Colleen nodded. “I agree. Because I can guarantee, you’ll get your little girl back. Whatever other factions are chasing her probably won’t guarantee the same.”
“Then we better get moving.” Kayci said.
Chapter 33
Jordan eased the sharp knife through the flesh. His anticipation started to build as the juice began soak into the paper towel. Just from the aroma alone, he knew this was going to be one of those very tasty oranges that you just couldn’t get enough of.
Popping the first wedge into his mouth confirmed his suspicions. It was a delicious piece of fruit, sweet and juicy. He just sat there in the small park by the medium sized lake, at the large picnic table and enjoyed the purple color of the setting-sun sky.
Kayci and Rose were just a few miles down the road at some DRC office. He didn’t want to wait in the car again so he asked that they drop him off. It was a nice warm afternoon and he just wanted some fresh air and a few restful moments while he turned off his brain. He was taking every opportunity he could find to just sit and think about nothing.
The park was deserted for the most part. A young couple walked by with a dog a few moments ago but beyond that, it was quiet. His phone rang which kind of surprised him, most people just texted him, especially this caller.
“Mom? Is everything okay?”
“Hey honey, everything’s fine.”
“How’s Stormy?”
“That cat has a mind of his own, you know how he is. He’s running the house. The dog is scared shitless of him.”
“Awe, poor Pepper. But that’s your own fault for getting such a wuss-bag of a dog.”
“She’s a fifty pound Labrador mix. I didn’t think she’d be afraid of a fourteen pound cat.”
“Stormy is fierce for his size.”
“Yeah well…listen kiddo, the reason I’m calling is to let you know that your Aunt Kathy is in the hospital again.”
“Oh no. What now?”
“They don’t know yet, she’s in there for tests. But she passed out at work, hit her face, she’s pretty messed up.”
“Oh geez.” His Aunt Kathy had so many health issues over the years it was impossible to keep track. It was terrible, but they were all so used to it, it had become kind of a running family joke…an unfunny one, but a joke nevertheless that Kathy herself often used as laughing ammunition. “You don’t think the cancer is back do you?”
“No, I don’t think so, I mean I hope to hell not. But send your prayers for her, as per usual.”
“As usual, I will.”
“So how’re things going with you?”
“Good.”
“That’s a lie.”
His mother could always tell when he was lying. He had a sneaking suspicion that if she tried she could read frequencies just like he could. She’d always been a little psychic. But then again perhaps he got this gift from his father. Or perhaps it came out of the DNA lottery. “Well, it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“I have no doubt, I didn’t raise a dummy.”
“Not in so many words.”
“Not in any words.”
“Meh, you don’t see some of the stupid things I do.”
“And I don’t want to.”
“That makes two of us.”
“Are you eating an orange?”
He laughed. “Yeah. How’d you guess?”
“I could tell by the sucking noises. You’re always eating an orange. I just got a fresh bag of California navels at the supermarket, and some of the biggest bananas you’ve ever seen.”
“I could go for a banana.”
“Good to hear you’re eating right.”
His mother hated junk food. If it wasn’t grown in the ground or cooked in her kitchen, or a good Italian restaurant, it was junk food. “I’m trying.”
“You don’t try, you do!”
“I am.”
“Good.”
He looked up and saw the Ford SUV pull into the drive. Kayci and Rose got out and started coming across the parking area towards the picnic table. “Mom, I gotta split.”
“Okay kiddo, stay safe, love you.”
“Love you too.” He ended the call, popped the last orange piece into his mouth and folded up his knife, and tossed the orange peels into the mesh trash bin as he walked by. Heading over to meet Kayci he said, “How’d it go?” But his question was answered by the look on their faces and the impression he got. “That good huh?”
Kayci raised one eyebrow. “What impressions did you get about Bella Hill?”
Jordan shrugged. “Not much. I didn’t spend much time with her. Why?”
“We think she’s Rose’s daughter.”
Jordan suddenly did recall something interesting. “When I was talking with Evan from the cell, I got a strange impression in his frequency.”
“Well he was using the nugget to mask and hide his intentions.”
“No,” Jordan shook his head. “It wasn’t that. I occurred to me that the reason his frequency seemed so strange was that it was two frequencies.”
Kayci nodded. “Someone was masking him, I felt the same thing. But didn’t think it made sense because there was no one who would be helping him.”
Rose offered, “Maybe there was someone helping him—someone who didn’t know any better than to help the only father she’d ever known.”
“That’s very possible.” Kayci said. “It would explain a whole host of strange things that we’ve been feeling through this entire thing.”
“But,” Jordan asked, “Could a little girl like that be powerful enough to do some of this stuff?”
“Of course,” Kayci confirmed. “It’s when we are young that we are often the most gifted. If Evan has been encouraging her gifts all along, instead of suppressing, she could be very advanced.”
Jordan met Rose’s eyes. “I see it now, Bella has your eyes.”
Rose started to tear up. “I’ve never seen my own daughter’s eyes. I’ve never felt the frequency of her soul.”
