Page 39 of Monsters within Men
Don’t tell anyone you’re helping me out, Zeke. They wouldn’t understand.
“What are you not telling me?”
He shook his head. “It’s nothing Becca. I just gave him some blood a few times. Oliver did too. Harding couldn’t get enough samples from the blood drives. He took it from us after you guys left for the night. We knew it wasn’t strictly legal, but it wasn’t a big deal.” He shrugged, attempting to appear nonchalant.
Becca froze. “Zeke… Please tell me you watched him do it. Tell me you saw him use a vacutainer system rather than a syringe and needle.”
However, the expression in Becca’s eyes conveyed a silent understanding that rendered his response unnecessary. Of course he hadn’t been looking. He’d squeezed his eyes tightly shut the entire time while he faced away—Doctor Harding assuring him he wouldn’t see a single drop of blood.
“How did you even know about this?” Zeke whispered.
Becca shook her head. “Something Oliver said ages ago stuck in my brain. We made plans to meet up, but he’s not answered any of my calls in weeks.”
“He’s not answered any of mine, either. But Becca… Doctor Harding would never have harmed anychildren,” he said in a hollow whisper.
Becca squeezed his hand. “We just don’t know that, Zeke. If he was using you and Oliver as subjects, who knows what he was capable of. They suspect he was smuggling trial drugs out of Oakfield and giving them to others to administer. If you know anything, you need to tell the police.”
“I can’t believe you think he would ever do that!” His throat tightened. The thought of his tutor, his mentor, the kind old man that would joke around with them every day being demonized didn’t sit right with him.
“Stop being so naïve, Zeke,” Becca snapped, her face frowning for a moment before softening. “I’m sorry, but I have to go now. I wish I could stay. If we’re careful, we can video call in a few days. I’ll try again to get hold of Oliver and tell him to—”
“Don’t.” Acid bubbled in his stomach. How could Becca think this was possible? “If he wants to talk to me, he’ll contact me himself. Thank you for coming. It was nice to see you.”
“Zeke—” she said, but he’d already left the table, headed for the stairs. He ran down them, two at a time, leaving Becca far behind him. The music pounded in his ears as he reached the dance floor. The crowd was screaming along with a song he didn’t know. A snippet of Aoife singing in a drunken, heavy Irish accent made him veer away from the dancers. A hand reached out to grab him—Frankie’s? He shrugged it off.
Anger and panic circulated inside of him, threatening to overwhelm him. His feet led him back to the booth they’d sat at earlier to find it was now occupied by strangers. He considered leaving the nightclub, but didn’t want to risk seeing Becca again on her way out.
It was so loud. He couldn’t think.
Covering his ears with his hands, he slumped against a nearby wall, sank to the floor, and shut his eyes.
“Zeke?”
Hands were shaking him. He opened his eyes. Noah crouched in front of him, face etched with concern. “What’s the matter?” he shouted over the music.
“Everything,” he replied, finally relenting and bursting into tears.
fourteen
Noah
Noahhadneverbeengood with tears.
Growing up in a family of marines that believed in tough love, he’d learned from a young age that tears wouldn’t get him very far.
But now, Zeke’s hysterical sobs shook him to the core.
Grabbing his arm, he pulled him to his feet and pushed him around the edge of the dance floor, then through the corridor and into the street. The bouncers—seeing Zeke’s distress—shot him a suspicious look, and he wondered if they would stop them. He typed out a message on his wristband to Frankie. She would be much better placed than him to deal with whatever this was.
He led them around the corner, slowing when the noise of Club Enigma faded. Zeke pulled away from him to slump against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest.
“What happened with Becca?” he asked, sitting beside him.
Silence.
Zeke’s body shook. Was he having some sort of breakdown? He tentatively rested his hand on Zeke’s back, but pulled back at the sight of Frankie running around the corner. She took one look at Zeke and threw her arms around him, cradling him to her.
“What’s going on? Has he taken something?” Frankie said, lifting Zeke’s head up to the light.
