Second Shift: Order (Shift, #2)(56)

“Tell me,” he whispered.

“We’re not sure how, but one of them made it out of sight.”

“A cleaner, sir—”

A cleaner. Donald sank into the chair; his bones were as cold and heavy as stone. It wasn’t Helen at all.

“Over the hill—” one said.

“We got a call from Eighteen—”

Donald raised his hand a little, his arm trembling and still half-numb from the sleep. “Wait,” he croaked. “One at a time. Why did you wake me” It hurt to talk. He remembered a hill. A view over a hill.

One of the men cleared his throat. The blanket was tucked up under Donald’s chin to stop him from shivering. He hadn’t known he was shivering. They were being so reverent with him, so gentle. What was this He tried to clear his head.

“You told us to wake you—”

“It’s protocol—”

Donald’s eyes fell to the pod, still steaming as the chill escaped. There was a screen at the base, empty readouts without him in there, just a rising temp. A rising temp and a name. Not his name.

And Donald remembered a conversation. He didn’t remember going to sleep, but he remembered a doctor, a man with glasses and an accent telling him how names meant nothing unless that was all we had to go by. Unless we didn’t remember each other, didn’t cross paths, and then a name was everything.

“Sir”

“Who am I” he asked, reading the little screen, not understanding. This wasn’t him. “Why did you wake me”

“You told us to, Mr. Thurman.”

The blanket was wrapped snugly around his shoulders. The chair was turned. They were treating him with respect, like he had authority. The wheels on this chair did not squeak at all.

“It’s okay, sir. Your head will clear soon.”

He didn’t know these people. They didn’t know him.

“The doctor will clear you for duty.”

Nobody knew anyone.

“Right this way.”

And then anyone could be anybody.

“Through here.”

Until it didn’t matter who was in charge. One who might do what was needed, another who might do what was right.

“Very good.”

One name as good as any other.