  Fiona, small with short russet hair and slanted brown eyes looked like exactly like the pixie bitch she was. How had these two ever hooked up? What was in it for either of them? Maybe Fenn's drug habit affected his judgment when it came to women. Once he got clean, Trent figured he'd dump the mini tyrant. Unless the mini tyrant was a murderer.

  He took a deep breath. “I'm sure you've heard there's been an attempt on Seffy's, Gareth's, and Addison's lives.”

  Fiona rolled her eyes. “Isn't there always some drama attached to you and your friends?”

  “Fiona,” Fenn said on a sigh.

  “Only since you brought us here,” Trent said curtly. “Do you mind telling me where you've been all day?”

  Her dark eyes widened to a ludicrous size. “Are you insinuating me into one of your tiresome dramas?”

  “Fiona has been here all day with me,” Fenn said, his frown foreboding. “What are you after?”

  “Answers,” Trent snapped. “Although I wonder why I bother asking in the first place when all I get is a run around.”

  “Is Seffy okay?” Fenn asked quietly.

  Fiona glared at her boyfriend, making him blush.

  “She's pretty bruised and shaken up.”

  “I'm sorry to hear that,” he said. “Is there anything we can do?”

  Trent wanted to snap something in half. “Since you asked so nicely, not only do I want some kind of security to protect us from murder, but also for you to stop sic-ing your little friends on us in an effort to divide us.”

  “I'm sure I don't have a clue what you're talking about,” Fiona said.

  “Take for instance, Brenda. Give her something else to do besides spy on us and cause dissension.”

  “I don't know any Brenda.”

  “God, Fiona, you're a piece of work—”

  “Let me get this straight,” Fenn said, “you think Fiona has people working against you?”

  “Yes. And Brenda is probably just one of many.”

  He looked at his girlfriend. “Who's Brenda?”

  Fiona shrugged, her wide eyes guileless. “Never heard of her.”

  Trent pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, whatever her name is, keep her away from us.”

  “You're missing the point, Trent. I don't have anyone spying on you, trying to cause problems, or whatever new paranoid delusion you've cooked up this time.”

  “It's apparently someone new to the compound.”

  “We haven't accepted any new people to the compound, Trent. Not since you got here.” Fiona's lip curled. “For obvious reasons.”

  Fenn put up his hand. “Fiona, you had better be telling the truth here.”

  She narrowed her eyes at Trent. “I admit, I had something to do with the time travel experiments, but that's it. Not the subliminal stuff you claimed, and not this Brenda chick, whoever she is.”

  “I find it hard to believe you could be so ignorant of what's going on around you.”

  “I didn't say I was ignorant—just not responsible.”

  Trent looked at Fenn. There was no reasoning with Fiona. “I require security for my people or at least weapons so we can defend ourselves. We were all killed in the other tangent, and someone's trying to kill us here. Either protect us while we're under your roof, or let us go.”

  Fenn looked down, the light creating harsh shadows from his sunken cheekbones. “You can select your own guards from anyone here you trust and see my chief of security for weapons.”

  “Are you joking? They'll use weapons against us!”

  He glanced at Fiona with a tired expression. “What's our alternative?”

  She swiveled her attention Trent's way, her lips mashed into a white line.

  Looks like letting us go is totally off the table. And we're apparently no good to the compound dead. The question is why? He stood. “If you could get word to your security chief, I'll make the arrangements from there.”

  Fenn nodded.

  Trent headed to the door, satisfied when he heard Fiona follow him. In the antechamber, he turned to her. She approached him, her small hands balled into fists.

  “You better watch your step, Trent. You think you have power here? You have nothing.”

  He smirked. “For some reason, you need us alive, and since I happen to like that particular state of being, think of it as us working toward a common goal.”

  “You and your pathetic friends are only being tolerated for a short time. And when we're done, consider yourselves disposable.”

  Trent suddenly pushed her against the wall and pressed his hand against her throat. “Today I learned how much abuse a windpipe can take and yet not collapse.” He leaned close to her, noting her shock. “You once said that we are very similar in some respects. I agree because we both have goals and both of us will go to any length to achieve those goals. So you see, I'm not the only one who's disposable around here.”

  “Get off me,” she rasped.

  “Only if we can come to an agreement. Keep your Brendas away—”

  “I told you I don't know anything about that!”

  “Keep your flunkies away from me and my friends or I'll hunt you down and kill you. It's as simple as that. Besides, we both know Fenn would be better off without you.”

  Fiona's eyes widened, revealing a brief flash of fear. In the next instant, she met his gaze in a look of understanding. Trent released her and she sank to the floor, coughing. As he left the antechamber, he didn't have to look back to know her expression was as murderous as he felt.

