by Liz Wolfe
“Huh? Oh, no, not yet. But we know it’s just a matter of time, so I told my mom that I’d check around.”
“That’s a good idea. You really don’t want to leave these things until the last minute. I could have the director give you a little tour, if you have time.”
“Oh, maybe later. I’m kind of in a rush today.” McRae was walking toward the doors, and the last thing Shelby wanted was to run into him. He probably wouldn’t recognize her without the Cathy Silvers disguise, but there was no point in taking chances. “Thanks for these, though.” She turned and headed for the front door just as McRae came out of the cafeteria.
Back in the car, Shelby waited for McRae to leave. Coaching kids’ soccer teams? Taking pastries to nursing homes? This definitely didn’t fit with what she knew about Harrison McRae. Shelby drove back to the airport, returned the rental car, and drove the Firebird back to her apartment. A quick call to Ethan assured her that she’d have a more detailed background check on McRae in a few days. Maybe that would answer some of her questions.
Monday morning Shelby pulled on her padded underclothes and frumpy wig and headed out to The Center again. She had a couple of flash drives tucked into her padded tee shirt along with the latex thumbprints. The Center’s computers were pretty state of the art, and all of them featured USB ports right in the front, so she could plug in a small flash drive and download files quickly. The only problem would be getting into the doctors’ offices undetected.
Getting Shannon and her son out of there was a priority, but she had to locate them first. Shelby suspected they were being kept in the lab section. Only the doctors and a few others had access to that area. She’d just have to find a way in.
After Dr. Carlson left her in the computer room, Shelby plugged one of her flash drives into the network server and copied files while she considered the possibilities of getting into the lab area and the doctors’ offices. By noon, Shelby had to admit that both would have to be done after hours. There were just too many people around to make it feasible during the day.
Shelby chatted with the receptionist and a couple of the guards during the afternoon. Amazing how much people like to talk about themselves. Where they work, where they live, who their friends are. Maybe her job had made her too paranoid to do that. The receptionist told her that they lock the place up at six, although the doctors usually work a couple hours later than that. The two guards revealed some information about their shift changes and security procedures. Just amazing. Shelby smiled and chatted and took it all in.
She saw McRae late that afternoon, taking a break in the courtyard. He was studying some papers in a folder, probably a patient chart. She stayed at her own table, slugging down a bottle of water and eating cookies, which tasted faintly of peanut butter and were as hard as concrete, that she’d gotten from the vending machine.
McRae still confused her. Especially after yesterday. What Ethan had turned up in the background check just didn’t mesh with what she was learning about him. Shelby still wasn’t totally certain that he hadn’t seen her in Dr. Carlson’s office. But if he had, surely he’d have mentioned it. At least asked her what the hell she’d been doing in there.
Shelby turned her mind back to the idea of breaking into The Center later that night. She didn’t see any other way she’d be able to get into the lab or the doctors’ offices and have enough time to do what she needed to do without being observed. She scanned the grounds surrounding The Center. The walls were about eight feet high topped with iron spikes that were supposed to look decorative, while keeping the riff-raff out.
She’d learned from the guards that they changed shifts at midnight, did a complete sweep of the building every hour, and checked the grounds every two hours. After the midnight shift change, there were only three guards on duty. One manned the front gate, another made the rounds, and a third was positioned at the reception desk where he watched displays from three security cameras. One camera scanned the entrance, another the main hallway, and the third the interior of the lab.
Not insurmountable. She finished her cookies and went inside, stopping at the receptionist’s cubicle for a little chat. Mandy peppered her with questions about computers, while Shelby checked out the display on the security monitors. It only took a couple of minutes to see exactly how she could avoid the cameras. Shelby gave Mandy some vague answers to her questions and left. Breaking in tonight would be a piece of cake.
“What do you want to talk about today, Sam?” Mac took a seat across from the small table where Sam was positioning figurines in a shallow box of sand.
“I don’t know.” Sam frowned. “I don’t wanna talk. I wanna do something.”
