Registry's Secrets (The Mengliad Series Book 2)

by Jana Janeway

  Shea held up his hands, palms out. “I’m being calm,” he said.

  “Jeramey, chill,” Marcy demanded of him before turning to Shea. “He’s right though, okay? Finding an OB/GYN who is all those things will be next to impossible. We’ll need to deal with this on our own, the best we can, and hope for a good outcome.”

  ‘I’ll eat the cactus. I’ll eat whatever it takes to keep the baby healthy.’

  ‘You don’t have to eat the cactus. Jeramey just bought it because it’s green.’ He inched up next to her and brought her head to his side, brushing his fingers through her hair. ‘This is all precautionary, okay? A better to be safe than sorry scenario.’

  ‘You’re worried too, Craddock. Don’t try to pretend you’re not.’

  ‘I am, but I’m trying not to be. You try, too, please.’

  ‘I am trying.’

  Craddock sighed. With everything that was going on, he knew it would be difficult for her to feel any semblance of calm. He had been able to force a level of composure, just until the next turn of events, or the other proverbial shoe dropped, but he knew Jessica had not.

  When Stacy approached, the plate she carried loaded with an array of fruits and vegetables, Craddock stepped away to sit in the empty seat beside her. Not surprisingly, she went for the strawberries first.

  “Does Human food taste differently to you now?” Elsa asked curiously, as she watched Jessica wolf down the six sliced berries on her plate.

  “Not really…” She’d been asked that question a hundred times before, at least. “But I don’t really crave them like I used to. Till now.”

  The room fell silent, everyone watching Jessica eat, since really, it was the only thing of interest happening at that moment. The waiting game sucked.

  Shea took the last chair at the table and brought Stacy into his lap. They seemed to be doing okay now, Craddock noted, after their earlier spat.

  “Try this.” Jessica extended an item from off her plate towards Craddock. He smirked as he nibbled it from her fingers.

  “Nice,” he said, smiling back at her. The playful, lighthearted interaction was the first they’d had in a while. It was a relief that they could still have that, amid all the drama and chaos.

  ‘That’s the cactus.’ A grin exploded across her face when he laughed. Even in the direst of situations, his jovialness was usually enough to ease her distress, if only just a little. This time was no exception… until Elsa’s cell phone rang again.

  Jessica held her breath unknowingly as the incoming text message was read.

  “He’s in! On to phase two!” She started typing on her phone’s slide-out qwerty keyboard.

  ‘It’s really happening.’

  ‘It is. Deep breaths, baby. It’ll all be over soon. Finish your berries and things.’

  She did as he said, but kept her attention on Elsa, who was sending out instructions to all those involved in the mission as fast as her fingers would move.

  “Brett will be the first to make contact,” Elsa explained after she hit send. Jessica hadn’t been in the room, and Craddock had already left it, when the details had been discussed earlier. “Ike will handle the second contact, the negotiation, and then if need be, Gaige will finish things up.”

  “What if they won’t negotiate?” Jessica asked.

  “They won’t at first,” Marcy answered, “but they will when they realize they can’t get their system back.”

  “Then, when everything is a go,” Elsa concluded, “we’ll send five of our best men – Wade, Jeramey, Ike, Gaige, and Brett – to go get your parents.”

  Jessica’s concerned scowl deepened. “Will they be in danger?”

  “There is an element of danger,” Marcy answered, “but they’ve dealt with similar situations before, while with the Registry. They know how to handle it.”

  Craddock pulled his chair closer to Jessica’s and placed his hand on her knee. In a similar show of comfort, Stacy was still on Shea’s lap, his head resting against her shoulder while she ran her fingers through his hair. The Mitchell children were about to face some of the hardest hours of their lives.

  ‘You talked to Shea.’ It wasn’t a question. She knew he had.

  ‘I did. Is that okay?’

  ‘Yes. And thank you. He seems to be doing better now.’

  ‘I noticed. Eat. Have some more cactus, and some of that green bush-like stuff.’

