“How?”
Shit. I can’t tell him that. I can’t tell him about Reese or the Institute. He doesn’t even know my last name is Bellrose.
“That doesn’t matter,” I tell him. “What does matter is this could be your chance to study something else that should be impossible. We know the brain experiences electrical surgesafter the heart stops. Maybe that’s something being rewired? You’re a scientist, Doc. Don’t you wanna find out?”
Silence again. This time, he’s thinking. Good. Or…worse. Because that means I’m convincing him.
“Case,” he says, speaking slowly, “what exactly are you asking me?”
Here it is. The point of no return.
I stare at the floor, then squeeze my eyes shut, take a deep breath, and…
“I want you to kill me.”
Dead.
Absolute.
Silence.
I hold my breath because I don’t know what I’m hoping for here. I have enough self-awareness to realize how ridiculous and dangerous this is, but I still feel like it’s something I need to do. And yet, I might also be hoping he sayshell noand hangs up in my face.
“I’m sorry,” Harrison says after a beat, voice dangerously calm. “You’re going to need to repeat that.”
“I want you to kill me.”
“And, what, just leave you there?”
“Obviously not,” I snap. “You have to bring me back too.”
I stop just short of calling him a dickhead. I may not know himthatwell, but I know him well enough not to put it past him to agree only to leave me dead.
A short, disbelieving breath leaves him, something between a laugh andwhat the actual fuck. “It’s been three years since you worked for me, and you call me out of the blue because you want me tomurderyou. Do I have that right, Case?”
“Factual.”
“You’re asking me to clinically kill you and thenresurrectyou based on a theory.”
“It’snota theory.”
He goes quiet again and takes another breath, this time a calmer one. Then, “How serious are you?”
I glance over at the camera instinctively, even though the audio’s still scrambled. “Serious enough to call you after three years.”
The fact is I don’t have many friends, let alone ones who would be both insane and curious enough to help me with this. He and Lane are both scientists. If I’m going to trust anyone to kill me and bring me back from the dead, it would be them.
There may also be something a little satisfying about going to the man who owns the only research laboratory on the West Coast capable of going up against Bellrose Institute. If Malcolm thinks he can take full control and ownership over Ascension and all the research that comes with it, I’ll make sure every secret ends up with someone more worthy than him.
There’s another long pause, and the moment I can sense he’s going to give in, my heart stutters and flips and starts to race.
“Give me the weekend,” he says. “I’m not agreeing to anything yet. I don’t do experiments like this without research first.”
Not a yes.
But not a no.
“That’s fair. I can work with that.”
