Mindsurge (Mindspeak Book 3) (17 page)

“For others, like your father, it’s about advancing medicine and saving human life.” She closed her eyes briefly. Was she taking a moment to remember Dad? “Cloning human DNA all those years ago was about studying how certain cells worked together, and how manipulating certain genes—or let’s say removing a mutated gene—might affect the viability of an embryo to survive.”

“And Sandra?” I asked, though Sandra’s motivations were evident.

“For Sandra, it’s about prestige and influence. Power. It’s about winning the race to gain knowledge no one else in the world has. To do something no one else in the world is even capable of. It’s ironic, really.” She laughed a little under her breath. “Sandra set out to prove she could help further medicine by studying the genetics of intelligent people. By cloning already proven geniuses, and enhancing their DNA, she thought she would be the most powerful person on the planet.”

“So she made a bunch of brilliant freaks?”

She tilted her head. “You really believe that?”

I looked away, squeezing my eyes tightly.

My mother placed a gentle hand on my arm. I reopened my eyes. “Lexi, you are beautiful, and intelligent, and strong-minded. It doesn’t matter how your life was created, or how messed up your childhood seemed as you were living it…” She paused a moment, and I searched her eyes. I craved whatever it was she would say next. “I’m sorry for how my leaving affected you. I swear I only did what I thought would keep you safe. And I made sure you were surrounded by love. You felt loved, didn’t you?”

I immediately thought of Gram. “Yes. Gram loved me like I was her own daughter.”

“That she did.”

I suddenly realized that everyone was staring at us. “What do we do? I want to destroy Sandra’s operation. She can’t continue to hurt people.” And I wanted to make her pay for the people she’d killed.

“If that’s what you want to do, then we will.” She drew her hand away, then approached the screen, which was now showing a map of North America.
 

Just like that? This mother that had deserted me as a small child was going to help me take out Sandra Whitmeyer and her government operation? How could she be so calm about it?

Alyson held what appeared to be one of those remote controls I’d seen my teachers use for PowerPoint presentations. She clicked a button and began pointing with a red laser. “Right here,” she said as she pointed to a spot over the northwestern part of the United States, “is where Sandra first started studying DNA, along with Peter, John, Seth, myself, and several others, including some of your parents.” She pointed to the others in the room. They looked on in surprise. “This is also the location of the lab where all of your embryos were created.”

I spoke up. “This was the location of the large lab explosion. And then you all scattered and Sandra disappeared.”

“That’s right.”

Briana leaned forward. “Washington? Why there?”

“The University of Washington in Seattle, to be exact. I’m not sure why Washington in particular.” Alyson turned back to the map and pointed to another part of the United States: Texas. “When I found Sandra again several years later, she had an entire research facility here in Austin, on the University of Texas’s campus.”

I moved closer, tilting my head and studying the locations she was pointing to.

“We stayed there for seven years. And then one day the alarms sounded, and we packed up and moved.”

“Where did you go this time?” I asked, searching for common links.

“Raleigh, North Carolina. Home to North Carolina State University.” The red laser dot darted west. “Then Auburn University in Alabama.”

“So, are we trying to decide what these universities have in common?” Kyle asked.

Any ideas?
I mindspoke to Jack and Jonas.

They both shook their heads without taking their eyes off of the map. Jonas had a hand on Briana’s shoulder, his fingers massaging a tension spot. Jack clasped his hands behind his neck. Both were staring intently at the map.

“They’re all major research universities,” Jack finally said.

“As is the University of Kentucky,” I added. “Which could mean she’s moved to another university town.”

“It could mean that.” Alyson tapped the laser pointer to her chin. “But I don’t think so.”

I studied her for a few seconds. “What did you do for Sandra? Besides throw her off her search for me.”

“Why do you ask?” Alyson turned so that I couldn’t see her face.

“You said she found the fact that you were a neurolinguist and an electrophysiologist useful. In what way?”

Alyson’s hands twisted and turned the remote control for a few beats as if she was considering how to answer, then she returned to her computer. She typed a few keystrokes before the map was replaced with a new picture: a blown-up diagram of a tracker.

