Read Online Precipice (Tribe 2) by Audrina Cole - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Audrina Cole
Ads: Link
Hopefully she wouldn’t even show up. I needed her, but I wanted her safe.
“Good choice.” He turned on his heels and headed for the elevator.
We took the elevator, in awkward silence, up to the second floor, where they brought me to a small, windowless room. One wall was taken up with what was obviously a one-way mirror. A grey metal table and four matching, banged-up chairs took up most of the room. It was like an episode of Law & Order …military style.
“Have a seat, Miss Perry.”
The two MPs moved to flank the closed door. I sat down, and Colonel Weston sat across from me.
“You said you’re from Fort Detrick?” I asked.
“I am.”
“What is your job there?”
He laughed. “My ‘job’ is Command Sergeant Major of the USAMRMC.”
“W-what’s that?” I hoped he hadn’t noticed the crack in my voice. I already knew what the acronym stood for.
“The United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command,” he replied.
I was face-to-face with the second-in-command of the Army medical research headquarters.
I tried to swallow, but my tongue was dried leather in my mouth. “Oh…so…doctor stuff?” I flashed a faltering smile.
“You could say that.”
And then it began.
Chapter 9
A half-hour later, after laying medical reports, pictures, and documents from Mrs. Baxter’s examinations and surgery, we had reached an impasse in the interrogation.
Or so I thought.
“So you still maintain that you know nothing of Mrs. Baxter’s recovery?”
“I don’t even understand why this is such a big deal. I told you, I haven’t even seen her since that night. And I never touched her—I admit, I snuck into the surgical hallway to see how she was doing. I was trying to help a friend. He was worried about his mom. That’s all. What’s the big deal? I didn’t steal anything. And if you tell me Mrs. Baxter is a terrorist or something, there’s no way I’ll believe you.” I sat back in my chair, feeling smug. This guy had nothing on me. Even the reports he had laid on the table gave no real indication of any unusual healing. I’ll be home before dinner.
“Do you believe this?” He opened another file, and pulled out two photographs, placing them side by side, facing me.
I glanced down.
They were image studies of Alex. I knew, because I recognized the masses in the stomach area. I’d seen something very similar in my body scan of Alex before I healed him.
Oh…shit.
That was bad. Very, very bad.
I met his eyes again, and saw in his face that I’d let my composure slip. I reined in the fear, resuming my mask of confusion and indifference. “Those look like some kind of scan. My mom’s a nurse, but I’m not. I don’t understand what point you’re trying to make.”
“Oh, I think you do. These aren’t Gina Baxter’s scans. They’re of her son. Alex.” A slight twist at the corners of his mouth was the only visible indication of the victorious attitude I sensed below the Sergeant Major’s placid exterior.
“Oh?” I kept my breathing even, and reached for the pictures. “I’ve never seen his scans. I know he was sick when I first met him, but they’d already released him from the hospital by then.”
“Yes. They sent him home to die.”
“He told me.”
“And then he met you.”
I laid the photos down. I squelched the urge to meet his penetrating stare with an unflinching gaze of my own. I wanted to show him I wasn’t afraid, and that I knew he still had nothing on me. He couldn’t prove a thing.
But my family’s lives depended on me playing my part, so I fixed a confused expression on my face, praying that sneaking around with Alex for the last month had improved my acting skills. “I’m still not following.”
“Two people, from the same family, who were dying…until they came into contact with you. Then they experienced miraculous
“Good choice.” He turned on his heels and headed for the elevator.
We took the elevator, in awkward silence, up to the second floor, where they brought me to a small, windowless room. One wall was taken up with what was obviously a one-way mirror. A grey metal table and four matching, banged-up chairs took up most of the room. It was like an episode of Law & Order …military style.
“Have a seat, Miss Perry.”
The two MPs moved to flank the closed door. I sat down, and Colonel Weston sat across from me.
“You said you’re from Fort Detrick?” I asked.
“I am.”
“What is your job there?”
He laughed. “My ‘job’ is Command Sergeant Major of the USAMRMC.”
“W-what’s that?” I hoped he hadn’t noticed the crack in my voice. I already knew what the acronym stood for.
“The United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command,” he replied.
I was face-to-face with the second-in-command of the Army medical research headquarters.
I tried to swallow, but my tongue was dried leather in my mouth. “Oh…so…doctor stuff?” I flashed a faltering smile.
“You could say that.”
And then it began.
Chapter 9
A half-hour later, after laying medical reports, pictures, and documents from Mrs. Baxter’s examinations and surgery, we had reached an impasse in the interrogation.
Or so I thought.
“So you still maintain that you know nothing of Mrs. Baxter’s recovery?”
“I don’t even understand why this is such a big deal. I told you, I haven’t even seen her since that night. And I never touched her—I admit, I snuck into the surgical hallway to see how she was doing. I was trying to help a friend. He was worried about his mom. That’s all. What’s the big deal? I didn’t steal anything. And if you tell me Mrs. Baxter is a terrorist or something, there’s no way I’ll believe you.” I sat back in my chair, feeling smug. This guy had nothing on me. Even the reports he had laid on the table gave no real indication of any unusual healing. I’ll be home before dinner.
“Do you believe this?” He opened another file, and pulled out two photographs, placing them side by side, facing me.
I glanced down.
They were image studies of Alex. I knew, because I recognized the masses in the stomach area. I’d seen something very similar in my body scan of Alex before I healed him.
Oh…shit.
That was bad. Very, very bad.
I met his eyes again, and saw in his face that I’d let my composure slip. I reined in the fear, resuming my mask of confusion and indifference. “Those look like some kind of scan. My mom’s a nurse, but I’m not. I don’t understand what point you’re trying to make.”
“Oh, I think you do. These aren’t Gina Baxter’s scans. They’re of her son. Alex.” A slight twist at the corners of his mouth was the only visible indication of the victorious attitude I sensed below the Sergeant Major’s placid exterior.
“Oh?” I kept my breathing even, and reached for the pictures. “I’ve never seen his scans. I know he was sick when I first met him, but they’d already released him from the hospital by then.”
“Yes. They sent him home to die.”
“He told me.”
“And then he met you.”
I laid the photos down. I squelched the urge to meet his penetrating stare with an unflinching gaze of my own. I wanted to show him I wasn’t afraid, and that I knew he still had nothing on me. He couldn’t prove a thing.
But my family’s lives depended on me playing my part, so I fixed a confused expression on my face, praying that sneaking around with Alex for the last month had improved my acting skills. “I’m still not following.”
“Two people, from the same family, who were dying…until they came into contact with you. Then they experienced miraculous
Similar Books
