Mindsiege (33 page)

Jonas stepped forward. “Well… and to get Addison back.” He stuffed his hands inside the front pockets of his pants. “The biggest thing we have going for us right now is that they think they have you, Lexi, even if only physically. Sandra is just arrogant enough to think you’ll join her team simply because you were created from her DNA.”

“Well, they don’t have me,” I declared. The gun slipped perfectly into the waistband of my jeans. It was small enough not to cause much discomfort against my skin. I made sure my shirt came low enough to cover it.

“Where will you and Addison go?” I asked Jack.

“Our job is to find the other trackers—the ones not implanted. And to stay out of sight. We can’t risk Addison being caught again.”

Or you. Please be careful.

Jack nodded.

“We have one last thing to talk about,” I said. “What will happen if they begin evacuating?”

Addison’s head snapped in Jonas’s direction. Jonas rubbed his face. “I haven’t seen any signs of packing up, but this place is like a circus.”

I cocked my head. “What does that mean?”

“If you’d ever seen a circus come to town, you’d know. They arrive in slow motion—one truckload at a time over several days. When the circus is over, they’re gone before the last juggling clown unicycles out of the main tent. Not a trace of this place will be left within an hour of being told to evacuate.”

“How will we know?”

“Oh, you’ll know.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

The announcement, along with a piercing alarm and an intermittent strobe light, came over an intercom speaker less than an hour after I left Jack and Addison. “LAB WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN ONE HOUR.”

A sharp pain had erupted in my chest when I’d first left Jack back in Sandra’s apartment. We should be doing this together, but risking the two of us being caught together wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. Not to mention, we had little time to find both the trackers and the server controlling them—as the computerized female voice made clear.

Jack and Addison were by now roaming the facility in search of additional trackers; we all agreed the trackers wouldn’t be stored in the same lab as the server. And Jonas had left to check on Briana.

According to the map Jonas gave me, I was in the hallway near the main lab. People rushed about. Most didn’t even glance my way as they passed, which was strange. Either this entire place was built on the arrogant assumption that I would decide I wanted to be a part of this, or they already knew for a fact the one thing I refused to accept—that I was trapped inside The Farm with no way out. Every once in a while I’d get a strange look or a double-take. Probably because I looked scarily like the barracuda heading up this strange underground laboratory.

Similar to the lab I saw the first time I came here, the room I’d been looking for was behind a wall of glass windows. Inside, men and women in white lab coats typed away on computers, lifted equipment onto rolling carts, and boxed up supplies.

The IIA was moving their operations.

But why?

Maybe they knew that the FBI and police were getting close to something like Marci’s murderer. Maybe the university discovered the illegal experiments that were occurring inside this secret laboratory.

I stood in front of the glass, scanning the sea of doctors and scientists. Behind rows of microscopes, medical equipment, and computers was a door tucked away in the back right-hand corner of the room. If Jonas was right, that was the room I was looking for.

I ran my fingers along the ledge of the interior window as I walked toward the entrance to the lab. The double set of sliding doors only required an ID badge.

A woman in a lab coat and scrubs exited the lab in a hurry. She was alone. The doors closed behind her too fast for me to slip through, though.

I followed her around the corner and watched her enter the women’s restroom.

Looking both ways down the hallway, I snuck in after her.

The bathroom was quiet. It was only the two of us.

I waited for her to finish inside the stall. My hands shook at my side as I waited in the neighboring stall, the door open. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. That wasn’t what I was about.

The toilet flushed, and I knew what I had to do. I spun my ring halfway around so the pearl was on the palm side of my hand. I twisted the pearl, and the small needle appeared.  I would have simply mindspoken to get her badge and clothing items, but this way, she would be unable to run after me and get help.

She walked slowly past, oblivious to my presence as she adjusted the lanyard around her neck.

I stepped out, made three quick steps, and caught her by surprise with a bear hug with one arm. My other hand went straight to her neck and made contact, but not before I took an elbow to the stomach.

I grunted loud, the breath knocked out of me. She made an “oww” sound. I had definitely grazed her with the tiny needle. But was it enough?

I held my breath as she started to turn, but her body went limp. Thankfully, she was a small woman. I caught her as she slid to the ground and softened the landing of her head on the concrete floor.

I righted the ring so as not to paralyze myself. Leaning down, I whispered, “I’m sorry.” I then took her lab coat, her ID, and her glasses. Maybe the glasses would help disguise me a little.

A minute later, I was at the door of the lab. No one noticed me; everyone was completely focused on packing up the lab.

Jonas, I’m inside the lab.

How did you manage that?
he asked.

Don’t worry about it. Point is, I’m here, and I’m making my way over to the control room. Everyone is too busy packing up to even notice me. Where are you?

I’m calming Dia and Lin down. Trying to talk them into coming with us when we leave here. Trying to convince them that we can remove the trackers.

Have you mentioned this to Georgia? I don’t know how to remove the trackers without her.

We’ll figure it out.

I stayed to the outer perimeter of the room, not making eye contact with anyone. I wished we could remove every clone within this facility tonight, but there wasn’t time.

When I reached the door to what I believed to be the room housing the tracker server, I studied the panel just outside the door. It was a square panel with a keypad next to it. I held up my palm to test the size. It definitely would measure my entire hand. Maybe it scans each fingerprint. Right about the spot where my middle finger would go was a tiny hole in the otherwise flat surface.

This room looks to have a combination of security measures.

You’ve got to get out of there,
Jonas said.
Sandra just stormed past me. She’s headed in that direction. I don’t know how you got inside that part of the lab, but she won’t be happy.

Yes, Lexi,
Addison said.
Sandra is headed right for you. And she’s moving quickly.

I turned on my heels and walked back the way I came. I could use a Marauder’s Map right about now.