Jonas sat up straighter, dropping his hand from where it had massaged Briana’s shoulder.
 

“That’s one of the trackers.” I moved closer. “It’s one of the newer ones, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” Jack asked.

“It’s not like the trackers we removed from Addison or Jonas. It’s more like the one Sandra almost put in me.”

“That’s right.” My mother twirled her glasses in her hand. “This is what I designed for Sandra. And it’s the type of tracker Maya has. It doesn’t just communicate via the cell towers, the way the old ones did, but can also use satellite signals.”

“This one doesn’t have the same prongs that the old ones had.” Georgia cocked her head, studying the picture.

“Oh, they’re there.” Alyson kept typing. The diagram spun around to a different angle, one that revealed a close-up of wires very much like the ones on the older model of trackers, except that these wires were as thin as a strand of hair. “These thinner wires ground the tracker at the base of the skull, wrapping around bone or muscle or whatever they can grasp hold of. You cannot remove these trackers once they’re implanted. At least, not without killing the subject.”

“You
designed
these?” I swallowed hard. I was giving her a chance to prove she was someone that should be in my life, yet here she was telling us how she’d helped Sandra with her evil plan to use and abuse every human clone within her reach.

Alyson lowered her gaze. “I didn’t have a choice. My only objective at the time I created this tracker was to keep Sandra from discovering Wellington Boarding School… and you.”

Dad had never made me feel like I was in hiding, although he’d always instructed me that I should keep a certain level of privacy. That changed when he returned to Lexington to give that speech. He knew, then, that someone was close to discovering Wellington.

“So this was meant to distract Sandra?” I asked.

“It’s difficult to distract someone as intelligent as Sandra, but yes, I was attempting to appease her in hopes that she would realize she didn’t need the clones that weren’t already under her control.”

I went back to studying the ultra-thin wires of the tracker. “So even if we wanted to, we couldn’t remove Maya’s tracker?” I had wondered if during one of Maya’s escapades to torture me, we might catch her, remove her tracker, and study it. I had hoped we could extract information from the tracker about the whereabouts of the new lab.

“No, but we could still tap into Maya’s tracker for information.”

I faced my mother. “You think she would know where this lab is?”

“I’m positive she knows, but you’ll never get her to admit it. These trackers will shut her down if she even appears to be giving you information that Sandra doesn’t want you to know.”

“You mean Sandra would kill her,” I said, and Alyson nodded. How could I be responsible for another death at the hands of Sandra Whitmeyer? “You created one of these for me.” It was now in the side pocket of my backpack.

“Yes, but it’s special. It has a mechanism that would allow me to take it over, if it came to that.” She paused a few beats. “I never considered that you would voluntarily march into Sandra’s lab.”

The doorbell rang, making me jump and interrupting my thoughts. “Who’s that?”

Alyson stood slowly. As she passed, she gently touched my arm. “It’s Seth and Mr. Williams.” I didn’t know if I should be offended by her motherly tone—since I hardly knew her as a mother—or relieved that the people I trusted far outnumbered her.

She left the room then returned with Coach Williams and Seth. Seth had a five o’clock shadow. His eyes appeared slightly bloodshot.

“Did you find them?” I had tried to block out the thought of the men who had tried to kill me. The men who had succeeded in murdering Dia and Lin.
 

Coach rubbed the back of his neck. His tie had been loosened. “Yes, we found them. They were just able to walk again by the time we arrived on the scene. They’re in custody. They were screaming some nonsense about some kids injecting them with a paralyzing drug.” Coach eyed me sardonically. “Most of the agents thought they were just crazy.”

I smiled, but I didn’t mean it. “And Dia and Lin?”

Coach and Seth shifted at the same time, trading uneasy looks. Jack came over and stood beside me.
 

“The bodies that were pulled from the gorge today have been identified as Jack DeWeese and Briana Howard.”

“What? Why?”

I turned to Jack, noting that he didn’t appear the least bit surprised. “Jack—you knew this?”

“Only because Seth texted me an hour ago. I had Jonas break it to Briana before dinner.”

Briana’s eyes were directed to the ground in front of her.

“But we’re going to set the authorities straight, right? Why would you let that happen?”

