SWNOVELS Chapter LUNCH TIMES
In a dingy attic room, a small woman with purple glasses stuffed bites of a burned tv dinner in her mouth because it was lunch time. She didn’t even taste it as she chewed. She had to eat, and after, she needed to sleep for four hours, she reminded herself. She was staring at the walls, computer printed blueprints of a snowflake shaped building, satellite images of an island, and an itinerary. She shoved the empty tray away; she had eaten whatever it was that was all that mattered. She had to keep her strength up until he came. She would use the star in the crown of his empire as bait. He was coming to the Cretaceous Research Island, but when? All she had to do was set up and wait. He would come to her this time. She ran her fingertips over the blueprints of the building. Cretaceous Creatures Brochures and her pictures from the public tour were tacked below and above.
Her informant had sent her the coordinates of the island before she died with one sentence, ‘The truth and the answer are there. Be careful.Goodbye.’
“What are you making in your basement, Mr. Neimad? What secret evils are you hiding from the world under this particular spider?”
The fingers of her other hand compulsively flipping and rubbing a long metal cylinder. The dark metal tip on one end shocked her slightly and she looked at it, smirking. It was a high-powered sniper round made of iridium ore. That which killed the dinosaurs would kill the monster who made her a terrorist and took her sons from her. This time she would be ready, this time she would kill the elusive and immortal Mr. Neimad forever.
The Cookie Lady
“No… It isn’t possible.”
Davin was sure he was hallucinating, “I can’t do this... I... I can’t.”
Ezra came around the front of the convertible, opening the car door for him, and said softly, “It’s time, brother. Milady made you promise. She probably saw this.”
Davin shook his head in denial, “Oh no, noooooo, no, no! She practically died in my arms, and then made Kars lie about her being dead, all because of those stupid dreams or something. I can’t, I’m not ready.”
“And...” Ezra added firmly, “She has been dead for tens of thousands, maybe millions of years and she wanted you to be happy. This might be her descendant or reincarnation or something. The cookies and brownies taste the same. Just meet her, please... for me?”
“I don’t believe in reincarnation,” David stubbornly insisted.
“Or coincidence, I know, but there she is.” Ezra shrugged then prodded. “Meet her yourself, and decide… I just want you to be happy again.”
Compelled by his best friend, Davin couldn’t refuse. They went into the sunshine yellow cafe and sat down at the window table with Kars.
“What’s good?” Davin asked hesitantly.
“Everything!” answered Kars cheerfully as he stuffed a slice of French bread with creamy cheese, prosciutto, and raspberry jam on it in his mouth. Davin hadn’t seen him this happy since Milady gave him his first brownie.
“Hi, can I take your order?” asked the pretty face he’d seen from the car. Davin froze because the resemblance was unnerving, even her voice sounded the same. It was like a fairer version of Milady stepped from his longing dreams and stood in front of him with her hair in a messy bun and wearing a yellow apron instead of armor.
Ezra started, “I’ll have a roast chicken salad sandwich, coffee, and a brownie?”
Davin was still staring at the doppelganger, speechless.
“My friend will have the same,” Ezra added, before he kicked Davin under the table. She blinked at Ezra in shock, but he smiled charmingly. “Sorry about him, I just dragged him out of the lab, he doesn’t get out much.”
Kars chimed in, “Almost never. His name is Davin. Dr. Davin Jeong. He’s the reason we all have jobs.”
Davin turned red, looking down, muttering miserably under his breath, “Really?”
“Nice to meet you, Dr. Jeong. I’m Fianna and I’ll be back in a few with your orders.” As she walked away. He glanced up to watch her go and she caught him looking at her.
In a hushed, deadly tone Davin vowed, “I will murder you guys.”
They both chortled at his discomfort from meeting Milady’s doppelganger.
“He already did twice, but go ahead and try again,” Kars taunted, jerking his thumb at Ezra as he laughed. “Or just kill him.”
“Hey! Volunteer for yourself, Mr. Immortality.” Ezra stuck his tongue out, making a juvenile face.
“No, thanks.” Kars held up his hands in a hapless gesture.
“Well, I am so glad you both are having so much fun at my expense,” Davin muttered resentfully.
When Fianna brought their orders, she smiled at Davin, and even her smile was the same. His stomach flipped and he didn’t know if he could eat, but Ezra practically shoved the sandwich in his mouth. It tasted amazing. They ate ravenously, and it was almost exactly as they remembered, but chicken wasn’t as good as dodo.
“Lunch is on you, Davin. See you at the car,” Ezra announced, and headed out the door.
“Yay, free food, thanks Davin,” Kars grinned and followed Ezra. “I got a thing at the Habitats. Bye.”
