Diana Rowland - How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back

He slowly moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “I’m not going to fall for your emotional blackmail bullshit,” he snarled. “Whatever it is you want, you’re not going to get it that way.”

What now? I sure as hell didn’t want to get into an argument about whether or not his sister was alive. I started to give Brian a What the fuck do I do now? look, then caught sight of Pierce eavesdropping in the hallway. Oh, right. I knew shit that Andrew didn’t. I could use that.

“You’ve made it pretty clear you don’t want to listen to me,” I said with a shrug. “That’s fine. How ’bout we cut the bullshit.”

Andrew’s shoulders eased a bit and caginess replaced the fury in his eyes, as if I’d finally stepped onto his turf. “You want Ivanov.”

“Pietro? Nah.” I shook my head even as I watched his face for reaction. “I guess you’ve been out of the loop. Your people don’t have him anymore.”

“I don’t believe you,” he said after a heartbeat of hesitation.

“Whether you believe me or not doesn’t change a damn thing.” I tilted my head and smiled. “Saberton had an insider, and Pietro’s out. How do you think we knew y’all have Marcus?”

He quickly covered his surprise with a steely frown. “What insider?”

My smile widened. “Pierce Gentry.”

Andrew stared for a second then let out a laugh. “Insider? You hauled him in here in handcuffs. God knows what you people did to him to get that tidbit of information.” He snorted. “Pierce Gentry is hard core Saberton. Second generation.”

With that absolutely perfect setup, Pierce stepped into the doorway. Dressed in black tactical pants and shirt, and with a big ass knife in a belt sheath on his hip, he sure as hell didn’t fit the vision of a tortured prisoner. “You’re wrong, Saber,” he growled. “About me. About a lot of things.”

It was like watching a movie and being in it at the same time. Andrew’s mouth fell open, and something that was probably supposed to be “why?” came out a strangled croak instead.

“Because Saberton crossed the line when it fucked with zombies.” Pierce pulled a baggie of brains from his pocket and slurped down the unmistakable contents.

Andrew drew a noisy breath as he fought to make sense of this new reality. “You . . . no. We would’ve known. You can’t be one of those . . .”

Pierce’s face went hard. “One of those animals? Monsters? Vermin? Freaks? I know all the shock team’s pet names for ‘specimens.’” He moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Brian. “I can be one of them, and I am . Looks like you’re wrong again.”

Hot damn. I knew where to go with this. “Here’s the deal, Andy,” I said quickly. “We’re going in to get our people back. And you’re going to help us.”

He dragged his eyes from Pierce to me. “What?”

“You heard me.” I fought down a gleeful smile. “You’re going to help us. Pietro’s out, but his nephew isn’t.” I paused. “Your mother thinks forcing Jane’s hand is a good business plan, but you don’t.”

“I stand behind Saberton,” he said with a frown.

“Yeah. Whatever.” I waved a hand. “You hustled Jane out of Saberton Tower before your mother changed her mind, and I could’ve sworn you looked relieved when I said your people didn’t have Pietro anymore.”

He didn’t protest or try to correct me. “If Pennington pulls the strings needed to secure the defense contract, it’s suicide for Saberton,” he said, expression grim. “We’ll make more enemies than allies in Congress, and turn our competitors into cutthroats. We might get a contract, but we’d go down hard later.” He drew a breath. “When I escorted her out, I told her I’d be in touch with her shortly. I planned to offer her an alternative. Of course, that never happened.”

“What alternative?”

He grimaced. “I didn’t have one yet. I was trying to stall her before she followed through with the deal.”

“The good news for you is that the original deal is blown now that you’ve lost Pietro,” I said. “Bad news is that Jane isn’t going to sit on her hands as long as y’all still hold Pietro’s nephew. She’s all set to fuck Saberton over six ways to Sunday, and you know she won’t hold back.”

A pained expression flashed across his face. Ha! One point for Angel! Pleased, I leaned back on my elbows. “Look, we both want the same thing here. So how ’bout you make it easy on everyone and work with us.”

Pierce folded his arms across his broad chest. “I can get us in, Andrew, but it would be smoother with your cooperation.”

“And if I cooperate?” Andrew asked, eyes narrowed. “What then?”

“You see this through, and we let you go back to your mommy.” Pierce’s gaze intensified to predator focus. “You don’t, and we find out if there’s anything special about a Saber brain.”

Fear flickered for an instant, but then Andrew’s jaw set in defiant pride. “Agreed,” he said. “It’s best done soon, before my mother decides to move them to Dallas.”

Pierce gave a sharp nod. “A plan to move the prisoners is good. Except it will be your idea. We’ll discuss the final preparations as soon as Ms. Crawford finishes with you.” With that he gave me a barely perceptible wink, turned, and strode out.

Finishes with him? Oh, right. Naomi. “By the way,” I said, then snapped my fingers to pull his attention away from the doorway and back to me. “Andrew, I’d bet my left tit you didn’t hear all of the shit that came through that thing in my arm.”

His mouth pulled down in a scowl. “What makes you think that?”

I let out a soft sigh. “Because if you’d heard everything, you wouldn’t have accused us of emotional blackmail.”

“Julia,” he said softly, then shook his head. “I don’t understand what the bug has to do with my sister.” No anger or cockiness anymore. We’d put him through the wringer, and now he simply looked drained.

“Because anyone who listened to the whole broadcast would know that we killed the name ‘Julia Saber,’ but not the woman.” I paused. “And, yeah, I can prove it.”

“She’s alive ?” He tried to stand, then sat again heavily. “Julia’s really alive? Where is she? Is she all right?”

“She’s fine,” I said, even as I heard a soft thuck swish which I suspected was Naomi crutching her way up the stairs. “Pietro made sure she was safe from your mother,” I continued. “Plastic surgery, new identity, the works. But he couldn’t take into account the damn bug.”

New, scary anger lit Andrew’s eyes. “My mother knows ?”

“Unless someone else screened the bug and called the shots.”

“Her assistant listened and provided transcripts of relevant information to her, which were then forwarded to me. Or so I thought.” He forced the words through clenched teeth. “My mother called the shots and obviously passed me only crumbs. It’s all about fucking control with her. I’ll kill her. I swear to god, I’ll kill her.”

“Hold that thought a minute, Hero,” Naomi said from the doorway.

Andrew’s focus snapped to her. Emotions tumbled over his face as his worldview did a reset. “Julia?” He lurched up and yanked against the chains on his wrist and ankle. “God damn it. Get this shit off me!”

“Brian, could you? Please?” Naomi said quietly without taking her eyes from her brother.

Face expressionless, Brian moved in and unlocked the chains, then leaned in close to Andrew. “One wrong bat of an eyelash, and I will hurt you.”

He barely had time to step back before Naomi swooped in and threw her arms around Andrew’s neck. I caught the discarded crutches before they crashed to the floor, then I stepped back. Maybe I should leave the room? I wondered then saw that Brian remained at his spot by the foot of the bed. He looked out the window beyond the two, but I had no doubt he was aware of every sound and scent and movement. I doubted Andrew would do something stupid like try to take Naomi hostage, but it made sense to keep an eye on him.