“If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were about to get super personal with Jack.” Bree waggled her eyebrows at me.
I picked up a pillow and threw it at her head. She caught it. “You don’t know me that well.”
“Our friendship may have had some rocky spots, but I think we know each other pretty well.” She glanced around at the transformed roof. “I also know a bribery meal when I see one. What are you telling him tonight?”
“You’ll know soon enough.”
Her brows lifted. “I can’t wait.”
I continued to fluff the pillows and spread out the blanket. I wanted everything perfect. This could be the last time Jack and I would be together like this for a while. Maybe the last time ever. And I didn’t want to take him for granted. I planned to treat every moment we spent together from here on out like it might be our last.
I gave my head a shake, attempting to shut out any doubt, any notion that my plan wouldn’t work. Briana had gone silent. “Hey, you okay? Where did you go just then?”
She smiled, but it barely reached her cheeks. “I want what you have.” Her voice came out flat.
I sat back on my heels. “What do you mean? You want your only family to be a mother who left you as a young child, and a dying grandmother who doesn’t know your name? Or do you want a bounty on your head so that you spend your life looking over your shoulder or wondering when the next person is going to try to kill you?” It was meant as a joke, but neither of us laughed.
“I want someone to love me unconditionally,” Bree said simply. “I want someone to love me for me, and I want that person to love me so much he’d be willing to do anything for me, and I for him. I’d die for any one of you, you know.” I knew Briana was talking about the six of us—the original clones. She was near tears. I’d never seen her look so melancholy.
“Hey.” I jumped up and pulled her into a hug, a gesture very new to our friendship. And extremely awkward given that she was many inches taller. “You have us. We protect each other. That’s what this dinner is about. I’m going to make sure nothing happens to any of us, or any of the rest of Sandra’s clones.” I knew that Briana had mostly been referring to what Jack and I shared. I wasn’t so sure that Briana and Jonas weren’t on their way to having that same kind of special bond, but maybe it was still too early to speak it.
Good or bad, these were our lives. And without Sandra around to make everything difficult, we would find a way to live these lives much more easily.
I held Briana at arm’s length. “Now, help me get this set up. I’ve got some smooth talkin’ to do.”
~~~~~
I placed the mask on my face. It was the same mask I had used the night of the Halloween party, but Briana had fixed it so that I could attach it instead of having to hold it.
I lifted my dress and stepped through the door, onto the transformed oasis.
Jack turned. The blue of his eyes popped through his simple black mask, and a gasp escaped my lips. Seeing him like this—his bright, reassuring smile, the way his dark suit fit snug to his body, the way his presence dwarfed the beautiful atmosphere Briana and I had created on the rooftop—made me forget the challenges that continued to haunt us daily.
“You’re beautiful.” His voice came out in a whisper, as if he was trying to hide some emotion.
I glanced down at my dress, the lace blending into the silk underlay. I was suddenly bashful. I wasn’t sure how I could go through with this. He was going to freak.
Jack closed the distance between us. He crooked a finger beneath my chin and lifted. “You. Are. Beautiful,” he said, his voice much stronger this time.
“So are you.”
He smiled. “So… you got me up here. And I’m thrilled that you did, but what’s this all about?”
“Awfully pushy, aren’t you? Let’s eat first?”
He turned and gestured with his hand, then pulled out one of the chairs, allowing me to sit. As I scooted in, he leaned down and kissed the top of my head.
After taking his seat, he reached for the lid to the plate in front of him. “What are we having?” He removed the lid, revealing several pieces of homemade pepperoni, sausage, and mushroom pizza and a pile of extra-hot buffalo wings. The spice from the wings made my eyes water even from across the table. He raised his eyes. “Not what I was expecting.”
“Oh yeah? What were you expecting?”
He looked around the rooftop. “I was expecting something a little more… sophisticated.”
“Are you disappointed?”
He laughed. “Are you kidding? These are my favorites.” His smile slowly disappeared. “Which makes me wonder even more what I’m being set up for.”
