Over Stimulated

by Allyson Lindt

  She propelled forward, not interested in letting him lead the conversation. “Does keeping me safe include helping me, no matter what?” It was a big request. One she’d hesitate to make of even Taylor. But this wasn’t for her, and her options were non-existent.

  Taylor screamed again, and the sound shredded her heart. “Please?” she let herself say.

  “Is he infected?”

  Her brain couldn’t accept the possibility, but her mouth was already working on the right answer. “I don’t know, but he has all the symptoms. I’ve never seen him like this. Your company is supposedly working on a cure. I don’t care if it’s experimental. What do I do, to get treatment for him?” She’d have to leave Taylor alone, rendezvous with this man, and avoid getting both Taylor and herself caught. But she worked well under pressure.

  “Tell me where you are. I’ll have a car there in thirty minutes. We can treat him.”

  Paying for a cure, meeting somewhere for a solution—that she could do. She wasn’t handing over their whereabouts, however. A trickle of satisfaction welled inside, that he didn’t know their location. She’d done something right. “No deal. I just need the drug. I know your company has it. Can you get it for me? If not, this conversation is over.”

  “We do have a treatment. It’s not the kind of thing I can hand to you, though. Please, Evelyn. Let me help.” His voice was nothing but compassion, which set her on edge more than condescension would have. “I can have him in a hospital in under an hour.”

  Taylor muttered, “I can’t. Too much. Don’t.”

  A hospital. She rubbed her face. They’d spent their adult lives running, and now Adam wanted to plant them somewhere that public? “No. Look... I’ll work for you for free. You can have the contents of my bank account. Whatever it takes. But you and I meet alone. Or bring your Synth friends. Whatever. But you’re not getting near Taylor.”

  “Do you trust him?” Adam asked. “Trust his judgment?”

  She studied the man next to her. The handsome, amazing, entire other half of her universe. “Yes.”

  “He believed I’d keep you safe.”

  “But I don’t.” She wasn’t walking into that kind of logic trap.

  “Think about your options for a moment, Evelyn.” Every time he used her old name, she winced. “I want to help you, but I have to put a lot on the line to do so—my career, my reputation. You’re asking me to save a life. I need you to give me something in return. The two of you are... Well, you know.”

  Unregistered. Right. She wanted to argue that he was being melodramatic, but she saw the logic in his words. “I won’t let us be found out.”

  “I’ve kept your secret this long. There’s no benefit in betraying you now. You have my word nothing will happen to you, while the two of you are here.”

  Every inch of her protested his offer, but she had no choice. Getting treatment for Taylor would buy her the time to think her way to the next sprint. And their odds were far better in a hospital, than if they sat in this hotel room, with him screaming until he lost his mind. “All right. But I still don’t trust you.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to.”

  She gave him their address and hung up. Please don’t let this be the worst mistake I’ve ever made.

  “Taylor?” She brushed a strand off his forehead.

  Glassy eyes met hers, and a string of mumbled words spilled from his lips.

  She kissed him on the cheek. “We need to get dressed. You don’t have to think. Just follow my lead. Okay?”

  He nodded, though it looked like it took immense effort.

  Dressing them was time-consuming, since he recoiled in agony every few minutes and wouldn’t break contact with her. In the few moments they had left before the pick-up time, she managed to pack up what little wasn’t already put away. She paid the hotel manager for an extra week of underground parking and stashed most of their bags in the car.

  They were waiting by the curb, when an SUV pulled up. It looked identical to the ones that followed them after the shelter raid. It made her gut churn. They slid into the back seat, and the driver peeled into traffic.

  As he weaved through cars, Max’s mind whirred with all the possibilities of where they might be going. The airport, to lift them away to a remote, secret location? No, they were navigating further into the heart of the city. A business building with labs inside, for things like drug trials? She racked her brain, trying to remember the rumors she’d read. Focusing on which conspiracy theory was true helped distract her from Taylor’s mutters.

  They pulled up in front of the new hospital, downtown, and she raised her eyebrows. It was disappointing, in comparison to her suspicions. A place like this wasn’t where Church officials did things like secret testing on unregistered Psys. It was just a hospital.

  The tension lining her neck ratcheted a million times over, when she saw Adam by the waiting room entrance. She fought the instinct to bolt. You knew he’d be here. Even if he hadn’t met them, the place would be crawling with Church Synths. She and Taylor only needed to stay long enough for Taylor to get treatment and for them to think of a way out.

  Adam glanced at her for a second, before barking commands to orderlies. “Fifth floor. Observation, to start. Sedate and diagnose. You know what we’re looking for.” Everyone around him snapped into action. This wasn’t the same nervous man who tested them weeks ago and claimed she was pregnant, but she had no doubt it was the person she’d talked to online.

  His expression softened when he turned to her, and he held out an arm. “Evelyn. Let’s talk while they work?”

  “I need to know what’s wrong with him. And it’s Max,” she said over her shoulder, as she followed the people taking Taylor inside, despite the itch to bolt.

  “He needs to rest. I promise you’ll be able to see him. I’ll keep you posted on what’s happening. You and I need to speak.” There was no room for argument in his tone.

