Dead Man Running Read Online Free

Again.’
    Each of them waited for the other one to laugh. When neither did, Ace said, ‘Let’s start with the brain.’
    She asked Six all the usual questions, testing his long-term memory – What’s your name? – short-term memory – Who brought you here? – and other cognitive functions. She asked him to do some sums and spell some things backwards. Then she asked him to stand up. Her hands squeezing his wrists, Ace moved him into a variety of different poses. ‘Tell me if you feel any pain, or tension – anything unusual,’ she said.
    Six could smell her perfume. She’d changed it to something soft and flowery. He’d never liked flowers until this moment.
    â€˜I missed you,’ he said.
    Ace laughed. A short, joyless sound. ‘But only for a day, right?’
    Six nodded. ‘Just the same.’
    Her gaze softened. ‘I missed you too. But after three years –’
    â€˜Four,’ Six said.
    Ace looked away. Her voice was quiet. ‘I stopped counting.’ After a few more minutes of stretches, she said, ‘I think you’re fine, but we’ll do an MRI just to be sure.’
    â€˜Okay,’ Six said. He walked over to the MRI machine and sat down on the plastic bench. He was about to lie down when he saw the ring on Ace’s finger. It was just a plain, white-gold band, but Six couldn’t take his eyes off it. Ace followed his gaze.
    â€˜Oh,’ she said.
    She’s married? Six thought. Ace got married?
    â€˜Sorry,’ Ace said. ‘I didn’t know how to tell you. I forgot I was wearing it.’
    Six felt like his throat was being crushed by an enormous hand.
    â€˜Congratulations,’ he said, trying to sound genuine and failing.
    Ace half smiled. ‘Thanks.’ Fiddling with the ring, she said, ‘You’d like him. Look, I know you’ve got lots of questions –’
    â€˜It’s all right,’ Six said. He lay down on the bench. There was a remote control in a slot on the side. He picked it up. When he pushed a green button, the bench started to slide into the scanner, like a slab into one of the morgue drawers. Soon his whole body was concealed inside.
    â€˜Are you going to be okay?’ he heard Ace ask.
    â€˜I’m fine, really,’ he said, keeping his voice even. ‘Don’t worry about me.’
    The giant electromagnet inside the machine began to spin, filling the morgue with an accelerating thumpety-thumpety-thump .
    â€˜I’ll give you some privacy,’ Ace muttered. Six heard her shoes click away and the door swing closed.
    A tear trickled into his ear, and Six resisted the urge to tilt his head. If he moved, the images of his insides would be too blurry to be useful. It would take about twenty minutes for the MRI to finish. He had that long to compose himself.
    Okay, he thought. King’s become a sad old man, the Deck has moved somewhere cold and unfamiliar, someone out there has murdered a different Agent Six, and Ace is in love. With someone who isn’t me. But things could be a lot worse. Apparently the other Agent Six stopped the nuclear bomb from hurting anybody – that’s good. And I don’t know how Kyntak is doing, but King said he’s alive. And I should be glad that Ace hasn’t spent the last four years alone. I should be glad she was able to let me go.
    The tears were flowing freely now, burning his eyes, soaking the pillow behind his head. After the death of Ace’s father, Six had held her hand as she cried on his pillow. The memory made him weep harder. Every breath was a battle.
    Pull yourself together! he thought. You’ve got work to do. Whoever did this, they have to pay.
    Thud.
    Six blinked the tears away. The rhythm of the magnet had changed for a moment. That wasn’t supposed to happen.
    Thud-thud. There it was again. Six wondered if Ace had left some tools made of magnetic materials near the