"Lavene, Joyce & Jim - Mask of the Stranger" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lavene Joyce)

Kelsey wanted answers. There were none in her hopelessly blank brain. It felt like the harder she tried, the more elusive they became, twisting away from her grasp.

The green truck behind her tapped his horn and she realized that the light had changed. She snapped out of her musing and put the little car into gear, moving into traffic.

The doctors had cautioned her against pushing too hard. It would come by itself. Time, patience, healing. Three commodities that Kelsey had in short supply.

In fact, she wasn't sure that her life didn't depend on that information. Something locked in her mind might hold the key to the stalker's identity. Every night that he waited for her might be one less that she had to find the answer. Each night could be the one he chose to make his final move.

And all she could do was stand by helplessly and tear through her mind, frantically looking for the clues to her past. But the fog was so thick.

Like another time, she recalled, when the fog had been so thick, that she couldn't see. There had been a smell. Like fruit, sweet and ripe. It had enveloped her and she was smiling, laughing. Calling someone's name.

"Dr. Lloyd?" the young guard at the main gate called her back. He had walked down to her car when she hadn't pulled up behind the red truck that was already through the gates.

"Oh God," she groaned when she realized that the brief flash of clarity was gone, leaving her nothing in its wake.

"Are you all right, Dr. Lloyd?" the concerned young man asked again. He took in her pale face and overly bright eyes and glanced uneasily around himself. He couldn't leave the gate unattended.

"I'm fine," she mumbled, putting the car back into gear. She returned his brief, nervous smile. "I'm fine, Ellis. Thanks."

"Yes, ma'am." He waved her through, wondering if he should alert security. He liked Dr. Lloyd and didn't like the idea of anything happening to her. Returning to his station, he made a mental note to check on her when the shift changed.

He'd wanted to ask her out a few times but hadn't found the words as yet. She was a little older than him, it was true. But mostly, it was that something about her. An aura of strangeness, sadness maybe, that set her apart.

Kelsey mentally gave herself a shake. What was she doing? There were safer times to wonder about herself than in traffic. She was becoming careless. Too caught up in her problems to be much good to anyone.

She wasn't surprised to see other late morning stragglers coming through the security checkpoint entering the Barton parking area. There were very few early morning risers in the group of fifty researchers. Several worked late at night, leaving as the others came in for the day. Most came in as she did, around ten, and left at odd hours of the day.

Barton was loosely run but untouchable in the material it had gathered in research technology. Scientists from all over the globe had worked there at one time or another, pooling their resources to work on the world's problems.

That Kelsey had been asked to work there by the current director, Martin Abrahms, was an honor. Her work in micro-botany had been accumulated through a lifetime, spanning her earliest work in college through the work she was doing with Barton.

It was the 'super plant' that had finally gained her recognition. Looking pretty much like an ordinary fern, the plant was being engineered to filter out pollutants. Not just carbon dioxide, as other plants, but harmful chemicals that were destroying the ozone layer. The super plant had possibilities for being an underwater variety as well and grew five times faster than most plants.

With Barton's backing, Kelsey was making remarkable progress, despite her time off after the crash. The institute had flown all of her papers, her entire lab, up from Orlando to their own research facilities.

All she had to do was make it work out.

She parked her car in the back of the lot. A few of her colleagues waved from their cars. Kelsey pretended not to see.

They'd invited her out for drinks and lunch. Once to a party. They'd tried to be friendly but she wasn't ready for it. She couldn't be part of a new life, she reasoned, opening her door to the lab, until she'd put the old one to rest.

The heavy door swung closed behind her and clicked into place, locking automatically.

"Lights," she called, putting down her purse, taking off her coat, switching on her computer.

The lights, installed in the side-walls to accommodate the special glass ceiling she'd requested, came on around her. The sunshine was bright but weak from overhead and she switched on the special growth enhancing light cycle.

The computer came up with the day's date and a notice from Dr. Abrahm's computer that he wanted to have a word with her when she was free. She frowned and punched in her work schedule. If she wanted to be free any time that day, she would have to get on with it. There were seventeen tests to be run and another twenty-six to be checked that were long-term projects. Kelsey picked up her notebook and set the computer to analyze and print the results from the day before.