Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(68)

“Any more impossible than her brain activity?” Dr. Rajeet challenged.

“What happened to this poor young woman?”

“How can she be alive with this much radioactivity in her brain?”

“It’s not just her brain,” the man who’d given Dr. Rajeet the needle of radioactive junk said. “Look. It’s everywhere.”

They were monitoring my entire body and not just my head. Under the scanner, my body was ablaze with pulsating color. My theory must have been correct. I was a walking, talking vat of radioactive toxic waste.

While the doctors continued to marvel at my scans—comic book pun totally intended—I started to freak out. This was so not good. My panic attack was interrupted by another loud gasp. “It can’t be.” Someone dashed to a computer and began typing away. Ryan muttered a curse just as the doctor gasped again. “It’s her. I don’t believe it. This young woman is Chelsea’s Angel!”

Echoing Ryan’s curse, I scrambled out of the scanning machine. The doctor had pulled up pictures of me on the Internet as Chelsea’s Angel. The hair color and eye mask really didn’t do much to conceal my identity. It was obviously me. “Time to go,” I said to Ryan.

I didn’t wait for an answer before grabbing his hand and dragging him toward the door. The doctor who’d recognized me ran frantically to block my exit from the room. “Miss! Miss! Wait! Do you know who you are?”

I glared at him. “Sorry. This examination is over.”

“Miss Baker, please. You have complete doctor-patient confidentiality. We won’t tell anyone.”

“No, you won’t,” Major Wilks’s deep, powerful voice boomed. He and the other ACEs had barged into the examination room, guns drawn, ready to act.

I snorted. “Not that I’m thrilled the secret’s out, but what are you guys going to do, waste the country’s best neurological doctors to keep my secret safe?”

Major Wilks was not amused. After giving me a look that I rolled my eyes at, he addressed all the stunned doctors. “The Angel’s identity is classified and considered a matter of national security. If it’s leaked, we will figure out who leaked it and we will treat it as an act of treason met with the severest punishment.”

Treason? “Aw, Major, I had no idea you cared so much.”

“Miss Baker.”

I’d never heard a man sound more exasperated. “Sorry. I can’t help it. Sarcasm is my go-to defense mechanism when I’m nervous. That’s followed closely by violence, so really you should be grateful I’m cracking jokes instead of blowing things up, because I am seriously freaked out right now.”

Dr. Rajeet stepped forward, gazing at me with total awe. “Miss Baker, you have nothing to fear from us. Please, there’s no need to leave. We have so many questions. We could learn so much about the human brain and what it’s truly capable of from you.”

Bye-bye, sarcasm. Hello, rage. “I won’t be your science experiment! That’s how I ended up in this mess in the first place. I just want my memories. Can you or can you not get them back for me?”

The group of doctors exchanged glances before each giving me defeated gazes.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I’d known this would be the answer. I knew coming today that these tests weren’t about retrieving my memories. It still hurt. “I’m done.”

“But Miss Baker—”

“No. I can’t do this anymore. If there’s no chance at all in recovering my memories, then there’s no point in my being here.”

“Jamie,” Ryan started.

“No. I’ve done what I came here to do.”

If Donovan’s partner was going to be drawn out, then he was already in this room. My leaving because of my memories and refusing to be tested on just for the fun of it would only work in my favor. I met the major’s eyes. He seemed to share my thoughts. “All right, Angel.” He sent one last glance to Dr. Rajeet. “You’re absolutely positive there is nothing that can be done?”

With a small nod, Dr. Rajeet sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“Okay, then.” He nodded to the ACEs to all leave the room. “Let’s let Miss Baker get changed, and then we’ll take her back to the hotel and discuss her plans for the future.”

. . . . .

Once in the bathroom where I was able to change back into my clothes, my nerves settled a little. It was quiet in there, and calm. I was alone for the first time in what felt like days. I found myself wishing I had several more layers to put on, because I’d slid on my dress and sandals much too quickly.

My body ached and my head was pounding all of a sudden. I wasn’t ready to go back out there. Wasn’t ready to face reality, deal with questions and media, make plans for the future, or worry about Donovan. So many people were waiting for me now. After months of seclusion, I simply couldn’t take it.

I needed to get out of here. I needed to get as far away from this place as possible. I needed to leave without anyone seeing me. I needed to escape.

A knock on the door startled me from my thoughts. “Jamie? You okay in there? It’s been fifteen minutes.”

Fifteen minutes? How in the world had I been in here for fifteen minutes? Gathering my focus—which took an insane amount of effort—I made sure I was presentable and stepped out of the restroom. Ryan waited for me with a worried look on his face. My parents were behind him.