Xenofreak Nation, Book Three: XIA by Melissa Conway

out the window.
    She didn’t dwell on it long, though, as if the topic was just too compelling to resist.
    “I knew successful optic nerve transection between mammals was still eluding surgeons, but that it had been possible in cold-blooded vertebrates for some time,” she said. Then with only a tiny pause, she turned to Bryn and explained, “What I mean is: you can’t transplant a human eye, for instance, into another human. Not if you want them to see. Or a monkey into a monkey, or a mouse into a mouse. But you can put a frog eye into another frog, no problemo. Mammal to mammal, can’t be done, but for reptiles and amphibians, they’ve been doing it for a long time.
    “Now this…” Mia gestured to the back of Dundee’s head. “Putting a reptile eye into a mammal, well, it’s fascin – no, more than fascinating – it’s a tremendous leap forward.” She turned to Bryn. “Maddy would be very interested in this development. Her functioning eye is photosensitive.”
    Bryn scowled as soon as Mia brought up Maddy’s name, but it was too late.
    “Maddy…Singh?” Dundee asked.
    Bryn put a hand on Mia’s arm and squeezed, wordlessly telling her to shut up, but Mia was still under the influence of whatever painkiller they’d given her.
    “Ow, stop it,” she said, yanking her arm away. “What’s wrong with you?”
    “Yeah, Bryn,” Dundee said. “What’s wrong with you? I want to hear more about Maddy’s eyes.”
    Bryn had had enough. “Where are you taking us?”
    Dundee laughed. “If you must know, we’re going to see an old friend who wants to thank you for attempting to save his life.”
    Bryn’s blood went cold. He could only mean one person.
    Fournier.

Chapter Sixteen
     
    In a discussion that took less than ten minutes, Scott, Alton and Lo exhausted the possible places Bryn and Mia might have gone in the middle of riot-torn New York. Scott was thinking about who else he could call that might know where she was when he caught sight of Shasta’s dark head over the top of the cubicle walls. Instead of going directly to her office as she usually did, she headed straight for them, still dressed in the grey pantsuit she must have worn to the subcommittee hearing.
    “Damned protesters,” were her first words, followed quickly by, “Where are they?”
    “Interview rooms one and two,” Scott said. He stood and handed her the holofile with Nicola and Savvy’s information.
    She waved a hand over it to open Savvy’s folder and glanced at the identification page. His fingerprints told them his name was Felson Ostling, originally from Michigan. “Techs find anything?”
    “No word yet.”
    “You heard from Dr. Padilla? Her team can’t get hold of her.”
    “Not since this morning.” Scott was about to expound upon that, tell her where Mia was supposed to be, but Shasta turned to Lo and said, “Gear up and go pick up the UAAV. I need you and Boardman on protection detail. Deputy Director Unger’s flight will be arriving at 4:16 at JFK. Pick him up, escort him home and no matter what he tells you, keep an eye on his house.”
    Lo nodded. “Where’s the threat coming from?”
    “Fournier, apparently. Lupus – I mean Agent Quinones – isn’t talking exactly, but he has made some cryptic comments about the Deputy Director. It’s just a precaution.”
    Lo frowned. “I know Fournier’s a whack job, but you really think he’s going after Unger?”
    “Word on the street is he’s gearing up for something big. Quinones is a hot mess, but in case there’s something to it, I don’t want to take any chances.”
    “Where is he? Lupus,” Scott asked.
    She hesitated. “Here, actually.”
    “In the building?”
    She dipped her head. “Rikers is on lockdown because of the riots, and frankly, we don’t have the staffing resources to house him offsite. He’s being kept mostly sedated. Yang’s outside the door guarding him.”
    “Will sedation be enough to block out the fear if Fournier