The Adjusters

by Taylor, Andrew

  The security head looked so downtrodden as he disappeared across the other side of reception, Henry actually found himself feeling sorry for the man. He’d clearly caused him some big trouble…maybe even cost him his job. But Henry reminded himself what was going on in the medical centre. All in all, not a bad job to lose.

  Mallory led the way to the door into the main part of the centre and swiped his key card. They passed through into the now-familiar corridors beyond.

  “Tell me this was all that Christian kid’s idea,” Jennifer said, leaning in so she could whisper to her son. “Tell me you were easily led in this.”

  “Mom,” Henry said, shaking his head. “It was my idea as much as his.”

  “How did you get in then?”

  “Christian’s dad’s key card…”

  “Well then, it sounds like he had more of a hand in things than you did.”

  “It was both of us, Mom,” Henry said firmly. Mallory looked over his shoulder and actually smiled at him.

  “Sticking up for your friend,” Mallory said. “I like that.”

  Henry gritted his teeth. Clearly Mallory wanted to keep on his mom’s good side – not wanting to jeopardize future date nights, no doubt. Yuk. Well, they’d see what she thought of him when the truth came out about what was going on in the centre. The only thing Henry couldn’t work out was why Mallory was so eager to take them right to the scene of the crime…

  They passed through one set of double doors after another until they reached the corridor with the observation window. The operating theatre was fully illuminated, with the table in the centre. The sheet still covered the patient on the table.

  “That’s him!” Henry said to his mother, trying to keep his voice calm. “That’s the kid with his skull cut open!”

  Jennifer looked at Mallory with an apologetic expression. “I can’t believe they poked around in here.” She turned back to Henry. “Do you have any idea how much damage you could have caused walking around in an operating room? The infection risk you posed?”

  Henry opened his mouth to argue, but Mallory started down the corridor again. “I think the easiest way to get to the bottom of things would be to take a look at this patient, don’t you?” he called over his shoulder.

  Jennifer gave Henry a murderous look as they followed him through the door at the end and into the operating theatre.

  They stopped in the doorway and the bald surgeon who had cornered Henry in the theatre approached. Henry noticed that he had a bandage on his left hand from where he’d fallen on the scalpel.

  “How’s the patient?” Mallory asked.

  “Doing just fine,” the surgeon said. “Considering the circumstances.”

  “Can we take a quick look?”

  The surgeon walked to the table and wheeled it round so they could see the patient beneath the sheet-covered frame. Henry’s eyes widened as he saw that the kid’s head was now resting on a pillow, not clamped in a frame. There were thick white bandages covering his skull.

  “His head was cut open – I could see his brain,” Henry protested, turning to his mother.

  “This young man was in a motorcycle crash earlier this afternoon,” the surgeon said, directing his words to Jennifer. “Wasn’t wearing a helmet, so we had to practically reconstruct his entire skull. I’m afraid your son walked in halfway through the procedure. It must have been a bit of an eye-opener…”

  “No,” Henry protested. “That’s not right!”

  Jennifer placed a hand on his shoulder. “Henry…”

  He pulled free, looking round at Mallory and the surgeon. “They’re lying! That’s not what I saw!”

  “Henry, I have had enough…”

  He looked round at the glass where Christian’s head had bounced off – they’d cleaned away the blood smear. Then he thought of the lab he’d fled into… The vat of brains that had shattered…

  “We have to look in the lab!” he said, jogging across the theatre to the door on the other side. Behind him his mom and Mallory protested, but he ignored them. There was no way they could have cleared that mess up so quickly….

  He pushed through the door and ran down the corridors, closely followed by the others. When he came to the lab door, which was still off its hinges, he ran through.

  Inside, the grey-haired surgeon was fussing over a tank of water as security guards mopped up the floor. Henry advanced further into the lab, pointing at the tank.

  “Look!” he said to his mom, pointing to the tank. “They’re growing…brains!”

