Voice by Nikita Spoke Read Free Book Online Page B

hurts. I’m tired.
    He studied her for a solid minute. “Continue communicating with them for a little longer, then we’ll give you a large lunch and let you have the rest of the day off.”
    “Seriously?” typed Josh. Dr. Harris ignored him, and Jemma paid attention to the voices in her head once more.
    “Sorry. They said they hoped languages would translate. It doesn’t sound like they were sure it would work. Some sort of test, I’m sure. We all passed, if that’s any comfort.”
    Jack sent what sounded like a snort. “I live to please.”
    “Hey, new guy, what’s your name?” asked April.
    “Mauro. And you are?”
    Introductions went around, Jemma last.
    “How’d you get taken?” April asked.
    “What do you mean?”
    “You haven’t been captured?” clarified Jack.
    “No, I haven’t. I signed up for a study they were doing near where I live. It pays well. Does that mean that the three of you were captured?”
    “Yeah, we were, so tell everyone you know to help rescue us, okay?” April sent, words nearly colliding.
    “Oh no, no no, I have a family I need to keep safe. This money was for them. I’m not saying a thing.”
    “I have a family, too, you know,” sent April.
    Mauro didn’t respond. He remained silent through Jack’s prodding, too.
    “I think he’s gone,” sent Jemma. “Either that or he’s ignoring us.”
    “We should assume he can still hear,” sent Jack. “No discussion of— Well, you know.”
    “I thought I wanted to visit Italy. I don’t anymore.” April sent disgust.
    “Can you really blame him?” sent Jack. “If he’s trying to protect his family? There’s a lot I would and wouldn’t do to keep the people I love safe.”
    “Yeah, but I mean, he’s not the one trapped here!”
    “You don’t even want to try to escape,” returned Jack. “We offered to try to find you a way out, and you don’t want to take it.”
    “All right, that’s enough. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know when a test is going to be the last one because they get bored of a combination or they move on to something else or because…” She swallowed. “We don’t need to spend the time we have arguing like this. Especially not inside my head. It hurts enough already.”
    “Sorry, Jemma,” muttered April.
    Jack sent a wordless apology, followed by a cool caress she could almost feel. This could be the last chance they had to Talk, and now they couldn’t really even say anything.
    She felt a hand on her arm again and wrote a message before he could ask her to try anything with Mauro. He stopped Talking to us. It’s just April and Jack, now .
    Dr. Harris frowned, then nodded. He studied his clipboard. “Then I want you to try once more to transfer your connection from Jack to April. Do it slowly, carefully. We don’t want you to lose consciousness again.”
    ***
    Head pounding, she lay in her cell, staring at the ceiling, her stomach almost uncomfortably full, as promised. Luckily, she hadn’t passed out this time.
    She hadn’t really gotten a chance to say goodbye to Jack, either.
    She moved the arm with the tracker carefully, testing. It was still very colorful, still tender, but she could at least move it now without pain shooting through the whole arm. She trailed her fingers along it. It seemed like he’d inserted it deeply enough that she wouldn’t be able to get it out on her own, not even if she got desperate enough to try.
    She sighed and rolled onto her side, closing her eyes at the resulting wave of nausea. If Jack really did escape, she was on her own. Senator Pratt had made it clear he wasn’t going to help, and if Jack wasn’t able to find some other way to help, it would be just her, with the continued injections.
    Dr. Harris would only protect her from Josh for so long. Eventually, he’d either stop thinking Josh was a threat or Josh would find a way to get her alone. She knew he wanted to. And Josh wouldn’t respect her limits as well