Mindsurge (Mindspeak Book 3) (18 page)

Okay, that was true. I rotated my body to watch their reactions. Jonas kept a loose hold on me.

Roger paled. I was pretty sure he hadn’t meant for Jack to die. But the tears coming down my face became real when I saw Cathy’s stunned face. She stared at the floor for a few seconds before she looked up. Tears welled in her eyes. Her hands balled into fists at her side. Then, just like the transition from day to night, a dark cloud of anger fell over her face. “This is
your
fault, isn’t it?” she hissed at me through clenched teeth. “Everyone you touch
dies
!”

My spine stiffened. She was right. Everyone was dying around me. I tried to back up even more, but Jonas only squeezed harder.
Be tough. She’s just angry. And heartbroken. She’s lashing out.

Cathy walked a few steps closer to me. “They were shooting at
you
. You know that, right?”

I started to shrug, but then nodded.
She hates me. Look at her eyes.

“Cathy, the FBI is here.” Coach had stepped up beside me, his hand still on his holster. “They have no choice but to assume that this is related to Peter’s death. They’ll have questions, but I have one first. Do you know who would want Lexi or any of these kids dead?”

“Why would I know any more than you already know?” Her voice came out hoarse. “I knew I should never have let Jack come here. Sandra is toxic, which means any
thing
that shares her DNA is toxic, too. I’m sorry he ever met you.” Tears streamed down her face, and my heart constricted in my chest as the coldness of her eyes penetrated mine.

As much as I hated to hurt anyone like this, Cathy was showing me just how much she despised me. Did she hate me simply because I was the clone of Sandra Whitmeyer, or had I earned that hatred in my own right?

Roger, who had yet to react to the news of his nephew, walked over to his sister and put an arm around her. “What is being done to search for whoever did this?”

Coach placed himself between Roger and the door. “The FBI took both shooters into custody. The agents who were first to respond believe the men were mercenaries acting on behalf of another.”

“What makes them think this?”

Coach only shrugged. “That’s privileged information.”

“Well, you can let the authorities know that I and this school will do whatever is necessary to cooperate with their investigation.” Roger squeezed Cathy close. “But for now, I’d like to get Cathy home where she can mourn and make arrangements.”

Cathy started to walk toward the door, but stopped beside me. Her eyes were already red and swollen. “
You’re
the reason my son is dead. This is your fault.”

At some point while those two sentences were spoken, I stopped breathing. I stared into Sandra’s eyes, then looked to Dr. Wellington. He stood over his sister’s right shoulder, his hand resting at the small of her back.

“Look at the two of you,” I finally breathed. “My father trusted you.” I looked to Dr. Wellington. “He trusted you to manage this school and watch over the clones he’d found over the years.” I met Cathy’s glare again. “And he trusted you and your pathetic excuse for a husband to take care of his only daughter. Yet you both wanted only to get your hands on my father’s money and to use the clones for your own selfish motives. You have no one to blame for what happened today but your own selfish selves.”

Dr. Wellington dropped his hand from Cathy and stepped around her to tower over me.

I hope you know what you’re doing,
Jonas mindspoke.

“What are you talking about?” Cathy asked between sniffs, then turned to Dr. Wellington. “What is she talking about?”

Coach whispered something to Seth, who immediately left the room.

“She’s upset,” Dr. Wellington answered. “We’re all very upset. We need—”

“I need you to shut up!” I screamed at Dr. Wellington. “You’re a liar and a murderer!”

Dr. Wellington tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck. He took in a large breath. “Lexi, we know how much Jack meant to you. You’re tired, and you’re not making sense.”

This wasn’t the plan at all. But why stop now?
Jonas asked.
I think you’re making perfect sense.

Several suits filed into the office, each one appearing to make very calculated steps.

“It’s over for the two of you,” I said. “I have evidence that you put out a hit to kill me.” I only knew for sure that Dr. Wellington was involved, but I directed my statement to Cathy, too.

“A
hit
on you? What are you talking about?” Cathy faced Dr. Wellington. “What is this nonsense?”

“She’s crazy, Cathy. You know that. She’s just like Sandra. You said so yourself.”

