Friends and Enemies (Gwen Farris Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

which looked to be a mud room, or coat closet, other than the locked chests along the back wall, gave them all a very blank look. His eyes were cold, and dead. Ice blue, and like death should fear him. The round scars on his cheeks and neck gleamed a silvery pink. Like an evil clown.
    Then he sang a bit. He wasn't good at it.
    "What do you do if a bomb goes off?"
    It was almost cute, but half the people there responded , including one of the men that was tied to the sturdy wooden chairs with thick rope. Wilbur was one of them that sang along. Everyone had been brainwashed with it, even the foreign sounding prisoner. The one that still had both feet.
    "Find the threat, and protect the kids!"
    Gwen nodded, her lips twisting into a smile easily. So much so that she wondered why she didn't do it all the time.
    "That's the one. It's really not good at all, so I can sort of see it, if that's why you wish me dead. I swear, I didn't write it though. I'm not sure, but I think that was Countess Goebbels?" There was a hiss at the door, which sounded feminine and a bit prissy.
    That got everyone to stare in that general direction, and the footless wonder in the center, Stabby the Goat Fucker, to swear.
    "Blast." It wasn't a very good curse, and not a magical spell at all, but it sounded heartfelt.
    Gwen blinked, and looked at Ethyl Vernor, and then back at the man in question.
    There was just a bit too much connection going on there, when the man looked at the lady in the door. She was dressed already, which probably made it seem like she'd been up for the day, even though that wasn't going to be the case. If it was three in the morning, Gwen would have been thrilled . On the good side, when they got this thing figured out no one would really be all that put out if she went back to bed. Regardless of the hour.
    Then it was stabbing day, which she decided meant she got to sleep in from then on.
    She waved at the man, to get everyone's attention.
    "Beth, go into telepathic state, and read this man, please."
    The Westmorland protocols were pretty strong, and the woman was used to taking direction from her that way. Technically Gwen was even her official assistant when in the field, but just saying the words, or asking her to go into B state, would have gotten her friend to start reading minds at any time.
    The trick there was that, other than say yes or no, and perhaps a few other simple things, Bethany needed to be asked to give up the needed information directly, or to be brought out of state after the work was done. That way she could report on whatever she'd seen there. It wasn't so much about protecting everyone else from her mind reading abilities as much as keeping Beth sane. It seemed that knowing what everyone thought was enough to screw up almost anyone, after a while.
    Gwen was glad she didn't have that power in particular. Oh, she could have learned it, but knowing how hated she was didn't thrill her all that much.
    The dapper man in the center, dressed in a nice and slightly shiny black suit, like the other two were, sneered derisively, and then went blank. As if that was going to save him from a Westmorland Detective.
    Heather, who for lack of a better word was Gwen, if from the world they stood in, stepped forward. She was also a Special Service operative, and a bit more intimidating than Katherine Vernor had ever been. Also good looking. That part may have been Gwen playing favorites, since it was, more or less, what she should have looked like in her real life, instead of the warped monstrous thing that she'd been.
    The Westmorland was lovely though. She had two eyes, one on either side of her head perfectly spaced, and a nose that while a bit upturned was cute, rather than leaning to the right by nearly an inch.
    The only fair thing about it all was that Gwen had a younger, and in many ways, prettier, body now. It wasn't hers, and she felt a bit bad about keeping it, but since her real body had been killed, she couldn't