Mindsiege (4 page)

Fifteen minutes later, I slid into a booth in the back corner of a coffee shop. The busy in-and-out-the-door activity of professors, students, and businessmen and women calmed me rather than added to my anxiety. Their comings and goings grounded me into a sort of normalcy. One could get lost in the “normal” of others’ lives.

But could one also hide there in plain sight?

A short, stocky waitress approached my table. She was dressed head to toe in black and adorned with two nose rings and an eyebrow ring. “How are ya?” she asked in a high-pitched southern accent.

“I’m okay.” I guessed that was true. I was more okay at that moment than I had been.

“What can I get ya?”

“Chai tea latte and a yogurt with granola?” I said in more of a question than a statement.

After writing down my order, the girl with the piercings stuck a pencil behind her ear, then eyed me curiously before spinning on her heels and skipping off.

I pulled my phone out of my back pocket. Five missed calls from Jack. He would understand why I ran—as soon as I found the right opportunity to tell him. I rubbed the spot over my heart that throbbed anytime I considered how I might have to live without him. On the run, even. I could barely swallow past the ginormous lump in my throat. I wouldn’t go back to Wellington.

I had to focus. I texted Marci McDaniel.
“Marci, need your help. Can u come get me?”
Dad trusted the reporter enough to leave the puzzle box with her—the box that had contained instructions for finding his journals. Surely I could trust her.

After I hit send, I pulled out my laptop and connected to the Wi-Fi. I glanced around the coffee shop. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get their order, or was otherwise engrossed in conversation. No one even lifted an eye in my direction.

Deciding it was safe, I pulled up the website my Dad had created to house the years and years of journals and other information he had compiled. There was so much data. It would take weeks to read through it all. I opened the earliest-dated journals. Scrolling through page after page of scientific data did nothing but confuse me. Words like genomic DNA sequencing, somatic cell nuclear transfer, therapeutic cloning, and reproductive cloning got jumbled in my head. I couldn’t make sense of any of it. Not quickly anyway, and not without a dictionary. I simply didn’t have time to look up every word or phrase on Wikipedia.

Switching gears, I brought up the last journal he’d typed. At first, all I saw was an entry outlining his keynote address to the Association of International Physicians and Research—the same speech I’d heard the night I met Jack’s father, Dr. John DeWeese. Dr. DeWeese was Dad’s oldest and dearest friend, and his lab partner from before I was born.

Behind his speech notes was an itinerary for his stay in Lexington. The day leading up to the AIPR dinner included a tour of the University of Kentucky Hospital and a visit to the College of Agriculture. After the day of touring, he was to attend the dinner and deliver the keynote address, followed by a visit with me that never happened.

“That’s strange,” I whispered to no one. Why the College of Agriculture?

My phone vibrated. A picture of Jack appeared on the screen.

“Hi,” I answered, keeping my voice low.

“Why’d you run?” he asked. His voice was calm. There was road noise in the background.

“I told you why. Where are you?”
Please be away from Jonas.

“Kyle and I are on our way back to Wellington. We had to leave, but I have to know that you’re okay.”

Of course, I wasn’t okay. The girl set my tea and yogurt in front of me. I mouthed a “thank you.”

Jack continued. “Why did you run without telling me or giving me a chance to say goodbye?”

I leaned my forehead into my palm. The smell of the chai tea—the soothing scents of cinnamon bark, nutmeg, and ginger—reached my nose. “I heard you guys on the porch. You wanted Jonas to take me, and…” I paused for a minute to consider how he was going to react to the news that Jonas was getting inside my head. “It was Jonas, Jack. He's getting inside my head. He tried to drown me, and he tried to make me—”

“No way. It couldn’t have been Jonas. I understand why you think that, but…”

I remained silent, giving him time to digest the information. My phone buzzed in my ear, alerting me to an incoming text. “Hold on.” I read the text from Marci.
“Of course. Where r u?”

I looked up at the picture painted on the window at the front of the shop and read the name backwards before typing:
“Big Blue Brew on UK campus.”

With the phone back at my ear, I said, “Jack, I know you trust your friends.”

