Exposed

by RJ Crayton

  Elaan stared at her mother, irritated. “You know and Josh knows. Still you think it’s so unimportant for me to know. Is lying to me the only thing you’re able to do?”

  Shonda shook her head emphatically. “I’m not trying to lie to you or hide the truth,” she said, leaning forward, apology in her tone. “It’s not that I don’t want you to know. It’s just that I thought, if Josh isn’t comfortable talking about it, we wouldn’t discuss it right now.”

  “Well, you didn’t even give him a chance,” Elaan said. “You’re not in control of the world. You don’t get to dole out the bits of knowledge you want people to have and keep all the secrets.”

  “Elaan,” Josh said, softly. She turned to him and instantly regretted what she’d just said.

  He looked her in the eye and said, “I don’t want to talk about my mother’s death. It’s not a good subject for me, but I’ll tell you the reason, and then let’s not talk about it, OK?”

  Elaan nodded, feeling a stab of guilt. She’d gotten so caught up in anger at her mother that she hadn’t considered Josh’s feelings. He really didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about it. “You know,” she said, taking his hand. “We can talk about it later. I don’t have to know now.”

  He shook his head. “It’s fine. We’ve already started. Might as well finish.”

  “Alright, but just if you want to.”

  He nodded. “I told you that my mom was a spy. Well, she was in charge of several high-level intelligence programs. She was infected intentionally by someone who wanted to shut down her department. It was a fairly high-level investigation, because the way she was infected was also used to infect most of her staff and several of their families. It’s why my father wanted me vaccinated. He wasn’t sure if I might still be a target, even after her death. After my mom died, I got thrown into quarantine. My dad got me and Lijah out a few days later, but that’s the reason I took the vaccine. Yes, my father didn’t want me to be a danger in the world, but he also didn’t want the world to come after me, the way it had my mother.”

  Chapter 27

  The mood was somber after Josh’s admission. While glad to know, Elaan felt a little stung that Josh hadn’t told her this before. Though, maybe she was being whiny. She hadn’t really asked him about his mother’s death. It was something she thought she’d understood, and she’d specifically avoided it after learning her own mother was alive.

  Still, it was bizarre to learn that Josh’s mother the spy had actually died as a direct result of her spying activities, not chance. Clearly wanting to change the mood, Shonda offered to show them their rooms. Josh took the room across the hall from the bathroom, a small bedroom with bunk beds and a window facing the front of the house. The curtains were drawn, but Elaan walked over and peeked out front. Quiet and still.

  “Do people live around here?” she asked her mother.

  Shonda shook her head. “I think this area was primarily summer people. I’m surprised more people didn’t come out here to get away from the virus in the city. But it’s been pretty deserted. A little further down, I think there are more people.”

  Elaan nodded, and her mother beckoned her over. “Let’s let Josh get settled while I show you our room.”

  Elaan offered a smile and a nod to Josh as she left and followed her mother to the end of the hall. The room was twice the size of Josh’s and filled with natural light. Windows ran the length of the side and rear walls. The shades were open and Elaan could see thick trees behind the house. She turned to her mother. “So, where is the lake?”

  “Bottom of the hill, through the trees,” she said. “There’s a path to it. I imagine you can see it once the leaves fall off the trees. Mark apparently designed the house himself. He was into architecture.”

  Elaan bit her lip. “This was Dayton’s house?”

  Shonda nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “I didn’t get to know him because of the virus and him being killed, but I tried to read what I could find. I rummaged through some of the personal belongings here.”

  Elaan looked around the room, wondering what it was like when the preacher who’d caused such havoc on the world had lived here. She wondered what had caused him to build himself a nice house in the woods. She wondered if he was an unscrupulous pastor who’d stolen from his church to fund this house.

  “How did you end up here?”

  Shonda fidgeted with a window shade, then sighed. “Your father took charge of liquidating Dayton’s estate. He sold it to me — new me — Jenny S. Rhodes. I have deeds, paperwork, a fake passport, driver’s license, but nobody cares. Nobody cares who you are, just whether or not you’re sick.”

