The Secret (The Scinegue Series Book 1) (25 page)

“I just don’t understand why anyone would spend so much time and effort attempting to change the Tops opinions—which I doubt would be easy to change. Couldn’t they just go work for a company that does share their goals?”

“Uncle Bill only alluded to it, but it sounds like the reason they try to take control of Scinegue is because Scinegue has power and resources that no other company has.”

Sarah tried to envision what those powers and resources might entail. She rubbed a hand over her face and looked up at Billy. “What do you think we should do now?”

“There’s another bedroom over here. I think we should get a couple of hours of rest and see if Uncle Bill has heard anything from Radcliffe by then.”

“I’m worried about Ritchie,” Sarah sighed as she walked to the guest room. “I know he’s technically an adult, but I picture him as a tall little boy. He shouldn’t be seeing people getting killed and hiding out in fear for his life.”

Billy sat on the edge of the guest bed and tugged off his shoes before lying back on top of the comforter. “I know. There must be a way to help him. If Mr. Radcliffe is really on our side he’ll help somehow. He seems to have all kinds of connections.”

“And if he isn’t on our side?” Sarah asked wearily, lying on the bed next to Billy.

He reached over to hold her hand and murmured, “Uncle Bill is very confident in him. Hopefully he’s right.” And they both drifted off to sleep.

F
armer Dan held a dainty white flower and patiently ran the fine bristles of a tiny brush over it. As she watched, a glistening drop of red splashed against the pristine petals staining them crimson. The first drop was followed by a second and the second by a third. The flower became a vibrant red and Sarah turned her questioning gaze to Farmer Dan.

Farmer Dan slowly shifted his attention from the flower in his hand to meet her eyes. His expression was calm but sad. Blood flowed from a single hole in the center of his forehead.

Sarah jerked awake with a scream trying to tear from her throat. She fought back a choked sob as tears streamed from the corners of her eyes. Farmer Dan had seemed so real—so alive—and she ached anew for all the senseless deaths surrounding her.

Sunlight peeked between the curtains and filled the room with a warm, golden glow and Sarah bolted upright. “Billy, wake up!” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks then struggled to pull her cell phone out of her jeans pocket to check the time.

“Billy!” She grabbed his arm and gave him a shake before jumping out of bed and rushing to the window to push the curtains aside. The sun was shining on a meticulously maintained yard. “It’s morning! We slept the whole night!”

Billy rolled out of bed, rubbing his eyes and then his head as a headache threatened. “We should’ve set an alarm,” he replied groggily. “I’m going to find out if Uncle Bill has talked to Radcliffe yet.”

Billy slipped on his shoes and jogged to his uncle’s room while Sarah checked her phone for new messages. Not having any, she could only pray that Ritchie was safe. She struggled to push away the remnants of her terrible dream and heard Billy call her from across the apartment.

She rushed to join him and found him staring at an empty bed.

“He’s gone. The bed is made and there’s no sign of him or the nurse.”

“Not him too!” She gave Billy a desperate look. “Do you think he’s with Radcliffe?” Sarah glanced around the room and a flash from the bedside table caught her eye. “What’s this?” she asked, walking over to pick up a man’s ring with a red stone in the center. “Look! There’s another one.” She picked up a smaller lady’s sized ring with a matching stone.

Billy took the larger ring and turned it around, trying to find an inscription or any type of clue about the owner’s identity.

“Was your uncle wearing a ring?” Sarah asked as she scrutinized the smaller ring.

Billy tried to picture his uncle’s hands as he lay in the bed. “No.” He shook his head with his eyes tightly closed trying to remember. “I’m positive he wasn’t wearing a ring. And certainly not two. I don’t think that one would even fit him.” He took the smaller ring from Sarah and tried to put it on his own finger and shook his head again. “No way was he wearing this.”

He handed the ring back to Sarah and she slipped it on her own finger. It went on easily, as if it was made just for her. Her head jerked up and she met Billy’s eyes. “Do you hear that?” she asked excitedly.

Billy strained to hear anything. “No. What do you hear?”

“It’s your uncle. He’s asking if I’m here. I’m here Uncle Bill! Where are you?” She spun around expecting to see him behind her, he sounded so close.

