They successfully wiped all of the equipment and then left the room. Taking the stairs, they went down to the laboratory, used the General’s keycard to enter, and spread a powerful accelerant over everything. They also put a few props in the room, tossing in fishing line, rope and two harnesses. It didn’t need to look convincing now, since it would be charred and hopefully burned past recognition. Kyler jammed the sprinklers on the ceiling to help the fire. They were counting on the General being blamed for their destruction, in his attempt to hide his actions. They tossed his keycard into the mess and lit the room.
After that, the trio exited quickly and went to the parking lot. There they waited approximately a half hour. It took almost that full time for the soldiers to notice the fire and get a hose connected to put it out. Fortunately, the occupied holding cells were on the other side of the building, because several rooms around the lab were also destroyed. Feeling satisfied with their work, it was easy enough to find an obliging soldier, who climbed into the front seat of a jeep and drove them off base. The driver and all soldiers they passed were convinced he had General Ramford in the car. It was important to have him sighted after the damage had been done.
Chapter 22: The Whole Truth
That night was a stressful one. They had been confident while on the base, but once they were gone, they imagined all sorts of things happening to prove that they had been there. They worried that they might have missed something and unintentionally left the General with even more proof of their abilities. The tension in the room until the news came through was profound. They had no idea if their plan would work. It had seemed promising, but they couldn’t be sure. When the broadcast came through it was breaking news at seven in the morning. Cassie was still sleeping, but she was promptly awoken by Kyler.
“Cass! It worked!” His hand gently shook her shoulder. She woke up quickly and completely to watch the news with him. When Halle got out of the shower, she sat on the edge of the bed with them and watched, too.
That whole day it was all over the news and they spent most of the day in their room watching it on several different channels. An American general kidnapping two United States Senators and the Speaker of the House was not something that could be kept quiet. Most of the story was left out. All the press officially reported was that a prominent four-star general had gone completely insane, lied to Congress to gain funding for a far-fetched usage of satellite imagery, and then kidnapped the members of the Committee who had come to investigate its validity. No one mentioned what the project was, or that it had been on the financial books for a decade. He had even gone so far as to try to burn the building down where they were being held. Fortunately, soldiers fighting the fire found them and released them. And the fire hadn’t made it that far.
They felt bad about that last part. Attempted murder did seem a bit much. With his court-martial, he would probably spend the rest of his life in prison. Halle even shed a few tears over this realization.
“Well, there’s not really any reason to stay here now, is there?” Halle said numbly. “We can go anywhere. Do anything.”
“Where will we go?” Cassie asked.
“Anywhere. Anywhere we want. No one is following us. And no one will follow us again,” Kyler said, excitement starting to bubble up within him. “But first, before we do anything, we need you to remember, Cass.”
After showering and eating, they left the motel. The next step was to sell their car to a local car dealership in exchange for another. Cassie didn’t doubt there was some influencing here, though the cars were worth about the same amount, the whole process was remarkably smooth and painless. Then they drove west, heading for California.
“What are you going to do?” Cassie asked nervously.
“Just give you some key words. But it has to be done while you’re asleep, Cass,” Halle said from the drivers’ seat. Cassie and Kyler sat in the back, side by side. “And you’ll be asleep for a while. Like a couple of days, possibly.”
“Perhaps that’s why the only memories I’ve recovered are from my dreams.”
“Maybe. We’ll get started as soon as you’re asleep. So just relax and drift off whenever you want,” Kyler told her. He smiled, “I shouldn’t have let you sleep in this morning.”
“Okay,” Cassie said, nervously excited. “I may not sleep again until tonight. So maybe we should figure out where we’re going?”
Cassie looked at Kyler, he looked at Halle. She shrugged. “Don’t look at me! I don’t know!”
“Where do you guys want to go? I mean, if you could choose anywhere?” Cassie asked them both.
“I don’t know. We’ve been moving for so long. I think I’d like to find a place to settle down, and stay,” Kyler answered.
“We could get a house somewhere!” Halle contributed excitedly.
“And maybe finally find you a man!” Cassie said to her. She was confident Halle was a perpetual bachelorette, and though she didn’t know precisely from where this confidence came, at least she understood why it was there.
“Ha!” Halle haughtily laughed.
“Let’s try somewhere a little bit rural,” Kyler said. “But not too rural that we couldn’t safely hack into a few sites.”
“Are you thinking the United States?”
“Yeah. I think so. We’ve been gone for so long,” he said.
