The Rasner Effect (23 page)

Obenchain’s fingers twisted the knob right, then a little left as he selected the strength of current he planned to shoot into Rick.

“All righty,” Derrick said. “Now short that thing out. But if you turn our boy into a vegetable, what happens to this place rests on your conscience, not ours.”

Obenchain looked over his shoulder at Miller and the others and then back down at Rick. He held the taser up over Rick’s chest, his finger over the taser trigger.

“Do it, Doctor.” Jen tapped him in the back of the head with her gun. Her patience was running short. She was just as Rick remembered, but how and from where?

“D-doctor Oben...” Rick’s voice was barely a whisper, but it was all the sound he was able to pull from his throat. “I don’t…under…what?”

The doctor’s finger twitched. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Then he pulled the trigger.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Obenchain held his finger on the trigger for an eight-count and then released it. He could almost feel the electricity shoot through the gadget and along the wires straight to Rick’s forehead. Rick let out a screech. His neck arched, his head rose up, and then smashed back to the floor with a dull thud. His eyes rolled back. His entire body tightened—like having a seizure. His mouth opened. Obenchain waited for him to scream, he had to be feeling so much pain with the taser strength set so high. Not a sound came from his mouth.

Rick’s body relaxed. His breathing was harsh, his eyes squeezed tight. If he didn’t go into cardiac arrest…

Obenchain poised to snatch his cell phone from his pocket and phone for EMTs.

“Well?” Jen shouted.

Obenchain didn’t raise his gaze from watching the rise and fall of Rick’s chest. His breathing remained raspy and sporadic. Sweat dripped off him. Some ran into his ears.

“I don’t think we’ve shorted it out yet,” Derrick said.

Did he really want to do this? There might still be time to stop. He felt Rick’s carotid again. The pulse was slowing, stabilizing.

“Doc?”

“No. No, it’s not shorted out yet.”

“Then do it again!” Jen ordered.

With a swell of pained regret, Obenchain pulled the trigger a second time. Rick’s body tightened again, his teeth grated together. A telling drop of blood appeared in his right nostril.

“Why are they doing this?” Janet yelled out, but no one responded.

Obenchain held his finger across the trigger for another eight-count. Smoke emanated from the wires as well as the probes attached to Rick’s flesh. His body started to shake.

Obenchain removed his finger from the trigger.

“Come on,” Jen poked him in the back of the head with her gun again.

“I’m working as quickly as I can!” Obenchain shouted back at her. “This needs to be precise! Too much or too little current and you won’t get this psychopathic lunatic back within your ranks!”

Jen cocked her gun and pointed it in Obenchain’s face. “Don’t get snippy with me, Doctor. I get what’s mine back and you get what’s yours back. Just think about…”

“Arnold is
all
I’m thinking about. And I damn well wonder if even
his
life or mine are worth releasing this psychotic murderer back on an unsuspecting society!”

“What in the world are they talking about?” Janet hissed at Miller. Obenchain turned to look in time to see the facility director dismiss her question with a furious wave of the hand.

He looked up at Jen, expecting a response to his outburst, but it seemed their verbal joust was over. Instead, she lowered the gun and stood back wearing a huge grin on her face. Obenchain followed her gaze down to Rick, whose pair of wide angry eyes stared back. He barely had time to suck in a gasp of air before Rick Rasner’s left hand lunged out and clutched him by the throat.

In one motion, Rick sat up and then rose to his feet, pulling Obenchain up with him, the ends of his fingers digging into the soft flesh on either side of his windpipe. Rick used his other hand to wrench the suction cups and wires from his head. He heaved them away.

Then he walked forward. Obenchain had to back up, to keep from falling over his own feet. Shuffle step back, shuffle step back, all the while looking into those cold dark eyes. His backside hit something solid, Janet’s desk. The rage grew inside the monster that used to be his patient and then apprentice, Rick Rasner.

“I remember,” Rick growled, his fingers tightened even more. Now he could take in only small amounts of air. “I remember…everything. Everything you did to me. And I’m going to kill you for it.”

Obenchain snaked a hand between them and tried to break Rick’s grip, but the anger manifested itself in superhuman powers and Rick threw his hand off like a pesky insect. Rick leaned his full weight on him. His breath was hot with fury. “All these memories in my head, memories I got from you—my mentor—my friend. Every single one of them—bullshit!” The fingers tightened around the doctor’s throat so that he could take in only small amounts of air. He sounded like a beached whale and there wasn’t a thing he could do to stop it.

