Vortex by Julie Cross Read Free Book Online

short rapid breaths.
    Pain shot through my arms, traveling across my entire body. I gritted my teeth, trying
     not to make any movement to prove my discomfort. A yelp from one of the agents came
     from several seats away.
    “Are you going to tell us what that gas was?” Mason asked from two seats over. There
     was a definite strain in his voice and I could see from his own clock that he was
     struggling just as badly as Kendrick to keep calm. They had definitely taken the mind
     games to a whole new level today.
    “Yes,” Marshall boomed, tearing his direct attention away from me. “The substance
     each of you inhaled today contained a chemical that we have yet to fully identify.”
    That was how Dad was able to lure Kendrick out of her delusion … she was specializing
     in advanced bio. Dr. Melvin probably had her studying the weird chemical.
    “Is this the final test?” someone shouted from the last seat to my right. “Is it standard?”
    “No, it’s not, Agent Miller. In fact, our division needed data to use as a beginning
     point in our research. The gas is something that exists many, many years from now
     and its purpose is to alter an environment or situation using an individual’s own
     stored memories. That is the only information Dr. Melvin and I received, and of course
     we were curious to see how memories were selected and the effect it had on each individual.
     Can anyone think of a reason this substance could be useful to a government agency?”
    “Crime scene investigation,” Agent Parker said from Kendrick’s other side.
    Just hearing about this futuristic weapon had caused my pulse to race again … 82  … 83  … 85, and the heat reached a nearly unbearable level. Kendrick’s face had gone completely
     white. Her numbers climbed to well over 140 and the wrinkle in her forehead told me she was most likely getting electrical shock
     as well.
    “Yes,” Marshall said. “But something even more threatening.”
    “Assassins,” Stewart said. Her number flickered to 70 for a split second and then quickly fell to 68 .
    “Very good, Agent Stewart.” Marshall paced for several seconds, causing everyone to
     grow more nervous. He stared right at me. “None of us know how this substance will
     be used or when exactly, but this is part of our future, that much is guaranteed.
     Weapons such as these are not ethical or risk-controlled methods of preserving humanity,
     and as soon as Tempest finds out who the person is behind this invention, the individual
     will be stopped. That’s a risk and an unfortunate loss we must be willing to take.”
    But, of course, they had no ethical hang-ups about testing it out on unsuspecting
     trainees.
    And I still couldn’t believe a gas could work that way … that something chemical could
     just unleash memories I had tried so desperately to hide.
    A strange thought occurred to me at probably the worst possible time. If the chemicals
     made me think Agent Freeman was Thomas and my reaction was deadly, what would I have
     done if one of them had looked like Holly?
    I shook the thought from my head and focused on Agent Freeman, who had just entered
     the room and stood next to Marshall. “Now that we have the experimental weapon out
     of the way and all of you are in a compromised position, we figured this might be
     a good time to test your knowledge.”
    Everyone’s pulse sped, including mine.
    “Agent Kendrick,” Freeman said right away to my partner. “If you and another one of
     your teammates here were trapped in a confined space, having no means of communication
     and no idea when you’d be rescued, which teammate would you prefer to be held with?”
    The way he asked this, polite and casual, using the word “prefer” as if we were playing
     some cheesy board game, made it sound like there wasn’t a real right or wrong answer.
     Which made me nervous for Kendrick, but when I glanced at her again, some color had
     already flooded back into her