Chapter 12
12
" W akie, wakie..."
Pari opened her eyes. She was still on the floor of her cell, one hand against the wall between her and the alien man. His hand was in line with hers, touching the glass wall. He faced her, eyes closed, and she wondered if they'd tranquilized him again.
"Come on, wake up."
She recognized Oswald's voice and raised her head to look at him. She frowned when she caught sight of Dr. Charles just behind him, a pleasant sort of anticipation wrapped up in his smile. Whatever he had planned, he was going to enjoy it. Was it her murder?
She swallowed hard and slowly climbed to her feet, her eyes on their other prisoner. He'd not left her side all night. The thought touched her, and she wished she knew what compelled him to try to stay so close.
"Good morning, Miss Lindir," Dr. Charles greeted. "Sleep well?"
She glared at him and said nothing.
Dr. Charles smiled and held up a syringe. "I've made something just for you. A little cocktail to rid me of deadweight." He gave her a wicked grin, and she sank to her knees, unable to help herself. So, this was it.
She shook her head as reality sank its ugly teeth into her. "You monster..."
"Hmmm, most think of me as a savior. The one to rid mankind of the Muiraran threat. Of course, in my line of work there are always casualties, but I'm sure you're smart enough to realize that."
"Doctor?" Oswald said and turned to face him. "What...?"
"Well don't just stand there, Oswald. Bring her out. I've got work to do."
Oswald's eyes rounded to saucers. "Sir?"
"Get on with it," he snapped.
Oswald looked at the syringe in the doctor's hand. "I thought we were going to run more tests on the female."
"Female human , man. She's worthless. Like I said, deadweight. I need to be rid of her."
Oswald's eyes widened further. "But Dr. Charles..."
"For Pete's sake, Oswald, if you can't follow a simple order, then I'll have Mr. Vance take care of her."
Oswald's eyes flicked past him to the doors behind them. Pari could see a man dressed in dark green through the small window in one of the doors. He wore some sort of beret. Was he military?
Oswald heaved a sigh. "Very well, sir." He took a card from his lab coat pocket and ran it through something on his side of the door.
Pari backed up. "No..."
"I'm so sorry," Oswald said.
She looked him in the eyes, saw the regret in them, and wondered if she could run past him. Unfortunately, the doctor stood in the doorway, the dreaded syringe in his hand.
She backed up another step and glanced at the man in the next cell. He was watching them, trying to climb to his knees. But what could he do?
Her head snapped to Oswald as he approached. "Easy now,” he said. “Just come out peacefully and let's get this over with.”
"There's no need to be polite!" Dr. Charles snapped. "Grab her and bring her out!"
Pari's breathing picked up. "Oh, please no!" She backed to the wall.
The man in the next cell used the glass wall to pull himself to his feet. He bared his teeth and upper and lower fangs appeared. Something that did not go unnoticed by Oswald. "Um, sir..."
"Never mind him," the doctor snapped. "He can't help her." His voice had dropped ominously in pitch as he eyed Pari.
She went cold. "Please, you don't have to do this..."
The man in the next cell ran at the wall between them and hit it hard with his shoulder.
Oswald jumped. "Are you sure about this, sir?"
"Oh, for the love of... Mr. Vance!"
The man in the hall came through the door at the other side of the room, went to the doctor and saluted. "Yes, Dr. Charles?"
The doctor snarled at Oswald. "My assistant is a little squeamish this morning. Bring the girl out and put her on the table."
"Yes, sir." He advanced on the cell.
Pari screamed when he entered and shoved his way past Oswald. He grabbed her by the arm and in one move, shoved his shoulder into her midsection and stood with her. Pari kicked and screamed as she hung over his shoulder, but to no avail.
The man in the other cell roared and ran at the wall again.
It cracked.
"Oh, dear," Dr. Charles said calmly. "Oswald. Tranq him."
Oswald gasped. "What? Me?"
"Do you see anyone else?" the doctor drawled.
Pari was unceremoniously thrown onto the table. The impact knocked the wind out of her, and she lay stunned for a moment. Long enough for Mr. Vance to grab the strap that went across her midsection and secure it in place. He did the same with the one that went over her knees as the doctor joined him and the two began to secure her wrists and ankles.
Pari let out a blood curdling scream. If anything, it would get the man in the cell riled up. If he escaped, she'd have a chance.
"Oswald!" the doctor yelled.
Pari opened her mouth again, sucked in some air...
"Oh no you don't." The doctor pulled a handkerchief out of his lab coat pocket and stuffed it in her mouth, silencing her.
She screamed anyway, but the muffled sound wasn't going to prompt her only hope for survival to run at the wall again. At least she didn't think so.
Crack!
"Doctor!" Oswald yelped.
"Why is it when I want something done, I always have to do it myself?" Dr. Charles groused.
Pari watched the doctor grab a gun off a nearby table, then go to the cell door of the alien man. He shot once, twice, then handed the gun off to his assistant. "There, that should put him out long enough to replace the section of wall he just ruined." He approached the table Pari was strapped to. “And as for you. You were such a disappointment."
