Read Online Numbers 3: Infinity by Rachel Ward - Free Book Online Page A

a little bit, and some colour creeps into his face. He turns away and makes out he’s checking the monitors, then turns back to me.
    ‘What’s your name?’
    Start with the easy ones.
    ‘Adam.’
    ‘Adam who?’
    ‘Adam … Marsh.’ My mum was a Marsh. Am I, too? I can’t remember.
    ‘How old are you?’
    ‘Eighteen.’
    ‘What’s your date of birth?’
    ‘Twenty-second of August 2010.’ Some things are there in my head, some things aren’t.
    He’s not looking at the monitors any more. He’s focusing in on me.
    ‘Where were you born?’
    ‘Dunno.’
    ‘What do you see when you look in people’s eyes?’
    Don’t tell. Don’t ever tell.
    ‘Nothing.’
    The assistant nearest the monitor says, ‘Lie,’ without looking up.
    ‘You heard him, Adam. Let’s try telling the truth. What do you see in people’s eyes.’
    ‘The black bit, the coloured bit, the white bit.’
    ‘You see something else.’
    ‘Is that a question?’
    He’s getting really narky now.
    ‘I know you see something else,’ he says, emphasising every word. ‘What is it, Adam?’
    We’re face to face, and he’s leaning in even closer now, questions and answers firing back and forth.
    ‘Nothing. Sweet FA.’
    ‘Do you see a number, Adam?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Lie, sir.’
    ‘Do you see a number?’
    Don’t tell.
    ‘No.’
    ‘What do you see, you little bastard? What is it? What?’ He’s losing it now.
    Grey-hair steps in. He gets up from his chair and puts a hand on Newsome’s arm.
    ‘All right, Newsome. Take five.’
    ‘What?’ Newsome says.
    ‘Go and cool down.’
    ‘I’m fine.’ He shrugs the hand off.
    ‘It’s an order,’ Grey-hair barks. They’re squaring up to each other and there’s a moment’s silence, then Newsome backs down. He presses his lips together in disapproval and stalksout of the room gesturing to his assistants to follow, closing the door behind them. So now I’m alone with Grey-hair.
    He shuffles his chair forward a little and puts his face close to mine.
    ‘It’s okay,’ he says.
    ‘What?’
    ‘It’s okay to tell.’
    I don’t know what to say. If I start a discussion then I’m giving away that there’s something to discuss.
    ‘I know what it’s like,’ he says. ‘What it’s like to be different. To keep secrets. But some secrets are like cancer, they eat away at you. There’s no shame in telling that sort of secret.’
    Have I told anyone? Are the numbers secret? I can’t remember. There are big gaps between my childhood – my mum and my nan – and waking up in this place. My mum and my nan are both dead, but what about the girl? The girl I had my arm round, by the fire? I don’t know who she was. Or is.
    ‘I can help you, Adam. You want to see Sarah again, don’t you? She’s here. I can get you back with her, if you cooperate.’
    Sarah.
    Blonde hair and blue eyes. 2572075. Is that Sarah?
    ‘Does she have really blue eyes?’ The question blurts out of my mouth before my brain has a chance to stop it.
    Grey-hair frowns for a moment, then he sits back in his chair, folds his arms and smiles.
    ‘Blue eyes? Yes. Yes, she does my friend. And if you want to see those blue eyes again you’d better start cooperating. It’s up to you, Adam. Now, shall I call Newsome back in?’

Chapter 17: Sarah
    I ’m still awake when the cell door opens and breakfast is wheeled in on a trolley. It’s the same squaddie who escorted me from the lift to the cell. He doesn’t look at me. There’s tea, milk and toast on the trolley. I’m not hungry, but I know we ought to eat.
    ‘I heard … things, voices in the corridor last night,’ I say. 
    He glances over his shoulder at the open door, then closes it.
    ‘There’s a guard out there, for your own security. Maybe they were changing shifts.’
    Mia’s waking up. She opens her eyes and looks around her. She sees the squaddie and ducks down under the covers. I go over to the bed, peel back the sheet and help her up.
    ‘Good