Mindsurge (Mindspeak Book 3) (27 page)

I let his lips find mine. After kissing him, I snuggled my face into his chest and breathed in the scent of the ocean. “I want you to help me figure this out, and I want you close, but I need to enter Palmyra alone. Jonas is already there. He knows how to control his actions and fight anything Sandra is doing to him.” I hoped so, anyway. “He can help me find the cure for you and Georgia.”

Jack pulled away and ran a hand through his hair. “Why didn’t we kill them when we had the chance?”

I knew he spoke of Sandra and his father. “Because that’s not who we are.”

“I’m not sure I’d make the same choice if given the chance to do it over. We’re in constant danger. Why won’t they just leave us alone?” he asked, exasperated.

“Because they want something from me. But Sandra made a mistake.”

He cocked his head. “What mistake?”

“When I first returned from The Farm, I wanted nothing but revenge. Dani was dead. Sandra sent me evidence that your father killed mine. I would have been happy to go in, guns blazing, to take out everyone on that island and in the lab. And then disappear forever.” I paused, thinking about how angry I’d been—how angry I still was.
 

“What changed your mind?”

“Sandra’s mistake was showing me just how low she would go. She showed me how she had cloned my best friend just to get back at me—for no other reason than to punish me for not giving her what she wanted. And she’s not going to stop experimenting with human life. She’s producing more clones.” I gritted my teeth. “And a division of our government is letting it happen.”

“The IIA.”

I nodded. “I’m pretty sure the IIA killed Dad and made sure it looked like your father was involved. I think Sandra orchestrated it that way, the same way she’s playing me at every turn.”

“You don’t think my father killed Peter?”

I squeezed the bridge of my nose. “I just don’t know. I don’t think your father is innocent…” I met Jack’s gaze. “I’m sorry. But the way the agents seemed to surround him in that surveillance video… your dad’s face was the
only
face visible in that video. Everyone else looked like anonymous agents who never looked at the camera. Like they knew where
not
to look.”

“Still, he’s been a large part of Sandra’s team.”

“True, but a murderer? He was shocked when Sandra killed Ty. I saw his face when he found out.”

“It doesn’t even matter if he murdered Peter. He’s still heavily involved in Sandra’s plan to produce these healing machines. And they’re killing innocent lives every day in that process.”