  He decided to head back to Seffy's and make sure she was okay. Why hadn't decent cell phones been invented yet? Maybe he'd get a set of walkie-talkies to stay in contact. Frankly, if Fiona wasn't involved in the chaos—and he wasn't close to convinced she was innocent—then he had even more to worry about. Fiona he could handle—mysterious rogue factions not so much.

  And where did Brenda fit in? Trent decided to go to her room first and see what she'd been up to in the last day or so.

  Before he got far, a tall white-haired man in a guard uniform stopped him.

  “Fenn instructed me to give you whatever you need.”

  ***

  Seffy knocked on Lani's door. She wanted to see Gareth first, but wasn't sure she was quite up to it yet. When no one answered, she turned the doorknob and, finding the door unlocked, poked her head in. She yanked her head back out, pressing a hand to her chest. Y
ep, Lani was there...she was just busy. Seffy took a deep breath and knocked harder. Normally she wouldn't intrude on a romantic interlude, but her friend's life could be at stake.

  Lani appeared at the door, smiling, her face red. “Sorry, you kinda caught me at a bad time.” She opened the door all the way and ushered her in.

  Seffy sent Malone an apologetic glance and cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt...it's just that we have another problem.”

  Malone sat up on the couch, his green eyes suddenly icy, which caused an involuntary shudder. Goodness he looked scary. “What now? What's left? Vampires? Werewolves? Gnomes?”

  “Uh, nothing like that, exactly. But you're both probably in danger. At least me, Gareth, and Addison have all been attacked.”

  Lani gasped and pointed at her. “Your neck! Was that...?”

  Seffy nodded.

  Malone stood and pulled his 9mm from his belt. “Who's responsible?”

  “We don't know yet. At least one of them—”

  “There's more than one?” Lani squeaked.

  “I, uh never saw my attacker, so yeah. Maybe.”

  “What was the other one wearing?”

  “One of those Haz-Mat suits...but apparently when they were done, they stuffed it under my mattress to make it look like I did it.”

  Lani blinked. “I don't get it.”

  Malone strode up to her and took her chin in his big calloused hand. “Did you try and kill anyone, princess?”

  “Malone!”

  He ignored Lani. “We know you've been hopped up on who knows what chemicals, so I wouldn't blame you. But I'd sure as hell stop you.”

  Lani appeared at his side and yanked his arm down.

  “It wasn't me,” Seffy said quietly. “I'm at least ninety-nine percent sure of that.”

  “Where are the others?” Lani asked. “Has anyone seen Jared or the girls?”

  “Yeah, that Cynthia and Eva always struck me as suspicious.”

  Seffy's mouth opened and closed. “Uh, honestly, I didn't think about them.”

  “I'll go check. You ladies stay put right here.” Malone racked his gun and crept from the room.

  Seffy drifted over to the a chair and sat down. Lani collapsed onto the edge of the bed, pushing her hair back.

  “I'm really sorry for busting in like that.”

  The brunette let out a shy laugh. “As much as I like hooking up with Malone, I like being alive more so I'm glad you came by.” Her smile faded. “Why do people always want to hurt us?”

  “I don't know.” Seffy cleared her throat. “Why did you just now ask about Jared but not Trent?”

  “Because I figured you knew where he was.”

  She snorted softly. “Why would I know that?”

  “Well, you're kind of always together, right?”

  Seffy's eyes widened. “Um...”

  Lani reached out and touched her knee. “You know, I saw you that night of your party.”

  She clenched her hands in her lap. The night Trent first told her he loved her. The night they'd kissed for real. Oh, crap. “Uh, what did you see exactly?”

  “You and Trent kissing.”

  Seffy's heart pounded so hard she became disoriented. She rubbed her forehead, struggling to form an excuse. “That wasn't what it looked like.”

  “You mean so passionate and steamy that you didn't hear me coming around the corner, gasping, then pretending like I had only just come down the hall?”

  “Oh, God.”

  “So, you really don't have anything going on with him? You're always absent, so I just assumed you two were together.”

  Seffy didn't know what to say. On one hand she was ashamed of her...liaison..with Trent. On the other, she desperately wanted to unburden herself to someone but wasn't sure Lani was the right someone. “Trent has become...kind of attached to me.”

  “You mean he's in love with you.”

  Her lip trembled. “He seems to think so.”

  “And you don't feel the same way?”

  “Lani, think about it! Don't you remember how he treated me when we first met?”

  Her blue eyes clouded. “I remember him being rather rude, but I thought it was because you made out with his friend who became a zombie and was then killed. Maybe he was jealous or just upset in the general sense of the word.”

  Seffy shook her head, holding onto her sanity with slippery fingers. “I think you only had eyes for Malone and didn't notice anything else going on around you.”

  She giggled. “Maybe.”

