Down Read online

  The job offer had come two weeks before she received her diploma. The pay was easily twice that of any of her other offers, but the challenges of building underground facilities had been more than enough of an enticement. If they’d offered her only room and board, she would have still signed on.

  Had she suspected there was more to the Project than she was being told? Of course. But it’d been easier not to think about those things and concentrate on the work she would be doing.

  The elevator door opened.

  Even if she were blind, she would have known she was on level five. There was a smell so similar to the one on the other levels, but different enough that she could sense it. She stepped into the outer loop, her heart pounding.

  A special assignment, she’d been told while undergoing her employee training program. An assignment that needed several volunteers. Chloe—her name was still Lauren Scott then—was just the type of person they needed, her supervisor had said, and they would be ever so grateful if she agreed to participate. There was even a bonus of three months’ salary attached to the assignment. Though her supervisor had said he couldn’t give her any details, Chloe had assumed it was something to do with her engineering expertise and readily agreed.

  They’d flown her north from the training facility outside Nashville, Tennessee, to a private landing strip in New Hampshire. She and four other volunteers had been driven to Everton, and then taken down a long tunnel via a funicular train to one of the Project’s underground structures that had been completed. A facility called Dream Sky.

  The five of them had undergone a series of medical exams and taken several written tests that Chloe had thought were meant to determine their mental abilities. On a few occasions between tests, as an alternative to wandering through the base, the volunteers had been allowed to go into town as “tourists” to avoid any lengthy conversations. Chloe’s favorite place had been the old revolutionary-era church. It reminded her of the one near her parents’ home, and she’d found it relaxing to sit in the pews when the building was empty.

  At the end of the assessment phase, one volunteer had been sent away for not meeting the minimum requirements. The others had been taken, one day at a time, off to their “assignment.” Chloe’s turn had come on the third day.

  Though she knew it was probably her imagination, the smell seemed to grow stronger as she moved along the outer loop and turned down Hall K.

  There it was, ahead on the left, a door that looked no different than any of the other doors. But it was different. She paused only a second in front of it before turning the handle and pushing it open.

  The shock of seeing the chair forced her to grab the doorjamb to keep from falling, her whole world suddenly becoming a whirlpool that threatened to pull her into its very depths. Fighting through it, she stepped into the room.

  The layout was identical to the one on level nine. The differences were in the wear and tear, this room having seen much more use than the one farther below. She looked around, taking in every inch, and remembering.

  This was the room that had taken her life from her.

  His name was Dr. Karr, and he’d worn a continuous smile that never reached his eyes.

  “Please, come in,” he’d said as young Lauren/Chloe was ushered inside. He’d patted the dentist’s chair in the center of the room. “Sit here.”

  She’d thought she was being taken to her assignment, but instead she’d been brought back to the room where all her previous medical examinations had taken place.

  “This won’t take long,” the doctor had said.

  With some trepidation, she’d made herself comfortable in the chair. Her concern had skyrocketed, however, the moment one of the nurses secured her right wrist to the armrest.

  She’d looked at the woman and then at the doctor. “Why did she do that?”

  Through his ever-present grin, the doctor had said, “Merely a precaution to prevent you from hurting yourself during the procedure.”

  “Procedure? What procedure?”

  “Chances are, you won’t feel anything at all.”

  The nurse had come around to grab her other arm, but Chloe had pulled it away. “I didn’t sign up for any procedure!”

  “To the contrary. It’s exactly what you volunteered for.”

  Chloe had felt the prick of a needle in her arm and looked back to find the second nurse standing there, holding a syringe.

  With her free hand, Chloe had reached over to remove the restraint from her right arm, but suddenly felt like she was moving through a thick layer of gelatin.

  What was…I…doing? The restraint. Right.

  But try as she might, her left hand had stopped obeying her commands. A few seconds later, a tidal wave of vertigo had forced her to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she’d found her left wrist also tied down.

  How did that happen?

  “What’s…going…on?” she’d asked.

  “You’re performing a very important task for the Project,” Dr. Karr had said. “If all goes as planned, you won’t remember any of this.”

  “What are you…doing to me?”

  The doctor had picked up a bag of clear liquid and hooked it to a stand next to her chair. “A drug trial. Don’t worry. You won’t feel a thing.”

  “Drug? What…what…kind?”

  There was that smile again. “The Project thanks you for your help. Now, I think it best if you close your eyes and get some rest.”

  His words had seemed to carry the weight of law. Her eyelids had grown heavier and heavier until she could no longer keep them open. And like that, Lauren Scott had fallen into a sleep that would last until the moment Chloe White had returned to Dream Sky.

  The first thing Chloe remembered after this was waking up in the former mental hospital in California run by the Project, knowing nothing about herself. There, more tests were run, but her time at this hospital she never forgot. It was where Chloe White was born, and, for the last several years, the place her earliest memories came from. If it hadn’t been for the help of one of Matt’s inside people who had smuggled her out and placed her into the Resistance’s care, who knew what would have happened to her.

