Project Read Free Page B

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    Jim’s parents were jabbering away about what a wonderful facility it was and how lucky Dr. Stanton was to be working here, but Jim wasn’t paying any attention. Now more than ever he was convinced that something odd was going on in Folsum and that it was about to involve his family in some way.
    He tried to take mental notes on everything as they walked down the hall, attempting to find anything that seemed out of place. His father explained that the area they were in was the lab’s own private medical complex. The business offices were at the other end of the wing, and the experiments took place in various secure, specially built laboratories.
    A tall, distinguished-looking man with gray sideburns and bushy black eyebrows was waiting for them at the reception desk. He spoke to Jim’s father. “Nice-looking family, Stanton. Just the kind we like here at Folsum.”
    “Thank you, sir.”
    The man didn’t wait to be introduced. “I’m Jefferson Kincaid.” He eyed Jim for a moment. “You must be the ballplayer.”
    Jim nodded.
    “It’s good to have hobbies, as long as they don’t interfere with responsibilities.”
    “It’s not a hobby with me, sir. I intend to make it my career.”
    The man’s cold blue eyes flashed. “I suppose we’ll see about that, won’t we?”
    A woman in a long white coat walked up to them. She looked at her clipboard and asked them to follow her to a small waiting room.
    “It was nice meeting your family, Stanton.” Kincaid put his hands in the pockets of his lab coat, smiling slightly. “It might be wise to keep an eye on the ballplayer, though. Looks like he could be a handful.”
    Jim felt the man’s eyes on his back as they walked down the hall. He was glad when they turned the corner and went into the waiting room.
    It wasn’t his first time inside a laboratory. He’d been in the one where his father used to work several times. On the surface things looked about the same here. People scurried around in lab coats, carrying important-looking papers.
    But there was one vast difference.
    Silence.
    None of the employees spoke to the others. They didn’t nod or acknowledge each other in any way. It was as if each one were a robot in his or her own little world.
    Suddenly the quiet was broken.
    “Stanton, Robert.”
    Jim jumped. A burly man in a white uniform stood in the doorway. Jim’s father laughed. “Relax, son. It’s not the end of the world, it’s only a physical.”
    Jim didn’t smile.
    The man came back twice more, once for Mrs. Stanton and then again for Laura.
    Jim waited more than an hour.
    Finally a small, elderly gentleman appeared in the doorway. “Are you Jim Stanton?”
    Jim nodded.
    “You’re the last one, then. They’ve had a slight emergency and they asked me to finish you up. I’m Dr. Wiley.”
    The doctor led him down a long corridor, mumbling to himself all the way. “I can do this. They say I’m too old and that my mind isfailing. But they’re wrong. You can see that, can’t you?” He opened the door to an examining room without waiting for an answer. “Crawl up on the table, young man, and we’ll get this over with.”
    The elderly man tapped Jim’s knee and watched his reflexes over the top of his glasses. “You look pretty healthy.”
    “I am.”
    “Good, then we’ll skip right to the blood test.” The doctor went to a table and fiddled with a long syringe. He dropped something on the floor that resembled a small black dot. He cursed and reached to pick it up. “Oh, I hope it’s not damaged.”
    As he stood up, he noticed that Jim was watching. His eyes grew wide. “Please, if you should remember, don’t mention seeing this to anyone. They’re already talking about replacing me.”
    The doctor turned back to the table and brought the needle up next to Jim’s arm. Before Jim could protest, the little man jabbed the wide tip into his arm and pushed something under his skin.
    “Wait a minute!” Jim grabbed at the syringe