  Jennifer and Mallory joined Henry as the grey-haired surgeon looked round in surprise. Mallory let out a low, guffawing laugh.

  “Dr. Chricton,” he called across the lab, “would you be so good as to show us what you’ve got in that tank?”

  The surgeon grumbled something before reaching into the tank and removing a dripping object that looked like a large, grey sponge. “My sea-cucumber experiment was almost ruined, Mr. Mallory! I suggest you improve your security arrangements!”

  “You can be sure of it, Dr. Chricton!” Mallory gently took both Henry and Jennifer’s arms and led them back to the doorway.

  Feeling stupid as hell, Henry said, “I know what I saw…”

  His mother gave him a withering look, but Mallory merely placed his hands on Henry’s shoulders and looked into his face. “Are you sure? I mean, are you really sure? Couldn’t it have been that you saw that poor kid lying on that table with his brain hanging out and got a little spooked?”

  Henry looked down at his feet.

  “You got chased by the guards,” Mallory continued. “Things were moving fast and you made a mistake. Is that at least a possibility?”

  Henry took a deep breath. “Yeah.”

  Mallory patted his shoulder and looked at his mom with a wink. “Everyone’s allowed to get a little screwy from time to time.”

  “What’s going to happen next?” she asked, voice full of concern.

  “Well,” Mallory said, “the breach of security was a serious issue, but more for my men than for Henry or Christian. And no real harm was done, I guess. Although I would suggest that a world-class grounding is in order…”

  “Oh, you can bet on that,” Henry’s mom said emphatically.

  “Then I guess we can call this matter closed,” Mallory said, turning his attention to Henry. “I’d just like to know one thing. We caught your accomplice in this little scheme and he’s back with his parents right now. Was Christian the only other person in on this?”

  Henry looked into the man’s penetrating eyes. “Yeah. Just him and me.”

  “That’s the truth?”

  “Yes.”

  Mallory slapped him on the shoulder. “Then I guess you’d better see what you came looking for.”

  He started down the corridor again, leaving a confused Henry to follow behind. They passed down a few more corridors into an area signposted Patient Care. Here the corridors were less anonymous than before, with numbers on the doors and even plants in pots arranged here and there. A female nurse passed them and smiled warmly.

  “Is she awake?” Mallory asked.

  “Yes,” the nurse replied, “but it’s getting late.”

  “We won’t be long.”

  Mallory knocked twice on a door to his right. A female voice called through for him to enter. Mallory opened the door, but rather than entering himself, waved Henry through. The room contained only a hospital bed and a couple of chairs. In the bed, a girl was sitting propped upright on pillows, watching a sitcom on the TV with a smile on her face.

  Gabrielle Henson.

  She turned towards Henry and her face lit up in recognition. She grabbed the TV remote and muted the sound.

  “I know you,” Gabrielle said. “We’ve met before.”

  For a moment, Henry didn’t know what to say. It was unmistakably the girl that he’d met just a week earlier, but she was a million miles away from the terrified figure he’d encountered in the gas station to
ilet. Her hair was neatly combed and washed now, blonde locks cascading around her shoulders. Her expression was relaxed, happy even, and she regarded Henry with a calm openness that he found surprising. As she continued to stare at him he found his face reddening a little.

  “Is your name Henry?” she asked.

  He nodded. “We met…uh…in a toilet.”

  Gabrielle gave a little laugh and put her hands to her mouth. “Oh my goodness! What must you think of me!” She looked down at the bed sheets in embarrassment. “I was going through a bit of a bad spell…” Henry guessed she was referring to the “drug problem” Mallory had told him about.

  “Now, now, my dear,” Mallory said, entering the room to stand beside Henry. “You have nothing to feel bad about. We’re allowed to get…”

  “…a little screwy sometimes?” she finished for him, as if it was a line she’d heard before.

  Mallory laughed and waggled a finger at her. “You are too smart by half.” He turned to Henry. “Why don’t you two get reacquainted? I want to have a quick word with your mom.”

