Born to Darkness Read Online Free PDF

scanner—a little piece of technology that’s now in every hospital and doctor’s office around the globe. Fifteen years ago, she sold her shares in the family corporation, and even if those billions of dollars weren’t enough to sustain us indefinitely, she still gets royalties from her patent. So you can trust me when I tell you that our funding is secure.”
    In the lower right corner of the screen was a photo of Jennifer Obermeyer—a still attractive forty-something blonde with a gleam of intelligence in her blue eyes.
    Zerkowski must’ve made note of Shane’s focus because helaughed. “Don’t get any ideas. She’s not here all that often. She mostly lets Dr. Bach—Joseph Bach—have full command, but she’s also there when we need her. This entire facility is on the former campus of her grandmother’s old alma mater. It was an all-women’s college that went bankrupt when the so-called Education Opportunities Act first passed. It was boarded up and rat-infested for about five years. But then Dr. O came in and, well, it’s this peaceful little secluded bit of rolling hills and brownstone buildings just outside of the city. We’re gated and protected. You’ll be safe—”
    “I’m not worried about that,” Shane said.
    “Understandably.” Zerkowski smiled. “So what else can I tell you? The pay’s really just a stipend. Forty bucks a week, but it’s nontaxable income, which helps. Of course, we provide room and board—and clothing, if you need it. Most people need it.”
    Jesus. “That’s not employment,” Shane pointed out. “That’s slavery.”
    “Hey, as much as we want you, there
are
plenty of applicants for
every
test session, and the cost of feeding and housing them—you—is steep. Plus there’s close to a hundred techs, students, and other subjects who live here full time—”
    Shane cut him off. “I’ll be there.”
    Zerkowski smiled again. “Excellent. Whoops, gotta go. Busy night. See you in the morning, Lieutenant.”
    “It’s
mister
now,” Shane corrected him, but the connection had already been cut.
    So okay. He was going to do this. They knew all about him, and still wanted him to attend. Which probably meant that this neural integration testing program was going to involve his doing calculus not only while digging ditches, but also while, oh, say, being waterboarded or otherwise tortured.
    But he was going to have a lovely place to sleep and delicious food to eat. And a half-bottle of wine to drink each day.
    And, yeah, despite the perks, they were going to lock him up every night. So it was going to be like serving time in a really fancy prison.
    With no real freedom.
    And quite possibly no access to women. Or at least no ability to be alone with anyone.
    The slide show was still going, and it faded up on another large building that was six or seven stories high.
The barracks
, Shane read, which was more like it. Family housing was one thing, but he didn’t have a family, so he’d no doubt be given a bunk and a foot-locker in a room with his fellow male test subjects.
    Which was fine, but limiting when it came to sex.
    And there it was—Shane’s agenda for tonight: Get his sorry ass laid. It had been too many months since he’d enjoyed female company.
    So far, today, he’d managed to not get beaten within an inch of his life. And he’d finally found employment from an organization that didn’t give a shit about the blacklists. Maybe—if the Obermeyer Institute’s work wasn’t too reprehensible—he could work his way from test subject to security guard.
    A place like that surely needed
some
kind of security.
    Maybe—finally—his luck had started to change.

THREE
    The Med Center was in turmoil when Joseph Bach returned to the Obermeyer Institute, with the full staff—six doctors and a dozen nurses—all working hard to keep Nathan Hempford alive.
    Stephen Diaz was already back in the gated compound, but Michelle Mackenzie was nowhere to be found.
    Bach