  She didn’t care. She faced him, tapping her fingertips against her arm. “We’ll talk after I have answers. And then, when I know Taylor’s sleeping soundly, and I know what’s wrong, I’m happy to listen.” Well, maybe not happy to, but willing. She had to know why this man, who chased and taunted them for weeks, was so eager to offer extensive help, but first she needed reassurance Taylor was safe.

  “All right.” Adam fell into step beside her, and they reached the elevator as Taylor was wheeled in.

  They rode up in silence. She wasn’t sure who these people were or how much she could say. She’d walked into the heart of the very thing they tried to avoid for years. The staff pushed Taylor into a room. Max clenched her jaw, and frustration boiled up inside when they closed the door, cutting her off from him.

  “The room is shielded.” Adam stood close, and she felt the warmth of his arm. His voice was low. “A psychic Faraday cage, essentially. They’ll know fairly quickly if he’s infected or if it’s something else.”

  She wanted to ask every question at once, but she didn’t have the concentration to form the words. Instead, she paced near the door. Every time there was a click or a tap, or any noise besides her sneakers on the tile, she snapped up her head.

  When the door opened, she thought her heart might rip from her chest. It was nothing, right? Taylor had a bad reaction to food or something, but he was fine? She and he could make their excuses, get their answers, and leave, once he’d rested?

  The doctor who emerged looked at Adam. The pursed lips, tight eyes, and shake of her head were almost imperceptible, but after Max’s years of reading body language, the doctor might as well have screamed the prognosis.

  Oh God. Max pressed her palms to her eyes until stars danced behind the lids. In the background, voices mumbled. Maybe Adam, sending the woman away. Someone calling Max’s name? She didn’t care.

  “Evelyn.” Adam crouched in front of her, but she couldn’t make herself look at him. “Max?” he said.

  She dragged her gaze up to his. His expression was soft,
brow furrowed in concern and brown eyes studying her. She found her voice and asked, “What?”

  “He’s sedated.” Adam’s voice was kind. “You brought him here because we can help. I gave you my word, and I know it doesn’t mean much to you now, but I’m hoping it will at some point. Leave him to sleep, and join me in my office. You need to know some things.”

  As if Max had a choice.

  He offered her a hand up.

  She ignored it and climbed to her feet, blanking all emotion from her mind so she could function. “All right. Let’s talk.”

  Chapter Seven

  The hospital had a lot in common with the clinics Max and Taylor had been in over the years—nondescript walls, plain floors, and the sharp sting of anesthetic everywhere. Max followed Adam, not bothering with details, except the location of the staircase and exit signs, and which direction they pointed to.

  He led her to a room at the far end of the floor and closed them off from the rest of the world. Despite her apprehension, awe and envy rolled through her when she took in his office. A screen thinner than her handheld covered an entire wall. The latest tech lined his desk, so light and sleek and elegant, it blended with the decor rather than detracting from it.

  “The first thing Taylor needs is a reduction in sensory input.” Adam gestured to the chair across from his desk. “That part is simple. Besides the room being shielded, most of the staff are Null.”

  The single statement was enough to drag her away from numbness. “How?”

  He sat. “As I said, there’s a lot you need to know.”

  Her mind whirred over what to do about their situation, but that bit of news shifted her focus. She’d searched for years and found rumors online that she wasn’t the only one out there who couldn’t be read by Psys or Ees, but according to Taylor, Adam was the first they ever came across. She dropped into the seat. “How did you find them all?”

  “Similar to the way I found you.”

  “Mind games, taunting, and an unfortunate string of coincidences that made me finally beg for your help? That’s quite a trick to pull off with an entire hospital staff.”

  His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Not identical methods. And I wasn’t playing mind games with you. Is that really what you think?”

  Max pursed her lips and stared at him. What would he call it? “You’re going to need to be more specific.”

  “We stumbled on Nulls working in various hospitals... During P-72 checks in shelters... Things like that like. A large number of them go their full lives without knowing, since it’s not something kids are tested for, and most of them don’t grow up with powerful empaths as best friends.”

  He stood and moved to her side of the desk and stopped less than a foot away. He leaned against the corner and crossed his arms. “Those who do know, though, and have been hiding, are hardest to get to.” A look she couldn’t name flashed across his face. Glee? “Apparently, like with you, simply approaching them doesn’t typically work out.”

  “Maybe if you didn’t represent everything they’re hiding from...”

  “Fair enough. I’m just asking you to consider I may not have been playing with you, so much as trying to figure out how to get you to trust me. You did run the first time I approached you and asked you to talk.”

  “You chased us with SUVs full of Synth goons. Oh—and tried to grab me and stuff me in one of said SUV’s.”

  “I’m no more bulletproof than you. I didn’t know what to expect.”

  His logic had holes in it, but she struggled to find an appropriate argument. Then again, it had been a long day, she was exhausted, and the only person she trusted was in a drug-induced sleep down the hall, to keep from going insane. “Of course.” She kept the emotion from her tone.

  “But you...” He trailed off. “You’re different. I’ve been looking for you for ages.”

  And there it was. She knew the situation wasn’t as benign or altruistic as he made it sound. “Why?”