“Good. What shall we do then?”
“Read.” Sam jumped out of his chair and ran to the sofa where he’d left his small backpack. He pulled the zipper open and drew out some folded sheets of paper. “Read this to me.”
“What? Something you can’t read yourself?” Mac opened the crumpled papers and scanned them. They were pages from a medical chart. Sam’s medical chart. His eyes locked on several words and phrases. Halcyon. Sleep deprivation. Emotional dependency. Experiment P-15. Total Control. He quickly folded the papers and slipped them into his pocket.
“I can read it, but I don’t know what some of the words mean.”
“I see. Well, before we do that, I’d like to play a drawing game with you. You up for that?”
Sam shrugged. “Okay.”
Mac pulled a box of markers and a few sheets of paper off a shelf and laid them on the table next to the figurines. He moved his chair around so that his back was to the hidden camera that recorded all his sessions.
Sam scooted into the chair next to him and opened the markers, spilling them onto the table. A marker rolled onto the floor, and Sam held his hand out toward it, frowning. The marker rolled and then lifted into the air, landing in Sam’s chubby hand. Mac watched in amazement. No matter how many times he’d seen Sam using his abilities, he was still stunned by them.
“Why don’t you draw me a picture of you and your foster parents?”
“Okay,” Sam sighed and pulled a sheet of paper over. Mac tapped on the table to get Sam’s attention, and then moved his fingers to send him a message in sign language.
This is a secret. May I keep the papers for a while?
Sam watched Mac’s fingers, put down his marker, and signed back to him.
OK. But why is it a secret?
Mac shifted again, making sure that their signing was hidden from the camera.
I’ll tell you later. Don’t forget it’s a secret, Okay?
Okay. Sam signed back to him.
“Here’s my drawing.”
Mac smiled and patted Sam’s arm. “Well, let’s see. This is you?” Mac pointed to the smaller character Sam had drawn. “And these are Jill and Victor?” Mac smiled as Sam nodded. He’d drawn Jill and Victor extremely large on one half of the paper. They were holding hands, and Jill had a particularly vicious expression. Victor had been drawn with no mouth. On the other half of the paper, Sam had drawn himself rather small, and there was a woman’s face drawn over his head.
“Who’s this?”
“Mommy,” Sam said.
“I see. You miss your mother, don’t you?”
Sam nodded. “I can hear her, but I can’t see her.”
Mac quickly signed to Sam. Agree with me. “You mean you can remember her voice, but you can’t remember what she looks like?”
Sam looked at Mac for a moment, and then nodded. “Uh huh.”
“Do you have a photograph of your mother?”
Sam nodded. “I keep it in my room.”
“Then you’ll always know what she looks like, won’t you?”
“I guess.”
“How about another picture?” Mac asked. “Draw something that makes you feel safe and happy.” Mac pushed another sheet of paper in front of Sam and signed to him.
Does your mother talk to you in your head?<
br />
Sam nodded and turned back to his drawing. Dear God. Shannon must be communicating with him telepathically. Mac knew that Shannon had psychic abilities too, but he’d never thought about them communicating with each other. At least, this meant that she was still alive.
“That’s very good.” Mac tapped the drawing with a finger. “It’s your teddy bear, Rocky, isn’t it?”
Sam nodded and picked up a black marker. Holding his lower lip between his teeth, he carefully marked out one of the ears. “I forgot, he has only one ear now.”
“What happened to it?” Mac asked.
“Jill—it came off one day.” Sam’s lip trembled. “Next time it could be worse. It could be a leg or something. But it won’t, because I won’t forget next time.”
“Yes, you must take care of your toys.” Mac briefly touched Sam’s arm and signed to him again.
I’m sorry about Rocky. I’ll see what I can do.
Sam smiled at him, and Mac’s heart hurt so much he had to bite his lip. “Well, our time’s up. I’m sure Jill is here to pick you up. But I understand you’re coming in tomorrow. Maybe we can have an ice cream together.” He needed to be able to talk to Sam away from the hidden camera and microphone.
