Infiltrate_Retribution by Judith Graves

Author:Judith Graves [Graves, Judith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459807235
Amazon: 1459807235
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2017-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

I guessed this wasn’t so bad. Even the food

was above the usual hospital fare. Dinner

was boxes of takeout pizza, spread out

over the folding cafeteria-style tables in

the converted office space they called the

dining hall. It wasn’t exactly a healthy

offering, but it sure beat bland chicken

and plastic containers filled with stale

butterscotch pudding.

That was pretty much all I remembered

from my one and only hospital stay,

back when I’d first started climbing and

botched an attempt to scale my first three-

story building. I’d fallen hard and ended

up with a broken collarbone. Diesel had

made quick work of getting me out of the

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hospital. If he hadn’t, I’d have ended up

in the foster care system for sure. He’d

been pleased to know I’d made a speedy

recovery, even splurged and bought

me some fast food on the way to the

warehouse. I’d never been so happy to eat

greasy burgers and fries.

“So what’s your deal?” a guy asked me

through a mouthful of ham and pineapple.

Up to this point there hadn’t been

much conversation flowing. More like

the awkward silence of kids traumatized

by the absence of their smartphones.

We had no screens to hide behind.

The concept of face-to-face time, without

the actual use of FaceTime, was as

unfamiliar as it was uncomfortable.

I shot a quick look around the room.

In addition to the kids who’d arrived with

me, there were already several others

hanging out.

The guy persisted. “Yeah, I’m talking

to you, girl. You got a name?” He studied

my face, then spoke to the guy sitting

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j u d i t h g r a v e s

beside him. “What do you think, Scott?

I say she looks like a Moonbeam, or a Sky,

or something all-natural-granola, right?

That pale skin, that dark hair. Those eyes.”

He didn’t wait for Scott’s answer, turning

to me again. “So what is it? Starchild?”

My lips twisted as I anticipated his

reaction. “Raven.”

“Ha! I knew it.” He bumped shoulders

with his friend. “Girl’s named after a bird.

Did I call that or what?”

“You called it, Milo,” Scott said.

“Now that we’ve been formally

introduced”—Milo smiled through

residual bits of melted cheese stuck in

his teeth—“I’ll ask you one more time,

Raven, what’s your deal? General anxiety?

Social anxiety? You don’t seem like the

agoraphobia type. Those ones are never

so calm, usually screaming their heads off

by now.”

“You seem to know how this goes

down.” I struggled for a tone of casual

interest. It wouldn’t be smart to start

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i n f i l t r a t e

asking a million pointed questions.

“Have you been part of this trial before?

They don’t let you do that, do they?

Repeat the same one over and over?”

Scott answered this time. “Sure they do.

Why would they turn away the likes of us?

We’re textbook subjects. Plus the payout

is too good to not come back. Free room.

Netflix. A nice bit of cash on your way out

the door. A warning though. You can’t

book another visit to the good doctor until

you’ve been out of the trial for at least a

week. Drugs gotta leave your system. They

like clean slates. You might want to think

on that if you’re planning another stay.”

While Milo filled me in on the

benefits of participating

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