Zarina lifted a brow. “I wasn’t aware the DCO’s hybrid serum protocol was ready yet.”
Dick smiled. “I guess no one told you, then. There have been a few breakthroughs in the past couple weeks. I’d appreciate it if you got Jayson ready. I’d like to start as soon as the doctors arrive with the serum.”
Zarina’s blue eyes darted to Jayson, then back to Dick. “And the serum is safe?”
“I’d never let any of our people take a drug that wasn’t completely safe,” Dick said. “Now, if that’s all, I need to make a phone call.”
Dick gave Jayson a nod, then walked out of the lab, leaving him alone with the Russian doctor.
“Jayson, this is insane. You shouldn’t be agreeing to this. You’ve seen what this serum can do to people.” she said.
Jayson had to admit, he was a little concerned that the one person who probably knew more about hybrids than anyone in the world wasn’t involved in the development of this latest serum—concerned, but not enough to make him reconsider his decision.
“I know what the risks are,” he said. “I’m willing to accept them.”
She regarded him thoughtfully for a moment, then gestured to one of the examination tables. “Let’s get you ready then. I’ll need you to take off your shirt and climb up there.”
He hesitated, not liking the idea of Zarina—or anyone—seeing his scars. “I thought I was just going to get an injection?”
“You will be getting an injection, probably more than one. I need your shirt off so I can attach the EKG and use the defibrillator on you if your heart stops beating. It will also make it easier to get adrenaline or epinephrine into you quickly if necessary.”
None of that sounded very good, but then again, neither did living his life as a cripple. So he pushed those thoughts out of his head and shrugged out of his shirt as Zarina walked over to the built-in cabinets along the wall. He tossed the garment on the back of a nearby chair and climbed onto the exam table, flinching as his injured muscles quivered in complaint when he lay back on the cold paper.
Zarina closed the drawer she’d been rustling around in, then turned toward him, a big syringe in one hand and a vial in the other. Without a word, she shoved the needle in the top of the bottle and pulled out the plunger, filling the syringe with the thick, yellowish liquid. When she was done, she set down the empty vial, then picked up a gauze pad from the counter and walked over to him.
“What is that?” he asked.
She swabbed his left bicep with the alcohol wipe. “Gamma globulin. It’s to boost your immune system and help your body handle the stress of taking the serum.”
She shoved the needle in his arm and pushed in the plunger. He inhaled sharply. Damn, it felt like she was injecting him with a Jell-O shot made out of battery acid.
“That kind of burns, Doc,” he said with a laugh.
Zarina pinned him with a look as she pulled out the needle and massaged the area with her fingers. “The hybrid serum will be much worse.”
She walked back over to the counter without waiting for a reply. Jayson snorted. She must have been absent from medical school the day they taught bedside manner.
It turned out that Zarina had a better bedside manner than Jayson had given her credit for, at least compared to the two doctors who came in with Dick thirty minutes later. They ignored Jayson as if he weren’t there, instead asking Zarina a few medical questions that he really didn’t understand before finally nodding at Dick.
“Are you ready?” Dick asked.
Was that excitement in Dick’s voice? Jayson had to admit, right then, there was a part of him that wondered if Layla was right about the deputy director using him. But as Dick leaned over the table, his gray eyes full of concern, it was hard not thinking the man genuinely cared about him.
“I’m ready,” Jayson told him.
Standing behind Dick, Zarina looked uneasy. Knowing she was worried only made Jayson worry too, so instead he focused his gaze on the high ceiling. The two doctors approached the table, one on either side. A moment later, he felt each of them shove a needle deep into the muscles of his biceps.
At first, he didn’t feel anything besides the pain that came with getting stuck by syringes. Maybe Zarina had been messing with him about the serum being worse than the yellow goo she’d pumped into him.
That’s when the burning started—first in his arms, then all over. Within seconds, the fire spread through his entire body. He gripped the edges of the table.Shit. Maybe this was going to kill him.
He closed his eyes and forced himself to take slow, deep breaths. That helped for a little while. At least until the muscle spasms started. The pain was excruciating then. But it was nothing compared to how much it hurt thinking he might not ever see Layla again or have the chance to be her partner—they would have been awesome together.
He felt someone grab his left hand and squeeze tightly. He opened his eyes to see Zarina standing beside the exam table, concern on her face. On his right, Dick grabbed his other hand.
Jayson wasn’t sure how long the pain lasted, but at some point, it began to recede—slowly at first, then faster as the minutes—or was it hours?—ticked by.
Through the fog surrounding him, he heard the doctors talking to each other about the readings displayed on the various pieces of medical equipment hooked up to him and comparing notes about his reaction to the serum.
