Misadventures of the Laundry Hag series Box Set by Jennifer L Hart

Author:Jennifer L Hart [Hart, Jennifer L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781951215125
Publisher: Elements Unleashed
Published: 2019-10-20T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 39

The smell of mildew invaded my nostrils, forcing consciousness back. Something gurgled. Water I thought, rushing through pipes. Face pressed against cold, damp concrete, I had no idea if my eyes were open or closed. I tried blinking, but nothing came into focus. My body, sluggish and weak as a newborn, didn’t respond as I willed my arm forward to check my eyelids.

My hands were tied behind my back.

What the hell happened? Remembering the elevator, the basement, the sting as something sharp bit through the layers of clothing, I pieced together that’ I’d been zapped, most likely by a Taser or stun gun. Who’d done it though? And why?

“Hello?” My voice was as weak as my body, my tongue thick and heavy in my mouth. “Who’s there?”

I listened, but no one replied. “Sierra?” She was the only person who knew I was coming. “What’s going on?”

Footsteps sounded distantly and I struggled to sit upright, no easy feat with my hands tethered. Florescent light sputtered to life, blinding me as effectively as the darkness. Scrunching my eyes closed, I called out again. “Sierra?”

“Oh, she’s not available right now. I have her stashed elsewhere.” The man’s voice and cadence sounded familiar and foreign all at once. I slit one eye open but still couldn’t see worth shit.

“Who are you?” I asked as I felt more than heard him move closer.

A high pitched giggle, almost effeminate was my only answer. Retrenching, I asked, “Why did you tie me up?”

“You’ve proven yourself to be resourceful and I can’t have anyone mucking with my plans.”

Dread, slimy and cold settled in my gut. “What plans?”

“The destruction of Safari and all of Valentino’s minions, of course. The time has come, and out of the ashes of his wicked empire, the phoenix will rise and live for a thousand years.”

Hell, my unconscious mind had set me up in a crappy B movie. This couldn’t be real. “Tell me who you are, why you’re doing this.”

A flashlight with enough juice to power the greater Boston area clicked on directly in my eyes. I yelped and slammed my eyelids down before my retinas sizzled up like fatty bacon. The man laughed again, and perspiration popped out on my forehead as I picked up on the hysterical note.

“Every villain must have a foil and I am Markus Valentino’s. My father was the lead engineer on Valentino’s power solutions team in Austin. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of signing an intellectual property rights agreement that allowed Valentino to have first dibs on his every innovation. Years, I spent, watching him profit from my father’s work, reaping all the benefits of someone else’s labor. I watched as my father withered while that bastard flourished, married a rich debutante and soared to even greater heights. Too weak to fight the evil, I was with him when my father breathed his last. And then, Maggie, the most amazing thing happened. My father’s essence filled me.

Sick. I retched in my mouth, swallowing the tangy bile back down since the damn flashlight was still trained on my face.

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