The Pretender (The Soren Chase Series Book 2) by Rob Blackwell Read Free Book Online Page B

“That’s a good idea,” he said. “I never had the money to try something like that.”
    “Now?” Ken asked. “After all this?”
    “My mother is watching Alex at her place,” Sara said. “If I go home, I won’t be able to sleep. I’d rather do it now.”
    “Can I come, too?” Soren asked.
    Sara inwardly cursed herself. She should have let Soren believe she was going home, but instead she’d opened her big mouth and was stuck. It would seem odd to refuse him, so she didn’t. “Sure.”
    *****
    The Wallace Institute took up two entire floors of a relatively new building in Arlington. The offices were on the top level, tricked out with an ultrahigh speed Internet connection, and powerful computers capable of sifting through multiple databases with records on worldwide supernatural activity.
    But the lower level was arguably more impressive. It was a state-of-the-art lab, stocked with every kind of device imaginable. In there, institute staffers could test blood, DNA, and identify any substance left behind at the scene of a paranormal event.
    Wallace had family money and he knew how to spend it. Sara had never worked somewhere with these kind of resources before—or for a boss so willing to deploy them.
    The lab’s head technician, Phillip Advoy, greeted Sara, Ken, and Soren as they entered. Although it was late, he seemed fresh and ready, as if this was the middle of his workday. According to Wallace, Advoy rarely went home and often slept in the lab, usually because he was working on various experiments.
    Sara gave him the blood sample and asked him to test it immediately. As he disappeared into the back, Soren looked around appreciatively.
    “Holy shit,” Soren said. “I had no idea Wallace had this kind of facility.”
    “There’s probably a lot you don’t know about his operation,” Sara said.
    “It’s pretty big,” Ken said.
    “Everything Wallace does is.”
    “I don’t get it,” Ken said. “Why do you need this if you’re chasing ghosts?”
    “Even ghosts and monsters leave behind evidence,” Sara said. She knew of a room that contained only jars filled with different kinds of ectoplasm, the substance believed to be left behind by certain ghosts, and another with samples of skeletons that didn’t fit the description of any animal known to current science. “The trouble with the supernatural is it’s treated as if it exists outside of science. It’s as if it’s magic.”
    “Isn’t it?” Ken asked.
    “No,” Soren and Sara said together.
    “Just because you can’t explain something doesn’t make it magic,” Soren said.
    “Wallace agrees,” Sara said.
    “Can I ask you a question?” Soren asked.
    “You don’t normally ask permission, Soren.”
    “You wanted to collect the blood sample from the pretender that was Audrey Yong,” Soren said. “But why? Wallace has a pretender locked up.”
    Sara was confused and let it show on her face.
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said.
    “Annika—sorry, Meredith—gave me information about a pretender,” Soren said. “I made it jump out of a tall window and it ran off. She told me later the institute had nabbed it.”
    Sara shook her head.
    “Another one of her lies,” she said. “Trust me, if we had a pretender here, I’d know it. Ever since I heard the story you told Meredith, I’ve been obsessed with them.”
    “Join the club,” he said.
    The thing that got her was that Soren actually smiled at her when he said that. The sheer gall of it was unbelievable. She had a sudden urge to grab Ken’s gun and start firing.
    “So Meredith lied again,” he said. “I wonder if anyone else picked up that pretender. The one tonight could even be the same.”
    Sara cocked an eyebrow.
    “I’ve met pretenders on five different occasions that I know of, including tonight,” Soren explained. “They could have all been the same pretender or five different ones. It’s impossible to tell.”
    “I have a few