Toys by James Patterson Read Free Book Online Page B

Remember, he’s had augmentations. Probably why he was able to fool us for so long.”
    My head was pounding with so many questions. I
had
to be an Elite—no human could do the things I could. “Augmentations” couldn’t possibly cover it. I mean if humans could be
     made to perform like top Elites… then why had it never happened before? Even the way my body was healing—didn’t that prove
     something? I was sore, incredibly sore, even in places I hadn’t known existed, but everything worked, including my adrenal
     glands—
I felt like a river gone wild with spring rains.
    But I shoved all that to the back of my brain. The only thing that mattered right now was getting out of here. But how could
     I? The Agency believed I was a traitor.
    I tested the restraints. A metal-enforced jacket boundmy upper body and held my arms tightly across my chest. Shackles pinned my wrists and ankles to the bed frame. They were too
     strong even for me… the world’s strongest
human,
right?
    Right.

Chapter 23
    THIS WAS THE finest hospital in the world—and long ago I had learned this axiom from my mother and father: greatest strength
     is also greatest weakness.
    How could I work with that? There had to be a way out of this. But what was it? What could I do now?
    Greatest strength is greatest weakness,
I repeated over and over in my head.
    Late that night, the highly sensitive cardio monitor near my bed let out a sudden
bleep
. The steady rhythmic line on the screen jumped along with the sound.
    A second later it bleeped again, then started into a rapid-fire alarm pattern, while the line leaped in erratic peaks.
    A guard stepped into the room—his face hard and wary. Not a shred of sympathy.
    “What’s going on here?” he barked.
    “My heart,” I gasped. “Racing like crazy. Won’t stop. Feels like it’s going to explode.”
    The guard looked at the cardio monitor, then didn’t waste any time—he wheeled around and ordered his partner, “Get the doctors
     the hell in here! Do it. Now. He’s having a heart attack—a big one!”
    That was one thing I had in my favor. They wanted me alive, not dead; they had questions that needed answering… about how
     I got to be me.
    Greatest strength is greatest weakness.
This was the most efficient hospital in the world—they weren’t going to let me die.
    I revved my heart rate even higher than the 300 beats per minute I’d already reached. I was pushing 350 when the team of emergency
     medical personnel burst into the room.
    I writhed and grimaced in fake agony, though I actually was in pain. “Can’t… breathe,” I moaned. “There’s an elephant on my
     chest. Help me! Please!”

Chapter 24
    “WHAT THE HELL happened?” one of the doctors yelled at his staff. “You’ve been monitoring him from central control. The skunk
     was doing fine five minutes ago.”
    “Don’t ask me—I never wasted any time learning medicine for skunks,” another doc said. “We’d better get him out of that jacket
     though. Take him to a trauma room. He’s up to three sixty!”
    “Whoa, no you don’t,” one of the guards said and stepped in. “Our orders are not to let Hays Baker leave the room for any
     reason. That’s not happening. Unless he’s in a body bag.”
    “He’s about to stop breathing for good. How’s that for a reason?” the lead doctor snapped. “You can explain it to your boss,
     unless you’d rather explain that you’re the one who killed him.
Now get out of our way. He’s dying!
”
    Reluctantly, the guard stepped back.
    Next, a pair of burly orderlies wheeled a gurney alongside my bed. They started to release the restraints.
    I had never thought I would harm another Elite. But I’d never had Elites threatening to put me to a slow death either.
    I kept up the act, but my muscles were tensed and ready to spring. The instant the shackles were unsnapped and the metal jacket
     pulled from my arms, I reared straight up out of the bed. I punched the nearest