Embarrassed, Davin picked up the ticket, cursing them both under his breath. He vowed he was going to kill Ezra and find a way to kill Kars if it was the last thing he ever did.
Fianna smiled sweetly, “I haven’t seen you before. How was it?”
“Oh, it was amazing. Look, I’m sorry about earlier. It’s just I work a lot and it’s hard and I’m not good at new people and you know, the things plus the things.” Davin shut up because he felt like he was babbling like an idiot.
“I work a lot too, so I understand the things plus the things. Um, Davin? It’s okay if I call you that, isn’t it?”
He nodded.
“You have brownie in your beard,” she murmured quietly offering a napkin.
He quickly tried to wipe off the wrong side, then she smiled and said, “I’ve got it, just relax, it’s okay I promise.” As she gently dusted the crumbs from his other cheek, he realized she smelled of chocolate and oranges.
“Thank you, Milady,” Davin remembered aloud. The memories were overlapping reality in disconcerting déjà vu.
“How did you know my middle name?” She asked curiously.
“It’s beautiful,” was all he could say. Suddenly, he realized he couldn’t date her, ever. No matter how much Ezra and Kars schemed. She wasn’t Milady, she couldn’t be. He reminded himself he didn’t believe in coincidences or reincarnation.
“It’s a family name,” she was saying sweetly.
Horrified, he suddenly knew it was her. Somehow, in some way, the woman in front of him might be Milady and he had already been in love with her and lost her before, he couldn’t do it again. He wrote down a number on a piece of paper. “My friend Ezra really likes you and your cooking. I think you two would be great together.”
Outside, Ezra and Karstien watched from the hood of Ezra’s car, both were grinning.
“Mojo?” asked Kars.
“Mojo,” nodded Ezra. They laughed heartily. When Davin came out, he got in the car and Ezra asked, “So, did you ask her out?”
“Yeah, for you,” Davin announced crossly. “You can date the cookie lady.”
“You could be happy again. She’s your one.” Kars was flabbergasted at Davin’s choice.
“I had my chance,” Davin insisted.
“What about I’ve loved you for a thousand years?” Ezra demanded.
“More like, I loved her, and she lied to me for a thousand years. Are you going to take me back to work or do I need to uber?” Davin folded his arms then glanced at Kars, “Don’t you have a thing?”
Kars shook his head as Ezra started the car. He waved as they pulled away and got onto his motorcycle. Milady broke Davin’s heart far worse than his friends realized. Looking back inside, he waved at the disconcertingly familiar sisters.
Autumn Equinox…
Dr. Davin Jeong stood outside of the Chief Research Officer’s office staring at the door, A. M. Azoni. His mind insisted it said, A Mazoni. His heart thudded painfully in his chest. For over a year, he mourned the woman warrior who sacrificed herself to stop Damien. He loved Milady in a way he never dreamed possible, she was his one, but he put his feelings aside to let Ezra have happiness with her doppelganger after Ezra lost Thorne in a horrific future, a timeline they both vowed would never exist.
“Is there a problem, Dr. Jeong?” Dr. Azoni asked from behind him.
She was a tall, thin, almost white-haired woman with silvery eyes. He noticed they picked up the color of her clothing and seemed to change to match. Her skin was ghostly pale as though the color had been drained from her. The dark red linen suit she wore made her look paler or perhaps it was her matching scarlet lipstick. She reminded him of how Milady appeared after she used the Eternal Peace device to trap Damien. He shook his head.
“Oh no, no problem. Just wondering about your initials, Dr. Azoni,” he said nervously. “I’ve never been to your office before.”
Dr. Azoni’s voice was authoritative but kind, an interesting mix. “Please, Davin, just call me Mattie.” She smiled and continued, “The sisters at the orphanage named me Adolfine Matilda. I know it’s horrible...”
His wry smile was doubtfully pained as he tried to make conversation. “It could have been worse... So, you were an orphan? I mean if you want to talk about it...” As he thought, this meeting couldn’t start out any more awkwardly.
Davin had not gotten a chance to get to meet the Cretaceous Creatures’ new Chief Research Officer one on one. She had a reputation of being difficult to get along with and she gave everyone the creeps because she always wore shades of blood red. Something about her personality pushed everyone away and Davin wondered fleetingly if being an orphan was the reason.
She shrugged, walking ahead of him into her office. It was completely white with a smooth black desk and chair. Her red suit was the only color in the room.
“It’s okay... Yes, I was an orphan, but I excelled in school and got scholarships, first to prep school and then to a university. I worked my way up from a research assistant to a Chief Research Officer at Neimad Global. It was hard, but I knew from a young age, paleontology and then genetics would be my future.”