  Her mother blew out, then forced a smile. She held out a hand to Elaan. “How about I take your bag?”

  Elaan shook her head and looked down at the backpack in her hand. She didn’t want to part with it, or have it unpacked by anyone else.

  “If your fake name is Jenny, why does your roommate call you Shonda? Why does he know about us?”

  Shonda sat down on the bed and bade Elaan to join her. Elaan declined, leaning against the wall. “Well,” her mother said. “I’d initially told him my name was Jenny, but half the times he called me Jenny, I didn’t answer, so I told him most people called me my middle name, Shonda.”

  “Why have a fake name if you weren’t going to use it?”

  Her mother eyed her pointedly. “This world is not the one you remember, baby. It’s lonely and sometimes a bit of truth in the loneliness helps,” she said. “Plus, it didn’t seem that detrimental. It was only Amadu, and he still thinks my given name was Jenny. All the records that are left say that Shonda Woodson is dead, so a Jenny Shonda Rhodes matters a lot less. At least not when I’m holed up in a house in the woods, simply trying to survive.”

  On some level it made sense. On another level it seemed reckless. But given the number of people they’d met, how likely was it that someone was alive and around who could connect Jenny Shonda Rhodes with Shonda Yvette Woodson? And, Elaan wondered briefly, if she had stayed with Lee for long enough, would she have eventually trusted him and told him her name? Perhaps. It was hard to lie to someone every single day when it was just the two of you, when the rest of the world was so far away.

  She sighed as she stared at her mother, who sat on the bed. Elaan didn’t have anything else to say, but her mother watched her expectantly. Only, Elaan liked the silence. She liked the things not said, for some reason. Perhaps Lijah was right about the truth. It wasn’t that great, and it wasn’t necessary. This new Shonda, was her mother in looks, but she wasn’t quite her mother in spirit. She was a hybrid animal, one who felt the need to share some nugget of truth with the man she lived with, yet she had happily abandoned Elaan for this new life, not caring if Elaan knew. And she’d just moments ago been willing to keep the truth about Josh’s mother from her. Only, Amadu had known who Elaan was the moment he’d seen her, so her mother hadn’t forgotten about her. She’d told him about her, must even have had a picture to show him.

  Everything about her mother was different and confusing. She walked over and sat next to her mother on the bed. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around her and held her, and suddenly this woman felt like Mom again. And the arms were warm, with a beating heart touched to another, and her mother stroked her hair. This was the only thing that was right in this crazy, messed-up world. She pulled free from her mother. “You know,” she said. “I actually am tired. I think I’m going to take a nap.”

  Shonda smiled, and said, “Good idea. It’s been a long day.”

  Her mother headed to the door. Elaan put the backpack aside in the corner, then remembered the flash drive. “Mom,” she called. “Wait.” Her mother turned and walked back toward her.

  Elaan rummaged around in the backpack until she found the flash drive, and pulled it out. “Dad put this in my bag, but I don’t know why.”

  Shonda walked over. “We have a computer,” she said. “No internet, but it should read that
. You want to take a look?”

  Elaan nodded. She followed her mother back to the main room. In the corner next to the fireplace, was a square table with a laptop. Shonda opened it and turned it on. The computer took a minute to warm up.

  Josh came out of his bedroom and walked over to them. “What’s going on?”

  “Mom’s going to check out the USB drive,” Elaan said, watching over her mother’s shoulder as the laptop finally booted and her mother stuck the drive in the slot. Josh nodded and stood next to Elaan as the drive appeared on the desktop and Shonda clicked to open it.

  There was a single file folder on the drive. Shonda double-clicked and a little window appeared on the screen with the words, “Enter password.”

  Shonda looked up at Elaan. “You know what it is?”

  Elaan shook her head. “No idea.”

  “Is there something you guys always use as a password,” Josh asked.

  Elaan shrugged The Netflix password was the only one that they all used and knew. “Umm, splish4splash?”

  Shonda laughed. “If that’s it, then he probably didn’t want to protect it that much.” She typed it in and a moment later the folder opened. “Okkkkkaaaay,” she said. “Didn’t expect that.”

