Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1)(12)

“Coming,” he said, no question to it.

She was.

After one deep breath, one last inhalation of outside air, Terry went inside.

The lobby underscored how official this place was. Every inch around her screamed government building, critical business. There were more soldiers stationed at entry points to various sections of the building. A front desk with an unsmiling older woman and a thick log-in book for visitors. Not a speck of dust anywhere to be seen. The floor looked as clean as fresh laundry. Spotless, not even smudged from the dirt of shoes.

“You’ll get badges after today, but for now, please sign in,” the driver said, leading them to the desk.

“Don’t forget you’re Terry now,” Ken said softly.

His face was unreadable.

Gloria approached the sign-in book, but before she could set pen to paper a set of more elaborate doors farther inside swung open. Beyond them, a guard held a rifle straight at his side. Dr. Brenner strode through. She caught his face as he entered the lobby, how it transformed into a charming smile when he saw them.

She smiled back.

“Dr. Brenner!” she called out.

“Hello, everyone,” he said. He waved a hand to the desk, not bothering to make eye contact with the woman behind it. “Don’t worry about this. We’ll get you set up to bypass the desk today.”

The attendant pursed her lips as if to say she’d be the one to get in trouble, but nodded consent. Not that it mattered.

When Dr. Brenner gestured and turned, they followed him. Already, they were being treated as special.

Terry saw Alice get distracted by the soldier’s rifle as they passed into a long white hallway, and gently took her arm to steer her forward.

Alice started to pull away, then relaxed. “Oh,” she said, realizing what she’d done. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Terry hurried to catch up to Dr. Brenner. “Tell us all about this place and your work.”

The flash of surprise in his eyes told her he wasn’t used to being asked to do that.

“What’s to tell?” he asked. “You’re about to see it all for yourselves.”

“Right,” Terry said. “Excellent point. I’m just excited.”

His charming smile reappeared. “Good.”

They walked through a maze of hallways, a cleaning-solution smell in the air and still no dirt anywhere on the white tile floor and walls. Bright lights dangled along the ceiling in perfect rows. This was a labyrinth Terry knew she’d have trouble finding her way back out of alone.

They met the occasional person in a lab coat or orderly scrubs who nodded to Dr. Brenner, ignoring their group as if they were invisible. Their driver had vanished. Dr. Brenner finally stopped at an elevator and entered a code into a keypad, which beeped an almost friendly tone in response. Then he pressed the Down button.

Alice’s eyes were huge, watching. She bit her lip, probably to keep from asking about the technology.

A placard beneath the keypad: RESTRICTED AREA. SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIRED.

Terry kept waiting for the thing that would make her assumptions a leap too far, that would prove her wrong. So far, it was missing.

The elevator doors glided smoothly open.

“All aboard,” Dr. Brenner said.

On they went.

Alice peered around the impeccably clean car as it zipped downward, but somehow managed to stay quiet.

Apparently their experiment would take place on a sub-level. The second sub-level, Terry noted, watching as the panel of buttons went dim and the elevator stopped.

Here, at last, were more people. Two men and one woman—the same from the campus—waited in lab coats in the subterranean hallway. They held clipboards and stepped forward to meet the party.

One each greeted Alice, then Gloria, then Ken by name. Dr. Brenner turned that practiced smile to Terry. “I’ll be working with you.” He added, “And I’ll check in on the rest of you periodically.”

He nodded over his shoulder to his colleagues, and Terry continued to follow him up the long hall. Glancing back, she saw the others being led through various doors. She took a look through the glass panel of the next door they passed, and saw an unmade cot, a small table, and a counter with various supplies on it.

They went on.

“We’ll be in here,” Dr. Brenner said, stopping to indicate an open room. Inside was the orderly who’d driven them.

This was larger than the room she’d looked in, with a cot covered by plain white sheets against one wall, along with a table, several chairs, and a variety of machines. A blue and white gown lay on the bed.

“You can get changed and then we’ll come back in,” Dr. Brenner said.

“Into a hospital gown?” she asked with a nervous swallow.

“Yes. It’ll be more comfortable.” He paused, his eyes settling on her. “You do still want to participate?”

Terry’s mouth had grown too dry to speak. She nodded.

“Don’t be nervous,” he said. “Just poke your head out into the hall when you’re finished.”

He spoke as if all this was so normal. The orderly left with him, the door shutting with a solid click. She almost tried it, to test if it was truly unlocked, but then shook her head. Why would they lock her up? She was supposed to open it and call them back in…