The technician taps her clipboard. “James Brooks. You have traces of the Injection in your system, but a minimal reaction. The Doctor wants to study that.”
Right next to me, Chase startles. I don’t know what surprises him more: that Maverick isn’t really Mav’s name or that he tookthe Injection but didn’t Turn. It’s probably not a good thing that I didn’t show any reaction to that—he has to know that Ididknow—but before he can do or say anything, the technician turns on him.
“Chase Knight. We found lingering lurker venom, plus the initial dose of an antidote. The Doctor wants to reverse the antidote and see if you Turn or if you become one of us. The first class.”
What?
They want to make him a monster?
“No—”
She ignores my pained shout. “Hallie Holden. There?—”
It’s like a record scratch. Hearing my twin’s name right after this horrible woman announces that their Doctor plans to fuck with Chase… I can’t help it.
“What the… No. You got it wrong. I’m not Hallie. I’m Xandra.”
If her face could move at all, she would be frowning. She points at something on her clipboard. It’s a computer print-out. “Hallie Holden,” she repeats. “Twenty-five. From Madison, New Jersey.”
I don’t know how they got all that information from my vitals and my fluids, but only two of those three are correct. “Wrong. It’s Alexandra Holden.”
“Interesting,” she says in a voice that tells me that my insistence is more of an annoyance than anything else. “In that case, the Doctor will see you first.”
CHAPTER 30
I’m watching every inch of every step of this trek through the stark and sterile hallways. There’s got to be a way out and with Chase and Maverick locked away in the cell, it’s up to me to find it. And I will.
We’ve gone further on the same floor. I know the entrance to the emergency stairwells is behind us, but as they take me deeper into the bowels of this building, I understand why they tossed us in a cell down here.
Because the large office on the other end belongs to the Doctor.
If he has a name, I don’t know it. The nameplate on the door was removed, and when the two agents march me into his office, he doesn’t introduce himself. He accepts their monotone greetings—“Doctor”, “Doctor”—as his due, then takes the clipboard from the shorter of the two men.
The female technician had scrawled on the print-out in pen before passing it over to the agent. The two men were instructed to bring me to the Doctor while she disappeared through the white door this time. The agents had warned Maverick and Chase to stay put as they led me out, and only the door slamming in Chase’s face kept him from coming after me.
Now, alone with a stranger for the first time in a month, I’m afraid.
Scratch that.
I’mterrified.
The Doctor could be Winston’s twin. A man of indeterminate age, he has the same soulless face. The same dark hair. The same pale skin. The same black eyes. Unlike the other residents of the NRI building, he doesn’t wear the shades. It’s like he wants you to see the unnaturalness of his gaze while he looks you over. Like the technician, he has on a lab coat.
One word—Doctor—is embroidered over the pocket of his white coat. A scalpel, an injection, and a pen poke out through the top.
Under his lab coat, he has on a suit. His tie isn’t red or grey.
It’s black.
“Take a seat.”
His voice is as deep as a canyon. Still no emotion in it, but the rumble leaves me uncomfortable. Though I want to shoot my middle finger up at him—and there aren’t any agents around to stop me—that thought gives me pause.
Is the Doctor so dangerous that he doesn’t need any backup?
Fuck.
I take a seat.