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O.M.G.
What is this place?
Giuseppe places his hand on my lower back. "Follow me, boy."
I snarl as I shake his hand off. "I’m not your boy. You don't have the right to call me that."
"While you’re our captive, I’ll call you whatever I like."
I grit my teeth as I follow Giuseppe, hating feeling like such a victim in this strange land.
I’m not sure if this is part of the plan, but Romeo better rescue me soon.
Giuseppe leads us through palm trees and tropical plants.
Birds fly past my face as roots threaten to trip me.
Petrie growls as he grips my shoulders, refusing to let me run away.
"Relax," I spit out. "I’m not going anywhere."There’s nowhere to run.
Giuseppe pulls back an oversized leaf.
I can’t believe my mind when I lay eyes on what must be their compound.
A secret computer lab sits in the middle of a grove of shriveled palm trees. The lab's outer walls are covered with green vines, some of which have grown into the building structure.
Large cracks in the walls suggest that the building has been abandoned for years—even though it clearly is still in use.
An unpleasant smell greets my nostrils. The air is stale and musty, and the dust covering the remnants of computers and other equipment is unmistakable.
The monitors glow in the darkness, their lights flickering as if they're powering up on their own.
I can't help but feel a sense of dread as I glance around.
A glass container crawling with bugs stands in the middle, the creatures as big as my palm.
I whip around to Giuseppe. "What is this place?"
"This is our breeding ground for the bedbug virus. After the Lucianos destroyed our second home in Sicily and got away from us multiple times, we realized we had to up our game. We bred genetically modified bedbugs bigger than your fist to extract their DNA. We needed to see how they functioned on a molecular level when designing our own viruses."
Nausea overtakes me as Giuseppe guides me toward the glass container.
Up close, the bugs are disgusting and enormous.
They crawl on each other, hissing as they stare up at me with big eyes.
Okay, girl.
Sharks?Your boy can deal with those.
Mobsters?I’ll hold my own.
Creepy bugs?I’m gonna scream.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" I make a dash backward this time, determined not to look at these creepy crawlies for a second longer.
Giuseppe picks up a pair of tweezers and selects a microchip from a pile beside the glass container.
