Page 52 of Broken Surrender
I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know my sister’s name?”
She lifted her shoulders. “If I wasn’t already in a trial for the Demeter Project, then I’d volunteer for this one. But they need someone younger, to really test it. And if it works, who knows how many people we could help.”
I couldn’t agree to a trial simply because that’s what Kate and her brother wanted. “I’m not interested,” I said. I motioned at the doors behind her. “You can tell your brother.” It’s not like I cared what he thought of me.
“Please,” Kate said, her voice weak. “He’ll fire me if I don’t secure her participation.”
I leaned over, looking through the glass walls at the rest of the building. A few security guards were posted throughout the office floor, armed and silent, watching over the company. The new security consisted of a privately contracted team through one of the owner’s contacts. But when it came to the actual employees of Shin & Co Inc, each man kept his head down, working diligently, as if their entire lives were wrapped up in the company. Kate had worked hard to be where she was, always being forced to prove herself to her brother. I understood that. My father had been hard on me too, and when I saw Kate, her determination reminded me of that. She was the only woman in theentireworkforce.
But I was a business manager for a pharmaceutical company, and soon, I would be managing hospitals across the country. I would never have to speak to Kate or her brother again.
But I could at least give her the chance to explain herself.
“What is it?” I asked.
“A pill. But she has to be under observation for twelve hours. Checkups after that.”
“What does it do?”
“Calms you down. Makes things less intense.” She licked her lips. “Results for adults are good. But we need to focus on the adolescents.”
Calms you down.It didn’t sound bad. “As long as I’m part of the process, I’ll—”
“My brother has volunteered to observe her,” she said. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she’s all right.”
There was something going on with Kate, but I let it go. This was part of the process. I had been with Shin & Co Inc long enough to know that. But that instinct wouldn’t go away. Something was up with her. She returned with a stack of papers for me to sign for my sister’s and the company’s protection.
“I need to be a part of it,” I said. “That’s the only way I’ll sign.”
“Don’t worry; there’s a line for that. Page eighty-four,” she said. I flipped through the stack, then scanned the page, searching for the appropriate line. She laughed. “What? You don’t believe me?”
I found the line, then signed next to it. “I do now.”
The next day, I drove to the after-school pickup. Everything went as usual. The main coordinator even waved at me.
“Mr. Callen!” she said. “Corinne already went home with your aunt.”
Her aunt? We didn’t have any aunts. The coordinator read the tension in my face, and her eyes widened. I got back into my car. How did an ‘aunt’ get past the school staff in the first place?
“Mr. Callen!” the coordinator shouted, but I drove away, racing back to work. The parking lot at the back of the two buildings was less crowded than usual, and eerier. I ran to the laboratory building. Down the elevator, to the clinical floor. The doors chimed, opening. John Dalton walked in, straightening his shirt. His pants were unbuckled.
The company had many avenues, some of which included nudity for observation. We specialized in women’s health, but the employees sometimes participated in experiments too, when we could sell the male results to other companies.
“Mr. Dalton,” I said. We shook hands. “I hear—”
“Your sister worked well today,” he said. “Thank you for approving her participation.”
I stepped out of the elevator, my palms wet. He pressed the ground-level button.
“Are you heading to see her now?” he asked.
“I am.”
He waved as the doors closed. “Tell her I said, ‘hi.’”
I walked down the hallway, my footsteps echoing. It was empty. But when I went past a wide window to the observation room, I stopped. A girl with dark hair rested her head against the wall. A man exited the room, buckling up his pants, grinning to himself.
“Who are you?” the man asked, his smile dropping. He jutted his angular chin forward, waving a bony hand at me.
