Blackout by Chris Ryan Read Free Book Online

how to take a bullet.'
    Josh sighed. The throbbing in his head was still intense. He leaned across the bed, pouring himself a glass of water and raising it to his lips. From the heat of his body, he suspected that he was suffering from a fever as well as from his wounds. 'What am I on?' he asked.
    'I've patched up and cleaned your wounds, and given you some painkillers,' the woman replied. 'Trust me, you'd be feeling a lot worse without them. I haven't got any blood here, but if I had, I'd have given you some. What you lost is making you feel a lot weaker. It's going to take a few days in bed, lots of rest, and plenty to eat before you start getting your strength hack. And that's before we start worrying about the wounds healing.'
    Josh examined her closely, watching how she held herself when she spoke. She certainly seemed to know what she was talking about.
    'Who are you?' he asked.
    The woman took the sunglasses from her forehead, holding them in her right hand. 'I'm sorry, we haven't been
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    introduced,' she answered, an easy smile playing across her lips. 'My name is Kate. Kate Benessia.'
    'How long have I been sleeping?' said Josh.
    'Just over a day,' said Kate, putting her shades back on. 'We got here just after one yesterday. It's now three o'clock on Tuesday afternoon. You slept for twenty-six hours, and, believe me, you needed it. That's partly the painkillers. But I gave you some sleeping tablets as well. A man in your state needs a lot of rest.'
    Josh paused and drank some more of the water. His throat felt as if it was made of rock, and the throbbing in his head was making it hard to concentrate. Nothing makes any sense, he told himself. Who is she? What am I doing here?
    'Where are we?' he asked.
    'Near Fernwood, in Coconino County,' Kate answered. 'Although it's just a tiny town with a gas station, a diner and a general store, and even that's two miles away. Boisdale is bigger but that's ten miles away. So you might say we're in the middle of nowhere.'
    Josh looked out into the yard. The ground was bone dry, the soil caked and cracked. A few weeds had sprouted through the earth, but even they seemed to have dried up and died. 'I'm sorry, I don't even know which country I'm in.'
    Kate laughed.'You really don't know?' She looked towards the window.'Coconino is inArizona.That's part of a country called the United States. Big place, just between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. You've probably heard of it.'
    Josh had heard of it. It seemed .that the general knowledge was still there. He knew what the capital of France was and how many inches made up a foot. He just didn't know anything about himself or his own history.
    If only I could stop my head from hurting, thought Josh. I need to concentrate on who I am, and how I got here. / need to start remembering things.
    Kate took the shades off, her eyes looking down at him
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    intently. 'What were you doing lying in a ditch with two bullet holes in you?' 'I don't know,' said Josh. 'Okay, we'll worry later about how the wounds got there. Now, who are you?' A cold sense of fear started in Josh's mind, then began to creep down his spine, slowly spreading through every nerve in his body. 'I told you, I don't know.' Kate smiled, but her lips tightened as she did so, and her expression was angry. It was the kind of forced smile that doctors use on difficult patients. 'Take a deep breath, relax, then tell me who you are.' Josh could feel his hand starting to shake. I don't know, he repeated to himself. / don't even know my own name. 'Just try taking it slowly,' said Kate. 'Say it out loud. My name is . . .' Josh hesitated. 'My name is . . .' Nothing. A wound was one thing. A lump of steel could bury itself in your leg, and after a few weeks there would be nothing to remind you that it had ever happened apart from a scar. A soldier could lose his money, even a lot of his blood, and still recover. But without his name he was nothing. Get a grip, man. Remember. It's there