“What proof do you have that it was Jonas?”

I gasped. “Proof?” My defensive instincts rose. “You want me to prove that Jonas was inside my head? Are you kidding me with this?” I broke out in a sweat. To think, I actually thought he would simply take me at my word.

“It’s just that…” As Jack spoke, I imagined him running his hands through his hair. “He’s my friend. He promised me he would watch over you while I took care of Addison. I’m just having a hard time believing he would do what you’re suggesting.”

“Do what I’m suggesting? Are you hearing yourself? He’s your friend? What am I, Jack? The liar you hugged and kissed this morning in bed?”

“No, Lexi, I didn’t mean…”

“You know what… never mind. I…” Closing my eyes, I squeezed the bridge of my nose. When I reopened them, I noticed movement outside the coffee shop. I craned my neck to get a better look. A black SUV had pulled up in front and stopped. Strange, since there’s no parking in front of the shop. Two men in suits climbed out of the front seat. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention. “Jack, something’s wrong. Someone’s here.”

“Who? What are you seeing? Where are you?” Jack sounded panicked.

“I gotta go.”

“Lexi, don’t hang—”

I pushed end on the phone. The waitress who had served my breakfast several minutes ago approached my table. “You need anything?”

I grabbed my backpack and handed her some money, never removing my eye from the front door. “Is there a back way out of here?”

“Yes.” She pointed behind me. “Is everything all right?”

“Fine.” A man in dark sunglasses was placing his hand on the front door, pushing it open. “I have a restraining order against my abusive father, and he’s entering the shop right now. If you could stall that man in any way…”

She glanced over her shoulder then back at me. “Consider it done.” After a wink, she turned and shielded me while I slipped down the hallway behind her and out the door.

Tires screeched and horns blared in the not-too-far-away distance. My phone vibrated in my back pocket, but I didn’t have time to look at it.

Morning traffic was thick. I crossed the street and tried to blend in with a group of students I presumed were walking to class.

Once I was a good distance away, and on the front side of Big Blue Brew, I looked back. The two men in suits stood outside the coffee shop. One was on his phone.

I pulled mine out. I had a text from Marci.
“No use running, Lexi. We are not going to hurt you.”

Right. So, why the big black SUV and scary-looking men in suits? And Marci? My heart sank. Dad had trusted her.
I
had trusted her.

~~~~~

Unable to think, I simply walked. Straight through campus. I found myself at the entrance of the Arboretum—the site of my first date with Jack. I sat on a bench off to the side, behind some evergreens, but with a perfect view of the parking lot. I placed my head between my knees. I was hyperventilating, suffering a panic attack, or something.

“Get it together,” I whispered to myself. My thoughts raced. It seemed that the same black SUV that had run Jack and me off the road the night of our first date was after me again. Jack and I had barely known each other five seconds before people started stalking me and trying to kill us.

And how cliché. Was it a requirement that bad government people had to drive dark SUVs? Maybe it was normal for big scary vehicles to pull up on the curb of a coffee shop in the middle of a college campus.

I lifted my head and smoothed my hair behind my ears. A couple of moms with their giggling toddlers passed in front of me. I smiled at their innocence before an uncontrollable sob escaped my throat.

Calm the hell down, Lexi
, I berated myself.
Think
.

My phone vibrated with a text from Jack.
“Plz, let me know ur ok. Going crazy.”

He still cared. He just thought I was a liar. I typed back,
“I’m fine.”

Immediately, my phone rang. I declined Jack’s call. What would I tell him? He wasn’t even in a position to help me. He had things he needed to do.

I needed to slow my rapid pulse. Find a place to stay while I read through more of Dad’s journals and waited for Jack to secure Addison’s safety. I also needed to discover more information about Jack’s so-called friend, Jonas.

One of the Arboretum’s gardeners watered the flowerbeds in front of me. I breathed in the scent of the wet soil and the mums blooming in a pot beside the bench. My heart rate was finally slowing down. I was safe for now, but it was still early in the day.

Jack texted,
“Check front page of Lexington newspaper. Not good. Re: Marci. Call me. Plz.”

No sign of big, bad SUVs in the parking lot. Everything seemed normal around me. Quiet, even. So I ventured toward the visitors’ center. Mostly workers, walkers, and some mothers with their children strolled through the gardens.

The visitors’ center was quiet. A lady behind the desk looked up when I approached. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, ma’am. Do you happen to have a copy of today’s paper I could peek at for a second?”

She searched the desk, and then bent down to look under the counter. “I just threw it away.” She handed me the folded bundle. “You can have it.”

“Thanks.”

Once I was back outside, I unfolded the sections, looking for the front page. I knew I had found it the minute I saw the picture. The headline read: Local Reporter Found Murdered On UK Campus. I stared at the headline and the picture under it in disbelief. My fingers grazed the outline of the woman’s face.

Tears pooled in my eyes. Oh, Marci.

Somebody had killed her. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered to no one through quiet sobs.

Beside the picture of Marci was another photograph, this one of a man. The caption read, “Dr. Jeremy Porter of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture named as a person of interest in the case.”

I stared at the picture for a few seconds. “It can’t be,” I mumbled.

The picture was a man similar in age to my father, but who looked just like Jonas.

