The Gender Lie(79)

I carefully made my way to the supply room, a small area off to the side of the training room, originally designed to be an observation post. Knocking on the door, I gave Lynne a friendly smile as she looked up at me.

“Hey, just returning the equipment we borrowed,” I lied casually.

Lynne nodded and stood up from her chair, picking up a clipboard on the side of the wall. “That didn’t take long,” she commented, as she held out the clipboard.

I accepted the pen she handed me. “Yeah, Violet isn’t big on heights. She just thought it would be good if I was familiar with it, in case the need ever came up.”

Lynne’s head bobbed up and down in agreement. “Yeah. It’s smart. We get a lot of cross-training over here.”

“It’s a really good idea,” I said as I signed my name with a flourish. “Speaking of which, I was wondering if I could check out one of the camouflage suits. I really need more practice now that Dr. Tierney has given me the go-ahead.”

Her eyes drifted down to my chest and then flicked back up. “I wasn’t aware that she had,” she said, smiling.

“Just the other day, actually. I think you were off duty.”

“Tuesday? Oh… I traded shifts so I could try to spend more time with my brother,” she said.

I watched as she went over to the rack of suits hanging on the back wall, checking the sizes. After a moment, she walked over and set it on the table in the middle of the room.

I walked closer, dropping the two lines of rope I was carrying into the bin. I then moved over to the opposite side of the table and waited patiently. I watched her write down the inventory number, as well as my name and the date and time in very neat handwriting on the piece of paper on the clipboard. When she was done, she turned the clipboard around. “Just sign,” she said brightly.

I signed my name a second time, and then gathered the suit in my hands. “Thanks” I said, holding it up as a farewell.

She smiled again, a dimple forming in her cheeks. “Don’t mention it,” she said, her voice suddenly lower and huskier, catching me off guard.

I gave her a surprised look, and she threw me a long slow wink before moving deeper into the office. I shook my head and suppressed a smirk, hoping that Violet never found out that Lynne had a thing for me. I couldn’t imagine a jealous Violet, and I certainly didn’t want to.

Heading for the locker room, I checked my watch. I had just enough time to get changed and make it to Desmond’s office before she finished her pow-wow, according to Tim’s timeline.

I quickly changed and then headed to the stairs, moving upward. I didn’t regret lying to Lynne about Dr. Tierney giving me the go-ahead on the suit, I just wished I had more than Violet’s description of how to make it work. It felt… too easy in some way.

Then again, for a man recovering from heart damage, I really hoped that whatever electrical surge she had described wouldn’t aggravate my condition. I maybe should’ve let Violet do this part, but it was too late to go back now.

Pulling the door closed behind me, I checked the stairwell and decided to give the suit a little test run. Carefully tensing my muscles, immediately I felt the pins and needles that Violet had described. I quickly relaxed my muscles, shaking out my arms and legs.

That was… intense.

I placed two fingers on my pulse and looked at my watch. It was elevated… but not too high. I gave a few more experimental tenses, smiling as I saw the stairs through my hands, and then relaxed again. Violet had also said that maintaining the suit for a long period of time was extremely difficult, so I needed to save my energy for that.

I headed up the stairs. Once I reached the top, I spun the hand wheel gently, grateful that it was well-oiled, and then pushed it open an inch at a time, checking the gap to make sure it was clear.

Luckily, it was so late that all of the scientists were gone—in bed or otherwise indisposed. I stepped through and quietly pulled the door closed behind me. I knew it would close itself, but I wanted to control it.

I made my way across the lab and into Desmond’s office, sifting through the papers on her desk, skimming the documents for something—anything—that would help me convince the others that Desmond was not acting in the best interests of the boys.

There was nothing there. Blowing out, I put the files down and looked around the room. She wouldn’t be using the computer—it was still tied into the Matrian system, and she had ordered them all to be shut down after the bomb incident.

Maybe her handheld? I looked around her desk, shifting some of the files around. Nothing. Gritting my teeth, I opened the drawers on her desk and nearly gave a jump for joy when I found it. Activating it, I quickly pulled out my own handheld and started to jack them together when I heard the distinct sound of footsteps, heading toward me from the stairwell.