Enigma Black (16 page)

Noticing that the door was steel, I decided there was no way I was going to knock on it and searched for an alternative way of alerting him. My eyes scanned the door; there was a plate that was similar to mine but I doubted that it would open for my fingerprint. I sighed. It was entirely too early for this nonsense. I leaned on his door, allowing it to support the weight of my body. There was no smoke in the hallway, which I took to be a good sign that the alarm wasn‘t signaling some kind of an emergency.

Then, in an instant, the door I’d been leaning on disappeared. With a crash, my body fell forward as I lost my balance. A deafening squeal escaped my mouth the moment my elbow violently struck the floor. “Ouch!” I exclaimed.

“Funny,” Blake’s voice bellowed above me. “I’ve always dreamt of women falling at my feet, but somehow this just isn’t as hot as I thought it would be.”

“Have I told you how charming you are?” Embarrassed, I reached my hand up toward Blake. He grabbed it, helping me to my feet all while never losing the amused smirk painted on his face. “Let me guess. This is their sadistic way of waking us up to greet the day each morning?”

Blake laughed. “You catch on quick.”

“This is an everyday thing?”

“Correct again.”

“Swell.”

“Isn’t it, though? It’s our own little slice of heaven. If I were you, I would get ready. You have about five minutes to report.”

“Report? What is this, the military?”

“Worse.”

“So, what does one wear to orientation?”

“Well, for me, what I have on. For you, whatever they give you when you report.”

From what Blake had on, it was obvious he was going to be working out or doing some sort of physical labor and, from the looks of his physique, it must be something he did a lot. Before now, I hadn’t noticed how absolutely impressive his biceps were. They were…unnatural. I imagined him as being able to pick up a car and hurl it through a brick wall. Noticing my obvious admiration, he began to flex. “Yep, these bad boys always get the ladies’ attention,” he smirked. A wave of heat overcame my face. “On second thought, follow me,” he said, making his way down the hall. “It’s not like you need to make yourself presentable for what you’re going to be going through today.”

Confused even more than I already was, I followed him down the hall. It had nearly pained him to say that last statement. I wondered what he meant by it and exactly what I had gotten myself into.

“Oh, by the way,” he called out. “The next time you want to come into my room, just put your thumb to the finger plate. Since you’re in the system, it will announce your presence and the door will open to the inside of each of our cells. Unless, of course, you like fainting in my presence.”

“You really could have told me that last night.”

“I suspected you’d figure it out for yourself.”

“I’m here, aren’t I? Apparently, there isn’t much I can figure out on my own.”

“Isn’t that the truth.”

We reached a set of double doors; steel, just like the rest of the building. He walked over to a pad on the wall to the right of the door and began inputting a code of some sort into it.

“You’ll be assigned various codes for all of the entrances and exits in and out of this place that you will be expected to memorize.”

“Wow, this place is secured tighter than Fort Knox,” I marveled.

“This place houses value greater than that of Fort Knox.”

“Why? Is there gold, diamonds, artifacts…scandalous government secrets?”

“No. It houses us.”

I followed Blake through the double doors into far more inviting quarters resembling more of a five star hotel than an underground dungeon. The granite floors shone in the light coming through the windows. Windows; there were windows! This place may be more tolerable than I thought. Before us appeared a sitting room complete with a television bordering on being the size of a movie screen. High on the vaulted ceilings, a chandelier was displayed over the array of leather furniture dotting the room. For an added touch, fresh flowers bloomed throughout the entirety of the room, adding a much appreciated touch of feminism to this fortress of steel.

“Don’t be fooled by the windows,” Blake commented. “They’re fake, and so is the daylight you see coming through them.”

“So, we’re still underground?”

“At least a good seventy feet.”

“Way to burst my bubble.”

He guided me down yet another corridor to the right of the sitting room. Along this corridor were even more rooms with even more steel doors.

“That door,” Blake began, “leads to the gymnasium and simulation room. In a few days, you will be spending a lot of time in that room.”

“Why in a few days?”

“That’s something they’ll explain to you,” he responded grimly.

