Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(100)
Donovan covered my hand and gave it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “I’m sure it worked,” he promised. “We scanned your brain again just a little while ago and can already see the results. You likely just need something to jog your memory since you’ve been disconnected from it for so long, and I believe I know just the thing to do that. Do you feel well enough to go for a walk with me?”
I glanced down at Donovan’s hand covering mine. There was something soothing about the contact, something comforting, almost fatherly.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Still a little sluggish, though. I’m having a hard time getting my brain kicked into gear.” Obviously. If I’m feeling cordial toward Donovan. “I don’t suppose you have any coffee or Mountain Dew or something around here? A bathroom wouldn’t hurt, either.”
Donovan laughed. “Of course.” He waved toward a door on the other side of the room. “The bathroom is right there. Feel free to shower or freshen up however you’d like. I believe you’ll find a bag of your things in there.”
My things? When and how did he get a bag of my things? Seeing my surprise, Donovan explained. “I had a couple of my soldiers visit your parents’ home last night while you slept.” He held up a hand to warn me off before I could accuse him of anything evil. “Don’t worry; we know your parents are with Major Wilks at the moment, and we didn’t harm anything. I simply figured you would appreciate a few changes of your own clothes other than the scrubs or uniform jumpsuits I could provide you with here.”
I wanted to yell at him, but that was actually pretty thoughtful. “Oh. Well, thanks, then, but don’t go creeping around my parents’ house again. They are off limits. Got it?”
“Of course. We have no need to disrupt your parents’ lives. However, someday if you’d ever like them to join you here, we could make those arrangements. Or perhaps set up visits with them.”
My mouth fell open. “Seriously? You would let me visit them?”
Donovan smiled at my shock. “Jamie, as you said on the phone yesterday, you are a guest here, not a prisoner. We hope to work with you. Not just a subject to experiment on. Of course, we’ll need to do the occasional test to try and figure out the mystery of you, but we hope to have you join us, be part of the team. Once you can be trusted not to bring Major Wilks and his ACEs to our doorstep, then you will be free to come and go as you please.”
I stood there, completely incapable of moving. He’d stunned me with that revelation. The offer he presented me with wasn’t anything like the cage I’d expected to be put in. Maybe Donovan wasn’t the monster I’d always made him out to be. Still, I was wary of what he wanted from me. “What would you have me doing? What do you want from me?”
“How about we discuss that after we get your needs taken care of? You must be hungry.”
Now that he mentioned it, I was starving. Temper calmed, I hopped off the bed and made my way to the bathroom. Then I laughed at his expression when I came out showered, changed, and ready to go only seconds later. “Superspeed’s pretty handy.”
After blinking a couple more times, Donovan laughed softly and held out his arm to me. “You are truly a wonder. I’m so glad you’ve come to us. Shall we, my dear?”
I almost accepted his offered arm. I reached out, but at the last second, I realized what I was about to do and quickly pulled back. Donovan looked neither shocked nor disappointed. He simply accepted my rejection and waved his arm toward the door. “This way.”
Donovan gave me a tour as he took me wherever we were going. “We have several buildings on the compound. This is the medical facility. Then we also have the labs and the living quarters.” We exited a set of double doors into the lodge I’d warmed up in the previous night. “This is our main reception area. It’s the only way in and out of the complex.”
He led me through the toasty warm area past the fireplace that was once again burning strong, and used a key card to open a set of elevator doors. “Reception area for who?” I finally asked. “You can’t possibly have a lot of visitors to your secret facility in the middle of the North freaking Pole.”
Donovan laughed as he pushed a button that appeared to be one floor down. “True, but my soldiers come and go, and often they are as chilled through as you were when you arrived last night. It’s good to have a place for them to warm up that is near the medical facility.”
We stepped out of the elevator into a long hallway. I was once again staring down a hall with no windows; dim, fluorescent lighting; and plain, boring off-white walls. Donovan and the U.S. government must have hired the same contractor.
“Each of our buildings is connected by underground tunnels.”
“Convenient, considering the weather outside.”
Donovan slid me a rueful glance. “I’m not much a fan of the cold myself, but I had an accident with my desert facility not that long ago.”
I smirked. “Yeah, not going to say sorry about that.”
Donovan pursed his lips, but said nothing in response.
At the end of the hall we took an elevator up one floor into one of the other buildings. I recognized at once that we were in the residential building because I could hear chattering and laughter along with various sounds of dishes clanking, showers running, televisions playing, and other random sounds. We didn’t head toward the noise, though. We turned down a quieter hall heading the opposite direction and came to a door marked Subject Residence Hall. “Subjects?”