Brainwashed Quotes

“No matter how bad your past is, you still don’t want it erased.”
― Paul Aertker, Brainwashed

“In climbing, there was always a fraction of a second between the security of being locked in and the freedom of an actual rappel.”
― Paul Aertker, Brainwashed

“Lucas Benes lay in a sleeping bag on the roof of his father’s hotel, dreaming about a past he couldn’t remember.”
― Paul Aertker, Brainwashed

“Doing something was better than doing nothing.
Without warning Lucas hit the emergency stop but-ton, and the elevator braked with an uncomfortable jolt. Then he mashed the OPEN DOOR button and punched the door itself. The front doors opened in between the second and first floors.
Lucas’s heart pumped in his chest. “I hear that baby in the parking lot crying.”
― Paul Aertker, Brainwashed

“Lucas crept around the building to the back parking lot. And there it was, just like he had seen from the roof—a baby lying in a shopping cart. Lucas’s mind went negative. What if the kid was dead? He tried to think if he had ever seen a dead person before. He’d never been to a funeral, and he knew he had never seen a dead baby. And he definitely didn’t want to.
His heart pounded in his chest.
Lucas walked, almost tiptoed, toward the shopping cart. The last of the parking lot lights flickered out, leav-ing only the early morning sun. He moved across the blacktop, making sure not to step on a white line. At this moment he needed all the luck he could muster. As he got closer to the cart, he held his breath and swallowed. Then he grabbed the shopping cart handle and looked over into the basket.
He gasped.”
― Paul Aertker, Brainwashed

“The wrought-iron gate squeaked as Lucas opened it. He lowered the rented bike down the stone steps and onto the sidewalk. To his right was the most famous Globe Hotel in Paris, disguised under another name. In front of the entrance five Curukians sat on mopeds. Lu-cas and his eighteen-month-old friend then shot out across the street and through the invisible beam of an-other security camera.
He rode diagonally across the place de la Concorde and headed toward the river. It seemed only natural. The motorcycles trailed him. He pedaled fast across the Alex-andre III bridge and zipped past Les Invalides hospital. He tried to turn left at the Rodin Museum, but Goper rode next to him, blocking his escape.”
― Paul Aertker, Brainwashed

“The sign above the door was written in French. It read: ARRÊTE ! C’EST ICI L’EMPIRE DE LA MORT.
“That means,” he explained to Gini, “‘Stop! It is here the Empire of Death.”
― Paul Aertker, Brainwashed

“You act like such a thirteen-year-old,” said Astrid. “I am a . . .” Lucas stalled for a second. “Wait! I am fourteen. Today’s my birthday.”
― Paul Aertker, Brainwashed

“and Gini would be off the grid for a couple of hours. He closed his eyes and waited. He might have dozed off, but it wasn’t long before he was startled by a sound somewhere close by. “Everyone else is cooperating,” Magnus said, his voice sounding hollow in the cave. “Yeah,” Ekki said, “looks like you dropped your bouquet of flowers, too.” “Lucas,” Magnus said. “There’s only one way out of here.” For most people that was true. Lucas knew the main door was the only official exit. But Lucas also knew there was a tunnel that connected the catacombs with the Paris sewer system. In his brain he overlapped the two maps. The only thing left was to find the opening. He read the graffiti on the wall. Written in charcoal on the top of a skull were the same words he had seen in the cemetery. Lucas muttered, “Huis clos.” Gini said, “No exit.” Lucas looked at the little girl like she was the smartest kid ever. “You’re right, but the sign’s not.”
― Paul Aertker, Brainwashed