“I think we’re done here,” Abigail said and turned her attention to Con, expression shifting moods like she had changed the channel. “Hello, my dear, how are you?”
“I have a few questions.” That didn’t begin to cover it.
“I can imagine. How much has she told you?”
“Only that I’d get answers.”
“Amazing the things we risk to have them, isn’t it?” Abigail marveled. “Why don’t you come inside? We have much to discuss.”
The other Constance D’Arcy pulled the gun from her jacket pocket. “Don’t you dare ignore me. Have you been listening?”
“The question is, have you been listening?” Abigail asked with a schoolteacher’s weary disappointment toward an inattentive student.
Con followed Abigail’s eyes and flinched. While the two women argued, the rDogs had stalked up behind them like whispers. Panicked, the other Constance D’Arcy ordered them to heel again, but this time, they didn’t obey. They fanned out around her. The last few minutes had been a trap. She had only been granted control of the rDogs long enough to convince her she was safe.
“You traitorous bitch,” the other Constance D’Arcy said.
“Takes one to know one,” Abigail replied without rancor. “One single step, and they will respond with lethal force. I’m sorry it has to end this way. You’ve left me no other choice.”
The other Constance D’Arcy laughed bitterly and pointed her gun at Abigail. “Call them off.”
“Please. We both know what a terrible shot you are. And even if you get lucky and kill me, they will tear you apart before I hit the ground. So put the gun down. Let’s at least end this like civilized people.”
“That’s my reward? Euthanasia?”
“It will be absolutely painless, you know that.”
“It’s not fair,” the other Constance D’Arcy cried.
Abigail softened. “I know this is difficult. But it was always going to be this way. It was why we made you. You know that.”
The other Constance D’Arcy cast about at the rDogs, looking for a way out.
Abigail said to Con, “My dear, why don’t you come stand by me. You are perfectly safe. My sentries won’t react to you.”
Con felt no kinship to her aunt, but she felt even less to the other Constance D’Arcy. They might look alike, but that was all they shared anymore. The pleasure the other Constance D’Arcy had taken in tormenting and murdering Fenton had horrified Con. She was happy to be away from her and took a step toward the cottage.
The other Constance D’Arcy lunged at her like a cornered snake. She wrapped an arm around Con’s neck, dragging her back. The rDogs flexed but didn’t attack. Con felt the gun pressed to her head.
“Call them off,” the other Constance D’Arcy warned. “I might not be able to hit you, but even I can’t miss from here.”
Abigail took a step down the stairs, a hand held out. “Don’t. She is the key to everything we’ve worked for. Are you insane?”
Con saw genuine fear on her face.
The rDogs crept closer.
“Call them off!” the other Constance D’Arcy yelled, driving the barrel of the gun into Con’s temple. “Remember that dirty work I was talking about? Well, this is it.”
“You know it doesn’t matter which one of us it is,” Abigail implored. She was on the verge of tears.
“Then prove it. Call them off. I swear I will kill her otherwise. All of our work will be lost forever.”
On the porch, Abigail swayed like a sapling in the breeze. Con could see her considering her options and finding none to her liking.
“Heel,” Abigail called out to the rDogs, which returned to a waiting crouch. “You win. Now point the gun somewhere else, please.”
“Not until you turn over complete access to me,” the other Constance D’Arcy said.
Abigail acquiesced and typed a command in the air on her LFD; the other Constance D’Arcy matched her typing on Con’s shoulder, back and forth.
When they were done, the other Constance D’Arcy called out, “Hunt.”
The rDogs rose and scattered silently into the woods.
“Satisfied?” Abigail asked.
“Throw your LFD into the grass.”
Abigail did as she was told, seething at having been outmaneuvered. The other Constance D’Arcy released her hold on Con, who stumbled away, happy to get some distance from both of them. The other Constance D’Arcy went up the steps, closing the distance between herself and Abigail, the gun never wavering.