Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(70)

The urge to go with him rose up in me again, as if he had some sort of physical compulsion over me. It wasn’t as strong as before, but it was harder to resist now that he was offering me exactly what I wanted. I knew there would be strings attached, dangerous strings. But Donovan had created superthugs. He’d given people powers similar to mine. That should have been impossible. It was impossible for the rest of the world. If he could accomplish that, then what’s to say he couldn’t do the impossible where I was concerned?

“Would you like to come with me, Miss Baker?” Dr. Chen asked again. “Would you like to be safe and have your memories back?”

My heart started pounding. I did want that. Those words…there was something about them. They were compelling. I wanted nothing more in the world than to be safe and have my memories back.

I took a step toward him. His face lit up with pleasure and he gave me a gentle, friendly smile. There was nothing dangerous about this man. He was my friend. I could trust him.

He held out his hand and I started to slip my fingers into his grip, but stopped again. “Wait.” There was still something unsettling about all of this. “Everyone knows how badly I want my memories back. What’s to say you aren’t lying to me? You could just be telling me what I want to hear so that I’ll come with you. I know Donovan wants my power. How do I know there’s really a miracle cure waiting for me if I come with you? For all my abilities, I’m not a human lie detector, Doctor. How can I trust you?”

The man’s smile turned sympathetic. “I understand your hesitancy. You have, no doubt, been fed many lies about Donovan from your military friends, but it is them you cannot trust. They fear Donovan’s progress and want to keep such powerful discoveries as his to themselves.”

I frowned. That didn’t seem right, and yet it did. I’d felt so panicked in the hospital, and it had been Major Wilks and his team of ACEs that I’d been afraid of. In fact, just thinking of them now made my pulse spike. I didn’t want to be under their control. But I didn’t want to be under Donovan’s control, either.

At my reluctance, Dr. Chen pulled a small glass vial from his pocket that was filled with a light-pink liquid. “I can offer you proof. This is a small dose of the serum we would use to heal your brain. It won’t be enough to repair all the damage, but if you take it, it will be able to do enough that you will see what it is capable of.”

He held out the vial of liquid to me in an open palm. “Take it, completely free of any obligation, as a token of good faith from me. Then, once you see the effects of the serum for yourself, call this number if you’d like to make a deal with us.”

He pulled a business card from the breast pocket of his lab coat and held it out to me, along with the vial of serum.

Was there a downside to this? What could it hurt to just try it? If he wasn’t going to make me come with him right now…

After a moment’s thought, I took both the card and the miracle cure sample. I examined the tube closely and inhaled deeply. It smelled bitter and had the faintest hint of…blood. I looked sharply at him. “What’s in this?”

He gave me a rueful smile. “That’s a secret I cannot divulge, I’m afraid.”

I didn’t like that answer, but if it was such a special formula, I could understand the secrecy, I guess. “How do I take it?”

“It must be injected into the bloodstream. I can do that for you right here and now if you’d like, or you can wait and do it yourself, or have someone you trust do it.”

That last option sounded like a good plan. Though, I doubted anyone I trusted would let me pump a mysterious foreign substance given to me by James Donovan’s partner into my body. And I wasn’t sure at the moment if there even was anyone I trusted. No, it had to be him. I needed my memories. My memories held the answers I needed. They would tell me whom I could trust.

I handed the serum back to him with a curt nod. “Okay. Do it.”





It was as Dr. Chen pushed the serum into my arm and I felt the cold sting run up my vein that the ACEs walked around the corner of the building. Ryan called out to me, surprise and relief thick in his voice, while the others slowly approached me, guns drawn. “Back away from the girl,” Major Wilks shouted.

Though their rifles were pointed at Dr. Chen, my heart still jumped in my chest and I gasped. Something about the sight of the soldiers had me stepping closer to Dr. Chen instead of backing away. The need to flee was back.

Ryan took a step forward. “Jamie, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” I cut Dr. Chen a severe glance over my shoulder. “What did you do to me?”

“You’re all right, Miss Baker,” he said calmly. “Everything’s going to be okay. Come with me. Let’s leave right now, and I’ll make sure you stay safe.”

“Why do I feel this way? Something’s wrong with my head.”

“That’s just the serum,” Dr. Chen assured me. “That foggy feeling means it’s working.”

My adrenaline spiked again. It was working. I was going to have some memories back. I would settle for even one small glimpse of my past to confirm that I’d actually experienced the things Ryan had talked about. Not that I didn’t believe him, but a deep-rooted part of me needed that validation. I felt as if I’d never be complete without it.