Mindspeak

by Sunseri, Heather

  “My father’s death kept me in place at Wellington. And your parents are my new legal guardians.” Something wasn’t adding up. Okay, lots of things didn’t add up.

  He nodded. “And I basically handed you to them on a silver platter. But I didn’t know.”

  “What do you mean? Didn’t know what?” Jack was speaking in circles.

  “Cathy acted like she didn’t want me near you, but in reality, she knew I would find you. I led her straight to you. Father and I both did. She knew because of my father’s relationship with Sandra, neither of us would be able to stay away from you.”

  “She would have found me anyway. Roger Wellington knew who I was. And if she was working with him—”

  “Yeah, Father didn’t even know until recently that Dr. Wellington was her brother.”

  Every muscle along my spine tightened. “What? Her brother?” So much didn’t make sense. “And who is Kyle to Dr. Wellington?” Jack shrugged. “He calls Dr. Wellington R.W., which is what I heard Cathy call him. You think Kyle might be another clone?”

  “It’s possible.”

  I hated with every part of my being that my life had been orchestrated like a marionette. Our DNA and our fathers’ pasts threw Jack and me together. Jack needed me to heal that poor little girl in the hospital room. Would he have studied me so long or come to Wellington if it hadn’t been for Addison?

  Something about the emotion swirling in his eyes drew me toward him. I stepped closer.

  He cocked his head. Looked so unsure of himself. “Lexi, please don’t hold me or my father responsible for whatever that woman has done.”

  When I couldn’t take the distance between us any longer, I launched myself into his arms. My arms circled his neck. I buried my face into his chest, breathing in the scent of fabric softener. “I’m so scared, Jack. Strange things are happening around here. I don’t know who to trust. People close to you. To me. People want something from me that I can’t give them. Or they want me dead. And I so want to put all of my trust in you.”

  He turned his head into the crook of my neck and breathed in. “Shhh. We’re going to get through this. I’m going to figure this out.” He steadied me with his hands on my hips. “We can’t stay here, though. A night watchman will be around any minute. And the curfew—”

  “There are armed guards at the entrances of my dorm.”

  “What?” he asked, surprised. “Come on. We need to find a safer place.” After glancing over my shoulder, the length of the barn behind me, he reached down and picked up the things he had dropped. Then grabbing my hand, he pulled me forward.

  “What’s in the bag?”

  “Stuff for you.”

  “What kind of stuff?”

  “Documents for a new identity.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Passport. Driver’s license. High school transcripts. Credit card. Birth certificate. Social security card. Forty-five hundred dollars.

  I inventoried the pile of documents and cash in front of me. We sat in the back of a ridiculously-huge SUV, the seats folded down, in the middle of the Wellington parking lot.

  It was dark and eerily quiet. The uneven sound of my own breaths added to my nervousness. I raised my head. Jack stared back at me. The whites of his eyes glowed.

  “Whose truck is this?” I asked.

  “Seth’s. He let me borrow it to come back here tonight.”

  I nodded then reached for the United States passport in front of me. I opened it. Thumbed the pages. Last year’s school photo stared back at me. And the name: Sierra Richardson. “I don’t know what to say.” Was he pushing me away?

  “Tomorrow night security will be tight, but enough cars will be going in and out that I think you’ll be able to escape. Seth is going to drive you to the bus station in Cincinnati. From there you’ll catch a bus to wherever you want to go.”

  My breathing sped up. “Are you telling me to leave?” I couldn’t hide the hurt in my voice.

  Did Jack really think I would just run for it? Leave him here? My grandmother? My friends? Turn my back on the fact that Dad was murdered and that I was a human clone? Build a life on more secrets?

  He stopped sifting through the pile of documents and placed his hands on either side of my face. “You have to. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me.”

  “Why the extra security tonight at the dorms?” Not because of the car accident last week, I suspected.

  Jack played with the tag of some blanket in the back of Seth’s truck.

