Chapter Fifteen #2
“I’ve gone through workshops about all the possible effects, Dr. Kirkland,” Helen replied. “Did you imagine that I wasn’t prepared for the risks? Although, I must admit, it’d be cool to be able to do magic shows like Armando.”
As a way to distract him from talking more about lucid dreaming, she opted to lighten the mood of the conversation.
Admittedly, she hadn’t really thought about the risks much in the beginning of the training.
Each program had been so challenging and knowing that she had competition had made her focus solely on winning.
In her mind then, the serum and all its risks were only for the winner and she hadn’t won yet.
“Remember, Armando isn’t doing remote viewing and doesn’t have the downtime a remote viewer undergoes after a session, so you’re actually more tired than our past testers of the serum, Hell, both mentally and physically,” Dr. Kirkland warned.
“When you come out of your state, you might need more rest than you thought. Or, something.”
“Or, something…?” Helen dragged the word out, giving the doctor a questioning look.
She had thought about that, too, but she wasn’t one to keep worrying about something over which she had no control.
If she was going to do this, she had to just do it.
“What do you think is going to happen to me when I come out of my ‘state,’ as you called it?”
She stood up, testing her weight on her feet. Maybe a small niggle of discomfort? She couldn’t tell.
“Pain would be the fairly obvious consequence. Your leg is going to be hurting. A lot. And don’t be shy about telling me how much it is when you feel it, Hell. I have to know.”
“Have I ever been shy about anything, Doc?” Helen smiled. “I promise I won’t hide the pain.”
“You might not be able to.”
“Okay, then you don’t have to worry about me lying to you about feeling pain, then,” she said. “What else?”
“Maybe sensitivity to light. Your body lacks sleep. Your thinking might be affected. You haven’t eaten much so you’ll definitely be hungry.
Your brain and body might compensate for your lack of sleep by producing different levels of hormones.
With Armando, he definitely sees ‘things’ after using the serum.
He also likes to sit in the dark, says the light bothers him. ”
Besides looking for Heath to ask him about the “retrieval,” she also definitely needed to talk to Armando. She could do this before the serum wore off. She had a feeling she would be sleeping like a log, after.
“All right,” Helen said. “I’ll get hold of you when things go crazy, Doc. Can I go now? Is it okay to walk on my own? Not too much, of course.”
“Yes, but be careful. Take these painkillers. Get hold of me if there’s any problem.”
“All right. Umm, can someone give me some clothes to wear? And can I have my boots back?”
Once she was alone, she pulled out the electronic comm card from the side slit in her boots.
It was Armando Chang’s. She slid the card through the security slot in the communications channel and punched in her own security code.
Armando would know it was from her and that she was calling from inside Center.
He came on after the third buzz. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Princess of Darkness calling me,” he drawled. “And how was the experience?”
“You’re suddenly right to the point, Chang,” Helen commented. “What, no roundabout chitchat about illusions and pain?”
“But you’re calling me precisely to talk about that, aren’t you?” he mocked. “I don’t like being predictable.”
He was far too perceptive. Of course he’d known she would call him with questions afterwards. “You gave me your card,” she reminded him. “I take that as an offer to answer my questions.”
“Everything has a price, Miss Roston,” he said. “Are you ready for yours?”
“You’re pissing me off, Chang,” Hell warned. “Are you going to help me or not?”
“You’re feeling anger? Cool. The serum’s wearing off a bit.
The drug takes the edge off emotions like anger and pain, as you know.
” He affected a heavy accent, very similar to Dr. Kasparov’s during their first meeting.
“It increases your pain threshold by producing analgesia that blocks your pain receptors. It’s antianxiety.
It acts on the limbic system, thalamus and hypothalamus of the CNS to produce hypnotic effects.
It also blocks serotonin and motor neurons.
So, tell me, how’s your limbic system and hypothalamus doing, Hell? ”
She laughed. She liked his sarcasm. “They seem fine. At least, I think so.”
“Then why do you need me, if you’re fine?”
Hell looked at the clock on the wall. “I don’t know how much time I have before I conk out from lack of sleep. When did it happen to you? I’d also rather see you in person to talk about this. I’m not comfortable with talking over the comm system.”
