The Pulse Series (Book 1): Pulse (21 page)

I pushed myself up onto the crutches with a little effort and a lot of cursing. Each bump made my head feel like it was going to pop. After I gave them a test run around the room and got into a rhythm it wasn't so bad. I nodded to Sarah and she opened the door for me.

We left the room and I followed Sarah down the hallway. Now that I was up I could see we were in the east wing of the mansion, a couple of floors below the one I stayed in on my first few days here. Sarah opened a door across from the elevator and the two of us entered what looked like an office. Sitting behind the desk was Doctor Vorboyov.

"Ah, my favourite patient! Good to see you up and about."

I sighed and looked up into the eyes of the man who put me through some of the worst experiences in my short life. I felt like sandpaper trying to force out the words. "Thanks for saving my life."

He gave his usual grin. "Do not mention it, my dear!"

"I have some questions about the medicine that you used to cure me."

"Oh? Interested in the hows and whys are we?"

I gave a nod. "Yes, insofar as why it isn't available everywhere."

The doctors grin fell from his face and he looked at me with a frown. "Well that is a supply issue. Not my area I'm afraid."

"What do you mean?"

"I have synthesized as much as I can, but the materials do not come in as often as I would like. If I could make more I would. It requires quite specialized ingredients to work, and most of them aren't available in this country."

"Where do they come from?"

Vorboyov waved his hands in dismissal. "You would have to talk to Sergeant Peterson. I don't know much about the operatives missions."

I frowned. Operatives brought in the supplies needed? If so, that meant places we were at war with. I had to learn more about it.

"Thanks for your help." I turned to leave, but paused at the threshold. "And thanks again for saving me."

"Dobro pozhalovat." At my look he translated. "You are welcome."

I nodded and turned from the room.

Sarah stood beside me as we waited for the elevator. "So let me guess. You want to know more about the operations stuff?"

I looked over to her. "You bet."

She sighed. "I guess rest will have to wait."

I nodded and stepped into the elevator. I wanted to know more about this medicine, and if Gus was the person I had to talk to then that's where we were headed. We made our way to the reception area and asked one of the ladies there about Gus.

"He's away until tomorrow."

I sighed and turned to Sarah. "Well I guess we will have to wait after all."

TWENTY-FIVE

When I awoke it was earlier than when I had gone to bed, and I realized I had slept all through the previous day and night. On the bedside table there was a glass of water and some more pills. I smiled up at the snoring above me and swallowed the pills, resting my head against the wall as I waited for them to kick in. When my head stopped pounding I lifted myself from the bed, careful not to put any pressure on my ankle.

I peeked up at Sarah but she was sound asleep. A quick check of the clock on the wall told me it was still six in the morning. I frowned as I looked at her sleeping form. How much sleep had she gotten over those few days she had watched over me? Sarah wasn't the type to sleep past the sun rising. I crept out of the room, fumbing with my crutches, and made my way over to the door. If she was still asleep now she must have needed it, and after all she'd done for me it wouldn't do to wake her. I closed the door with a soft click.

As it was a Sunday there weren't many people up at this hour, so I made my way to the showers to clean myself off. I had been lying in a bed for a few days now, and wasn't quite as fresh as I liked to be. It was my lucky day it seemed, because the showers were empty.

Using my crutches to push, I managed to get one of the plastic chairs from the locker room into the shower stall so that I could sit. I undressed, aside from the plastic brace that was holding my ankle in place, and turned the taps. I relished the feel of the water running over my skin.

Ten minutes later I finished up in the shower and got myself dry. It took about five minutes to get dressed again, and I was just pulling on my shirt when I heard the locker room door open.

I turned my head at the noise, but no-one came around into the shower area right away. I could hear the sounds of a locker opening, and pushed myself up into a standing position and on my crutches. I froze when she came around the wall that divided the locker room and the showers.

Jane.