I slipped outside the lab and walked in the opposite direction from where I hoped Sandra would be coming. I shed the lab coat and left it on the floor, then stuffed the ID down my shirt.

“There she is.”

I jumped when I heard the voice of Dr. Barracuda herself. I slowly turned toward her. The young lab tech I had assaulted stood beside Sandra, picked up her lab coat, and began dusting it off.

“Sarah, come with me.” Sandra did not look like she was having a good day. And the lab tech was downright pissed.

I debated internally whether I should make a run for it. Where would I go? “Why?” I asked her. I fingered the ring on my finger. The gun pushed against the small of my back, tucked in my waistband.

Sandra looked sideways at the lab tech. “You may go. If no more little girls attack you, you might make it out alive.”

The woman evil-eyed me as she approached, reached up and snatched the glasses still perched on my nose, then spun on her heels and stalked off.

When she was gone, I redirected my gaze back to Sandra. I had swallowed all fear back in Sandra’s apartment when Jack had looked me in the eye and promised we’d make it out of here.

Sandra’s shiver-inducing grin spread across her face. “You think you’ve got this all figured out, don’t you?”

I cocked my head. “Figured out? Are you kidding me? I don’t think I’ll ever have this all figured out. That wasn’t my intention when I turned myself over to you.”

“What
was
your intention?

I almost laughed. What was my intention? I didn’t have just one. To do the right thing. To save my best friend. To get Ty and Jonas out of my head forever. To discover enough about this facility and Sandra to escape and live some semblance of a normal life. But instead of confiding all that, I simply stared at Sandra. She looked exhausted, like she hadn’t slept in days.

“What if I told you my dream is to have you, Jonas, and Jack working alongside me? I want you to know what Peter, John, and I created you to do. The three of you are very special, Sarah.”

“My name is Lexi. My dad renamed me when he hid me from you. If he had created me to do something so special, why didn’t he tell me?”

“I can’t answer that.” Sandra actually had the gall to appear remorseful when she spoke.

“That’s because you killed him before he had the chance,” I answered for her.

Sandra placed a hand over her heart, a gesture very similar to one I’ve done many times. “I’m sorry your father was killed. That was unfortunate. But I didn’t kill him.”

“Unfortunate? Unfortunate is dropping an iPhone in the toilet. My father was murdered because he was trying to protect me. You expect me to believe you had nothing to do with it?”

“Yes, actually. I was in a coma by the time your father was killed.”

I blinked. Two, three times. “Then, you ordered him killed.”

“You’re smarter than this, Sarah.” Sandra turned and began walking away from me. “Come with me. I have something you need to see.”

Above me, a voice said, “LAB WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN FORTY-FIVE MINUTES.”

~~~~~

We found the blueprint for the trackers.
Jack mindspoke to the group.
Lexi, where are you?
His voice sounded panicked.

I stared at Sandra’s back as we passed the lab. Jack was not going to be happy. We turned a corner and continued toward the interior part of the building. She scanned her ID at a door, then placed her palm onto a scanner similar to the one I saw outside the control room.

I heard a small click. Sandra pulled her hand back and sucked on her middle finger for a second. She didn’t even flinch. The door slid open.

I’m with Sandra.
I closed my eyes and braced for Jack’s response.
We’re entering some interior room around the corner from the lab.

Turn around. Run. Do whatever you have to do. Get away from her.

Why?

We were wrong. Addison says you’re entering the main DNA lab right now. The tracker server is located on the other side of that room. I’ve got a list of trackers in front of me and who they’ve been designed for. Lexi, there’s one with your name beside it.

Chapter Thirty-Four

I stopped. Refused to enter the room. “What is this?”
You will not make me enter this room. You will tell me now what is inside.

“Your mind tricks won’t work on me. You will come with me now. When we’re done here, you’ll know who was responsible for your father’s death.” Sandra’s voice was one hundred percent calm, like she had no doubt I would follow. But when I hesitated, she added, “Come now if you want to keep Danielle from meeting the same fate as Ty.”

A shiver started at the top of my scalp, moved to the base of my neck, then traveled throughout my body. I had no idea why she was immune to my mindspeak. The woman before me truly was a descendent of the father of lies. Getting close to her was like getting drawn into a forest raging with an out-of-control fire with no chance of escape. She might not have been responsible for my dad’s death, but she had no problem killing those who got in her way.

Yet I couldn’t say no to her. She tempted me with things I desired so deeply, I couldn’t turn away. Sometimes a person had to move forward to find her way out of a scary place.

I walked the few steps through the door. It slid closed behind me, making me flinch.

The room was a semicircle. A larger lab than the one down the hall, but with fewer people rushing about. Sandra and I were separated from lab technicians by a glass wall. Beyond the partition, the techs were dressed in white protective suits, including blue surgical gloves and white hoods over their hair.

This
was the DNA lab. I recognized the large machines around the room designed to analyze and store DNA and blood data. Like in the previous lab, the people were rushing about, packing up equipment and preparing to move. A few of the machines were on rolling carts ready to be transported. 

“Dr. Whitmeyer.” A young African-American man approached. “The device is almost ready. We have customized it to your latest specifications. It will be ready in plenty of time for you to make the last truck out of here.”

“Thank you, Daniel. Is the main server ready for the switchover? I don’t want the tracker system down for even a second longer than absolutely necessary.”

“The server is ready. There will be very little down time. We’ll only need the hard drive with this last tracker synced to it. Once that’s plugged into the new server, you’ll be operational again.”

The muscles in my neck and shoulders tightened. It wouldn’t matter if I shot up the computers here with a machine gun; Sandra would just continue to manipulate the trackers from the next location. Unless I somehow got my hands on that hard drive—that would slow Sandra down a little while we removed Dani’s and Jonas’s trackers.