Page 14 of Dark Gambit: The Play

She'd expected him to take her to the nurse's office in the lodge, but

When they'd passed through the lodge without stopping at the nurse's office, she frowned. "Where are you taking me?"

"The new clinic in the secluded part of Safe Haven."

She tensed. "Do you mean the one the government is using for its secret projects?"

"Yes and no. It's in that general area."

"Tell me the truth, Marcel. Are they going to do anything to me other than remove the tracker?"

"To find the device, the doctor needs to scan your body using an MRI machine. That's why we need to use the other clinic."

"Do you swear that's all the doctor will do to me?"

"I swear it."

It was so dark that she couldn't see his expression, but he'd sounded sincere, and her anxiety level subsided.

As they kept walking, passing through three different gates that Marcel opened with his phone, she wondered how he could see where they were going. There were no lights, and the moon was shadowed by clouds. She could barely see one step in front of her and had to hold on to his arm.

Wondering whether his eyes were glowing, she cast him a sidelong glance, but since she couldn't see them, the answer was that they weren't.

"Why is it so dark here? Couldn't they put up at least one streetlamp?"

Marcel chuckled. "I'll mention it to the boss when I talk to him again."

Who was the mysterious boss he kept bringing up? Was he the equivalent of Igor? Maybe he was also a powerful compeller, and that was why Igor was interested in the place. What if he was another Kra-ell?

"That's the clinic," Marcel said.

He led her up to a door she couldn't see, and when he pulled it open, the light spilling from the inside blinded her until her pupils adjusted to the brightness.

Taking her by the elbow, he led her into a room with a big scanner.

"This is our doctor, Julian," he introduced a guy who wasn't wearing a white coat and didn't look like any doctor she'd ever seen.

He was gorgeous, with shoulder-length light brown hair, blue eyes, and full lips that were curved in a friendly smile.

"Hello, Sofia." He offered her his hand. "I'm Doctor Julian, but everyone calls me Julian."

"Hi." She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you." She glanced at the padded bench that was partially inside a bagel-shaped device. "Do I need to take off my shoes before lying down on that?"

"Yes, please. We want to keep things as clean as possible. Also, if you have any jewelry on you or anything made of metal, you should take it off. The MRI is a powerful magnet."

She had leggings and a T-shirt on, so that wasn't a problem, and her pushup bra was the kind that didn't use wires and had memory foam padding instead. Her pendant was still locked in the safe, so the only things remaining were her hairpins.

"Are these a problem?" She took one of them out and handed it to Julian.

His eyes widened. "Were they checked?"

Marcel nodded. "Leon ran a scanner on her."

"I bought them in a supermarket in Helsinki." Sofia took the rest out. "There is nothing special about them."

Naturally, they had no reason to believe her, and when all the pins were out, Julian handed them to Marcel. "Give them to Leon. He's out in the front room."

"I will. How long is it going to take?"