I removed my lid. My plate consisted of a couple of slices of the same pizza, except with added banana peppers, and no messy buffalo wings. “Can’t I do something nice for you? You’re always doing nice things for me. I figured you were due.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
We ate our dinner slowly, limiting conversation to casual chitchat. However, we both knew the lightness of the atmosphere around us wouldn’t last.
When we had finished dinner, Jack took my hand and led me to a spot away from the table. He pulled my body flush with his. We’d had a break in the cool temperatures, giving us a bit of warmth for our date on the roof, but I was still thankful to have my cashmere shrug over my shoulders.
Jack slid his hand under the shrug and placed it on my back between my shoulder blades. The feel of his strong hands next to my skin made me shiver in his arms.
He pushed me away for a moment. “You cold?”
I gave my head a little shake and bit my lip. I surprised myself with the shyness I was feeling with Jack tonight. We were both changing. Each day, Jack and I were growing up a little bit more. Our relationship had gone from high school sweethearts to something much more, and I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to let go of him, even if we were separated.
He leaned his head down into the crook of my neck. His lips rested near my ear. “What are you thinking about?”
“You can’t hear my thoughts?”
“No. You asked me not to… and you’ve gotten better at blocking me out.” I felt him smile against my cheek. “I don’t try to invade very often. Only when it’s necessary to keep you safe.” The muscles in my back tightened. “Relax. I only enter because I’m in love with you. And if you don’t tell me what this romantic date is all about soon…” He began a line of kisses that began along my shoulder and ran all the way up to my earlobes. I leaned my head to the side to give him access. “…I will be forced to distract you while I begin extracting your thoughts.”
Jack’s hand wandered from its place on my back to the base of my neck. His fingers spread into my hair as he guided my head back. He leaned in and pressed his lips against mine.
His lips were soft, and the kiss was gentle at first. As he pressed harder, kissing me more deeply, I knew my guard was collapsing. I pocketed my thoughts and all the crazy things going on in my mind. My fingers dug into the fabric of the suit jacket covering his biceps as I concentrated hard on keeping my thoughts to myself. The last thing I needed was for him to grab hold of the wrong thought. I needed time to tell him my plan in a certain order, in a certain way.
As hard as I worked at pocketing thoughts, I never felt Jack enter my mind.
He broke the kiss. We were both breathing heavily. His hand grazed my arm, brushed against my ribcage, my waist, and took my hand. With a gentle pull, he led me to the blanket I had spread out earlier.
He knelt, grabbing the pillows and fluffing them for us to lie on. When I joined him, he directed me so that I was on my back looking directly into his eyes. His pupils were dilated, like two giant orbs of onyx surrounded by bands of blue sapphire.
He began kissing me again, and I knew my defenses were weakening. I tried to tell myself that I hadn’t brought him up here to make out, but I also knew that it might be the last time we did. Guilt was settling
in as I spread my fingers through his hair. Unable to control the emotions that erupted in my chest, tears sprang to my eyes. I swallowed hard, breaking contact.
“What’s wrong?” His eyes narrowed. His voice was soft, gentle. “Hey, why are you crying?” He cupped my face, rubbing the tears away with his thumb. His eyes never moved from mine.
“I just need a minute to breathe.”
He rolled over on his back, squeezing my hand in his and holding it over his heart. We both stared up at the sky.
I tried to find the very few constellations I knew: Orion, Ursa Major, and the Big Dipper—which I knew wasn’t a constellation at all, but an asterism that made up part of Ursa Major.
If only the stars would align for us in life.
Jack rubbed his thumb back and forth over the surface of my skin. It was soothing.
“Why didn’t you force me to run from Wellington?” I asked.
He took in a deep breath. “I guess I knew there was no way of escaping who we are. Even if we ran, it would catch back up to us eventually.”