  He reached behind him and grabbed something from his desk. It was a computer as thin as a piece of paper. Probably ten times more powerful than her handheld. Once again, the detached, orderly part of her mind drooled over the tech.

  He tapped his fingers along the device. “Do you know anything about your father?”

  Another laughable question. “I don’t have a father. I had a sperm donor. A man who dropped his seed in my mom and left again before he knew I was conceived.” She wouldn’t be surprised if this guy knew that and more about her past.

  Her biological mother wasn’t stable to begin with, and having a kid pushed her off the deep end. She spent more time plugged into virtual-reality machines, seeking the next high from a pretend life, than taking care of Max.

  Max all but grew up at Taylor’s house, with him and his grandmother. Another ache swelled inside. She needed him to be all right.

  Adam handed her the tablet but didn’t say anything. The man on the screen looked like he was in his early twenties. The photo sat in the middle of an ID badge, which said the picture was nearly thirty years old. He was attractive, with a high-and-tight military haircut and nondescript brown-blond hair.

  It was his eyes that caught her attention, though. She might as well be staring into her own. She shuddered, as she handed back the device.

  “That’s him.” Adam set the tablet on his desk. “He’s also the man a lot of people call Null Patient Zero.”

  Shock raced through her, and laughing disbelief slipped out. “That’s ridiculous. One—being the first to be diagnosed doesn’t make him the first to have it. And two—it’s not a disease that can be spread.”

  “No. It’s an incredible gift from God and the next stage in human evolution.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.” She clenched her jaw at the hint of his Church roots.

  He shrugged. “This genetic link is why you’re so important. Rather, I’d want you here anyway. Our Nulls aren’t just treating patients, they’re also donating blood and DNA to help work toward a cure. But you’re a minor legend. You’ve done more with your gift than anyone I’ve heard of, and I’m curious if it’s because of your father or because of you.”

  Despite the situation, his words boosted her ego. A legend? Her? “It’s all me. I never knew that man. Me sharing his genes doesn’t mean he had any impact on my life.”

  “Either way, I’m hoping you’ll stick around while we treat Taylor. I want to get to know you. We’ve reserved a room for you in a nearby hotel.”

  Why wouldn’t she stick around? She’d surrendered her pride, begging for help, but she’d be destroyed if she lost Taylor.

  Adam had been nothing but kind since she called. The Church destroyed lives. They tore children from their mothers at a young age. They subjected unregistered Psys to horrible torture, in the name of medical discovery. Rumors like that had to have some basis in reality.

  “Why did you do that?” She seemed to be asking a lot of why, what, and how questions tonight and wasn’t comforted by the fact he answered them all without blinking. “Do you arrange for hotels for the family members of everyone you treat?”

  “No. But you’re on the payroll, and your contract terms include living expenses.”

  Work. She should be relieved she still had some. Would it matter, if Taylor didn’t recover enough for them to leave the country by their deadline? Besides— “You still want me doing the job? That wasn’t simply a way to find me?”

  He returned to the other side of the desk, and the frame of his chair shook when he dropped into it with a loud sigh. “I can’t do that work. Or rather, I’m capable of it”—

  Obviously.

  —“but I’m too close to your subject.”

  Because PharmNu owned IasoChem. Even if he was as talented as her, which she wouldn’t admit was possible, he ran too high a risk of exposure by doing the research himself. Especially if he made the information public.

  He needed a lackey. Someone to point a finger at, who would take
the heat. And since only he and Max knew what he hired her to do, and neither of them could be read, he could distance himself from her when it was all over.

  Clever. “I appreciate the effort, but I’ll find my own hotel.”

  “Reception has a list of those nearby, if you’d like.”

  “I am?” This felt too plotted, for him to go off script and let her do what she wanted.

  “This is a hospital, not a prison. I want to get to know you, not lock you in a cell.”

  “Aren’t you worried about me being infected? Or a carrier? Do I need to be tested?”

  “Nulls can’t carry or be infected. Our staff has been kind enough to help us prove P-72 doesn’t adhere to our genetic structure.”

  That might have been nice to know years ago, before all the clinics she and Taylor visited. There was one thing that was still unresolved. She hadn’t dared think about it up to this point, because the consequences of being discovered terrified her. They were both still unregistered.

  “What about our status?” She left the question intentionally vague, unsure who could hear them.

  He waved a dismissing hand. “You’re legal. Always have been—the computers say so.” His gaze met hers, conveying more than his words had. He fixed the system. She wondered how long ago. After she called? Before the raid?

  Exhaustion flooded her, tugging at her limbs and making her feel like her body was full of lead. She wanted one specific thing, though. “Now can I see Taylor?”

  “Of course.”

  Adam led her down the hall. They took a different route than before. Another chance for her to memorize exit points. He led her to a different room than the one Taylor had been wheeled into earlier.

  He lay in bed with his eyes closed, looking peaceful in contrast to what he’d been a few hours ago. He was hooked up to a machine that kept track of his pulse, and they had him on an I.V. She needed him to get better.

  She swallowed, to make sure she could speak without her voice cracking. “Will anyone complain if I stay with him tonight?”