Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1) - Gwenda Bond Page 0,77

her to challenge the statement.

“Or not.”

He gave her a long look. “Miss Ives, if you can’t do what’s best for you, then…”

Oh, she wanted to push back harder. She wanted to demand he finish that sentence, which sounded an awful lot like the beginning of a threat. But.

She remembered how he’d shown up at Gloria’s, how rattled she’d been when she told Terry about his visit. He’d charmed her parents. They had to play this cautiously.

“I took the vitamins,” she said. “You just saw me.”

“Good,” he said. “Now this.”

A small tab of acid appeared between his fingers and she plucked it away.

Terry placed the hit on her tongue and, ignoring Brenner’s presence, closed her eyes to wait. She didn’t open them even when she heard someone come in. The orderly joining them, no doubt. She recalled that first day here, watching the heart monitor, and conjured that red line—spike, spike, then steady, steady—in her mind.

Before long, or so it seemed, she went deeper. The water rippled around her feet, the void around her.

She waited. She felt strong, awake.

Kali’s arms were crossed in front of her when she strode out of the darkness.

Terry almost fell to her knees in relief.

“I couldn’t come,” Kali said. “I was too sleepy. I’m not sure these are dreams.”

“Were you sick?”

“I felt sick. Papa came to see me every day,” Kali said. “I hope Alice isn’t sad I haven’t visited her. I promised Papa I’d be a good girl.”

Terry’s heart spiked. She forced it to calm. “He doesn’t know you met Alice, though?”

Kali shook her head no.

“Do you think you can still manage to distract him? It won’t get you in trouble, will it?”

Kali tilted her head and considered. “It needs to make him come see me, you said?”

“Whatever you did the other day worked out great. I just need some time alone.”

“He got mad about that one, but I have another idea,” Kali announced. And then she disappeared.

Back in the lab, Terry opened her eyes and pretended to stretch and yawn. “I may lay down,” she said. “Not feeling so good after all.”

Brenner lifted his hand in the general direction of the cot. Was it possible to be sarcastic without saying a word? If so, he’d mastered the art.

Terry shuffled over, acting as tired as she possibly could. She poured herself onto the thin mattress and rolled onto her side with her arms up to cover her face.

The PA speaker mounted high on the wall crackled. “We have a ‘Code Indigo,’ ” said a man’s voice. “Paging Dr. Brenner to wing G for a ‘Code Indigo.’ ”

Dr. Brenner’s face tightened with what looked like rage. His body was drawn like a bow as he started forward. Terry swung her feet around, disconcerted.

“What’s happening?” she asked, innocently. She worried about that expression and Kali.

“None of your concern.” He waved for the orderly to follow him into the hall as the PA repeated its summoning.

Terry went to the window and looked out into the hall. She couldn’t allow Kali’s effort to go to waste. She waited until they were out of sight, then slung her bag over her shoulder and darted into the hallway. This time, she didn’t make any wrong turns.

The new code Alice had memorized worked like a charm, letting her bypass the keypad on her way to Dr. Brenner’s office. There was a disturbance up the hall that went to Kali’s room—shouting voices and Brenner’s commanding tone. Terry looked, expecting to see people and instead found a wall of flames that looked real but couldn’t be. There was no heat.

Kali was making an illusion for her distraction.

Terry hurried forward. They must have security cameras everywhere. Her only hope was that they didn’t review the footage as aggressively as they should. She let herself into Brenner’s office and took one moment for a deep victory breath.

Not victorious yet.

“Right,” she murmured. She set her bag on a chair, pulled out the tidy black and gray camera, and placed it on Dr. Brenner’s desk. Wait a second.

The photographs needed context.

She circled the desk to take a picture of the nameplate. DR. MARTIN BRENNER. Mentally she added: evil genius. The camera whirred and spat the photo out the front.

In this silent room, the noise echoed…she prayed it was only in her head, the acid talking. She placed the picture on the desk, starting a stack. Only seven left until she ran out of film.

She placed the camera on Brenner’s desk and went to the file cabinet. I