The Athena Effect (32 page)

She started out reluctantly, but Caledonia nodded and smiled encouragingly, and soon she was telling her everything, detailing exactly how the professor was using her to finance his continued research.

The twins would accompany him on various business meetings, posing as grandchildren he was setting up trust funds for. Layla would manipulate bankers and investment fund managers, softening them up so Michael could question them. Together, they forced them to give up passwords, access codes, and insider trading information. Sometimes they would get lucky, ferreting out corporate or personal secrets to blackmail them with.

That was where Max and his crew fit in, working as debt collectors.

Caledonia scoffed, “So that’s how he makes his money… He steals it.”

Michael got defensive, “That’s how they all do it on Wall Street. They use complex trading derivatives to make billions… We only take advantage of a little extra information.”

“So it’s okay then,” Caledonia said sourly.

Michael smiled, completely oblivious to her sarcasm, “I bet you’d be really good at it. Teddy even lets
me
manage some of our holdings. I get higher returns than most institutional investors.”

“Michael is really good at math,” Layla said proudly.

“Yeah,” he puffed up a little. “Max even asked
me
for help with the accounts today… He says I’m going to be his new right hand man.”

Caledonia looked back and forth between them, “Why do you two stay here? You’re both over eighteen… Why don’t you just leave?”

They looked at her like she’d gone mad, “This is our home. We’re a family.”

“The professor is not your father!” Caledonia exclaimed.

Layla sighed, “Teddy is good to us. All we have to do is follow the rules and everybody’s happy.”

“I won’t be happy until I get out of here.”

“He’ll never let you go,” Michael said firmly. “He cares about his research more than anything else. He’s very interested in testing your capabilities.”

“Well he can’t,” she spat out vehemently, hatred and anger swelling in her heart. “I’m not one of his
subjects
.”

She looked at Layla’s shocked face and took a deep breath, trying to get a hold of herself. She had to maintain a positive attitude or they were never going to let her go on one of their little trips. She thought about the possibility of waiting weeks or months to get back to Calvin, and wondered where she would find the patience.

She realized that twins had been trained, groomed from the first moment they could talk to be obedient. The professor had brainwashed them into the docile pair that sat before her now, and Caledonia wondered what their poor mother would have thought about it.

Layla jumped up, “Oh my gosh! Look at the time… Out of here Michael! We need to get dressed for dinner!” She was flustered, clearly in fear of being late and incurring the wrath of Teddy.

Michael got up, heading for the door that separated their two rooms. He turned for one last glance at Caledonia and bonked his head on the door frame, rubbing it sheepishly as he stumbled out.

“He’s not usually like that,” Layla apologized for him. “It’s just that you’re the prettiest girl he’s ever seen.”

“I have a feeling I’m the only girl he’s ever seen,” muttered Caledonia.

Layla picked out an outfit for her, and she dressed swiftly while looking around for a camera. She let Layla fix her hair, tying it back neatly with a large black bow while she frowned at herself in the ornate gilded mirror.

“Ready?”Layla smiled encouragingly.

Ready as I’ll ever be, she thought. Dressed in a jumper over a frilly blouse, she looked just like a doll stuck inside a pretty little dollhouse. She clenched her jaw and prepared herself to face Professor Reed once more.

There was a rap on the door leading out into the hallway, and this time it was their escort to dinner.

“Layla?” Caledonia asked, following her towards the door, “Does your brother have a window in his room too?”

~

Chapter Twenty Four – FREEDOM

~

Calvin and Jarod checked every number in Phil’s phone, finding only three without names attached. The first was a phone sex line, the second, a waitress at a local bar. The third and final number rang to a mysterious voice-mail account with no message. They took the phone to an old friend of Jarod’s, a reclusive computer gamer who hacked into a reverse directory to track down a billing address in San Francisco.

The brothers rode their motorcycles across the bridge and into the fog-shrouded city, ending up in an industrial area by the waterfront. The building was a tall concrete monolith that looked completely unremarkable from the outside. There were no windows on the first few floors, and the only entry was a pair of metal gates facing the street with security cameras trained down onto them.

Calvin and Jarod stashed their bikes between two buildings across the street, watching from the shadows. “Let’s hang back and see who we’re dealing with,” Jarod said, squinting at the building from around a corner. “I don’t wanna get Tased again.”

Jarod was worried about Cal. He hadn’t seen him this upset since the horrible day he’d had to break the news to him about the accident. That day, he’d sworn to their father that he’d look after his little brother, but there wasn’t much he could do for him now.

For the past two days Cal wouldn’t rest, and he’d barely eaten a thing; he looked worn out and drawn. Jarod waited by his side for a few hours, but when there was no sign of any comings or goings, he started losing patience.

“I bet everybody who works here already went home,” he said. “C’mon, let’s go grab a bite and check back later.”

“Go ahead,” Calvin replied, “I’m not hungry.”

“Listen bro, it’s not going anywhere…”

“No,” Calvin said quietly, his hollow eyes filled with grim determination. “She has to be here.”

Jarod looked up at the darkening gloom, and back at his brother, “I’ll go pick up something to eat.” He headed towards his bike, turning back, “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

Cal nodded without taking his eyes off the building; this was the last lead, and he wasn’t about to give up on his only hope.

Caledonia was his only hope.

Like a light at the end of a tunnel, she had signaled a way out of the darkness that had become his life. She’d made him question his shiftless existence and want to be a better person. His grandmother had guessed right, she was the one, and he could never go back to the way he was before she came along.

