Free Broken People by Ioana Visan Page B

her sides, feeling
Cole’s gaze trailing over the sequined yellow dress. “It’s for the
show. We all dress up when it’s on. God forbid someone saw us in
our street clothes.” She laughed and folded her hands in front of
her.
    Cole continued to stare at her while he
sucked in the pasty soup. Not only were his arms encased in plastic
covers, but his legs were, too, which meant he was fully paralyzed
from the neck down. Otherwise, he couldn’t have handled the pain.
Cielo avoided looking at the cases. They reminded her of the time
spent in the factory, and it hadn’t been pleasant.
    “I know they don’t talk to you much,” she
said, “so I’ll try to keep you up-to-date with what’s happening.
The procedure is going as well as could be expected. They had to
stall the growing process of the muscular mass so they could insert
the nerves first. Apparently, it’s easier that way and prone to
better results.”
    He groaned, and she gave a sympathetic
wince. “The downside is that once they start inserting the nerves,
you will regain some degree of sensitivity in your arms. However,
given the state they’re in, you should expect a lot of pain, as
well. The good news is we have great drugs for such things. They’ll
keep you under for days while they work on you. They will wake you up more than once to test the results, and that won’t be
pretty, but you’re a tough guy. You can handle it, right?”
    Her teasing made the corner of Cole’s mouth
arch up, and a flash of pain passed over his face.
    “Sorry,” Cielo murmured, eyes downcast.
“They’ll start at midnight tonight. They hope to do the main
innervations during the next eighteen hours. It will be delicate
work, but they have done more difficult things, so there’s no need
to worry.”
    When she looked up, Cole was blinking
rapidly. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?” She reached for the
anesthetic plunger.
    Blink. Blink . Then blink, blink,
blink, blink, blink …
    “What is it?” Cielo asked, cursing the
inability to communicate.
    She had fed him before, once each day, and
he drank his soup obediently, half-asleep because of the
painkillers. She had never seen him so agitated. Something was wrong.
    “What?” she whispered.
    Cole stopped blinking. He stared straight
ahead, not at her, but somewhere over her right shoulder in the
direction of the door.
    A chill ran down Cielo’s spine, and she
slowly turned around. She had a good idea what was going on before
she heard the heavy footsteps walking down the corridor.
     

17

    While he crawled out from underneath the
car, Dale wondered whether they were going to thank him or set the
dogs on him when this was over. He didn’t fancy either alternative.
The circus had some mean-looking poodles.
    For the last hour, he had followed the thugs
through the city, which wasn’t easy since he didn’t blend in
because of the lack of visible prosthetics. When they left
downtown, Dale had repossessed a taxi from a sleepy driver. With
the lights turned off, he had tailed the black car across the
deserted field, keeping his distance. That was why, when he parked
it near an abandoned warehouse, he only knew the direction in which
they had gone.
    Dale had cut across the field towards the
railway tracks, barely seeing the uneven ground in his haste. Only
long-dormant instincts had kept him from falling and breaking
something. Then the bright lights of the circus had nearly blinded
him, making it impossible to spot any action near the cars on his
side of the train. The thugs had disappeared, and he found no
broken or open windows, either. When he looked up, he saw the
shadows running along the rooftop of the car.
    He could have followed the same path,
risking running straight into them, but the strategist in him
wouldn’t allow it, not when he knew their destination. He crawled
underneath the car and emerged on the other side. The loud noises
and blinking lights threatened to make him dizzy, but he didn’t