  Inside the folder were several other folders and a single text file called Sweppy. “What’s Sweppy?” Josh asked.

  Elaan gritted her teeth, hoping her mother wouldn’t answer. It was embarrassing enough that her parents had pet names for each other, let alone that they named files using them.

  “It’s short for sweet pea,” Shonda said, clicking the file open.

  A fairly short note appeared.

  S.

  I have enclosed all the data from the vaccine trials along with immune data. It has information I think will be helpful. Some data you haven’t seen from K.

  -J.

  Elaan stared at the screen, then tapped her mother on the shoulder. “Who is K?”

  Shonda looked briefly at her daughter, then back at the screen. “Kingston.”

  Her mother’s voice had been calm when she spoke, but Elaan thought there was an edge to it, something peculiar. She wondered if her mother was lying to her. Again. Elaan sighed and walked away, not wanting to confront her mother. Not in front of Josh, whose own mother was, in fact, dead. She had been given something Josh hadn’t — a miraculous return from the dead of someone she loved. She couldn’t fight with her mom in front of him. Company manners had to be in full play while he was around. Josh had been her rock while they were traveling, but she wished he were gone so she could talk candidly with her mother.

  Shonda had clicked open a file and leaned in closer, scrutinizing the data. “Do you see any patterns?” Elaan asked.

  “Not yet.” Her mother must have really missed her, because she’d managed to avoid all sarcasm in that reply. Of course she hadn’t found any patterns. She’d just opened the file. Elaan hated waiting, though. Patience wasn’t her strong suit.

  Her mother turned and looked at her. “Y’know, sweetheart, there are a lot of files here and it’s going to take me a while to go through them. Why don’t you two get settled, have a nap, or grab a book to read.” She pointed to the far wall, which had a floor to ceiling bookshelf. Elaan wasn’t sure what kind of books would be there, or even if she was in the mood to read. “I’ll let you know the minute I find anything interesting.”

  “OK, Mom,” she said simply, and walked away. Instead of heading for the bookshelf, she walked over to the kitchen. The dull hum of the refrigerator’s motor sharpened as she got closer. She opened up the fridge, and a strong, pungent odor wafted out. Some vacuum-sealed milk packages were on the top shelf, but immediately beneath them was a plate of fish. Whole fish, heads and everything, stared back at her. Probably her mother, or more likely Amadu, had caught them. Wrinkling her nose, Elaan closed the refrigerator door and turned to find Josh behind her.

  “Hey,” he said. “I think I accidentally put some of your things in my bag. You wanna come get them?”

  Elaan raised an eyebrow, wondering what exactly of hers could’ve gotten into Josh’s bag. She could think of nothing, but followed him to his room.

  Josh closed the door and spoke softly. “What’s going on?”

  Elaan had no idea what he was talking about. “What do you mean?”

  “What data did my dad have that the two of them couldn’t figure out on their own?”

  Elaan shook her head, confused, and whispered back. “I don’t know. I’m as confused as you are.”

  He frowned. “Do you think your mother is telling the truth? That she really has no idea what the link might be?”

  Well, so much for not airing dirty laundry in front of company. Josh seemed as distrusting of her mother’s answer as Elaan. Perhaps she should have said something. “I don’t know if she knows more than she’s letting on or not. Whatever she knows, it may not matter. It’s just a guess on her part, until she goes over the data. Let’s just let her do that.”

  Josh raked his hands down the sides of his jeans and sighed. “OK. Fair enough.”

  “We still may not know,” she admitted, as she looked toward the window with the drawn curtain. “She needs more time.”

  Elaan took in a breath and took in the room. It was fairly sparse. Wood floors, a set of bunk beds just beyond the door, and a dresser on the opposite side. No mirror anywhere in the room, and nothing else, either. No posters, no paintings, no personal touches at all. Mark Dayton must not have wanted to decorate it at all. Complete functionality with no personality.

  Elaan lowered her head and sat on the bottom bunk. “God, I’m tired, Josh.”

  He sat down next to her, their weight making the bedsprings groan. “Yeah, me, too,” he admitted, wrapping his arm around her. “I feel like we’ve spent so much energy just getting here, that there’s nothing left.”

