Threader by Rebekah Turner Read Free Book Online Page A

more Doc-in-a-Box. In the meantime, as I mentioned earlier, we could help you with any issue you might be having with your local law enforcement division.’
    â€˜I need to call my uncle.’ My heart is thumping and I can’t believe my big chance is actually happening. Finally. ‘I just need to talk to him first.’
    â€˜Yes.’ Allen grimaces. ‘Your uncle has quite a temper, doesn’t he?’
    My whole body goes still. ‘You’ve already spoken to him?’
    â€˜We thought it would be a gesture of goodwill on Helios’s behalf to bring him here, so you could both discuss options. Just to save time, you understand.’
    My eyes pop. ‘Bobby is here?’
    â€˜He’s next door. A suborbital brought him early this morning.’
    â€˜I have to talk to him.’ I stand and make for the door.
    â€˜You might want to wait,’ Allen calls after me.
    I stop and turn, an assortment of all the terrible things that could have happened whisking through my mind. ‘Why?’
    â€˜Once he arrived and was informed of your condition, your uncle became quite agitated. When he couldn’t see you right away, he became even more … ah … uncooperative.’
    â€˜What do you mean by uncooperative?’
    â€˜He attacked a doctor and broke some equipment.’
    â€˜No,’ I groaned.
    â€˜He had to be sedated, but I’m told it should wear off soon.’ Allen stands and gestures to the door. ‘I’ll take you to him.’

CHAPTER 5
    I sit by Bobby’s bedside for hours, listening to him snore like he’s swallowed a sonic drill. He’s tucked under stark white sheets, still in his clothes, his old battered army boots under the bed. A medical bracelet is strapped around his left wrist and his vitals look nice and steady on the holo-screen beside him.
    Allen has arranged a slate for me and loads up articles about my parents. I flip through them, devouring information about a past I know nothing about. There’s no personal information on either of them, and nearly all reference controversial studies into the shadow biosphere.
    I’m apprehensive about the conversation we’re going to have when Bobby wakes up. My plan is to grill him about whether he knew Alice and James worked at Helios. Then I’m going to yell a bit. Flap my arms about. Make a scene. Then I’m just going to tell him I’m staying. Which I know Bobby will be totally against. He always tells me he promised James he’d keep me safe. To Bobby, this means keeping me away from the prying eyes of governments and corps. But now I’ve got to convince him he’s wrong. That James was wrong. And more than anything, I want to know why Bobby never told me James was a talent who worked for a corp.
    A nurse shows up at one point, offering me a tray of food. Starving, I gratefully accept and when I lift the lid, I see a plate of creamy, golden macaroni and cheese. There’s even a lime jelly for dessert, which I chow down quick smart. After I’m done, I return to my reading, searching for more clues about my parents’ past.
    At some point, my eyes flutter closed and I doze lightly, dreaming of rushing wind tunnels and falling from great heights. When I jerk awake, it’s dark, the room illuminated by a light above the door. I stretch out my stiff legs and rise to my feet to get my circulation going again.
    There’s a nurse station outside Bobby’s room and a sleepy woman taps listlessly at a screen. The quiet is unsettling and I only wander a few minutes before returning to Bobby’s side, taking one of his rough hands in my own. At my touch, his snoring catches in his throat, and then he’s spluttering himself awake. He sits up in bed, looking bewildered.
    â€˜Where are we?’ His eyes roll around the dim-lit room, confused.
    â€˜You don’t remember?’
    He scrunches his eyes shut, then groans. ‘They