Read Online MirrorWorld by Jeremy Robinson - Free Book Online Page B

ready,” Allenby says.
    The man sighs. “I’m not interested in giving him a choice.”
    The door clicks shut.

 
    9.
    Despite the all-encompassing darkness, my return to wakefulness is sudden. There’s no tingling. No pins and needles. Whatever Allenby gave me, it wasn’t the same substance they put in the food.
    Other than the distant hum of the building’s air-conditioning, the room is silent. Even the heart monitor has gone mute. Or has it been turned off? I lay still for a moment, gathering my thoughts.
    I’m held captive—restrained and sedated—in a secret facility. The doctor, Lyons, intends to perform some kind of test, or surgery, on me in the morning. For all I know, the sun has already risen. Everyone here is lying to me. Playing me. Controlling me. And because of that, I can’t believe a single thing I’m told. Two courses of action emerge. I can escape, plain and simple. Or I can find out who these people are, what Neuro Inc. is after, and possibly get some answers about myself, since it seems I’ve been here before.
    The second option is clearly the riskier of the two, but since I don’t worry about risk, it’s also the only acceptable option.
    I lift my arms up, fold my thumbs down and pull hard on the restraints. They’re still fairly tight, but there is just enough wiggle room to pull my hands free. It’s an uncomfortable process, but within three minutes of squirming, I’m free.
    Cool air raises goose bumps all over my body as I pull the blankets away. As I thought, I’m dressed in boxers. I feel the elastic waist. It’s tight. New. Someone undressed me. My hand goes to my chest next, feeling that the pendant is still there, somehow keeping me grounded.
    With my hands outstretched, I step toward where I remember the door being. I find it in five strides. After gently running my fingers over the door’s surface to confirm there is no window, I feel for the light switch. I squint at the bright light but notice a second door just to the left of the bed. Without a thought, I open the door and find a small bathroom. New toilet paper is on the roll, its band of glue still intact. The whole space is so pristine I’d guess it’s never been used. But the strangest aspect of the bathroom is the clothing that’s folded up atop the closed toilet.
    An olive-drab T-shirt. Blue jeans. Black ankle socks. Brown sneakers. All brand new. All my size. Even the extrawide 4E shoe size. I take the apparel as a positive sign that Neuro Inc. expects me to live long enough to need clothing.
    I break in the toilet and get dressed. After splashing some water on my face and toweling off, I step back into the mock hospital room and freeze.
    “Mrs. Winters,” I say to the blond woman who freed me from SafeHaven by giving me a knife, knowing I’d use it. She’s seated on the far side of the small room.
    “Ms.” She stands. “Going somewhere?”
    “Yes.”
    She crosses her arms, drawing my attention lower. She’s dressed in a black power suit that makes her blond hair appear brighter. “That’s probably not a good idea.”
    “Coming here wasn’t a good idea.”
    “You don’t know that yet,” she says.
    “I’ll know, one way or the other, soon enough.”
    She smiles. “That confidence of yours … I wish I knew if it was real or just the lack of fear talking. Maybe we could find out?” She doesn’t quite lick her lips, but I see seductive possibilities in her eyes.
    I grin, not because the suggested invitation intrigues me—though it does—but because I know she’s trying to distract me from noticing her left hand, folded under her right arm, sliding beneath the jacket of her suit. She’s after something. Pepper spray. A Taser. Maybe even a gun.
    “We can do this two ways,” I tell her. “You can draw whatever weapon you’ve got and I can knock you unconscious—”
    The hand beneath her jacket stops moving.
    “—or you can get in bed, let me sedate you, and you wake up feeling