Mindspeak

  But not without consequences, unfortunately.

  John added, “There are also people who would stop at nothing to destroy you and all evidence of your existence. Whoever killed your dad probably thought he… or she… was destroying the original journals and, of course, the information living inside your dad’s head would be gone forever.”

  The information wasn’t gone forever. I now knew exactly where Dad had duplicated that information. Could I stay alive long enough to access it?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  I raced into my dorm room and tossed my bag on my bed. Dani, Kyle and Bree all looked up from their spots, deep into some sort of study session.

  “Oh. Hi,” I said, stopping to analyze the three of them.

  Dani sat in some strange yoga position, a book on the floor in front of her. Bree leaned against Dani’s bed, her legs stretched out in front with a laptop across her thighs. Kyle lay on top of Dani’s bed and tossed a Nerf football overhead.

  Why couldn’t they’ve studied anywhere else but my room tonight?

  If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes earlier that day, I would never have suspected he knew about Dad’s journals. Or that he was keeping secrets from us.

  “Hi, yourself,” Dani said. “Where’ve you been?”

  I shifted from one foot to the other. I just wanted to find the puzzle box and a private spot to access Dad’s website. “Um… talking to my new guardians.”

  Kyle stopped tossing the ball and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “You get in trouble?”

  “No, you?” I answered, though being reprimanded for leaving campus should have been the least of my concerns right then.

  “Why would either of you get in trouble?” Briana asked.

  My body tensed. My eyes pleaded with Kyle. Briana would rat me out for sure, and I’d have an ankle bracelet by nine a.m. Being lectured was one thing, but having that metal clamped around my leg would not be pleasant.

  “Oh, it was nothing. Don’t worry that pretty little head.” Kyle tickled her ear, then tossed the ball in the air again.

  I let out a breath. “I’d love to chat, but you guys look like you’re in the middle of a study session. And I really need to do something before curfew.”

  Briana narrowed her gaze at me, then glanced over her shoulder at Kyle.

  Let it go, Briana. Kyle and I are not in trouble. You have studying to do. You better get back to it.

  Briana went back to making notes on her computer.

  I turned on my heels, reached for a tissue for the inevitable nosebleed, and began sifting through the mess of papers and notebooks on my desk. Underneath the pile, I found the puzzle box dad had sent me.

  I opened the compartment I had found previously. Empty. Like I had left it.

  The arms of the starfish wouldn’t budge. I pushed around different areas of the wood and shook the box. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there wasn’t a second compartment.

  “Lexi, honey? What are you doing?” Dani asked.

  “Shit!” Briana yelled.

  I whirled around. Briana banged on the keys of her computer hard.

  “What is it?” Kyle asked.

  “The stupid internet is down again.”

  I walked the three steps to stand over her. “What do you mean? It’s been down?”

  “Yeah, I’ve been having trouble with my connection all night. Why can’t this stupid school get Wi-Fi in the dorms?” She wiggled the wireless card on the side of her computer.

  Kyle sat up. “My phone has no service.” He punched around on his iPhone.

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket. No service. What was going on?