  He knew what it was – he was teasing her – but she named it anyway.

  ‘Broccoli.’

  ‘Right. That. And some carrots…’

  ‘I’ll explode if I eat everything on this plate.’

  ‘Then just eat a little of everything. What’s that?’ he asked, pointing. He knew what that was, too. He was trying to keep her mind busy.

  ‘You know what that is, honey. It’s a radish.’

  ‘Kinda spicy, white on the inside, right?’

  She laughed out loud, which brought attention to them, but she didn’t care. ‘Yes. What are you doing?’

  ‘Just taking an interest. Isn’t that what good husbands do?’

  ‘You are a good husband. You don’t have to pretend to be an idiot to be one.’

  ‘Thanks. What are those little green crunchy things you put in the salad with the cooked potatoes and the mayonnaise?’

  ‘Celery,’ she answered, pointing to the two stalks on the plate.

  ‘Right. Those are cool. Stringy. What about those?’

  ‘Green bell pepper,’ she answered, slightly irritated. The game was shifting over from cute to annoying. ‘Are you going to ask me to name everything on this plate, just to keep me distracted? ‘Cause, I swear, if you ask what the grapes are, I’m gonna have to smack you a little bit.’

  ‘I know what grapes are.’

  ‘You know what all this stuff is!’ Laughing, she touched his face affectionately. ‘I’m alright, Craddock.’

  ‘Good. I want you to be.’ He gave her knee a soft squeeze. ‘I’m just trying to be your rock.’

  ‘You already are. You don’t have to try so hard.’

  His undying love for her was shining in his eyes as they stared back at one another.

  “I love you, too,” she whispered.

  Lost in each other, it took the sharp ring of Elsa’s cell phone to break the trance. Jessica instantly tensed; in response, Craddock grasped her hand in his.

  After reading the message, Elsa informed the group, “The Registry has made a counter offer.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  No one was holding out any kind of hope that the counter offer would be a viable one, but out of curiosity, Craddock asked what it was.

  “If Jessica returns to the house in California, they will release the parents and allow them to live with you guys,” Elsa answered.

  “They can’t be trusted!” Shea exclaimed. Needlessly, since everyone already knew that and agreed.

  She wasn’t considering it, but her desire to have a normal life brought images to Jessica’s mind. All those whom she loved were gathered around, cooing at the new baby as he lay sleeping in his bassinet, the stress of their current situation a million miles away.

  ‘But it won’t happen like that, Jess. A week, maybe, probably less, and they’ll imprison us all.’

  ‘I know. It’s just wishful thinking.’

  ‘Elsa’s waiting for you to answer.’

  Jessica locked eyes with Craddock, then looked up at Elsa. Shaking her head, she repeated Shea’s words. “They can’t be trusted. No.” She dropped her gaze to her plate of food and slowly plucked a grape from its stem. She didn’t want it – she wasn’t even hungry – but she popped it into her mouth, anyway.

  As Elsa began to type furiously, Craddock leaned in to press his forehead against Jessica’s arm. ‘I’m sorry. I want that, too – a peaceful existence with everyone we love – but the Registry isn’t going to provide us with that.’

  ‘I’m not expecting them to provide it. I just want them to leave us alone
so we can achieve it.’

  ‘I know.’

  “Okay, Brett is out, Ike is up.” Elsa hit send on the newest text message she had composed. She then set her cell phone down on the table and folded her hands in front of her patiently.

  “Why do three different people need to negotiate with them?” Stacy asked.

  “Harder to trace the call,” Wade answered. “The more you contact them from the same phone, from the same location, the bigger the risk that it’ll be traced.”

  Knowing Jessica was worried about the agents in the field, Craddock attempted to mollify her. ‘They’re highly trained, baby. They know what they’re doing.’

  She wanted to believe that; she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt because of her.

  That thought sparked another. ‘Does this mean no one died? I mean, we know Lilith didn’t, and now we know my parents didn’t. Does that also mean those two agents that supposedly died at the same time didn’t, either?’

