The Adjusters (17 page)

“Now, now, my dear,” Mallory said, entering the room to stand beside Henry. “You have nothing to feel bad about. We’re allowed to get…”

“…a little screwy sometimes?” she finished for him, as if it was a line she’d heard before.

Mallory laughed and waggled a finger at her. “You are too smart by half.” He turned to Henry. “Why don’t you two get reacquainted? I want to have a quick word with your
mom.”

Mallory walked out, closing the door behind him. Henry felt suddenly foolish standing in the room of the girl he’d broken into the medical centre to find. He realized that he really
didn’t know her at all. And she looked like she needed anything but rescuing.

Gabrielle patted the mattress beside her. “Come and sit down.”

Henry walked over and perched on the side of the bed uncomfortably as the girl studied him again.

“Is it true what they’re saying?” she asked.

“What?”

“That you and another kid broke into the centre to
…rescue me
?” She said the last two words as if they were ridiculous.

Henry felt himself blushing again. “I guess. The last time we met, you seemed so afraid.”

Gabrielle shook her head, remembering. “Phew! Was I strung out that afternoon! I’d been living rough for the best part of a week. I don’t know what would have happened if you
and Trooper Dan hadn’t come across me.”

Henry frowned. From the way she told it, it was like the cop had saved her.

“You seemed pretty afraid of that cop at the time,” he ventured.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “Afraid? Why would I be afraid of Trooper Dan?”

“So what happened after he took you away?”

She frowned at him. “When?”

“He put you in his cruiser and as you were driving away you told me to run…”

“I was pretty strung out, wasn’t I…?”

“But what happened next? Did he bring you back here?”

Gabrielle’s serene features crumpled into a frown. “Back here? I…” She fell silent as she tried to remember. “Something…” Her voice broke.

“What is it?” Henry pressed, leaning closer. “What’s wrong?”

Gabrielle looked at him and smiled. “I’m sorry for being so silly. I guess I’m just so happy to be back here with my family. They come to visit me every day, you know. And
I’m going to be able to go back home next week if I keep up this good progress!”

Henry sat back.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “You look so disappointed.”

He shrugged. “I guess…you’re not like I remember from that afternoon.”

Gabrielle smiled at him uncertainly. “You’d prefer me to be a drugged up runaway with cuts all over her legs?”

“No! It’s just…can I ask you a favour?”

“Shoot.”

Hesitating only a second, Henry reached out slowly and brushed Gabrielle’s hair away from her forehead to expose the skin underneath. It was unmarked – no trace of scarring. If
she’d been operated upon during the last week, the evidence would have been there to see. But there was nothing.

“What did you expect?” Gabrielle asked as he lowered his hand.

Henry shook his head. “I don’t know. I was just being stupid.” Suddenly everything he’d done that evening seemed pretty stupid.

The girl leaned over unexpectedly and placed a kiss on his cheek. “That’s for coming to rescue me,” she said as she pulled away. “Even if I didn’t need rescuing.
Now, can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Henry said. Suddenly it felt a lot hotter in the room.

“Come see me after school tomorrow? I get lonely in here.”

“Okay.”

Gabrielle smiled and sat back on the pillows with a yawn. “I’d better get some shut-eye. All this lying around makes me sleepy.”

Henry rose from the bed and walked to the door, knowing that even though things seemed square with Mallory and he had managed to see Gabrielle Henson after all, the night was far from over.

He still had plenty of explaining to do to his mom. And if he knew her at all, she was gearing up to give him the lecture of a lifetime.

In a room located deep within the medical centre, John Mallory stood before a bank of security monitors and watched as Jennifer and Henry Ward exited the front of the building
and were escorted down the drive by one of the guards. Although there was no sound on the video feed, he could clearly see that Mrs. Ward was giving her son one hell of a talking to.

“Was he telling the truth?” Dr. Chancellor asked, appearing at Mallory’s side.

“About what?” her employer asked without taking his eyes from the screens.

“About him and the other boy being the only ones who knew about this.”

Mallory considered for a moment. “No. The Christian boy is an idiot, and Ward hasn’t been here long enough to plan something like this. Someone’s been feeding him
information.”

“Who then?”

“Well that’s the question, isn’t it?” Mallory looked at his head doctor, pulling a chewed cigar from his pocket and clamping it between his teeth. “But I’m
betting if we give Ward enough rope, he’ll lead us right back to that girl who repainted my Rolls. Put Trooper Dan on it.”

A look of concern darkened Chancellor’s perfect features. “Is that wise, if outsiders are involved? They could have spoken to anyone! And Trooper Dan is impossible to
control…unpredictable. This girl, Gabrielle, is showing signs of rejection as well. I need more time to adjust the implants. They are not stable.”

Mallory frowned at her. “Why, Magda, you sound as if you’re having doubts about our project.” He reached out and stroked his hand down her face. “So beautiful. I really
don’t think you’d get on so well in a Polish jail, do you?” He moved his hand round so that he was gripping the back of her neck. “Perhaps you need to be reminded who got
you your nice new identity and who allows you to conduct all your experiments in a…non-judgemental environment.” Chancellor struggled against Mallory’s grasp, but he held firm,
pushing his face in hers. “Nothing happens in this town without me knowing about it. They have no evidence. They haven’t told anyone squat. And Trooper Dan will do as he’s told,
just as long as you keep feeding him his medicine. The adjustment process works. A few subjects need a little more…tinkering…that’s all.”

The doctor pulled free from Mallory, eyes blazing with anger. She made an effort to control herself and said, “What do you want me to do?”

“Proceed as planned with the boy in custody,” Mallory said. His voice was hard and commanding now. “His parents have already signed the release forms. And put Trooper Dan on
Ward’s ass.”

