Wattys Shortlist 2022 -
When she isn't looking, they call her the Princess of the Ghouls, but they haven't seen the assassination order on her secret identity: viper.
Stuck in Lake Darling, ruled by her father's gang, Vi has one objective... run awa...
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Nausea grips my stomach like a fist squeezing my organs, and I struggle to breathe as Barra marches me like a fuckin' dog, but I don' fight nor care to focus.
I can't bear it; I can't bear the thought of Reid dead. A deep, guttural terror grips me, so nauseating that the beginning of a gag creeps up my throat, but I swallow harshly. I can't get his look of betrayal out of my head. I couldn't have picked a worse fucking time to blurt that shit out. If tonight goes bad it's gon' haunt me till the day I die.
Barra stops at a new door, scanning it open before he nudges me inside gruffly. I glower at him, flinching when he swings it shut and hastily grabs my cuffs. "What are you doing?" I gulp, terror gripping me but then the cuffs hiss and he steps away, "What?" I snap, my defences easing into confusion when he inclines his head at the bed, so I follow his gaze. Atop the mattress sits a pristine army uniform, weapons belt, and a phone. A glim-screen blinks into my view, but without being paired all the AI retrievers can discern is, UNKOWN.
"You remember the security key for Private Vanner?" Barra asks, his tone urgent. "I don' got time to explain, get changed." Barra quickly averts his eyes, giving me a shred of privacy by turning away again. He don' got to explain. Scor's been briefing me on this for weeks.
Already shaking with nerves, I rush to the bed, prying my hoodie off with my back turned to him, "You say Vanner? He wanted me to use a different ID." Vanner was the soldier I saw get mauled by Zero's. I stole her gear before her Commanding Officer could discover she was dead... Scor helped me transfer security clearance, but her account has been inactive for the last three months. He's changed the plan. "But we used her account on a job." There's no way a filtering net wouldn't catch me if I randomly scanned her name through the army system. "And she's been inactive for too long." I splutter.
"They puffed her profile out. Get dressed."
"Have you met Scorpius?"
"Look. Part of this shit is they don' tell me names... but, I did meet scorpion." He admits, "He your man? Blonde manic kid, with the vintage Hillux," I nearly break into relieved laughter. "He's working with my man, to get you and your dickhead friends out. Which ain't gon' work if you're gon' stand here bickering with me."
