Virtually His. Gennita Low

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СКАЧАТЬ Kirkland, I can tell you like her. I’ll take care to keep her safe.”

      Kirkland cleared his throat. He hadn’t wanted to appear too concerned for Miss Roston, but he’d gotten to like the young woman.

      The intercom buzzed. “Derek’s ready, sir.”

      “Is she asleep?”

      “Yes.”

      Dr. Kirkland picked up his case. “Shall we go?”

      “Wait.”

      The man turned on his monitor and flipped channels. Helen Roston’s room at the Center was all gray, just as her test required it to be. But the woman in there wasn’t gray. Even from where Kirkland stood, she emanated a vibrancy all her own. The way she slept, on the right side of the bed, blankets kicked off. The way her features were perfectly composed, a small smile still playing on her lips. The way she was dressed, in a small shirt and underwear. Gray, of course. The way one long naked leg was tucked under the other. Helen Roston obviously didn’t mind being monitored half-naked. Just like him—Kirkland returned his gaze to his patient.

      “If I weren’t a doctor, I would feel this is an invasion of privacy,” Kirkland said.

      “She signed the agreement. She knows we’ll be watching her when she undergoes sleep training here.”

      “She thinks scientists and doctors are. Not you.”

      The man glanced at Dr. Kirkland, a brow raised. “She’s a smart woman, Doc. She’s GEM. She has more training than you’ll ever know.” He returned his gaze to the sleeping woman. “She knows I’ve been watching her.”

      “She’s even more remarkable then. But that’s good. She needs to trust you, or this isn’t going to work.”

      The other man didn’t say anything as he continued looking at the screen. Kirkland didn’t interrupt any more, quietly waiting. He was used to the man staring at the test subject. It was the same intense stare every time, as if he was memorizing every detail of the sleeping woman. Kirkland wasn’t a psychologist; he wasn’t going to make any professional conclusion about that. As a scientist, he found this whole thing quite bizarre, but all experiments at the Center were bizarre.

      The man next to him was probably one of the Center’s most successful experiments and at times, Kevin Kirkland wasn’t even sure he was human. His abilities were legendary. Kirkland glanced at the screen, then back at the man. What a pair. Helen stirred, stretched, and then turned the other way, tucking one hand between the bed and one leg.

      “I’m ready.”

      The elevator took them to a sealed chamber. It was gray, just like the other room. The man stripped without preliminaries and climbed onto the special bed. Kirkland adjusted the straps and the headrest that was similar to the one Helen Roston had in her room.

      “You can skip the subliminal message tape.”

      Dr. Kirkland paused, trying to hide his surprise. “There is no—”

      “Doc. I know when my mind is being fucked with.”

      How? Another mystery about the man. “I had orders.”

      “I’m not angry. Just skip the subliminal loop. I’m as honest and loyal to the government as I’m ever going to get. You can choose to tell them that or not.”

      “I’ll have to tell them that if I change any order of the test.”

      The man reached out, caught hold of Dr. Kirkland’s wrist. “I’m no longer a test. She is.”

      “You’re part of it,” Kirkland reminded calmly. He sighed. “I won’t put on the subliminal text.”

      The man released him and settled back comfortably. “Is she on theta wave yet?”

      The doctor read the panel on the brain entrainment machine. The tonal frequencies were specifically designed to merge the brain waves of both right and left sides of the hemisphere. “No. Beta.”

      The man closed his eyes. “Don’t get on theta till she’s in REM state.”

      “Why do you want her to be dreaming when we hit theta?”

      “Just do it, Doc.”

      Kirkland nodded and dimmed the lights. His other orders had been to follow the man’s intuition when it came to the tests. This sounded like one of them.

      “Good night.”

      “Good night, Doc.”

      Kirkland punched the code to lock the chamber and took the elevator to the next level. Derek turned around, the audible tones from the two machines in the background.

      “We aren’t using the subliminal tape for Chamber B tonight, Derek. And we’re going to wait till Miss Roston hits REM before theta stage.”

      “Why, Dr. Kirkland? Are we now monitoring her dreams?”

      “No, we have enough on our plate with this operation. We don’t need that.” Yet. He didn’t know. “Adjust the template.”

      The monitors only showed the brain waves and breathing patterns of the subjects. The panel registered the vitals and different changes through the sleep session. There was privacy for Miss Roston, even if she didn’t know it. As for the other…that display was top-secret and even Derek didn’t have the clearance to know his identity.

      “Alpha wave,” announced Derek.

      That man could fall asleep at will. Even after three months of watching it happen, Kirkland was amazed at the man’s total control. He checked Helen Roston’s monitor. She had started Rapid Eye Movement, usually the period when dreams happened.

      “Slow down to theta, Derek.”

      The doctor opened his case and pulled out the files to make his notations. There was nothing unusual at the slowed-down readings. Over the intercom Helen Roston let out a soft snore and a tiny purr.

      Four

      She dove in after him. He was like some magical sea creature—beautifully formed, sleek and powerful, and very, very fast. She wanted to get close and see all of him. Circling around in the dark waters, she lost sight of him between the rocks and shadows. She couldn’t hold her breath any longer and struggled upwards. She’d swum too deep. She would never make it to the surface. A powerful arm curved around her waist. She turned. She couldn’t see but she knew it was him. She put her arms around him, holding tight as he seemed to shoot through the water like a rocket. Somehow, she’d known he would be there to get her out.

      The first thing Helen heard was the tick-tock of the clock. She opened her eyes slowly. It didn’t surprise her anymore, waking up and hearing things louder than they should be. All her senses, especially her hearing, were usually magnified when her mind was in between sleeping and waking. Sometimes she fancied she heard conversations but that could be just part of her dreams.

      She stretched out her arms over her head and gave a yawn. Dreams. She had always had vivid dreams; it was something СКАЧАТЬ