Voice (10 page)

“It wasn’t on my watch, and she’s back now, isn’t she? How do you think she got here? Who left the right information where she might be able to find it, knowing that she’d come back when she knew that people would suffer if she didn’t?”

Jemma’s face fell, and she felt like she might throw up. Of course Josh had been the one to put that file there. She’d known something was wrong with it being there from the start, all that information all neat and tidy in one file, but the fact that the information seemed accurate had thrown her off. He couldn’t have known they would contact Senator Pratt, but he might have assumed Jack would be able to find it, unencrypted as it was. When she focused back on Josh’s face, he was smiling, that innocent smile that always made Jemma want to get as far away as possible.

“Now, let’s try this,” he continued. “Marcia, put your hand on Jemma’s arm. Jemma, try Talking to Marcia. Don’t bother telling me what you say. Marcia, tell me if you can hear her.”

Jemma closed her eyes to concentrate, needing to focus on anything other than Josh. Nothing she tried would go through; there was no echo, no real sense of connection. She couldn’t quite even figure out where Marcia’s connection had rested, but she felt like she was just missing it.

On the plus side, at least, her headache didn’t get any worse. She did shift in her chair to relieve some of the weight from the bruises she’d gotten in falling to the floor the day before.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Josh interrupted. “I’m impressed, though. You actually made it move.” He showed her the monitor, which did indicate minimal activity. “That’s more than I expected. Well below the thresholds we’ve determined are required for a message to actually be sent, though. Marcia, your turn. Go ahead and try to send Jemma a message.” He gave Marcia less time before interrupting. “Nothing. Okay.” He smiled and picked up the needle. “We’re just going to give this to Jemma today, but if it doesn’t work, I can mix up a stronger version to try on both of you tomorrow.” He smiled at Jemma as he injected her. “How’s that for getting a baseline?”

The liquid stung as it worked its way through her veins, but Jemma waited and felt no difference in her mind. She didn’t feel any expanding, crawling, or pain.

“It should have taken effect by now,” said Josh, his mouth pulling down to one side as he studied the monitor. “Maybe without Jack involved you just don’t have the same background static. I want you to try communicating with Marcia again.”

Jemma nodded, briefly considering not trying at all, then remembering the threat of a stronger attempt the next day. If trying her hardest could save herself and Marcia from worse, she’d do it.

She was able to find Marcia’s connection. None of the other connections were present, not even Jack’s. She ignored any concerning thoughts that might lead to and instead focused as hard as she could on sending words along Marcia’s connection. No matter how hard she tried, though, how hard she focused on either words or on Marcia herself, there was no echo, no indication that anything went through.

“It’s not enough, Jemma,” said Josh. “I can see you’re trying, so I guess I don’t have to take away your lunch today, but it’s not enough. Hey, you,” he addressed the guard again, who stiffened. “Take Marcia back to her cell, then come back for Jemma.”

“Be careful,” said Marcia as she left, eying Josh. Jemma nodded, not sure what she could really do.

As soon as they were alone, he came around the back of her chair to unhook the monitor. “It really is all your fault, Jemma, any discomfort you’re experiencing, any pain.” He set down the leads and stood beside her chair, his arms crossed. “Everything is like this because of you. I hope you remember that. If you don’t, maybe I’ll see whether Kendall wants to help instead.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN:

Abandon

Jemma woke early from a nightmare, the lights still dimmed in her cell. She’d been stuck, alone, with Josh. There weren’t any guards, anyone to stop him from experimenting. She was strapped down, as she had been the first time they’d scanned her, helpless and completely at his mercy.

He’d had telepathy in the dream, used it to Talk to her, used medication to make it so she couldn’t block him out. He didn’t say anything menacing, simply repeated nursery rhymes endlessly, that innocent smile on his face as he picked up yet another syringe.

When the lights brightened, she sat and shifted so her back rested against the solid concrete wall, then glanced up at the camera. It seemed like it was late enough for someone to bring food. Maybe the morning was just passing more slowly because she was already tired, which didn’t bode well for the rest of the day. She knew she would have to deal with Josh again, as well as whatever lovely experiments he’d thought up for their day, and she’d need her energy in order to get through it.

Trying to focus on something else, Jemma leaned her head back against the wall. Had Jack been able to find the senator? To convince him to help?

The cure was out now, thanks to those who had left the facility. She wondered how the world was reacting. More specifically, she wondered how the people she knew were reacting. Her family would be thrilled. She felt a smile tug at her lips as she pictured her mother and Jilly making up for lost time, her father sitting back and taking it all in. He’d appreciate being able to lecture again in his classrooms, too.

Jack’s father would be safer, able to call for assistance if he needed it, no longer needing to rely on painful movement from stiff fingers to communicate.

The library would be back to the steady hum in the children’s section, especially on Saturday mornings, Cecily providing a disapproving stare.

She rubbed her arm, glancing down at the bruising when she felt the stabbing pain. It had lessened further, at least, or she’d adjusted to it as she had the pain in her head. The bruising was still so bright, though. Coupled with the pain associated with movement, Jemma guessed that maybe Josh had injected the tracker somewhere that the muscles wouldn’t let it settle well enough to heal.

So many unknowns. Like why nobody had brought her breakfast yet or come to get her. The light was regular enough that it had to be on a timer, so just because it turned on didn’t mean anybody was watching, but she stood and started waving at the camera anyway.

“Anybody there? Hello? I could use some food in here.” She paced the tiny cell until it started to make her dizzy, the room too small to really make it effective. She walked to the door and banged on it. “Hey, anyone out there?”

