Dead Zero by PM Kavanaugh

Author:PM Kavanaugh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, Romance, Espionage, Action, Strong female heroine
Publisher: PM Kavanaugh Books
Published: 2021-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

“Perfection.” The wardrobe technician studied Anika, who stood before her naked and mortified in the cabin of the jet plane. The woman had spent the past two hours exfoliating, waxing, moisturizing, buffing, and, finally, coating every inch of Anika’s skin with body makeup. Then she had started on her face and hair. Not even the agency’s intake medical exam had been so invasive. Still, Anika preferred the painful, tingling treatments to the scary numbness she had felt in Clinic.

She had only vaguely registered being driven from the agency’s underground parking annex, through the streets of New Angeles, to the secluded airstrip where the plane had been waiting. The smoky smell of asphalt baked all day by the hot sun was the one sensation she remembered from the few seconds between the transport coming to a quick stop and the driver hustling her on board. Now, back inside another artificial environment, Anika wished she had paid more attention to the fresh air on her face and the fading light of dusk.

The wardrobe tech’s purple-and-silver ringlets bounced around her face as she tilted her head left and right. Her black-rimmed eyes narrowed, and the pearl studs in her eyebrows bunched together. She reached a hand toward Anika and then dropped it. “No, no, it’s just right,” she murmured, talking to herself. “The other techs said it couldn’t be done in time, but I’ve proved them wrong. Again.” The woman crossed her arms over her chest and stretched her tangerine lips in a wide smile. Tiny diamond sparklers marched down her eyetooth.

The plane hit a wind pocket and dipped in the air as they flew through the night sky to Washington, D.C. Anika swayed and flexed her knees to keep her balance. The vibration from the plane’s engines hummed through the soles of her bare feet.

“Can I get dressed now?” Anika asked.

“Don’t you want to look first?” The woman unfolded a full-length mirror and placed it among the jars, tubes, wipes, brushes, and sponges littering the cabin floor.

Given the tech’s bizarre appearance, Anika thought it would be better not to see the results of her work. “I know what I look like.”

“You look nothing like the recruit who reported to Transport earlier this evening. I’ve transformed you. See for yourself.” The tech moved the mirror closer.

Anika’s eyes widened in wonder and relief at her reflection. She looked like a midnight-haired, blue-eyed beauty with skin the color of rich cream.

“I told you,” the woman said. “I mean, it helped that I had a good foundation to work with. You’re tall and thin, which is always a gift, though you could use some more...oomph up top. The dress will enhance what you’ve got, but wire and fabric can only do so much.”

Anika fingered her biceps. The months of training had added muscle.

“I used shading cream—miraculous stuff—to soften the look of your arms.”

“What happened to all the bruises?” Anika touched her collarbone where a plum-sized mark had been fading for the past week.

“Don’t!” The woman slapped Anika’s hand away.

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