The presentation had intrigued her enough to return again. And in subsequent meetings, she’d become fascinated by the building projects the organization was undertaking — large facilities constructed to ward against worldwide disasters, she was told. The presenters had explained that the Project was secretly backed by multiple governments, and it was hoped the facilities would never be used but it was better to be prepared than not.
The job offer had come two weeks before she received her diploma. The pay was easily twice that of any of her other offers, but the challenges of building underground facilities had been more than enough of an enticement. If they’d offered her only room and board, she would have still signed on.
Had she suspected there was more to the Project than she was being told? Of course. But it’d been easier not to think about those things and concentrate on the work she would be doing.
The elevator door opened.
Even if she were blind, she would have known she was on level five. There was a smell so similar to the one on the other levels, but different enough that she could sense it. She stepped into the outer loop, her heart pounding.
A special assignment, she’d been told while undergoing her employee training program. An assignment that needed several volunteers. Chloe — her name was still Lauren Scott then — was just the type of person they needed, her supervisor had said, and they would be ever so grateful if she agreed to participate. There was even a bonus of three months’ salary attached to the assignment. Though her supervisor had said he couldn’t give her any details, Chloe had assumed it was something to do with her engineering expertise and readily agreed.
They’d flown her north from the training facility outside Nashville, Tennessee, to a private landing strip in New Hampshire. She and four other volunteers had been driven to Everton, and then taken down a long tunnel via a funicular train to one of the Project’s underground structures that had been completed. A facility called Dream Sky.
The five of them had undergone a series of medical exams and taken several written tests that Chloe had thought were meant to determine their mental abilities. On a few occasions between tests, as an alternative to wandering through the base, the volunteers had been allowed to go into town as “tourists” to avoid any lengthy conversations. Chloe’s favorite place had been the old revolutionary-era church. It reminded her of the one near her parents’ home, and she’d found it relaxing to sit in the pews when the building was empty.
At the end of the assessment phase, one volunteer had been sent away for not meeting the minimum requirements. The others had been taken, one day at a time, off to their “assignment.” Chloe’s turn had come on the third day.
Though she knew it was probably her imagination, the smell seemed to grow stronger as she moved along the outer loop and turned down Hall K.
There it was, ahead on the left, a door that looked no different than any of the other doors. But it was different. She paused only a second in front of it before turning the handle and pushing it open.
The shock of seeing the chair forced her to grab the doorjamb to keep from falling, her whole world suddenly becoming a whirlpool that threatened to pull her into its very depths. Fighting through it, she stepped into the room.
The layout was identical to the one on level nine. The differences were in the wear and tear, this room having seen much more use than the one farther below. She looked around, taking in every inch, and remembering.
This was the room that had taken her life from her.
His name was Dr. Karr, and he’d worn a continuous smile that never reached his eyes.
“Please, come in,” he’d said as young Lauren/Chloe was ushered inside. He’d patted the dentist’s chair in the center of the room. “Sit here.”
She’d thought she was being taken to her assignment, but instead she’d been brought back to the room where all her previous medical examinations had taken place.
“This won’t take long,” the doctor had said.
With some trepidation, she’d made herself comfortable in the chair. Her concern had skyrocketed, however, the moment one of the nurses secured her right wrist to the armrest.
She’d looked at the woman and then at the doctor. “Why did she do that?”
Through his ever-present grin, the doctor had said, “Merely a precaution to prevent you from hurting yourself during the procedure.”
“Procedure? What procedure?”
“Chances are, you won’t feel anything at all.”
The nurse had come around to grab her other arm, but Chloe had pulled it away. “I didn’t sign up for any procedure!”
“To the contrary. It’s exactly what you volunteered for.”
Chloe had felt the prick of a needle in her arm and looked back to find the second nurse standing there, holding a syringe.
With her free hand, Chloe had reached over to remove the restraint from her right arm, but suddenly felt like she was moving through a thick layer of gelatin.
What was…I…doing? The restraint. Right.
But try as she might, her left hand had stopped obeying her commands. A few seconds later, a tidal wave of vertigo had forced her to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she’d found her left wrist also tied down.
How did that happen?
“What’s…going…on?” she’d asked.
“You’re performing a very important task for the Project,” Dr. Karr had said. “If all goes as planned, you won’t remember any of this.”
“What are you…doing to me?”
The doctor had picked up a bag of clear liquid and hooked it to a stand next to her chair. “A drug trial. Don’t worry. You won’t feel a thing.”
“Drug? What…what…kind?”
There was that smile again. “The Project thanks you for your help. Now, I think it best if you close your eyes and get some rest.”
His words had seemed to carry the weight of law. Her eyelids had grown heavier and heavier until she could no longer keep them open. And like that, Lauren Scott had fallen into a sleep that would last until the moment Chloe White had returned to Dream Sky.
The first thing Chloe remembered after this was waking up in the former mental hospital in California run by the Project, knowing nothing about herself. There, more tests were run, but her time at this hospital she never forgot. It was where Chloe White was born, and, for the last several years, the place her earliest memories came from. If it hadn’t been for the help of one of Matt’s inside people who had smuggled her out and placed her into the Resistance’s care, who knew what would have happened to her.
On the Ranch, Matt and Rachel had nursed her back to health both physically and, as best they could, mentally. From them, Chloe had learned about Project Eden and its monstrous plan, but not once had Matt or his sister or anyone else within the Resistance ever told her she had been part of the Project.
Whatever drug Dr. Karr had given her had buried her memories so deeply she’d thought they were gone forever.
But they were back now, with a vengeance.
Ash and Robert rode the elevator up to the fifth level.
“Be alert,” Ash said as the car slowed. “We don’t know what we’ll find here.”
Robert nodded.
When the doors opened, they moved out and scanned in each direction. The area was clear.
“This looks exactly like level nine,” Robert said. “If the room down there affected Chloe so much, maybe she’s in the matching one here.”