“Wait. What’s going on?“ I stopped following him down the hallway. “You’ve been nothing but pessimistic about everything since we arrived here last night. Being here was your choice. It’s what you wanted to do, right?”

“Sometimes an obligation is masked in the guise of a choice.”

“Cryptic.”

He forced a half smile, commencing his walk down the corridor. “These smaller doors,” he gestured, “lead to the rooms of some of the other employees here. Composed mainly of scientists, doctors, chefs, counselors, scouts, computer technicians, and other choice governmental hostages, they, like us, are so dedicated to the Cause that they’ve opted to give up their identities just to come here, blend in and have their work go disappointingly unrecognized.”

“Some people don’t need the recognition.”

“Yeah, dead ones. Trust me, when recognition is the only thing you can’t have, you begin to crave it. It becomes a necessity, like air. The same goes for human contact.”

At the end of the corridor stood an even larger set of double doors, much thicker than the rest.

“What is that…ground zero?”

“It’s the nerve of the Epicenter. So, in a sense, yes, it could be considered ground zero. That is where you will be spending your time for the next few days.”

“That’s where an ordinary human becomes a superhuman?”

He shot a sideways glance in my direction. “Yeah…super,” he grumbled. We turned left down another corridor where I could hear other voices, surprisingly friendly voices, echoing throughout the hall. “We’re going to the dining hall,” he announced without missing a stride. “Everyone has gathered for breakfast, and you’re going to be the honored guest.”

“Honored guest? Look at me. I literally just rolled out of bed.”

“Like I said, you won’t need to look presentable for what you’re going to be doing today.”

“But still…you know, first impressions and all.”

“Trust me, this isn’t the first time any of them have seen you.”

“You’ve all been stalking me…good to know.”

“Here goes nothing,” he said, entering the dining hall.

The dining hall was just as elaborate as the sitting room. A ridiculously long oak table filled with people sat prominently in the middle of it. Every five feet, a candelabrum was displayed on the table with flames dancing from each of them, putting on a show for their captive audience. Curtains framed the faux windows with daylight streaming in, adding a touch of normalcy to a place that was anything but. Busboys and waiters blew past me, carrying trays of food. My stomach let out a sigh of approval. It had been a while since I last ate anything.

“Good morning there, Celaine,” a familiar voice called out. My eyes scanned the table, taking in all of the unfamiliar faces until one familiar one caught my gaze. “You’re…looking….well…uh…you’re
really
looking,” Cameron chided.

“Cameron, geez,” a fair haired woman with a peaches and cream complexion said in obvious disgust. “Have you no couth?” She looked at me apologetically. “The rest of us really do have some class.”

“It’s okay,” I replied. “I had a younger brother…once.” I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Aside from being pretty, there was something oddly familiar about her. Her face was one I’d definitely seen before but couldn’t quite place where exactly I’d seen it and, from her expression, I could tell the same was true for her about me.

Sensing my confusion, she spoke again. “My name is Kara, and I’m a nurse here. I’m sure you’re a little overwhelmed as there is a lot to take in here. I wish I could tell you that it only gets easier and that things start to make more sense, but as any one of these men and women could tell you, it doesn’t. You just have to take everything one day at a time and just know that, if you ever need to talk to someone, we’re all in the same boat as you.” She paused, trying to gauge my expression. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, my door is always open.”

“Yeah, you better leave it open, too,” Blake muttered.

“Thank you, Kara,” I replied.

Blake motioned for me to follow him, leading me around the table to two empty seats facing Kara and Cameron. He gestured to each person at the table, giving me a formal introduction. “Seated next to Cameron are Edwin, Lars and Marcus, our scientists. Next are our physicians, Dr. Harris and Dr. Martin and therapist, Dr. Lin. Then there are the tech guys, Kyle and Drew. Finally, there are our researchers and inside intelligence officers including Lana, Brian, Inez and Caine. Our kitchen staff you see running around here consist of Henry, Colby and Becca.”

“Is everyone going to wear name tags for the new girl?” I asked him under my breath.

He rolled his eyes; a gesture I was sure I was going to receive quite frequently from him. Everyone around the table took the time to give me a friendly smile and “hello”.