  Mallory walked out, closing the door behind him. Henry felt suddenly foolish standing in the room of the girl he’d broken into the medical centre to find. He realized that he really didn’t know her at all. And she looked like she needed anything but rescuing.

  Gabrielle patted the mattress beside her. “Come and sit down.”

  Henry walked over and perched on the side of the bed uncomfortably as the girl studied him again.

  “Is it true what they’re saying?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “That you and another kid broke into the centre to…rescue me?” She said the last two words as if they were ridiculous.

  Henry felt himself blushing again. “I guess. The last time we met, you seemed so afraid.”

  Gabrielle shook her head, remembering. “Phew! Was I strung out that afternoon! I’d been living rough for the best part of a week. I don’t know what would have happened if you and Trooper Dan hadn’t come across me.”

  Henry frowned. From the way she told it, it was like the cop had saved her.

  “You seemed pretty afraid of that cop at the time,” he ventured.

  Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “Afraid? Why would I be afraid of Trooper Dan?”

  “So what happened after he took you away?”

  She frowned at him. “When?”

  “He put you in his cruiser and as you were driving away you told me to run…”

  “I was pretty strung out, wasn’t I…?”

  “But what happened next? Did he bring you back here?”

  Gabrielle’s serene features crumpled into a frown. “Back here? I…” She fell silent as she tried to remember. “Something…” Her voice broke.

  “What is it?” Henry pressed, leaning closer. “What’s wrong?”

  Gabrielle looked at him and smiled. “I’m sorry for being so silly. I guess I’m just so happy to be back here with my family. They come to visit me every day, you know. And I’m going to be able to go back home next week if I keep up this good progress!”

  Henry sat back.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “You look so disappointed.”

  He shrugged. “I guess…you’re not like I remember from that afternoon.”

  Gabrielle smiled at him uncertainly. “You’d prefer me to be a drugged up runaway with cuts all over her legs?”

  “No! It’s just…can I ask you a favour?”

  “Shoot.”

  Hesitating only a second, Henry reached out slowly and brushed Gabrielle’s hair away from her forehead to expose the skin underneath. It was unmarked – no trace of scarring. If she’d been operated upon during the last week, the evidence would have been there to see. But there was nothing.

  “What did you expect?” Gabrielle asked as he lowered his hand.

  Henry shook his head. “I don’t know. I was just being stupid.” Suddenly everything he’d done that evening seemed pretty stupid.

  The girl leaned over unexpectedly and placed a kiss on his cheek. “That’s for coming to rescue me,” she said as she pulled away. “Even if I didn’t need rescuing. Now, can I ask you something?”

  “Anything,” Henry said. Suddenly it felt a lot hotter in the room.

  “Come see me after school tomorrow? I get lonely in here.”

  “Okay.”

  Gabrielle smiled and sat back on the pillows with a yawn. “I’d better get some shut-eye. All this lying around makes me sleepy.”

  Henry rose from the bed and walked to the door, knowing that even though things seemed square with Mallory and he had managed to see Gabrielle Henson after all, the night was far from over.

  He still had plenty of explaining to do to his mom. And if he knew her at all, she was gearing up to give him the lecture of a lifetime.

  In a room located deep within the medical centre, John Mallory stood before a bank of security monitors and watched as Jennifer and Henry Ward exited the front of the building and were escorted down the drive by one of the guards. Although there was no sound on the video feed, he could clearly see that Mrs. Ward was giving her son one hell of a talking to.

  “Was he telling the truth?” Dr. Chancellor asked, appearing at Mallory’s side.

  “About what?” her employer asked without taking his eyes from the screens.

  “About him and the other boy being the only ones who knew about this.”

  Mallory considered for a moment. “No. The Christian boy is an idiot, and Ward hasn’t been here long enough to plan something like this. Someone’s been feeding him information.”

  “Who then?”

