Read Online Broken People by Ioana Visan - Free Book Online

walked
inside. Renard was splayed in a heavy armchair that had seen better
days while Rake and Spinner were propped against the walls, both
busy playing with their knives. After seeing their act, Dale didn’t
doubt they could kill him in a second, so he stopped by the
door.
    “Mr. Armstrong, we seem to have run into a
bit of a problem,” Renard said.
    Dale stared at the magician’s gloved hands
resting on the armrests of the chair, fingers tapping lightly at
the scratched leather, and waited to see blue light, but the
magician had apparently used all the magic during his act. The
silence prompted him to speak. “Is there something wrong with my
friend?”
    “Not exactly …” Renard nodded at
Spinner.
    “The nerves aren’t growing as fast as we’d
hoped,” Spinner said. “It’s not only the forearms, but the upper
arms, too, although they were less burned. We’ve started working on
the muscles, which are growing nicely, but the nerves …”
    “Isn’t there anything you can do?” Dale
asked.
    “There is something we can do. It’s
not what you wanted, but it might help.” Spinner
hesitated.
    “Meaning?”
    “We could transplant nerves from his legs.
Being his own, there’s no risk of rejection. However, it will
render the legs unusable.”
    “We can give him back some of his mobility,”
Rake said, “but if he’s needed for a certain operation, I’m afraid
it won’t be enough.”
    “Well ... that won’t do,” Dale said,
coldness seeping into his voice. He’d been so close to succeeding.
Images of armies walking out of bot factories flashed in front of
his eyes, and he clenched his fists.
    “We thought it might not.” Spinner nodded.
“So we’re ready to offer a solution for that, too.”
    Dale’s eyebrows rose. Renard sat
impassively, as if it wasn’t his problem they discussed. In a way,
it wasn’t.
    “We can carry him,” Rake said. “We have
enhanced people capable of carrying great weight. Moving him around
will not be a problem. We’ll take him anywhere you need him to
be.”
    “That wasn’t part of the deal,” Dale
said.
    “No, it wasn’t,” Renard said, uncrossing his
legs. “But it’s the only way we can accommodate you. It’s either
this, or there’s no deal at all. We’ll do our best, but it won’t be
of any use to you.”
    First, the Golden Lady got involved, and now
this. With the increased number of people, Dale risked being
exposed and losing the advantage of the time window. “You want in.”
It wasn’t a question.
    “Yes. We. Do.” Renard punctuated each word
with a nod.
    “You don’t even know what this is
about.”
    “True,” Spinner said. “But we did a scan of
his brain, and the highest amount of activity is located in the
most interesting places. Whatever this is about, we want in.”
    “I see …”
    “We’re not imposing, Mr. Armstrong,” Renard
said. “We are simply stating your options.”
    “The Golden Lady warned me you might,” Dale
said.
    “Miss Aurore is a smart woman.” Renard
smiled. “But I wouldn’t call her that to her face if I were you.
She has strict beliefs regarding what’s proper and what’s not, and
you don’t want to cross her.”
    “I figured as much,” Dale said. “So, I guess
this means we’re stuck with each other.”
    “We can proceed with the nerve transplant?”
Spinner clapped his hands. “Wonderful!”
    “You have done this before, haven’t
you?” Dale asked, the concern hitting him as an afterthought.
    “Yes … on horses,” Spinner deadpanned,
putting on an idiotic smile.
    “He’s joking,” Renard said with a roll of
eyes. “Of course we have done this procedure before, with a great
rate of success. We’re not endangering our clients’ health. It
would be bad for business.”
    As true as that sounded, Dale was still not
reassured. “I’d like to talk to Cole first and see what he thinks.
And then we need to do some planning.”
    “We keep him under strong sedation to spare
him