arms casually over his chest. The smirk had barely left his face.
I pretended to pick at the hem of my skirt for a beat, thinking about asking something else personal to keep this game going, but an entirely different question came out, unbidden. “Where is he?”
Connor paused. He knew exactly who I was referring to, and it was the first time I saw him reveal a tiny flicker of discomfort, which said a lot, I thought. I just didn’t know about what yet.
“OB is out,” he answered.
“Is that what you call him around here?”
“It is.”
“I usually call him the Fox.”
“I suppose you can call him whatever you want.”
OB, as Connor called him, reminded me of a fox. Not handsome, but sharp, red haired, with dark, hooded eyes. He acted like one, too. The kind of predator that didn’t need to use its size to hunt.
OB was lackluster in comparison to the Fox , but it would do.
When the Fox—or OB—offered me a job here, I had no idea what it’d entail, but I knew the trade-off, and I knew it’d be worth it. The deal was, if I came here and took part in this new program, whatever it was, then my little sister, Anna, would have a chance at a normal life. That was something I’d lost the moment my dad broke several vertebrae at his factory job and turned into a shell of his former self.
I only knew bits and pieces about the program itself. OB had used words like assignment and training and advanced science and genetic something or other . I also knew OB worked with the government, or for it. But I wanted to know more. Now.
“What does out mean?” I asked. “Out for an hour? Out for a day?”
“You’re in perfectly capable hands,” Connor said.
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
He sat up straighter. “That’s because I don’t have the answer.”
Which meant OB did as he pleased here, which meant he had far more power than Connor.
“All right.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I guess let’s get started.”
He stood and nodded me toward the door, which was now held open by the door-opener, who I’d completely forgotten was there.
“Let’s start with the room you’ve been assigned, and we’ll go from there.”
* * *
My room was on the second floor, tucked into the back of the building I’d arrived in only eight hours before. On the outside, the place had looked like a high-profile ad agency, or maybe a law office. A lot of sharp edges and glass, windows spanning entire floors to keep the view of Lake Michigan beyond it uninhibited. It was surrounded by concrete. I’d thought it was to keep the building looking neat and clean, but now that I knew there were several floors underground, where I’d been taken and examined and where I had later met Connor, I realized the concrete was there to give it a strong foundation.
The portion of the building that was aboveground was a huge departure from what was below. I liked this part much more. The first thing I noticed when we entered my room was the view. Lake Michigan as far as the eye could see.
I didn’t know how I’d been lucky enough to be given a room with such a view, but I wasn’t complaining.
“What do you think?” Connor asked.
I took a few tentative steps inside.
My room was long and narrow but still huge by my standards. Anna and I had shared a room for a lot of years. I wasn’t used to having so much space.
The floor was more polished concrete, the walls plain white. There was a bed on the wall to my right with a steel headboard and a thick white comforter. Matching nightstands stood on either side of the bed with twin glass lamps. Across from the bed was a sofa, the cushion navy-blue linen.
“Bathroom is here,” Connor said, and gestured to a frosted glass door behind us. “Closet is in the hall to the bathroom.”
Guilt needled at my conscience. This place was more than I deserved. It wasn’t fair that I got to live here when Anna was back home. Our roof leaked. The bathroom smelled like mold
I pretended to pick at the hem of my skirt for a beat, thinking about asking something else personal to keep this game going, but an entirely different question came out, unbidden. “Where is he?”
Connor paused. He knew exactly who I was referring to, and it was the first time I saw him reveal a tiny flicker of discomfort, which said a lot, I thought. I just didn’t know about what yet.
“OB is out,” he answered.
“Is that what you call him around here?”
“It is.”
“I usually call him the Fox.”
“I suppose you can call him whatever you want.”
OB, as Connor called him, reminded me of a fox. Not handsome, but sharp, red haired, with dark, hooded eyes. He acted like one, too. The kind of predator that didn’t need to use its size to hunt.
OB was lackluster in comparison to the Fox , but it would do.
When the Fox—or OB—offered me a job here, I had no idea what it’d entail, but I knew the trade-off, and I knew it’d be worth it. The deal was, if I came here and took part in this new program, whatever it was, then my little sister, Anna, would have a chance at a normal life. That was something I’d lost the moment my dad broke several vertebrae at his factory job and turned into a shell of his former self.
I only knew bits and pieces about the program itself. OB had used words like assignment and training and advanced science and genetic something or other . I also knew OB worked with the government, or for it. But I wanted to know more. Now.
“What does out mean?” I asked. “Out for an hour? Out for a day?”
“You’re in perfectly capable hands,” Connor said.
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
He sat up straighter. “That’s because I don’t have the answer.”
Which meant OB did as he pleased here, which meant he had far more power than Connor.
“All right.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I guess let’s get started.”
He stood and nodded me toward the door, which was now held open by the door-opener, who I’d completely forgotten was there.
“Let’s start with the room you’ve been assigned, and we’ll go from there.”
* * *
My room was on the second floor, tucked into the back of the building I’d arrived in only eight hours before. On the outside, the place had looked like a high-profile ad agency, or maybe a law office. A lot of sharp edges and glass, windows spanning entire floors to keep the view of Lake Michigan beyond it uninhibited. It was surrounded by concrete. I’d thought it was to keep the building looking neat and clean, but now that I knew there were several floors underground, where I’d been taken and examined and where I had later met Connor, I realized the concrete was there to give it a strong foundation.
The portion of the building that was aboveground was a huge departure from what was below. I liked this part much more. The first thing I noticed when we entered my room was the view. Lake Michigan as far as the eye could see.
I didn’t know how I’d been lucky enough to be given a room with such a view, but I wasn’t complaining.
“What do you think?” Connor asked.
I took a few tentative steps inside.
My room was long and narrow but still huge by my standards. Anna and I had shared a room for a lot of years. I wasn’t used to having so much space.
The floor was more polished concrete, the walls plain white. There was a bed on the wall to my right with a steel headboard and a thick white comforter. Matching nightstands stood on either side of the bed with twin glass lamps. Across from the bed was a sofa, the cushion navy-blue linen.
“Bathroom is here,” Connor said, and gestured to a frosted glass door behind us. “Closet is in the hall to the bathroom.”
Guilt needled at my conscience. This place was more than I deserved. It wasn’t fair that I got to live here when Anna was back home. Our roof leaked. The bathroom smelled like mold
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