CHAPTER FOUR

Chapter 4

Ljubica waited impatiently, staring at the centrifuge as it spun, trying to will it to finish. She kept glancing at the time, or picking at something on her tank top that only she could see.

"How much longer?" she asked irritably.

"Five minutes less than the last time you asked," Tera replied dryly.

"And this one will work, yes?" she asked.

"All signs point to it," Oleg assured her.

"Shouldn't we test it?" the Boss asked. "A magic-fucking-8 ball could have told me that."

"Quit asking questions," Tera said scathingly. "It'll work."

Viola stood quietly in a corner. She'd asked Ljubica to watch the test, and the Russian woman knew exactly why. Kinzie had finally dug up Viola's reason for leaving the Syndicate.

All the same, nobody knew what Killbane had done with Kiki's body. Without a body, there could be no zombie, and without a zombie, there could be no cure.

The machine beeped, and stopped moving.

"It's done," Tera said, and Ljubica was already snatching up the vial.

"Come on Viola," Ljubica ordered. "It's time."

The other woman seemed to shake herself, coming back to the same world everyone else occupied, and nodded, following the Boss out to Kinzie's Criminal.

#

Ljubica watched Johnny for several moments, seemingly lost in thought. Finally, she said, "Do it, Oleg."

Oleg Kirrlov opened the door to Johnny's cell and closed it behind him. Johnny attacked immediately, but the much larger Saint grappled with him easily, and soon had him held against the wall. "I have him."

The rest of her lieutenants looked at one another as Ljubica opened the door, injector gun in hand. She stepped up to Johnny's zombie, again looking into it's cold, dead eyes to see if anyone was home. Shaking her head, she whispered something so softly that only Oleg managed to hear her, and even then he wasn't sure.

"Please work. I need you, Johnny..."

Ljubica injected Johnny with the serum, and stepped back.

Johnny's zombie groaned loudly, as it if it were in pain. It fought against Oleg, and the towering Russian had to redouble his effort to hold the thrashing creature.

Everyone watched in awe as the sallow, pale flesh began to smooth and darken, taking on a healthy, if pale color. Blood began to flow from several bullet wounds, and a stab wound in his stomach. Oleg let him go.

Johnny took a shuddering, shaky breath. "B-Boss?" he asked wearily, and then fell to the floor.