  “Wellington is the new home to The Program.”

  I cocked my head. “You still haven’t told me what that means. Will the students who are eligible and interested in studying cutting edge science and medicine, get to do it here? Isn’t that a good thing?”

  “Lexi, do you know how many students are currently enrolled in The Program?”

  I shook my head. I was told very little about The Program other than I had to apply. It was the precursor to being admitted to the premed program of my choice. I’d been told it was held on the University of Kentucky’s campus. I knew Seth was involved. I knew he could teach me about my personal genetic manipulation. Now I also knew Cathy DeWeese was involved.

  “Four.” He ran both hands through his hair. “Until tomorrow night.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I know. Listen to me. You have to leave. There are too many people who know that you and I were cloned. I have a horrible feeling about all this. Your dad was killed because he was trying to move you. He planned to hide you from them. They need you, Lexi. And if you don’t comply with their wants peacefully, they will force you.”

  “What do you mean, they need me?”

  “You can heal diseases and injuries of the brain. That’s what you were designed to do.”

  “No, I can’t. I’ve never done that.” I shook my head quickly as I spoke. I thought of my grandmother’s brain and of Addison. “But that’s why you came here, wasn’t it? That’s why you found me. That’s why you watched me for a year.” My voice barely climbed past a whisper.

  “Oh, Lexi.” He reached for my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. “I thought… You have no idea how sorry I am. That’s why I got all this. I want to make things right.” His furrowed brows cast a shadow over his eyes—eyes that were nearly black here in the dark. Anguish passed over his face.

  “Your mom said you got bad news tonight. That you’d be on board with The Program once you processed that news.” I scooted closer to him and slid my fingers under his chin. I lifted, forcing him to look at me. “Does the bad news have anything to do with Addison?”

  Jack’s eyes glassed over, but almost as quickly, he blinked the moisture away. “How do you know about her?”

  “I saw you with her. At the hospital today.” I looked at my watch. 11:17. “I was there. Seth told me about her accident and her injuries.” I squeezed his hand tighter. “Why are you telling me to run when you think I could help her? Heal her even?”

  He ran his fingers down my face. “I’m scared, Lexi. I’ve seen your nosebleeds. I’ve practically felt your headaches each time I’ve taken your pain away. I know how sick I get when I heal a simple broken arm. I don’t want to know what kind of pain and illness you’ll suffer after healing something as severe as brain damage. I don’t want this for you. Not anymore.”

  He took a deep breath and continued. “When I first met you, I thought I could convince you that our genetic makeup was a good thing. That we could use what Sandra did to us for good, but I realize now that I’m the naïve one. You have to go. I won’t be responsible for forcing you to do something that goes against what you have grown to believe. And I don’t want anything happening to you.”

  Jack’s eyes pleaded with me. My heart broke at the prospect of leaving him behind to bear the consequences of Sandra’s experiment alone. “Come with me. Please, Jack. I can’t do this alone.”

  He grabbed one of my hands and
cradled it in his. “I can’t,” he whispered. “I promised Cathy.”

  “What do you mean? You don’t owe her anything.”

  “Yes, I do. They planned to take Addison off life support Sunday unless I agreed to stay here at Wellington. I owe Addison. There has to be another way to heal her.”

  Cathy DeWeese was a monster. “Then I’ll stay, too. I’ll do this for you. I’ll heal Addison, then we’ll both run. Together.” What was I saying? Could I do this and live with the consequences? What if I failed and did Addison more harm?

  “No!” He ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want you to stay. You can’t heal Addison at the cost of your own life.”

  “What are you saying?” I didn’t understand. “Healing someone might make me sick, but I’ll get over it. Like you do.”

  “I almost died when I healed too much too fast. I refuse to take that chance with you.” The anguish on Jack’s face about did me in.

  “Whether I stay or not, heal or not, is my choice.”