Rick shook Obenchain, spitting out the venomous words “You played with my head…you…”

Another drop of blood trickled from Rasner’s nose. When he shook Obenchain, the droplet flew off, landing on his shirtfront.

Jen’s face appeared behind Rick. She put a hand on his shoulder. “Rick, I need you to stop and think for a moment. How much do you remember right now?”

“I remember…you. You’re ah, Jennifer.” He released his grip on Obenchain’s throat and turned away.

The doctor collapsed in a heap, banging off the front of Janet’s desk. He saw stars but they were insignificant. He needed air. He sucked in the life-giving force. Very little came. God, the monster had crushed his windpipe. He rolled on his back and looked up at Jen in a silent plea for help.

He would die if he didn’t get help soon. And it didn’t appear as if any would come. Jen’s attention focused only on the monster. He thought he heard someone say something about helping him, but Jorge Alvino pointed the rifle at her and she shut up.

Time passed in a blur.

Rick Rasner quickly recovered his memory. Jennifer Duke smiled at him. She gave a nod of her head.

“He told me you weren’t real,” Rick said. “He said you were just a figment of my imagination. But I knew you had to exist. The visions were too real.”

“I exist too,” Derrick interjected from somewhere out of Obenchain’s vision.

“How long have I been like—this?”

“It’s hard to say,” Derrick answered. “We don’t know when they put that chip in your head or how long they held you before…”

“How long?” Rick shouted.

“You’ve been missing for just over seven years,” Jen said. “But now you’re back, and we have a lot of catching up to do. How do you feel?”

Rick rubbed his forehead, looked at Derrick, then at the assembled prisoners against the wall. “I feel strange—confused—like I’m waking up from a dream.” He glared down at Obenchain. “Why did he help?”

“We have his kid.” Jen explained with a smirk on her face. “We made a deal. He helps us and we don’t kill the little brat.”

“His kid. Arnold.” Rick glared down at Obenchain. “Fuck it, kill him anyway.”

“No! We have…have…a…d-deal!” Hands clutched to his throat, the doctor’s words came out as a croak. “Please, no.” Gasp. No air came in.

“We don’t need you anymore, so I guess the deal is off,” Jen said.

“N…” Rick’s foot clamped down on Obenchain’s windpipe and pushed.

Would they really kill his son too? Arnold’s face swirled before Obenchain’s eyes. Would he be responsible for the murder of the one human being in the world he sought to protect? Even if they let Arnold live, who would take care of him? Protect him? He already lost his mother to
them.
Arnold’s fate, whatever it would be, was just as much his fault as those animals. He could have pushed to end this psycho’s life, but he needed a test subject for his work. Revenge made him choose Rick Rasner. And now…oh Arnold…

He looked up at the young face. Forgive me, he thought. He knew it was too much to ask even as a final request.

The foot punched down harder on his windpipe. The last thing Obenchain felt was his bladder letting go.

Jen watched him twitch twice and then relax. It was over. On with their lives. Rick stared down at Obenchain’s body and rubbed the bump on his head. A brief moment of satisfaction lit his face as he removed his foot from the man’s throat. His eyes had darkened to black holes that, she had to admit, frightened her a little. She found it sexy, just like she used to.

“Excuse me.” Showing a muster of courage, Hefner stepped forward. Jorge raised his rifle in her direction.

“Ooh, a question from the peanut gallery,” Jen smirked and feigned interest.

“Listen, you obviously have what you came here for. Do you have any
more
business here or could you please just leave us be?”

“The fat lady’s right,” Derrick said. “We should leave. Who knows if somebody got to a phone.”

Jen nodded and looked at Rick, but he didn’t answer. His attention riveted on Miller. The two were in a virtual stare-down from opposite sides of the room. Rick’s angry breathing grew louder.

“Rick?” Jen placed her hand on Rick’s forearm. “Let’s get you out of here.”

“Were you followed? Were the police called?” The rasp of the breathing filled the room. “If not, then we have time.”

“Time for what? We can’t be sure someone out there didn’t manage to sneak a call.”