Coach pushed the lapel of his sports jacket aside to put a hand in his pants pocket. “There is no record of Dia’s or Lin’s existence. And when the authorities mistakenly identified the kids as Briana and Jack, we wondered if there was an opportunity here.”

“An opportunity for what?” I asked.

Jack grabbed my shoulders. “To verify that my mother had nothing to do with the shooting.”

“To make sure she wasn’t part of wanting me dead,” I whispered, and he nodded. “Are you sure? If she did have nothing to do with this, then believing that you’re dead… it’ll break her heart.”

“She’ll understand why we had to do it.”

True. It wasn’t like she hadn’t manipulated those around her. If we proved Roger Wellington was reckless with Jack’s life, she wouldn’t care that we’d lied to her.

“This doesn’t answer the question of why Dr. Wellington wants me dead.” I turned to Alyson. “You started to tell me earlier.”

Alyson glanced around the room, clearly uncomfortable. She spoke in a low voice, though I was sure everyone could hear. “I don’t know the extent of your inheritance. Given my residence at the time your father had his will drawn up, we thought it best to keep me out of the mix. However…”

“You’re shaking.” I grabbed my mother’s hand.

“I visited with Ms. Long shortly before her… death. I was the secondary beneficiary to your father’s will.”

“Meaning, if something happened to me, then the school and everything went to you?”

“As long as I was not still inside one of Sandra’s compounds.”

“And if you were?”

“If I was still working for Sandra, and if something happened to you, then everything would go to Roger. Your father trusted him until just before his death. But apparently he never got the chance to change the will.”

Coach stepped closer to us. “Shortly before he was killed, your father had suspicions that Roger’s intentions were no longer pure where the clones were concerned. That was why I watched Roger closely, but until today, I truly hadn’t thought he was a danger to you.”

“Dad was getting ready to move me,” I said, more to myself than to Coach. “That was what Marci had said. I always thought it was the IIA that was trying to kill me, but—it was Roger Wellington all along?”

I thought of the size of my inheritance. Roger had to have known it was enormous, even if he didn’t know the exact amount. I turned my frantic eyes back to Alyson. “That’s why you added the security around this place.”

She nodded.

Jack placed a hand on the small of my back. “Now we just have to prove my mother’s not involved in Roger’s plan.”

~~~~~

You ready to put on the performance of your life?
Jonas asked as we entered the main administrative building on Wellington’s campus.

Seth had put numbing drops in my eyes to make them appear red and watery, and I had let mascara run down my cheeks.

If it means we get rid of Roger Wellington and finally prove that we can trust Cathy DeWeese—whether we like her as a person or not—then yes. I’m just sorry that if she
is
innocent, that we’re making her suffer the greatest loss a parent can suffer. Even if it’s only temporary.
Though my voice sounded calm, my heart felt heavy and too big for my chest.

Let’s do this, then.
Jonas turned the handle and pushed open the door to Dr. Wellington’s office. Trepidation weighed on me as I stepped into the room. Seth and Coach were already there with Roger and Cathy.

“Finally, you’re here,” Cathy said, rolling her eyes at me. “So, will someone please tell me what this is—” She suddenly stopped, zeroing in on my face. “What’s happened? Why are you crying?”

Coach stood behind Roger. One hand rested on his gun, tucked inside a holster on his hip, a gesture I’m sure no one noticed but me.

Seth walked toward Cathy. “Cathy, the kids were shot at today while they hiked through the Red River Gorge.”

Cathy’s eyes grew big. “What do you mean? Who shot at them? Where’s Jack?”

I turned and buried my face into Jonas’s chest. His hand rubbed my back.
I can’t do this.
Trying to pretend that Jack was dead was cutting right to my heart. My pulse sped up.

You’re doing fine. She’ll just assume you’re too upset to talk.
Jonas gripped me tighter when my knees buckled slightly.

“Cathy, why don’t you sit down.” Seth gestured to nearby chair

“I don’t want to sit down. Tell me where Jack is. Tell me he’s okay, Seth.”

“The FBI pulled two bodies out of the forest and identified them as Jack and Briana Howard.”