A Changed Man (Altered Book 1) (24 page)

"I mean yes!" She yelled. "Yes I like it!" She was laughing hysterically and squirming to get away.

Remington ceased his torture and placed his hand behind her neck, pulling her to him he crushed his lips against hers. He was lost. He just wanted to lay there and breath her in. He was in so deep now with this beautiful, funny, sexy woman he wasn't sure if he would ever be able to leave her.

"Especially if I get to wake up to a kiss like that every morning." Jackie said as she pulled back. "As much as I don’t want to get out of this bed, we should probably get up. Jordan will be here soon."

"I could stay here with you all day." Remington agreed. "But you're right, we need to get moving. We're going in for Rick tonight."

Jackie moved back in close, tightening her arms around him. "I need you to make me a promise."

Remington knew she was worried. He hated leaving her behind but there was no way in hell he would chance something happening to her. This wasn't her fight. "Name it."

"Come back in one piece." Jackie laid a soft kiss on his lips. She liked this guy, a lot. She hadn't felt this comfortable with anyone in, well, never. She may even love him, but it was way too early to throw around the L word. Plus, what if he didn't feel the same? God, that would be embarrassing. She knew he cared for her, she could see it in his eyes, but love?

"I promise."

He said it so sincerely, his eyes burned into hers. Jackie could feel her own eyes tearing up. She looked away blinking rapidly and blew out a hard breath. "Okay then." She rolled out of his arms, off the bed, and headed into the bathroom.

Tess was making her rounds; she couldn't get her mind off of yesterday and what Rick Davis had said to her. She knew that if she didn't check out his story it would haunt her for the rest of her life. If she found out that these people were innocent of their convicted crimes and being kidnapped and kept here against their will and she did nothing to help them, she would never be able to forgive herself. She could hope it was just the ranting of another convict saying whatever he had to to get free, but she needed to be sure, not only for their lives, but also for hers. If he was right about what was going on here, they weren’t going to just let her quit one-day. They couldn't chance her telling anyone about where she used to work and she could kiss her retirement goodbye. They would retire her all right, and it wouldn't be with a gold watch and plaque. Tess decided after her rounds she would try to snoop around a bit. This place was like a maze so if she got caught she would just say she accidently walked down the wrong hall and got lost and hope like hell they believed her. Tess reached Corridor D. She said hello to the guard and made small talk as he followed her to the cell marked twelve.

"You want me to leave the door open?" The guard asked.

"That’s okay, just wait outside. I think it makes them more comfortable if they can't see you. I have my panic button and spray. I'll yell if I need you."

"Yes ma'am." The guard unlocked the cell door and opened it.

Tess knocked on the wooden door. She tried to be polite to all the prisoners, er, patients. It made them feel a sense of control if they thought they had the choice to open the door and let her in or not. Nine out of ten times they opened the door to her. Tess knocked again. "It's Dr. Morgan." She said loudly against the door.

Rick opened the door to see the doctor standing there with her clipboard and medical bag. Her long chestnut colored hair that she wore down yesterday was wound up in a tight bun. Loose tendrils fell against the side of her face like a living frame.

"Mr. Davis." Tess greeted him as she walked into the room. "I'm sorry I'm back so quickly, there were a few things I forgot to get from you yesterday."

Rick moved to let her in then closed the heavy door. "More blood from your caged rats?"

Tess didn't want to do this with him again today. "No, I just need to get some vitals and thought we could talk for a few minutes. Where's Dillon?" She asked not seeing her anywhere.

"They took her." He said visibly upset.

"Took her?" Tess was confused.

"Yeah, took her for “training.”" He answered using air quotes. "They probably have her in a room right now throwing fucking refrigerators and shit at her!"

Tess could see the fury in Rick’s eyes and wanted to calm him down. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. Can we sit down for a few minutes? I don't have much time."

Rick drew in a deep breath and blew it out. He walked over to the bed and sat down. Tess followed him, setting her bag and clipboard on the floor beside her feet. She opened the bag and pulled out her blood pressure cuff.

"Listen." She said in a low tone. She lifted the sleeve of his t-shirt and wrapped the cuff around his arm. "I've been thinking about what you said. I don't know why. I have heard this same thing from other patients in the six months I've been working here. My employers told me what I would hear when I started; that some of you would get scared, want out of the deal you had made." She started squeezing the bulb inflating the cuff.

"Deals? There were no deals!" He said in a loud whisper. "I don't know about everyone in here, but I was kidnapped. Dillon was kidnapped, and so was Remington. So I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say everyone in this damn place is being held for experimentation that has nothing to do with any crimes."

Tess released the cuff from Ricks arm. "Remington? Who's he? She asked picking up her clipboard and marking down his blood pressure. She started flipping through her lists of names. "I don't see a Remington in my paperwork."

"That’s because the magnificent bastard escaped." Rick said with a smile.

Tess looked at him with surprise. "Escaped?"

"Look lady, that’s all you're getting out of me about Remington. I don't trust you as far as I can... well, I don't trust you." He said looking at her like he knew just how far he could actually throw her.

Tess swallowed hard then dug into her bag again pulling out a thermometer and pulse oximeter. She held out her hand waiting for Rick to give her his. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I thought a lot about what you said yesterday and I'm going to look into it."

Rick held out his finger so Tess could attach the oximeter. "You are?" He asked anxiously.

Tess put the thermometer to his ear then wrote down his temperature. "Yeah, I have no idea why I'm doing this." She laughed nervously.

