"You want to see him, don't you? This is the only way past the guards. You're a nursing assistant for the next twenty minutes. Change. Now."
I pulled on the scrubs, my movements clumsy and numb. Nick handed me a surgical mask and a tray of instruments. "Keep the mask up. Don't look at the guards. Look at the tray. If you speak, we're both finished."
We walked. Each step I took felt like my heart was being squeezed by a giant hand. Nick walked beside me, his pace brisk. "You owe me for this," he muttered under his breath. "This is my career. If Charles Wolfe finds out I smuggled a civilian into his son's ICU, I won't just be fired. I'll be erased."
"I know," I whispered through the mask. "I know."
Nick glanced at me, his tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth. "You're too pliant, Noah. That's what you are. You've always been. Even when we were children. You're too ready to fold for anyone who looks at you twice. It's pathetic, really."