  ‘My guess would be that no one died, but I can ask, if you want me to. Or did you want to wait on that?’ When she hummed in the affirmative, he asked Marcy, “If their parents didn’t die, does that mean those two agents assigned to move them didn’t, either?”

  Marcy startled noticeably, staring back at him oddly. The only words he could think of to describe her expression were disappointment and frustration.

  “They didn’t die,” she finally answered, “which we learned of the hard way about four months ago, when we ran into them by accident. They hemmed and hawed over what had actually happened, but we knew the truth. It wasn’t hard to deduce. They faked their deaths.” She sighed as she dropped her head.

  “Why?” Jessica asked.

  ‘Because they were going along with the Registry’s manipulations and games.’

  ‘I know. I want to hear her say it.’

  “They were in on it,” Marcy answered. “All of it. I swear, Jess, if I had known what they were doing, I would have told you! We didn’t have it figured out till after we saw them again! And by then, we didn’t feel it was safe to contact you about it.”

  “When we got word that you all had split from the house,” Jeramey continued, “we were set to drive out to Idyllwild, but before we could make the arrangements, we heard you were headed to this safe house instead.”

  “So we came here.” Marcy looked over at Jessica, guiltily. “I’m sorry for our part in it. For all of it. I swear, we never would have gone along with it had we known the truth.”

  ‘So that’s why they joined this group. They figured out what the Registry was doing to us, and what they’re like in general.’

  Jessica nodded, but her mind was more on the ordeal Marcy had gone through. “You must have felt so betrayed.”

  Marcy chuckled, to which Jessica arched an eyebrow. “With everything that’s happened to you, you’re worried about whether or not I felt betrayed by our friends?”

  Shrugging, Jessica looked down at her plate and muttered, “I would have felt betrayed.”

  ‘She was talking about your kindness towards your fellow Men.’

  ‘Kindness shouldn’t be so noteworthy.’

  ‘You’re right, it shouldn’t. But your level of it, even when you yourself are immersed in your own problems and concerns, is.’

  “We felt betrayed,” Marcy confirmed, “but that paled in comparison to how we felt after learning all about the Registry’s dirty little secrets.”

  This piqued Jessica’s and Craddock’s interest.

  “What kind of dirty little secrets?” he asked.

  Marcy scoffed. “I could tell you stories! But let’s get into those later. We should keep our focus on this for now.”

  “Fair enough,” Craddock replied, ‘and you should finish some more off your plate.’

  ‘I’m getting full.’

  ‘We’ll baggie this, then. How about some bread? You’re supposed to eat whole grains, too, I think. And they got you prenatal vitamins.’

  ‘I can eat a piece of bread. And yeah, the vitamins.’

  There was quite a bit left on her plate, but she had eaten a considerable amount. Pleased by this, he kissed the top of her head before moving to store the leftovers in the fridge, and find the bread and vitamins. He was in mid-task when Elsa’s cell phone began to ring again.

  Upon thoroughly reading the lengthy message, Elsa said with guarded optimism, “It’s a go. They accepted the deal.”

  “You seem a bit uneasy about that,” Marcy mentioned.

  Elsa glanced briefly in Jessica’s direction. “Was it too fast?”

  “Fast is bad?” Shea asked.

  “I expected a second counter offer,” Marcy answered Elsa’s question first, “but no, it was within protocol. And it’s not exactly bad,” she said to Shea, “but fast breaks protocol.”

  “What is protocol?” Craddock asked; his attention turned to Jeramey when he was the one who answered.

  “In a negotiation such as this, it’s customary for them to ‘A’ – try to counter the offer, and ‘B’ – try to see if they can do what needs to be done without negotiating at all.”

  “In this case,” Marcy added, “they would have tried to unlock the computer on their own.”

  “When that didn’t work,” Jeramey concluded, “they caved and agreed to our terms.”

  “Gaige is up,” Elsa said as she sent off the latest text message. “He’ll establish the time and place.”