  On the Ranch, Matt and Rachel had nursed her back to health both physically and, as best they could, mentally. From them, Chloe had learned about Project Eden and its monstrous plan, but not once had Matt or his sister or anyone else within the Resistance ever told her she had been part of the Project.

  Whatever drug Dr. Karr had given her had buried her memories so deeply she’d thought they were gone forever.

  But they were back now, with a vengeance.

  __________

  ASH AND ROBERT rode the elevator up to the fifth level.

  “Be alert,” Ash said as the car slowed. “We don’t know what we’ll find here.”

  Robert nodded.

  When the doors opened, they moved out and scanned in each direction. The area was clear.

  “This looks exactly like level nine,” Robert said. “If the room down there affected Chloe so much, maybe she’s in the matching one here.”

  That made sense to Ash. “Lead the way.”

  They raced to the room, Ash both worried about Chloe and wishing she’d chosen a better time to have a breakdown. When they reached the door, he yanked it open.

  “Dammit,” Robert said. “I thought for sure she’d be here.”

  The unoccupied room looked like a cross between a dentist’s office and a medical examination room.

  “Same as the one downstairs?” Ash asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Ash noticed one of the cabinet drawers was open. He went over and quickly rifled through the files hanging inside, but nothing there could tell him where Chloe went.

  “Come on,” he said, heading out the door. “She’s here somewhere.”

  __________

  USING A FLOOR map she’d found in the procedure room, Chloe navigated her way three corridors over to the medical staff
quarters and began opening doors—closets, a communal shower and toilet area, a half-full bunk room. Toward the far end of the hall, she came to a door with a metal nameplate mounted in the center that read:

  MEDICAL DIRECTOR

  If Dr. Karr still worked at Dream Sky, then this had to be his room.

  She tried the handle but the door was locked, so she knocked.

  __________

  “WAIT A SECOND,” Robert said, grabbing Ash’s arm. “Did you hear that?”

  Ash stopped and cocked his head. For a moment, he heard only the hum of the air circulation system, but then above it came a faint rap-rap-rap.

  “It could be her,” Robert said.

  With a nod, Ash said, “Come on,” and headed down the hall.

  __________

  CHLOE KNOCKED AGAIN and then pressed her ear against the door.

  Some kind of noise was coming from inside, but she couldn’t tell if it was caused by a person or pipes in the walls.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. What the hell am I doing?

  She shouldn’t be here. She was letting her rage take over. She had run off when others were counting on her. For God’s sake, if Dr. Karr was still in the facility, she’d have plenty of time to deal with him after Dream Sky was secured.

  And yet…

  How am I supposed to think straight until I know if he’s here or not?

  She knocked again, louder this time, and said in a panicked voice, “Please, it’s an emergency.”

  A voice in the hallway called, “Chloe?”

  She twisted in surprise and started to pull her rifle off her shoulder, but stopped when she saw it was Ash and Robert.

  “What are you doing?” Ash asked as the two ran up.

  “Go back to what you were doing. This is…personal.”

  He looked at the nameplate on the door. “Medical director?” He turned back to her. “What’s going on?”

  Without warning, the door rattled and opened inward a few inches.

  “What is it?” a tired voice said from inside.

  Recognizing it immediately, Chloe thrust her arm through the opening, grabbed the man by his nightshirt, and kicked the door all the way open.

  “Hello, Dr. Karr,” she said, stepping over the threshold.

  He stared at her, confused, afraid, and clearly not recognizing her.

  “I realize it’s been a few years,” she said, “but surely you haven’t forgotten me. Lauren Scott. That should ring a bell, right?”

  The doctor looked no more enlightened than he had a moment before. Chloe pulled him over to the bed and shoved him onto the mattress, sensing Ash and Robert moving in behind her.

  “What are you doing?” Ash whispered.

  Staring at Dr. Karr, she said, “I’m getting reacquainted with the man who stole my life.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  She glanced at him. “I remember.” Her gaze returned to the doctor. “I remember everything.”

  Ash was silent for a moment, then said, “Everything? How?”

  “Turns out this isn’t my first time here,” she said. “I used to be a member of the Project, too, though not for very long. I was selected to be part of an experiment that apparently didn’t go very well.”

  She could see the doctor begin to connect the dots.

  “Tell them,” she said to him. “Tell them what you did to me.”

  Karr pressed his lips together defiantly.

  Chloe drew her pistol and whacked the barrel against his cheek. “Tell them.”

  Rubbing his face, Karr said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Tell them! Tell them how you took my memories. How you ruined my life.”

  “I don’t know anything about that.”

  She moved the gun’s muzzle to within an inch of the man’s ear and pulled the trigger.

  The doctor screamed as he jerked to the side, the hand that had been on his cheek now covering his ear.

  “The next one takes a little bit of you with it,” she whispered. “Now talk!”

