Read In the Grey for Free Online Page B

but your
entire team seems to have been,” Ben said. “We wondered if you were
saved for a unique purpose. Because you live here, I was confident
that we could keep an eye on you.”
    Wyatt gave a quick shake
of his head. He looked down and then under the sheet. As if a
switch flicked, Wyatt’s anger inflamed. A tall, fit man, he looked
like he was ready to pounce.
    “ I’m naked, and your
father’s here?” Wyatt asked. “What the hell are you trying to do to
me?”
    “ Wyatt . . . ,” Max started.
    “ Don’t Wyatt me,” he said.
“Get him the hell out of here. Whatever the problem is, we can
solve it ourselves. We don’t need the dark overlord of mystery
here.”
    Max glanced at Alex and
she nodded.
    “ There you go again,”
Wyatt shifted to get up. “I’ll tell you what. I’m not going to sit
here . . .”
    “ You’re going to sit
there,” Ben’s commanding voice boomed in the small room.
    Wyatt stopped moving. He
gave another quick shake of his head.
    “ You’ll follow orders,”
Ben said.
    Wyatt started to move
again.
    “ Soldier!” Ben’s voice
rose in a drill sergeant’s threat. “You will follow orders. Is that
clear?”
    When Wyatt looked at Ben,
his eyes held a vague, dreamy quality.
    “ Why are you here?” Ben’s
voice was loud and demanding.
    “ I’m gay, sir,” Wyatt
said. As if he was in a trance, his face was placid. “My father
isn’t speaking to me. The Army is my only family.”
    Alex and Max took a quick
in breath. Alex didn’t dare look at Max for fear she would break
down.
    “ If brass finds out, I’ll
lose everything – my career, my job,” Wyatt said. His face flushed
with desperation, and fat tears rolled down his cheeks. “My future.
I can’t pay for school on my own. I’m almost done. If I’m
dismissed, I’ll have to go home. But there is no home.”
    “ Why are you here?” Ben
kept his voice demanding.
    “ My CO, sir,” Wyatt said.
“He knows. He knows. He . . . sent me here to make
it better, make sure I could stay in. He knows how bad I need to
stay in or . . .”
    Wyatt leaned forward. He
held himself in a tight hug.
    “ I can’t help it,” Wyatt
whispered. “I don’t date. I don’t have a
boyfriend . . . not since I joined. I’m not involved
with anyone . . . anyone . . . but
I’m still gay. I can’t change that. If I could . . .
If I could . . . I would do it,
but . . . I can’t.”
    Ben snapped his fingers
once.
    Wyatt blinked.
    Ben snapped his fingers
twice in rhythmic succession.
    “ NOW!” Ben said in a loud
demanding voice.
    Wyatt gave a quick shake
of his head.
    Ben nodded to
Max.
    “ Wyatt?” Max
asked.
    “ Max!” Wyatt said. “There
you are!”
    Wyatt held out his arms
and Max hugged him.
    “ You’ve been crying,”
Wyatt touched Max’s face. “What happened?”
    He looked at Alex and then
at Ben.
    “ What’s going on?” Wyatt
asked. “Where am I? And why am I naked?”
    “ You’re in our basement,”
Alex said. “You’re naked because you didn’t get dressed today.
You’ve been here since this morning.”
    “ No wonder I have to pee,”
Wyatt smiled. “May I . . . ?”
    He pointed to the small
bathroom off the side of the room. Ben nodded. Max gave him a pair
of boxer briefs. He got out of bed, turned his back to Ben and
Alex, and put on the boxers. He gave a slight shrug to Ben and went
into the bathroom.
    “ How did
you . . . ?” Max asked Ben.
    “ I’ve seen it before,” Ben
said.
    “ But . . .
what does it mean?” Max asked.
    “ It means that the program
didn’t end in 1973,” Ben said.
    “ I think he means, ‘Why
Wyatt?’” Alex asked.
    “ I don’t know,” Ben said.
“But I’m sure as shit going to find out. We need to debrief
him.”
    Alex made a sour
face.
    “ It’s the only way we can
be certain he won’t kill us in our sleep,” Ben said.
    “ He won’t,” Max
said.
    “ He won’t want to,” Ben’s
voice shifted to that of a