He felt like he would die if he couldn’t find her. No amount of money or alcohol or girls would ever be enough to feel the hollow empty ache in his chest. This was his last chance and he knew it.

“She has to be here,” he repeated out loud.

He paced back and forth, coming out onto the sidewalk when lights illuminated a pair of windows on the fourth floor. It was getting dark, and he knew that when Jarod got back he wouldn’t want to stay much longer. He had to take a chance. He reached down and picked up a handful of gravel.

~

The professor was pleased with himself, and now that everything seemed to be going his way he felt young again, ready to tackle a whole new round of research. He stood at the head of the table, watching the three teenagers arrive, checking to make sure that they were properly dressed for dinner. He nodded his approval and took a seat.

“Children,” he said warmly, making Caledonia cringe inside.

Layla looked at her with trepidation.

Professor Reed rang the little bell he kept by his side and the same woman as before came in to serve them, moving around the table silently. No wonder she refused to make eye contact, Caledonia thought, imagining the professor directing Layla to manipulate his employees. She looked at the old man with a fresh surge of anger.

Layla bit her lip fearfully.

“My dear Caledonia,” The professor beamed, “Are you getting settled in alright?”

She smiled warmly back at him, showing him only peaceful tranquility, keeping all of her dark anger contained. The twins both watched her performance with fascination.

She realized that it didn’t even occur to Layla that she could openly defy him. Layla believed that she was powerless against the professor, and never thought to question his authority. She was much more imprisoned than Caledonia could ever be, because her mind had been shackled by his lies.

Caledonia remembered a story about a baby elephant that had been kept on a small chain, eventually growing into a huge and powerful beast that still believed that the chain binding it was unbreakable. It didn’t even try to escape, because the concept was simply unimaginable.

She made it a point to show Layla just how easy deceiving Teddy could be, smiling sweetly with a placid smile, “Everything is wonderful… Layla’s room is so pretty! I think I’m going to like it here.”

“That’s wonderful,” he smiled, pleased that his plans were working out so beautifully. The professor thought that he was smarter than everyone else, and his smug arrogance made him doubly easy to fool.

Caledonia opened her eyes innocently, “When do I get to meet our tutor?”

“Soon enough… soon enough,” he smiled again, nodding approvingly at Layla, who flushed bright red. She looked down and started eating to avoid his eyes. When she looked back up Caledonia winked at her, and she nearly choked.

The professor clasped his hands together, “Now that we’re all on the same page, I have a little announcement to make. As you know, I’ve been conducting my research with primates for years, and while I’ve seen some remarkable success, it’s been nothing on the scale of what I envision. You see… my Athena compound, instead of inducing synesthesia in its subjects, has now been proven to alter their offspring’s DNA.”

He was beaming with excited pride, “You two girls are my greatest triumph. You’re living proof that I was on the right track, and you’ve inspired me to resume my studies with human subjects!”

Michael looked down, burning with wounded feelings. Caledonia was absolutely horrified.

“But… But after what happened with our parents…” her voice trailed off as she looked at him with outrage she wasn’t able to squelch.

The old man didn’t seem to notice her distress, lost in the excitement of the moment, “It’s a pity that they didn’t live to see what a tremendous success our little experiment was. I think David would have really appreciated the genetic implications…”

Caledonia gathered herself, her hands shaking under the table with the force of her suppressed emotions. She managed to choke out, “Who… Who will be your new… subjects?”

Professor Reed practically rubbed his hands together with glee, “Max is handling the logistics as we speak… Just imagine! If I alter the dosage I might be able to actually be able to achieve individuals with telekinesis! Who knows what wonderful things second generations might be capable of… I’ve already begun the process of sequencing your DNA, and comparing it to Layla’s.” He gloried in his triumph, “Once I pinpoint the mutation, I’ll be able to test for it prenatally!”

Caledonia was shocked and disgusted by the sheer evil of his plans, and she gazed at him, hating him with all of the blackness in her soul. It took every ounce of restraint she could muster to arrange her face into a reflection of what he wanted to see.

Layla just stared, surprised by Cali’s ability to fool to him so completely. Only she could truly feel the force of Caledonia’s emotions, and fully comprehend just how difficult a feat of self-control she was witnessing.

She looked back and forth between the two of them incredulously. She’d grown up believing that something terrible would happen if she ever deceived Teddy, and now this amazing girl was making a fool out of the man right before her eyes. Her mind started racing with the possibilities.

Caledonia swallowed hard. “Teddy? Is that your laboratory downstairs?” she asked with another painfully forced smile, “In the building?”

“Yes it is,” he said, sipping his tea. “This entire building is devoted to my scientific research. One day I intend to donate it as a museum…” He smiled to himself, imagining his glorious vindication. He couldn’t wait to see the looks on his former colleague’s faces when he was finally published in the medical journals.

“Wow… I’d like to see it someday,” she looked at him adoringly.

He was satisfied with himself, radiating confidence, “I’ve been making arrangements to start your testing as soon as possible. I’m eager to compare your abilities to Layla’s… I’m so happy to know that you’ll be cooperating.”

They ate the rest of their meal in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. After the last plate was cleared the professor stood up and clapped his hands together.

“Now it’s off to bed children!” he said cheerfully, a bizarre imitation of a concerned parent. He looked at Caledonia, nodding meaningfully, “Be sure to get plenty of rest. We have lots of work to do.”

They filed out of the dining room and into the foyer where Max was waiting to escort them back to their room. Unlike the professor, Max didn’t trust Caledonia’s new attitude, and he planned to keep her on a short leash until he was absolutely certain that she didn’t pose a threat to everything he’d been working for.