Tested (4 page)

“You hope,” Phoenix said. “What if they’re keeping Tyler in a section where only certain people have access? And who’s to say they’re even going to hire some random new person?”

“It’s worth a shot,” Michael said. “At this point, I can’t think of any other way to get in there long enough to look around for him. You would have someone who works there, and no one will question why they’re walking the halls.”

“Missy isn’t strong enough to do it,” Phoenix blurted out, instantly cringing.

Missy felt her cheeks flare at her sister’s outburst. She hated to think that’s how her sister felt about her.

“I’m sorry, muffin,” her sister said, reaching across the table to grab her hand gently. “I’m not trying to be mean, but we both know you don’t do well outside the house. This will be completely new, and you’d be around men…”

“She’s around men all the time here,” Trent said, giving Missy an encouraging look. “I’m sure she can do it.”

“You don’t know anything about her,” Phoenix snapped.

“Maybe you don’t either,” Trent replied. “Your sister could be a lot stronger than you think she is.”

“You’re not the one who will have to pick up the pieces again if she falls apart,” Phoenix said. Her words felt like a physical slap across Missy’s face.

“Stop,” she said softly, blinking back her hurt tears. “Stop, Phoenix,” she said louder now. Her sister stared at her. “I’ll do it. I want to help Tyler.”

“You don’t have to,” Phoenix said. “Just because you were there when he was taken doesn’t mean you’re responsible for getting him back.”

Missy’s sat up a bit straighter. “I know that,” she said. “I just want to help, and I know I’m the best choice out of all of us. I can do this, Phoenix. I know I can.”

As she said the words, she could feel the rightness of them inside her. She just hoped she could actually pull it off. Not only would Tyler’s life be on the line, but she had a sinking feeling her own would be too.

CHAPTER FOUR

She was going to be sick. Missy followed the heavyset woman in front of her down a hallway that was so stark and white it made her want to reach down and tear her shoes off, just in case she happened to be bringing dirt in with her. It was eerily silent too, except for the sound of their footsteps. The woman, Margaret, led them into a small office. One look at her desk and Missy could tell the same sanitary standards from out in the hall did not apply here.

Old coffee cups and wrappers littered the surface amongst the mounds of paperwork. How the woman managed to accomplish anything was baffling. Taking a seat, Missy tried to keep her focus on Margaret as she made her way around to her own chair, rather than on the disaster between them.

“Thank you for coming in on such short notice,” said Margaret. The bland, abrupt tone of her voice suggested otherwise.

Plastering on her best fake smile, Missy said, “It was my pleasure. I was very excited to hear I’d been called back.” That wasn’t a lie.

After the disaster of finding a way over into the eastern ghetto, (something she
never
wanted to experience again), and navigating her way around the other side of the city all alone to locate Bridgette’s old apartment where she was currently staying. Then approaching this place to present her resume and afterward having to wait a whole week without hearing back, she was
way
beyond excited to be sitting where she was. A huge part of her had been starting to think all her effort had been for nothing when she hadn’t heard back from them.

When the nice woman who lived next door, Karen, passed along the message that someone from the Institute of Medical Advances had come around looking for her, Missy had literally jumped for joy. The message simply stated that they wanted another meeting with her. Hopefully this meant she was getting a job. Otherwise she was going to have to figure out a way to get back into the western ghetto. She shuddered at the thought.

“We’ve recently become rather short staffed and are looking for someone to help with our evening shift,” she said. “Would you be available for something like that?”

Considering she was alone in an area she knew absolutely nothing about, the answer was a resounding yes. Getting her sister to finally let her leave had been more than difficult, even though Michael had given Missy his phone in case they needed to contact each other. She’d never realized just how stubborn Phoenix could be. Or how ridiculously emotional, if her constant crying on the day Missy had left was any indication. However, when Missy had actually arrived in her new apartment, a massive step forward for her and an incredible act of independence, she’d instantly regretted fighting so hard to leave.

Not that she’d been suffering her from usual panic attacks. Those had surprisingly been few and far between. Most likely that was due to the fact that Missy hadn’t really need to leave the apartment, other than to get food when she ran out. No, it was more because of the unnerving quiet in the place. She was just so used to having people around. The girls had been a constant presence, and all of them loud and rambunctious. Well, except Pixie. Now she had no one to keep her sane, and as she had waited to hear back from the institute, she had realized just how nice it was to have the people she loved around her.

But she was doing this for Tyler. She had reminded herself of that constantly as the hours ticked by and her anxiety grew. Any time she’d had the urge to call her sister and beg to come home, she’d reminded herself that Tyler could be experiencing horrible things under the instructions of Douglas Hatcher. She was finally doing something to actually help her sister and the others, and she wasn’t about to back out now.

“I’m available for whatever you need,” Missy replied.

“Perfect.” Margaret slammed a thick folder on the table, making Missy jump. “We need you to handle the dinner shift, as well as any blood samples we might need, and anything else that might come up throughout the night. How do you feel about needles?”

“I don’t mind them if they’re not poking me,” she answered honestly.

The other woman actually smiled at that. “I know what you mean. That’s good then. The evening shift starts at six and ends at six. It’s not easy but you’ll be well compensated.”

Missy nodded. She couldn’t have cared less about the money, since she wasn’t planning on sticking around long enough to really earn much. As soon as she found Tyler, she was getting them out.
If
she found Tyler.

“I’ll need you to read over the rules before you start. I’m also going to provide you with a uniform.”

“Rules?”

“Regarding the patients,” explained Margaret. “We do very specific, unique testing here at the institute. Some of our patients are rather…dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Missy gulped, her mouth quickly going dry.

The woman laughed at her horrified expression. “Don’t worry, dear. All the patients are secured in individual rooms. They won’t be able to get at you. Each door has an opening where you can slide their dinner trays through. It’s perfectly safe.”

