Page 52 of Artifice (Pros and Cons Mysteries #4)

C old continued to seep through Olive’s clothes as she worked at the ropes binding her wrists. The scream she’d heard had made her move faster, more urgently.

“Any luck?” Tevin whispered, nodding toward her restraints.

“Almost,” Olive murmured, feeling the rope give slightly. The knots were professional but hurried—a small advantage.

The sound of footsteps echoed through the tunnel. Olive went still, pretending unconsciousness as a beam of light swept over them.

“They’re still secure,” came a woman’s voice—Director Ingraham. “How long until the demonstration?”

“Everything’s prepared.”

Olive tried to place the second voice, but she couldn’t. She’d expected to hear Denarau . . . but it wasn’t him.

When someone smacked her cheek, Olive jerked her eyes open.

The face staring back at her sent waves of shock through her system.

“Henry?” Olive gasped as she recognized him from the pictures at the B&B. “What?—”

The man smiled in front of her. “Ms. Bettencourt. Sorry to meet you face-to-face under these circumstances.”

Olive exchanged a stunned glance with Tevin before looking back at Henry. “You’re not a prisoner?”

“Quite the opposite.” Henry straightened his cuffs with practiced precision. “I’m the reason Lighthouse Harbor exists. Dr. Wells handles the medical aspects, but the formulations—the real innovation—they’re my contribution.”

Disgust roiled inside her.

“And your wife?” Tevin asked. “She’s been worried sick.”

Henry waved dismissively. “Martha has always been . . . useful. The bed-and-breakfast provides perfect cover for monitoring visitors to our little town.”

Olive felt sick. Then she had another realization.

Henry was using his mind-control pills on his wife, wasn’t he? That would explain her behavior and her sincere worry at her husband’s disappearance.

The man truly was despicable.

But why had he told her about the drugs?

Unless he’d wanted everything to come down to this moment. Unless he planned on getting rid of Olive.

It was the only thing that made sense.

Olive glared at him. “The entire time we’ve been in town, you’ve been watching us.”

“I must protect what’s valuable.” Henry checked his watch. “But now, I believe it’s time for a demonstration of our most successful application. We’ve prepared someone special for you.”

A door swung open, and a familiar figure stepped through.

Colin Andrews.

He was alive!

But . . . something wasn’t right, she realized as she soaked in his measured, almost mechanical movements.

Her heart sank.

His eyes appeared vacant.

And . . . he held a knife.

“Colin?” she called. “Colin, you’ve never met me, but I know your parents.”

But there was no recognition in his eyes—only emptiness where a person had once been.

“What have you done to him?” Olive demanded, pulling against her restraints as Colin stepped farther into the chamber, still gripping that knife.

Henry’s smile widened. “Perfection. That’s what we’ve achieved. The boy who once defied us at every turn now follows orders without question. No hesitation. No morality to get in the way. Just perfect compliance.”

Colin moved with unnatural stillness, his gaze fixed forward as if looking through them rather than at them.

Olive had to somehow think of a way to get through to him.

“Colin, your parents miss you,” she started. “They want you to come home.”

Not even a flicker of recognition crossed Colin’s face.

“He prefers to go by P-18,” Margaret informed them.

“P-18?”

Henry smirked. “It may have sounded like Peyton to you. To us, it’s Patient 18.”

Patient 18? P-18? Peyton?

Wait . . . on the very first day of Olive’s assignment, she’d actually seen Colin. He’d been the one staring from the Quiet Room at her?

“That means I saw him when I first arrived. He was in the Quiet Room.”

Something glimmered in Henry’s eyes. “We had to use him on occasion as an example for other students. We didn’t want the entire student body to know, of course. We were selective.”

Her thoughts continued to whir. “What about Ms. Strickland? You killed her, didn’t you? And made it look like she took her own life.”

The smirk remained. “All we had to do was mutter a codeword on the radio, and she did exactly what we wanted her to.”

Olive looked toward Margaret. “Why did you put me in her class?”

“We never really wanted you here—but Principal Denarau and some other board members did. So I put you in Ms. Strickland’s class to dissuade you. It didn’t work.”

Henry nodded to Director Ingraham before turning to Colin. “P-18, eliminate the intruders. Begin with the woman.”

Colin stepped toward Olive, knife raised.

“Think about your family,” Olive said desperately. “They miss you. They love you. They can’t wait to take you rock climbing again.”

For a split second, something flickered in Colin’s eyes—confusion, perhaps, or pain.

“Fascinating.” Henry made a note on a tablet. “Even with the highest dosage, emotional triggers still create micro-hesitations. We’ll need to adjust the frontal lobe suppression.”

“He’s still in there,” Olive said, not breaking eye contact with Colin. “You’re still you, Colin. Fight it.”

The knife trembled in his hand.

“Remarkable resistance.” Henry sounded genuinely impressed. “Increase compliance sequence.”

Director Ingraham stepped forward, whispering a series of numbers into Colin’s ear.

The effect was immediate. Colin’s expression hardened, his movements becoming more robotic as he raised the knife again.

“This isn’t who you are.” Olive’s fingers continued to work frantically at the rope behind her back. “They’re trying to erase everything that makes you you. Abe is worried about you too. You don’t want these people to do the same thing to your friend.”

Colin paused, his blank expression cracking slightly. “A—Abe?”

“Yes, Abe,” Olive pressed. “Your friend. He told me that you’d discovered some information and had been collecting evidence. That’s why they’re targeting you now.”

Henry frowned, tapping at his tablet. “Emotional anchoring is breaking through. We’ll need to up his dose.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew a syringe. “Hold him still.”

As Director Ingraham stepped forward to restrain Colin, Olive felt the rope at her wrists give way.

With a silent thanks for years of escape training, she kept her hands behind her back, waiting for the right moment.