“Yes,” Kalyia answered, bored. She knew this stuff already. It seemed people forgot really easily that she had been in the SIASS. Even if she was more of a technician, she still had a lot more experience than everyone gave her credit for.
“Are you listening to me?” Laura interrupted herself to say.
“Yes…” Kalyia said slowly.
Laura gave her a sideways look. “Okay, what did I just say?” Kalyia didn’t know, so she didn’t say anything. Laura sighed. “I’m serious about this, Kalyia. You need to pay attention.”
“I’m trying,” she responded.
“What’s distracting you?”
Kalyia paused. “Um, I was just thinking about what might happen if we didn’t find them.”
“Never think like that,” Laura instructed. “Remember to always be positive.”
“I know.”
“Good. Now let’s go over what would happen if any of us should split up or get lost…”
****************
Imraan knew he had to protect his brother, but they kept asking him questions that he had no idea what the answer was, not even a valid guess. Even though they were twins, Imraan was coming to realize just how different their brains were.
****************
"Remember the training that I've given you. Alright?" Laura commanded Kalyia. Kalyia was getting really annoyed now. She knew everything already; she didn't have to be reminded. They were about to break into the facility that had the two kidnapped boys. Rylee was turning the cameras off so that they could go in unnoticed.
Kalyia, however, couldn't help but show her excitement. She started to shake and shiver, her nerves were breaking down. Laura placed her hand on Kalyia's shoulder.
"Relax. I know that you're excited."
Kalyia tried to stop shaking, but she was still buzzing. Rylee finally came back and Laura led them into the facility.
"Wait. There's someone around the corner." Laura suddenly said.
****************
"What did they do to you?" Connor asked Imraan.
"They asked me questions. I don't think that they know."
"Did they hurt you?"
"No."
"Good."
Imraan tapped Connor on the shoulder, then whispered,
"You need to call me Armaan. They think that I'm Armaan, and they have cameras in here that can record. I know that it won't be able to hear this though, so just call me Armaan."
"OK." Connor whispered back.
****************
Rebecca was going into an emotional breakdown. She couldn't stop thinking about Connor. How he might have been tortured, like she was, except she was being tortured by her own friends. How could Laura ask the nurse to do such a thing to her? It didn't make sense; Laura was her friend. Why would Laura do such a thing to her? Rebecca had overheard part of Laura's conversation with the nurse: “I think that it would be best if Rebecca stayed in restraints until she recovers”?
What?
Rebecca's depression turned into anger. She was a bird! She couldn't stand being in a cage. She fought against the restraints, but couldn't break them. She finally just fell asleep in exhaustion.
****************
“I think we found our problem,” Kyler said. The other scientific nurses turned around.
“What is it?” one of them asked.
Alanine, who was the person who had noticed the strange behavior of the wound, was the first to speak. “Originally we thought the blade had been tipped with dentrobatidae poison from Costa Rica, but we compared it with many other neurotoxins from various species of dart frog, and we found it did not match. We found the chemical thujone in samples from the victim’s blood and researched certain species of plants through GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy). One plant with a high measure of thujone is the Artemisia Absinthium, a type of wormwood. As many of you may know, this chemical has medicinal uses and is used for various digestion problems as well as for healing wounds and insect bites. We believe that this wormwood chemical was distilled in alcohol, therefore increasing the thujone concentration. This thujone is harmful to both the mind and the nervous system. We believe this to be the cause of her hallucinations and spasms,” Alanine finished.
Lanadd rubbed his chin. “So you believe this concentrated and medically engineered wormwood was absorbed through the skin of the open wound?”
Kyler answered this time. “We originally thought the wound to be made from a simple stainless steel blade, but I believe it was ridged on the two edges to better hold the chemicals. The poisons were definitely directed purposefully.”
“Is there a cure?” Molly questioned. “Can it be fixed?”
“We believe the toxicity will last only about a week,” Alanine said. “We should see signs of recovery within a few days.”
Kyler thought for a minute. “Possibly, this could be some kind of warning to us and the HIA. Whoever did this has been working with it for quite some time. The work is extremely advanced. There are better poisons out there for this sort of thing that would kill anyone within an instant. I believe they wanted her to live.”
“After the first week, there may be some trailing effects of the poison, but after two weeks, we believe her system will be clear of symptoms and of the toxins. Her body will fight off the toxin naturally and she will recover,” Alanine continued. “In the meantime, we must keep her in those restraints Agent Pang suggested so that she doesn’t further damage herself on her road to recovery. We must be careful. We can’t let this get out of hand.”
****************
It was green. The water was green, she could see that color, but everything else looked so dull. So black and white. This was something new. Rebecca swirled her finger in the cold water and watched it ripple. Suddenly, she had the urge to jump in. She lifted herself from the hard planks of the floating raft and stood. She looked out over the lake and wondered how far it could take her if she just drifted. For some reason, she wanted to know how big it was. She wanted to explore.
She took a deep breath, bent her knees, and jumped.
****************
Bryan had just finished his meeting with the Lead Assembly. They had been surprised, astonished, and some of them seemed to think he was crazy. None of them had been mad at him though. None of them. Maybe Earl had been right? Could he really change thing so that they were almost as good as they had been before?
****************
Rebecca plunged into the water and sank deep into the lake. The cool water refreshed her face. Then she began to feel a burning. The water was constricting her. She was drowning! Rebecca tried to swim upward, but the water wouldn't let her. She was dying, and she didn't care. Why didn't she care?
Rebecca woke up, drenched in sweat, and breathing heavily. These dreams were getting out of hand. How was she supposed to rest with these vivid dreams? Rebecca thought about her dream. She had jumped in a dream lake, and she started to drown. Why had she started to drown? It didn't make any sense. Rebecca was an expert in swimming. The water also felt like it was constricting her. Like an anaconda. Rebecca lay in the bed for a little while longer, then fell asleep again.
****************
"So what should we do? We've been passing our grudge match on to the next generation of agents. How are we going to explain to the young agents of our mistake and tell them that the HIA is actually a good place," one of the LA members asked.
"I'll tell them," Bryan said. He knew that it was his fault and he would be the one to fix it. "Would you turn the camera on?" Bryan asked one of the workers. Bryan took a deep breath, then put on his mask and went in front of the camera.
****************