“Roger Wellington, Cathy DeWeese.” One of the FBI agents approached. “You’re wanted for questioning in the deaths of Jack DeWeese and Briana Howard.”

I swallowed hard.

Suddenly Cathy turned and lunged at Dr. Wellington. Her fists beat at his chest. “What did you do? Did you kill my son?” She was crying and screaming. She clawed at his face.

Dr. Wellington said nothing, did nothing to defend himself while Cathy assaulted him. After she got in a few good licks, the agents pulled her off of him. “Mrs. DeWeese, we need you to come with us.”

Dr. Wellington and Cathy were led from the room. They weren’t cuffed. Coach followed them out. As soon as they were gone, I collapsed into Jonas’s arms.

“Shhh.” He rubbed my hair and cradled me in his arms. “It’s going to be fine.”

“Watching her react made it feel real, Jonas. I imagined what it would be like to know I would never see Jack again. And I don’t ever want to feel that. Ever.”

“I know. And you won’t.”

I raised my head and looked at him. “You don’t know that. She was right. Everyone I touch dies.”

He placed his hands on either side of my face. “No, they don’t. I’m still here. You have lots of friends around you. And Jack…” Jonas swiped a thumb across my cheek, wiping away what I was sure was black mascara and tears. “Jack is still here. And he’s not going anywhere.”

I swallowed and let Jonas hold me. I so badly wanted to see Jack, but I knew I couldn’t until we were sure about Cathy. “I’d like to go back to my room. I need to be alone. And I could really use a shower.”

“I wondered what that smell was.”

A weak laugh passed my lips.
 

“That’s better. Laugh a little. We won’t have to pretend that Jack and Briana are gone for long. Promise.”

A hot shower washed away the ickiness of camping and hiking, but it did nothing to cleanse the ache of my heart. Not only was I mourning so many lives lost, now I had to pretend that the love of my life was dead. And I knew that Cathy was right, even if she had the names of the victims wrong: it
was
my fault that Lin and Dia were dead.

Dani was murdered because I didn’t answer Sandra quickly enough and do exactly as she had ordered.

Dia and Lin were dead because someone had been shooting at me. Because of money? I never asked for this money.

I pulled on sweats that said “Wellington” down one pant leg and a simple cashmere sweater my dad had brought me from Europe. It was late, but I knew I would struggle to fall asleep, so I grabbed my computer and headed up to my favorite spot on the roof to clear my head. If that was even possible.
 

The air was cool and crisp against my face. I pushed back thoughts of Jack and tried to focus on possible locations of Sandra’s new lab. What I couldn’t figure out was, if Sandra wanted me to come to her so badly, why didn’t she just tell me the location?

I leaned against the side of the roof and looked out over campus. I saw a security guard in the distance doing a routine check, shining a flashlight along the outside of the classroom building. Otherwise, the campus was still.

You up?
Jonas entered my mind.

I immediately pocketed my thoughts like Jonas had taught me to do. There was no reason to keep him up with the many things going through my head.
Yes.

Georgia and Fred decided not to return to campus. They went back to our house near UK.

I don’t blame them.
And I didn’t. Who would willingly get mixed up with this stuff? If I were them, I’d probably have left a long time ago and not looked back.

They’re not leaving, Lexi. They want to help. They’re just not sure what it is we’re asking them to do.

I’m not sure what I’m asking, either.

Get some sleep. There are guards outside the dorm. Roger Wellington is not getting near you tonight. Let’s meet in the morning and discuss how to go forward.

Something told me that when Jonas slipped out of my head that time, he was actually gone. Maybe he’d slipped into Briana’s head. I didn’t know. Jonas’s mental reach was greater than mine and Jack’s. I was just thankful to be alone with my thoughts on what to do about Sandra.

She wanted me with her for some reason. She had made that much clear. And she wanted me alive. Yet I didn’t think her “protection,” if you could call it that, had been extended to anyone else. Would she and John even be upset to hear that Jack might be dead?

I turned and sat with my back against the wall. After digging my laptop out of my backpack, I logged on to the internet. I typed Washington, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, and Kentucky into the search engine. The first sites that popped up were related to state laws: seat belt and smoking bans. Most of the other sites had to do with sports teams. I continued to scroll.

