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Finishing his message, Jesse shoved the car keys into his pocket and headed out. He'd almost managed to slip away unnoticed when Shalimar stepped into his path.
"When'd you take up an interest in diving?" she asked him.
He sighed. How was it that she always knew exactly what he was up to? "Are you coming with or trying to stop me?"
She was standing with her hands on her hips. "Adam's going to notice that you borrowed a GPS tracker."
He ran a hand through his hair in agitation. "Look, Shal, if it's more than just their rings down there, I need to know!"
"Adam wouldn't--" she started but was instantly cut off.
"Adam is busy identifying corpses!" Jesse snapped at her. "Maybe finding those rings will give us some clue as to what's really going on. Either way, it will let us stop checking morgues."
"I don't believe they're dead," Adam said from behind him. "At least not yet. You're right; there is something going on."
Jesse spun to face him. "How do you know?"
"I know Mason," was the simple reply.
That didn't improve matters any. "Thanks, I feel much better now being reminded that you used to be in bed in with the bad guys," Jesse retorted sarcastically.
Shalimar screwed up her face in disgust. "Yuck, that's a lovely mental picture, Jess."
Adam merely ignored the comment. "If he'd killed them, we'd know by now," he said, certain of that fact. "No, he took them for a reason, and he's just making sure we're too distracted to interfere."
-----
Emma stared down at her fresh clothes. Drawstring pants and a T-shirt. Both white... Blank. Like her mind. Without her gift, she was both blind and deaf. Empty.
She poked at the food on her plate then looked at the GS agent who sat across from her, ready to inflict pain if she tried to run. Not that she could ever leave without Brennan. "Why haven't I been podded?" she asked.
"Don't worry, sweetheart, you will be." He smiled a repulsive grin at her, almost more of a snarl. "When they're done dissecting your playmate, it'll be your turn to go to sleep."
She shivered at the way he referred to Brennan, not even noticing what he'd said about her own fate. "What are they doing to him?" Her voice shook from nervousness. Did she even want to know?
His smile broadened. "Everything. Ya know, maybe that's why you're being kept around. Sooner or later, they're gonna want to test him for sexual side effects." He winked at her.
Not caring about the rest of her meal, she grabbed her tray and dumped the remainder of her food as she smashed him across the side of his head with it.
-----
Brennan was staring up at the ceiling when he heard somebody enter. He made no attempt to see who it was. Instead he just closed his eyes and wished them away. He felt terrible.
A needle was stuck into his arm, and he flinched. "You're still awake," Jordan's voice commented and Brennan finally looked at him.
He set down the vile of blood he'd just drawn. His eyes met Brennan's for a lingering moment.
The feeling of being nauseous was growing more intense and Brennan thought he was going to be sick. Jordan wiped his damp hair back from his face and he forced himself to not pull away from the touch. He moaned softly.
"It will get easier after you've completed the treatments," Jordan told him.
Brennan felt like he was going to die. He suspected he had just died. He let himself tremble. Jordan was the only person with him, so there was no point in being brave. You didn't feel sympathy toward the strong. The need to protect was reserved for the weak. "Don't let them do this..."
Jordan began to caress his face. "This research will help others."
"Not true..." Brennan mumbled, needing to get him to switch sides. He weakly let his eyes slip shut.
"You need to have a little faith that this is for the best," Jordan said, almost trying to convince himself as well as Brennan. "Mr. Eckhart is a good man. If you knew him under different circumstances, you'd agree."
Opening his eyes, Brennan looked at the young man. "Under other circumstances, you and I could have been friends," he remarked, trying to play him.
"Maybe more than friends," Jordan commented.
That confirmed it. The kid was definitely in the closet. Brennan tried not to vomit. He disguised his repulsion at the discovery of where Jordan's interests lay with a wince of pain. "Can I rest here awhile longer," he requested, "before I'm taken back to my cell. I don't think I can stand." That part at least was true. He didn't want Emma seeing him in this condition.
Jordan nodded, stroking his face again. "Of course."
-----
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