Rise: Populations Crumble, Book 2 by Gandy, A. (read book .txt) 📕

resort. Atlas and Glitch talk tech for a few minutes before they end the call, but we’re no closer to a lead on Josephine than when we started.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” I say after a few minutes of the men discussing the issue.

“What doesn’t?” Patrick asks.

“They have her records on some hidden database, right? So, in theory, nobody here knows anything about her. The other couples haven’t seen her, and we wouldn’t know she was supposed to be here if it weren’t for Glitch’s special access.”

He nods.

“Well, the records are a secret, so they have no reason to hide the location. That means she is here, but they can’t have her here in the main house, or else someone at some point would have seen her. She’d be out with everyone else, and there’d be no point to hide her records. Didn’t one of the guides tell us this place has nearly five hundred acres? Why so much space, with no activities that use it?”

Atlas’s eyebrows furrow. “There are no activities on the grounds? No trails, no livestock, nothing?”

I shake my head. “No, I asked the first week if they had a stable, and I was told no, something about the location was incompatible. There are a few hiking trails, but not five hundred acres’ worth. Most of the activities take place right by the beach, or off site. They’ve left everything else forested.”

“You think there’s another medical facility here, somewhere else on the property? Like, secret agent style?” Nell asks, seeming enthused by the idea.

“Maybe her records aren’t the only thing they’re hiding. Maybe they’re hiding her.”

“The idea has merit. Do you two have a map of the hiking trails?”

Patrick goes to retrieve them from our cottage, and when he comes back he flattens the map out on the coffee table so we can all see. Atlas retrieves a permanent marker and starts putting Xes on the map along the edges of each defined hiking trail, activity location, and main drive in and out of the property.

When he’s done, there are two huge swaths of untouched woods on either side of the main entrance. “That’s plenty of space to hide a building or two. I’ll have one of my guys come out with a drone and do some targeted fly-bys. In the meantime, I think the four of us need to do a little exploring.”

The Hunt

The four of us spend the next few days hiking every single trail the eastern side of the property has to offer, keeping eyes out for any offshoots or side trails that might lead to another medical facility. Each night, Patrick and I collapse, exhausted, into our bed. Each morning, we wake up entwined together. In sleep when my defenses are down, the man draws me in like a magnet. The fourth day is no different, except for the first time since we’ve been here, I wake up before Patrick. The days of vigorous exercise must have finally worn him out. I prop myself on one elbow, and take him in.

The sun from our window is playing over his relaxed features, and I reach over absentmindedly and push a lock of dark hair back from his tanned forehead. He turns his head towards me but doesn’t wake. As I drink in his quiet magnificence, I can’t help but turn our relationship over in my mind. We’ve been here a month now, living together under the same roof, and I can honestly say he’s the same man I thought he was, before he told me his secret. As much as I have held him at arm’s length, he’s won me back over, day by day, never pressuring me. He’s made finding Josephine his top priority, stood up to the medical director, and been kind and considerate. He opens every door for me, and is always attentive.

So why am I holding back from him? Is it really him, or is it this situation? The thought strikes me, and I can’t let it go. Am I still keeping us apart because of what he did, or because I don’t like the fact that control over my own life, over my own body, is being taken from me by this program? Would it matter if it were any other man lying in the bed next to me? We only have about two weeks left until my next fertile week starts, and the deadline is looming in the back of my mind.

I shake my head because I don’t want anyone else lying next to me.Then I freeze, as if he might be able to pluck the admission from my wayward thoughts. Oh, my. I don’t want anyone else, only him. That’s terrifying. What if he lies again? What if he’s acting so perfect now, but the instant we take things to the next step, or I get pregnant, he changes? The thought is troubling, and I flop back against my pillow. I don’t think that will happen, but I didn’t see it coming the first time, either. Can I trust my own judgment where he’s concerned?

I lay there, mulling over it all for a while longer before he rolls and captures me. His arm wraps around my rib cage, and his ear nestles against my chest, right above my pounding heart. Staying still so as not to wake him, his warmth sinks into me in sharp contrast to the chill of the fall air in our room. I carefully wrap my free arm around him and play with the collar of his shirt. He smells nice, too. Masculine and woodsy and warm.

He stirs again, and this time reaches up to rub his eye with the heel of his hand. It’s his turn to freeze, and I barely contain my laugh when his cheek moves slightly, checking where he’s landed. He ever so slowly pulls back as if he’ll escape without waking me, and the laugh breaks free.

“I’m sorry, Sadie, I didn’t mean to invade your personal space.”