“These walls have ears,” Armando acknowledged softly.
“So you can whisper into mine,” she retorted.
“I love an innovative woman. Where would you like to meet?”
“Any suggestion?”
“Room 18.”
She tried to remember what that was. “The interrogation observation room? Why?”
“Because there are no cameras there.”
“I don’t have the clearance.”
“Silly child. Do you need one with me?”
“All right. When? Now, I hope.”
“Would I keep the princess waiting? Of course not. I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Here’s a special code when you’re asked by the gatekeeper.”
He gave it to her before clicking off, leaving Helen to stare down at the intercom speaker. That man was too damn cryptic. He had something up his sleeve. Dammit, now he had her using clichés, too.
She went to the computer panel in the wall and used her security code to access the COMCEN map. She typed in Room 18 and studied the directions that came up on the screen.
She had never been to the interrogation sector before. That hadn’t been part of her training, not yet anyway. Interrogation was something behind-the-scenes that all Intel agencies tended to hide from even their own.
As a contract agent, this part of the shadowy world of cloak and daggers hadn’t really concerned her before.
She had been trained by GEM to resist certain interrogation techniques, but had been fortunate so far.
She had been in danger a few times more than she’d cared for, but had never been forced to give information.
By the time she reached the level where Room 18 was located, she was definitely feeling more than a niggle of pain.
She smothered a yawn. That was the first indication her body was coming back to normal.
Which was good, wasn’t it? She felt the bottle of painkillers Dr. Kirkland had given her in her pocket.
At the buzz and command of the electronic voice, she keyed in the code Armando Chang had given her. The doors slid open. Armando was standing there waiting, leaning against the wall, arms and legs lazily crossed, scruffy black T-shirt untucked from his black jeans.
“You look tired already,” he said, his eyes keenly studying her face as he straightened from his lazy stance. “It’s almost here.”
“What’s almost here?” she asked.
“The reckoning.”
Helen rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You don’t let up with the act, do you?”
“And the act is?” he asked as he turned to walk down the corridor. “How’s the leg?”
“The leg’s fine.” Helen followed. “I meant the vampire act. The reckoning. You make me sound like I’m going to undergo a gothic horror change any minute now and will turn into the undead.”
Armando slid an amused glance in her direction. A small smile played on his lips. “That’s why I like you, Helen. You’re funny and scary at the same time.”
“I am funny and scary? Haha. Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Hell mocked back.
“Oh yes. Mirror, mirror on the wall, I say, and you know what? It answers back sometimes.”
She darted a quick look back at him. Sometimes, she wasn’t sure whether he was serious or not. “And what does it say?” she asked casually.
“Here’s Room 18.”
Armando pressed some buttons and the door unlocked with a click. It was dark inside. The only source of light was from the two-way mirror, coming through from the other side of the observation room. Helen stared at the scene for a long moment.
“That’s Heath with one of the Cummings,” she said.
“The female half. Caught by our Number Nine. Unfortunately, her husband escaped and we want him here, too.”
There was no sound coming in from the other side, even though Heath was speaking.
He looked different, somehow, from when she’d met him in the truck.
Then he turned and looked in their direction for a second.
Helen blinked. His eyes—they were so cold compared to that melting puppy-dog gaze to which she’d been introduced earlier.
“Want to turn up the volume?” Armando asked.
She would love to hear what was being said but that wasn’t why she was here. Armando first. Then, if there was time, Heath. And Jed—she wanted to know whether her mistake had cost him his target.
She shook her head. “I’m feeling more tired by the minute. I want to talk to you first, Chang. And please be as pithy as you can because I really, really don’t want to fall asleep at your most interesting revelations.”
She pulled out the bottle in her pocket and poured out two capsules. She popped them into her mouth.
Armando chuckled. “There’s a certain irony here, I think, to be interrogated at the interrogation sector. There’s a water fountain to your left.”
“No doubt you’re doing this on purpose to amuse yourself,” Helen noted, as she went to get herself a drink.
“That, too, but I was serious about the cameras. You don’t want your downtime to be recorded by the COMCEN cameras, do you? It’ll be studied by every medical intern in the facility.”