Read Online Shift by Kim Curran - Free Book Online Page B

were yanked behind my back and bound together with something metal. It cut into my wrists and vibrated gently; my skin prickled with what felt like an electric current.
    “Don’t move. Don’t Shift,” the men were shouting. I just lay there, wishing they’d stop shouting. It was hurting my head.
    “Who is this man?” I heard the cold voice ask.
    “I don’t know,” Aubrey responded. “He forced his way into my apartment. I assumed he was a rogue and I was about to call you.” She sounded convincing enough. She even had a hint of disgust in her voice when referring to me as a rogue. I prayed they believed her. I’d pulled all this trouble down on her head and the best I could hope for is that they would take me away and leave Aubrey alone.
    “We’ll take care of it from here, Ms Jones. One of the Regulators will be back later to take a statement.”
    “Yeah, sure, whatever I can do to help.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. But the man didn’t seem to register it.
    His voice softened slightly. “I’m just glad you’re OK.”
    “You really didn’t need to come out, you know? I could have handled this myself, Dick.” I heard the man cough. “Sorry. Richard,” Aubrey said. The man coughed again. “Commandant Morgan,” Aubrey finished and for some reason I imagined her pulling off a mocking salute.
    Whoever this guy was, I already hated him. Hated that Aubrey was having to kowtow to him. Or maybe she wasn’t. Maybe she was flirting with him. Just what I needed along with all the mad mix of emotions that were flooding through me right now: jealousy.
    “We’ll be in touch soon,” the voice I now knew as Morgan said.
    I heard the door close and I was alone with the men from ARES. They frogmarched me down the stairs and out onto the street.
    In the light, I could make out hazy images through the weave of the cloth: men and women gathering outside their houses to watch me being dragged away, small children laughing and pointing and, across the street, the silhouette of a huge man resting on a small wall. Even through the hood I could sense his dark eyes trained on me. He raised a podgy hand and waved. It sent a shiver down my spine.
    I heard the clunk of metal doors being opened beside me and I was thrown roughly forward, banging my head on something hard.
    I didn’t even try to get to my feet. I just curled up into a ball on the cold metal floor. I heard footsteps of men getting in around me and the hum of an engine start up. As the vehicle pulled away I slid forward on the floor.
    I tried to gather my thoughts. I was in a van, most likely, being taken to ARES HQ. As for what was going to happen to me once I got there, I didn’t know. I had ideas all right. Horrible, nausea-inducing ideas, fuelled from watching too many spy movies. I pulled my knees up closer to my chest and hoped the men in the van couldn’t hear my sobs.
    After what felt like hours, but was probably only about thirty minutes, the van rumbled to a halt. The door clunked open and I was dragged forward and hefted to my feet. The heavy hand on my shoulder guided me up some steps and across a slippery, I guessed, marble floor and into a lift. He let go of me for a moment and I heard the beep of a button being pressed. After a moment, the drifting in my stomach told me we were moving up. A second beep and he pushed me forward. I had the sense I was walking down a narrow corridor, as I kept banging into the walls. The man leading me wasn’t doing a great job. Or maybe it was his exact intention that I was roughed up a bit before they started on me. Something electronic beeped and I heard a door opening. A final push forward and the bag was whipped off my head.
    I scrunched up my eyes against the sudden light and directed my face away from the glaring overhead bulbs. The room came into focus. It was about ten feet by ten feet, white walls on three sides and a mirror on the fourth wall. A table stood in the middle, with a metal chair on