Which sounds a little bit nice until you start picturing how she got to be a mother.
Nathan is the genetic father of these children, just like she is the genetic mother. But Nathan didn’t know she existed until he found them during that mission Nick sent him on.
Mindy and these girls, they’re just another Company mad-science experiment.
So I don’t envy her.
I would rather live with Adam, and McKay, and Donovan and do all those awful things I’ve done than be a lab rat the way Mindy is. She can’t even fight. Not even a little bit.
And in this moment, I hear Gerald Couture’s voice in my head that night he locked me in the snake cage. Rich men don’t buy little girls with dirty mouths.
Rich men don’t buy little breeder girls with fighty fists, either, I guess.
I wonder who bought her.
I wonder how old she was.
But you know what I don’t wonder? I don’t wonder what her life has been like.
I know the truth is important, but I just don’t want to know those things.
“What are we doing?” Wendy insists. “Does Nick know about this?”
I huff. “Gwendolyn. Do you think Nick Tate knows about this?”
“Nick Tate!” Mindy gasps. “He doesn’t, does he?” She is panicked.
“Don’t worry,” I say, reaching for Mindy’s hand. I hold it and smile at her. “He’s back at the house with Nathan.”
“He’s here! We need to go! Now!”
“Hold up there, sister,” I say. “He’s not coming out here. He has no idea where you girls are.”
“We’ve been here for weeks,” she says, on the verge of tears now. “I can’t do this anymore. We’ve been eating protein bars and filtering dirty water from the river. It’s freezing underground and we can’t even make a fire! I can’t do this anymore! The girls are going crazy and so am I! When are they coming for us?”
She’s kinda weak. Not a girl you’d want to be in a dangerous situation with, if you get my meaning. So it’s kinda funny that all these grown men are so worried about little blonde girls like her. Of course, there are dangerous ones out there still. Mindy here just isn’t one of them.
“Relax,” I say. “I’m pretty sure the plan is in motion. But it’s all very hush-hush. So I don’t actually have any news on that front, I just wanted you to meet Wendy.”
Mindy looks at Wendy. Forces a smile. Does a tiny curtsey—which is kinda cute. But then, when she turns back to me, her panic is back. “I can’t do it.” She drops her voice to a whisper. “Maybe there’s no point. Maybe I should just make it easy on everyone and do what I was told—”
“No.” I cut her off. She was told to kill herself and the three little girls she’s taking care of. Those were the directions Donovan left her in the ‘emergency envelope’ which was ‘to be opened if I go missing for more than a week’. “Just hang on for a little bit longer. I promise things are moving fast now. There is lots of movement back at my house and I’m pretty sure it’s all gonna be over tomorrow.”
Mindy lets out a hitched gasp. “Tomorrow?”
I nod at her. I don’t actually know this for sure, but Merc is here, Nick is here, Wendy is here and whatever Merc has planned, it’s gonna be here tomorrow too. Doc went to get it.
Plus, I’m pretty sure that by now, Donovan has woken up from his coma.
I did switch the drugs to saline before I left.
“Wendy!” Nick is screaming for her.
Mindy panics again. Almost lets out a scream. But my reflexes are faster than her panic, so I have a hand over her mouth before she can give away our position. I lean into her ear and whisper, “Go back inside and wait. Someone will be by to get you soon.” She doesn’t have the look of a girl who is about to comply. So when Nick Tate calls out, “Wendy!” one more time, I say, “That’s him, Mindy. That’s Nick Tate. So you do what I say or he’ll come get you.”
It’s kind of a shitty thing to do, but I’m on a timer here. We need to get back and I can’t be worrying about this girl or her kids once we leave.
She nods, so I let her go. Then Wendy and I wait until she crawls back into her hole before we turn back towards the house.
“What the hell was that?” Wendy’s voice is much lower than it was the last time she spoke.
I take this as a good sign. It means she doesn’t want Nick to find these girls.
Nathan told me she would be on our side. He told me that she and Nick fight over the way he hunts them down all the time. She wants him to stop.