~~~~~

I called Jack immediately. “What does this mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“Marci was so scared of something the last time we talked. Does Jonas know about this Dr. Jeremy Porter person?”

“I don’t know,” Jack said again, his voice low, but unable to hide his frustration with so many unknowns. “Please just tell me you’re somewhere safe.”

I had no idea whether I was safe. “I’m okay.” I looked around at the still-blooming flowers and fought back tears. Where could I possibly go? A couple of hummingbirds flitted in front of me, drinking from a feeder. I remembered my first date with Jack. My life had already turned complicated, even then, with the death of my father. But Jack was the one calming force that had gotten me through it, insisting that we do things normal teenagers did.

“I’m sorry. I never should have left you.” Jack’s voice was quiet.

“Of course you should have. Are you at the school yet?”

“We’re in Midland.”

“What are you planning? Are you just going to drive right back into Wellington?”

“No. We’re meeting Cathy and Roger in town. Somewhere a little more public.”

“What do you hope will happen, Jack? That Mommy Dearest will hug you with open arms and tell you everything is going to be just fine?” I knew the sarcasm in my voice had to bite.

“Is that so much to ask?”

No, it wasn’t. “Just unrealistic.”

“Cathy needs us, Lexi. She’s never tried to hurt me.”

“Just like Jonas has never meant you harm?”

“Jonas has never hurt me. Quite the opposite, really.”

“What does that mean?”

“Jonas was the one who pulled us out of the car the night we were chased off the road. My car would have gone up in flames with you in it had it not been for Jonas.” Jack’s voice cracked a little. “He wouldn’t hurt us, Lexi.”

I squeezed the bridge of my nose. What Jack was telling me didn’t make sense. How could I tell him that Jonas wanted me to stab him with a huge knife just this morning? “What if Jonas pulled us out of the vehicle because he needed me for something?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, Jack,” I said, exasperated. “But your mistrust in me is starting to piss me off.”

Suddenly, as if summoned, Jonas’s presence slithered into my head.
I could have told you he wouldn’t believe you, Lexi.

His voice made me jump.
Shit! What do you want, Jonas?

Such language, Lexi. We’ll get to why I need you. First, get rid of Jack.

“Lexi, I trust you,” Jack said. “I just think we need more info.”

“Jack, I have to go.”

“Wait. You haven’t told me where you are. How will I find you?”

“Don’t worry about me. Call me later, when you’re done with your
dear mother
. And, Jack, be careful. Don’t let that woman inject you with something again.”

“I’m ready for her.”

Whatever
that
meant. Jack told me to be careful and hung up.

I stood and started to slide my phone in my back pocket, when Jonas mindspoke again.
Turn it off, Lexi. They found you the first time because you texted Marci. They’re tracking you.

I jerked my head toward the parking lot, scared he was right. And there they were. Two suits climbed out of the SUV; one carried a strange-looking gun in his right hand. A gun with a silencer, maybe, or a tranquilizer gun.