Mindsurge (Mindspeak Book 3) (5 page)

The second SUV pulled out of the parking space and sped off.

The remaining SUV—the one my father was in—just sat there. “What’s going on? Why doesn’t he get out?” I yelled. I turned and pleaded with Jonas. He touched my face, but I jerked away and looked at the screen again. “Get out, Dad. Something’s wrong. Please, get out.” Tears streamed down my face.

The explosion filled the screen. My body flinched. I turned and buried my face into Jonas’s chest as I sobbed.

Jonas rubbed my back.

Minutes passed before I pushed away and swiped the tears from my face. I began erecting walls all around my mind to keep Jonas out—and walls all around my heart to keep
everyone
out.

Jonas’s arms dropped helplessly to his side as he stared at me. “I’m sorry.”

“I need you to leave.”

“Lexi?”

“Now, Jonas. I want you to leave, and I don’t want you to breathe a word of this to Jack.”

“We’ve got to tell him.”

“This will kill him,” I whispered. He might not like his father much anymore, but finding out he murdered my dad? “And did you not catch that threat from Sandra?” I shook my head. “I just can’t risk her going after Jack.” The memory of the explosion flashed before my eyes a second time, and I closed them. “I need time to think. And I need to be alone to do it.”

“Okay.” Jonas held up his hands and backed toward the door. “But I won’t be far.”

The horse in front of me nickered as moisture from the cool autumn air pooled in my eyes. The nameplate on the halter read “Midnight Madness.” The barn reeked of hay and manure.
 

It was the first day of November. The morning after I officially became eighteen. An adult. The day after I learned who killed my father.

And the day after I broke Jack’s heart, as well as my own.

A sudden gust chilled a lone tear on my cheek and further stirred up the dirt and leaves that had drifted inside the barn. I lifted my opposite hand to brush Midnight Madness’s forehead. He was a beautiful black quarter horse. “Who do you belong to?”

He lifted his head up and down in answer.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter. You’re not Cheriana.” No, Cheriana, Jack’s horse, was at my safe house. With my mother.

I backed up and sat on the bench across from Midnight. A neighboring horse pawed at the ground. That was when I felt Jack slide peacefully inside my head. He didn’t say anything, nor did he invade my thoughts. He was just there.

At the sound of someone clearing their throat, I jumped up. Coach Williams, my long-time swim coach, walked toward me. His sports jacket barely hid the firearm I knew was tucked in a holster at his side. Coach was ex-FBI and, more recently, had been hired by my father to watch over and protect me.

“I thought you would be Jack,” I said.

“Are you disappointed I’m not?”

I shook my head.

“He and Jonas are worried about you, you know. It seems you skipped breakfast. You skipped practice this morning, too.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Pfft. You know I don’t care about the swimming. That was just a front. And it kept you out of trouble for a while. You’ll always have swimming for exercise when you need it though.” Coach playfully punched my arm. “Jack sent me to talk to you once he discovered where you were hiding.”
 

Jack had a knack for finding me with his mind ability, but fortunately, I had discovered how to shut him out of my thoughts for the past couple of weeks. He could probably still get in if he really wanted to—and obviously, Jonas still could—but I continued to get better at blocking them both.

Coach pulled something out of his pocket. After unwrapping what appeared to be a peppermint, he walked over and fed it to the horse. “Midnight is a retired lead pony from Keeneland racetrack. She’s led many a racehorse to the gate.”

“Coach, we never discussed something…” I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my jacket. “Will you stay at Wellington? You know… now that Dad is gone?”

“That depends.” Coach had grown a goatee the past couple of weeks. He was good-looking, in a forty-something sort of way.

“On what?”

“On you, actually.”

“Me? Why me?”

He unwrapped another peppermint and held his flattened palm out to Midnight, who quickly gobbled up the candy. “I now work for you, Lexi.”

I cocked my head and looked at him like he’d sprouted a second nose. “How can you work for
me
? I don’t have any money.” I was just a kid. I felt like one, anyway. The only thing I had was this school, and that was only for a few more months. When Dad was murdered, I was told that he had made sure my schooling was paid for, and that Dr. John DeWeese was my new guardian. Of course, that last part had changed when we discovered that Dr. DeWeese had conspired with Sandra Whitmeyer, my clone donor, to trap me inside their genetic laboratory.

