Free Phoenix Tonic by Shelley Martin Page B

quietly.
    Hailey sat on the bed, his blue shirt falling from her shoulders. She nodded once.
    Kallian’s fingers grabbed the handle and pulled the door behind him. He paused a few inches before it closed. “And Hailey,” his soft voice sounded almost guilty; “you’re not a caged animal here.”
    He walked away, leaving the door standing open.

 
     
    Chapter Twelve
     
     
    Hailey curled up on the mattress, her back to the camera. Kallian had been gone for almost an hour, but she couldn’t get him out of her mind. Her body still yearned for him.
    She rolled over and glanced at the open door for the tenth time. Was it a test? Did Kallian have guards out there, ready to push her back in the cage if she broke his trust? But at the same time she desperately wanted more time to herself, without a camera staring at her twenty-four / seven.
    She sat up, and the motion caused the air to stir. The spicy scent of Kallian lit up her senses and warmed her skin. She looked around for the source. Her eyes blinked at the blue shirt he had been wearing, crumpled under her. Well, she learned something at least. Burning and anger came to a stop when he draped his shirt around her. It seemed that when she was out of control, his scent calmed her down.
    But if she was denied her own emotions, her anger, then who was she?
    “I hate him,” she reminded herself, and shoved it under the mattress. Once the air cleared, she placed her bare feet on the cold, metal floor. Moving slowly, glancing constantly at the cameras in the ceiling, she made her way to the door. She stood to the side and peeked through the opening.
    “Hello?”
    No answer. No movement.
    Glancing back over her shoulder at the camera one last time, she pushed the massively heavy door open. Her feet paused, waiting for him to appear before her, but he didn’t. She poked her head out and looked either way.
    A hallway stretched out either way from where she stood. Simple cream colored walls with wooden panels were broken only by endless doors. And there wasn’t a soul in sight.
    She walked out and stood in the middle of the hall, looking one way, then the other.
    She had to go exploring. Kallian had taken her right when he carried her out, but Kira had taken her left, to the locker room. She debated and turned right.
    Her heart thrummed as she walked along the corridors. So Kallian’s room was really an office in a huge building? She wondered how many more offices there were…
    She walked along the hallway until the classic wooden panels gave way to white washed stucco. The walls began to take on framed pictures of “employee of the month” and “safety records.” Smiling faces looked down on her, along with animals from all over the world. She wondered if part of the facility’s work was done in Africa. The background of all the pictures was so lush, and Kallian was in more than half of them.
    Hailey reflected on the past and how Kallian always talked about saving animals. She realized just how serious his efforts were, when she noticed a set of double doors farther down. She tentatively pushed one of the doors open and slipped in.
    The sharp scent of bleach and other chemicals assaulted her senses. She rubbed her nose as she walked along, taking in the room before her. Tables stood in rows down the middle, covered with computers, beakers, droppers and all kinds of other laboratory tools. She saw one computer lit up, humming, and walked past it. At the end stood a set of three wide steps, leading to a desk, and a door behind it. A dry erase board hung next to the door, listing names and dates in blue marker. Potted plants and a few chairs lined the wall near the door.
    “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was the head honcho’s office.” She let herself in, thinking it was the same room she’d been to before. But she was mistaken.
    Inside sat a man in a big, leather chair, looking over documents on his desk. His hand lowered the paper he was holding,