Unity by Carl Stubblefield (epub read online books TXT) 📕

was hard to repress the smile. Harlan and Elaine hadn’t contacted anyone. She had accosted him when he arrived home and shared in hysterical details about a visit from “your crazy ex” and how she “feared for her life.” They had brainstormed for a bit then finally called after Elaine’s insistent urging.

A sideways peek showed Harlan looking to the side for direction, his hands and shrug telegraphing his confusion at whatever Elaine was pantomiming off screen. Sanura let him hang there for a minute before driving in another nail. She began rolling socks together, sliding them into shoes which also went into the duffel.

“Harlan, after this call I want you to take a good look at your neck. If you look closely, you will see eight tiny scars that just happen to be along your jugular. You probably thought you got them while you were shaving. But I want you to look closely at how parallel and close together they are spaced. Do you know how difficult it is to cut someone’s skin just deep enough to not make it bleed? Just deep enough that when you put some pressure on it to shave, it would tear through, giving you the impression it was just a shaving accident?

“That’s one of the benefits of a monomolecular blade in the hands of someone with exceptional skill. I have shown remarkable restraint up to this point. But this is a message. Like a foolish cat, you have used up eight of your lives. Only one is left. How will you use it? Making the best of it, or by further provoking me?” She put a slender finger by her cheek as she looked upward as if pondering the universe. Then she turned and gazed directly at the camera, leaning in close.

“I have nothing left to lose. You already keep Maddy away from me, so if I don’t get to see her as I should, then what is keeping me from making that ninth cut just a bit deeper, I wonder?” Sanura looked at her nails distractedly. “I would guess that there’s nothing at all…”

“We’ve got her!” Elaine’s voice exulted. “I told you we should record everything. See? Two can play that game.”

Sanura just smiled. And waited.

“I don’t think we can agree to that, Sanura,” Harlan said officiously.

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes, Elaine and I have been discussing it, and I don’t think that it is really safe for Maddy to be with you, seeing as you’ve threatened us. We’ve got it all recorded. So I think that a Magistrate would side with us restricting your access as you’ve demonstrated murderous intent. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“No, I would not.”

“Well, too bad! You lost!” Elaine’s disembodied head popped in from the side. “We have evidence of you threatening us and I can see those tiny scars, so that’s proof we can use against you.”

“Is it, now?”

Elaine furrowed her eyebrows, catching on that if Sanura wasn’t upset that something else was happening.

“What aren’t you telling me…?”

“Do you really think that someone who could infiltrate your house and do what I’ve done to you would only do that? Do you realize the restraint I have had to use to not use my considerable skills to make you both disappear and make it look like an accident? I came close so many times. Eight in fact. Be thankful that I have as much control over my temper as I do over a blade.”

The pair turned and looked at each other; Harlan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he gulped. He absently touched his neck in a daze.

“Has it been so long that you really remember that little about me? Or did you never take the time to learn it in the first place? Did I ever forget a detail? A date, anniversary, or birthday? Never. I may be a lot of things, but sloppy isn’t one of them. The thought that I wouldn’t have put things in place so that my daughter would be safe is almost insulting. I couldn’t very well leave her in your incompetent hands.

“For someone with a ‘smart house,’ you aren’t so smart. Why don’t you try to access your recordings? Let’s see what they’ve captured over the last couple of years…”

Harlan’s face fell open in horror as Sanura pushed a button and on their computer a video began to play.

“Who is that woman, Harlan?!” she heard Elaine screech.

“I can tell that you two have some things to discuss. I will be picking up Maddy next week, on Monday. That gives you three days to get things arranged. We can see how things turn out. Cooperation or mutually-assured destruction. I look forward to seeing what you choose. But if you think that video is good, I’ve got some real zingers. You know what I mean, right, Elaine?”

Her tirade cut off as she turned her vitriol on Sanura.

“Oh, you bitch—”

“Ah ah ah.” Sanura waved a reproving finger. “Bitches are dogs; I am a Grimalkin, or at least a Molly.”

Sanura cut the connection before Elaine could reply. She did think she would save the screenshot of her expression though. Priceless. Now just a few more preparations and she could take Maddy and start being the mother she always wanted to be.

She received an alert to her comms on display and was shocked to see a message from Gus. Perfect. That was exactly who she needed to talk to next. She opened the time-dated delivery and saw it was carbon-copied to the rest of the Crew.

To The Crew and whom it may concern,

If you’re reading this, then it probably doesn’t bode well for me. I realize that most of you have been tolerating me because of my father, and I appreciate that. Thank you all for coming to help find my mother and bring her back to our family.

A lot of things have become clear to me in the past weeks, and I have realized some hard truths that I need to deal with on my own. I don’t want to