Page 44 of Heart’s Prisoner

Lana looked over to the digital clock on the wall and saw it was four in the morning. Carefully standing up, she sluggishly went over to the wall controls. Before she put the screen back, she smiled at Xerus and nodded. "See you tomorrow."

As she left the room and headed for the lab, she felt weightless. Dare she say even a little content for the first time she'd stepped foot in Lazris.

Even Torrence's seething glare couldn't phase her.

"You fell asleep in there and left the screen down, that's against protocol and I'll have to write you up."

Lana smiled at him. "Have a good night, Torrence."

He mumbled something as she walked past his desk but Lana couldn't care less. As she left the facility and took the elevator up to her room, she thought about tonight. And she had hope.

Chapter Thirteen

The week started well. Besides the usual annoyances (Galger making inappropriate comments, Torrence's daily attitude, and Cole being more distant than ever) Lana was feeling good about the coming test. She continued to learn Xerus' language and work with him as normal and felt she was making good progress. Having studied linguistics at university helped make her a quick learner. Somedays she even attempted to speak in just Xerian (as she called it) though she could only manage a few simple sentences. She was better understanding it so far than speaking it.

She focused all her time on Xerus. So much so that she hadn't really thought much about the fact that she didn't notice Cole's absence the past couple of days until one of the others mentioned it, or that everyone seemed on edge.

"I need a vacation," a lab tech named Vigo said. "Those damn raptors have been screeching for days. And Asset T is moving around a lot more than usual. Thing gives me the damn creeps."

"Has anyone heard about Jeff, by the way?" Samantha, another lab tech, asked. "Wonder if he's still feeling unwell."

"Heard he was put on leave, but that's it," said another.

The rest were silent, working on autopilot as they went about their daily tasks. Lana didn't think much of it, only that she noticed the lab was more quiet than usual. She caught Dahlia and Dr. Yanlin whispering to each other a few times, their faces tight with concern. She saw them looking in her direction once or twice but she thought nothing of it. She had other things on her mind than base drama.

When there were only two days left until the test, that was when Lana began to feel the tug of anxiety. She couldn't help feeling as if she were being left out of some secret plan as everyone spoke in whispers around her and Torrence and Galger seemed to have more private conversations than usual. Already they had begun to plan their set up, with several guards to accompany the generals into the unit and stay by the doors. Torrence would be monitoring from his desk while Galger stayed in the room giving any necessary orders.

Lana only knew this from the other guards talking not from anyone bothering to inform her. She also learned that the generals would come down to twelve as early as six in the morning to assess the rest of the facility and the test would be done last. This Dahlia told her.

"If all goes well we can take off early for the day, though some will still have to take their night shifts," Dahlia said.

"Did you speak to Cole about this?" Lana asked.

Dahlia shook her head. "Just got the info from Dr. Yanlin. He said Cole has other matters he's been attending to."

Lana frowned. 'What other matters could be possibly more important than this?' she thought.

Sick of being left in the dark, she had half a mind to call him herself. When she got the courage to actually do it, she was left with his voicemail. She tried calling Nicole after, but she didn't pick up either. Her anxiety growing and her frustrations returning, Lana emailed Nicole on her work computer but didn't expect a callback.

"I'm going to make dinner and come back after," Lana told Dahlia.

"I'll be gone by then. See you tomorrow."

Lana nodded and turned off her work computer and left. She went back up to her room and had a quick meal and shower before going back down to twelve to prepare Xerus' meals. She decided to leave him alone the day before the test, giving him time to rest and be prepared, even if he argued that he didn't need it. Wanting to give him as much time as possible, she planned to make him an extra meal so he had something for tomorrow despite him arguing he didn't need that either.

Once she got back to the lab she went straight for the food prep area and made the usual meat and mango combo. As she picked up the trays and headed for the unit she glanced up and happened to notice Xerus' video feed was stopped, the monitor black. Frowning, she went over to Torrence's desk and saw he was watching his computer screen with intense interest. As she crept closer she saw on his monitor the live feed of Xerus' room. Someone was talking to him at the window.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Torrence immediately minimized the screen and twisted around to give her a dirty look. "I don't appreciate the eavesdropping, Ms. Hart."

"I wasn't trying to...forget it. I need to give Xerus his meals so can you please open up–"

"Now isn't a good time. Come back later."

Lana pursed her lips then set the trays down on another desk nearby. "Who was that in the room?"

When Torrence didn't say anything, Lana made for her computer where she could gain access to the room's feed if she liked.

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