What was that infuriating beeping?
My head felt foggy and clouded. My body was numb with that prickly feeling you gets when your foot falls asleep. I attempted to open my eyes, but they felt so heavy and dry.
A warm hand enclosed over mine. The incessant beeping was soon overpowered by a warm breath at my ear and the sound of John Smith’s voice. If I focused hard enough, it sounded almost like he had been crying.
“I’m sorry, Jane. I’m so sorry. If I had any other choice, I would…”
His apology began to fade as I sank back into my deep subconscious. ……. I didn’t know how much time had passed. All I knew was that I was starving, dizzy and ready to get off of whatever drug I assumed I was on. I attempted to open my eyes again, but was only successful in a squint due to the bright white light that encompassed my vision.
Through the blinding haze, I could see what appeared to be a hospital room of some kind. I tested my muscles, trying to stretch them, but was shocked by the restraints that held me down onto the medical bed. I began to panic and struggle against the straps.
The beeping from before was beating faster now as my heart rate sped up. There was a loud bang as a door swung open and a large group of medical personal was rushing around trying to keep me calm. All I could do was scream.
“Let me go! Where am I? Let me go! Let me out of here!”
A doctor pushed his way next to me, his lab coat billowing behind him, and stabbed me in the arm with a syringe filled with God knows what. This only made me angrier.
“What are you doing? Let me go! I swear if you don’t let me go…”
My speech began to slur as whatever he had injected into me started to take effect.
“Let me go! Let me go. Please, just…let…me.”
My senses dimmed into black. …… I shot up out of bed, panting and clammy as if from a nightmare. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a dream, and that wasn’t such a great idea for someone who had been under some sort of sleep drug. I fell back into the pillows willing the room to stop spinning. While I was lying there, I took stock of my surroundings.
It seemed that I had been taken out of the hospital bed and, luckily, the restraints. I was in an isolated barrack of sorts. Everything was done in very dark colors: forest greens, deep browns, and black. A single lamp swung rhythmically from the ceiling. I looked down to see that I was wearing all white making me look bright in the middle of the dark room. That was when I spotted the small envelope sitting in my lap.
With hesitant hands, I picked up the square and traced my fingers over the elegant letters written across the paper, “Janie.” I turned it over and carefully untucked the fold, removing a small card from inside. I held it over my head and read the message a few times in my head.
“We had a deal. –JS.”
At first I thought over what John could have meant, and then I wondered why I should even wonder. That man had tricked me. He had broken down all of my defenses. Since I met him, I had gone against everything I had ever known. I’ve shown weakness. I’ve killed a man. I trusted a Ghost agent. He destroyed me and betrayed me. Now, I didn’t even know where I was.
I went to tear the little card into pieces when I heard the click of a lock come from the door that stood to my right. I quickly tucked the card into the blankets tucked around me. Just as I did, the door swung open to reveal a pleasant looking woman dressed in a white business suit. Her white blonde hair was pulled back in a high ponytail with wisps falling around her face which showed almost no sign of age or make up.
“Hello Jane. How are you feeling,” she asked? I glared at her, but she didn’t seem to be bothered by it.
“You gave us a good scare when you woke up last. The doctors thought you would be calm, but I could tell that you had a hard couple of weeks before coming to be with us. I don’t blame you for acting out.”
I tried to give back some sarcastic response, but I realized that my throat was so dry that my voice died out when I tried to speak. The strange woman smiled with false understanding. “You must be thirsty.” She snapped her fingers and it was only a moment before a nurse of some sort came in with a plastic cup and pitcher of water. I looked at the pitcher with caution and with hunger.
“It’s not poison if that’s what you think,” she said, as if reading my thoughts. “If we had wanted to kill you, we would have done that by now.” I took the drink, downed it in one gulp and held out the cup for more. “Is that supposed to comfort me?” I croaked. “No.” “Good because it doesn’t.” She chuckled lightly and gracefully sat in a chair the sat at the end of my bed. “I enjoy your spunk, Jane. It’s not something I’ve encountered with other Company agents. I guess that just makes you special, but we already knew that.” “Who are you?” “Me? I’m a nobody, just like you. I don’t exist. However, for conversation’s sake, you can call me Sarah.”
“Where am I?” “Trying to learn all of the answers. Tsk, little Jane. Where would the fun be if I laid all of the cards out now?” “Where am I,” I demanded, my voice going up a little in volume. She smirked. I had seen a smirk like that before, but it didn’t have the same power or allure. It just confirmed what I should have already known.
“I’m at Ghost, aren’t I?”
Her smirk grew into a full smile as she stood from the chair and brushed away non-existing wrinkles from her clothes. She strutted her way to the door, her hair swinging with every step. I decided to ask one last question as she reached for the handle. “What do you want from me?” She was almost out the door and partly in the hallway outside. “Where is John Smith?” She paused, turned to me, and sneered. “Rest up, Jane Doe. You’re going to need it.” With that, she left.
I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding and reached for John’s card that was still in the sheets. I stared at it with a fusion of hate, disgust and trepidation. Hate for being dragged into this mess and being in the one place I hated more than Company, disgust for the man who toyed with my emotions only to trap me, trepidation for what was to come and what had happened to the man who disgusted me.
I sighed, relaxing further into the bed and holding the card up into the light. Just as the paper caught the glow of the lamp, my eyes caught a glimmer across the paper. I gasped lightly and tried again. This time I paused as words revealed themselves in bold red letters. John’s words echoed in my head.
“We had a deal. –JS.”
The letters spelled White.