Her eyes grew wide, her screams muffled by the gag as he picked up the syringe, grabbed her arm, and....
"Oswald, come over here."
"Doctor?" Oswald was suddenly at his side.
Dr. Charles peered at Pari's arm. "Didn't she have tattoos?" He looked at her other arm. "On both arms?"
"She did sir," Mr. Vance volunteered.
"Was I asking you?" Dr. Charles snapped with annoyance.
Mr. Vance swallowed hard. "No, sir."
Dr. Charles tossed his head in the direction of the cells. "Make yourself useful and get some men to move him to the table. I want to run more tests."
"Yes, sir." Mr. Vance saluted and was off like shot.
Dr. Charles pulled the sleeve of Pari's hospital gown up to her shoulders. "Not a trace left. How fascinating.”
"She had one on her upper left thigh as well, sir," Oswald said.
Dr. Charles looked at him with raised eyebrows, then pulled the hospital gown up to expose her thigh. "What is that?"
Oswald bent down to look. "It appears to be a cute, pony-like unicorn, sir."
Dr. Charles eyed Pari with indecision. "Did we test to see if the tattoos were real?"
"Yes, sir. They were," Oswald said.
"Then where are they?" the doctor asked, perplexed.
Oswald looked Pari in the eyes, then looked over his shoulder at the cell area. "I don't know sir. It's as if she never had them."
Pari watched as the doctor and Oswald exchanged the same look of confusion.
Oswald studied her arms, then gazed at her face. "Her nose ring is gone."
Pari twitched her nose. She could usually feel her nose ring touch the area above her lip when she did. There was nothing there.
The doctor got in her face and looked at her nose. "You're right." He straightened. "Find it."
Oswald hesitated, then disappeared from her line of sight.
Dr. Charles stared down at her. "Well, aren't you full of surprises?" He ran a hand over her arms then peered at her nose again. "That was a good-sized piece of jewelry you were wearing. And from the looks of it, there's no trace of the piercing."
"Found it!" Oswald cried.
"Bring it to me."
Pari, breathing like a winded horse through the nose, was as confused as they were. Even if her nose ring fell out, the hole in her septum would be noticeable.
The doctor peered at her nose again as Oswald handed him her ring. "Hold still now." He tried to put it in.
She protested, but her words were muffled by the gag.
"It appears she has no place for the ring, sir," Oswald pointed out.
"I can see that." Dr. Charles studied the ring. "But she's been wearing it, and it is clearly the sort that needs a hole to be worn properly. Yet there is none." He turned to Oswald. "But she had this in yesterday."
"Yes sir."
Dr. Charles' eyebrows shot up. "Well then, I suggest we review last night's footage. I want to see what happened to her tattoos."
"Yes, sir," Oswald said happily. He gave Pari a look of relief. "Shall I return the female to her cell?"
"No. Not yet." He handed Oswald the nose ring, went to a cabinet across the room and pulled a few things out.
Oswald eyed the syringe of death that lay on the side of the table. Pari watched him pick it up like it was a poisonous snake and set it down on a high table covered with surgical type instruments. That done he gave Pari a sympathetic look.
So, the man wasn't one for cold blooded murder. Thank goodness for that.
Pari closed her eyes in relief. She had no idea why all her tattoos had disappeared over night, or why her nose was no longer pierced. All she knew was that the lack of both had just saved her life.
Dr. Charles returned with another syringe. He was more careful this time, and swabbed her arm with alcohol before he jabbed the needle into it. "There, by the time you wake up, I'll have watched last night's footage and have this mystery solved." He smiled at her. "Then we'll see whether or not you live or die."
Pari's eyes widened at his words.
Before she could ponder her plight further, Mr. Vance re-entered the room with a half dozen men. They went straight to the other prisoner's cell, opened it, and were soon hefting him out and onto the table next to hers. He was out cold, and they made short work of securing him.
What were they going to do to the poor guy now? A tear slid down her cheek at the thought, despite the fact she'd been facing death only moments ago.
Would they both die? Pari didn't know and didn't want to think about it. Neither one of them asked for this, and as far as she knew, there was no one to save them. She had no idea where they were, or who these people were for that matter. She had a few names, heard the doctor’s freaky plans, but didn't understand any of it. He could be lying through his teeth for all she knew. Maybe the tall handsome man next to her wasn't an alien at all.
Okay, so he didn't look like anyone she'd ever seen before, but that didn’t mean he was from another planet.
"Could he have had anything to do with it?" the doctor mused aloud. "I must say, this is most curious."
Pari's eyelids were growing heavy. The blasted sedative was taking affect. At least it wasn't the kind that knocked her out immediately.
Two men took their time releasing her from the straps. She wouldn’t be able to fight them if she wanted to. Her limbs were heavy, and she couldn't lift them.
She looked at the handsome man on the table next to hers. She didn't know if he had anything to do with her tattoos disappearing or not and said a silent thank you in her head as someone pulled the gag from her mouth.
Pari was vaguely aware of being lifted off the table and put onto the bed in her cell. Then there was nothing, and she drifted into a drug induced sleep.