Voice by Nikita Spoke Read Free Book Online Page A

in the area, I might be able to get somewhere safe as soon as tomorrow. Then I’ll do everything I can from the outside to bring them down and get that cure started.”
    “I’ll keep trying what I can from in here, too,” Jemma sent. “If they’re going to inject me with that stuff again, I may as well make the most of it.” She felt a quick surge of protective denial. “We won’t be able to Talk if you make it out, or if they catch you and stop testing you. I tried Talking to someone who didn’t have the drug in their system. It didn’t work.”
    “Yeah, they had me try that, too,” sent Jack. “It hurt.”
    “I pretended to try,” April sent. “I was tired and didn’t feel like it.”
    “Smart,” sent Jack.
    “All right, so that’s the plan, then? Jack, you try to escape, I keep listening, and April stays safe?”
    She felt agreement from both, then jumped when she felt a hand on her arm. Dr. Harris was watching her, leaning back and shifting his attention to his clipboard when he saw she’d opened her eyes. “We’re going to administer the drug to another individual. I want you to raise your hand when you can hear and understand the person.”
    She nodded, relaying the information to Jack and April.
    “They must have figured out the whole chat room thing, then,” Jack sent.
    “Can’t they tell when we start Talking to someone else?” asked April.
    Jemma frowned, closing her eyes to make it look like she was concentrating. “When I’m Talking to Jack, they can’t tell whether I’m Talking to anyone else. Our connection’s too strong.”
    “So I’m helping by being here,” he sent.
    “Sort of, but you’d help more if you can get out. Even if Pratt won’t do anything and you can’t find another way to get to the cure, even knowing that you got out, that would be a big help. Just don’t get caught.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Hello?” It was a male voice, not Jack’s, and Jemma’s breath caught before she raised her hand. “Can anyone hear me?”
    “Yes, sorry,” she answered.
    “Loud and clear,” added Jack.
    “It’s a party,” April added with more than a little sarcasm.
    “So many people. Are you all here?” Despite Jack’s comment, the stranger’s voice was a little harder to hear than the others’ were.
    “Ah, probably not,” sent Jack. “The three of us are all in different places. I don’t think they want us conspiring. Where are you?”
    Despite the extra room in her mind, with three other people in it, her head was starting to feel a bit crowded. Between the pain she’d had at the start, the drug, and whatever was going on with the newcomer’s voice, Jemma felt her heart start to speed up along with her breath. She focused on listening instead of contributing.
    “I’m in a room. It’s about twenty feet by twenty feet.”
    “Need you to be a lot less specific than that,” sent April.
    “I am near Pordenone. Italy.” Italy. No wonder it was hard to Talk to him, if he was sending from all the way in Italy.
    “We’re in the States, here,” Jack sent.
    “You all speak Italian? That is surprising.”
    “Yeah, no, not so much,” April sent. “We’re all speaking English.” She paused. “I mean, we are, right?”
    “Yeah, we are,” confirmed Jack. “Jemma, were you expecting this? They tell you more than they tell the rest of us.”
    “No, I wasn’t. Hold on.”
    She opened her eyes to see Josh grinning widely. Even Dr. Harris looked a little pleased, the corner of his mouth tugging upward. She mimed for a piece of paper, and he handed her one.
    Did you know other languages would translate?
    “We hoped. That was the goal.”
    “It serves such great purpose if it can cross language barriers,” added Josh, only to be pinned with a look from Dr. Harris. He held up his hands, his expression anything but repentant.
    Dr. Harris looked back toward Jemma. “How are you feeling?”
    My head hurts, new guy’s voice makes me a little dizzy, my arm