Page 78 of Forged in Deception

She needed to find a sat phone. Had she been thinking ahead, she would have asked Bajwa to leave his behind, but unfortunately, it was too late for that, unless he’d left it in the Jeep.

It was worth checking–Bajwa didn’t always remember to lock his vehicle–but if there was no phone there, she’d be leaving her patients alone for nothing.

On the other hand, it would take her only a few minutes if she hurried, and maybe she wouldn’t need to go at all.

She looked over at Axel.

His eyes were closed, and he and Cora were now sitting calmly together. Lily had scooted her mat over to be closer to them. Paul was no longer crying, in fact, he looked more peaceful than she’d ever seen him.

She considered telling the whole group that she’d be back in five minutes, and that Axel was in charge–with Bajwa gone and with her promise to leave the next day, it no longer really mattered that he remained undercover as a fellow patient–but decided at once that it would be too risky.

Everyone was still high on DX8, and them finding out during a trip that Axel wasn’t actually one of them could trigger dangerous levels of paranoia. Another panic attack was the last thing she needed.

She settled on leaning over and whispering in his ear that she was stepping out and would be back in five minutes. He was hardly a scientist, but at least he was sober. If chaos was going to break out in the next five minutes, there wouldn’t be much she’d be able to do on her own, anyway.

She lingered several seconds longer than she had to, admiring the slight scruff on Axel’s face and ignoring the mad urge to press her lips against his.

Surely, he hadn’t been the one to call the police on Bajwa. She trusted him when he’d said he’d stick with her until tomorrow.

But if he didn’t, who did?

Before she could consider the matter any further, Lily shot up from her mat, mumbling something about feeling like she was going to throw up.

Jumping into action, Karlin rushed over and took the woman’s hand, guiding her out of the hut. The cool air outside was refreshing, but unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have much of a soothing effect on Lily’s stomach.

Karlin led her a few meters from the hut to where a convenient stand of thick bushes would provide a little bit of privacy.

“I’ll be right here, okay?” Karlin said gently.

She waited for several long minutes, but no repulsive sounds came.

Instead, she found herself actually enjoying the chance to escape into the calm night for a moment, even if it delayed her plan to go call for backup.

It felt good just to be alone in the dark and quiet.

Finally, after indulging in the silence for a couple more minutes, Karlin turned around to ask Lily if she felt any better.

But before she could say anything, her words were stolen away in a gasp.

Everything felt like it was beginning to move in slow motion as the peace she’d felt mere seconds ago slipped away in a single heartbeat.

A gun was now pointed directly at her head.

ASHER

Bajwa. Police. Dogs. Noise.

Asher was trying to think, but his brain didn’t seem to be working properly. It was like it could only process a single word at a time. Everything felt slow and thick, like he was trying to muscle his way through a tidal wave of quicksand.

Bajwa had been arrested. That much he could gather, but he didn’t understand why. The sounds of the barking dogs and the loud voices of the police officers had hurt his head.

The drums are gone, so why is it so loud?

Asking this question suddenly seemed very important. The police and the dogs and Bajwa were gone. It didn’t make sense.He knew somehow that the hut was relatively silent, so why did his head feel like it was pulsing with noise from the inside out?

He wanted to talk to Karlin.

That’s what he really wanted to do. He had to get up, go over to her, and tell her that he must have taken the wrong DX8 dose.

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