“You’re eighteen now.”

“Yeah? And suddenly I’m a trust-fund baby?” A sarcastic laugh escaped my lips.

“Actually…”

I narrowed my gaze.

“Lexi, I haven’t always agreed with how your father did things, but now that you’re eighteen and your father… has passed… the life you’ve known no longer exists. Your father’s attorneys—
your
attorneys—are on their way to Wellington right now.”

“To tell me what?” I wiped my sweating palms on my jeans and stood a little straighter.

“That’s for the lawyers to say. I swore an oath to your father to keep his secrets and to stay near you, be his eyes at Wellington. And in the event that anything happened to him, it was my responsibility to continue to watch over you until your eighteenth birthday—at which time you would be responsible for making your own decisions. And one of those decisions is whether you’d like to continue to use my services.”

Continue his services? I squeezed the bridge of my nose. “You said that Jack told you I was here in the barn. Does he know what the lawyers will tell me?” I knew the answer before I was even done asking it. I knew in my heart Jack no longer kept information from me.

“No, he doesn’t.” He jingled some coins in his pocket. “Listen, Lexi. When your father died, my oath to him carried over to you. I swear to you to keep your secrets and be your eyes when you aren’t present. I will continue to protect you to the best of my ability.”

“Did you tell Jack how to find my mother?”

“No. Your mother showed up out of the blue the day you were trapped inside The Farm. Jack just happened to be here. The safe house, as you are now aware, is hers. Well… it belongs to your family, technically. Jack refused to tell your mother anything, but he didn’t stop her from going to the safe house and waiting for you. Didn’t Jack already tell you all of this?”

“No.” But I hadn’t given him the chance. He’d kept so much from me since we met. And now, I had a secret of my own. One that could hurt. One that stripped me of all desire to eat, sleep, or tell the one I loved what a monster his father was. “So,” I said, “all I have to do is say the word, and you’ll keep my secrets and protect me the best you can?”

“That’s right.”

“What about payment?”

“You have the money, but that’s all I can say for now.”

“Do you swear to always tell me the truth, no matter how painful that truth might be, and no matter how bad the timing?” Coach had been a consistent presence in my life for years. There wasn’t a bone in my body that doubted what he said.

“Yes.”

“You’re one of the few adults I trust.” I reached out and scooped up his hand, prompting him to open his palm. I dropped the thumb drive into it. “That’s a copy. It was delivered to my campus mailbox yesterday. Only Jonas and I have seen it.”

“What’s on it?”

“Missing surveillance from the Lexington Airport. John DeWeese trapping my father in the car that exploded.”

Coach’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
 

I shrugged, tilting my head side to side in answer. “I’m sure of what I saw in this video.”
 

“You need to tell Jack.”

“It would destroy him.” I swallowed hard, but quickly shook off the sadness that threatened.

Coach’s eyebrows knitted together. “He loves you.” I nodded, and he said, “I’ll pass this along to my contacts at the FBI.”

“They’ll only add it to their growing files. Call it circumstantial or something.” I had no confidence in the FBI after they’d practically let Sandra and John confine me to The Farm. They simply had too much red tape to ever be able to determine that another arm of the government was supporting a Division of Human Cloning. They required too much evidence, and the IIA was better at covering it up than the FBI was at finding it. “I mean, Sandra could have doctored that video to make us see exactly what she needed me to see, for all I know.”

“You don’t believe that, though.” Coach squinted at me. “That look in your eye makes me nervous. What are you planning to do?”

