Run to Me by Christy Reece Page B

exactly what they gave her… . It’s not that simple.”
    Dreading the answer, Ethan asked anyway, “What do you mean?”
    “That poor child has been pumped so full of drugs… . Some of the substances we recognized, most we didn’t.”
    “Dammit, Doc, what?”
    “We recognized a substance that closely resembles GHB. Various steroids and antidepressants, along with other things we can’t identify yet. There’s also evidence of scopolamine. Which would explain her nightmares and hallucinations of demons.”
    “And her memory loss, too,” Ethan said.
    The doctor nodded. “It would take months, perhaps years, to develop a drug with all of these ingredients. He’s apparently made a cocktail of them. Based on what we know about these drugs and Shea’s symptoms, we can conjecture that memories, emotions … and any kind of free will are suppressed and manipulated. She probably knows only what she’s been told by whoever did this to her. And even those things are beginning to fade.”
    “She mentioned someone she called ‘the master,’ ” Ethan said.
    “I could see that,” Dr. Norton said. “With this kind of mind control, there would be one person who would tell her what to do, where to go, what to think. She would be on automatic pilot, with this man as her driver.”
    The breakfast Ethan had forced down churned in his stomach. He’d known Shea had been drugged, but knowing she’d had no control over anything in her life tore at his insides. There was no telling what Rosemount had forced her to do. The only good thing was she remembered little or none of it. But how long would that last?
    “So what do we do? Is there something that can reverse it? Will her memory ever come back?” Ethan asked.
    “I don’t know. Some of these drugs can suppress the memory forever. For instance, people who have been given GHB don’t remember many of the things that happened to them while they were under the drug’s influence. Scopolamine often has the same effect. Someone who’s received these drugs, day in and day out for months … Honestly, I’m surprised she’s alive at all.”
    Ethan turned away from Dr. Norton. He wanted to hit something, kill someone. Rosemount. He wanted to kill Rosemount.
    “Ethan, stop it.”
    Whirling around, he snarled, “Stop what, Noah? Stop wanting to kill the man responsible? Stop blaming myself, because if it weren’t for me, she would never have gone after Rosemount in the first place?”
    “Stop looking for someone to blame and figure out a way to help her.”
    “I’m going after the bastard.” He glared at his former boss. “I’m not employed by LCR.”
    Noah’s mouth quirked. “Is that the mercenary’s version of ‘You’re not the boss of me’?”
    “Take it any way you like.”
    “Ethan, you should know me better by now. This man took one of our own. We’ve been trying to get Rosemount for months … since he killed Cole. I had no intention of just letting it slide. Once you got Shea out of there, we planned to raid the compound. Half an hour after Gabe found you, we moved.”
    “And?”
    “The place was empty, with the exception of one man with a bullet hole in his head. We couldn’t find anyone else.”
    “I wounded a couple of guards … knocked out a few. I didn’t shoot anyone in the head.”
    Noah grunted. “Probably Rosemount’s punishment for allowing you to take Shea. The other men …” He shrugged. “Who knows.”
    Sick dread pulled at Ethan. “So Shea’s our only lead.”
    McCall’s eyes flickered with compassion, but his answer was resolute and firm. “Yes.”
    “She’s going home with me.”
    Noah shook his head. “We need to get as much information as we can from her.”
    “Dammit, Noah, she doesn’t remember anything.”
    “Not yet, but we need her here when she does remember.”
    Turning his glare toward Dr. Norton, Ethan growled, “Can you do anything to help with her memory without hurting her?”
    “We can do our best.