She looked at Billy and then at her ring. “He wants you to put on your ring.” She watched Billy wide-eyed as he turned the ring over on his palm, inspecting it closely. “He says to hurry, please.”

Billy pushed the ring on his ring finger surprised at the perfect fit. Instantly he could hear his uncle. “Do you have it on yet?”

This time Billy spun around looking for the source of the voice. “Where are you?” he repeated Sarah’s question. “It sounds like you’re standing right next to me.”

“No time for that now. I’m going to add Oliver. He has some news that should please you.”

Billy watched as Sarah raced around the room checking in closets and under the bed, finally looking at him and shaking her head with a shrug of her shoulders. The room was empty. No people, no speakers, nothing that would allow Uncle Bill to talk to them as if he was there. She slipped her ring off.

“Sarah, put it back on. You need to hear this,” Billy told her.

Sarah slipped the ring on in time to hear Mr. Radcliffe’s voice. “He is with us now. We were able to locate him when he attempted to call his sister.”

“Ritchie?” Sarah cried. “You’re with Ritchie? Is he all right?”

“Sarah, yes, your brother is perfectly fine. He is helping us access the companies he hacked. We were too late on the first one I am afraid. They already used the altered formula to produce many batches of their product. We are doing what we can to contain the product. So far, none of the other companies appear to have used the altered formulas. We will know more once we have been able to access them all.”

“Ritchie already tried to get back into those companies online and couldn’t. He said they put up better security or something,” Sarah stated in confusion.

“He has found ways around that. Your brother is very good with computers. If he is interested, I believe he would make a wonderful addition to the company. He is very bright.”

“Is Ritchie there? Can I talk to him?” Sarah asked.

“He says to tell you he is fine but too busy to talk right now. He said to tell you not to worry about him.”

Sarah sighed her relief even as she wondered why he couldn’t spare half a minute to speak to her.

“Uncle Bill? Are you still there?” Billy asked, feeling odd to be talking to an empty bedroom.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Are you okay? Where did you go? I know you were starting to feel better last night, but are you sure you should be out of bed?”

Uncle Bill laughed. “I feel wonderful. A healthy body that is properly nourished is an amazing thing. We were made to heal, and in most cases, to heal quickly. The monitor I showed you is able to help us fine-tune our exact needs, which means our bodies always have the tools they need to work properly.”

“I’m glad you’re better. What should Sarah and I be doing now?” He remembered Sarah’s words from the night before. “We would really like to go back home.”

“Going home is a good idea. I’ll make the arrangements for you. Keep your rings on at all times for now. It may be critical for us to contact you.”

“Can we contact you with the rings? Do you dial a number somehow like a phone?” Billy asked, studying the ring.

Uncle Bill laughed but not unkindly. “No numbers, just think of who you would like to contact to reach us.”

“That’s amazing. How does that work? Can you listen in on what we say without us knowing?”

“Oh, Billy,” Uncle Bill sighed. “I hope we will be able to sit down at leisure soon. Scinegue has made some wonderful advancements over the years, and I would enjoy sharing them with you. For now the short answer is no. It is hard to explain. You will know if someone is trying to contact you. No one can listen to what you say without your knowledge.”

He returned to the more pressing subject, “Right now it is crucial that we focus on stopping whoever is trying to redefine Scinegue. We’ve been in contact with the other Tops and have found this uprising to be worldwide, but have not been able to pinpoint any involvement from any Tops. Although many groups have the same beliefs and desires as the group that has infiltrated us, they don’t have the ability to carry them out. With Scinegue’s resources at their disposal, however, their wicked desires could easily become reality.”

Uncle Bill paused for a moment. “Billy, I really think you can help us find out who is involved in this plot against us. We’ll contact you when we know more.”

Everything was suddenly silent. Billy and Sarah looked at each other. “Do you think they can still hear us?” Sarah asked quietly, looking down at the ring on her finger.

“I’m not sure. I guess it must have a microphone and speaker in it.”

“Should we take the rings off and put them in something soundproof so we can be sure no one’s listening?”

“I think we should leave them on for now, in case they try to contact us again. Uncle Bill said no one could listen without us knowing. We’re going to have to trust him.”

“They could just call on the phone like normal humans.”

