The Anomalies

Chapter 8

Zoe could not stop herself from bursting out laughing in his face.

The absurdity and brazenness of the proposal was such that it sounded like a joke; one of those dirty stories that, from time to time, the Rat would regurgitate on her.

Only, Kieran's offer, she found more comical than any joke she had ever heard before.

He stood watching her impassively until the rather inappropriate moment of hilarity ended.

<<Are you kidding me?>> she told him after she had calmed down and recomposed herself.

<<No. I already told you, kill me or follow me>> he repeated to her without flinching. His voice was deep, modulated, very controlled, and his face did not show any emotion. At that moment everything about him, posture, expression, tone of voice and probably even thoughts and actions were calculated, like a toy soldier or perhaps like an automaton. Zoe had a shiver down her spine.

But what did they do to you? She thought displeased and alarmed.

<<Decide quickly. I do not guarantee that I have not been followed by some other Hunter or spy>> he added as calmly as a normal person would have used when talking about the weather.

No, a normal person hints at feelings even when talking about such things, she reflected.

<<Of course, I follow you, without a shadow of a doubt...but what do you take me for? Do you happen to see written on my forehead DUMB?>> she mocked him, annoyed at the idea that he thought she was so gullible.

Kieran approached her a palm away and glared at her with his large, black irises, two bottomless pits into which it was easy, too easy, for her to fall and be swallowed up.

<<We don't have time. Your choice. Trust you and have the opportunity to get close to the Cerberus...>> and for the first time she saw him hint at a sardonic and allusive grin <<...or leave after killing me and live in fear of being hunted down>>.

Zoe stood staring into his eyes, frantically pondering what she had just told him and what was convenient for her to do at that moment.

He had almost alluded to the possibility that she could take revenge for the death of her family members. She did not seem, however, to have much choice.

Whether he was sincere or not, whether he really allowed himself to be killed or pretended, did not really change the situation.

She would not be able to kill him, maybe, maybe stun him, freeze him, but she would not take his life, and he, in any case, could stop her without any problems, imprison her, and hand her over to the Agency and Cerberus, if not now surely on another occasion.

She decided to put on a good face.

<<What are you going to do with him?>> she asked him suddenly, nodding her head toward the Anomalous and turning away from that attractive body that exuded an intense warmth, in contrast to the behavior of its owner.

<<I will leave him here. I will send someone to pick him up later>> he explained briefly.

Kieran felt a little disappointed by Zoe's distrust, but he could understand her. Sometimes even he did not trust himself. He understood that working in the Agency, with his father, turned him, in her eyes, into a traitor. His reputation, which he had built with such meticulousness and commitment, now certainly, did not help to make her trust him. Perhaps, it was for the best. That way she would never let her guard down and he would not get so emotionally involved that he would be distracted by her intentions.