Tested Release Day Blitz & GIVEAWAY by Janelle Stalder

 

Blurb...

 

Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.

Faced with the scariest decision of her life, Missy is going behind enemy lines to save the rebel that seems to haunt her every dream. Finding courage is one of the hardest things she’s ever done, especially when she comes face-to-face with a terrifying reality. The green eyes that have fascinated her, no longer gleam with recognition. Now Missy must find a way to not only get them out alive, but to save the mind of the man who is quickly capturing her heart. And she must do it all without getting caught. Put to the test, will Missy be able to rise above her fears and find love, or watch it all blow up in smoke?

*This book is for mature audiences due to sexual situations, violence and strong language.

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Excerpt

 

TESTED

Janelle Stalder

 

She was going to be sick. Missy followed the heavyset woman in front of her down a hallway that

was so stark and white it made her want to reach down and tear her shoes off, just in case she

happened to be bringing dirt in with her. It was eerily silent too, except for the sound of their

footsteps. The woman, Margaret, led them into a small office. One look at her desk and Missy could

tell the same sanitary standards from out in the hall did not apply here.

Old coffee cups and wrappers littered the surface amongst the mounds of paperwork. How

the woman managed to accomplish anything was baffling. Taking a seat, Missy tried to keep her

focus on Margaret as she made her way around to her own chair, rather than on the disaster between

them.

“Thank you for coming in on such short notice,” said Margaret. The bland, abrupt tone of

her voice suggested otherwise.

Plastering on her best fake smile, Missy said, “It was my pleasure. I was very excited to hear

I’d been called back.” That wasn’t a lie.

After the disaster of finding a way over into the eastern ghetto, (something she never wanted

to experience again), and navigating her way around the other side of the city all alone to locate

Bridgette’s old apartment where she was currently staying. Then approaching this place to present

her resume and afterward having to wait a whole week without hearing back, she was way beyond

excited to be sitting where she was. A huge part of her had been starting to think all her effort had

been for nothing when she hadn’t heard back from them.

When the nice woman who lived next door, Karen, passed along the message that someone

from the Institute of Medical Advances had come around looking for her, Missy had literally jumped

for joy. The message simply stated that they wanted another meeting with her. Hopefully this meant

she was getting a job. Otherwise she was going to have to figure out a way to get back into the

western ghetto. She shuddered at the thought.

“We’ve recently become rather short staffed and are looking for someone to help with our

evening shift,” she said. “Would you be available for something like that?”

Considering she was alone in an area she knew absolutely nothing about, the answer was a

resounding yes. Getting her sister to finally let her leave had been more than difficult, even though

Michael had given Missy his phone in case they needed to contact each other. She’d never realized

just how stubborn Phoenix could be. Or how ridiculously emotional, if her constant crying on the

day Missy had left was any indication. However, when Missy had actually arrived in her new

apartment, a massive step forward for her and an incredible act of independence, she’d instantly

regretted fighting so hard to leave.

Not that she’d been suffering her from usual panic attacks. Those had surprisingly been few

and far between. Most likely that was due to the fact that Missy hadn’t really need to leave the

apartment, other than to get food when she ran out. No, it was more because of the unnerving quiet

in the place. She was just so used to having people around. The girls had been a constant presence,

and all of them loud and rambunctious. Well, except Pixie. Now she had no one to keep her sane,

and as she had waited to hear back from the institute, she had realized just how nice it was to have

the people she loved around her.

But she was doing this for Tyler. She had reminded herself of that constantly as the hours

ticked by and her anxiety grew. Any time she’d had the urge to call her sister and beg to come home,

she’d reminded herself that Tyler could be experiencing horrible things under the instructions of

Douglas Hatcher. She was finally doing something to actually help her sister and the others, and she

wasn’t about to back out now.

“I’m available for whatever you need,” Missy replied.

“Perfect.” Margaret slammed a thick folder on the table, making Missy jump. “We need you

to handle the dinner shift, as well as any blood samples we might need, and anything else that might

come up throughout the night. How do you feel about needles?”

“I don’t mind them if they’re not poking me,” she answered honestly.

The other woman actually smiled at that. “I know what you mean. That’s good then. The

evening shift starts at six and ends at six. It’s not easy but you’ll be well compensated.”

Missy nodded. She couldn’t have cared less about the money, since she wasn’t planning on

sticking around long enough to really earn much. As soon as she found Tyler, she was getting them

out. If she found Tyler.

“I’ll need you to read over the rules before you start. I’m also going to provide you with a

uniform.”

“Rules?”

“Regarding the patients,” explained Margaret. “We do very specific, unique testing here at

the institute. Some of our patients are rather…dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Missy gulped, her mouth quickly going dry.

The woman laughed at her horrified expression. “Don’t worry, dear. All the patients are

secured in individual rooms. They won’t be able to get at you. Each door has an opening where you

can slide their dinner trays through. It’s perfectly safe.”

“What about when I need to take blood?” Missy asked. She was starting to wonder if this

was as good of an idea as she’d originally thought. Just find Tyler quickly, and none of this will matter, her

inner voice said.

“Our male technicians will have them properly restrained when that happens, not to worry.”

Easy for you to say, thought Missy.

