Read Online Identity (Eyes Wide Open) by Ted Dekker - Free Book Online Page A

cooperative.”
    “She seemed nice enough.”
    “Yes. Nice enough. And now it’s time to put this behind us so we can both get back to our lives. We have a nice room ready for you, Alice. I’m sure you’re going to like it. That staff is very excited to learn of your safe return.”
    Christy felt gut-punched. His words slammed into her like the crushing fist of God himself.
    She stood, knocking her chair back and over. “This is insane!”
    “We don’t prefer that expression on this floor, Alice. Challenged is more becoming.”
    “I’m… not… Alice!”
    “The charade is up, my dear. There is no cell phone, no locket, nothing but your own delusion, something that comes quite naturally to you based on the history in your file, supported by Nancy’s assessment. Your name is Alice Ringwald, dark hair, five foot two, 121 pounds, brown eyes. You were processed this morning. Welcome to Saint Matthew’s.”
    For a moment the thought that she might actually be hearing the truth spun through her mind. If she was delusional, everything she remembered from this morning could be a kind of wild fabrication. Something about the possibility rang true.
    Something deep in her mind snapped, and Christy found herself running for the door, desperate to be out. Anywhere but here.
    She flung the door wide and threw herself forward, aware that the administrator wasn’t reacting to her flight.
    She collided with a guard, who grabbed her arms and tried to calm her, but she was powerless to suppress the panic, powerless to still her thrashing arms and quiet her scream.
    A second guard assisted and a sliver of reason told her she had no hope. No escape. She’d been here before, maybe, and knew what to do now.
    She stopped her thrashing and stood still, breathing hard. Mind swimming with confusion.
    “All right,” she said, staring through the door at the administrator, who still sat, watching calmly. “All right. I’m fine. Let me go, you’re hurting my arms.”
    The grip on her left arm eased and she jerked it free.
    For a moment, Lawson just looked at her.
    “Take her to her room,” he finally said.

 

     
    THE ROOM they’d taken Christy to was small, no more than ten feet side to side and maybe fifteen feet deep. White walls with a single metal bed supporting a white-sheeted mattress, one tiny wooden desk with chair, no windows, one empty closet. Hardly the kind of accommodations that matched the staff’s jovial attitude.
    It didn’t matter. Christy had no intention of spending the night.
    She’d used the last reserves of her energy to manage her panic and suppress her need to make them understand that they were making a terrible mistake.
    A counselor named Mike Carthridge had ushered her to the room, assisted by one of the two guards stationed outside the interview room. She’d tried one last time to make her case to the young man, but he’d only nodded and offered his sympathy. Clearly none of them believed a word she said.
    The worst of it was her own words, whispering through her mind, asking the impossible: What if they’re right, Christy?
    Fighting back the dread riding her mind, she’d made a decision: She would play along, earn herself some space, and then go. She didn’t know how to get out, but she was going to go. She had to, if only to know that she wasn’t crazy. Eventually Austin would track her down, but she wasn’t going to wait for him. For that matter, if they locked up the storage room tight, there was always the possibility he might not find her.
    She’d spent the last twenty minutes sitting or lying quietly on her bed, mind drained and frenzied at once. Her skull tingled, screaming for relief, and her face was flushed. She wanted to move, to pace, anything to work off her nervous energy. But she wanted to appear defeated in the event anyone came to check on her.
    She could make her way to the cafeteria or lounge whenever she felt up to it, Mike had told her. They didn’t seem concerned about