I tensed as he dialled a number. “Jacque, are you feeling rich?” he said and smiled at me wickedly. I relaxed a little and listened. “I have som... of the most beautiful emeralds you have ever seen. They are even presented in a very stylish set of a necklace, a ring and earrings. I think your friend would love them.”We waited for the reply, and then he said, “The gentleman and I have haggled, and he wouldn’t accept a cent less than fifty for them.” He pulled the phone from his ear and grinned at. She looked closely at her hand. Even in herpoor vision, she could see it was like leather, covered in age spots, asshe looked at the rest or her arm, she now saw the skin on her upper armswas now rippling flab. Her once firm breasts now three times as heavy hungtowards her navel. Stretchmarks covered her bloated belly. Her thighschaffed against each other. The extra weight threw her balance off. Shefell on the floor crying. I came in with a pair of thick glasses and amirror. Tess had no idea. I said, “Sorry,” to her but she was ok with what had happened as she had seen the dog cross in front of the bike.We reached Mysore in the night by 10.30 pm due to the Dushera traffic. Her native place was 30 km away from the city. So I told her to stay at my home and I will drop her in the morning as it was dark.She was a bit hesitant to stay with me but then agreed with my decision as she was without any option. There was no bus available at that time to go to her place.So we moved to my home.. He counted three plasma cannons, and one of the broadcast towers that the Covenant used to boost their comms signals. They had the place on lockdown, even with a full team of ODSTs, it would have been a pain in the ass to assault.“What do you see?” Alba asked.“There’s a base there,” he replied, “but no Covvies.”“What?” she grumbled, perhaps assuming that he had made some kind of mistake. “Your primitive visor must be malfunctioning, move aside.”She ignored his request to stay out of sight,.