  “I’ll catch you guys later.” I grabbed my bag and the puzzle box, and blew out of the room.

  ~~~~

  It was ten minutes until ten p.m.—curfew. I had to find Jack.

  I pushed open the side door of the dorm. A man in a dark uniform blocked my path.

  “Sorry miss. But no one is allowed to leave the dorms tonight.”

  What the… I backed up a step. “Who are you?” My eyes roamed over the six-foot obstacle in front of me.

  He wore a navy uniform, covering his slightly protruding belly. A badge across his right breast read “SECURITY.” Around his waist was a utility belt carrying a nightstick, a taser, and a flashlight. A walkie-talkie buzzed on his right hip. His crooked smile creeped me out as he looked down on me.

  “Just extra security, miss.”

  “Curfew isn’t for another ten minutes.” I made a move to walk around him, but he mirrored my action, continuing to block my path. It was clear I would not get around this buff man twice my size with muscle strength.

  “I have my orders. No one is to leave the dorm this close to curfew.”

  Why the need for extra security when Wellington was gated and fenced already? I strained to look around him. I saw no one else. The campus appeared quiet.

  Jack? I’ve got trouble.

  Nothing. Where was he? The uneasy feeling started in my legs, weakening me at the knees. I rubbed the spot over my heart where my panic picked up in intensity.

  Jack, where are you?

  “Look, Mr…” I glanced at his nametag. “Mr. Kakowski, I need to run to the library for a book. I’ll be exactly ten minutes. I’ll be back before curfew.”

  “Sorry, miss. You’re going to turn around and head right back inside.” This time his tone was more severe and quite belittling.

  I felt the heat of my anger spread to my sweaty palms. I curled my fingers into fists. Thank you, Mr. Kakowski, for your dedicated service to this school. I feel so much safer with you here. But you are going to let me pass. You won’t try to stop me or find me. And if you remember this for some reason, you will not tell anyone about it because you know you’ll be fired and humiliated for allowing a little girl to get past you.

  I skirted around Mr. Kakowski slowly, keeping my body facing him. I backed away, and when he stood at his post once more, staring straight ahead like a British Buckingham Palace guard, I ran.

  I jogged along the shadows of the buildings and the trees, making my way toward the stable and blotting my nose as I went. The campus was dark except for path lighting along sidewalks, security lamps in the parking lots off to the distance, and lights from two buildings—the library, which should be closing any minute, and the art building where preparations for the art gala were underway.

  Approaching the art building, voices startled me. I backed up into darkness next to the building and watched for the people attached to the voices to appear.

  A man and a woman materialized around the corner—Dr. Wellington and Cathy DeWeese.

  Strange combination.

  Their voices got louder, and my heart beat wildly out of control.

  “You’ll announce the new rules surrounding The Program tomorrow night? At the gala?” Cathy asked.

  “Yes,” Dr. Wellington said. “Security is in place. Staff is ready.”

  “Are the necessary parents or legal guardians on board? Signatures in place?” Dr. Wellington asked.

  “All but two.” Cathy’s lips tightened into a straight line. “But it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “What about Jack? Is he on board?” Dr. Wellington jiggled the change in his pocket as he walked.

  “Jack will be ready by tomorrow night when the announcement is made. He received some bad news tonight. He has no choice but to join our cause.”

  “Good. And the girl?”

  The girl? Me, maybe?

  “She’ll fall in line.”

  Fall in line with what?

  “Last I checked, she hadn’t submitted her application for The Program. How do you know she’ll join our new and improved program voluntarily?”

  “Because, R.W., she’s in love with my son, and she now knows she was created for this. Her father’s killing was unexpected, but it will motivate her. In the end, she’ll do it for him.”

  R.W.? Kyle was texting Dr. Wellington?

&n
bsp; “Have you had any more contact with the IIA?” Dr. Wellington asked.

  “Of course not.” Cathy stopped and turned toward Dr. Wellington. “You know you could have saved us all this trouble had you just told us you had Sandra Whitmeyer’s replica living right under your nose.”

  A bone-chilling grin spread across Dr. Wellington’s face. “The Program was carefully planned out long before you ever got involved. Timing is everything.”

  “You think the IIA killed Peter?” Cathy asked.

  “I don’t know. I wouldn’t put it past them. But I just can’t figure out why they would want him dead.”

  ~~~~

  A cool wind whipped through the barn, stirring up dust and straw. I crouched in a dark corner of an empty stall across from Cherriana.

  My mind reeled. Did I hear Cathy right? Was she happy about Dad’s death? Did Jack know what kind of controlling, cold woman raised him? Dr. Wellington had known who I was all along? John DeWeese seemed to have my best interests in mind. Did he know who he was married to?

  Jack, where are you? I buried my face in my hands. Was Cathy involved with the IIA?

  I’m here.

  I raised my head. Swiped at the tears burning my cheeks.

  Back of the barn, he continued. Where are you?

  I scrambled to my feet, throwing my backpack over my shoulder, and peeked around the stall door. He was right there. I gasped. He turned in a complete circle at the opening to the barn.

  I steadied myself against the stall door, causing it to bang into the barn wall. Jack faced me. My feet remained cemented to the dirt floor.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Where’ve you been?” I asked. I didn’t know whether to blurt out everything that was freaking me out, or give him the chance to explain.

  He sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly. “That’s a long story. One I probably should share with you.”

  Cherriana bobbed her head in the stall across from me, nudging me toward Jack. He and I had so much to tell each other. I could see pain and tension in the large “v” between his eyes.

  My lip quivered. “Oh, Jack.” A sob escaped my mouth. I slammed my hand over my mouth.

  Jack dropped the things he held in his hands and closed the distance between us.

  Instinctively, I backed away. He stopped, but he was only inches from me. Electricity surged between us.

  “What is it?” His hands twitched.

  He longed to touch me. I could feel the pulse of electricity between us.

  He reached for me, but I leaned further away. It would be so easy to lose myself in him, let him hug my problems away, but his mother… The temperature of my blood rose again. “I think… no, I know... your mother…”

  “That woman is not my mother,” Jack all but growled through clenched teeth. He looked up to the rafters. When his eyes found mine again, they softened. “Lexi, I am sorry.” He ran his hands through his hair. “That woman has pretended to want me to stay away from you, but all along, she knew I would lead her straight to you.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “It was something Seth told me. He said my mom had a lot to gain from the success of The Program. The way she wants The Program to be run.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Mom thinks Seth is on her side. That he is ready and willing to teach you and me—”

  “And the others,” I added.

  “Yes, and the others. But the timing had to be right. And Seth has his own motives which I haven’t quite figured out completely.”

  “And that’s why you don’t trust him?”

  Jack nodded. “Not completely, anyway.”

  “I don’t think...” My voice cracked. “I don’t think Cathy is very upset that my dad is dead.”

  Jack’s hands clenched into fists. “Your father was going to move you, Lexi. You know that. Probably hide you forever. Cathy DeWeese was not about to let that happen.” He said his mother’s name like it was venom on his tongue. “I had no idea until now just how important The Program was to her. Cathy is all about control. The Program is her way of controlling us.”

  “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.”
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  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.