“And they must be stopped. But instead of making them face a firing squad—because that would be letting them off easy—I want to take them down bit by bit. And I want Sandra, John, and everyone else involved to watch me do it.”

~~~~~

The University of Kentucky campus was dark, and the dropping temperatures sent everyone inside. I had told Maya and Addison to wait for me inside The Program. I’d be surprised if they had, but one could hope.

I rounded a corner and made my way along a sidewalk between two buildings. The wind picked up along this dimly lit walkway between two rows of thick evergreen trees. Leaves from neighboring maples blew in a swirling pattern. A plastic bag was caught against the leg of a nearby bench.

A presence entered my mind.
Where’ve you been? We’ve been waiting for you.
It was Maya, her words reeking of entitlement and abruptness.
Can you get this tracker out of me?

We’ll discuss it.
I would not be removing Maya’s tracker until Jack was better and Sandra and John were safely in prison. I continued along the sidewalk.
 

An unexplained shiver moved down my spine, and I shuddered. I looked right, left, and behind me. I didn’t see anything, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. I sped up.

Addison, are you and Maya inside the building?

Yes, why?

I’m almost there.
 

I reached the side door to the building, the entrance closest to the steps of the basement where The Program had been temporarily located before the move to Wellington. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have come alone, but I’d needed everyone working on their part in tomorrow’s trip, and I wanted Jack to rest.

I took the steps up to the building two at a time. As I reached out my hand to pull on the metal handle, I heard a noise behind me. I didn’t even have time to turn around before a large hand clamped down over my mouth.

Instinctively, I screamed through the fingers, but it came out in a muffled cry. An arm wrapped around my body and dragged me back down the steps. I tried to dig my heels into the sidewalk as I felt for my ring. It wasn’t there. I had forgotten to wear it, and I’d left my new weapons back at school because I hadn’t thought I’d be needing them until I got to Palmyra.

A man’s hushed voice whispered in my ear, “I’ll remove my hand, but don’t scream. No one’s out this late to hear you anyway. And if you scream, I’ll be forced to shut you up sooner rather than later.”

His hand dropped slowly from my face and joined the other in its hold on my body. He continued to drag me backward. “What do you want?” I couldn’t hide the shakiness in my voice.

The only other sounds were of his feet shuffling against concrete. I squirmed and fought against his strong arms. I was being carried backward in the direction from which I had just come. I had to relax. Think.

I tried mindspeaking.
Who are you? What do you want?

The person stopped and stood me on my feet, but didn’t loosen his grip on me. I felt his head lean in closer. “I want
you
. Dead, if necessary.” He shoved me away from him.

Once I regained my footing, I spun around. “Dr. Wellington?” The muscles in my back and neck clenched.
 

“Apparently if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself. But first, we need to talk.” He held up a tranquilizer gun and pointed it at my face. “Your father made a big mistake when he changed the terms of his will. He should have left me Wellington Boarding School and the money to run it, like he promised.”

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You want me dead because you want the school?”

A deep laugh reverberated from his throat. “Not just the school. The money to own the clones inside of it, too. And I want his journals.”

“The clones are people. You can’t
own
them.” And why did everything always come back to those journals? Had I missed something?

“You always were naïve. You think the parents of those freaks care about them? No, they’re all for sale. All I had to do was locate them and convince the parents to let me take them off their hands. And with you dead, I can finally have the school. This school that
I
built, with my own hands.”

And with my dad’s money. I curled my fingers into fists. I wanted to punch him in the throat and cut off his air supply. “Why do you need the journals?”

“Your father and I gathered extensive data on many of the clones created in the last ten years. As recent as Addison’s group. But your dad kept the records.”

So it was my fault that Dr. Wellington wasn’t smart enough to keep his own set of records? “And you think I would just
give
you my dad’s journals? Why? Because you asked nicely?”

He lowered the gun. “It doesn’t have to be this way. You have so much to gain from partnering with me and Cathy. You and Jack, along with Cathy and me… We could create a medical empire with clones trained to use their healing abilities.”

“Why do you think Cathy would want any part of your scheme? You almost killed her son.”

A grin lifted the corners of his lips, sending a chill down my spine. “You don’t really believe Cathy didn’t know about the hit put out on you, do you? She knew the risks. She’s just Oscar-worthy at playing the victim.”

“Are you saying she
knew
that you sent snipers into the gorge where we were hiking?”

He laughed. “Of course she knew. She never believed the snipers would shoot at anyone but you, though.” He raised the gun again, pointing it at my leg. “So what’s it going to be, Miss Matthews? You can agree, and come with me willingly… or we can do it the hard way.” His finger shifted, then curled firmly around the trigger.