Several minutes passed, and still, there was no response. She sat back down on the bed, pulling her knees to her chest. Running through scenarios wasn’t the smartest idea when she didn’t have a way out, didn’t have a way to deal with any of them, but just as her mind had insisted on revisiting her nightmare earlier, it insisted on going through possibilities now.

It was possible that Josh had taken over further and had ordered her to be left in her room for longer, without food, just to mess with her, to put her on edge or to make her more cooperative or both. Then again, he seemed genuinely upset anytime something cut into their time together, and he had to be aware that he’d done a sufficient job of threatening her already.

It was also possible that she’d been left behind. The facility had been abandoned, guards, scientists, and any other employees leaving, taking their chances in leaving the subjects behind. She couldn’t imagine Heidi just leaving them, though.

Maybe the facility had been quietly taken over by the authorities, who would be letting her out any minute now.

She lay back down, closing her eyes against her growling stomach. She was tired enough that, if she were lucky, maybe she’d be able to fall back to sleep and pass the time that way. Maybe with the lights on, at least, she wouldn’t have nightmares.

***

She woke to the sound of the door opening, the clanging setting her heart racing.

“Sorry I scared ya, Jemma babe.”

Jemma managed to wave absently at Heidi, breathing in and out deliberately until her heart slowed. “What happened this morning? I didn’t think anybody was coming.”

Heidi propped the door open with a wedge she took out of one pocket. “I’m just about the only guard here, so they’ve got me doing all the work. Josh is one of the last of the in-charge types, and he wants to work with you, first, so I stopped by here last so I wouldn’t have to stop by twice.” She frowned. “If that makes any sense at all. I really am sorry I scared you, though. Here, I got you a protein shake
and
a granola bar. How’s that for a haul?” Heidi sat next to her on the bed and handed Jemma her breakfast, smiling.

“Thanks.”

“It’s easier being able to actually talk again, isn’t it?”

Jemma’s mouth was already full, so she nodded, and Heidi laughed at the timing. Jemma swallowed and pointed. “That, that’s what I missed, I think. Laughing. I mean, I had the telepathy, and written word has always been easier for me to deal with than spoken. There’s something about a typed or written laugh, though, that just doesn’t even come close to translating.”

Heidi nodded her agreement and looked down at her watch. “You need to finish up pretty quickly. I’m behind schedule, and I doubt any of us will like it if we keep him waiting too long.”

Presented with flashes of her nightmare again, Jemma shivered. She ate faster, washing the bar down with the protein shake. She had to slow down again near the end, but she knew she needed the food more than her stomach needed to protest the last bite and last few sips. She set down the trash and looked at Heidi. “There’s no way I can talk you out of taking me, is there?”

“I’m sorry. You know he’d just come get you himself, and he’d probably be a lot less nice about it.” Heidi stood. “Let’s walk.”

Jemma walked next to Heidi, starting down the hallway after the guard had retrieved the wedge from the doorway. “He knows I set the cure loose, and he’s determined to take it out on me, to get results however he can. He tried something yesterday that didn’t work, and he didn’t much like that. He said he’d have something stronger ready today. Heidi, he doesn’t care whether he does something to permanently injure me. He doesn’t care that I still can’t see quite right. I don’t even think that he’d care if he killed me, as long as he got some results out of it.”

Heidi slowed. “He’s still testing you even though your eyesight isn’t all the way back yet?”

“It’s Josh. Does that really surprise you anymore?” Jemma couldn’t help the trace of bitterness that crept into her voice.

“I guess not.” Heidi patted the back of her head, bun arranged tightly, not a hair out of place. She looked down the hall in the direction of the lab, then stopped walking and looked at Jemma. “You really think your life could be in immediate danger from Josh? So why are you just following me to where you know he’s waiting for you?”

“What are my other options?” Jemma knew she’d raised her voice, but she also knew it shouldn’t carry as far as the lab. “He didn’t just threaten
me
. He made it clear that if I didn’t try my best, he’d be going after Marcia, after Kendall. I’m giving him results he isn’t expecting, keeping him occupied for now. If they can’t distract him like that, how much worse is he going to treat them?”

Heidi closed her eyes, a struggle on her face, then nodded. “Okay, Jemma babe, you win. I won’t take you to him.”

Jemma blinked. “But what about the others?”

“I’m getting you all out of here. Today. Now.” She watched Jemma. “You didn’t try to involve the siblings in your first escape. Was there a reason?”

“I didn’t trust them. They were a little too eager to follow the rules, to help the scientists.”

Heidi nodded. “Good to follow your gut. That’s what I’ve gotta do now in getting you all out. Gonna take a lot of heat for this.”

She must be work for a company that held her accountable for keeping or breaking contracts rather than hiring out for herself. That might explain why she’d get in trouble for doing the right thing. “What’s the plan?”

“I’m going to let everyone out of their rooms while you go lock Josh into his lab. The door stays shut if it’s locked from the outside.” Heidi reached into another pocket and handed Jemma a keyring, one key isolated from the rest. “Stay low, below the windows so he doesn’t see you coming. Do it as quietly as you can. If you have to give yourself away to finish it quickly because of your eyes, do it, but then you holler and you come running back my way as fast as you can. Those windows are pretty thick, but he’ll be able to find something to break through them eventually, and I want to have all of you out of the building first. Got it?”

Jemma swallowed and nodded. She was about to do to Josh what she’d been afraid he’d done to her; she was going to lock him in a room and desert the building.

She turned and walked away from Heidi, down the familiar, easy path to the lab, slowing when she neared and dropping to her hands and knees, careful not to let the keys clatter against the floor. She crawled until she reached the doorknob, then hesitated.

How did she know he was in there? She couldn’t see from here, not even if her eyesight was perfect, not without x-ray vision. She’d need to risk peeking through the window to make sure she’d really trapped him in there. She started to stand, then paused.