Chancellor looked him deep in the eyes. “And the girl in Newton?”

Mallory removed the cigar from his mouth and studied it thoughtfully. “If she’s involved…tell Dan to have a little talk with her.”

Early Monday morning, Henry knocked on the door of Christian’s lodge. He’d spent the last thirty-six hours locked down in his room. His mom had made it clear the
only reason he’d be leaving their new house for the foreseeable future would be for school. She’d convinced herself that the whole thing with the medical centre was her son’s way
of trying to sabotage their move from the city. And after meeting Gabrielle Henson, Henry was beginning to wonder if she had a point.

Everything that had happened since he’d arrived in Newton had been ultra-strange, but hadn’t part of him been secretly pleased about that? He’d never wanted to leave the city
and finding problems with their new home was something that, subconsciously, he’d been almost happy about. Gabrielle. The school. Mallory’s conspiracy to turn the local kids
into…something. All good reasons for them to pack their bags and head back out of Newton County as fast as possible. Following the events of the weekend, he’d resolved to stop
believing in crazy stories and try to fit in.

He hoped Christian was feeling the same way.

The door was answered by Christian’s dad, who was still in his dressing gown and unshaven, like he had no intention of going to work that day.

“Is Christian there?” Henry asked. “I wondered if he wanted to walk to school.”

“
You,
” the man said, looking at Henry with barely contained anger. “Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble?”

Henry took a step back as Christian’s dad advanced on him through the doorway. The man’s hands were bunched into fists.

“Stay away from my son. And stay the hell away from my family…”

Christian’s mom appeared and placed a restraining hand on her husband’s arm. “Come back inside, George.”

To Henry’s relief, the man nodded and allowed her to usher him into the house.

“I just want to know if Christian’s okay,” Henry said as she began to push the door shut.

“Christian is going to be just fine,” she said firmly. “He just doesn’t need bad influences like you hanging around. He’s going to be a good boy from now on.
Goodbye.”

The door slammed shut.

For a moment Henry just stood there trying to process everything. He hadn’t expected to be the most popular person with Christian’s folks, but clearly they had the impression that
the break-in at the medical centre had been his idea.
Great,
he thought as he turned and started walking in the direction of the school.
Thanks for sticking up for me, Christian.

Things didn’t get any better when he got to school. As he walked through the gates and approached the main building he had a feeling that something was wrong. Looking
round the yard, he realized what it was…

Every kid was staring at him.

Shaking his head, Henry shouldered his school bag and doubled his pace. News travelled fast around Malcorp. But as he passed the car park, he was pleased to see someone he could rely on to be
friendly – he hoped. The coach was climbing out of an ancient Chevy that looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned since the last century.

“Coach!” he called, running over as the man started in the direction of the pool.

“Henry,” the coach said, just glancing in his direction. “When I told you to act like a normal kid, I didn’t mean making an enemy of the head of Malcorp.”

Henry started. “How—”

“Internal memo to all teaching staff emailed through yesterday morning,” the man said quietly, as if worried someone was listening in. “It appears you’re a bad influence
and to be watched for
disruptive tendencies
. I don’t know what you did…and I don’t want to either…but you’ve just become public enemy number one in the eyes
of Malcorp High.”

“Great,” Henry muttered. So much for John Mallory’s promise to call the matter closed.

“It gets better. You’re banned from all extra-curricular activities and clubs for the foreseeable future.”

“So that means—”

“No swim team, kid,” the coach said with a sigh. “More than my job’s worth to be seen breaking an edict from John Mallory himself.”

Henry tried to hide the disappointment in his voice. “That’s okay, coach. I understand.”

The man stopped walking and gave him a questioning look. “You must’ve done something pretty extreme to get Mallory worked up like this, I’m guessing. Tell me you had a good
reason.”

“I thought I did at the time.”

“But now you’re not so sure?”

Henry shrugged. “The evidence suggests otherwise.”

The coach gave a guffawing laugh. “The evidence? What about your gut, kid? What’s that telling you?”

Henry frowned. “I don’t know.”

“Well, perhaps you should start listening to it more. When I’m not sure about something, I always listen to my gut. It’s never been wrong. Apart from one time when it was just
indigestion.”

Henry laughed despite himself. The coach nodded and carried on towards the pool.

“You’d better get to class,” he called over his shoulder. “You’re in enough trouble already. I’ll see you at swim practice tomorrow afternoon.”

It took a moment for Henry to process that. “But I thought…”

“It’s more than my job’s worth to let you on the team? Maybe I just don’t like my job enough.”

Henry watched the coach walk on for a moment before turning back to the school. At least someone was on his side. As he approached the building he ran through everything in his mind. John
Mallory had lied about calling an end to the matter – he’d informed his teachers…
so what else had he lied about?

Suddenly, Henry’s gut was beginning to turn over, and rather than feeling annoyed with Christian, he started feeling worried.

First class of the day was English, which was just about the only lesson he could keep up with. The week before they’d started
Hamlet
, which Henry was actually
enjoying, much to his surprise – even if they’d been expected to read the entire play for homework that weekend. His grounding and loss of PS3 privileges had left him with plenty of
time for that.

“So what is the message of
Hamlet
?” the balding English teacher said, casting a piercing gaze over the class. “What is Shakespeare trying to tell us?”

A girl in front who Henry recognized as one of Blake’s crowd raised her hand. “Be grateful for what you’ve got?”

The teacher nodded. “Very good, Stacy. Anyone else?”

“Try to fit in?” someone else suggested. “I mean, if Hamlet hadn’t gone round causing problems for his uncle, he wouldn’t have gotten in trouble.”