He knew she had PhDs in both, but she made it sound as though anyone could have overcome her lot in life. “Of course, I wouldn’t be here if it were not for you coming to the island and finishing Dr. Cane’s research.” She nodded to him and indicated for him to sit with a wave of her hand.
“Uh, thank you, Dr. Az... Mattie. But if the company hadn’t given me and my friend Ezra a chance to finish after we were tricked into coming here; none of us would be here,” Davin modestly pushed the compliment aside.
“True,” She nodded then she raised an eyebrow. “You were tricked?”
Davin sighed, “They didn’t tell you?”
Mattie shook her head, leaning back from her reflection on the polished black desk. David repeated the mostly true story they all agreed on about how they got to the island.
“That sounds like a harrowing adventure. Mr. Neimad respects hard work, it was the right thing to do to help with your degree after you fixed Dr. Cane’s work.” Mattie straightened up in her chair then appraised him with her silvery eyes. “And while he and I appreciate all your hard work and enthusiasm, I need to ask you to stop speaking to the press completely. That’s my job now.”
Taken aback, Davin leaned back slightly in his chair and apologized, “I… I’m sorry.”
“No, please don’t apologize. It’s no fault of yours that you weren’t told not to speak to the press, because your youth and enthusiasm for our project could be taken advantage of or misinterpreted. I am trying to separate us from the allegation that we caused the livestock illnesses.”
“But we have nothing to do with it.” Davin declared vehemently.
“I know and I truly appreciate all you do, but please from now on direct all media inquiries to me so I can forward them to the media relations department, and no more talking to the tour groups. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Davin responded, trying not to let his regret show. He enjoyed speaking to the public but now he felt like a scolded child.
“As the cattle die-offs continue, many are wondering if Neimad Global’s frivolous dinosaur resurrection program is to blame. Is it possible the reincarnated Cretaceous creatures brought back the disease which is decimating cattle populations in a dozen countries? Dr. Azoni, the director of the Cretaceous Research Department, is here to speak to us.”
Davin and Ezra watched the story on the cattle pandemic and scowled at the suggestion the genetically recreated Cretaceous creatures, or ‘resurrected dinosaurs’ as their work was now being called by those who didn’t understand it, was to blame.
“They know resurrection is a religious belief as is reincarnation, don’t they?” Asking rhetorically, Davin scowled while he began searching for information on the cattle plague. “And it isn’t possible the disease came from our Genosaurs. None have ever left the island and we have a strict protocol so that won’t happen.”
“Why aren’t you giving this interview?” Ezra demanded.
“The new CRO needs to get recognized by the public and the N.G.’s media relations department is handling the press now. I had a meeting with the CRO yesterday telling me not to do anymore interviews without the company media liaison vetting all the questions. Mattie is really trying hard to separate us from the poultry pandemic and now we are getting blamed for this,” Davin huffed as he speed-read the online articles he was finding.
Ezra glanced at his watch. “I have to go; I am meeting Fianna for dinner.” Ezra eyed his best friend’s rigid posture. “Are you sure you don’t mind me dating her?”
“She’s not Milady… I am happy the two of you are happy. You are happy, aren’t you? Do you love her?” Davin asked despite the stone in the pit of his stomach.
“I am and I do.” Ezra reached in his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. “I’m gonna ask our cookie lady to marry me.”
Davin forced himself to smile as he looked at the ring. “She’ll love it.”
The Jaguar sat in Lord Damien Neimad’s conference room while he was going over his lasted plans with a group of his followers, all of them had attended his specialized school and he referred to them simply as his children. Mattilda Azoni sneered at her, and Darcy rolled her eyes. Mattilda was sitting in the seat directly to Lord Damien’s right, she thought it was a place of honor. Darcy was sitting in a comfortable leather chair away from the table. Only Darcy knew it was because she already knew their lord’s plans for the next 10 years. This meeting was for his ‘trained monkeys’ as Darcy liked to think of them.
Mattilda had taken over the Cretaceous Research facility almost a year ago and verify that Lord Damien’s brother was on the island. Only Darcy knew of the real threat Karstien posed to Damien, that only Karstien, who shared their lord’s special gifts and could forever kill him. Karstien had survived the trap Darcy had set for the first group of research scientists on the island, and after Lord Damien had revealed that they were brothers, she had understood why he had survived. Her record as an assassin couldn’t be considered blemished if one of the targets was a near immortal. There was one person on the island that she had particularly relished killing, the abusive husband of her only ‘friend’. He had deserved to die horribly and Darcy, known as Savanah, that month, had watched a group of Genosaurs devour the screaming man.