  “Well that’s the question, isn’t it?” Mallory looked at his head doctor, pulling a chewed cigar from his pocket and clamping it between his teeth. “But I’m betting if we give Ward enough rope, he’ll lead us right back to that girl who repainted my Rolls. Put Trooper Dan on it.”

  A look of concern darkened Chancellor’s perfect features. “Is that wise, if outsiders are involved? They could have spoken to anyone! And Trooper Dan is impossible to control…unpredictable. This girl, Gabrielle, is showing signs of rejection as well. I need more time to adjust the implants. They are not stable.”

  Mallory frowned at her. “Why, Magda, you sound as if you’re having doubts about our project.” He reached out and stroked his hand down her face. “So beautiful. I really don’t think you’d get on so well in a Polish jail, do you?” He moved his hand round so that he was gripping the back of her neck. “Perhaps you need to be reminded who got you your nice new identity and who allows you to conduct all your experiments in a…non-judgemental environment.” Chancellor struggled against Mallory’s grasp, but he held firm, pushing his face in hers. “Nothing happens in this town without me knowing about it. They have no evidence. They haven’t told anyone squat. And Trooper Dan will do as he’s told, just as long as you keep feeding him his medicine. The adjustment process works. A few subjects need a little more…tinkering…that’s all.”

  The doctor pulled free from Mallory, eyes blazing with anger. She made an effort to control herself and said, “What do you want me to do?”

  “Proceed as planned with the boy in custody,” Mallory said. His voice was hard and commanding now. “His parents have already signed the release forms. And put Trooper Dan on Ward’s ass.”

  Chancellor looked him deep in the eyes. “And the girl in Newton?”

  Mallory removed the cigar from his mouth and studied it thoughtfully. “If she’s involved…tell Dan to have a little talk with her.”

  Early Monday morning, Henry knocked on the door of Christian’s lodge. He’d spent the last thirty-six hours locked down in his room. His mom had made it clear the only reason he’d be leaving their new house for the foreseeable future would be for school. She’d convinced herself that the whole thing with the medical centre was her son’s way of trying to sabotage their move from the city. And after meeting Gabrielle Henson, Henry was beginning to wonder if sh
e had a point.

  Everything that had happened since he’d arrived in Newton had been ultra-strange, but hadn’t part of him been secretly pleased about that? He’d never wanted to leave the city and finding problems with their new home was something that, subconsciously, he’d been almost happy about. Gabrielle. The school. Mallory’s conspiracy to turn the local kids into…something. All good reasons for them to pack their bags and head back out of Newton County as fast as possible. Following the events of the weekend, he’d resolved to stop believing in crazy stories and try to fit in.

  He hoped Christian was feeling the same way.

  The door was answered by Christian’s dad, who was still in his dressing gown and unshaven, like he had no intention of going to work that day.

  “Is Christian there?” Henry asked. “I wondered if he wanted to walk to school.”

  “You,” the man said, looking at Henry with barely contained anger. “Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble?”

  Henry took a step back as Christian’s dad advanced on him through the doorway. The man’s hands were bunched into fists.

  “Stay away from my son. And stay the hell away from my family…”

  Christian’s mom appeared and placed a restraining hand on her husband’s arm. “Come back inside, George.”

  To Henry’s relief, the man nodded and allowed her to usher him into the house.

  “I just want to know if Christian’s okay,” Henry said as she began to push the door shut.

  “Christian is going to be just fine,” she said firmly. “He just doesn’t need bad influences like you hanging around. He’s going to be a good boy from now on. Goodbye.”

  The door slammed shut.

  For a moment Henry just stood there trying to process everything. He hadn’t expected to be the most popular person with Christian’s folks, but clearly they had the impression that the break-in at the medical centre had been his idea. Great, he thought as he turned and started walking in the direction of the school. Thanks for sticking up for me, Christian.

  Things didn’t get any better when he got to school. As he walked through the gates and approached the main building he had a feeling that something was wrong. Looking round the yard, he realized what it was…