“Strawberry!” Sam crowed.
“Strawberry it is, then.” Mac opened the door to his office and watched Sam walk over to Jill Stone.
“Hey, Doc, ready for me?”
Mac automatically smiled at Chase Harmon. “Of course, please, come in.” Mac closed the door behind them.
“I really appreciate you seeing me on such short notice.” Chase sat in one of the oversized chairs in the corner and waited for Mac to join him.
“You sounded like it was urgent. Having problems?”
“I don’t know if I’d call it a problem.” Chase shrugged his beefy shoulders. “It’s just weird.”
“Please tell me about it.”
“Well, it’s kind of embarrassing.”
“That’s all right. I’ve heard a lot of embarrassing things, and nothing will leave this room.”
“Yeah, well, it’s about a dream I’ve been having.”
“You’ve been having the same dream repeatedly?”
“Pretty much. It started the night after I had the EEG here, and I’ve had it every night. Sometimes more than once a night.”
“Is the dream about the EEG?”
“Not really, it’s just that it started right after I had it.” Chase hunched forward, elbows on knees, fingers laced together. “The dream, well, it’s very sexual.”
“Dreams about sex aren’t uncommon, Chase. Even dreaming about a sexual practice that you’d never do isn’t unusual.”
“Yeah, well, this one is.” Chase took a breath and blew it out slowly. “It involves some weird stuff.”
“Like what?”
“Anal probes,” Chase said softly.
“I see. Chase, men have glands that are easily aroused in their anal cavity. Perhaps that’s what—”
“No, it isn’t like that. There’s nothing pleasant about it at all. It’s cold and uncomfortable. There are some beeping noises and some conversation that I can’t really hear; then I ejaculate and the dream is over.”
“Do you actually ejaculate or is that just in the dream?”
Chase blushed. “It’s just in the dream. But there’s no pleasure with it. In fact, I wake up feeling, I don’t know, violated or something.” Chase rose and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I spoke to Dr. Thomas about the dreams. He said that it was probably just a reaction to having the EEG while I was sleeping.”
“A reaction?”
“Yeah, I wasn’t real comfortable with that, and he figures it’s just a control issue.”
“I see. That’s possible. I could prescribe a mild sedative for you. It would help you sleep and probably suppress the dream somewhat.”
“No, thanks. I don’t like taking drugs.”
“Fine. We can try some hypnotherapy. That might reveal something.” Chase still looked reluctant. Mac would have had more questions for him, but he knew that this session, too, was being taped. “Actually, in all likelihood, the dream will diminish and disappear soon.”
“That’d be good.”
“Why don’t we give it a few days and see?” Mac stood. “If it doesn’t diminish, then I’d suggest the hypnotherapy.”
“Sure. That sounds like a plan.” Chase held his hand out to Mac. “Thanks again for seeing me.”
“That’s what I’m here for. I just wish I could be of more help.” Mac shook his hand and opened the door for him. He couldn’t imagine what had happened that caused Chase to have such disturbing dreams. There were just too many things going on at The Center that had no explanation.
CHAPTER TEN
Shelby parked her car behind a couple of Palo Verde trees and secured a grappling hook to the tow bar. Using the nylon rope attached to it, she quickly lowered herself down the side of the steep ravine that separated the desert from the stone wall at the rear of The Center. At the bottom of the ravine, she took another length of nylon rope off her shoulder, and opened the grappling hook at the end. She swung it in a circle a few times, building up enough momentum to carry it up to the stone wall. A satisfying clank followed by a scraping sound told her she’d connected.
Shelby pulled herself up the rocky, sandy ravine and scrambled over the top of the stone wall. Pulling the grappling hook free, she dropped to the ground and reeled in the nylon rope, leaving it in a dark shadow. Eleven fifty-eight.
The guards should be changing shifts now.