I nodded slightly. “I think you knew, as I’m finally realizing, that in order for the younger clones at this school to survive—or for any of us to live normal lives—we’d have to stop Sandra and your father.”
Jack shifted. He placed his opposite arm up behind his head. Several beats passed before he spoke again. “I tried to believe it wasn’t our job to stop them, but Sandra continues to taunt you and send weapons in after you. First Jonas, then Ty, and now Maya.”
“Three of the secondary clones are dead,” I said. “And my father. Dani. The reporter Marci. And now Ms. Long, the attorney who knew the details of my inheritance. Sandra is directly or indirectly involved in the deaths of more than half a dozen people. And those are just the ones we know about. She disposes of anyone who gets in her way, and others have gone absolutely crazy trying to control what Sandra began all those years ago.”
“Like Roger?”
“Roger wanted control of us, along with your mom. He also wanted my money, and he was willing to settle for whatever clones remained after getting it.”
Jack sat up and turned to me. “So, the money your dad left you… Was it enough to keep the school running?”
“And then some.” I pushed myself up to my feet and paced. Jack was up and next to me in the blink of an eye. He wrapped his fingers around my elbow, stopping my motion and forcing me to look at him.
“What are you afraid of?” He searched my eyes. “You think your inheritance will change things between us?”
I nodded. Moisture collected in my eye, but I blinked it away. “Money always changes things. This will change everything.”
“How much?” When I tried to look away, he said, “Look me in the eye.” I did, and he continued. “I promise you. Nothing you say will change the way I feel about you. Nothing will make me stop looking out for you. For us. Stop trying to put a barrier between us just because you’re scared.”
I breathed harder. I couldn’t find the right words. I blinked up at him, swallowed hard again. And when I opened my mouth to speak, his cell phone rang.
“Ignore it,” he said. “Now tell me.”
His phone stopped ringing, but immediately started up again. It wasn’t Jonas. He would have mindspoke. “Answer it. It could be important.”
“You’re important.” His eyes searched mine, and then, growling, he took his phone out of his pocket. “It’s Coach.” He slid the bar across his phone and answered. “This better be good.” Jack’s eyes widened. “When? Okay. We’re on our way.”
“What is it?” I asked after he replaced his phone in his pocket.
“Jonas is missing. He was supposed to meet Coach and Seth at dinner. He told them that he and Bree have figured out where Sandra’s new lab is located.”
“Where’s Bree?”
“She’s lying in the infirmary. They found her unconscious outside your office.”
Chapter Seventeen
Jack and Coach leaned over an oversized map spread out on the conference table in my office. Seth typed on a laptop at my desk.
Alyson stopped me with a light touch to my arm when I entered. “How’s your friend?”
I looked down at her hand, then back up at her face. “Alive.” I closed my eyes, immediately regretting my shortness with her. “I’m sorry. She’s got a nasty headache. And she’s scared. She doesn’t remember much right now.” She didn’t even remember what she and Jonas had been doing before someone cracked her on the head.
Jack raised his eyes from the map he was poring over. The hardness in his jaw said everything. It was bad. All indications pointed to Jonas being abducted.
I walked closer. They were examining some islands off the west coast of the United States. “What are you looking at?” It wasn’t Hawaii. It was too far south.
“This was on the ground next to some blood spatters over there.” Jack handed me a crumpled-up piece of paper as he pointed to some spots on the carpet.
“And the sea will tell.” I looked from Jack to Coach. “What does it mean?”
“It’s a book,” Jack said.
“Jonas wrote down the name of a book just before he was taken?” I didn’t understand.
“And the Sea Will Tell is a true-crime novel about the Sea Wind Murders, a double murder from the 1970s,” Coach explained. “They happened on an atoll south of Hawaii called Palmyra Atoll.”
“Palmyra,” I said to myself. “Myra.” I looked at Jack, who was clearly already a step ahead of me. Jonas had told us while in the gorge that Sandra had ordered the incubators delivered to Myra, which could be short for Palmyra. “You think this is where Sandra located the new lab.”
