Axiom Theory: Book Four of the Shadow Series (24 page)

He reached out to her and
took her hand into his as he pulled her closer. “Look,” he said tenderly. “There are so many things we just don’t know.” He placed his index finger under her chin and lifted so that he could see her face even though she refused to look at him. “There is one thing I do know for certain.” With her eyes straining to the side away from his, he gripped her chin and turned her head gently. “I love you. My mission in life now is to make sure that you and our baby are okay.”

With her bottom lip beginning to quiver, her eyes locked on his. “Then don’t go.” Her voice began to break. “Let’s go away, just the three of us.”

Prim felt his heart begin to break. “We can’t do that, Lauren.
I
can’t do that.”

“Why?” she asked as the tears began to flow down her cheeks.

“Because as long as the twins are alive—as long as that boy is with them—you will never be safe.”

Exhausted and feeling defeated, Lauren was unwilling to even respond. Instead, she fell forward with her forehead on his chest and allowed the tears to fall.

****

The phone ringing in the kitchen
jolted Test from his slumber. His eyes shot open and he looked at the clock through blurred vision. He was surprised to see that it was after noon and, as the phone rang once again, he felt annoyed that no one was answering it. Throwing his covers off, he stood from the bed and slipped on a pair of cargo shorts as he yawned. He opened his bedroom door and shouted down the hallway as the phone rang again and again.

“Hey! Anyone want to get that?”

The house was quiet and no one echoed a response as the phone continued to ring. Test stepped out into the hall and headed for the kitchen as the front door opened and Iku appeared.

“Where the hell is everyone?” asked Test, turning into the kitchen before Iku could answer. As he took the phone from the receiver, a sudden chill ran through him.

“Hello?”

“Test?” answered
Thad.

Rubbing the side of his face with his free hand, Test replied through a yawn. “Yeah, it’s me. What’s up?”

“Jesus, I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to pick up the phone.”

Test turned to see Iku standing in the kitchen doorway. “Yeah,” he replied to
Thad. “I just woke up and no one was in the house. I don’t know where they all are.”

“You need to find them,” answered
Thad.

Hearing the urgency in his voice, Test cupped his hand over the phone and spoke to Iku. “Get everyone in here.
Thad’s on the phone.”

With a nod, Iku’s form flared in white as he phased to the other side
while Test placed the phone back to his ear.

“Hold on—Iku’s going to round them up.”

“Who?” asked Thad.

Before Test could ans
wer, Iku flashed back into view. He stood behind the far side of the kitchen table as Cliff, Alyssa, and Aiden materialized by his side.

“Where’s Prim and Laur…”

Before he could finish his question, he heard the front door open and both Prim and Lauren entered the kitchen gasping for breath.

Puzzled by them not following Iku in the Shadow realm, Test pushed the button and turned on the speaker phone.

“Okay, Thad. Everyone’s here,” he said with a quick glance to Alyssa, wondering if Aiden should be in the room. The stern look on her face quickly told him that asking her to leave was probably not an option.

“What’s up, boy?” asked Cliff as he walked closer to the phone. “Did you see somethin’?”

“I told you I was going to Manhattan today, right?” replied Thad.

“Yes,” answered the old man.

“Well, I know where I’ve seen the dam before.” There was a short pause. “I’m standing at the spillway of it right now. It’s Tuttle Creek here in Manhattan.”

“Kansas?” asked Test. “Does this mean that the clones are being made in Kansas?”

“Maybe so,” replied Cliff.

“Why would
they build a top secret facility like that in the middle of Kansas?” asked Test naively.

Stepping forward from the doorway, Prim replied. “That’s exactly why it’s a brilliant place to build it. Most would never consider looking for it there even though it is home to a large number of the United States’ most strategic and powerful military weaponry.”

“How do you know this?” asked Iku from his original position across the room.

Cliff looked to Prim and raised a brow. He remembered back to when he was a boy
in Kansas; the day Prim had appeared to him in the hay loft. “Because he spent some time there,” he replied as he studied Prim’s features and marveled at how little he’d physically changed from what he remembered of that day.

With a nod, Prim replied. “That’s true, but my time in Kansas was spent well before this technology was in place.”

“So how do you know?” asked Iku once more.

“The internet,” he replied, making gestures with his fingers as though he were typing on a keyboard. “When the internet first came to be, I was consumed by it for a couple of years.”

“You’re never on the computer,” replied Lauren from the doorway.

Prim turned to her with a weak smile. “I find it boring now,” he said with a wink. “I have other ways in which I’d rather spend my time.”

Through the phone, Thad spoke with impatience. “Look, I’m glad I’m not the only nerd in the room, but what the hell are you guys talking about? Clones? What do you mean?”

Prim began to shake his head as he pursed his lips and then cursed under his breath.

“He might as well know,” said Cliff in a gruff whisper. Waiting for Prim to acknowledge him, he spoke only after Prim nodded his agreement. “We think the government is making clones of Test.”

The other end of the phone was silent for a moment.

“Boy?” asked Cliff.

Thad
stammered on the other end before forming a coherent sentence. “Run that by me one more time.”

“
Thad, this is Prim. The government has already made a clone of Test. What’s worse is that they already lost him.”

“Lost him?”
replied Thad.

“Technically he was stolen, but that’s beside the point,” replied Prim. “The point is that we think the Reapers who took the first clone are going to try
to create more.”

After another brief pause,
Thad replied. “That’s bad, right?”

