Page 24 of Forged in Deception

Still, she was going to respect Axel’s wishes and ensure that he would never take real DX8 during the extent of this retreat. Fortunately, her unpleasant awakening this morning had provided her with the perfect opportunity to prep all of the doses that the patients would take throughout the week, including a placebo for Axel.

As she meandered around the lab, gathering various vials from small fridges and freezers and checking and double-checking measurements, she couldn’t help but to feel a flash of nerves prickling along her spine.

This lab was mainly used during the trial retreats, but it also served as extra storage when things got crowded down at the main Senera research lab.

One of the storage fridges that contained larger vials of completed DX8 they often used in non-human mammal testing looked slightly off to her. She could have sworn that when she was last in here to pick some of them up, they’d been lined against the left-hand side of the fridge. Now, apparently, a few were closer to the middle.

She glanced up at the camera overhead and took hold of the glass containers, shuffling them all back into place. She was probably imagining it. Only a handful of people had keys to this lab, anyway, so the most likely explanation was that Bajwa had needed something when she wasn’t around to fetch it for him.

Before she could consider the matter any further, she heard her smartwatch beeping loudly from its place on her wrist.

It was later than she’d realized. Ned would be ready with breakfast in about five minutes, and the patients would be arriving soon after. Axel was probably there already, not that she was in a hurry to catch him alone again.

She needed to focus.

For the rest of the retreat, she had to be fully committed to keeping her patients safe, investigation or no investigation. They needed her.

And just like when it came to taking care of John and getting him his service dog, Karlin wasn’t going to let anything or anyone get in the way.

ASHER

Asher poured boiling water into his mug, sending the herbal tea bag bobbing along the bottom. For once, he didn’t feel like he needed his usual coffee-induced energy boost, even after getting only a few hours of sleep. Was this how Gabe felt all the time? Maybe his early bird of a big brother wasn’t as masochistic as he thought.

After his meeting with Karlin last night, he had found it easy to hop out of bed, though unfortunately, she hadn’t appeared at the dining hall until half of the guests had already arrived.

He picked up his breakfast plate, once again disproportionately laden with eggs, and began to saunter over to where she was sitting. Before he could get any closer, however, she shot him a look which wasn’t difficult to read. She was sitting with Bajwa and Ned, and the three were lost in their own conversation. Apparently, the staff were sitting alone today.

“Sup, everyone?” he said, sliding into a chair at the far end of the table next to Destiny and Paul. Lily and Cora sat down shortly after, both carrying heaping plates of fruit salad.

“Morning!” Lily said cheerfully, stabbing at a large strawberry with her fork.

Soon the group was buzzing with conversation, but Asher found his eyes drifting to the other end of the table as he wondered what Karlin, Bajwa, and Ned were discussing.Hopefully something boring. In any case, Karlin would fill him in on anything important, and in the meantime, he might learn something from his fellow guests.

“So, has anyone here tried DX8 before?” Cora was asking, her dark eyes wide with excitement. “I’ve tried shrooms a few times, and totally wimped out on taking salvia once. That’s it, though.”

“Definitely not me,” Paul said, shaking his head. “I’ve never touched anything stronger than a beer. My nephew is an addict, and I’ve seen where it leads.”

“I was an only child, with super strict parents, so I got a little wild with the Mary Jane in college, I’ll admit,” Lily said, offering Paul a wink. “But I’m looking forward to my first psychedelic journey!”

Asher glanced between the two oldest retreat attendees.

Sometimes, judging people by how they looked made a whole lot of sense.

Absolutely nothing about Paul’s down-home attire or demeanor indicated that he’d be interested in this sort of retreat. Asher wondered what his story was, but he supposed he had to have a reason for being here.

Lily, on the other hand, looked like she’d never left the flower-child era, even though she looked too young to have actually been part of the original hippie movement. Today, she was wearing an actual tie-dye scarf to hold her long silver hair back, paired with a bright red tunic over loose acid-wash jeans. It was hardly a surprise to Asher that she’d wound up here.

“I’ve never even had alcohol before,” Destiny chimed in. “This is going to be a big step.”

She fingered the cross necklace she wore absentmindedly, but Asher certainly noticed. He felt a pang of worry for the soft-spoken woman. Did she share his concerns about DX8 based on her own faith? But if she did, why would she be here?

“No alcohol? Ever?” Cora asked, leaning over the table until the ends of her wavy hair nearly ended up in her empty oatmeal bowl.

Destiny smiled and shook her head, her curls bouncing. “I grew up in a church that really emphasized staying away from drinking. I’m not sure what I think about that these days, to be honest, but I’ve kind of just kept up the habit.”

Cora’s expression moved from horror to fascination. “Woah. That’s intense. I mean, my grandmother goes to church sometimes, but I don’t think I know anyone that intense.”

“Admittedly, you are from Los Angeles,” Destiny teased. “Things are different in Dallas.”

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