Inez, at least I think it was Inez, spoke next. “Celaine, I trust you’ll find our accommodations fitting.”

I wondered if that was a question or a statement. “They’re great, thank you,” I replied.

“Actually, I think they suck, but that’s just my opinion,” Drew offered.

“Always the pessimist,” Brian muttered.

Kara spoke up again. “We all actually get along much better than this. It’s just been an off day, and well, quite frankly, we’re still trying to figure out how to act in front of you…testing the waters, so to speak.”

I could tell that Kara was trying her best to make me feel welcome and a part of the group. “Well,” I offered, “just act the way you normally would.”

“In that case,” Cameron interceded.

“Oh, god,” Kara sighed.

“I’m Cameron, I’m single, and my room is just a couple of doors down from yours, so if you’re ever lonely and want to engage in a nice long…” There was a collective gasp intermingled with chuckles around the table. Kara’s face turned bright red with the horrified expression still evident even after she backhanded Cameron over the head. “Ow! What? I was going to say conversation,” he responded.

“Well, you have to admit, she left the door wide open on that one,” Lars said.

“Yeah, that’s Cameron. Our brilliant yet socially inept walking hormone,” Lana chuckled.

I looked over at the head of the table, noticing that the seat stood empty. Catching Blake’s eye, I nodded towards the empty chair.

He leaned in and whispered into my ear, “That’s Victor’s seat. He’ll be joining us shortly.”

“Is he the head honcho here?”

“Unfortunately.”

I shot a look of disbelief at him, wondering what in the world would elicit such an unenthused response from him. It’d become increasingly clearer to me that Blake was none too happy with the life he had chosen for himself, and I found myself wondering what had brought him here in the first place. A sudden clang at the table jolted me back to reality. Becca and Colby were arranging various platters with what I could only assume to be breakfast on them. The aroma was almost too much to bear, and I was dying to rip the covers off the platters right then and there but didn’t think that would go over too well.

“Oh, Celaine,” Kara’s voice pierced through my anticipation. “We never asked if you had any food allergies or preferences in food choices.”

“Believe me,” I replied, “even if I
did
have allergies, I would look the other way right now and, as far as preferences are concerned, I have the sinking suspicion that a few of you may already know what those are. It’s become pretty obvious that there are no secrets around here.”

A few uncomfortable glances were exchanged across the table. Kara looked at me with a twinge of guilt etched on her face. “I’m sorry,” she said. “We really should have tried to make you feel a little more comfortable. We just didn’t want to smother you right away with all you’ve been through so far.”

I realized then that I’d been a bit rude. “I’m sorry,” I said, looking around the table. “This isn’t like me. I’ve just had a rough few hours.”

“That’s completely understandable,” Edwin spoke up. “As much as I admire the task placed upon your and Blake’s shoulders, I don’t envy you.”

“Me neither,” Blake grumbled.

“Well, aren’t we just big balls of sunshine this morning. How about we just eat and let Victor catch up later?” Kara announced.

“Oh, thank god,” I cried.

An eruption of laughter reverberated across the table. “Hey, at least this one has personality,” Edwin responded. Blake shot him a dirty look.

“Well, on that note,” Becca giggled, lifting the covers off the various platters.

“Dig in, Celaine,” Kara offered.

She didn’t have to tell me twice, and my plate filled up fast with scrambled eggs, toast and waffles, anything to satisfy the hunger pangs in my stomach. It was truly breakfast heaven. I looked over at Blake. His plate appeared nearly empty as he sat in his chair looking bored, rolling a scrambled egg around the perimeter of his plate with his fork.

“Is it like this every day?” I asked, trying to lighten him up a little.

“Pretty much.” It grew noticeably quiet around the table while everyone ate. I wasn’t sure if it was the norm around here or if it was just because no one knew how to speak to the new girl.

“We’re not usually this quiet,” Lars broke the silence after a moment. “It’s just that we’re all still pretty somber as, I’m sure you’ve heard, we lost Blake’s former partner, your predecessor, Liam, a few days ago.”