Chapter 66 : Could This Girl Diagnose Illnesses?
Ronan barely had time to react before his arms were wrenched behind his back, forcing his face to the floor.
Jareth’s cane swept past him as Ronan struggled, his face burning with anger.
“Jareth Taylor!”
The door slammed shut, trapping Ronan inside.
Outside, Oliver hurried off, making calls as he arranged transportation.
After ending the call, he reported, “Ms. Rogers isn’t at Nova’s either.”
That made things even more complicated. Kansas had countless places where someone could hide.
Jareth’s voice was cold. “Activate Skynett.”
Oliver hesitated. Using Skynett surveillance required approval from several high-level departments. They avoided it unless there was no other choice. Yet now Jareth wanted to use it just to find a girl.
I thought Jareth’s interest in Allison was only temporary. Had something changed?
Skynett quickly pulled up the data, but Oliver fell silent after reviewing it.
“Jareth, Allison’s identity is being used by Sherrie. All the travel records we’re seeing belong to Sherrie…”
Jareth’s expression darkened. Even Oliver found it hard to believe. How could two people share the same identification?
But there was no time to think about that.
A new alert popped up, and Oliver’s eyes lit up. “Found her!”
“Traffic cameras show Allison leaving the Rogers mansion in an unregistered taxi at eleven yesterday morning. When she got out near Kansas Hospital, she was abducted by a van.”
Jareth stared at the screenshot on his phone. Allison had a sack pulled over her head. His face turned stormy.
Almost two days had passed since her abduction, and no one had noticed.
A young girl like Allison is in the hands of criminals. Nothing good could come of it.
Bang!
The deafening crash of a gong jolted Allison awake.
Her eyes widened as she stared at the blank paper and pen in front of her.
I’m in what appears to be a warehouse. It’s windowless, with corrugated metal walls.
The only light comes from a single bulb hanging overhead.
The room is empty except for the chair and table where I sit.
With no way to track time, Allison had no idea how long she had been there.
She only knew that whenever exhaustion made her eyelids droop, the man behind her would strike the gong and jolt her back to consciousness.
After more than a dozen rounds, Allison’s head throbbed. Irritation simmered beneath her skin.
She dug her fingers into her hair and pressed her forehead, overwhelmed with frustration.
The man watching her finally spoke. “Ms. Rogers, once you finish transcribing the medical records, we will release you.”
Allison clenched her teeth. “My head hurts. I can’t write. Let me sleep.”
“Write first, then you can sleep.”
She shot him a glare, knowing Gabriel was trying to break her. If this went on, I would collapse from exhaustion.
Her eyes drifted to the single light overhead. Trapped here, no one would ever find me. No, that wasn’t quite right.
No one would even look for me.
In this world, no one cared about me except Dad.
No one would notice that I had been kidnapped. No one would come looking for me.
I could die quietly here, my body sealed in concrete, buried where no one would find me for decades.
But I refused to die like that.
Swallowing her discomfort, she propped her head up with one hand and scribbled on the paper with the other.
When she finished, she flipped the paper over and tossed it to her captor.
“Take this to your boss.”
A new guard took the old one’s place as the first left to deliver the message.
Inside a Vertex, Gabriel unfolded Allison’s note. Only a few hastily written words stared back at him.
“Draw a tiger with a cat as a model. Live to make use of it.”
The messenger assumed Allison was mocking Gabriel and stiffened. “Mr. Gabriel, I’ll interrogate her properly this time!”
“Wait.” Gabriel raised a hand, his eyes still fixed on the words.
Why those words?
Back in the warehouse, Allison was drifting off again when footsteps approached.
She forced her bloodshot eyes open as a pair of polished dress shoes came to a stop in front of her.
Gabriel placed the note on the table before her. “What does this mean?”
Allison leaned back in her chair, irritation lacing her voice. “You want my notes. But can you even understand them? Can you use them?”
Allison tapped her chest with emphasis. “The real value is in me, the person.”
Gabriel scoffed. “What can a mentally ill girl do?” He was convinced she was only bluffing to escape.
Allison closed her eyes. “If you have a terminal illness, just tell me. I guarantee it will be more effective than your current brutal methods.”
The moment her eyes shut, the guard beside her struck the gong again with a deafening clang.
“Enough!” Allison’s eyes flew open, a murderous glare flashing across her face.
Gabriel stared at her with growing fascination. This fragile, unstable girl seemed to have another side to her that I hadn’t expected.
His interest was piqued. He pulled up a chair and sat across from her. “You can treat illnesses, really?”
Allison studied his face for a moment.
“You don’t sleep well, do you? Three hours a night at most.”
“That’s normal for someone like me.” That proved nothing.
Allison held out her hand. “Give me your wrist.”
Gabriel complied.
She leaned forward and pressed her fingers to his pulse. In less than thirty seconds, she confirmed her suspicion. “You have a tumor on your pancreas.”
Gabriel was stunned.
I had a full-body scan just two weeks ago. How could she be so certain?
Allison leaned back again. “Believe it or not. It’s not my problem if your stomach condition goes untreated.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. I did suffer from chronic stomach problems, but no tests had ever found the cause.
Could this girl really diagnose illnesses?
Allison then glanced at the guard holding the gong and scoffed. “Stop overusing that hand. There won’t be another if this one’s destroyed.”
The man was embarrassed.
Gabriel realized she had a point.
If Allison really had this ability…
His expression darkened. Did this mean I really had a tumor?
Gabriel looked at her seriously. “Can you apply all the cases from the medical notebook?”
Allison yawned. “I can, but traditional medicine needs to be adjusted to each person. Even with the notes, you wouldn’t know how to adapt them to your condition.”
She stared directly into his eyes, “A deviation of one millimeter…”
Her voice turned sharp. “…can lead to an error of a thousand miles.”