The Takeover Read Online Free PDF

but she respected the power Dr. Callas wielded and the list of initials behind his name.
    Two guards waited down the hall, their gazes averted. Beyond them, the other life force, the one blinking bright and dim, beckoned to my curiosity from behind a doorway.
    “When our visitors are finished interviewing Mr. Azima,” Hartley said, “I’ll let them know you have approved their request.”
    Callas made a deprecating sound in his throat. “They won’t get anything from the man. He doesn’t know anything or he would have told us by now.”
    “I don’t know,” Hartley said. “He still seems to avoid certain questions. Makes me think he’s hiding something.”
    “You mean besides the fact that he acts as some kind of empath with the others.”
    Hartley wanted to correct him, to say that Shadrach Azima didn’t so much as feel the others’ pain as he did enhance their ability to heal faster, but Callas was sure to receive a promotion after they made history with their work here, and she had her eye on his job. She wouldn’t jeopardize that—or her planned trip to the city of romance.
    Hartley’s eyes strayed down the hallway, past the guards to the room at the end where the Czech slept. “What about Bedřich?” she asked. “It’s his turn, right?”
    “For the amputation?” Dr. Callas shook his head. “It’ll have to be one of the others instead. Bedřich’s not well; you know that. I don’t want headquarters to get any idea of pulling him from us. He’s the only one we’ve been able to learn anything from about Unbounded.”
    “You believe him?” Hartley herself considered Bedřich a raving lunatic, but she wouldn’t let him know that. Most of what they had learned from the Czech had been during fits at night in his room. While in the grip of these outbursts, he destroyed everything inside his apartment and bashed holes in the walls, which was one of the reasons he was off in this wing by himself. The fits always included fearful rantings about an old woman named Delia.
    “To a point,” Callas said. “But they’re all hiding something from us. Do the amputation on Eden—half a finger.”
    “But it’s Mr. Azima’s turn if we are skipping Bedřich.”
    “After interviewing Mr. Azima, they’ll feel a connection to him, and it’ll be better to do it on a stranger. Make sure you inject her with plenty of the new glutein concentrate, so they can witness their miracle in a couple hours. Don’t want to be here all night.”
    Hartley joined his laugh without real mirth. She was glad not to do the procedure on Mr. Azima because she secretly liked the man. He was always polite, apologized when he upset her—even when he had a right to be upset—and she was sure he’d had something to do with ending her endometriosis pain. Though he’d touched her only on the arm since she’d been working with him, the pain had vanished completely. As for Eden, she didn’t like the woman at all but wouldn’t take pleasure in hurting her. Hartley had heard Eden crying over a daughter she’d lost, and Hartley pitied her.
    Still, this amputation meant overtime and one step closer to Paris.
    “I’ll get the OR ready.”
    “Make sure Eden is already there and sedated before you allow them in. We don’t want any of Eden’s scenes. Oh, and double the guard.”
    Hartley had already planned to do that. Eden could easily take out two guards, even partially sedated. So could Fenton, according to Moroccan officials, though he’d been calm enough here. Still, Hartley and her colleagues were always careful, and any time they moved either Fenton or Eden, they made sure they had a full complement of armed guards. Mostly, that had worked, except for the couple times Eden had sent guards to the infirmary with broken bones.
    I found it interesting that the three Emporium agents were addressed by their first names, while Shadrach was called by his last, and usually with Mr. attached. Shadrach’s elegance seemed to hold