  “Yes it is,” he breathed. “But you’d be making a mistake on both accounts.”

  “Your mom thinks I’ll stay and, in her words, ‘fall in line’ because…” Heat crept across my face.

  “Of me.”

  Yes, because of you. I wasn’t sure Cathy was wrong.

  I love hearing your voice inside my head. You and I are connected in a way that we can never share with Cathy or anyone. They would use it against us.

  They already are. I leaned my forehead against his.

  We stayed there for several minutes. There had to be a way out for both of us.

  “Do you have a set of all this?” I gestured to the documents between us.

  “Yes. My father made a set for us both.”

  “Your father?”

  “Yes. I don’t fully understand it all, but apparently, he had no idea that Cathy was involved with The Program until recently. Your dad brought much of this to light, and he’s had his investigator looking into Cathy’s background.”

  Suddenly, a light flashed over us. We jerked our heads, looked out the window in the direction of moving lights. Flashlights.

  “Get down,” Jack pushed my shoulder. We stretched our legs out and lay flat. Jack handed me the corner of a blanket. “Here, take this.”

  We shook out the dark-colored blanket, spreading it so that it covered our bodies.

  Both of us fought to breathe shallow and remain still. Nightwatchmen, you think?

  Jack curled his fingers around my hand. Yes.

  You think they’re looking for us?

  I don’t know. Jack rubbed his thumb back and forth across my hand.

  Jack, I’m scared. The guard in front of the dorm freaked me out earlier. All I could think about was getting to you.

  Minutes passed. Jack peeked from beneath the blanket. After he sat up, he lifted the blanket off me. “Whoever it was is gone.” He lay back down on his side, facing me. He cupped my cheek with his. “I only want you safe. And happy.”

  I just want you. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

  “How did you find out about Addison?”

  “Marci texted me Sandra’s last known address. It was at the hospital. I was looking for her when I saw you sitting by Addison’s bed. Seth stopped me before I found Sandra.”

  “I’ve never met Sandra. Seth is very protective of his sister. He has security in place and receives a text or page anytime someone asks about her.”

  That explained why Seth found me before I found Sandra at the hospital. Why the precautions? I thought back to my conversation with John DeWeese. How Dad discovered she was involved with the IIA. “Why did your father have documents made for us? Why is he willing to help me?”

  “I think he was living in some sort of denial up until he saw your picture. He thought all of this had just gone away. Then he discovered you. When he saw Peter Roslin for the first time in eighteen years, he knew he had to tell me the truth. The whole truth.”

  I wished someone had thought to tell me the whole truth before now. “So what does he hope will happen now?”

  “I think he wants to honor your dad’s wishes and send you away from here. He’d like your dad’s journals though. He thinks your dad was trying to get the truth out before he was killed.”

  I sat up suddenly. “Crap, that reminds me. I think I know where the journals might be.” I dug in my bag and pulled out the puzzle box. “I think the answer is hidden in here somehow.”

  I showed Jack how one compartment opened. He took the box, twisted and turned it several times looking for another compartment. Finally, I grabbed the box and slammed it into the sidewall of the vehicle, splitting the wood in several places.

  Out fell two small pieces of paper, rolled into tiny cylinders. One with a string of letters, numbers, and symbols—a password. The other—keystrokes: Ctrl + Alt + *.

  “Does this make sense to you?” Jack asked.

  “I think so. But I won’t know without a computer.” I glanced at Jack. For the first time all night, he didn’t look fearful or lost, but more… hopeful.

  If I could find Dad’s journals, maybe I’d find more information about The Program, Sandra, and why Dad was going to remove me from Wellington before I ever started The Program.

  I knew one thing for sure. I would not be controlled by Cathy DeWeese.

  “We can’t go back to the dorms tonight. We have to assume they think we’re there, and not give security any reason to suspect otherwise.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “So, we’re going to sleep… where? Here?” I was suddenly shy.