  Jessica’s eyes found Marcy’s. “Do we set that, or do they?”

  “They will have some say,” Marcy answered, “but we get to call the shots here.”

  “And it’s about damn time,” Jeramey added bitterly.

  “They’ll need ski masks for anonymity,” Kiffen suggested, “and guns for protection.”

  “And a change of clothes for the parents,” Wade interjected. “The Registry loves to plant bugs in clothing.”

  As the final details were hammered out, Craddock’s attention returned to the previous task at hand. He could have asked where the bread and vitamins were, but he didn’t want to disrupt the flow of ideas being exchanged, so he searched them out on his own. Once he finally located them, and collected a glass of water, he headed back to the spot beside Jessica at the table.

  ‘You should get some rest after this. I can just imagine how chaotic things will be after your parents get here. This is your best chance for it.’

  ‘I don’t want to miss what’s being said.’

  ‘These are just the finer points, baby. If anything important is discussed, they’ll come tell us.’

  Jessica heaved a deep, shaky sigh. ‘I’m nervous.’

  He knew she was; it was emanating from her, body, soul, and mind. ‘Understandably, but I really do think we have every reason to be optimistic.’

  ‘I’m not just nervous about the rescue. I’m nervous about seeing them again. It’s been over a year, Craddock. They’ve been through so much. So much has changed. And I don’t even know how to begin to explain all of this to them.’

  ‘You know I’ll be right there with you, helping. Shea and Stacy, too.’

  ‘I know. I’m sorry.’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘For adding to the list of concerns and problems we’re facing.’

  ‘You’re too hard on yourself. You’re also tired, and in pain. I can feel it. Did you want some more saccharin? It’ll help ease your worries and pain.’

  Giving that thought as she finished her slice of bread, she eventually nodded, though somewhat hesitantly. She wanted to be alert for when her parents arrived.

  ‘You will be. We’ll just take a little.’

  ‘We? You want to take some, too?’

  ‘Just a little. My brain is buzzing, and I really need a break from it. Is that okay?’

  Before Jessica could answer, Elsa’s phone rang again with the now all-too-familiar ringtone that indicated an incoming text message. A glance at the screen showed who it was.

  “Gaige…” The
latest update was read silently. “We have three hours, people. Let’s get this party underway!”

  Jessica’s heart began to race; in response, Craddock entwined his fingers with hers and brought her hand up to his lips. ‘It’s all going to be okay.’

  The next three hours would seem like an eternity to her, due to her current state of anxiousness. To help ease her through the torturous wait, he suggested, ‘A full packet of saccharin should make the time fly by.’

  Something had changed his stance on that. Normally, he was very against her taking saccharin, mostly because of what had happened to his father. He didn’t want to see another loved one fall victim to its addictiveness.

  Over the last year, the Registry had offered to supply them with saccharin several times, usually after Jessica had become annoyed over the constant, repetitive questions and tests she was forced to endure, but with Craddock’s insistence that she do so, she had always declined.

  Why now was it suddenly okay?

  ‘We’ll talk in the bedroom.’ He inched the bottle of prenatal vitamins towards her. ‘Take one, then let’s head that way.’

  As if on autopilot, Jessica reached out and grabbed the bottle, unscrewing the lid and dropping a single pill into her hand. The zombie-like quality of her movements, as she popped it into her mouth and swallowed it down with the glass of water Craddock had set in front of her, caught Shea’s attention.

  “You okay, sis?”

  When she nodded, Craddock added, “She’s just tired, and her leg is starting to hurt her. Maybe she should take some more saccharin?” The half-question/half-statement was directed at Marcy. He paused like he was waiting for her to respond, but before she could, he then asked, “Could I—? Um… could I maybe have a packet, too?”

  The halting way he spoke, coupled with the guilty glint in his eyes, told her he was uneasy about asking. Smiling reassuringly, she nodded, moving to collect two packets from their spot on the pantry shelf.

  “Why do you need to take some?” Shea asked Craddock. While the question itself was accusatory, his tone held no sign of it.