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)
“You kept going on and on about River. I had to make you drink more so you wouldn’t start zipping around the Pentagon, demanding to get her back.”
“Wow. Thank you for that.” I completely forgot.
“Would have been a nightmare for you, considering what your brother’s trying to do. What an asshole.”
“Yeah. My parents aren’t so happy with him right now.”
“Your parents? What about you, Huff?” she grumbles.
“I’m not happy either. I loved my brother. I trusted him. But what can I do? He chose power over me.”
“Not just you, he chose it over your life.” She grabs a bottle of green stuff. “Want some?”
“No, thanks.”
She shrugs and grabs a glass from her cupboard. “Anyway, we’ve got your recording going live today. By tomorrow, Kyle’ll be the fugitive.”
“I just want River freed.”
She fills her glass and turns. “But then what? I mean, what if Morris can’t find a cure for her?”
Oh. So I told her everything last night. I’m not sure that was a smart move. If word gets out that my balls hold the key to more Huffs, my boys won’t be safe.
“I don’t know,” I reply. “It would mean she needs my help to stay alive.”
“And if Morris does find a cure? Are you planning to take it?”
“If you’d asked me a few months ago, I would’ve said yes. But these past few days, I think I’m starting to like the new me.”
“So you’d stay just as you are.”
My phone vibrates on the counter. It’s Morris. “Speak of the devil.”
I answer the call. “Hey. What’s up?”
“I got it! I figured out the missing component!”
So fast? “What is it?” I ask.
“I can’t tell you,” he says snidely.
“Morris, I’m not going to sell it.”
“But they might get to you. They could torture you for the answer.” Morris’s voice sounds a little odd. Frantic. Deeper.
“Morris, are you okay?”
“Never better! Stronger. Faster. More alert. But I do feel like killing someone. Is this normal?”
Oh shit. “Did you take the formula?”
“Yes. And my blood work proves it’s stable. I just have to figure out the correct dosage to maximize the effects without killing…killing…ki-ki—”
“Morris?” The call is still connected, but he’s not speaking. “Morris, if you can hear me, text a photo of where you are.”
“What’s going on?” Luna asks.
“It’s Morris. He took his new formula. I think something’s wrong, but I don’t know where he is.”
Luna’s eyes go wide.
“Morris. Morris!” I say. “Text me where I can find you.”
There’s no reply.
I look at Luna, who’s turning paler by the second. She knows like I do that this is bad.
“I think he’s dead,” I say.
“Dead?” She covers her mouth.
“Yeah, and he has the finished formula.”
“You mean the cure?”
“Not sure. Do you know anyone who can trace this call?” It’s a long shot because Morris is smart and wouldn’t make it so easy to find him, but it’s worth a try.
“I do, but it’ll take days.”
I groan toward the ceiling, still holding my phone to my ear. “Morris, you psycho fuck. Why would you take the formula?”
Okay, if he can’t text me, maybe I can take a photo of Luna’s kitchen. I snap off a picture of her refrigerator and send it off.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“If he can still see, maybe he can get here.”
We both start looking around the kitchen, waiting for something to happen. But even if Morris gets to me, I’m not sure I can help. It sounds like he took too much, and fuck if I know what’s in the formula.
“Look!” Luna points to the floor. Morris is lying there, panting, gripping something in his hands.
“Call 911,” I say and then crouch over him. “Morris, can you hear me? What do I do?”
His face is turning bluer by the second. I’m about to start CPR when he opens his hand. In it is a glass vial.
“Free…Keni,” he mutters, and then his eyes go empty.
I start chest compressions and breathing, but after five minutes, I know it’s not going to help. His heart probably exploded.
“The paramedics are here,” Luna says quietly. “You should go, Huff. They might not be alone, and Kyle’s probably looking for you.”
I stop CPR, saddened by the empty look in Morris’s quirky face. He really was a crazy bastard, but he was a genius at chemistry. Without him, there may never be a cure for River.
I slip the vial into my pocket.
“You really need to go,” Luna urges, heading for the front door.
“I’ll call you later.” I don’t even know where I’m going. Not to the lake house. Not safe. Neither is my parents’ place. Where I really want to be is with River, but I won’t know if my publicity stunt and the leaked phone call worked until later today. Possibly tomorrow.
I decide the best place to go is that island in Brazil. Hopefully, they’ll have internet so I can keep tabs on the situation.