  Wincing, Karr looked at her and then at Ash and Robert. “It…it was a trial, that’s all. A test. She volunteered for it.”

  “And was I truthfully told what I was volunteering for?”

  “I had nothing to do with that.”

  “What kind of test?” Ash asked.

  “We were…we were trying to develop a way of keeping a person in a…a deep sleep. A kind of low-level suspended animation.”

  “You were going to use it on the people you brought here,” Chloe said. “Your protectees, right?”

  The doctor swallowed. “If it had worked, yes.”

  “If?” Chloe asked.

  Trying not to look at her, he said, “The side effects were…” He paused, his eyes flicking to her and then away again. “Unacceptable.”

  “You mean memory loss,” she said.

  “That’s one.”

  “What else?”

  He hesitated and then said, “Death.”

  “So you knew there was a good chance I could die when you strapped me into that chair,” Chloe said.

  He looked away. But she didn’t need him to confirm what she already knew.

  “When it didn’t work, you changed your plan?” Ash said.

  At first the doctor said nothing, but a tap of the gun on his head got him talking again. “If the drug had done what we’d hoped, the protectees would have been brought in over several years preceding Implementation Day. Since it didn’t, we had to bring them all here at the last minute and use more conventional means.”

  Chloe stared at the doctor in disgust. “You son of a bitch. You knew exactly—”

  Ash touched her arm. “You can deal with him later. We need to get back to work. There’s a good chance we’ll have visitors soon.”

  “You two go,” she said. “I just need a few minutes of private time with my old friend here.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Don’t leave me alone with her!” Karr pleaded. “Please!”

  Ignoring him, Chloe looked at Ash and said, “I know it’s not a good idea, but it’s what I’m going to do.”

  Ash grimaced, but finally relented. “Just be careful.”

  “Wait, wait!” Karr said. “I don’t—”

  Chloe ground the gun into his chest enough to shut him up.

  “One request,” she said to Ash. “Help me get him to the examining room.”

  __________

  CHLOE FOUND A drawer full of restraints in a cabinet next to the examination chair. Before Ash and Robert left her, she secured Karr’s arms and legs. She knew her two friends weren’t exactly pleased by what she had in mind, but she also knew Ash wasn’t going to stop her, and that he’d make sure Robert understood the full scope of what was going on.

  “Don’t be long,” Ash said as he headed to the door.

  “I won’t.”

  The doctor tried to convince them to help him one last time, but Ash and Robert left without even looking back.

  “So, I’m wondering if there’s any more of that wonderful drug you gave me,” she said, circling the chair and heading over to the locked medicine case.

  “Of course not,” Karr said. “It was all destroyed years ago.”

  Using the butt of her pistol, she broke the lock on the refrigerated cabinet and perused the goods, but only recognized the names of a few painkillers and antibiotics. She began removing other bottles, reading the labels out loud. From Karr’s reactions, she was able to determine the three bottles that scared him the most. She set them on the instrument tray next to the chair.

  “You don’t want to do this,” the doctor said. “If you do, you’ll be as bad as I am.”

  Shuffling the small bottles between her fingers, she said, “And exactly how bad are you, Doctor?”

  Karr’s gaze bounced back and forth between her and the drugs. “Please. Don’t. I’m begging you.”

  She stuck the
needle through the membrane on top of one of the bottles and drew some of the liquid into the syringe. “You think I should be concerned about your life? Like how you were so concerned about mine?” She put the needle into the next bottle and added some of its content to the mix. “And about the billions who died from the Sage Flu?” She finished the medical cocktail by adding an equal amount from the third bottle.

  “I…I wasn’t responsible for the flu. I didn’t work on that.”

  “And that absolves you of all responsibility? I’m thinking no.” She gave the syringe a shake and then pushed the plunger enough so that a squirt flew out. “I have no idea what any of these drugs are, but I’m guessing at least one of them will make your life hell.”

  He yanked at his restraints as she moved the needle toward him.

  “Now, now, Dr. Karr. This will go much easier if you just hold still.”

  15

  EVERTON, VERMONT

  2:51 AM EST

  GORDIE BLAKE, POWELL’S second in command, had been left in charge of the small contingent assigned to remain outside the base. So far his duties had consisted mostly of updating Ward Mountain on the progress. Since the radio was unable to reach anyone inside Dream Sky, his reports had been limited to “No word yet.”

  Not this time.

  “Crystal? Gordon Blake. I’ve heard from the team. Dream Sky security forces have been neutralized, and our people are doing a floor-by-floor roundup of other personnel.”

  “Hold on,” she said.

  “Sure.”

  The line went dead for a moment.

  When Crystal came back on, she said, “I’ve got Rachel on with us now. Can you repeat what you just told me?”

  Blake did.

  “How long do you think until the base is fully secured?” Rachel asked.

  “No ETA yet, ma’am, but from the sounds of it, that place is pretty big so it could take a while.”

  “Any casualties on our side?”