Just as I’d had enough of Roger Wellington and was about to tell him to drop his gun, I saw a shadow of movement behind him. Roger must have noticed my quick look, because he turned, waving the tranquilizer gun around.

“Who’s there?” he asked. He turned back to me and, grabbing my arm, pulled me into a headlock while redirecting the gun to my arm.
 

Giving me no time to use my own mindspeak ability, Jack emerged from the trees with a
real
gun pointed at us. “Let her go.”

Roger pressed his weapon harder against my arm. “I’ll give you to the count of three to drop your gun. One… two…”

I squeezed my eyes tight and held my breath.

“Three.” A girl’s voice came from my right. The tranquilizer gun flew from Roger’s hand. He turned in a circle, but no one was there.

Addison
.
 

“Over here, jerkface.” Definitely Addison’s voice, but she remained invisible.

Roger spun toward the sound, then fell forward in pain and grabbed at his knee. I assumed Addison kicked him.
 

I smiled. “Roger, I’m afraid you’ve been had by a kid.”

Coach appeared from behind me and pointed his own gun at Roger’s temple. “And now you’re going back to jail. Police are already on their way.” Coach had handcuffs on Roger in a matter of seconds. He eyed me like an irate father. “Jack stays with you.”

I nodded.

Jack took a few steps forward. “You’ll tell the feds what Roger claims about my mother?”

Coach sighed, but agreed.

“If she’s guilty of what Roger says, I want her locked up.” Jack swayed slightly, apparently still off-balance from Sandra’s handiwork.

A couple of police officers came running up the sidewalk. Coach shoved Roger in their direction, forcing him to walk toward his fate.

I grabbed Jack’s hand to steady him, then put my arm around his back for support.
How did you find me?

Coach got a call that Roger had been released due to some fancy work done by his attorney. He was on his way to tell you when he saw you exit the dorm and get in a cab. He followed you and called me.

“Addison?” I called out.

Addison appeared. “I thought you needed help.”

“
Now
you help?”

She shrugged. “I was watching you all those times Maya was on campus. You didn’t need help then.”

That was one opinion. “You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe you.” I was arguing with a kid.

“I need Sandra to think I’m doing everything she’s asked. She hasn’t had contact with Maya or me in a couple of days. Not since—”

“Since Maya delivered her ‘gift.’” I couldn’t stop the anger that flared.

“Sandra made her—”

I towered over Addison. “I don’t care that she
made
her do it. Look at Jack, Addison. Whatever Maya did to him… Sandra’s killing him.” My voice cracked.

Jack grabbed my hand. “Addison didn’t do this to me.”

I stared up into Jack’s bloodshot eyes. There in the dark, his irises looked almost onyx. I brushed my hand along his cheek, then pressed a little harder, making sure I had his full attention. “I don’t care. She played her part. She also helped give Jonas over to Sandra.” Addison was the only way Sandra could have gotten on campus to take Jonas.

Addison sniffed, and tears fell from her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Her voice trailed off. She took a deep breath. “I will do whatever I have to do to make it right between us.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that, Addison. Because you’re going with me to Palmyra.”

The flight to Honolulu was long and tiring. Jack slept through most of it, thankfully. A hot, humid island breeze greeted us the minute we stepped off the airplane.
 

Jack crossed his arms while he watched the ground crew unload the plane. Drivers pulled up and began loading our luggage into a couple of SUVs. Jack’s eyes glazed over, and he wobbled on his feet a bit.

Wake up.
I nudged him playfully, yet gently, for fear I would add to his instability.
We’re in Hawaii.
I tried to sound excited, even though this was far from the ideal way to see a tropical paradise for the first time.

His eyes lifted and found mine.
I’m trying.
He removed the jacket he had needed while still in Kentucky and tied it around his waist. His pants hung at his hips loosely. He was losing weight.

I know. I’m sorry. You feeling okay?
A stupid question.

He lifted his hand and rocked it side to side.
So-so.
He smiled.

I was thankful Seth had thought to bring plenty of anti-nausea medicine and other medical supplies we might need on the trip.

I looked down at my watch. The captain of the boat—an ex-marine Coach had found to take us to Palmyra—expected us at the marina by six p.m. We were early.

Our entire group—Seth, Coach, Alyson, Kyle, Briana, Addison, Maya, Jack, and I—looked like we needed a good night’s sleep. We were missing Georgia and Fred, but I’d left instructions in case they changed their mind and could join us. I refused to force anyone to participate in this mission who didn’t want to. Well, except for Addison and Maya.

I continuously searched the area for anyone who looked like they might be interested in our group. I counted on members of International Intelligence Agency to be present wherever we went, but I wasn’t too worried. Briana had altered our appearances so we looked like a college group going on a holiday excursion.
 

Once the luggage had been loaded into the vehicles, Coach, Kyle, Addison, Jack, and I climbed in the front vehicle. Alyson, Seth, Briana, and Maya piled in the second. I put Briana in charge of Maya.

We left the airport and rode through the streets of Honolulu. As we traveled, I caught Coach glancing over my shoulder to the vehicle behind us several times, verifying that it was still with us.