House of Dolls 4 Read online

  “Which hand?” a guy named Caleb asked.

  “Your dominant hand,” the host replied.

  Nadine did as instructed, her eyes narrowing on her Zero Ring.

  “Okay, so I want you to try to remember this, because that’s part of the exercise too. Your thumb is your name, position, and your department. Your pointer finger is a reminder to point out something you look forward to this year. Your middle finger describes your pet peeve. Your ring finger is something you are committed to, something you love. And your pinky finger, that’s my favorite. Your pinky finger is a little fun fact.”

  There were a few subtle groans in the room, their retreat host chuckling.

  “Don’t give me that, guys! This is something that many of my students have found to be incredibly helpful during these personal development retreats. Now remember: your thumb is your name, position, and department; your pointer finger asks you to point out something you are looking forward to; the middle finger describes your pet peeve—and if you don’t want to reveal your pet peeve, you can tell us about a challenge you are working on; your ring finger something you’re committed to; and your pinky finger is a little fun fact. Now, who’s first?”

  “I’ll go. My name is Caleb, I’m a civil engineer, and I work for the Department of the Interior in their Eastern Province border redevelopment project. I’m looking forward to…” He smiled. “My vacation.”

  No one laughed. One the ladies at the back of the table smiled.

  “One of my pet peeves is doing personal development. No offense.”

  “None taken,” the host said with a happy grin on her face.

  “I am committed to my government and my family. A little fun fact?” Caleb bit his lip. “Okay, I once visited Brattle and got to ride one of those big rolling machines they use over there. What the heck are they called?”

  “A gana,” someone said.

  “Yeah. One of those.”

  “Great. Thank you, Caleb,” the retreat host said, turning to Nadine. “Are you ready?”

  “Hello, everyone. My name is Diana Turn,” Nadine said. “I am a project coordinator and, like Caleb, I work for the Department of the Interior redeveloping the Eastern Province border. I’m looking forward to a glass of wine this weekend; one challenge I’m dealing with is corrosion along the upper north section of the border; I am committed to my government and the preservation of wildlife.”

  “And a little fun fact?” the host asked.

  “When I was in high school, I went on a school trip to the Southern Alliance. We actually got to stay in the countryside for a homestay. It was in the South that I developed my love for nature, and maybe next year, after we finish the leg of our current project, I will take a vacation there again.”

  “Thank you, Diana,” the host said, turning to the next person.

  An incoming message caused Nadine to gasp. “I have to go,” she told Caleb suddenly.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Family emergency. Please, um, take notes for me.”

  Caleb chuckled quietly under his breath. “Yeah, Diana, I’ll be sure to do just that.”

  Nadine ducked her head, waving her hand at the retreat host as she attempted to make it to the door.

  “Not so fast.” The host jokingly took a step in front of her.

  Nadine’s fists tensed.

  She slowly relaxed them, a deep breath filling her lungs. Had this woman gotten in her way in any other circumstance…

  “I’m sorry,” Nadine said, bowing her head slightly. “There’s been a family emergency. I have to see to it.”

  “Ah, I see,” the host said, backing away after she noticed the intense look on Nadine’s face. “I only wish you could have stuck around for longer. We were just about to get to the fun part where we go around the room asking each other our fears.”

  “Sounds like a great time.” Nadine ignored the woman’s enthusiastic grin as she ordered a private teleporter to meet her outside. “Have fun.”

  Chapter Eight: Upgrades

  Roman and his dolls settled into a diner across from the entrance to the red-light district.

  He was hungry, and he figured an early lunch would do him good. It would also give him a moment to think things through.

  A waitress with a tight little ass led the group to a booth near the middle of the restaurant, behind an elderly man reading a newspaper. The waitress went over the specials, and Roman selected a roast beef dish with a side of boiled carrots and red potatoes.

  “And for you?” the waitress asked Coma.

  “I’m good.”

  “You?”

  “I’ve already had breakfast today, thank you,” Celia told her.

  “How about some waters?”

  “No, we’ll be fine,” Coma said.

  The waitress started to move away from the table and Roman almost turned to watch her go before remembering that he was in public and that his dolls could now scrutinize him.

  He’d grown used to being alone over the last month, even if he preferred the company.

  As a cup of tea came, Roman thought about what had happened at the Centralian Intelligence Agency.

  He understood that the offer they’d made him was entirely to his benefit. But to become a killer for the State?

  It didn’t sit right with Roman, even if he had killed people before.

  It also made him rethink the general benevolence of the Centralian government. While he knew they had their flaws, especially since he’d once worked for them, Roman had always held them in higher esteem than some of the other governments in the world.

  Had he been in the Southern Alliance, sure, the State may have orchestrated an assassination. Same with the East, the West and, while he didn’t know much about it aside from what Catherine had told him, the North.

  But Centralia?

  There was supposed to be rule of law here, protected liberties like the right to a fair trial. And the request—no, the ultimatum—Rafner had made of him defied the basic conventions of the city so large that it doubled as a country.

  But Roman had agreed to their demands.

