Abomination by A.J. Cole (best ereader for pdf and epub .txt) 📖

“That’s how she eats. In fact, I’m sure she’d be even happier had we not cooked it at all, isn’t that right, dear?” The bastard raised a brow at me.

As if all this social politeness crap was going to trick me into speaking to him. Ha. I shrugged and took another bite of the steak. He was right, of course. The seasonings weren’t too bad, but that burned taste on the outer part was only tolerable because the center was so raw and juicy.

While we ate, Victor talked about nothing at all. He talked. Blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. And then more whatever stuff. He always did this when he had something important to discuss once the meal ended. Never during. I couldn’t say why. Didn’t care.

But then the plates were cleared, I was given a goblet of cool water with lemon and lime slices floating in it, Victor and Gideon sharing a bottle of wine. And Victor began.

“The United States military has tasked me with finding someone to help with a few difficulties they’re having in one of the Mid-East countries – I’m not a liberty to say which. They know of our projects here, and that I have a, er, ‘secret weapon,’ so to speak which I’m willing to loan them to prove their funding hasn’t been in vain.” He smiled, sat back, sliding his wine glass off the table. He winked at Gideon and took a sip.

Slapping him would have been wonderful. Slapping him so hard his neck broke would have been better. I sipped at my water. Soon enough.

“I take it you’re referring to Morta.”

I could almost see the words, “Of course I am, you idiot,” floating over Victor’s head. “Naturally. That is, if what you’re telling me is true about her training session today.”

Now the words, “No, I’m lying…moron,” seemed to float over Gideon’s. How entertain these two were! “It is. Every detail.”

“Well, we already knew she was a dead-shot, but now with this new rifle and her added psionic ability, it seems we have an impressive weapon to offer the troops.”

Gideon nodded, but gave me a sideways glance, his body tense. I considered him for a moment…oh my god! He was offended! Not by me, but by the way Victor was talking about me! Stranger than strange…

Victor was babbling again. “I haven’t told them her age or gender, but when they see what she can do, it won’t matter.”

“Are you sure about that? And is she bullet-proof? Or bomb-proof?”

Was he concerned because he cared, or because I would be hard to replace?

Victor shook his head. “Neither, but she might as well be. I’d like to see someone try to hit her with a bullet – with anything at all, for that matter.” He chuckled and drank some more wine.

Hilarious. Ha, ha, ha. Yes, I could move fast enough to avoid a bullet, even a storm of them if necessary. But a bomb? We’d experimented with that a bit, but a lot of work remained for me to feel confident I could escape a much larger blast than they’d been using on me.

Gideon was nodding. “I see. The reaction of the soldiers should be interesting. What if she’s captured?”

“Ah, that’s where her new abilities can really come into play!”

At that point, being discussed as if I were elsewhere no longer bothered me. I wouldn’t have spoken to Victor in any event, but the way Gideon kept casting glances at me told me it bothered him a great deal. How sweet. No, really. Yeah, I couldn’t have cared less.

The dress was annoying me. I wanted to take it off, but knew Gideon’s reaction would be somewhere between physical excitement and fury, which in turn would get me punished by Victor in ways that could precipitate me killing him far sooner than I’d planned. Killing Victor – the greatest thrill of my existence. What happened to me after that would be an anti-climax, a big yawn.

“Morta, I think we’re done here. You’ll have three more days to practice with the rifle and hone your psionics, especially the newest ones, and then you’ll be escorted to an Army base from which you’ll be deployed on a mission. Think you’re ready?”

Think you can stop trying to get me to speak? I nodded.

“Excellent. Please go to the practice area now and spend the next two hours working with the new rifle, end with your strength training, and then go to bed.”

I glared, flashing a downward glance at my outfit.

“Ah, the dress. I don’t care. If you’re comfortable working out in it, fine. You can practice naked if you want, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you don’t mind being ogled by the guards and other personnel.” This time, Victor smirked.

“BASTARD.” I stood, pulled the dress off over my head, dumped it on the table, and went out.

Publication Date: 09-09-2016

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