"Because you know, deep down, that something isn't right here. What these monsters are doing to these people isn't right." He looked her straight in the eye. "Don't do anything stupid. You have to be so careful, or else you could end up in here with the rest of us."

Tess removed the pulse reader from Ricks finger and put her tools back inside her bag. "I have to go, they will start to question if I stay here longer than it takes to get your vitals."

"When are you coming back?" He asked standing with her.

Tess flipped through the pages on her clipboard. "I come back in two days to take blood from Dillon. I can't come before that, any change in my schedule could alert them of fraternizing. Don't get over excited, I don't even know if I believe anything you're saying yet."

"Yes you do. You wouldn't be taking the chance you're about to take if you didn't." Rick picked up her bag and handed it to her. “See you in two days doc."

Tess was sitting in her office putting the information she had collected on all her patients that day into her computer when there was a knock at the door.           "Yes? Come in." She said standing up behind her desk.

"Ms. Morgan." Slade greeted her as he walked in to the office.

"Mr. Smith, what a nice surprise." Her boss. The man that signed those large checks that afforded her the adorable cottage with the huge windows she lived in. She's met him a few times; once when she was hired, then a couple of times in the halls. This was the first time he had ever come to her office.

"I was in the neighborhood and thought I would stop by to see how you were getting along." He sat down in the chair facing her desk. "I heard you took samples and vitals from a new recruit today. A Mr. Rick Davis. Have you turned them in to the lab yet?"

Tess sat back down in her own chair. This was strange. He had never asked about her workings with another patient before. "Not yet sir, I was just logging everything into the computer first. I will drop everything off at the lab shortly on my way to lunch."

"Very good, very good." Slade said. "I want him in the rotation as soon as possible. I have a great feeling about him."

Tess tried not to act surprised. "Yes sir."

Slade started to stand, then paused and faced Tess once more. "Did he by any chance mention anything to you about a friend of his? A man named Remington?"

Tess kept her composure. "No sir. I try to keep the conversation to a minimum if you know what I mean. If I engage I get a lot of pleas for release. You know, everything they told us we would hear in orientation."

"Yes, of course." Slade stood and made his way to the door. "Keep up the good work Dr. Morgan. I'm sure you'll go far in your career here."

Tess stood. "Thank you sir. I will."

Slade left her office and once the door was closed Tess slumped back in her chair. It took her a minute to calm herself. If he had any idea she was lying to him, he didn't show it. She finished logging her entries and grabbed her medical bag on the way out the door. She had less than an hour before her lunch break. Her plan was to stop by the lab to drop off her samples, do a little exploring, and pray to God she didn't get caught.

                       Chapter 17

Jackie and Remington were on the porch having coffee when a small black twister came bursting out from the tree line. It didn't make a lot of wind, just enough to blow a few leaves around. It drifted towards them and on to the porch before slowing and taking the form of a man.

"How do you keep your clothes?" Jackie asked.

Remington looked at Jackie, shocked by her question. "Would you rather he showed up naked?" He laughed.

"Sorry to disappoint you beautiful." Jordan smiled.

"Watch it." Remington cut in.

"No, I'm really curious." Jackie said. "How come we can't see your clothes when you’re not in human form?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Jordan answered honestly. "I think it's more of a cloaking mechanism. When I fade, everything that’s attached to me fades. Watch." He took Jackie by the hand and started to fade into a mist.

Remington jumped up from his seat.

"It's okay!" Jackie stopped him. "He's not hurting me."

They both watched as Jordan turned into a dark floating mass and Jackie’s hand had disappeared too. They could see her arm from the wrist up but her hand was included in the black shadow that was Jordan.

"That’s enough." Remington said pulling Jackie toward him and breaking her contact with Jordan. Her hand appeared once more, like it had just slipped out of a black evening glove.

"That was so cool!" Jackie said charged. "I could still feel my hand. It felt a little cold, but that’s it." She looked up at Jordan as he took his human form once more. "How do you control the spinning? Can you take any shape you want? How fast can you go?"

"Whoa Jack." Remington said with a chuckle. "One question at a time. Let the kid answer."

Jordan sat down on the steps as Remington and Jackie returned to their seats. "I can manipulate the mass however I want when I'm in that form. I can be a shadow in a corner as you once saw."

"That better never happen again." Remington said sternly.

Jordan laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. Anyway as I was saying, I can take the form of a shadow; I can make myself a little bigger or smaller if I want to. It's hard to explain but it’s like an energy field that I can expand or retract at will. I can't shrink down to the size of a cat nor can I be as big as a dragon, but I can manipulate my shape. That’s how I can make the twister. I'm not actually spinning; just the cloaked energy field that surrounds me is spinning. I can stretch my form; it's how I can get through a window or a large hole. As for the speed, I can go really fast and stop on a dime. Haven’t actually had a chance to clock it yet, but I'm guessing it's upward of forty miles per hour."

"That’s incredible!" Jackie said.

Jordan appreciated her praise. "It wasn't without pain at first. I got the terrible nosebleeds, the banging headaches. I even threw up the first few times I stayed in that form for more than ten minutes. It all stopped though once my body accepted it, it seemed to actually thrive on it. I heal fast now. A deep cut takes a day or two, a break maybe a week. It's astonishing."

Jackie looked at Remington. "That’s why you healed so fast. Whatever they did to you didn't give you the same power, but it did give you both regenerative properties."