Read Online Ordinary (Anything But) by Lindy Zart - Free Book Online Page A

couldn’t. She didn’t want to cooperate. She wanted to leave .
    “That’s been the plan all along.”
    “I want to see Christian.”
    “You may. Later.”
    “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
    “You don’t.” He leaned against the wall. “But I’ll tell you this: if I’d meant you harm, I could have easily done something at any point Thursday, yesterday, and now. I haven’t.” Nealon’s eyes went up and down the length of her. “You need a shower. You’re filthy and you stink.”
    She couldn’t even get offended by that. It was true. She longed for a shower. She felt disgusting, smelled worse, and her mouth tasted like mothballs. Honor got to her feet. Her shoes were stiff with dried mud. It was caked on her legs and shorts. Her shirt was torn in a few spots.
    She crossed her arms, unable to give in that easily. She just wasn’t programmed that way. “Not until you tell me what’s going on. What is this place and what is being done to people here?”
    Nealon’s eyes flashed and his features tightened. It was the most emotion he’d shown so far. It wasn’t much for an average person, but Honor knew it was profound for him. “You don’t gi ve the orders around here. You would be wise to remember that.”
    She looked down, fighting an overpowering sense of helplessness. She needed to cooperate, Honor knew that. That knowledge sucked. She met his gaze. “I’m sorry,” she choked out.
    Agent Nealon straightened. “I doubt that.” He walked to the door and waited with his back to her. There was an unspoken request in his actions. After a brief moment, he left.
    Honor stared at the open door. Nealon was gone from the room, but she knew he was in the hallway, waiting for her, waiting for her to cooperate . Honor got a bad taste in her mouth, worse than the mothball taste, as she resigned herself to what she was about to do. It was what she had to do, whether she wanted to or not. Honor didn’t have a choice, although Nealon pretended she did. She took a hesitant step toward the door, and another, until she passed through it.
    He didn’t look back at her. He started walking like he knew she was behind him. She followed him into the open room she’d been escorted through the night before and down a narrow white hallway like the one from last night, but this one had no doors along the walls. A chill went down her back. Where was he taking her?
    “Where are we going?” she asked quietly. Nealon ignored her. No surprise there. The man clearly didn’t like to talk.
    A large metal door was at the end of the hall. An older woman with short blond hair and glasses stood there, like she was guarding it. From what? She wore tan pants and a red shirt. Her face was rigid. The woman’s cold blue eyes flickered to her and back to Nealon. They said nothing to each other, all communication necessary done with that one look. Nealon barely glanced at her as he walked past. But in that moment their eyes met, she caught the warning in his.
    “Move it, Rochester,” the woman said in a gruff voice.
    Honor hurriedly entered the room, steam and the smell of soap hitting her. It reminded her of a gym locker room, minus the lockers. There were benches in the middle of the room and shower stalls on either side of those. A doorway could be seen and she wondered if bathroom stalls were beyond that. The walls were painted white and the room was empty aside from Honor and her jailer. The more she saw of the inside of the old church, the more she was sure it had been gutted and renovated. Nothing was the way she remembered it. Wasn’t that some form of religious defilement or something? Everything was new in the building, but also had an archaic feel to it. The place reminded Honor of a dungeon, a prison. She wasn’t exactly sure it wasn’t.
    “Bathrooms are that way.” She jumped at the sound of the woman’s voice and turned to look at her. “Soap and towels are in that closet. You got ten