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“The guns can remain in the hallway for this discussion,” Molev said.
Katie’s gaze flicked from Molev to me.
Setting a hand on an unbandaged patch of skin, I stepped around him and looked at the general and his escort.
“He views your weapons as a threat.”
“Yet you still have your weapons,” the general said.
“We’ve learned not to point them at him.”
He considered me for a long moment.
“Andromeda Wells?”
I nodded and felt Molev turn his head to look at me.
“Explain why you feel you need your weapons here,” the general said.
“I’ve lost count of the number of places that have been overrun with the undead during our occupancy.The past five weeks have taught us to be armed at all times and to be very careful where we shoot.”
“Sergeant Bromwell debriefed me regarding your squad’s efforts to retrieve Molev.”His gaze shifted to Molev.“I’m well aware of your preferences, and as Miss Wells stated, we exercise the same precautions on base as they did in the field.”
“As Andie stated, they learned not to point their weapons at me.Your men have not.If you wish to negotiate for my help, I need a sign that you are willing to extend trust.The weapons stay in the hall.If there is a breach, there is no window in this room, and the humans with weapons can better protect you from the hall.”
I kept a straight face but wanted to grin at Molev’s sharp understanding of the situation.
“Is that what this is?A negotiation.”
“How else would you like me to view this?”Molev asked.“A confrontation?An attempt to seize me?Take me hostage?If I do not respond well to your weapons, do you believe I will respond any better to your manipulations?I came to offer my help freely.However, Patrick told me that humans do not give something for nothing.So, I am here to negotiate a trade.But if you are as uninterested in my intent as Patrick was, I will leave.”
If Patrick was on the other side of that glass, he had to be swearing up a storm.
Molev crossed his arms in the universal dude’s-about-to-be-stubborn sign as the general considered him for a long minute.Just when I thought it would be a stalemate, the general nodded his head toward the door.The armed guards left.
“All right.What is it that you want, Molev?”
He glanced at me, his mossy green gaze sweeping my face.
“I want Andie.”
It felt like the floor dropped out from under me for a moment.the general’s gaze flicked to me, gauging my reaction, and I wasn’t positive I was successfully keeping my shock from showing.
“If she agrees, I also want five hundred more willing females.In return, I will allow you to do your tests and create a vaccine from the samples you take of my blood.The women who volunteer to help improve relations between our people must be the first to receive the cure.”
The general’s expression gave nothing away as he looked at Molev.“You want women?”
“Yes.”
But he didn’t just want women.He wanted me.My hand dropped from his back, and I felt Katie’s fingers slip into mine.
“I’ll volunteer,” Roni said, coming out from behind Molev.
“I wish I was a woman,” Steve said.“I wouldn’t mind being first in line for the vaccine.”
The general gave them both a hard look, and I had a feeling that, if not for Molev’s preferential treatment of us, they would have been dragged from the room and thrown into whatever the military’s version of prison was.
“Why only women?”the general asked.