She unzipped her fanny pack and pulled out the equipment she would need. The door at the rear side didn’t appear to have any electronic devices attached, but she double-checked it with her sensor anyway and attached the electro-magnet to the door. Then she flipped the switch. The light glowed green, and she turned the small knob to move the steel deadbolt. The noise almost made her heart stop. She waited a minute, but didn’t hear any alarms or heavy footsteps pounding down the hallway. Moving the magnet down lower, she repeated the process and pushed on the door as the magnet turned the knob on the other side. She slipped inside, stowed her equipment back in the fanny pack, and threw the deadbolt. So far, so good.
Shelby moved down the hallway and stopped at the corner that led to the main hallway with the camera. Using a small mirror on a rod, she watched the movement of the surveillance camera, waiting until it swung away. She had three seconds to sprint to the other side of the cold drink machine. She let the camera swing around again, using the time to psych herself up.
When the camera swung away, she propelled herself forward at full speed, barely making the safety of the vending machine in time. She checked the position of the camera again with her mirror. As soon as it swung away, she dashed for Dr. Carlson’s door, punched in the code, and leapt through the door, hoping she got it closed before the camera swung back. Leaning against the door, she took a few deep breaths and listened for the sound of boots pounding down the hallway.
Shelby quickly logged onto Carlson’s laptop, thanking the powers that be that the doctor hadn’t taken it home. In a few minutes she’d plugged in her portable hard drive and downloaded the files. Checking the security cameras again, Shelby timed her run into Dr. Thomas’ office. Slipping the latex sleeve over her thumb, she pressed it against the glass panel. Nothing. Crap. She could feel her heart thumping as she inspected the purloined print. Maybe his thumb was bigger than hers. Shelby slipped the sleeve off, wrapped a strip of tissue over her thumb and tried it again. It worked and she started breathing again.
Now for getting into the lab. This would be trickier because she didn’t have the code for the security lock. The thirty or forty seconds it would take to get the code would put her in danger of being seen on the security cameras. From the narrow window in Dr. Thomas’ office door she could see the camera as it swung around. She dashed over to the lab doors, looked in the window, and ran for the corner that the camera co
uldn’t view.
Crap.
There were two people in lab coats in the lab. Taking them out wouldn’t be a problem—except that she needed to come back here tomorrow.
Mac spread the papers out on the coffee table and looked at them again. The implications of what he was seeing were enormous. How the hell did Sam get his hands on these anyway? Mac ran his hands through his hair and picked up the phone, punching in Chris’ cell phone number.
“Mac. What’s up?”
“I’ve discovered some disturbing information.”
“What’s that?”
“Evidently The Center is planning some experiment on Sam. I have some papers here from his chart. They indicate the use of some extremely dangerous drugs, sleep deprivation, and mind control techniques.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure.” Sometimes Chris Jackson just pissed him off.
“Well, now, don’t get all defensive. I just want to make sure what we’re dealing with here. Any sign of the mother?”
“Some.” Mac took a breath to calm himself. “Sam told me that she speaks to him in his head. I think that means that she’s communicating with him telepathically.” Mac heard Chris sigh and knew he had a hard argument ahead of him.
“Well, Mac, I don’t know how much I trust this psychic stuff, you know?”
“I understand your reluctance. But, believe me, I’ve seen solid evidence of psychic ability in both Sam and Shannon. I have no doubt that Shannon is able to communicate with her son telepathically.”
“If you say so.”
“So, what are we going to do about getting Sam out of The Center?”
“I can have a team set up to recover the boy in a few days.”
“That’s not good enough. They’re starting the experiment on him day after tomorrow.”
“Now, listen, Mac. I know you’re concerned about the kid. I am too. That’s why I agreed to letting you go undercover down there. But these things take time.”
“Sam doesn’t have any time.”
“I know it seems dire, but really, we’ll have everything in place before they can do much to the kid. Besides, we need to get his mother out too. If we only take Sam, it’s just going to be harder to get Shannon out later. I wouldn’t want to rush in and have the whole thing blow up in our faces, you know.”