Then, fairly far down on the list, I came across an article titled: “The World’s Biggest Military Bases.” I clicked on it. It turned out that five of the world’s largest military bases are located in the United States: Ft. Bragg in North Carolina, Ft. Campbell on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, Ft. Hood in Texas, Ft. Lewis in Washington, and Ft. Benning on the border of Georgia and Alabama.

I pulled up maps for each of the military bases, and compared them to the locations of each of the schools. Was it just a coincidence that military forces were stationed so close to every one of the labs where Sandra had operated a cloning operation? I remembered the video Sandra showed me at The Farm—how she cloned young boys, turned them into droids and trained them to spy on military officers. She had mentioned how the U.S. government paid her a lot of money to supply them with intelligent weapons.

“Oh my God.” I sat up and closed the laptop. The reason the military and the government hadn’t shut down her unethical and evil operation was because they needed what she was supplying. “They’re helping her,” I whispered.

But how deep did this federal involvement go? Would the FBI be privy to this? Maybe the FBI was throwing us off, the same way Alyson had worked to throw Sandra off from finding me? No, that was too farfetched. But I did believe that the IIA was capable of covering up this operation, moving it anywhere in the world they desired.

I placed my hands over my face and drilled my fingers into my forehead. Conspiracy theories threatened to make my neurons misfire. But I knew: we were all in one giant chess match. And the biggest problem was that there were too many kings and queens.

~~~~~

When I woke, I smelled a familiar scent. I couldn’t hide the smile that immediately stretched across my face.
When did you break into my room?
 

Around two a.m. You were restless most of the night.

A lot on my mind. How did you get in?

Addison. She made me invisible and helped me get in.

I opened my eyes. The only light came from campus lighting outside my windows. Jack sat at the end of my bed with his back against the wall and his feet draped over mine. His hair was slightly tousled, as if he had run his hands through it a hundred times. I sat up to face him. “Glad you’re not dead.” My voice came out a little raspy.

“Not as glad as I am.”

“Your mom took it hard.”

“I heard. I’m sorry she treated you so badly.”

“Hardly your fault.” I moved to slide from under the covers, but then realized I was wearing only a T-shirt and panties. When I paused and looked at Jack, he raised a single brow. “Close your eyes,” I said.

The corners of his lips lifted in a sly grin. “What if I said ‘No’?” He shifted and climbed up to lie beside me. With his arm, he guided me back down to my pillow, then rolled so that the weight of half his body lay across me. He traced my hairline until it met my neck, then his fingers lingered across my jaw on their way to my lips. “Why didn’t we run months ago?”

I only stared into his eyes. His irises were bright blue in the dim lighting.

“Is it possible to already know what you want more than anything else in life by the time you’re eighteen?”

“It has to be.” I raised my head and brushed my lips across his.

He slid his hand under my neck and supported my head as he kissed me deeper. When he released me, he rested his forehead against mine. “I know that I’m sometimes overprotective of you, but it’s only because I don’t think I would survive if something happened to you.”

I rested my head back on my pillow and studied the worried trenches of his forehead. “I’m not completely incapable of taking care of myself. And you can’t guard me against all harm.”

“I’m trying.”

“That you are.”

A smirk reached all the way to his eyes. “Why, Miss Matthews, did you just make a funny?”

I giggled. “Now close your eyes
and
turn your head.”

“What are you wearing under here?” He picked up my comforter between his forefinger and his thumb and proceeded to pretend to peek under the blanket. I slapped his hand away.

He huffed out a breath. “Fine.” He lay back on the pillow and placed an arm over his eyes.

I laughed as I slipped from under the covers, grabbed my sweatpants, and scurried off to the bathroom.

When I returned, Jack was on my computer.
 

“What are you looking at?”

“Your latest searches. I think you might be on to something with the military bases.”

I should have been angry that he was snooping around my computer, but I wasn’t. I was ready to let him in on everything. As long as Sandra was still around, manipulating our lives, we wouldn’t have the full ability to make our own life choices. We would need to work together if we had any chance of putting her out of business.