As they talked about the Cretaceous Research Island and dwindling global food supply that would solidify their lord’s power in the next two years, they ate a gluttonous lunch except for Darcy who at a sandwich from a small café on a small island. Darcy counted the number of those in the room or participating via electronic means and reminded herself of each of their weaknesses and how best to kill them in the way they feared most. Yes, they were all trained monkeys, but she was the jaguar in their midst, and their Lord Damien was a dragon. None of them realized just how disposable they were to their lord.
Mattilda stayed after the meeting to fawn over Lord Damien, who allowed it because it amused him. It disgusted Darcy the way Mattilda still acted like a schoolgirl with a crush. Mattilda didn’t even know how far beneath their lord she was, and that she wanted to be his queen was laughable.
“So, what’s your name this month?” Mattilda asked mockingly.
“This month, Chara. My alias is all you will ever need to know, C-R-O Adoooolfiiiine,” she answered coolly, slurring Mattilda’s new title and first name.
“Well, Chaaarrrrraaaaa, doing anything interesting or still playing with your pretty little flowers?” Mattilda thought she was mocking Darcy, who had changed from studying to be a medical doctor to botany, for reasons Mattilda didn’t know.
“I’ve developed an orchid that can cause an anaphylactic reaction in a specific person but is harmless to everyone else. There is one sitting in the World Orchid competition of the New Island City Arboretum right now and as soon as the President of the United World Council takes his tour today, he’ll be dead, and our lord will control the interim president.” Darcy retorted smoothly, fingering the Cretaceous Research folder in a bored manner. She decided to poke at Mattilda’s lack of actual scientific work.
“Much more of an accomplishment than simply taking over management of a division that was created by someone else’s work. In fact, I think anything would be better than babysitting a bunch of coffee drinking, dinosaur freaks living out a second childhood by making pets out of extinct giant lizards and birds. Honestly, I'd rather kill myself than babysit them, Nannie Mattie.”
Mattilda’s eyes flew wide at the insult, but Damien laughed.
“There, there, girls, no fighting. You both have made very valuable contributions to Neimad Global. Some more than others, isn’t that right, Mattilda? Now, if you will excuse us, Mattilda. Cha-ra and I have her most recent assignment to discuss, and I know you are too busy to be detailed. Keep up the excellent work and I will reward your dreams,” Damien purred smoothly. As much as he enjoyed watching Darcy antagonize her former school roommate, he wanted to talk to her alone. Mattilda bowed to Damien; adoration shined in her eyes as she left. Darcy followed Damien to his office and held the door for him.
“Please let me kill her,” Darcy asked as soon as the door closed. “I have never asked you for anything personal, but I will beg. I don’t know how much more of her I can tolerate. How do you bear her ridiculous fawning?”
Damien raised an eyebrow, “My dear pet, do you dislike her so much?”
“To dislike someone, I would have to like them in the first place. She annoys me like a mosquito buzzing in a room when I am waiting to kill someone.”
“Perhaps after her usefulness is at an end, I’ll let you play with her,” Damien offered.
As the remnants of lunch was being cleared away, Darcy had got herself another slice of cheesecake, she would rather ice cream, but she never ate it in her lord’s presence. She sat down and began eating it as she reported her latest. “Speaking of her usefulness, General Taylor is on the island with your brother and Dr. Cane was there. She saw them, together but they did not see her. Then she took a tour of the E.R.C. in Grand Bay City. She killed the Bird Reaper and disappeared on a bus heading south. She was at the V.L.A. but Kitten and Boots failed to catch her at that location.” Darcy lied convincingly about her fellow assassin’s death and Daisy’s movements afterward. Darcy had discovered she could lie if she made herself believe it while she spoke.
“And what has she done at all my facilities?” Damien asked in a cold voice.
Darcy’s face was impassive as she answered, “The techs don’t know. She takes the public tours, vanishes for an hour while all secure level security feeds play loops of the day before… They cannot find that she tampered with anything or that she sabotaged anything. I believe she is looking for something. You should let me contact her. I will tell her I faked my death from cancer because of my uncle’s association with you.”
“No need. I know what she is after, my pet.” Damien smiled. “I’ll send it to a place she already searched. Tell my assassins to find her and bring her in alive.”
Darcy nodded, “Then do you wish me to deal with the General?”
“Leave him and my brother’s friends alone for now. Mattilda is having fun with them and I can’t wait to reveal that all their hard work to save the world was really to build my next kingdom. When they die, they will all die together while my brother watches.”
Lord Damien held out a piece of paper, “Here are three more people I would like to send flowers to.”
Darcy looked at the names then the paper turned to ash with a puff of flame. “As my Lord desires,” Darcy responded. “Thank you for lunch, my lord.”
“It is always a pleasure, my pet.”