The light overhead flickered, and I stared at a small scratch in the table. "What do you mean? Why am I in trouble?"
He ignored my question. "Who is the man who drove you from Craigsville?"
"I... er... I don't know him. He was just someone I hitched a ride with."
"In your friend Jennifer Ryan's car?"
I closed my mouth. I'd have to think quicker than this. There was no way I was going to give away Aric's identity.
"Why do you want to know all this anyway?"
"National security."
I sat back in my chair. "You think a seventeen year old girl from the country is a risk to national security?"
He grunted and stabbed out his cigarette on the ashtray, immediately lighting another. The room was rapidly filling with cigarette smoke.
"Let's be frank with one another, shall we? It will save a lot of time. We know the Innaki are after you. We want to know why."
I wiped my mouth nervously. "I don't know why."
The woman finally moved. She unclasped her hand and leaned towards me.
"Lucy, I think we've gotten off to a bad start here. Let me introduce myself - my name is Clare, and my friend here is... Mr... Smith."
Sure he is, I thought glumly.
"We know you're frightened of the Innaki. We want to help you, but to do that, we need to know what it is they want you for."
They were doing the good cop/bad cop routine. I shrugged my shoulders. "I really don't know."
'Smith' snorted impatiently, but said nothing.
"How long have they been taking you?" Clare continued.
"Since I was seven."
"Your mother was committed because she had used a knife to try and remove an implant - is that correct?"
I looked down at the table uncomfortably, and nodded.
"Then I presume she has been taken too? These things usually run in families."
I remained silent.
"Do you remember what they do to you when they take you?"
I took a deep breath, and immediately coughed on the smoke in the air. "Yes."
"Go on..."
"They do... procedures on me. I don't know what they're for." I was telling the truth.
She sat back and looked at Smith.
"We will get some tests done on her," he said.
I sat up to protest, but Clare waved her hand. "Don't worry - they won't hurt - just standard medical tests... a blood test, an MRI... that kind of thing."
Whether they were standard medical tests or not, I was heartily sick of being a medical specimen.
"How long are you going to keep me here?"
Smith eyed me coolly. "Until you cooperate and tell us what it is about you that's so special."
I shook my head and tears sprang to my eyes, but I refused to let them spill. "I'm nothing special."
"How much do you know about the Innaki?"
"I know they're evil, and shouldn't be taking innocent people without their consent."
He nodded slowly. His cigarette ash threatened to drop from the butt.
"Oh, they're that all right. For thousands of years they've been taking people. Some are returned, some never come back." He paused, awaiting my reaction, but I said nothing.
"Have you heard of 'wyk'?"
I looked at him, startled. So they knew of that.
His eyes narrowed. "Evidently you have."
"They are rather busy little creatures. Totally dishonest, manipulative, lacking in compassion. They're collecting this... wyk, this energy. Stockpiling it. We have our suspicions as to what they're planning to do with it. They have a sideline in selling human blood, which they exchange for wyk."
My head jerked up and I looked at him, horrified.
"Most of the missing people you hear about - they spend the rest of their miserable lives tied up and connected to machines which harvest their blood for these... transactions."
My heart was hammering in my chest, and I felt like I was going to be sick. Had Aric known about this when he'd helped the Innaki? Surely not...
"So, when a large number of our citizens are abducted against their will, and are forced to become... living blood banks, we consider it a matter of National Security. Perhaps now you understand why we need to find out why they have such an interest in you."
"They aren't interested in me any more than the next person."
"I disagree. They spent an exceptionally long time looking for you. Usually their visits are necessarily fleeting. They have been back to your uncle's farm a number of times, presumably to look for you."
I rubbed my temple with my trembling hand. Was my family safe?
"Their behavior in regards to you is contrary to all that's gone on before. So what is so special about you?"
For a moment I wondered whether I should tell them about my extra reserves of wyk, but intuition stopped me.
