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“Tomorrow, most likely. She sat down on a stool and rolled across the room toward me. “Do you prefer right or left?”
“Um. Left?” I wasn’t sure it mattered. But she did as I said, moving to my left side. She tapped the vein a few times. “You can close your eyes.”
“What?”
Then I remembered that I was supposed to be afraid of needles and gave her a grateful smile. I did as she said, closing my eyes. I felt her put on the tourniquet, and a few little pinches as she worked. Then came the scratchy sensation of the gauze, and she pressed firmly down. A few pieces of medical tape held it in place, and she announced that we were finished.
I opened my eyes, glancing down at the gauze.
“See? Not so bad.”
“No,” I mumbled, but my mind was still focused on Athos. If the results came back tomorrow and raised suspicions, it might make my next course of action more difficult. Between now and then, I needed to do as much digging as I could.
Plus, I just didn’t want to wait. Who knew what they were doing to him? I wanted answers now.
I tried to sound casual, not wanting to draw too much attention.
“What did they do with the centaur after they captured him?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. What do they do with any of them? You’re the hunter, you tell me what happens next.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I never asked. We just let them know that the capture is complete, and then the transfer team shows up.”
“Well, I don’t know much, either. I’m a staff doctor. Dr. Simone Grant oversees Project Centaur. She does her job, and I do mine. I stay in my lane and don’t ask questions. If I so much as think of a question, I just remind myself: ‘Yours is not to wonder why; yours is just to do or die.’” The rebuke on her face, directed toward me, was evident. “You’re lucky this time you didn’t die. I know you had a traumatic experience, but the best thing is to let it go. Don’t waste your time seeking revenge. It’ll wreck you. Have faith in your team members to handle it for you.”
I exhaled in relief, realizing that she thought I was asking because I held a grudge against my alien captor. It was, of course, the furthest thing from the truth. I wanted to save him, not watch his torture. But it was a helpful cover story, and I wasn’t going to correct her.
“You have a week of paid leave,” she continued. “Enjoy it and relax. Don’t even think about aliens for a week.”
I stood up, nodding sagely as though she had offered me great wisdom.
“You’re right, Dr. Evans. Thank you for your help. I’m going to start my leave right now. That is, if we’re done?”
She nodded her assent, and I scurried away from her office. I was already on my next mission. I was going to the source – Dr. Simone Grant, head of Project Centaur. Dr. Evans had been useful, albeit accidentally.
Grant was a name that I didn’t recognize, and I had to search a while for her office. Since the facility was top-secret and many areas operated under varying degrees of confidentiality, much of the building was quite spread out. There were no cram-packed cubicles at IMRA. Entire corridors existed just to house one or two far-flung offices.
Luckily, word had spread about my experience. No one looked at me strangely as I roamed, even when I appeared in areas where I didn’t typically belong. Instead, they assumed I was just a fallen comrade, navigating the difficult red tape of being placed on leave.
I got a few co-workers who asked if they could help, shaking their heads and complaining about “bureaucracy”. Others simply offered their condolences and hoped I could get my leave cleared soon. They had no idea that I had already been sent home and remained here by choice. I didn’t bother to correct them.
When I finally found Dr. Grant’s office, I stopped to check in with her secretary. When I introduced myself, her eyes went wide. She hastily called the inner office, staring at me in morbid curiosity while she talked.
Hanging up the phone, she pressed a little button next to her desk. I could hear the door behind her clicking to unlock itself.
“She said to go right in,” she explained, gesturing with her hand.
I nodded. “Thank you.”
Pushing the door open, I let myself into another office. A woman with blond hair in a no-nonsense ponytail at the nape of her neck stood up from behind a big metal desk. She crossed the room to greet me, her face sympathetic and worried.
“Claire Davies!”
I nodded.
“I take it Dr. Evans has checked you over and released you to go home? You’d still be in the exam room, otherwise. You look well, all things considered.” She sounded sincere, and her smile was genuine enough. Maybe I could get Athos out of this easily.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “I think I’ll be okay.”