Rick wasn’t listening. He stomped over to Miller. Jen watched his desire for vengeance get stronger with each step. What had this woman done to him? As he passed Janet’s desk, he reached out and took the gun from Derrick’s hand. Shoulders back, spine straight, he stared into Miller’s eyes. The facility director returned his scowl with one of her own. “Do you expect me to beg you for my life? You are psychotic and I will not give you the satisfaction of even a whimper.”

Rick grabbed Miller by the collar of her suit jacket with his right hand and shoved her against the wall while pointing the gun barrel against her lower jaw. He removed his right hand from her throat and brought his fingers up to her face. He took Miller’s coke-bottle eyeglasses and heaved them over his shoulder. Jen considered trying to stop him, but there appeared to be unfinished business between them. Besides, the bitch had it coming.

Without the magnifying effect of the lenses, Miller’s eyes no longer seemed large or intimidating.

“I don’t care if you beg, whimper, or scream,” Rick whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. “Right now, I am remembering. I’m remembering that I’ve killed a lot of people, a lot of really bad people. None of them have I ever wanted to squeeze the life out of more than
you
!”

“So then do it!” Jen said. “If you want her dead, kill her so we can leave. I really do detest this place.”

Miller’s eyes shifted from Jen to Rick, who pressed the gun under her chin. The sadistic look in his eyes suggested he had every intention of pulling the trigger.

“Say goodbye to your little world, bitch,” Rick said.

Sweat dripped from Miller’s brow. She closed her eyes and took a gulp of air. Suddenly, and surprisingly, Rick lowered the weapon and stepped back. “No, wait…I have a better idea.”

He took a hold of the key around Miller’s neck and ripped it away, breaking the thin chain. He grasped the director by the hair and threw her to the floor in the middle of the room. She landed on all fours and didn’t move.

“Oh yes,” he mumbled, “I know exactly what I’m going to do with you.”

“You care to share with the rest of us, Rick?” Jen asked, part curious, part anxious to get the hell out of there.

“In God’s name, what are you going to do to her?” Janet asked.

“I’ll be right back,” Rick said. “Don’t let her up.”

As Rick marched past Miller, he stepped on her glasses, crushing them under the sole of his black dress shoe.

“Keep her on her knees. Even if she acts up, don’t kill her or knock her out, but beyond that, anything you to do to her is just fine.”

Jen stepped in Rick’s path, looking up into his eyes with a kind, yet menacing grin. “What exactly are you up to?”

“Someone deserves this even more than I do. Just give me a few minutes.”

“What about the rest of these folks?” Derrick asked. “Is there anyone else here we shouldn’t kill if they choose not to behave?”

Rick looked at Sharon Hefner, whom he felt had never shown him an ounce of respect. He looked at Barnes, whom he barely knew. Then, he looked at Janet Murphy, who had tried hard to be a friend. Her eyes were wide with fear. Her glance went to her desk—to her ever-present Bible. Her hands clutched her chest, as if she held that very object.

“No. They’re all the same. Do whatever you need to do to keep order until I get back.”

And with that, Rick stormed out of the room.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Kevin, get away from that door and into your seat now!” Mr. Royal shouted at the young boy standing on his toes, trying to see through the small square window of the door. Clara smiled, glad someone else caught hell for a change.

“Somebody’s lying on the floor out there,” Kevin said, stretching even higher. “I think he got whacked or something!”

Figures she’d be in here where boring was the name of the game. The exciting shit couldn’t happen yesterday when she crouched in that stupid hallway anyway.

Royal marched up to Kevin and grabbed him by the collar. He yanked the boy away from the door and heaved him to the center of the room, pointing at him with one finger. “Get back to your seat! Do not make me say it again.”

Royal stared down Kevin until the boy finally returned to his desk. As he passed, Clara pinched his arm. Kevin muttered to himself until Royal turned a nasty glare on him, and then on everyone in the room one at a time—four boys and two girls, plus a female aide standing over one of the boys in the back. Beside him hung an IV bag on a pole. Clara tried never to look right at the kid, he freaked her out. Of course, so did Royal. Every time he looked at her she knew what he had on his mind.

“Now listen up, people. I don’t know what’s going on out there anymore than
you
do, but I’m sure we’ll all find out soon enough. In the meantime, I want everyone to remain in their seats.” He half-turned toward the door but threw back over his shoulder, “There’s plenty of work on the board to keep you busy. We will keep order in here, understood? I am not opposed to taking everyone’s after-school privileges away for yet another month!”