  Glad for the diversion, Seffy smiled. “About you two...I guess opposite attract, huh? The Bazooka and the Butterfly.”

  Lani clapped her hands together. “Malone will love that! Oh, you and Trent need a title like that.”

  “I don't think—”

  “Well, the 2006 way to deal with that is to combine your names. Sent won't work. Oh! Treffy!”

  “Lani, we're not only not opposites, but the attraction only goes one way.”

  The brunette's brows went up. “I may be clueless, but I'm not blind. You just don't want to admit you're attracted.”

  “How could I admit to such a thing?” Seffy closed her eyes briefly. “The only person who held my heart was...is...Gareth.”

  Lani leaned back, regarding her for several moments. “I've never said anything before about this, but I think I'm going to now.”

  Seffy groaned. “Please don't.”

  She leaned forward. “You and Gareth. You're close. But it's because something binds you together. Something...not good.”

  Seffy's face heated. “Don't go there, please.”

  “I'm not asking what it is, I'm just saying it's probably toxic. And it's hard for good to come out of bad.” She raised her hands. “It's not impossible, but...”

  “Lani—”

  “But you and Trent...now that's organic.”

  “Enviro-greenspeak? Are you serious?”

  “It's just an analogy. Your relationship sprang up naturally.”

  “I don't even know if we have a relationship.”

  “You have something, and it comes from a good place.”

  Seffy plunged a hand through her hair. “What? The compound? Have you noticed it's an ex-Soviet labyrinth with zombies and alien dreams and mind control plots and—?”

  “Is it as bad as what brought you and Gareth together?”

  Seffy stared at Lani, only dimly aware of the thundering of her heart. After a moment, moisture stung the back of her eyes. She turned her head and blindly stared at the wall. Soon tears rolled down her cheeks. She swiped them from her chin, desperate to force despair into anger.

  “Honestly, Sef, I don't know much. But before making a choice you might regret, think about this. Who makes you hear music?”

  Seffy let out a hysterical laugh. “What? You're more nuts than I am, Lani.”

  “No, I mean it.”

  “There's no music, okay? I don't hear it. I don't like it.” Her voice cracked. “I just want to go home.”

  Lani took a deep breath. “Why do I speak

  asking you to stay

  Will you be the same

  when you're done with him?”

  Seffy groaned. “Lani, please don't sing.”

  Lani ignored the request.“Don't spin on your heel

  and depart from this place

  an empty space where lonely hours

  pile up to greet him when you're forever gone

  How will he endure?

  You just need to remain

  Don't leave

  don't say farewell

  you just need to remain.”

  Seffy stood up to go. She hated this stupid song. It had always made her misty. “Thanks for listening, but—”

  “Shh,” Lani said, waving her hand impatiently. “Let me finish the chorus:

  Enduring in the dark

  Forever

  Will he be dreaming

  when it ends?

  When all you've be
en through together

  is over and you're both alone

  where will he end up

  where will you be?

  his emotions hidden away

  until you're gone

  how will he endure?”

  Seffy sighed. “Is it done?”

  “You know the words.”

  “Those weren't the words.”

  “Well, I tailored them a little. It was about Trent in regard to you by the way.”

  A weary smile touched Seffy's lips. “I got that part.”

  Lani got up and hugged her. “I'm just saying be open to something new and unexpected.”

  “Kinda like you and Malone?”

  “Yes!”

  If that isn't a disaster in the making, I don't know what is. Then again, Lani always was fearless when it came to taking people risks. “So when did you go all Zen diva?”

  Lani laughed. “That wasn't Zen, Sef. I can just be observant from time to time.”

  “Okay...well, thanks again. As soon as Malone gets back, I'm going to go see Gareth.”

  “And I'll call Jared and the girls to give them a heads up.”

  “Don't bother. They're fine.”

  Malone strode through the door, holstering his weapon. Seffy's heart jumped when she saw him followed by Trent. She avoided catching his eye.

  “I requested to have guards watch over Jared and the girls, and they've been apprised of the danger.”

  Seffy peeked up at Trent, who approached her holding a couple of walkie-talkies. He held one out. “I want you to keep this with you. Pretend it's a big ugly cell phone.”

  She took it. “Why do I need this?”

  “So we can stay in contact. You have a way of disappearing from time to time.”

  “Who else gets one?”

  “Um, just Malone and me.”

  Seffy stared at him, wondering at the significance. Lani nudged her arm and gave her a meaningful glance.

  Trent noticed the exchange, his expression questioning. “I, uh, had the option of getting guards and weapons for protection until we can figure out who wants us dead.” He sent her a pointed look. “You still have the gun?”

  She nodded. “I'm going to need a tool belt for all this stuff. My kangaroo pockets aren't big enough.”