Page 44 of Song of Lorelei
Shit. Spinning around, the customer service smile firmly in place, Lorelei saw Phil heading her way. He seemed tickled pink—pleased by the success of the event and revenues streaming in no doubt. While he was likely only going to congratulate her, she didn’t have time to get caught up in conversation with her boss.
They needed every bit of the next two hours to get Nireed and the virophages out the marine research center and out to sea, well before anyone trickled back to their offices for lunch and realized what they’d done.
Before anyone could come after them and stop them.
Just as Lorelei opened her mouth to say she had to address a family emergency, her friend Katrina practically launched herself out of the crowd to intercept Phil. “Hello, Director Simmons,” she said cheerily, holding out her hand. “I’m Katrina Lovera. I work for Regent PR in Boston. This is just a fabulous event, and I’d love to talk to you about…”
Opportunistic glee shone in his eyes.
With Phil properly distracted, Lorelei silently thanked her friend for the rescue and disappeared out the back to where Lila was already waiting. The scientist leaned against the building’s red brick wall, arms crossed, wearing black sunglasses and a “don’t fuck with me” attitude. She looked positively fierce.
One shared look and some of that fierceness ignited in Lorelei.
Pushing off the wall, Lila joined her and together they walked to the main building, their strides in sync, with all the energy of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday heading to the O.K. Corral.
Marine biologist. And people-eating mermaid.
Badass Bitches.
They slipped in through a side door, near the video surveillance room.
The security guard stationed inside spun around in his chair and began to rise from his chair. “Hey, you can’t be in here!”
Lorelei hummed, the eerie tune of her people’s song filling the room. The guard’s shoulders relaxed, and a serene expression fell over his face as he sat back down. “Erase the footage of us coming in here and then shut off all the cameras for one hour,” she bid. He complied without resistance.
“Anything else?” He smiled up at her, shy and eager to please. She had this strange man completely and utterly in her thrall. He would do anything she asked. It made her stomach queasy that he might lose his job over this, but a literal life was at stake.
“Forget that you saw us.”
He turned back to his workstation to stare at a wall of black screens.
They strode past empty offices and down quiet hallways leading to the mermaid lab. Lorelei dispatched the security officers posted outside the mermaid lab door in the same fashion as the video surveillance guy.
Let us in. Look away. Forget.
As the door swung open, Fucking Jerry the Scientist looked up from his computer, startle quickly turning to outrage. Lorelei took quick stock of the room. He was the only other person in the lab. Jumping up from his seat, he pointed a finger at her. Of all the scientists on Lila’s team, Jerry always seemed to dislike her the most. “Dr. Branson, she’s not allowed in here.”
“Don’t care, asshole.” Lila whisked by him, wasting no time with the virophages. She ran over to the refrigeration unit and began loading them into the coolers they’d been delivered in from the manufacturer.
“What are you doing? You can’t…” Jerry sputtered, cheeks growing red. “Are you seriously stealing right now? Unbelievable. Just wait until I tell Phil about this! You can kiss your job good-bye. And finally, too, if you ask me. You should never have had this position. People like you…”
“Close your fucking mouth, Jerry,” Lorelei snapped, advancing on him.
As she moved, wicked rows of teeth emerged from her gums and talons from her nail beds. She got right up in his face—close enough to see the glow of her ferocious glare reflected in his eyes—and jabbed a claw into his chest. Not enough to do serious damage, but enough to draw blood.
He squeaked.
“If you ever disrespect Dr. Branson again, I will rip your heart from your chest and eat it in front of you. Got that?”
Sinking into his chair, he nodded meekly. The sharp scent of urine filled the air.
Glancing down, Lorelei noticed a dark patch spreading down the pants leg of his khakis.
“Gross.” She spun his chair around, with him in it, so that he faced his computer and not her. “Forget you ever saw us here today and go to sleep.” He slumped forward, forehead clunking against his keyboard. Whatever email or document he’d been typing in would soon be filled with keyboard smash gibberish.
Lorelei left Fucking Jerry to his piss-soaked oblivion and hurried over to Nireed’s tank.
It had been weeks since she made the climb up its grated, open-backed stairs, but she swallowed her fear of heights and darted up. When she was at level with Nireed, where the siren floated inside, she held onto the railing and stretched over to rap the glass.