“Jeanie,” a male voice rasped.

The bed dipped a little and she looked in that direction. The familiar face took a moment to identify and with it, the memories returned as she stared at 710. He was bent forward in a chair, elbows on his knees, his chin resting on his upraised fists. His dark-brown eyes looked almost black in the dim light.

She glanced around, stunned to find she wasn’t still in a hospital bed. “Where am I?” Her heart rate accelerated as fear slammed into her. “This can’t be a prison.” She stared at him again. “This is a bedroom.”

“It’s mine. I refused to allow them to transfer you to Fuller.”

She tried to piece together what had happened once she’d learned they were sending her to the same place Dean Polanitis had been taken. Embarrassment set in. “I attacked people, didn’t I?”

“You bloodied a human’s nose with the back of your head and kneed Jericho where it hurts the most. They’re both fine.”

She swallowed hard. “Jericho is the big one with the reddish eyes, right?”

“That’s him.”

“I’m so sorry. He was nice to me.” No guilt surfaced over the human since he’d been a jerk. She moved her arms, glad neither wrist sported handcuffs as she sat up. “I didn’t mean to freak out. I need to apologize to him.”

He leaned back. “There’s nothing to apologize for. You were terrified and reacted accordingly.”

She hugged her chest, thinking hard. “I don’t remember anything after that.” Her gaze held his. “Did I attack you too?” She’d be horrified if she had.

“No. I picked you up before any more damage could occur and a nurse gave you a sedative.”

It explained why she had a blank spot in her memory. “I wasn’t lying. I worked for Agent Terry Brice. He’s real.”

“I know you believe that.”

“I met him. He’s in his mid-fifties, overweight and sweats a lot. He called and came to see me the day after I contacted the NSO tip line. He showed me a badge. Please believe me.”

“I do.”

“Thank you, 710.” She felt immense gratitude.

“I took the name True. Please use it.”

“I like it.” She bit her lower lip, studying him. “Why did you pick it? May I ask?”

“I saw a lot of my kind attempting to fit in after we were freed, by acting different than who they really were. I wanted to stay true to my nature. It seemed fitting.”

“That’s beautiful.” It touched her that he was so thoughtful. He hadn’t spoken to her much at Drackwood but he’d always seemed highly intelligent. She’d grown to care more about him every time they’d had any interaction. There had been attraction and something deeper. “I think you have a nice name, True.”

“Tell me more about this human.”

“What do you want to know? He flew in every few weeks and we kept in contact through the disposable cell phone. He’d leave me text messages since I had to hide it. I’d call him back or I’d check the phone to find out where we were supposed to meet next.”

“Why hide it?”

“Both Drackwood and Cornas invaded our privacy in every way imaginable and I’m sure Security monitored our phone conversations even when we weren’t at work. That’s why I had the disposable cell. I paid cash for it and added minutes when I ran low. I kept it off so it wouldn’t ring and kept it inside a sealed plastic bag buried in a park near the places I lived. I bought the same model phone that I used as my personal cell and would just snap in the battery when I checked it. That way I could keep charging it without someone wondering why I had a spare charger when I didn’t have a second phone.”

“Why a park?”

“I pretended to be into jogging and it would give me a reason to go out at night. It was easier to make sure I wasn’t followed that way too. I’d rest and sip water along one of the trails, act as if I was stretching my muscles, but I’d actually dig up the phone to check for new texts.”

“Smart.”

“I was terrified of being caught. It’s a great motivation not to screw up.” A thought struck. “I can tell you where my last cell phone is buried. Those texts are still on it. I never had time to delete anything. I left my personal cell phone in my apartment the day I went to work but I can give you my address. The police can go there and grab it to use the battery on that phone when they dig it up. It will prove he exists, right?”

“We know where you live. It could possibly prove his existence.”

“I don’t understand. How would he know things about NSO if he doesn’t really work here? He texted me both times to give me a heads-up when the rescues were about to happen. Drackwood and Cornas would have cleared out the buildings if they’d had any forewarning of what was about to go down. We had drills about those kinds of things.”

“What do you mean?”

She slid her hands down to her lap, intertwining her fingers. “Drackwood and Cornas had protocols in place for certain events. They had us practice what to do.”

“Such as?”

She glanced away. It hurt, looking at him while having to explain just how horrible human beings could be. “We were ordered to destroy evidence in case of a breach, kill New Species and escape from the secret exits to avoid arrest. They didn’t want any of us to get caught since we could identify the other staff.” She paused, waiting to see if he got angry. Silence reigned but she didn’t feel brave enough to look at him to see his expression. She kept her focus on her hands. “They also had drills in case we ever needed to move locations. Security estimated we could clear out a facility within an hour.”

“How?”

“Drug all the New Species and transfer them by gurneys into trucks from the loading dock. I don’t know about the other assignments given to employees but I assumed they’d have some of them trained to destroy any evidence that we were ever there. My best guess is that they’d blow up the building or torch it.”

“Where were we to be taken?”

“I have no idea.” She turned her head and lifted her gaze. He didn’t appear angry, just curious. “That wasn’t something they ever said. It was classified information I didn’t have access to. My assignment was to travel inside the trucks with the drugged New Species and monitor them to make sure they stayed unconscious. Security ran the drills and didn’t even tell us how long it would take to reach another location.”

“There’s really poison gas hidden inside the fire alarms at Cornas?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “I got lucky enough to have lunch at the same time as the guy who did it. He was someone I hadn’t seen before so I sat next to him, hoping to learn why he was there. He bragged about it.” She scowled. “He seemed proud of the fact that he’d just implemented something so gruesome. I told Agent Brice his first name was Ron. I’m not sure if he lied about that or not since he just had a visitor badge with numbers on it. He refused to tell me his last name. I tried to find out what other places he’d worked but he seemed to grow suspicious at that point. I said I had to get back to work out of fear of him reporting my interest if I lingered any longer.”

“That’s why you destroyed the mainframe computer?”

“Ron told me he’d set that up at another facility and the gas would kill anyone who breathed it in under a minute. He bragged about how Security could trigger it from their computer terminals, which were linked to the mainframe. I had to prevent it.”

“What is your connection to 712?”

She couldn’t help but smile. “I took care of him often when he was in the clinic. He’s doing well, right? Agent Brice said he was.” Dread came next when True growled, his features hardening into a mask of anger. “Oh no. Agent Brice lied? He didn’t survive?” Tears filled her eyes. “That bastard swore to me that 712 was rescued and fully recovered from his injuries. One of the guards really did a number on him with a knife to his stomach.”

“He’s fine. You care about him?”

“Of course. I care about all of them.” Relief washed over her. “I was really worried when Agent Brice said Drackwood was about to be raided because a few of them were being kept in the medical center at the time. The doctors on duty could have easily killed him and 754. She made it, too, didn’t she? They were both chained to their beds, totally helpless. All the injured New Species were at the highest risk of being murdered.”