Read Online Pahnyakin Rising by Elisha Forrester - Free Book Online Page B

in her swollen ankle.  The girl examined her bare feet; her ankle was red and double its normal size.
    “Let’s skip this crap,” Nick said in an irritated tone.  “I want to know where they took you and what they programmed you to do.”
    “Who?  I don’t what’s going on.”
    “Don’t lie to me,” he yelled, slamming his palm against one of the iron bars.  “Are you reporting to them?  Did they send you back to wipe out this community? Tell me your directive order now.”
    She shook her head in bewilderment.  “I woke up on the Wotomack Bridge.  I don’t—I don’t have an order.  I just want to go home.  I want my clothes back.”
    “We’ve already burned your clothes.  And we’ve scanned you from head to toe.  They didn’t install any ports.  Have they learned a new procedure to bypass operations?”
    Dresden rubbed her warm temples in a circular motion with her fingertips. 
    “Answer me!”
    “What?” she asked.
    “How did they program you without a chip or adding ports?”
    “Nobody programmed me.  Are you freaking crazy?  That’s not even possible.”
    “Don’t tell me it’s not possible when I have seen it with my own eyes.  You’re the one who programmed the scanner.  So don’t tell me it’s not possible.”
    She stood and winced at what tremendous pain she felt from placing such little amount of weight on her sprained ankle.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  Nick, I woke up on the bridge, in the dark, and Dodge had a beard.  None of what is happening is possible.”  She turned her head and began muttering to herself in a wild attempt to rationalize the situation.  “It’s a dream.  It has to be.  Or I’m dying.  That’s it.  I got too close to the Gaia and I’m really still on that bridge, dying.” 
    “It always goes back to him, doesn’t it?  I didn’t miss the butt-buddy stuff you two had going on.  Why can’t you just answer my questions?”
    “I don’t know anything,” she replied with a shout.  Her voice cracked.  “I’m telling the truth.  I didn’t kill anyone’s wife.  I’ve never hurt anyone in my life.”
    “Please,” he scoffed.  He sighed.  “Tell me what you do know.  Tell me what you remember about the battle.”
    “What battle?” Dresden shouted.  “I want to talk to Dodge.  Where’s Dodge?  Let me talk to him.  He’ll tell you.  I swear, I don’t know where I am or what’s going on.  You can’t keep me in here, Nick.”
    He scratched his head.  “Stop calling me that.  Nobody calls me that.  Start calling me Shepherd.”
    “Well, Shepherd ,” she sassed, “you can’t keep me here.  I didn’t do anything wrong.”
    He was quiet, pondering his options.
    “And you don’t remember anything?” he interrogated.  “Nothing at all?”
    “No,” she shouted.  “You can’t keep me here.”
    The man looked to the staircase and returned his focus to her with a sinister smile on his face. 
    “I’m not keeping you here anymore.  I’ll let Dodge see you.”  He called to the door once more.  “Lyle, come down here.”
    “What are you doing?” Dresden asked.  She hobbled to the barred cell door and wrapped her sweaty palms around the iron.  Furiously, she attempted to shake the bars.  “Why are you doing this to me?”
    Lyle approached Shepherd with a suave stride. 
    Nick nodded in Dresden’s direction.  “Get some clothes down here.  I want her ready for Trial in fifteen minutes.”
    The two left the holding room and Dresden was alone with her thoughts.  What made others dislike her and treat her poorly: her will to succeed and know it all as soon as she could, without a skip in time, was what landed her in the mess she was in.  She could not understand anything that was occurring and racked her brain for every possible answer to every question in her mind.  Dodge never had a beard before; Dresden had seen him with wiry scruff a few times, but his parents