She was wearing nothing but a towel, as most girls aside from me did in the shower block. The two of us stared at each other for a few moments without doing anything. I watched as her eyes ran over my body, pausing on my braced leg. Her head spun to look at the exit to the behind her, and then turned back to me.

I swallowed hard. I wasn't sure if she was the one who hurt me, but knowing what I know now about her history with Bradley I would have put my money on it. Even if it wasn't her, she had never been the kind of person I wanted to turn my back on. I wasn't in a position to defend myself if she decided to attack. I sucked in the breath to scream as loud as I could the second she made to move toward me and hope against hell that someone would come fast enough.

After a few more tense seconds an odd expression passed over her face that I couldn't read. She cleared her throat and made her way across the room to the shower farthest from me. My heart was thumping hard as my body was in full fight or flight, but she just turned her back to be and started pulling her clothes off. I turned and left, hearing the shower start as I rounded into the locker room. It didn't seem like she wanted to do anything to me at all.

Perhaps we were wrong about her being the one who attacked me?

I shook my head and made my way out of the shower room. There was no point wondering about it now. All I had to do was be vigilant. I made my way across to the mess hall to get some breakfast. One of the staff there was nice enough to carry my tray to the table for me. Once I finished the meal I made my way out of the hall and walked toward the mansion.

The snow was thick on the ground and I had to be careful where I placed my crutches, but for the most part it only slowed my progress a little. I made my way around the side of the mansion and kept going until I reached the front gate. It was a long walk, and I'd not been here since driving through the gates on my way into this new life. When I arrived I sat on the small bench that was next to the entrance gate. The guard who controlled the boom gate gave me a confused look, but when I smiled at him he shrugged and went back to his book. I shivered a little in the cold, and tucked my gloved hands into my jacket pockets. I closed my eyes to rest, and waited.

I jumped as someone shook me awake, and my heart started racing. I looked up to see a large shadow looming above me. When I recognized it as Sarah, my heart started to slow.

She gave a wince. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's alright. I must have fallen asleep again."

Sarah frowned down at me. "You shouldn't be out and about yet. You should be close to a bed."

I shrugged, and Sarah sighed.

"But that just isn't you, is it?"

She handed me one of blankets she was holding. I noticed she had another one that she draped around herself as she sat.

I gave her a smile. "Thanks. How did you know I'd be out here?"

"Where else would you be?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "I knew you wouldn't think about how cold it would be either, so I brought the blankets."

"What would I do without you?"

"Die."

I chuckled at her, and the two of us settled in to wait. It was two hours later that the large black vehicle made its way up to the gate. Gus and one of the other officers were sitting in the front, and someone I didn't recognize was in the back. Judging by the scared look on his face, it was another new recruit. They came in every couple of months, but since our unit was now full I didn't have much to do with any of them. I waved to Gus as the gates opened.

He pulled the car up beside us and look at me with a raised eyebrow. "Happened to you?"

"Table tennis accident."

His mouth twitched. "I take it you want to see me?" I nodded and he gestured at the back seat. "Hop in then."

Sarah and I climbed in and sat next to the scared kid. I winked at him and smiled, and he seemed to soften a bit.

I held out my hand to him. "Alex."

He looked confused at first, but then understanding dawned and he shook my hand. "Justin."

"So you're a newbie, huh?"

He winced and nodded. "Yeah."

"How freaked out are you right now?"

He gave me a small smile. "Only a lot."

I chuckled. "Don't worry, its not that bad here."

He looked down at my leg, then at the bandages wrapped around me head, then back up to me with a skeptical look.

I shook my head. "This wasn't part of the training. This was my own fault."

Sarah coughed from the other side of the car. "I wouldn't say that, but she is a bit of a magnet for trouble."

I stuck out my tongue at her, which caused Justin to laugh. I looked back at him. "Seriously though, this place is pretty neat. It's a solid life to choose if you want to. And hey, if you don't want to, there is no harm in saying no. You hear me?"

