Instinct (2010) Read Online Free PDF Page B

while Madison tried to work the controls with one hand and scratch himself with the other.

5
    ‘Hello?’ Laura asked through her closed front door. She moved a few feet back; all she could see were two large figures, almost entirely blocking the light coming through the glass.
    Surprisingly, an American accent answered. ‘Dr Trent? Dr Laura Trent?’
    ‘Yes?’ Laura responded tentatively.
    ‘We need to speak to you. It’s about Andrew.’
    Laura immediately opened the door. Two men in wet black raincoats and army boots loomed over her.
    ‘Do you have any identification?’
    The men fished a pair of matching fat black wallets from their inside pockets and flipped them out. They showed plastic cards with pictures of themselves beside an official-looking seal dominated by a pair of eagle’s wings. Above that were words that plunged Laura into troubled confusion: Armed Forces of the United States.
    ‘The American Army? What do you have to do with my son?’
    ‘It would be easier for us to explain everything if we could just come inside.’
    Unease crept through Laura like a spider, but she knew she had to find out more. Stepping back, shepulled the door open and gestured towards the living room. She felt uncomfortable, but the magic words had been uttered: It’s about Andrew – and right now she would have let just about anyone in if they could back that sentence up.
    The older man looked as if he’d been carved from teak. In his early forties, but looking good on it, he had warm, brown eyes that sat on his face like a cartoon bear’s. His hair was dark, but flecked with enough ticks of white to give him an air of hard-won experience.
    The other was in his late twenties, tall and broad, with smooth, wide features and light black skin. His head was a brown dome, shaved bald, and it made him seem unnervingly faultless, like a scaled-up toy soldier rather than the real thing.
    They followed Laura into the living room and sat down together on a sofa not quite big enough for two men of their size.
    The older man spoke first. ‘Dr Trent, my name is Major Carl Webster. This is Lieutenant Jeffrey Carter. Let me get straight to the point if I may. We know the whereabouts of your son and we would like to reunite you with him as soon as possible.’
    Laura looked at Major Webster with an unlikely mixture of bemusement, anger and relief.
    ‘You know where my son is?’
    ‘Yes I do, Dr Trent.’
    ‘You know where my son is?’
    ‘Uh … This afternoon at about 1600 hours myself and Lieutenant Carter did indeed persuade …’
    ‘Where the fuck is my son?’
    ‘… Andrew to accompany us, requiring the … uh … unfortunate disruption of his daily routine …’
    ‘WHERE THE FUCK IS MY SON?’
    Carter got to his feet and put his hands out to intimate that Laura should quieten down. ‘Uh, Dr Trent, we would suggest that you calm down and …’
    As his hands made the slightest contact with Laura’s arms, she whipped them away.
    ‘Get the fuck off me. What do you think you’re doing?’ Carter took a step back and looked to Webster.
    ‘One more time. Where the fuck is my son?’
    ‘It’s not as simple …’ Webster began meekly.
    ‘Right then, I’m going to phone the police.’ She lifted the receiver and dialled the first nine.
    ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ said Webster, raising his voice slightly. ‘I’m sorry, but having us arrested is not going to get you to see Andrew any faster.’
    Laura stopped, closed her eyes and tried to control herself. The handset shook inside her steel grip. Her knuckles were white and the nails of her other hand dug hard into her palm. She knew Webster was right but her fury suddenly had nowhere to go.
    ‘FUCK!’ she screamed. ‘Fuck you! What do I have to do to see my son?’ Anger squeezed every word, pushing them out of her throat in a grating strain.
    ‘Well, you, uh, have to come with us,’ Webster replied apologetically. Carter couldn’t even look