“And if we’re going to establish ourselves, it’d be nice to be in the homeland.” Halle was clearly pleased with the idea of settling down. “Though, some relaxing travel where we’re not constantly looking over our shoulders would be nice as well.”
They discussed where to go and what to do for hours, as the sun started to set in front of them. Cassie felt a little sleepy, but she wanted to have some idea where they were headed before she fell asleep. She didn’t know how she was going to feel about things after.
“Okay, so we’re decided on the east somewhere. No more than half a day’s drive from a major city, with international airports close by. Did I miss anything?” Cassie asked. Though they said it was for travel, Cassie felt the airport stipulation was a small sign of continued paranoia.
“Not the South. Too hot,” Kyler put in.
“Okay, northeast. How about upstate New York? Or Pennsylvania?” Cassie asked. Moving home was appealing. Maybe I can finish my degree…
“Sure! Why not?” Halle enthused.
“Let’s go take a look. Find a town we like?”
After about a half hour more Cassie gave in willingly to her tired mind. Thinking a cheerful goodbye to the limited person she knew, she fell asleep.
“Cassandra Michaels?” The tall, foreboding woman asks. I whip around in my desk to face her. “Pay attention, please,” She says sternly. I nod nervously; she smiles. Behind me Angela giggles.
“As I was saying, my name is Miss Westynbach. But that’s pretty hard to say and to remember, so you may all call me Miss West.”
Does she think we can’t handle her full name? I resolve to never call her Miss West.
“Westynbach,” I whisper to myself.
“Now I want you all to come stand at the front of the room so I can seat you in alphabetical order. These will be your assigned seats for the next few weeks.” We obediently got up and filed to the front. “Alphabetical order means you’ll be sitting from A to Z by the first letter in your last name. For example—”
I know very well what alphabetical means. “Ang!” I whisper to my best friend. I’m lucky she’s in my class. We weren’t last year, and there are four different first grades instead of three kindergartens, so I feel extra lucky. “You’re right next to me!”
“What?” She gives me a look that clearly says, of course I am, stupid.
“I don’t mean right now!” Rolling my eyes emphatically, “You’re a Larsen, I’m Michaels.”
“Cassandra!” Miss Westynbach says sharply. I jump and turn around again. “If you don’t listen, how will you learn?” She demands.
“Sorry,” I mu
mble, embarrassed….
Sniffing heavily, I try to get my misery under control. I check my mirror. Curses! My nose is too red and my eyes are half their normal size, with my skin puffing all around them. I don’t want him to remember me like this!
A knock comes at my bedroom door.
“Cassie? You about ready to go?” My mom asks.
Deep breaths, I think. I open my door to leave.
“Oh, Cass!” She notices my puffiness immediately. “This isn’t just about your best friend leaving, is it?”
I look at her innocently, but her narrowed eyes say she isn’t buying it.
“You like Shane, don’t you?”
I turn red, briefly consider denying it and then realize there’s not much point. “Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know. I just didn’t want anyone to know until he liked me,” I say to my shoes. “I haven’t told him either.”
“Well then how do you know he doesn’t already like you?” She asks, too reasonably.
“I don’t know,” I say miserably.
“So you’ve been trying to win him over all year?” She asks, pity in her eyes.
I shrug. Ug, this is so embarrassing.
“I’m sorry, Cass,” She checks her watch. “I have to take you now, or you’ll miss him entirely.”
She’s right. He’s leaving in half an hour. She drives me to his house. The moving van is still waiting out front. When we pull up, he immediately walks out the front door. I climb out of the car.
“I thought you weren’t going to make it!” Shane says, giving me a one-armed squeeze. My heart shakes a little.
My mom flashes me a sad smile. “I don’t know when you guys will be leaving, so I’ll just go see if your mom needs help with anything,” She tells Shane, then disappears into the house.
“So you guys are all packed, huh?” I say after a short silence.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
More silence.
“This sucks!” He says suddenly.
“Tell me about it!” I agree.
“It’s the first week of summer! We’re supposed to be celebrating,” He complains.
“It puts a bit of a damper on things when one of your best friends is moving!” I try to say this light-heartedly, so I won’t start crying again.
Without discussing it, we begin walking around the block. We talk about meaningless trivia, laughing. We reach his house, but pass it again.
As we near his house for the third time he stops me. He takes my hand, forcing me to face him.
“Cassie, I know it’s stupid now, but—I mean, I’m leaving!” He stops. “I don’t know what I’ve been waiting for over the past few months. I think just for you to drop a hint or something, but whatever! I’ve wasted so much time because I was scared. So now, I have to tell you when in 15 minutes I’ll be headed across the country.”
