“Why should we trust you with this?” one congresswoman demanded, her voice amplified by the pickups on either side of the partition that divided them. Zach had made a distressed sound when he’d seen her, and Rhys realized this woman—who was chairperson of the committee—had been a friend of his, the doctor he’d once told Rhys about, Chantal.
Xolani smiled coldly. “Congresswoman, I don’t care if you trust me or not. You can take this offer and do what you like with it, and no matter what the outcome, it doesn’t affect me. Neither myself, nor Mr. Fernández—whose blood you’ll require to infect your people with Beta-Prime—wants to see more lives lost to this virus, so we’re making the offer. That’s the beginning and the end of it.”
One of the congressmen cleared his throat. “You mentioned specific terms attached to this offer?”
“Those begin on page ninety-five,” Xolani replied and waited for them to shuffle through their packets. “It’s really quite simple. One: the Clean Zone Congress will do nothing to interfere with the establishment of the Wapato Island Refuge or the immigration of any Clean Zone citizens who wish to move there. Two: any and all operations of the Clean Zone Department of Pandemic Research and Prevention involving experimentation on nonconsenting persons will be suspended, and any such future experimentation will be expressly outlawed.”
She paused, drawing a slow breath as she deliberately moved her gaze from one person on the committee to the next, until she had stared them all down. “Three: the DPRP and any other agencies acting on behalf of the Clean Zone Congress or its people will cease any and all attempts to acquire Bane Alpha, regardless of its intended use. And four: the Clean Zone will ratify an amendment to their constitution revoking any acts of government that either restrict or compel the reproductive choices of Clean Zone citizens, and forbidding in perpetuity the implementation of similar laws infringing upon citizens’ sexual and reproductive freedoms.”
There was an immediate furor over that. “You can’t do that!” someone snapped, while someone else argued, “Our laws are none of your business!” Rhys schooled himself to keep his expression sober; it was actually rather amusing to see them scrambling so defensively.
Xolani had to raise her voice to be heard. “These conditions are nonnegotiable. We’re offering you the ability to inoculate your population as a sort of treaty, a gesture of goodwill from the Wapato Island Refuge to the Colorado Springs Clean Zone. The conditions will be implemented in full before Mr. Fernández will donate a single drop of blood on your behalf.”
There was a lot more arguing, then, which Xolani ignored. Finally they grew quiet, and the first congresswoman spoke again. “And if we refuse these conditions?”
“Let’s be very clear: we will not extend this olive branch to a government engaged in committing flagrant human rights violations.” Xolani gave them all another hard stare. “If you refuse, you’re on your own against the possibility of another outbreak. Unless you really want to take your chances trying to abduct the new Chairman of the Wapato Island Interim Government.” She tipped her head toward Nico. “Personally, I wouldn’t recommend it.”
She held out her hand, and Rhys handed over her rucksack. As Xolani shouldered the pack, she looked at the Congressional Science Committee evenly through the glass. “To be quite honest, I don’t think a single one of us gives a fuck. Send a courier to Portland when you make up your minds, and we’ll consider it, providing you’ve met our conditions.”
She strode out then with her head high, and Rhys fell into step beside Darius and followed.
Outside the intake center, their personnel transport waited. A number of Perimeter Security officers and their families were boarding. Among those were Gillett Morris, Zach’s old friend, and Corporal Tucker, the man who had been unhappy about being compelled to carry another pregnancy. Other Perimeter Security guards were staying behind, but they were spreading the word through the population that escort parties would be returning in the spring to collect anyone who wished to relocate to Wapato Island. Early rumor had it there was a great deal of interest, especially with the offer of inoculation against the Bane virus as part of the deal.
Rhys’s shoulder brushed Darius’s as they waited for the civilians to finish boarding. The tall fences and treacherous perimeter trenches of the Clean Zone towered before him. As beautiful as Colorado Springs had been on his first walkabout with Darius, the Clean Zone seemed anything but. Maybe that was to be expected, with the start the Clean Zone had had. Maybe it had been impossible to build a better system on the bones of the old one, especially at a time when so many people had still been so afraid.
But it didn’t matter anymore. Rhys had a life and future elsewhere to worry about. So, taking his last look at anything related to the Clean Zone, he turned his back on it and boarded the transport. It was time to go home.
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Amelia C. Gormley may seem like anyone else. But the truth is she sings in the shower, dances doing laundry, and writes blisteringly hot m/m erotic romance while her son is at school. When she’s not writing in her Pacific Northwest home, Amelia single-handedly juggles her husband, her son, their home, and the obstacles of life by turning into an everyday superhero. And that, she supposes, is just like anyone else.
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