  It would have been foolish not to.

  And the plan was to get started tomorrow.

  A teenager passed Roman on his way to the bathroom, briefly making eye contact with him.

  It was odd to think the teen had just walked by someone sitting in a diner who’d been instructed by the State to kill a former coworker. And as Roman looked at some of the other patrons in the diner, he wondered what secrets they held.

  He also wondered if he had ever been in a similar situation, just going about his own business while walking by a person tasked to do something heinous.

  So many people, so many secrets.

  The waitress returned and placed a glass of water in front of Roman, along with a small salad. She smiled at him and winked, turning away.

  The wink barely registered with him.

  Roman wasn’t the least bit interested in letting another waitress into his life, not after what had happened with Harper. And going forward, perhaps it was best for him to just ignore most women altogether, hoping not to drag them into his increasingly odd little world.

  “Are you okay?” Celia asked.

  Roman smiled at her. “It’s just been a strange couple days.”

  “What are you thinking about?” Coma asked.

  “Everything. From that kid who just walked by to…” Roman pursed his lips. “Other things.”

  “Are you ready to go after Kevin?” Coma asked.

  “I am.”

  “And what about Margo?”

  “I’m not supposed to go after her. And…” Roman took a sip from his water. “To be honest with you, if she is this powerful, maybe it’s best for a team to take her out. I know it’s the opposite of what I was saying a month ago, but that was before I’d had my power stripped from me, before I remembered who I was. Margo was strong enough to force her own consciousness out of her body, complete
ly taking over an object and transferring herself to it. That’s practically unheard of. And if she’s strong enough to do that…”

  “Maybe it’s better if we hold off on that for a while,” Coma said, her smile lifting the corners of her mask.

  “And focus on Kevin.”

  “Exactly, focus on Kevin.”

  Roman shook his head. “If you two had known Kevin before all this, you would understand just how strange it is that I’ve been asked to eliminate him. The guy was just… a guy. A fat slob who was intelligent, but otherwise led a shitty life. And now this? Now he’s an enemy of the State? Part of this is so bizarre that words don’t do it justice.”

  “But we’re going to do it, right?” Coma asked, her red eyes focused on Roman.

  “Yes, there’s no doubt in my mind that we will handle this task. Kevin has to go.”

  “Well, this is a surprise,” Emelia said, her violet eyes moving from Roman to his two dolls. The beautiful empath, dressed in a tight pantsuit with her gray hair clipped at the side, motioned for Roman to sit on the couch in the center of the room.

  The decor of the sex-doll shop had changed again, vertical white stripes on the black walls at odds with a couch cast in horizontal stripes, the floor now displaying an interlocking cubic pattern.

  “I see someone’s been doing some decorating.” Roman took a seat, his dolls next to him. Emelia lowered herself onto the plush sofa chair across from him. She relaxed, crossing one leg over the other, a smile on her face as she looked Roman over.

  “Should I ask? Or should I read?”

  “I prefer to explain it myself.” Roman told her what had happened over the last few days, leaving out a few key details, including the fact that he was related to Margo.

  It wasn’t something he wanted to go around advertising.

  He also didn’t tell her the task he’d been given by the Centralian Intelligence Agency, only that he had joined them.

  “You could have just sent me a mental message, you know,” she said playfully.

  Roman shrugged. “I thought you would like to see me.”

  “I always like to see you. You seem to have that effect on women,” Emelia said, looking from Coma to Celia.

  “It is not a superpower I would wish upon anyone,” Roman said, unable to hide his grin.

  “If only you had a little more cunning to go with your good looks,” Emelia said.

  Coma laughed, and Celia and Emelia joined in.

  “Okay, okay, I deserve that.” Roman paused, a thought coming to him that he’d had earlier. “Did I ask you to help wipe some of my memories?”

  Emelia tilted her head as she looked Roman over. “Did something happen?”

  “Agents were interrogating me regarding what happened in the Eastern Province when my powers returned. I can’t seem to recall what went down in the East, or what I did. I know it wasn’t long enough ago that I would have forgotten something like that, and now that you two are here…” He glanced between Coma and Celia. “I suppose I could just ask what happened. But I’m curious whether I wanted to forget those details.”

  Emelia made a sound with her lips. “The simple fact that you’re asking me this question tells me you already know the answer.”

  Roman’s throat constricted. “I figured as much. Perhaps it is best I don’t know what happened.”

  “Up to you. I guess you could ask Nadine as well, but…”

  “We’re not on speaking terms at the moment. She really had an issue with the way I turned myself in rather than join her.”

  “Maybe there’s more to it than that. You mentioned she had a handler.”

  “Oscar.” Roman shrugged. “And you’re right, it could have been him influencing her. I tried to message her. I also bought a chalkboard and wrote messages on it, hoping she was visiting me with Lisa.”

  “Lisa?”

  Roman nodded. “Lisa is one of those rare Type IVs who can transport her spiritual body to various locations. But anyway, I digress.”

  “All this talk and you still haven’t asked to take me out to dinner tonight?”

