Tabula Rasa Kristen Lippert Martin by Kristen Lippert-Martin, ePUBator - Minimal offline PDF to ePUB converter for Android Read Free Book Online Page B

I’m getting my butt back to the yurt.”
“What did you just say?”
“Yurt.”
“What is that word?”
“Yurt. You know? It’s like a tent. Or a hut.”
“Take me with you.”
“No.”
“Please!” I want to spit that word out of my mouth; it
 tastes so much like desperation.
“No.”
I try a different tack. “Look, I take rejection fairly well.
My nailer? Not so much.”  
He looks toward the door again and then glances at his
 watch. “You don’t seem to understand. . . .”
“No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand what’s going
 on at all. There are guys here with guns who just killed
 everyone I know!”
He winces. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? Did you just say you’re sorry?”
55
    “I meant I’m sorry for you. Not that I’m apologizing
 for what’s going on in there, because I had nothing to do
 with it. I’ve got my own problems, and I need to get out
 of here.”
“You’re complaining to me.” I pull off my cap.
He stares at my bald head a moment and then looks me
 in the eye like I’m . . . like he knows I’m a lost cause, but
 can’t quite bring himself to break the news to me.
“So you’re one of them.”
“One of who?”
“One of the lab rats here.”
“Obviously.”
He starts to speak, stops, then starts again. “I’m prob-
 ably the last person who could help you. Believe me when
I tell you that those guys inside are going to be very cranky
 when they realize what I just did. I wouldn’t be doing you
 any favors if I let you come with me.”
He’s putting his gloves on now. I guess he assumes I’m
 going to just let him walk out the door.
“Tell me something,” I say, trying to keep the anger out
 of my voice.  
“Can’t.”
“Anything! I need something useful, now, or I will nail
 your feet to the floor!” So much for containing my anger.
“I doubt you even know how that thing works.”  
I point the nailer at his computer bag. This gets his
 attention.
“Take it easy, okay? Just take it easy.”
“Tell me one thing. That’s all.”
56
    “Okay. One thing.”
“How are you involved, but not involved?”
“My boss is the preeminent hacker in the entire world.
He does jobs for people. People with a lot of money. He got
 paid to come here and remove some information.”
“And shoot everyone in sight?”
“We didn’t know they were going to do that. I swear.
Why do you think I’m getting out of here?”
“I don’t believe you. Why would somebody need help
 hacking a hospital computer?”
“Hospital? Is that where you think you are?”
I almost blurt out yes, but I know now that this answer
 is laughable.  
“This ain’t no hospital, sunshine,” he says. “Or maybe I
 should say, it’s a lot more than a hospital. This place is seri-
 ously state-of-the-art.”
“Why?”
“You know what? No offense, but there’s not much
 point in explaining this to someone who’s brain-damaged.”
“I am not brain-damaged.”
“You are, and you’ve got the drill holes to prove it.”
I shoot his computer with my nailer.
He starts howling, jumping, swearing, asking me if
I realize what I’ve just done. I stare at him, unmoved.
Nobody calls me brain-damaged. Even if, technically, I
 am.
Suddenly a voice comes over his radio. A woman’s
 voice. “Who’s there? Is there someone on the other end?
Answer me.”
57
    The kid looks alarmed and holds the walkie-talkie away
 from his body like whoever it is can see him through the
 speaker.
“I take it that’s not your boss,” I say.
He shakes his head and puts the radio back in his pocket.
Of course it’s Hodges. Her voice is a razor blade covered
 in nectar. I know this, but I don’t want to tell him. I won’t
 be saying anything more to this kid until he’s willing to
 trade more information with me.
“Why does she have your boss’s radio?” I ask.
“I don’t know, but I have to go. Now.”
Like that hadn’t occurred to me.
“How