“It makes sense.” Jack shrugged.
“What kind of island is this? Is it part of Hawaii? Meaning, is it part of the United States? Is it protected by our government?”
Seth looked up from the computer. “It’s not governed by Hawaii. It’s an unorganized incorporated territory of the United States. So technically it is governed under our Constitution.”
“How about non-technically?” I asked.
Seth bowed his head toward the computer again. “A portion of the atoll is owned by the Nature Conservancy. The rest by the federal government. According to the information I’ve found, no one is allowed to travel to Palmyra Atoll without prior approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department and from the Nature Conservancy.”
“So if Sandra has built a lab there and is running a controversial scientific operation, she’s gotten approval from the federal government?”
“More likely, she doesn’t care what laws she’s breaking,” Seth answered. “However, yes, she does appear to have the protection of the IIA.”
~~~~~
Even though it was three in the morning when we got to my room, Jack insisted I take a hot shower. Thought it might relax me. Little did he know, I did my best thinking in the shower. The heat soothed my tense muscles, but the steam went straight to my head as I thought about what someone would have to do to get the upper hand on Jonas.
Was he hurt? Would they kill him?
Those questions turned into thinking about the desperate look on Briana’s face when I’d visited her at the infirmary. She had received a severe blow to the back of the head, giving her a nice knot and a mild concussion. But her only concern had been finding Jonas. “You have to find him, Lexi,” she told me. “This can’t keep happening.”
While the shower cascaded over me, a sob escaped my throat, and I slammed my hand over my mouth, trying to suppress the sound. I was tired. And angry. And most of all, I knew what I had to do.
I finished my shower and dried off quickly. After pulling on a T-shirt and sweats, I went into my room. Jack was sitting in my desk chair, his chin on his chest. He had fallen asleep sitting up.
I couldn’t help but smile. He had refused to go back to his room. Said there was no way he was leaving me alone, yet the poor guy couldn’t keep his eyes open. What I
needed to tell him would have to wait until morning.
I touched his cheek gently. He started at my touch, and I jumped backward, giggling. “Sorry,” I whispered. “Let’s get you to bed.” I grabbed his hand and led him to Dani’s bed. He crawled in, and I covered him up. Leaning down, I brushed my lips across his.
After making sure my door was locked, I set a proper booby trap: my desk chair with an unsteady stack of puzzle boxes balancing in the seat. If anyone opened that door, the boxes would tumble to the ground, making a terrible racket.
I crawled into my own bed, and listening to the soothing sounds of Jack’s breathing, I drifted to sleep.
~~~~~
The sound of a familiar voice woke me from a deep sleep. I sat up in bed. “Jonas!”
I looked to my right. Jack jumped out of bed and stumbled backward a little. “Lex, what’s wrong?”
We stared at each other for a moment. We were both extremely groggy. Neither of us looked sure of what had woken us.
“I… I guess I was dreaming.” I looked down at my covers; they had fallen to the floor. I was wearing nothing but a T-shirt and short pajama shorts. I quickly gathered up my covers and pulled them back on the bed and over top of me.
Jack came over and crawled behind me on top of the covers. He pulled me against him, my back to his chest. “Sleep.” He kissed the back of my head and held me tight.
I stared out into the room. My chair was still by the door, the boxes still piled high. I had just closed my eyes when I heard him again.
Lexi. Can you hear me?
Jonas? Where are you? I smelled the familiar scent of smoke—a scent I remember only from the times when Jonas had a tracker. My eyes sprang open, but I remained very still. Sitting on Dani’s bed was a figure leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, holding a cigarette. Memories of Jonas controlling my mind and actions flooded back. My pulse quickened.
Lexi, listen to me. The figure took a drag, then looked over at me as he blew the smoke out. Sandra has me. She plans to come back for you. His voice sounded strained, like he was in pain. You have to fight her. He grimaced.
Mindsurge (Mindspeak Book 3) Page 16
