east wing of the building, along with a merry faced Dutchman named Piet, who'd been there before and seemed happy to take the lead.
In his clipped, accented English, Piet kept up a running commentary about which rooms they could enter and which rooms were off-limits. If he was curious about what lay hidden behind the doors of the forbidden rooms, he showed no sign of it.
'What's that?' Maddox asked as they started past a room with a glass window set into the door. Pale green curtains covered the window from the inside.
'That is the-what is the word? Sick room?'
'Infirmary?'
'Ya, infirmary.' Piet kept going.
Maddox stayed where he was. 'They don't have any trash for us to pick up?'
'It is one of the rooms we do not enter.' Piet said. 'If there were rubbish, it would be waiting out here for us.'
Maddox frowned. 'Maybe they just forgot to put their trash out today. Shouldn't we at least check? It can't be good for an infirmary to have a bunch of garbage sitting around ' Maddox reached for the door handle.
'Wait, you cannot-' Piet started, but Maddox had already opened the door and stepped inside.
The infirmary was a small room with only six beds visible. It looked like an emergency room, with retractable curtains set up in an oval around each bed to afford privacy. Only one bed was occupied. A woman with sandy blond hair lay pale and still against the light green sheets on the bed. An IV drip hung from a portable bedside monitor charting the patient's vital signs, Maddox didn't see anyone else in the room, though a door near the back was marked Authorized Personnel Only.
'You cannot be in here!' Piet tugged at Maddox's sleeve.
'Look, there's a full garbage can.' Maddox ignored Piet's anxious tugging and crossed to the occupied bed. He bent to retrieve the plastic garbage sack, taking the opportunity to get a good look at the woman in the bed. His heart squeezed.
It was Iris's missing friend, Sandrine.
Chapter Seventeen
The monitor by Sandrine Beck's bed beeped steadily, red numbers showing heart rate, oxygen saturation and blood pressure. Maddox was no doctor, but from what he could tell, her vitals were in the normal range.
Was she just sleeping? Or was she unconscious?
'We should not be in here!' Piet grabbed Maddox's arm.
Maddox looked over his shoulder at the other man. 'What do you suppose is wrong with her?'
'If you stay here much longer, you will have a chance to ask the doctor himself.' Piet grimaced. 'Come, before we both lose our jobs.'
Maddox reluctantly followed Piet out of the infirmary, slipping through the door even as he heard the latch engage on the door at the back of the sick bay. He glanced back through the narrow space between the curtains on the infirmary door and spotted a white-clad female-a nurse?- approach Sandrine's bed.
He turned to look at Piet. 'Why don't we split up? It'll speed up the process.'
'I am supposed to stay with you and train you.'
'How much training does it take to empty a trash can? You take the rest of this section and I'll go on around the corner and work my way back up from there. We make it back out to the truck first and the boss man loves us. Maybe he'll even toss us a few extra bucks for the effort. What do you say?'
Piet frowned as he considered Maddox's proposal. He finally nodded, 'We will meet at the end of the hall.'
Maddox nodded. 'Sure, Piet.'
Not that he had any intention of meeting back up with Piet. He had to warn Iris about the second murder and coax her out of this place before she was the next victim.
'A little help here!' Tom Stanton grated.
Sweat beaded his broad forehead and the veins in his neck bulged. Iris tightened her grip on Tom's arm, trying to clear her mind of everything but the feel of Tom's sweat-dampened skin beneath her fingers. She listened to the sound of his breathing and concentrated on matching her pulse to his.
Suddenly, energy began to build in her fingertips and spread up her arm. It sizzled through her bloodstream, blooming in her chest. Her vision dimmed, her head spun, but she tightened her hold on Tom's arm and rode the sensations, more relieved by the return of her gift than pained by the darkness of the energy coursing through her.
'Excellent!' Grinkov laughed with delight. 'Release!'
Iris waited until the others released hands before taking her hand from Tom's arm. He slumped forward and laid his head on his arms. While the flutter of sensations coming from him ebbed, a new, erratic buzz of energy stuttered through her.
'Let me show you what you did.' Grinkov turned the monitor toward them. A grainy color picture flickered to life, a static shot of an electrical panel.
'That's the power plant.' Hildi said.'That's what I saw.'
'Indeed.' Grinkov said, beaming at her, 'Now watch this.'
In the middle of a still image, a small red lever suddenly moved from On to Off. Hildi gasped.
Next to Iris, Bailey uttered a soft, 'Oo-rah!'
Grinkov ejected the disk and slipped it into a jewel case. 'I need to take this to the archives to back it up, I will send Halloran to escort you to your rooms to rest for the afternoon session.'
He left the room, his steps light and fast. The fluttering energy Iris had been feeling began to fade, and she realized it had been coming from Grinkov.
'Escort us to our rooms?' Iris asked as his words sank in.
'We don't go anywhere without an escort.' Bailey frowned.
'An afternoon session?' Tom lifted his head from the table. Dark circles shadowed his bloodshot eyes. Iris felt his pain like a headache throbbing between her temples. She moved closer and laid her hand on his arm drawing his pain into her.
'How do you do that, anyway?' Bailey asked.
'I don't know.' Iris admitted.
She felt a sudden rush of anticipation and realized it wasn't coming from herself or anyone inside the room. A second later, the door to the conference room opened behind her and a low drawling voice asked.
'I'm looking for the dorms. Can anybody point me in the right direction?'
Iris twisted in her seat, recognizing the voice.
Maddox Heller stood in the doorway, his hand on the doorknob and a grin slashing dimples into his tinned cheeks. His gaze slid past hers, satisfaction glimmering in his eyes.
She rose to her feet. 'I can show you.'
'We're supposed to wait for Halloran.' Hildi said.
Iris shrugged. 'Big deal. He was going to take us to our rooms anyway. I'm just getting a head start.'
Bailey stood up, 'I'll come with.'
Iris exchanged another look with Maddox as she and Bailey caught up with him at the door. He held the door politely for them, putting his hand briefly against the small of her back as he followed them out. In that touch, she felt a chaos of emotions, ranging from anxiety to relief.
'Here are the dormitory rooms.' Bailey said as they reached the sleeping quarters, 'These four rooms.' She opened the first door.
'Do me a favor and clean mine first? I'd like to take a nap and I don't want to be disturbed later.'
Maddox slanted a look at Iris but entered the room with Bailey. Iris surreptitiously showed him four fingers to