My stomach leaps. He leans in and kisses me, right on my lips! Not entirely sure what to do, I kiss him back, stepping forward just a little….
With two of us sitting on my bed, and two on my big bean bag, we fit in my room pretty well.
“You asked Tyler on a date!?” June asks, astonished.
“Sure!” I answer.
“Who’s gonna drive?” Candace asks jabbing me in the ribs.
I laugh, “He offered, but since I just got my license, I wanted to.”
“If you ask him on a date, he’ll know you like him!” June says, still shaking her head.
“Yeah, so?”
“How can you just tell him? What if he doesn’t like you?” Heather asks, as though this was an obvious flaw.
“Then he wouldn’t have said yes! There was only one way to find out. And so what if he doesn’t like me? I’ll waste a whole lot less time this way than pining in here about him!”
“Like she has to worry about that. Everyone likes Cassie!” Candace says, eyes rolling….
I feel like I’m being overwhelmed by an invisible wave, crushed into the hard ground. I can’t go on. What am I supposed to do? She and I were it. She was all I’d had since my earliest memories. Dad was gone by the time I was three.
Most everyone has left the cemetery by now, but I just keep staring at the casket, unable to comprehend that all that was left of my mother was in that box. I shook my head. I couldn’t believe that; there had to be more. She just couldn’t be gone forever.
The day mocks me: sun shining, blue skies. I can hear birds chirping from the tree several yards away. If I could tear my gaze from my mother, I would have glared at them. I want the skies to boom thunder and pour down rain and hail the size of basketballs. I want the world to end, as mine has. Or at least pause. Anything but this cheerful continuation of life.
Finally, I turn away. The first tears I’d been able to cry today come coursing down my cheeks….
“Since this is your sixth injection, things will change a little this month,” Kyler warns me as he ties a rubber hose around my upper arm.
“Okay!” I nod excitedly, looking away from the needle.
“All done.”
“Not quite. Only half done, right?” I tease.
“Well yeah. Six more injections to go. But it was just after six months that we noticed things moving.”
“Really?” This is so exciting!
Hal grins at me. “You’re not at all pleased, are you Cass?”
I laugh. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over my shock. Six months has only dimmed it. With everything that happened, I was sure you had, I dunno, burned and buried, the last of the formula! I don’t know what’s more surprising, that you have it, or that you’re giving it to me!”
“I guess you could say we trust you.” Hal smirks at Kyler.
“About time!” I grimace at him.
He smiles back and I can’t keep the sour look on my face….
“We’re going to start with the easiest thing: a ball on a flat surface. The smallest push will move it.” He places a small rubber ball on the table in front of me.
“Already?” I ask, eyebrows raised.
“Yep!”
Kyler explains, “It doesn’t take long for this formula to catalyze the other five your body already absorbed. You’ve had a week, I think it’s time we start pushing things.”
“Go ahead! Move it!” Hal says, watching me eagerly.
“Okay… but how?”
“Imagine pushing it with your mind. Strain your mind and reach out and push it. Try moving it away from you first.”
I focus on the ball. I strain. I picture in my mind that it starts rolling. I’m so intent on the image in my head that it takes me a moment to realize the ball really is moving….
Halle hugs me. I see us both in the mirror, she’s grinning; I think I’m glowing.
“Do I look okay?” I worry, spinning. I can’t quite see the back of the white dress.
“Amazing, Cass! Perfect. When he sees you, he’ll be even more excited than he already is.” She laughs joyfully, “I think the suspense is killing him, so hurry!”
“I’m ready! I’m coming now.” I watch her disappear in her spring green dress. I follow more slowly.
I’m radiantly happy; the church attendant can feel it and smiles at me. I walk into the chapel. There aren’t many people there. We’d scheduled the wedding early to avoid too many visitors. It’s just me, Halle, Kyler and the priest. As well as the witness, who doubles as the attendant.
I don’t mind. It’s a beautiful old Italian church. And despite the lack of fanfare, Halle had insisted on adding beautiful bunches of flowers here and there. She hands me my bouquet of lilies and we walk down the aisle together. My only bridesmaid, she’s also giving me away. I think she loves it. She looks almost as happy as I feel.
Finally, my eyes fall on Kyler. He looks fantastic, dressed in a simple black tux. We reach him. Halle puts my hand in his, kisses us both on the cheek, then moves to the side of the aisle. Kyler smiles at me, then leads me the las
t two steps to stand in front of the priest…
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