"I told you, I don't know." I repeated.
"You weren't confused when I talked about blocking and mind tricks." I said nothing.
"Who was that man you were with?" he barked suddenly, and I jumped in my chair.
"No one!"
He let out an exasperated sigh and turned to Clare. "Arrange for the tests. We'll see what they tell us. Eventually, she'll have to talk - I'm sure she doesn't want to be kept here forever." He stubbed out his cigarette, and stalked out of the room.
* * * * *
With the advances in technology these days, you would think they'd design a better hospital gown than this, I thought.
I pulled the strings together at the back, and tied a clumsy bow. Twisting around to peer at my reflection in the mirror, I frowned and pulled the gown across my exposed backside. These things were ridiculous.
I exited the changing cubicle grumpily, holding the fabric together at my back. Clare was across the room talking to a man wearing a white coat. A stethoscope was draped around his neck. They turned to me, and Clare gestured for me to come closer.
"Lucy, this is Dr Chenski. He'll be doing your tests." He smiled and offered his hand. I ignored it and continued to hold the fabric, and my modesty, together.
My rudeness didn't seem to bother him. "Well, Lucy, it's very nice to meet you."
I looked blankly at him. Did he really think I'd be as happy to meet him and return the sentiment?
There was an uncomfortable silence - the doctor's gaze moving nervously from me to Clare. She clasped her folder to her chest and straightened her shoulders.
"Well, Lucy, I hope you'll be cooperative." She turned to Dr Chenski and gestured to a surveillance camera hanging from the ceiling. "We'll be nearby if you need us." The information was meant as much for me as it was for him.
The heels of her shoes clicked sharply as she exited the room.
The doctor looked at me silently for a moment, then smiled kindly. "Well, I suppose we should get things started, but first, I think you might need another one of these." He went to a cupboard and withdrew a bundle of fabric. Shaking it out, he revealed another hospital gown. "Put it on over the one you're wearing, only tie it at the front. I call these things 'dignity strippers'" he said with a slight smile.
Tears sprung to my eyes at the first sign of genuine kindness I'd come across since I'd left Saul's apartment. "Thank you," I said gratefully.
He started with a general medical check-up - studying my breathing, my heartbeat, my reflexes. "You're as healthy as a horse," he said, throwing his stethoscope back around his shoulders. "A picture of health." He paused, and studied my face for a moment. "I bet you don't feel too good right now, do you?"
I shook my head miserably. He patted my hand. "It will all be okay..." he said, his voice lacking conviction.
He helped me down from the gurney I was sitting on, and pointed to an armchair at the side of the room. "Sit down over there, and we'll draw some blood."
I stretched my arm out and rested it on the arm of the armchair. Dr Chenski sat down on an office stool, and shuffled along so he was sitting to t
he side of me. His face was level with mine. He busied himself with the preparations for taking the blood.
"Well," he said, lowering his voice. "You're seventeen. Your last year of high school?" I didn't feel like making small talk, but I nodded anyway.
"A big year then. I have a daughter your age. I don't think she realizes this is the 'make or break' year." I said nothing. I wouldn't even be getting to finish my school year.
"So," he went on, strapping a tourniquet around my arm. "Missing a bit of school, this time of year... you're going to have to catch up." His voice petered out as he ran out of things to say. I continued to stare stonily at a white board across the room.
He tapped a vein, pressing around until he found what he was looking for. Swabbing the area with antiseptic, he tried to speak again. "My daughter would probably love to be in your shoes... any excuse to get out of school."
My eyes watered, and I looked away. He stopped. "I'm sorry, that was rather insensitive of me."
I turned back to him, blinking away the tears. "It's okay."
He shuffled his chair around so he was directly in front of me, blocking the line of sight to the security camera. "Read my mind," he whispered, his tone barely audible.
I concentrated hard.