  “Actually…”

  “Good, I was hoping that was one of the reasons you came here. I’m hungry, Roman, and I don’t get off for another five hours. By then I’ll be famished. Do you remember where we ate that last time? Just outside the red-light district?”

  Roman nodded.

  “Great, so you can meet me there. In fact, maybe it’s best if you pick me up here. I don’t really like walking through the district at night.”

  “Will do. So the next reason I’ve come,” Roman said, chuckling.

  “My, are we demanding…”

  One of Emelia’s coworkers came through a door at the back of the room carrying a tray with wine glasses and a chilled pitcher of water. She handed each of them a glass, then looked at Celia and Coma curiously for a moment before exiting.

  “We just had an order placed for one that looks sort of like you,” Emelia told Coma after her coworker was gone. “Masks are always popular, but they’re especially popular right now for some reason. I couldn’t tell you why. Maybe that’s something we can discuss over dinner tonight. Anyway, why else have you come, Roman?”

  He took a sip from the glass of water. “Do you remember that order I put in? The one.”

  “The one,” Emelia said with a wry smile. “How could I forget the one?”

  “I’ll need to have that order completed this week, as soon as possible. I can transfer the funds as well.”

  “Good to know, good to know.”

  “What?” Roman asked, noticing a mischievous smile on her face.

  “Actually, I never canceled your order. It’s technically already ready. Of course, they will have to be shipped here, but that should be relatively quick. How about tonight you drop your ladies off before taking me out to dinner? We could have the upgrades ready for you by tomorrow afternoon. How does that sound?”

  “That would actually work,” Roman said. “My plan tomorrow is to meet the new team I’m supposed to work with and figure out how…” He nearly mentioned Kevin Blackbook and caught himself just in time. “Figure out how we can work best as a team.”

  “Fascinating, a real secret agent. I never thought I’d meet one, and I can’t wait to hear all about it. Okay, I should get back. I’ll see you here at seven, and be on time. We will handle the rest. And don’t worry, you two,” Emelia said, tilting her head at Celia and Coma. “You are in good hands.”

  Chapter Nine: In Good Hands

  “You did the right thing.”

  Nadine glanced over her shoulder at the Centralian law enforcement officials and exemplars putting out the flames. She was in an alley across the street about a block down, far enough away that she had arrived without being noticed.

  “It was horrible.” Lisa Painstake brought Eli into her arms, hugging the boy tightly. Eli was covered in black marks, his hair a mess.

  “You’re safe now,” Nadine said, not asking the question that came to her mind. The answer would come soon enough, and she expected the worst.

  Nadine wasn’t on the best terms with her government, especially in her dealings with Roman Martin. The recent project they had given her, as part of the Centralian group responsible for redeveloping the eastern border, was a snub to her true abilities.

  She had essentially been given a desk job.

  But as she’d dug deeper into the project, Nadine had realized the benefit it would have for her people, especially once she deliberately worked in ways for them to move under the border without being detected.

  And now, as she stood with her back to the burning building, her eyes darting between Eli and Lisa, Nadine knew it was time to take the next step, one she had only briefly contemplated.

  “The paperwork is in there, isn’t it?”

  “Everything is in there,” Lisa said. “The only reason I wasn’t in there is because I stepped out…”

  “Where did you go?” Nadine asked.


  “I was depressed and wanted some chocolate. You know, it’s…” Lisa’s eyes glanced down and up again.

  Nadine nodded, understanding the craving. “So you stepped out, and then…”

  “I’m sorry,” Eli said, starting to tear up. “It wasn’t…”

  “I know it wasn’t your fault,” Nadine said. “It was inevitable. What happened next?”

  “I was returning to the building when it exploded,” Lisa explained. “Eli walked out, impervious to what he had done. And I did just as you said. I grabbed him and came here before anyone could see me. Or if anyone saw me, the explosion and aftermath were too distracting for them to remember me. What are we supposed to do now? Is the Eastern Province going to give us a place to stay?”

  “Me? Yes. You two? No.”

  “You’re leaving us?” Eli asked, tears forming in his eyes. “I’m sorry—I tried to hold it all in! But they kept performing their tests. The men… Dr. Reid and Dr. Miller. They were there when it happened. I think I…”

  “You didn’t do anything to them. It was their fault,” Nadine told the boy. “I don’t want you to blame yourself for this or think it has anything to do with you. It doesn’t, Eli. This is all about people pushing you to a limit you don’t need to be pushed to. You are able to heal, and when you do so, you absorb the damage. You do not yet have the ability to control when you release it. That’s understandable. It’s natural. What they were doing to you…”

  Lisa nodded.

  “You get it?” Nadine asked her.

  “I get it. You want us to disappear.”

  “I will help you. I will do everything I can to make sure they don’t find you. We’ll need paperwork, identities, money…” Nadine sighed, ushering them deeper into the alley.

  “What about Mr. Roman? He could help us,” Eli suggested.

  “He doesn’t have his power any longer. Although…” Nadine shook her head.