The Secret Child (A DI Amy Winter Thriller Book 2) by Caroline Mitchell

Author:Caroline Mitchell [Mitchell, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The Curtis Institute, December 1984

Floating in his chamber, Luka was frozen in fear. Darkness had closed in from every angle. As the water temperature dropped, the cold pricked his skin like a thousand tiny needles. The tests had progressed, and he would have given anything to go back to choosing between coloured sweets and cake. It wasn’t the physical discomfort that frightened him, it was the feeling of impending doom. The monsters were coming, and he was too weak to fight them any more. He had promised himself that he would not cry. He would not give the doctor the satisfaction of reading his emotions. Every sob, every wail, had been documented up until now.

It had been weeks since he had been allowed outside. Isolation was part of the experiment – it was as if they wanted him to fall apart. The tablets he was forced to swallow were followed by hallucinations which hunted him down mercilessly. Vomiting sessions had carved bony cheekbones into his face and his skin was paper-white from lack of sun. Dr Curtis was pushing him hard and Luka didn’t know how much more he could take. His thoughts were stolen by a malevolent presence lurking in his periphery. The monsters were here, dark creatures with bulging eyes and sharpened teeth. He told himself they weren’t real. But his pulse pounded as he heard their feet drag, his name on their laboured breaths.

Luka’s fists grew rigid as he struggled for air. It was impossible to scream and his heartbeat thundered in his ears. Sucking in a breath, he grasped for purchase in his watery tomb. Eyes open or closed, it made no difference. There was only blackness and the monster looming above him, jaws wide and salivating as it prepared to bite down on his head. Luka pulled at the tube feeding air into his lungs. The thick rubber gloves encasing his hands had reduced his sense of touch. A gargled scream left his lips as water gushed into his mouth. What had he done? Salty water flooded his airways and he gasped for air that would not come.

A sudden slice of light cut through his disorientation as the doors of his chamber were pulled back. Luka chugged for breath, the whites of his eyes rolling in his mask. A set of strong arms rescued him, and he had never been so relieved to see light.

Water gushed from the mask as Deborah lifted it from his head, and Luka coughed and choked, inhaling a desperate breath.

‘Slow your breathing,’ Deborah said, enveloping him in her arms. ‘It’s OK. Your pipe became disconnected. You’re safe. I have you.’

On shaky legs, he clambered out of the chamber, salt water stinging his eyes and burning his throat.

‘Luka. Speak to me. Are you OK?’ Deborah swivelled her head towards the doctor, who was standing with a clipboard in his hand.

He frowned at Luka as if he were a lab rat who had failed to find the cheese.

‘I hate you!’ Luka screamed in his Russian tongue, knowing the doctor would not understand.

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