I zipped my jacket up further and attempted to hug away some of the November cold. “Honestly? I’m not sure yet.”

~~~~~

The school chapel was only used for special ceremonies. It was small, held few people, and Wellington didn’t have a full-time chaplain on staff. As a result, the chapel was almost always empty—the perfect place to have a private meeting.

I traced the letters on the shiny new plaque displayed outside the front entrance. “In memory of Danielle Gray. Daughter, Sister, Friend.”
 

“Dani,” I whispered. “You were my best friend—like a sister. I miss you so much. I want you to know that I will make them pay for what they did. I don’t care how long it takes, or what I have to do, I will make sure your murderers are punished.”

I heard Jonas’s voice, and turned to find him and Jack approaching. “Good, you’re both here,” I said. “Let’s go inside.”

They traded glances. Jack held out a cup to me, barely making eye contact. Steam squeezed through a small opening in the cup’s lid, a ribbon that carried the scent of cinnamon and cloves.

“Thank you.” I took the chai latte, then turned and walked up the steps to the chapel.

Inside, the wooden pews were separated by a single aisle down the center. The air smelled a little musty from lack of use. I sat in the second row, toward the altar. Jack and Jonas sat one pew in front of me and turned to face me.

“Want to tell us what this is about?” Jonas asked. His eyes held a million questions.
Are you going to tell him?

I took a sip from my latte, the perfect blend of spice and cream. I knew Jonas was asking if I planned to reveal what was on the video Sandra sent me.
Not now
. “I’m meeting some lawyers at eleven.”

“Lawyers? For what?” Jack stretched out a hand. It came close to touching mine before he retreated.

“They were my father’s lawyers. I’m not completely sure what they’re coming to tell me.”

“Do you think they’ll assign you a new guardian?” Jack asked.

Jonas picked a piece of lint off of his sleeve and flicked it to the floor. “You didn’t tell him?”

“Tell me what?”

“That yesterday was Lexi’s eighteenth birthday. She no longer needs a guardian… legally speaking.”

I glared at Jonas in response to the dig.
 

The line in Jack’s jaw tightened. “No, she didn’t tell me.” He faced forward, turning his back to me. “So, some lawyers are coming. What does this have to do with us?” His voice had chilled.

Jonas looked from Jack to me. With a shrug of his shoulders, he asked, “What do you need from me?”

“I need you both to come with me to meet with these lawyers.” I reached a hand out and placed it on Jack’s shoulder. His muscles stiffened, but at least he didn’t shrug me off. “Jack, I want you to be there. I need you there.”

I may have asked him for space, but I needed him there as a friend. I trusted him more than anyone else in my life. I had to believe I’d find a way to secure our safety so that we could be together.

He stood and faced us. “Why, Lexi? It’s clear you don’t need us both.”

I stared down at my drink. “What are you talking about? Don’t do this, please.” It was so unlike Jack to act jealous. He knew nothing was going on between Jonas and me.

“Don’t do what? Did Jonas ask you to include me?”

“What? That’s stupid.”

“Is it? He told you to break up with me last night. I just assumed…”

“How did you…? Addison.” Addison was the only clone who could slip into our minds unnoticed. I was getting better at noticing her there, but I had to be looking for her.

“That’s right, Addison heard Jonas and told me.”

“Jack, asking for space had nothing to do with Jonas or anything he said to me, but everything to do with me and what I need.”

“Oh, the old ‘It’s not you, it’s me.’” Jack linked his hands behind his neck and looked up at the ceiling. “And are you going to tell me what Jonas was doing in your dorm room last night?”

My breath caught. “What?”

“Or how about… What time did Jonas leave this morning?”

My eyes shot from Jack to Jonas.

“I slept on the couch in the common area,” Jonas explained. “We still don’t know how Maya got in and out of Wellington unnoticed by security.” He shrugged. “I was worried.”

I stood, clenching my free hand into a fist, and I felt the cup in my other hand give a little under the pressure. “What, exactly, are you accusing me of, Jack?” This was not happening. Why would Addison tell Jack this when she had to know Jonas wasn’t in my room? “I don’t have time for this. These attorneys will be here any time now. I obviously misjudged who I could turn to this morning. I’m a little bit sorry I didn’t tell you I turned eighteen yesterday, but that’s the only concern worth addressing in your long list. A lot has happened lately, and given the fact that the boy I’m in love with and I haven’t been talking the last couple of weeks, and the fact that my best friend is dead, I didn’t feel like celebrating my stupid birthday.” I turned to go, but then turned back. “I wanted you both there because I’m scared out of my mind wondering what they’re going to tell me. And I thought I could trust the two of you, my best friends, to be there with me to hear what these lawyers say. I was wrong.”