She passed a single sheet of paper over. “These rules just state that you’re not to enter the

rooms, under any circumstance. Some patients will try to trick you into opening their door. For no

reason are you to do that, do you understand?”

Missy nodded.

“There are also some points there about any interaction with the patients. Some might try to

speak with you, but we advise you to keep any communication brief and limited with them.”

“Okay…”

Margaret smiled, standing up. “I’ll go retrieve your uniform while you look it over. When is

the earliest you can start?”

Missy looked away from the paper to stare at the other woman. “Whenever you need me,”

she said.

“Great, you can start tomorrow.”

Her feet hurt, her back hurt, if it were possible she’d even say her hair hurt. For two nights now

Missy had been following her co-worker, Heather, around, learning everything there was to know

about the institute. It was practically a jail, except the sounds from the prisoners were possibly

worse. She’d never been in a prison, but Missy couldn’t image anything being more disturbing than

this place.

Her job was simple really – deliver food through a small slot, and move on. So far she hadn’t

had to have any actual interaction with the faceless people behind the doors. Heather was nice

enough. She liked to talk and Missy had no problem simply listening.

However, she was getting increasingly more frustrated. Not because of the other girl, but

because she hadn’t had one glimpse of Tyler in the entire time she’d been there over the last couple

of days. Considering she hadn’t seen anyone, period, she was starting to wonder what the chances

were that she was even going to be able to find him in the extensive building.

The doors had no windows in them, so it was impossible to even try and get a peek inside,

unless she were to bend down and try to look through the meal slot, but that would look weird and

suspicious. And since she’d been stuck with Heather the entire time, there was absolutely no way of

doing something like that even if she’d wanted to.

What if he wasn’t even here? There was absolutely no way for her to tell for sure. And

working nights was starting to take a serious toll on her body. Working until the wee hours of the

morning was hard enough, but then she had to go home to a place she wasn’t quite comfortable

with yet, and try to sleep when daylight lit the room. Thankfully Bridgette had some dark curtains to

block out most of the light, but it was still difficult. Her body wanted to be up when the rest of the

world was. Her sleep was off, her eating habits were starting to become atrocious, and overall she

just felt like crap. Having no progress in what she was meant to be doing here wasn’t helping.

Sitting at the nurses’ station, she let her head fall down onto her folded arms to have a quick

minute of rest. The dinners had already been given out, so it would be another twenty minutes or so

before they had to make the rounds. Their ‘inspection rounds’ were a joke. It consisted of them

walking down the hall and calling out to each patient through the door. The patient responds and

they move on. Missy had asked what happened when they didn’t respond, and Heather just

shrugged her shoulders saying, “We just keep going. We’re not allowed to go in the room and check

on them, in case they’re tricking us.”

A tapping sound had Missy lifting her head, her body stiffening at the sight of a man

standing on the other side of the counter. He wore a similar outfit to the ones they wore, plain white

scrubs, so she knew he worked here. That didn’t help ease the discomfort at having a man she didn’t

know so close. Even though she knew there was nothing to worry about. They were in a workplace,

where other people were. What was the worst that could happen? Of course, her mind was never

quite rational in these situations.

“Evening,” he said with a smile. She didn’t like the feeling his smile gave her, or the way his

eyes took her in slowly.

“Hello,” replied Missy.

“I have a patient that needs some blood taken for the doctors. I was told to come and get

the new girl,” he explained. “All the other nurses are busy. And since I don’t recall ever seeing you

before, I’m going to assume you’re the new girl.”

She nodded.

“Geoff,” he introduced, reaching out a hand.

“Missy,” she said, shaking his hand quickly before pulling her hand away. “I haven’t taken

blood yet. Do I need to bring something with me?”

“Heather set the tray up for you over in room B. I’ll walk you over.”

Palms sweating, Missy stood up and followed him down the empty halls.

“I’m warning you,” he said, breaking the silence, “this one is a bit aggressive, but don’t let

him scare you. There’s no way he can hurt you.”

She had to consciously force her feet to keep moving while every nerve in her body

screamed for her to turn and run. This was overwhelming and her heart was likely to beat right out

of her chest any moment. By the time they reached the room, she was sure she was about to have a

heart attack.

Wiping her hands on her pants, she looked down at the needle and vials laid out for her, and

forced herself to calm down before entering the room. Holding on to the tray, knuckles white, Missy

followed Geoff into the room where two other male technicians stood in front of a third restrained

to a chair. They parted at their entrance to reveal a very pissed off looking, and disturbingly

breathtaking as he pulled at his restraints, Tyler.

Their eyes met and her hands instantly started to tremble. Without her realizing it, Missy had

completely stopped moving. She stood, staring at him with a mixture of horror and relief that she’d

finally found him. Those clear green eyes swept down her slowly before rising to meet her gaze once

more.

She felt trapped and spellbound by that stare that pinned her to where she stood. Even her

lungs seemed to have stopped working as she held her breath at the sight of him. Silently Missy

prayed that he wouldn’t let on they knew each other. Obviously he would realize she was there to

save him, so they needed to play it cool before any of the other three men in the room suspected

something was off.

A low growl vibrated from Tyler as he slightly curled back his upper lip, his sights still locked

on her. Missy instinctively took a step back. When he spoke, it was only one word, said so darkly

and huskily she almost missed what it was.

“Mine.”

 

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