With a huff, Cliff answered. “Yeah, boy; that’s bad.”

“Thad,” began Prim. “I’m assuming that you’ve been to Manhattan before; are there any new buildings in the area? Something you’ve not seen before?”

“Heck yes. This town changes more than any other I’ve ever seen. The entire east side of town is new.”

Frustrated, Prim let out a deep sigh. “Smart,” he whispered to himself.

“What?” asked Test.

Prim turned to him. “I was just thinking that not only is it genius to hide a facility like this in an unassuming place like Kansas, but to build it in a place where construction is non-stop is brilliant.”

“Kind of odd for this country isn’t it?” quipped Cliff.

“Wait a minute,” said Thad. “There’s a new place north of town, between the lake and town, that they’ve just started building. I remember reading about it. It’s supposed to be some big bio-medical center. Supposed to house all of the worst diseases known to man.”

Prim’s eyes lit up. “That’s got to be it.”

“It’s not built yet though,” answered Thad. “We drove by the mess on our way to the dam a little bit ago.”

Prim’s excitement quickly deflated and he felt Test smack him on the back.

“It was a good thought though,” said Test.

The room fell silent. Even
Thad on the other end of the line hung quietly waiting for the next word to come. Suddenly, Test smacked the counter with an open palm, snapping everyone’s attention to him.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “What if the government is even smarter than we’ve already given them credit for?” Test looked to Prim who eyed him curiously. Leaning down towards the phone, Test asked, “
Thad, could you tell if they’ve laid the foundation yet?”

“I think so. Well…yeah, I know they have. I remember seeing all of the white pipe sticking out of the concrete.”

Turning into the counter, Test placed both hands down and began to rock back and forth excitedly. He looked over his shoulder to Prim and Cliff and noticed that Iku had moved just behind them. He turned and leaned against the counter, folding his arms across his chest and grinning triumphantly.

“Well are you gonna tell us what’s on your mind or not?” asked Cliff.

Test looked down to his old friend and then scanned every face in the room. “Where’s an even better place to hide something as crazy and insane as this facility than in an unassuming state and in a town that is constantly building and changing?” He focused on Prim’s face, waiting for the light of recognition to come. When he saw a glimmer, he continued. “I’ll tell you where; how about hiding it in an unassuming state, in a town that is constantly building and changing, underneath of a building that isn’t even built yet?”

Thad
’s voice came in a whisper through the receiver. “Holy shit.”

Prim stood tall and slapped Test on the shoulder. “
Thad,” he said. “When are you going to be home?”

Followed by a short hesitation,
Thad replied in a skeptical voice. “In a few hours. Why?”

Still focused on Test, Prim answered. “Because I think we’re going to need your apartment again.”

With a disgruntled huff, Thad replied. “How the hell did I know you were going to say that? Do I have a sign on my door that says
headquarters
or something?”

“No,” replied Prim. “But we can get one made for you if you’d like?”

The sound of Thad walking through a breeze told everyone that he was moving. “I’ve got to get back to my students. I guess I’ll see you when I get home.”

Without giving anyone the chance to answer,
Thad hung up and the line went dead.

Prim looked down to the counter in thought. The moments prior had pushed the thought of his blossoming family aside, but they were now rushing back to the forefront. Before he could even turn to look at her,
he could feel the dread in Lauren’s eyes.

With her back to
the shower head, Lauren leaned her head back and let the water trickle over her face. Running her hands through her hair, she tried not to think about what the boys were in the kitchen talking about at that very moment. She wanted to know, but she didn’t. Her mind felt so twisted up that she felt she was losing herself; she wasn’t sure who she was anymore. Her life had been spent being strong; making definitive choices and not letting others influence her decisions. All of that had suddenly changed.

Giving up on the expedition for mental peace, she turned off the shower and pulled the curtain back. The air was thick with humidity from the hot shower and, as she reached for her towel, the fog twisted and swirled around her arm. She wrapped the towel around her body and then wiped at the fogged over
the mirror with her bare hand, revealing her image within the streaked area. She looked at herself and suddenly realized that the youthful looking girl before her didn’t resemble how she felt inside. She’d lived multiple lives over multiple lifetimes and, the deeper she ventured into the journey of life, her experiences left her feeling more confused than wiser for having experienced them.

A sudden knock on the door startled her and she instinctively checked that the towel around her was secure. “Occupied,” she responded. The knock came again. “Give me a minute, okay?” she asked as she reached down to her
clothes that rested on the back of the toilet.

“Can I come in?”

Prim’s voice both electrified her and terrified her at the same time. Frozen as she reached for her clothes, she hesitated before turning back toward the door.

“Lauren?” asked Prim.

Without answering him, she stepped closer to the door and reached for the door knob. Placing her weight against the door, she opened it just a crack. She peered through and saw Prim standing alone in the hallway. “What do you need?” she asked.

“I need
you
,” he replied.

His eyes looked like those of a lost puppy and she couldn’t keep her heart from skipping when she looked into them. “Can it wait?” she asked. “I need to get dressed.” She watched as Prim bit his bottom lip before replying.

“Can’t I just come in? It’s more private in there. I really need to talk to you.”

His
words took the skipping out of her heart and, instead, caused it to stop. “I don’t know if I want to hear what you’re going to say,” she replied. She watched as Prim dropped his head in rejection, turned away from the door, and then began to walk down the hallway. Though she felt guilty, she didn’t care. She’d just add it to the list of crappy feelings she had been feeling lately.