Listen, Lucy, I jumped when I realized I could hear his thoughts. I know what they're doing here to you, and I know you're frightened. The fluorescent light glinted off the silvered hair at his temples. They've asked me to look after your medical care, so if you ever want to talk to someone who actually... has a heart, you can talk to me okay?
I eyed him suspiciously - was this another part of the interrogation process - introducing a trusted mole?
He continued with the procedure. "You'll just feel a small sting. Look away if you want." I looked back across the room to the white board. I didn't know whether I could trust him, but he seemed a flicker of hope in a hopeless situation. I would bide my time. Maybe I could get some information out of him.
After a few glitches were sorted out, the MRI scan went relatively uneventfully. I thought my abundant supply of wyk might show up on the images and cause a stir, but the doctor studied them, declaring them 'perfectly normal'. Apparently wyk was impossible to photograph or x-ray.
Finishing the final test, I changed back into my clothes. The doctor was on the phone when I emerged from the changing cubicle. He turned to me and held up his hand. Finishing the phone call, he made a great play of stacking some papers.
Remember, if you ever want to talk, I'm here. Complain about a headache or something, and they'll bring you here.
He fell silent as Clare entered the room. "All done," he said.
"Come on," she said to me. "Mr Smith wants to talk to you again."
I followed her out of the medical room. She led me down a corridor, eventually stopping in front of an elevator. I watched the numbers change on the elevator's control panel as the elevator ascended to our level. Evidently, there were at least another ten floors below us, and two above. We entered the elevator, Clare selected the second bottom floor, and we stood together in uncomfortable silence waiting for the elevator to open. It opened to a small anteroom, with a door on the far side flanked by two uniformed, armed soldiers.
She stopped and peered into a contraption on the wall which emitted a beam similar to those in a grocery scanner. The red beam roamed over her eye, there was a small beep, and a green light appeared on the security box. The door slid open revealing a long corridor punctuated by more doors on either side. I was led to the last one on the left. Two soldiers holding weapons guarded the entrance to the room. I wondered why they needed so many armed guards at this level. I sensed an escalation in the seriousness of my predicament. The soldiers moved aside, and Clare ushered me through the door.
Inside, it was just as starkly furnished as the original room, but this time a large, opaque window covered most of the wall to the left, a second heavy metal door to its right. A security camera jutted from a corner of the ceiling. The table was positioned against the wall under the window. It occurred to me I hadn't seen any windows since I'd arrived here, other than the occasional internal window which provided glimpses into the offices and rooms of the maze like complex. I figured if I'd gone down eight floors, and I'd never seen a glimpse of the outside through any windows, then perhaps this facility was underground. I felt as if I were in the middle of a huge termite's nest. I was glad I didn't get claustrophobic.
Clare instructed me to sit down at the table and wait. She left the room and I sat alone, uncomfortably aware of the intruding lens of the security camera above me. It was the first time I'd been left by myself, and I had a chance to collect my thoughts. My nerves were stretched thin; I'd never felt as vulnerable and alone as I did now. No one knew where I was. I wondered if Aric was even looking for me. Perhaps he'd thought I'd been so angry with him I'd taken off for good. I closed my eyes and a mental image of his tormented face filled my mind. I had really ripped into him. My words were harsh, but his own self-recrimination was what was really destroying him. I shivered at the thought of helpless humans eternally chained and farmed for their blood. I couldn't believe the Aric I knew - thought I knew, would assist in anything so... barbaric. He'd been nothing but gentle, patient and kind to me. How much had he known when he'd been 'performing his duties'?
Was he looking for me? Would there be any way he could find out where I was? My location was a mystery to me - as was the date. I could have been unconscious for days, or perhaps it was only this morning that the Tweedle brothers accosted me at the internet cafe. A big lump of dread welled in my stomach. I'd spent my life worrying about belonging and now I was well and truly on my own. With angry words I had run off the person who had taken me under his wing and had returned the affection I had finally learned to share. I wouldn't blame him if he'd given up on me, and had decided to move on and forget me.