  The corners of his lips lifted in a slight grin. “Yes. Don’t get any ideas. I’m a man of virtue.”

  I giggled.

  Just like that, Jack’s grin evaporated, and his expression looked more serious. Thank you.

  For what? I cocked my head.

  For laughing in spite of all that I’ve told you tonight. It helps.

  I smiled. Some really smart guy once told me that if I couldn’t laugh through some of this shit, I’d cry.

  “Let’s get some sleep,” he said.

  I nodded, then turned and lay, facing away from Jack. He pulled me closer to his body—my back to his chest—and held me. His palm pressed flat against my stomach. His fingers eased just beneath the hem of my shirt, rubbing bare skin. I’m really going to miss you.

  I closed my eyes, squeezing them until a single tear leaked out the side.

  ~~~~

  A loud noise startled me awake.

  My eyes sprang open. Where was I?

  Seth’s truck. I lay still. Waiting for the mystery sound to happen again.

  Jack had a death grip on my waist. I placed my hand over his. His skin was warm and soft.

  Then I heard it again. At first, I thought it was the familiar sound of the flick of a lighter, but this sound was different. It didn’t sound nearly as loud as when I was still asleep.

  Was I awake now, or was I dreaming?

  I gently removed Jack’s arm and sat up. The windows of the SUV were fogged up. But through the fog I saw a soft glow. And then I didn’t.

  Then it was there again. Each time I heard a click, I saw orange light. Someone played with what looked like fire outside the window.

  Jack’s breathing remained constant. I tried to match his even breathing to keep from waking him.

  Come on out Lexi. I have something to show you. You need to know the truth.

  Truth. I knew that voice. Who was it? Definitely a boy. The window glowed orange again, like something was on fire outside, and I thought of Dad. And the explosion.

  Jack rolled over in his sleep. His face was so peaceful there in the dark. I thought of all that he’d brought me last night—the passport, money, all the documents I needed to go to college and fade into a normal college kid’s life.

  Oh, how I wanted to do exactly that. Escape the messed up life I had here at Wellington and run from whatever Cathy and Dr. Wellington had planne
d.

  I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. My lips lingered a few seconds while I memorized his scent. Whatever happens, remember, I did it all for you.

  Grabbing my backpack, I climbed over the seat and out the door.

  Chapter Thirty

  I followed the figure through the dark, away from the parking lot. He clicked a flashlight on and off, producing the same clicking sound that woke me moments before.

  The cool moisture of the morning dew evaporated, lifting with it the smells of grass and pavement. The soft glow of sunshine appeared on the horizon just beyond the administration buildings. It was early. The time of day I usually got up.

  But why? I was supposed to be somewhere else. Where?

  Why couldn’t I see this boy’s face? “Hey!” I reached for him, but missed. “Where are we going?” Why was I following him? He promised truth.

  We followed the sidewalk around the side of the library and approached a building I knew well. The infirmary. Was I sick? I touched my fingers to my temple. My head didn’t hurt. Though my mind seemed a little fuzzy.

  I wiggled my fingers in front of my face. My arm wasn’t broken.

  I stopped walking, considered a broken arm, and thought of Jack.

  Jack had fixed my arm.

  I raised my head and stared at the figure in front of me. “Come on Lexi. Just a little further. I can answer all of your questions.”

  “Who are you?”

  He tilted his head to one side. “You know who I am. I’m your friend.”

  Lexi! Where are you? Another voice entered my head.

  Jack? I’m in front of the infirmary with… my friend. Jack, I think something’s wrong. My stomach tightened. I stared at the figure. His eyes came into focus, then disappeared again. He was supposed to give me truth. That’s why I was here.

  Lexi, listen to me. Someone’s inside your head. You need to wake up. Block them out. Block them out, Lexi. Jack sounded panicked.

  Block them out? I can do that. Jack taught me how. I pushed back along the edges of my mind. Reality swirled with my dreams and mixed with my nightmares.