  She nodded. There was nothing left but questions. Always more questions. Elaan lay her head on Josh’s shoulder and closed her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to rest.

  “Careful,” Josh whispered in her ear. “Or you’ll fall asleep right here.”

  “I don’t care,” Elaan whispered back, feeling comfy in Josh’s arms. “I like falling asleep this way.”

  * * *

  Elaan was awakened by a hand shaking her gently. She heard her mother say her name and opened her eyes, startled. She’d thought she was at home in her bed. Her real bed in her real house, the one she’d grown up in. She’d expected to see her mother, dark skin, pearly white smile, shoulder-length tresses, standing over her. Only her mother’s hair was shorn, there was no smile, and the woman was kneeling next to her. And they weren’t home. They weren’t in her room. There was no sun streaming in, no skylight, and no four-poster bed. Instead it was a bunk, and she was under a — she turned to look — she was under a red fleece blanket unlike any she had at home.

  And of course her life came flooding back to her, and she sat up. The world was cold, harsh, and scary again. Not like the dream, where she’d been home having dinner with her parents and Lijah and Josh. A dinner where her mother had smiled and said how much she liked Josh. A dinner where Lijah had said she and Josh were a cute couple.

  “You alright, honey?” her mother asked, her eyes watching Elaan closely, searching for signs of distress.

  Elaan nodded. She was in Josh’s bed, she realized. In his bunk. Her mother didn’t seem upset though. The mother in her dream, as much as she liked Josh, would not have been OK finding her daughter in a boy’s bed. “Where’s Josh?” Elaan asked.

  “Taking a shower,” her mother said, then turned toward the open doorway. “It’s almost time for dinner, so I suggested he shower beforehand, if he wanted to. Told him I’d wake you so he could have his room back.”

  Elaan nodded. “Yeah, we were talking, and I fell asleep.”

  She watched her a little more intently, and then said, “That’s what he told me, when he asked me if I had an extra blanket. Said you were so ti
red you’d fallen asleep mid-conversation.”

  Her mother seemed a tad skeptical, but Elaan ignored it. “Well, it was nice of him to let me stay where I was instead of waking me up.”

  Shonda shrugged and gave a curt “yeah.”

  Elaan wasn’t sure why, but she got the feeling her mother disliked Josh. “Mom,” she said, deciding to just flat-out ask. “You like Josh, don’t you? I mean, he’s been nothing but helpful to me.”

  Shonda took a deep breath, and said softly, “Josh seems very nice, but he reminds me a little too much of his father.”

  Her mother stood and walked toward the door, motioning Elaan to follow. Elaan swept aside the blanket and stood. That was the oddest and most unexpected statement her mother could have said. Cognizant that Josh was across the hall with the shower water running, Elaan spoke in a low voice. “He’s nothing like Kingston Wells, Mom,” she said. “Kingston is a class-one asshole.”

  Shonda frowned and said, “Language, please.”

  Elaan frowned in response. Seriously, she lobs a grenade like that and then gets upset about language? “Fine, he’s not a nice man.”

  Shonda nodded. “Very true,” she agreed. “But you don’t get to be in his position without being nice to some people along the way. And that” — she pointed her finger across the hall at the closed bathroom door — “reminds me of Kingston Wells when he’s acting nice. But it’s just an act, because Kingston Wells is a class-one asshole.”

  Shonda crossed the hall and knocked on that door. “Josh, food will be ready in about ten minutes, and I’ve woken Elaan, so you’ve got your room all to yourself, now.”

  Josh called out to her, “Thanks, Mrs. Woodson,” and her mother walked away.

  Elaan stood there staring at the door. Josh like his father? There was no way. Was there?

  Chapter 28

  Dinner was tasty. It had been a long time since Elaan had eaten a home-cooked meal. Her mother had been able to do a lot with very little. Some beans, some vegetables, some spices, and rice. Apparently, there was a garden out back, but it was done for the year due to the weather. Her mother had frozen most of the growth to last them through the winter. She’d hinted that the veggies would have to be rationed, to avoid running through their food stores too quickly.