Xenofreak Nation, Book Three: XIA Read Online Free Page B

for his head, cracking the bat across the back of his skull. He let Bryn go and roared, staggering around in a half circle to bring Mia into view. She let out a surprisingly primal yell for someone so petite, and swung the bat again, bashing him in the jaw. He toppled to his knees.
    Without a word, Bryn and Mia began to run again. After three blocks with no sign of pursuit, Mia tossed the bat into an alley and they slowed to a fast walk. Mia’s car was a high-end, mid-sized rental. As soon as they got inside, Mia reached out and depressed the pump of a bottle of hand-sanitizer that was resting in the cup holder. As she rubbed her hands together vigorously, the same antiseptic scent Bryn smelled earlier filled the car.
    “Kills germs and doubles as pepper spray,” Mia said. Then she started the engine and drove off, squealing the tires.
    Bryn sat catching her breath and rubbing her arm. It was several minutes before either of them spoke, and then they both started talking at once. Mia said, “What is wrong with…” at the same moment Bryn said, “What the heck is…”
    They laughed, and neither one bothered to finish their sentence because it was clear they’d both been about to go off on a rant about crazy people. After a moment, Bryn said, “I should call Scott.”
    She’d tucked Mia’s holophone into her purse as soon as they’d vacated the apartment, and took it out now. “I doubt those jerks bothered to even shut his front door. I hope no one steals anything.”
    “He didn’t have much to steal. Not even a holovision.”
    Bryn stared at the holoscreen and sighed. “I don’t remember his number. It was floating in my holocloud. Do you have it?”
    “No, but Shasta’s is there.”
    Bryn found Shasta’s name in Mia’s cloud, but when she went to dial it, Mia said, “Wait. Don’t. She’ll want me to come in, but I have to get the graft first.”
    “Why don’t you just tell her you need some personal time?”
    Mia let out a short, scoffing laugh. “I doubt that’s even in her vocabulary. Besides, now is definitely not the time for me to flake, but I just can’t…” she trailed off, a shadow crossing over her face, shades of the devastated woman who’d been sitting in front of Scott’s door last night.
    Bryn had been through a lot with Mia, but she was essentially a stranger and Bryn didn’t have a clue what to say to make her feel better, if that was even possible. Instead of trying, she asked, “Can you drop me off at my godmother’s house?”
    The resulting silence spurred her to look at Mia’s profile. It was hard to make out her expression from this angle, but Bryn thought she seemed disappointed. “What’s wrong?”
    The corner of Mia’s mouth drooped a bit. “I don’t know. I guess I thought you were coming with me.”
    “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
    “I could pay you.”
    “Are you serious? Look, I’m scared, okay? We just got chased out of Scott’s apartment!”
    “So it’s safe at your godmother’s house?”
    Bryn looked out the windshield. Up ahead, a burnt-out car squatted at the side of the road.
    “No, it’s probably not safe,” she replied. “Carla lives in a bad neighborhood. Where are you planning on getting the money?”
    Mia flashed her an inscrutable look. “My parents. They live here in New York on the Upper East Side. After what those men said, I doubt ten thousand will be enough to bump me to the head of the xenograft line.”
    Bryn sighed. As they drove past the husk of the still steaming car, she imagined she saw the charcoal remains of a body in the front seat. Mia reached out and pushed the recirc button on the dash, but not before a barbecue-like smell filled the car. Mia grabbed a tissue from a box on the floor by Bryn’s feet and held it to her nose.
    Bryn thought about Jason, recovering in the hospital. He’d been assigned to protect her, had taken her to a safe house, but they’d been attacked. It occurred to her that