She’s retired, but Shona pulled some strings, along with offering her the fee we’d have paid Omnia for her to be on hand to support Jenna.
She’s agreed to stay at the Pit for a couple weeks to fully assess her, create a treatment plan for whatever they’ve done to her.
Rex is hot on the doctor’s heels. He’s stayed away the moment she arrived, hardly said a word to anyone since we put her in the van with us.
“Mr Blackwood, may I have a moment?” Dr Beverley asks, and I nod to the opposite sofa, watching her take a seat.
She flattens her pencil skirt with her hands, interlinking them as she nervously assesses a coiled-up Rex, then does the same to me. One look at us, and she likely thinks we resemble the kind of criminals she helps victims escape from.
“I’ve suggested Jenna have a few more days’ rest before anyone attempts to speak to her, and for the foreseeable, any visitors should be kept to females she’s previously been familiar with.” She glances up at Rex nervously.
I watch the muscles tic in his jaw, but he gives a sharp nod.
“Usually, victims of these particular experiences can display signs of PTSD, along with a variety of other complex trauma traits. Your on-site doctor also provided me with her blood tests.”
“And what did you find?” Rex growls, causing the doctor to jump.
“Well, there were various mixtures of compounds found. Nothing I’ve researched so far matches anything in the pharmaceutical market. I’d like to look into this further, possibly with the support of your medical team on site.”
I tilt my head, looking up at Rex.
Jenna’s an adult; she’s also classed as vulnerable right now. Her parents can’t be contacted, because that puts them in danger. They moved out of state a couple years after her death, and it’s the only blessing we have that they’re out of the Omnia reach.
“How is she?” Indie asks.
“She was very hostile due to being disorientated, which is a natural response. Especially if victims have been providedwith drugs to keep them compliant or even sedated. She might begin to suffer withdrawals depending on how long they’ve been provided to her. The next few weeks will be tough for her.”
I nod. “Anything else we should know?”
She shifts her gaze over at Indie, giving her a small smile. Dr Beverley spoke with her and Regina when she arrived last night, giving her their background and relationship to her.
“As much as you want to see your friend, she needs time to make decisions for herself. She’s displaying some dissociative behaviours. Whilst it could be a result of the drugs leaving her system, I won’t fully know until I can get her into a position of being completely lucid. I should have a treatment plan completed for her by the end of the week. But…why don’t you write her a letter?”
Indie locks up beside me, and my fingers resume the kneading in her muscles.
“What kind of letter?” she asks, her voice small, laced with emotion, and I feel her swallow it down beneath my fingertips.
“Nothing too taxing for Jenna. I’d avoid asking questions for the time being until I’ve had a couple of sessions with her. I’d even start with your feelings on her being back, maybe even a happy memory you share with her. Something that can help her find those better moments in her life.”
Indie gives her a faint smile, one that barely lifts at the corners. “I will. I’ll let Regina know as well.”
Dr Beverly gives a curt nod, grabbing her phone as she dismisses herself. The minute she closes the door, Rex takes her place on the sofa, holding eye contact with me. “What are you thinking?”
Cracking my neck from side to side, I unwind myself from Indie and lean forward with my elbows on my knees. “I’m thinking those drugs she mentioned could be something to do with Clarke.”
We have a medical team on site for various reason, mostly because there’s always someone getting fucking injured during training sessions, but they were permanently implemented when the security jobs we provided would end up with someone being shot.
You’d patch them up the best you could until we got back to the Pit, but they needed proper assistance.
“You think he was testing them on their victims?” Rex asks, jaw grinding as he glances to the door behind me.
The man’s coiling up like a snake. He’s never admitted it, but his feelings for Jenna are more than just lust.
He loves her, his story similar to Indie’s and ours.
Except, he’d gone years believing she was murdered, the loss dragging him under until he no longer knew what being alive meant. “Could be. Maybe making his own concoction with legal substances. I don’t know enough about it. We won’t know until Jenna speaks—that’s if she even knows.”
If Jenna’s been subjected to whatever they’ve been giving her, her memory could be hazy. I have no doubt Clarke’s vital role was providing those substances to their victims; now they don’t have him, that’s caused a massive clink in their operation.