Jordan felt so sad for her. Those feelings of closeness to Rose hadn’t gone away, and the look on her face made him feel them again. He glanced over at Kayci who was looking at him, searing him with her emerald eyes.
He said, “Not now, Kayci.”
Suddenly a thunderous noise seemed to come from nowhere, splitting the dusk sky. “Down!” Kayci yelled as gunfire erupted from the streaking helicopter.
Jordan hit the ground and squeezed himself as far under the picnic table as he could. Heavy bullets thumped the soil around him. They got up and ran towards the only shelter option they had, a couple maintenance vehicles parked near an out building. Bullets zipped and slammed into the pavement and blasted the glass out of the old pickup trucks.
Kayci was on the ground between the white truck and the wall of the brown building, she returned fire on the chopper. Jordan took that queue and did the same, trying to hit the glass as the chopper spun slowly around.
They’d scored enough direct hits to cause the pilot to pull up and spin away from the parking area.
Jordan hopped to his feet.
“Go—go.” Kayci yelled and Jordan followed with Rose in tow. They got to the side of the building, looked back towards the circling chopper. A small trace of smoke was billowing from the tail of the aircraft. It wasn’t enough to worry the pilot into retreat.
The chopper angled towards them again, the downdraft scattering debris as a bright light blasted into the growing darkness, probing for them. Jordan tried to lock onto a frequency but with all the chaos of lights and sound, it was impossible to concentrate on that. Over the roar he yelled, “Can either of you get a lock?”
Kayci shook her head. “Not under these conditions.”
He glanced at Rose but she just shook her head. Jordan had an idea, it was risky but it might work. Just as he was about to step out into the clear to approach the chopper Kayci gripped his forearm and said, “No, Jordan, not a good idea, trust me.”
“C�
�mon,” Kayci said, this way.” And she took off running with Rose following.
Jordan reluctantly followed. He really wanted to try his idea but maybe it was stupid. He’d planned on running into the light, hoping that singular stimuli would allow him to grab the pilot’s frequency and literally pull it out of the sky. But they could’ve just opened fire on him and killed him instantly. If he didn’t lock on immediately it would be too late and that was a big risk.
Kayci ran them into a steel shed-like building along the edge of the lake. They slammed the door and ducked down.
It was filled with lawnmowers and landscaping equipment. After a few moments, the chopper started to fade away and after another minute, it was gone completely. They were about to exit the small building when Jordan got a bad feeling. There were suddenly several angry frequencies around that he didn’t recognize. Kayci must’ve seen it too because the look of concern on her face was evident.
The small shack started to rock as a barrage of gunfire slammed into the steel and aluminum structure. Jordan dropped to the floor, unsure of where to return fire and unable to get up if he wanted to. They endured several long seconds of complete chaos and then abruptly, it ceased. In the distance sirens started to scream in the distance. Apparently, all that racket had attracted some attention, which would work in their benefit.
Kayci jumped up and kicked the door open to the outside, ready to fire but she didn’t. Jordan looked out, no one was around, he said, “They’re gone?”
Kayci shrugged, “Looks that way.” Then her face went white, and she yelled, “Run!” She took off running, Jordan followed but the explosion rocked the building sending him flying into the air. He hit the ground hard.
The ringing in his ears started to cease as his vision came back. He looked up and saw Kayci getting to her feet, and staggering back towards the small building, Rose never made it out.
Jordan jumped up, got his bearings and headed to aid Kayci who was reaching down to the seemingly lifeless body. They found Rose a few feet from the door and face down on the ground. Kayci quickly turned her over, but she was gravely wounded.
Rose was shaking, her face was white, and a huge amount of blood was leaking from several wounds on her stomach and legs. Some sort of metal debris stuck out of her torso.
“Rose,” Kayci said, “Stay with us, help is on the way.”
Rose smiled. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
“Just hang in there.”
Her voice shook. “No, Kayci, I’m not going to make it.”
“Yes you are.”
“No, you have to promise me, you’ll find my little girl.”
“We will.”
Rose gripped her arm. “Promise me? Please?”
Kayci nodded. “I promise you.”
Rose pawed at Kayci’s shirt and pulled her closer. “You have to find her, you have to, you’re all she has in this world.”
“What’re you saying?”
“She’s not only my daughter.” Rose shivered. “She’s your sister.”
Kayci moved back in surprise. “What?”
“Cayden was her father. Project Scion, look into Project Scion, it’s the real truth behind everything. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, I’m so sorry.”
“Rose, what’re you taking about?”
Jordan looked back as rescue teams started to flood the scene, then he looked back to Rose and Kayci.
“Kayci,” Rose said, “She needs you, don’t let her down.”
Rose closed her eyes but Jordan wouldn’t let it go. He once again got the feeling he could stop the soul from escaping the body. He dropped to his knees and put his hand on Rose’s forehead, concentrating hard on her frequency. He found it, it was there but try as he may there was no way to stop it. He could feel Rose telling him to let her go right now. She was way more powerful than he was and there was no stopping it. The blast of energy sent him reeling backwards and Rose was gone.
