The Secret Child (DI Amy Winter #2)(48)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The Curtis Institute, December 1984

Floating in his chamber, Luka was frozen in fear. Darkness had closed in from every angle. As the water temperature dropped, the cold pricked his skin like a thousand tiny needles. The tests had progressed, and he would have given anything to go back to choosing between coloured sweets and cake. It wasn’t the physical discomfort that frightened him, it was the feeling of impending doom. The monsters were coming, and he was too weak to fight them any more. He had promised himself that he would not cry. He would not give the doctor the satisfaction of reading his emotions. Every sob, every wail, had been documented up until now.

It had been weeks since he had been allowed outside. Isolation was part of the experiment – it was as if they wanted him to fall apart. The tablets he was forced to swallow were followed by hallucinations which hunted him down mercilessly. Vomiting sessions had carved bony cheekbones into his face and his skin was paper-white from lack of sun. Dr Curtis was pushing him hard and Luka didn’t know how much more he could take. His thoughts were stolen by a malevolent presence lurking in his periphery. The monsters were here, dark creatures with bulging eyes and sharpened teeth. He told himself they weren’t real. But his pulse pounded as he heard their feet drag, his name on their laboured breaths.

Luka’s fists grew rigid as he struggled for air. It was impossible to scream and his heartbeat thundered in his ears. Sucking in a breath, he grasped for purchase in his watery tomb. Eyes open or closed, it made no difference. There was only blackness and the monster looming above him, jaws wide and salivating as it prepared to bite down on his head. Luka pulled at the tube feeding air into his lungs. The thick rubber gloves encasing his hands had reduced his sense of touch. A gargled scream left his lips as water gushed into his mouth. What had he done? Salty water flooded his airways and he gasped for air that would not come.

A sudden slice of light cut through his disorientation as the doors of his chamber were pulled back. Luka chugged for breath, the whites of his eyes rolling in his mask. A set of strong arms rescued him, and he had never been so relieved to see light.

Water gushed from the mask as Deborah lifted it from his head, and Luka coughed and choked, inhaling a desperate breath.

‘Slow your breathing,’ Deborah said, enveloping him in her arms. ‘It’s OK. Your pipe became disconnected. You’re safe. I have you.’

On shaky legs, he clambered out of the chamber, salt water stinging his eyes and burning his throat.

‘Luka. Speak to me. Are you OK?’ Deborah swivelled her head towards the doctor, who was standing with a clipboard in his hand.

He frowned at Luka as if he were a lab rat who had failed to find the cheese.

‘I hate you!’ Luka screamed in his Russian tongue, knowing the doctor would not understand.

Deborah pursed her lips, for once failing to translate.

‘I hate you and I wish you were dead!’ Luka’s words were delivered in an angry stream, cursing the man he hated with all of his might.

‘What’s he saying?’ Dr Curtis snapped. ‘He’s ruined the experiment, he’ll have to go in again.’

Luka dug his fingers into Deborah’s forearm at the thought of returning to the tank.

‘He’s been in there for four hours.’ Deborah glared at the doctor. ‘He’s had enough for one day.’

‘I decide when the experiment is complete. I want him back in there now.’

‘Nyet, nyet! ’ Luka cried, his body stiff as he tried to clamber away.

‘Shhh, it’s OK,’ Deborah soothed. ‘Did you see things? Did they seem real?’

Eyes wide and unblinking, Luka delivered a sharp nod of the head.

A timer beeped to signal the test had come to an end. Deborah turned back to the doctor. ‘It’s over. You have your results. The hallucinations are hitting him with full force. The fact that he disconnected his air supply can be updated on our records. We’ve pushed him as far as he can go.’

But the doctor did not seem convinced. ‘Such a shame. I was hoping a tweak in medication would keep them at bay.’ So that was what the isolation chamber was about. It was the quickest way of finding out if the hallucinations were still there.

‘I’ll take him back to his room, get him fed. Extract a full update.’ Deborah gave Dr Curtis a reassuring smile. ‘Besides, Shirley is expecting you home. Aren’t you going to the theatre tonight?’

‘Very well,’ he replied, barely giving Luka a second glance.

‘I want Mama!’ Luka shivered beneath his towel after Dr Curtis had left.

‘Shh, shh, shh, it’s OK, you have me,’ Deborah responded, her words softly spoken. ‘Sweetheart, I’m sorry you were frightened, but I never left your side. We’ll change your medication. I won’t let anything bad happen to you – ever.’

Luka’s chin wobbled, his eyes glistening with tears. ‘I want to go home. I don’t want to live here anymore.’

‘Soon. Just be patient. It’ll all be over soon.’

‘Why doesn’t Papa write? I want my papa.’

Taking a second towel from the radiator, Deborah wrapped it around him, giving his shoulders a squeeze. ‘I’ll tell you what. You keep going with the last of the tests and I’ll speak to your papa. Maybe we could organise a phone call.’