The reflection of my miserable face gazed back at me from the milky glass of the window. I wondered if it was a one-way window - were Smith and Clare on the other side of it, studying me now? The glass was embedded with a tiny grid of wires. Strange - bullet proof glass wasn't enough? I thought of the armed soldiers in the corridor. Just what did they think I was capable of doing! I was seventeen, five feet seven, a light weight really. The whole situation was ridiculous. I could do nothing for them - so why were they so interested in me? Eyeing the security camera in the corner, I resisted giving it the finger, and slumped back against the chair. I was suddenly exhausted - emotionally and physically. This nightmare seemed unending.
I sat by myself for what seemed like hours. I had no idea what the time was - the lack of sunlight played havoc with my body clock. Finally, the door opened and Smith and Clare entered the room. Clare was carrying the folder again. I figured Smith considered himself too important to do that simple task. Smith sat down at the end of the table to my left, and Clare followed suit opposite him, sliding the folder towards him. Without saying a word, she produced a clean ashtray from her pocket, and slid it across the table. Smith inspected the folder's contents while extracting a cigarette from his packet. He lit the cigarette automatically, and took a big drag, deliberately taking his time, prolonging my wait. I squirmed in my seat and looked at him warily. I'd seen plenty of television shows and movies about aliens, and I noted Smith was the stereotypical mysterious guy in charge of the secret alien project who always smoked like a chimney. Perhaps it was a stressful job...
Finishing with the report, he looked up at me and studied me for a moment.
"You've been here three days. I'm betting you'd like to go home. Are you ready to cooperate yet?"
I threw up my hands in exasperation. "I have nothing to tell you!" We were going around in circles.
"You can read minds. We know about the hybrids, and yet your DNA is entirely human. How can this be?"
I shrugged, saying nothing. If he didn't know anyone could learn to do it, I wasn't about to tell him.
"Who was that m
an you were with? Where have you been staying since you left Craigsville?"
I pressed my lips together.
"I don't know why you're protecting them. The hybrids are just as manipulative and deceitful as the Innaki."
So they knew about the hybrids. My blood chilled, but I refused to respond.
"Perhaps you need to decide whose side you're really on." He nodded to Clare, and she flicked a switch on the wall beside her.
The milky white finish on the glass disappeared and the window became transparent. I peered through the glass, my eyes taking a moment to adjust to the gridded image before me. My heart leaped into my mouth and I jumped off the chair, sending it crashing across the floor. I backed up until I hit the wall and I could go no further, the nightmare as real as ever peering back at me through the window with big black eyes. I was staring at the face of an Innaki.
"Sit down Lucy," Smith ordered. "It can't hurt you."
I looked at him with wild eyes. "You don't understand - it can contact the others! They'll come and..."
"It's contained in a specially sealed room which prevents it from being able to communicate with them."
"If it weren't for the system we have in place," added Clare, "it would be able to walk right through the wall and escape."
I relaxed slightly, and moved cautiously towards the table. The creature was looking through the glass, studying me with its huge, shiny black eyes. I stared back. Knowing it was safely behind a shield, I was able to take some time to look at it properly. It resembled a tiny, deformed, hairless human. Its skin looked thin and fragile. A pale gray color with a slight tinge of pink, its smooth flesh stretched taut over a bulging forehead and pointed chin. The nose was almost indiscernible other than two small holes I took for nostrils. Its tiny mouth was barely a slit.
Something moved behind it, and I jumped, startled. "There's someone in there with it!" I exclaimed. I looked closer. It was a man dressed in a white safety suit. He was sitting on a chair, a notebook computer perched on his lap.
"He's trying to talk with it," said Clare.
Smith inhaled another dose of smoke, and tapped his cigarette on the ashtray. Both of them were observing the creature, their faces unreadable.
Starcrossed: Perigee - A paranormal romance trilogy Page 15
