Page 5 of Atone in Darkness
He shrugged. “Because you’re the only person I’ve seenother than the guards. Does that mean you are in charge of tormenting the other four inmates of this lovely zoo?”
What on earth was he talking about now? She labeled the tubes and set them aside until she had time to finish processing them. “You’re the only... resident.”
Prisoner, really, but she couldn’t bring herself tocall him that. From the way he sneered right then, he knew exactly what she was thinking. “Inmate, resident. Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. I’m just curious about who watches over the other ones.”
She’d tried not to think very hard about what his designated number meant. “You’re the only one I’ve actually met.”
The stubborn man wouldn’t let up. “Then what happened to the other four? I mean, the guardscall me Number Five. I’m assuming that means there are or at least were four other inmates before I got invited to the party.”
He pointed at the tubes of blood. “I have no idea what kind of tests you’re running on me all the time, but it doesn’t make sense that I’m the only guinea pig in this place. What can you learn from one man’s blood?”
No one had ever told her that she had to keep secretsfrom her one test subject. “I’m continuing the work begun by my predecessor.”
She stopped to hold up her hand to forestall any more questions. “And before you ask, I don’t even know what his or her name was. I never met the person or heard why they left. When I came here, I was given access to the previous data and told to pick up where they’d left off. All I know about the long-term projectis that I’m supposed to run specific tests and compare them to several others already in the records.”
“What kind of tests?”
“The usual chemistry tests like blood sugar levels and ones that monitor kidney, cardiac, and liver functions. Others check for signs of anemia or infections.” She hesitated and then added the last major one. “I’m also studying certain markers found in the DNA of all thetest subjects.”
She was pretty sure that Chase flinched when she mentioned the genetic portion of the study. His expression went totally blank as if he’d withdrawn into a world of his own. Maybe she should be glad that he’d quit asking all those uncomfortable questions, but seeing him shut down like that was worrisome. Did he already know the answers she was looking for in his genetic code? Notthat it mattered. Her gut feeling was that he wouldn’t share the information even if he did.
After a few more seconds of chilly silence, he blinked and was back from whatever dark trip he’d gone on in his head. She nodded toward the small gym set up in the far corner.
“It’s been a couple of days since we checked your cardiac readings. I’d like you to start on the treadmill, then move to thebike, and finally the weights.”
Chase automatically peeled off his T-shirt to let her apply the sensors that would allow her to monitor his heart as he made the rounds of the exercise equipment. Even after she attached the last one, he made no effort to get started. His vivid blue eyes had a hard edge to them now. “So tell me, Doc, was the benefit package worth living out here in the middle ofnowhere with no one but asshole guards and me for company?”
The honest answer would benoto the guards, butmaybewhen it came to working with Chase. No way she was going to admit that to him, though. “I’m sure you’re aware how expensive medical school is. When they offered to pay off my student debt in exchange for working in a remote location for a year, I couldn’t say no.”
Although God knowsshe should have.
“I figured it was something like that.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not like them.”
He finally stood up, deliberately crowding her. It wasn’t hard considering the difference in their size. She wasn’t particularly short for a woman, but he had at least eight inches on her in height and eighty pounds in muscle. Oddly enough, his sheer physical presence made her feel protected, notthreatened. If a guard had stood that close to her, she doubted she would’ve been able to stand her ground. Rather than acknowledge what he was doing—and the effect it was having on her—she focused on his comment.
“How am I different? I’m part of the group holding you prisoner here.”
“You don’t like seeing me hurt. The guards love it.”
Before he walked away, he traced the side of her face withhis fingertips. His touch was so light and fleeting that she might have imagined it. Maybe she had, because what she saw in his eyes was cold anger. When his hand dropped back down to his side, it was curled into a tight fist. “Of course, I could be just imagining how you feel about me. I hear Stockholm Syndrome does some really weird shit to its victims.”
All she could do was sputter in frustrationas he pluggedin the sensors himself before setting the controls on the treadmill. When everything was ready, he dutifully began a slow jog before gradually picking up speed. She knew from past experience that he could maintain that fast pace for far longer than a typical male of his age in good physical condition should be able to, the emphasis on the wordtypical. There was much about ChaseMosely that didn’t fit any known parameters.
His ability to heal was absolutely mind-boggling. His reflexes were off the chart, not to mention his endurance, speed, and overall strength. If the whole idea wasn’t a tale right out of some science fiction movie, she would’ve thought someone somewhere had been experimenting in how to create a super soldier. But if the science had already been done,they wouldn’t be paying her the big bucks to unlock the secrets of his DNA.
Early on, she’d tried asking him about his mysterious abilities. She’d gotten as far with that line of questioning as he had when he’d asked about her motivations for being part of the team that tormented him on a daily basis.
She kept a wary eye on him as she started running the tests on his blood. After putting twotubes in the centrifuge to separate the serum from the cells, she used blood from the third tube to make several slides to study under the microscope. As usual, everything looked perfectly normal. She recorded the results and then labeled and dated the slides before filing them with the earlier examples.
It would take longer to get the results from the chemistry tests, but she suspected theywould be just like all of the others she’d run. It would be helpful if she knew whetherthis stream of nearly identical results was expected or if her employer was hoping for something different. Regardless, she was a scientist trained to follow a trail of facts, wherever it might lead her. The markers in Chase’s DNA had to be the key to the puzzle she was supposed to unlock. That much was obvious.Although no one had said as much in so many words, her mysterious employer clearly thought that those specific markers were responsible for his unique abilities.
Well, not necessarily unique. After all, he shared them with at least ten other test subjects according to the data she’d inherited along with the lab. How had her predecessor managed to find so many others who had the same rare markersin their blood? With her area of specialty, she should’ve heard about any ongoing studies on the subject.
As she waited for the centrifuge to finish its cycle, it crossed her mind that maybe the project was classified. That would certainly account for the secrecy. But if that were the case, wouldn’t she have had to go through an in-depth security clearance protocol before being hired and givenaccess to the data? So many questions without answers. And the truth was, she wasn’t sure she wanted to figure it all out. Denial might be cowardly, but she needed some way to control the fear that was her constant companion.
