Dear Ex-wife Marry Me novel (Maja) novel Chapter 1608

Sarah slowly smoothed her disheveled locks and plucked a tissue from the stack beside her to dab at her lips.

“Ian, how many folks you got on the outside?”

The moment the words left her lips, Ian knew that the map had indeed come from her. But as the key researcher in the project, she shouldn't have had the chance to step foot outside.

“At the research base, we're talking a couple dozen. Beyond that, sky's the limit.”

Sarah lifted a hand to her temple, massaging it as she rose to her feet and walked out. Ian trailed behind her, navigating the extended corridor until they stopped at the research bench. Only then did she grip the icy edge of the countertop before her.

“As many as I want, huh? I suppose that answer will do.”

“And your role, Doctor?”

Sarah gazed blankly at the vial before her, a smile suddenly playing at her lips.

“I need a team, the bigger, the better. I want out of this place.”

She had set her sights on Ian because she needed an ally. The effort it took to send that map was her at her limits. Despite garnering ample trust within the base, she still couldn't leave.

“How did you manage to send out that map, Doctor?”

Sarah reached for a glass of lukewarm water and took a sip. Sweat had already begun to bead on her forehead in the brief interval.

“It was a close shave. I couldn’t make the map too obvious, but lucky for me, you got the gist.”

Ian had deciphered the map because he knew about a secret passage on Forbidden Island. By working backward from the passage's location, he'd pieced it together.

To anyone else, the map would have been gibberish. So, he surmised that another part of the map indicated the research base. It was a bit of a guess since he was investigating the base at that time.

Sarah continued to press at her temple as the sweat slid down her cheeks and onto her white lab coat.

“A few years back, I helped a guy who bore some resemblance to you. He’s the only one who’s ever escaped from here - a real piece of work. I thought the experiments would get the better of him, that he’d die here.”

Ian felt a jolt in his chest. Without further explanation, he knew that man was his brother, Eric. Sarah pulled out a cigarette, her fingers trembling slightly.

“His gift for medicine was top-notch, and the base coveted his talent. He was cautious, but he slipped up. I thought it was a death sentence for him - an undignified one. He endured countless experiments daily, all on his person. Back then, the base was exploring how to copy a person’s memories, transplanting them into another brain. The technology existed long before, but it was crude.”

Ian remained silent, listening to her recount the tale.

“He was the only perfect subject. Out of hundreds of thousands of experimental data, his was flawless. They locked him in a research chamber, planning to keep him there till he died. After more rounds of trials, he ended up in my care. I conducted experiments on the surface, but really, I was stabilizing his condition. I gave him privileged access to the research bench. Do you know what he figured out?”

Ian shook his head. Sarah chuckled at that moment, flicking the ash from her cigarette.