Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(101)

I raised a brow at Donovan. He wasn’t the least bit sympathetic. “It’s simply the way of things, Jamie. They are here for research purposes. They are not caged up and treated like animals, though. They are not lab rats, as you said.”

I wasn’t so sure, but I kept my mouth shut. There was no point in arguing with a narcissistic egomaniac like Donovan.

I followed him through the door, down a short hall past several small sleeping rooms, and around a corner into a living room/lounge area. It was fairly large, and as lavish as the sitting room I’d just been in. Again, no windows—not that there would be anything to see besides an endless blanket of snow—but it wasn’t bad. Nicer than The Lair by far. And it wasn’t empty.

My heart stuttered at the sight of the elderly woman reading a bodice-ripper romance novel in a rocking chair, and the young girl with hair and skin as pale as the moon sitting at a table, humming softly as she drew a picture. I’d never seen their photos, but I knew who they were. Tyson had told me all about Betty and Natalia. Donovan waved a hand toward them and said, “Do they seem tortured or mistreated to you?”

They really didn’t. They seemed content. But then, looks could be deceiving. And though there were no bars, a cage was still a cage.

Both the woman and girl looked up when he spoke. Or, I should say, Betty looked up. Natalia nearly jumped out of her skin, and grew impossibly paler at the sound of Donovan’s voice. Her fear of him nearly threw me into a rage, but when she saw me she gasped and leapt from her seat, shooting across the room to wrap her skinny little arms around me. “You came,” she whispered. “He said you’d come.”

Startled, I hugged the tiny girl back, careful to be as gentle as possible because she looked as if a feather could break her. This was my first experience with a child, and she was so sweet that I was a goner for her instantly. “Hi, there.”

Her eyes lit up with excitement, but it couldn’t cover their lack of luster. They were a crystal blue, but so pale they were practically the color of water. They were also sunken in and rimmed with dark circles. She wore a white cap-sleeve nightgown that showed off big, ugly bruises ranging from dark purple to green to yellow dotting her arms. She looked frail, breakable, and sick, but when she grinned at me her face lit up. She looked much sicker than the last time I saw her.

When that thought registered, I gasped. “I remember you!”

Her pale little cheeks produced two tiny little pink spots as she nodded. “I’m Natalia.”

I shook my head in utter disbelief. “I know. I found you in the Visticorp lab. I got you out. The four of you. I sent you up a maintenance tunnel in the air filtration system, and then went to find Carter.” I found Donovan’s gaze. “I remember!”

He grinned. “I thought seeing a familiar face might do the trick.”

It did. The more I thought back to the last time I’d seen Natalia, the more I remembered. I hadn’t remembered Natalia until I saw her, but then my short trip to the Visticorp lab had come flooding back to me, and from there I was able to sort of work my way backward. I couldn’t remember everything. There were obvious gaps in my memory, but maybe those would come with time.

Natalia broke me from my reverie. “Are you here to rescue us?”

Instant mood crusher. The lights in the room flickered. Swallowing back a lump of emotion, I crouched down to her level and gave her a soft smile, hoping she wouldn’t sense how much her question had just broken my heart. “Do you need to be rescued?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but quickly shut it again. Her eyes flicked over my shoulder at Donovan before she stared at her lap and bit her lip.

Yes. I jumped when the fierce voice spoke in my head. The sensation was startling, but not shocking and not wholly unexpected since I knew that Betty was telepathic. She, more than any of us, needs to be rescued.

When I shot Donovan a suspicious glare, he hunched down beside me and smiled at Natalia. “Sweetheart.” He spoke softly, kindly, but his sincerity rang false like it had with me earlier. It didn’t help that Natalia flinched when he came close. If he touched her at all, I might just fry him to a crisp, my memory be damned. “Are things not better here than they were before?” he asked her. “Don’t you have your own lovely house now? And don’t you get to stay with your family all the time?”

He waved a hand toward Betty, as if she were her family. I wasn’t sure when Natalia had been captured, but maybe the other subjects were the only family she knew.

“Isn’t that much nicer?” he continued. “Haven’t I apologized for not understanding your feelings before? Don’t I take good care of you now?”

Still gnawing on her bottom lip, Natalia slowly lifted her eyes to Donovan. She was wary and confused, but when she finally nodded to him, there was truth in it.

He flashed her a wide, toothy smile, pleased with her answer because he saw as much as I did that he was breaking her down and earning her trust, however slowly. His manipulation of such a young, vulnerable child was disgusting. It made me want to punch him in the face.

She can’t stay here. He is slowly killing her.

I glanced at Betty again, wondering if she could read my thoughts or just speak to me. If I tried to talk back to her, would she hear me? Because that would be super handy.

I can hear you. It’s easier if you try to focus. Send me a direct message instead of just letting me pick through scattered thoughts.