Justin smiled and nodded, looking much more relaxed. "Thanks."

"No worries, kid."

Our conversation stopped when we arrived at the mansion. Once Gus had parked around the back of the building we all got out. Justin and the officer made their way into the building much as Bradley and I had on my first day. I waved to him as he left.

"I have reports to write," Gus said, bringing my attention back to him, "so make it quick okay?"

I nodded. "The medicine used here is advanced stuff, no?" At his nod I continued. "When I spoke to the doctor, he told me that it was rare?"

Gus crossed his arms. "He designed it himself. You can't get it anywhere else but within our military. All the production is here, and we ship what we can to our facilities around the country, but the supply is short."

I frowned at his words. "You don't have better labs than this mansion for that kind of thing?"

Gus gave me a smug smile. "The facilities underneath this mansion are top tier. Nowhere else in the country can produce the things we make in this facility. What you've seen of it, in your box training, is only scratching the surface."

I stored that knowledge for later, but tried to get the conversation back on track. "You mentioned the supply being short. That's what I wanted to ask you about. Where do we get the supplies from?"

Gus gave me a small frown. "That's a little above your pay grade yet. It's operations business."

I nodded. "I understand. All I want to know is what I can do to help."

His eyes squinted at me for a few seconds. I met his gaze with my head held high and waited from him to come to a decision. He nodded.

"I can't tell you anything about the ops, but I can tell you this. If you want to get involved in the retrieval business, you will need to be in the top five percent for all grades. It's elite business. You got that?"

I smiled at him and nodded. "Sounds good to me."

He raised an eyebrow. "It won't be easy. You sure you're up for it?"

Sarah laughed from beside me. "Trust me, this one won't stop until she's top one percent."

I smiled my thanks at her and turned back to Sergeant Peterson. He looked at me for a few more seconds before shrugging and turning to make his way toward the mansion.

"If you want a head start, do your research on infiltration tactics. The places we get the stuff aren't dairy farms, understand?"

I saluted. "Sir, yes, sir."

He paused and turned to look over his shoulder. "And perhaps stay away from the table tennis."

I grinned at him as he turned back toward the mansion, and then turned myself and started toward the training grounds.

Sarah grabbed my shoulder. "What do you think you're doing?"

"It's like you said: I've been in bed for a few days. Time to catch up on my training."

Sarah opened her mouth to respond, but just shook her head and started walking along side me.

"If you die I'm taking my bunk back."

***

Bradley cleared his throat from the doorway of the doctors office. "Are you ready to talk to me yet?"

I was getting my scans to make sure it was safe to take off my ankle brace today. I could have pushed my way past him into the room, but instead I sighed, nodded, and sat down on one of the chairs outside the office.

I looked up at him when we sat. "How's the training been?"

Bradley gave a shrug. "Pretty much the same as normal."

I had heard from Sarah that he had been in much more of a punishing mood than usual for the past few weeks.

Bradley cleared his throat. "I hear you've been holding your own though."

I nodded. The general had modified my training schedule to accommodate my ankle, but that had only gotten me to put more effort in than normal. The first week had been a nightmare with my headaches, but they had lessened to the point where I was almost unable to feel it any more. I still had spells where it would come back hard for a few minutes, but I hadn't had an episode like that for days now. I was beyond the worst of it.

I took a breath to collect my thoughts. "I've been avoiding you." He frowned, but nodded, so I continued. "It's not that I don't want to see you. It's just that I needed to sort everything out. I needed to make sure that I could trust you."

Bradley opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off.

"You knew the trust issues I had with people, and yet you still chose to lie to me. It was a lie of omission, of course, but a lie nonetheless."

Bradley gave a sigh. "I know. I can't take that back, but I just want you to know that I only did it because I didn't think it mattered. I didn't think it would be an issue."

I shook my head. "You did it because you were uncomfortable about it. I understand that, by the way, but it just makes you come off as selfish. You should have been honest with me."