Chapter 34
Kayci sipped her coffee and carefully read the details of Project Scion. Not a single name was used, only call signs, and there were no real dirty details of the project that would connect anyone to anything. It was a typical under-the-covers intelligence project. She was actually a little surprised the project even existed but it did. Part of her thought Rose was in the throes of some sort of pre-death delusion when she said those things. But if this part was true, maybe Rose’s daughter was her sister. After all, psychics can’t deceive in that situation. No psychic would dare falsify a dying confession. It is a widely held belief that doing so is not only impossible but also dangerous to your standing in the next life.
The part that didn’t make sense was that Cayden was supposedly long rogue by the time this supposed daughter was born. According to the recorded part of Project Scion there were five babies placed with temporary foster homes. There were no names used for anything. But there were codes that made some sense to her. Three of the babies were girls but there was no way to know where they placed them.
“Any luck?” Jordan asked as he sat down in the chair across the small table at the sidewalk café. Light traffic buzzed past them to Kayci’s left.
Kayci shook her head slightly. “There’s nothing too revealing. But there was a Project Scion and it was super secretive.”
“You know there’s more to it.”
“I know but wherever they hid the info it’s pretty deep.”
“We can hack it…I can hack it.”
She gave him a look. “I can hack it, don’t you worry about it.”
“Prove it.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“You bet.”
She was trying to hack it. There were several virtual private network gateways where the information could be hidden she just had to scoop her way into one of the routers.
Jordan sighed audibly. “I’m sorry, by the way.”
Kayci worked on decrypting the network passkey. “About what?”
“About Rose.”
“I didn’t know her that well. The facts she slept with my father and tried to steal my boyfriend were not enough to form any real bond.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Kayci looked up at him briefly, then, concentrated back on the screen of her laptop. “Oh?”
“You know what I mean. I’m sorry I kissed her.”
“At least that’s all you did.”
“I know, I’m sorry, I don’t know what it was about her. Something pulled me to her.”
“I think it was by design, Jordan. It’s what she does.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, it’s what she does. Part of her job with the NSA was worming her way into men’s lives. It’s how she made her career. She was a good spy because men fell for her. And when men fall in love, they spill secrets. Some of the most powerful men on the planet spilled secrets to Rose.”
Jordan nodded. “Still, it’s not an excuse. I could’ve been stronger.”
“If I thought for one second I was going to lose you to her,” She looked at him, “I would have kicked her ass, stuffed her into a box and shipped her to China with sensitive documents on her person.” Looking back to the laptop, she added, “But I know that wouldn’t have happened.”
“Okay, but I’m trying to take some blame here and you’re absolving me.”
“Oh, you deserve some blame and I would have kicked your ass too. And when this is all over I’m going to give you a good ass-whooping and make sure you never follow through with it.”
He winced. “Fair enough.”
Kayci leaned back in the chair. “Jordan, you know what we share can’t just go away. Even if you fell in love with someone else tomorrow you wouldn’t fall out of love with me, you’d just complicate your life and possibly ruin your ability. But that’s not a free pass and I’m sure you know that.”
“I know.”
“So let’s just move on and find the truth here.”
Jordan leaned
back. “I think I found it already.”
She looked at him. “Huh?”
“Evan Hill knows that Bella is not his daughter. He also knows Rose is her mother. She was placed with him and his wife on the condition that he’d raise her to a certain age, which is coming up. So, Evan starts trying to raise his standing in the FBI to keep the kid by using her to close his cases. Then he kidnaps her through Murt…well I haven’t figured that part out yet.”
Kayci narrowed her eyes at him. “Where’s this all coming from?”
He shrugged. “Pure, unadulterated, non-psychic—guess-based speculation.”
She looked at the screen again and the network code had cracked. Opening up the Project Scion files, she started to read the project details.
Some of what Jordan just speculated looked to be true. “Well, your speculation was not off the wall.” She read through some screens. “It says here, several agents participated in Project Scion. One of them could have been Hill but I don’t think that’s likely. There’s probably another piece were missing. It says there were eight babies, all in different areas. But it looks here like not all of them made it into the project.”
“They’re weren’t all psychics?”
“No, there were two psychics, one male, A-P-1, AKA Adam, but it says here the experiment was terminated. The other one was female. B-P-2, AKA Bella.”
“This is some crazy shit going on.” Jordan sipped his coffee. “What were they planning on doing with them?”
“I imagine they were going to exploit them in some way.”
“I think Evan was using that little girl like his own personal touchstone.”
Kayci nodded. “It would explain why his signature was so screwy. I attributed it to the nugget, but that would only explain some of it. It wouldn’t explain his ability to do some of things he was doing.”
“I though that nugget was designed for mind control.”
“It was, but it wasn’t able to do it by itself, it needed a competent psychic who could get into someone’s head. It’s basically able to give that psychic the power to do that from anywhere in the world. It’s easy to get into someone’s head and make suggestions, we do it all the time. People do it all the time to each other. It’s commonly called the power of suggestion. It’s how cult leaders get people to follow them. It’s how things like crowd mentality takes over people’s actions. But for those of us with our skills, it’s another level. But the nugget can’t create ability from thin air.”
Soul Frequency (Frequency Series Book 2) Page 18
