Read Sanctuary for Free Online

in my brain revved up, like I could control time.
    The overall effect was intoxicating, as if I’d never been alive until now. My senses were heightened and all the incoming stimuli was rich and potent. I could punch through walls, flip cars, leap houses, and I ached to do it all.
    “Talk to me, Puck.” Samantha looked awesome when she dressed for combat: thin neoprene gloves, tight black leggings, steel-toed boots, and her snug black shooting jacket. Night-vision goggles were perched on her head, and pistols were slung in two brown leather shoulder holsters.
    “This place is disgusting. The building is so old,” Puck whined. “I can’t be very elegant in my assistance.”
    “Get us a room number.” She double checked magazines and chambers on all weapons, including the pistol at the small of her back.
    My weapon was my arm. I had purchased heavy, metal ballbearings a few months ago; I could throw steel faster and more accurately than a major league pitcher. Her weapons were cooler than mine, but mine wouldn’t kill people. I hoped.
    “The kid’s in Neurology. Take the stairs located just inside the loading dock. Head to the third floor. Room 312.”
    “What about meds? I want him sedated.”
    “He’s hooked up to a bag of ketamine, according to records. There might be another bag in his room or the nurses’ station. I don’t know how this works. I’m not a doctor, I’m a hacker.”
    “Outlaw, you’re still wearing your motorcycle helmet,” Samantha observed.
    “You think I should ditch the helmet? Go with the mask?”
    “No,” she frowned. “Neither. Both are too recognizable.”
    “Gear, you don’t care if people see your face. I do. I still have a life. I covet my anonymity.”
    “Then wear the Outlaw mask,” she sighed.
    “Puck agrees!” he shouted
    “Yeah, it’s sexier,” she shrugged. “Plus everyone knows you’re alive now. No sense hiding. And Puck can delete video if we need.”
    I left the helmet with my bike and we trotted up the concrete stairwell to the third floor. The hospital’s administration wing was asleep and we slipped through like ghosts. I was twirling steel in my hand like Baoding relaxation balls, but it wasn’t helping.
    We pushed through double-doors to the Patient Care area. This part of the hospital was alive. Sleepy, but alive. The lights were on, machines beeped, and distant voices murmured down the pink and blue hallway. An elderly man in a hospital gown saw us and gasped. He stumbled back into his room.
    We stuck out. Infected often do. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why. The abnormally erect posture? Powerful upper body? Hyper alertness? Less civilian, more warrior. The battle gear didn’t help. We might as well be lions stalking the corridors.
    “Hang a right. He’s at the end of the adjoining hall,” Puck said. His voice was hushed, which was silly, but I understood. Every sound we made felt amplified.
    “Gear, you go,” I said. “You’re not wearing the ridiculous attention-getting mask.”
    “Roger.”
    She went, moving quick and graceful, like a ballet dancer packing heat. The elderly gentleman snuck a peek at me around his doorframe. I smiled. He couldn’t see that. Duh. I was wearing a mask. But the Outlaw doesn’t wave.
    Thirty seconds later, on my bluetooth headset, “Empty. No one here.”
    “Patient is gone?”
    “Affirmative.”
    “Puck,” I said, “He’s been transferred?”
    “Not according to his medical records.”
    “Samantha, impersonate a police officer. You kinda look like one. Ask where the patient was moved to.”
    “Roger that.”
    Puck murmured, “Love when she talks like that. So hot.”
    I waited. Old guy peeked at me again. Puck was clicking. All was quiet.
    “Something’s wrong,” Samantha warned. “The nurses are cowering. Won’t even look at me. Acting like they’ve seen a ghost or something.”
    “Bingo,” Puck shouted, so loud I jumped. “Contact! Walter and Carla, with two other Infected I