Shadow Unit 12 by Emma Bull & Elizabeth Bear

Author:Emma Bull & Elizabeth Bear [Bull, Emma & Bear, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: fbi, bau, diverse cast
Publisher: CatYelling
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

"I don't know about that," he said. "Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me what happened to you."

Falkner opened her mouth and then made herself close it again. Bethany was staring at Chaz with a look of ferocious concentration. The left hand, still cradled in her lap, twitched spasmodically. Chaz nodded, eyes on Bethany's face.

She said, "I told you I don't—"

"You do," he said. "It's okay. Somebody just... hid the memories from part of you. The part that talks. But there's a whole bunch of parts of a human being, Ms. Keene. Usually they find ways to talk to one another—we call it intuition, hunches. The voice of our guardian angels. But something's happened to the part of your brain that translates between the other parts and your conscious mind."

"How do you know that?" Bethany asked, eyes wide. Her hands folded themselves in her lap now, almost primly.

"I'm a translator," Chaz said. He'd obviously planned this bit out in advance, because there was no hesitation. "I can do what the damaged bit of your brain does, normally. Do I have your permission?"

Bethany nodded, lip pinched between her teeth. "What do I do?"

"Just relax," Chaz said. "You understand that this may not be things you want to hear?"

She laughed like somebody rattling broken crockery in a box. "I miscarried a baby I don't remember existing, Agent..."

"Villette," Falkner supplied.

"Villette," Bethany said gratefully. "I was apparently held captive and r— raped, and I don't remember three years of my life. How can knowing what really happened be worse than whatever I—" she gasped, kept going. "—whatever I make up in my head?"

Chaz smiled in that way that rearranged his face from goofy Muppet to enchanting Muppet. Falkner wanted to push his hair out of his eyes. He said, "I think you're very strong. Are you ready?"

"What do I need to do?"

He shook his head. "Just remember. And don't worry if your conscious mind doesn't seem to be coming up with any details. Let it wander. I'll do all the work."

She gave him a dubious look, eyebrow raised. He nodded.

Bethany Keene closed her eyes, and Chaz Villette spoke with her voice.

•

"There are cages. Three cages. Like runs in a dog pound. There are girls in all of them. Me, and there's Amber and Brigit. We're not supposed to talk, to have names. But we talk when he's not there.

Brigit is a computer programmer. She had just come to St. Paul for a job and was living in a hotel until she found a place. Amber is a student from England. She is—she was—doing a year at the University of Minnesota.

Except Brigit... He takes her away in a wheelbarrow. And then there's Madison. Madison's older, she's thirty-one. She doesn't look it. She's in the kennel next to mine, and I have to watch while he—

On the digital recorder, Chaz's perfect version of Bethany's voice choked off. Reyes winced, his finger hovering over the kill switch. Falkner, across the desk in the unused administrative office they'd appropriated, let herself nod.

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