“What about when I need to take blood?” Missy asked. She was starting to wonder if this was as good of an idea as she’d originally thought.
Just find Tyler quickly, and none of this will matter,
her inner voice said.

“Our male technicians will have them properly restrained when that happens, not to worry.”

Easy for you to say,
thought Missy.

She passed a single sheet of paper over. “These rules just state that you’re not to enter the rooms, under any circumstance. Some patients will try to trick you into opening their door. For no reason are you to do that, do you understand?”

Missy nodded.

“There are also some points there about any interaction with the patients. Some might try to speak with you, but we advise you to keep any communication brief and limited with them.”

“Okay…”

Margaret smiled, standing up. “I’ll go retrieve your uniform while you look it over. When is the earliest you can start?”

Missy looked away from the paper to stare at the other woman. “Whenever you need me,” she said.

“Great, you can start tomorrow.”

Her feet hurt, her back hurt, if it were possible she’d even say her hair hurt. For two nights now Missy had been following her co-worker, Heather, around, learning everything there was to know about the institute. It was practically a jail, except the sounds from the prisoners were possibly worse. She’d never been in a prison, but Missy couldn’t image anything being more disturbing than this place.

Her job was simple really – deliver food through a small slot, and move on. So far she hadn’t had to have any actual interaction with the faceless people behind the doors. Heather was nice enough. She liked to talk and Missy had no problem simply listening.

However, she was getting increasingly more frustrated. Not because of the other girl, but because she hadn’t had one glimpse of Tyler in the entire time she’d been there over the last couple of days. Considering she hadn’t seen
anyone,
period, she was starting to wonder what the chances were that she was even going to be able to find him in the extensive building.

The doors had no windows in them, so it was impossible to even try and get a peek inside, unless she were to bend down and try to look through the meal slot, but that would look weird and suspicious. And since she’d been stuck with Heather the entire time, there was absolutely no way of doing something like that even if she’d wanted to.

What if he wasn’t even here? There was absolutely no way for her to tell for sure. And working nights was starting to take a serious toll on her body. Working until the wee hours of the morning was hard enough, but then she had to go home to a place she wasn’t quite comfortable with yet, and try to sleep when daylight lit the room. Thankfully Bridgette had some dark curtains to block out most of the light, but it was still difficult. Her body wanted to be up when the rest of the world was. Her sleep was off, her eating habits were starting to become atrocious, and overall she just felt like crap. Having no progress in what she was meant to be doing here wasn’t helping.

Sitting at the nurses’ station, she let her head fall down onto her folded arms to have a quick minute of rest. The dinners had already been given out, so it would be another twenty minutes or so before they had to make the rounds. Their ‘inspection rounds’ were a joke. It consisted of them walking down the hall and calling out to each patient through the door. The patient responds and they move on. Missy had asked what happened when they didn’t respond, and Heather just shrugged her shoulders saying, “We just keep going. We’re not allowed to go in the room and check on them, in case they’re tricking us.”

A tapping sound had Missy lifting her head, her body stiffening at the sight of a man standing on the other side of the counter. He wore a similar outfit to the ones they wore, plain white scrubs, so she knew he worked here. That didn’t help ease the discomfort at having a man she didn’t know so close. Even though she knew there was nothing to worry about. They were in a workplace, where other people were. What was the worst that could happen? Of course, her mind was never quite rational in these situations.

“Evening,” he said with a smile. She didn’t like the feeling his smile gave her, or the way his eyes took her in slowly.

“Hello,” replied Missy.

“I have a patient that needs some blood taken for the doctors. I was told to come and get the new girl,” he explained. “All the other nurses are busy. And since I don’t recall ever seeing you before, I’m going to assume you’re the new girl.”

She nodded.

“Geoff,” he introduced, reaching out a hand.

“Missy,” she said, shaking his hand quickly before pulling her hand away. “I haven’t taken blood yet. Do I need to bring something with me?”

“Heather set the tray up for you over in room B. I’ll walk you over.”

Palms sweating, Missy stood up and followed him down the empty halls.

“I’m warning you,” he said, breaking the silence, “this one is a bit aggressive, but don’t let him scare you. There’s no way he can hurt you.”

She had to consciously force her feet to keep moving while every nerve in her body screamed for her to turn and run. This was overwhelming and her heart was likely to beat right out of her chest any moment. By the time they reached the room, she was sure she was about to have a heart attack.

Wiping her hands on her pants, she looked down at the needle and vials laid out for her, and forced herself to calm down before entering the room. Holding on to the tray, knuckles white, Missy followed Geoff into the room where two other male technicians stood in front of a third restrained to a chair. They parted at their entrance to reveal a very pissed off looking, and disturbingly breathtaking as he pulled at his restraints, Tyler.

CHAPTER FIVE

Their eyes met and her hands instantly started to tremble. Without her realizing it, Missy had completely stopped moving. She stood, staring at him with a mixture of horror and relief that she’d finally found him. Those clear green eyes swept down her slowly before rising to meet her gaze once more.

She felt trapped and spellbound by that stare that pinned her to where she stood. Even her lungs seemed to have stopped working as she held her breath at the sight of him. Silently Missy prayed that he wouldn’t let on they knew each other. Obviously he would realize she was there to save him, so they needed to play it cool before any of the other three men in the room suspected something was off.

A low growl vibrated from Tyler as he slightly curled back his upper lip, his sights still locked on her. Missy instinctively took a step back. When he spoke, it was only one word, said so darkly and huskily she almost missed what it was.

“
Mine
.”

The declaration washed over her body, the tiny hairs on the nape of her neck rising in awareness. Goose bumps rose along her arms when he said nothing more.