39
"We got her" Henchman Number One informed Gwen and she nodded as she continued to stare at the screen, Rhys filling the frame.
"Take her through and have them begin the procedure, I want it to go as soon as possible, then once we know it works we can see about some of the rest of you." She waved a hand dismissively and Henchman Number Two walked through with the limp child in his arms, Gwen glancing his way.
"She is still alive, right?" she asked.
"Yes madam, just drugged" came the reply and she grunted, then went back to staring at the screen.
"Good, because I will never talk her father into coming back to me otherwise" she muttered, tapping her fingernail against the table with a harsh clicking noise.
She got a drink and settled on the sofa to tap her cup and wait.
Finally word came that they were ready for extraction and she rose to walk through, finding both henchmen standing with silent concentration, the small body on the gurney convulsing with small noises issuing like hoarse cries.
"Let's get this done!" Gwen sat in a chair and let her head fall back, closing her eyes and the doctor rushed over, eagerly carrying the large syringe of spinal fluid he had just removed from the now dying child.
"She will not survive" he whispered and she grunted.
"I can have more" she sniffed, "If I want. She was not safe in this world anyway. Better off! We just don't tell Rhys until we have him."
He pushed the plunger and then stood back to wait, Gwen breathing deeply as she also waited for anything to happen.
"What do you feel?"
"A burn" she whispered, "Like … trickling water under my skin."
"Botham doesn't have a child" the doctor whispered, "Apparently his twin sister does though, we could ….procure her for his next stage?"
She grunted an frowned at him as she made a fist to feel the serum pump.
"God it burns, shit!" she started to struggle to her feet, "Oh god, oh god …. Shit!"
Gwen started to scream as she fell to her knees, grabbing at her arm and ripping the IV out. She looked up at the doctor who was rushing to get pain relief and her head fell back as her screams died to a low moan, much like the little girl's.
She was in agony.
The two henchmen were nervous now, moving back to the wall as their boss seemed to have a conniption of some sort.
Gwen was snarling as she got shakily to her feet and looked over at the doctor who was bending over the naked child, "She's dead."
Gwen walked towards the table, "We will give her back to him, let him see that this is what happens when he doesn't …."
Gwen's voice wavered off as she looked down at the tiny child.
"It's not her"
"What?" the doctor gasped with horror, rushing to check the results of his tests.
"You idiot!" she screamed, "You fucking ... who picked her"
Henchman one stepped away from Number Two and Gwen screamed with rage as she advanced, reaching for his throat and lifting him with relative ease as she took out her frustration and residual pain on the hapless idiot.
His heels drummed against the wall as she pinned him to it, her lips peeled back in a cold sneer and Rex entered the room and then froze as he looked at the scene.
"What's going on?" he demanded then saw the child. "Oh god, tell me you didn't use your daughter!"
"I didn't use my daughter" Gwen snarled, "Fucking idiot stole someone else's child!"
"This is not Snow White and the seven fucking dwarves! You can't bring me a deer's heart to save her!" Gwen was shaking the man who was starting to turn blue, "And you can be sure that the mirror on the wall will not make me fucking happy you piece of …"
Rex grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back, astonished by her strength as she shrugged him off and the crack of the henchman's neck breaking was like a gunshot.
Rex slammed back into a trolley of medical equipment and it flew back to hit a table and Rex fell to the floor, looking up with growing fear as Gwen threw the dead man into the corner and swung to chase the other henchman who was running from the room.
Rex got to his feet and rubbed his hands on his thighs as he looked at the carnage.
He then stumbled from the room, finding a clear office as Gwen pursued the hapless victim into the back area of the building.
He looked down at the research file sitting open on the table, USBs sitting with it.
Rex considered his options and swore softly.
Scooping everything up he headed for the door and waited for her to descend.
When she didn't, he started to run.
He chose an untraceable vehicle and drove until he was sure he was not being followed, finally pulling into a house with a 'for sale' sign and driving around to the back of the house so the vehicle was unseen from the road.
Finally sure he was safe, Rex rested his head on the steering wheel.
There was nothing left to do now.
Rex started to weep.