“You know how easy a phone call can be tapped. I’m sure they’ve made communications through these rings secure somehow. They certainly didn’t seem worried about what they said.”

Sarah twisted the ring on her finger. “All right. We just have to remember we have them on and to not say anything we don’t want heard.”

Billy agreed, “Okay, but I’m starving. Want to see if there is anything to eat in the kitchen before we have to leave?”

Her stomach was tight with nerves, and images from her dream of Farmer Dan kept hitting her unexpectedly. What she wanted to do was go back to bed and curl into a ball under the covers until the world was normal again. Instead she nodded firmly and hooked her arm through Billy’s as he walked to the kitchen.

“
I
feel better,” Sarah announced, refreshed from her shower and wrapped in a plush navy bathrobe.

“Me too,” Billy replied from their large walk-in closet as he finished dressing for work.

“Are you sure you have to go to the office right now? Couldn’t it wait until later?” Sarah coaxed from the corner of the bed where she sat with one leg tucked under her. “I think we’ve both earned some time off.”

Billy stepped out of the closet looking handsome in a dark suit. He pointed to his ring. “You know I have to go.” Uncle Bill contacted him during their flight home and laid out the plan that was even now being implemented, and Billy’s part in it.

Sarah rolled her eyes and nodded. She knew he was right, but it was frustrating to never be able to speak freely for fear someone was listening.

“I’m going to visit Linda Brown this morning, then. I feel terrible for deserting her after the shooting.”

Billy walked over and took Sarah’s hands, pulling her from the bed and into his arms. He lowered his head close to her ear. “Be careful. You know these people will stop at nothing to ensure their plans aren’t upset.”

Sarah nodded against his chest. He didn’t have to tell her twice. She couldn’t put the images of the shooting out of her mind for long. All of those people just lying on the greenhouse floor. And that awful man talking to her afterwards. She shuddered and hugged Billy tightly before letting go.

Her eyes held a hint of fire as she tiptoed up to kiss his cheek and whispered in his ear, “Go stop this thing.”

“
G
ood morning, Mr. Roth. Welcome back from your trip.”

Billy stopped at the receptionist’s desk. “Good morning, Ms. Sinclair. It’s good to be back. Do you have any messages or directives for me today?”

“Not yet, sir. Mr. Bryant asked that I let him know when you arrived so you might be hearing from him soon. He wanted to meet you at the airport himself but had a meeting that detained him. Oh, and you did receive a package this morning. I left it on your desk.” Not meeting his eyes, Ms. Sinclair turned abruptly to busy herself with paperwork on her desk.

“Thank you.” Billy frowned slightly, wondering at her obviously somber mood before he hurried toward his office. He had some research to do and hoped the package would contain what he needed to get started on it.

He admired his office again as he stepped through the door. The dark woods and large, life-like paintings, and of course the amazing view of the fountain and atrium. If things weren’t so confused right now he was sure he could really enjoy working in an environment like this. He had no time to waste, though.

Once his uncle and Mr. Radcliffe were alerted to what was going on, they discovered the plot had already permeated all levels of the company and was at the point of being implemented at any moment.

Billy opened the small box on his desk and pulled out the supplies his uncle told him about. One he was able to plug into the USB port on his computer to prevent it from being accessed from the outside. He guessed it was from the same source as the one Linda Brown gave Sarah for their home computer.

The next item he pulled out of the box was a small water fountain. According to the box it was supposed to be relaxing. Billy glanced at the huge fountain in the atrium behind him with a smirk; not much of a comparison.

He followed the directions, filled it with some water from the bathroom and soon had the mini fountain flowing on his desk. He watched it with a raised brow. Uncle Bill said it should disrupt any audio transmitters in the room and give Billy a bit more privacy. He wasn’t sure how such a tiny thing could do that, but he trusted Uncle Bill knew what he was talking about.

His first priority was contacting ‘Bob’. If he could just find out his real name he should be able to find him. Computer secure, he typed in ‘Bob’s’ home address and was able to access Scinegue personnel files to find his real name. Stanley Bennett. He stared at the name and remembered their first meeting and how far out the claims ‘Bob’ made had sounded.

Well, Stanley Bennett, you and I have much to discuss so we better start right now before anything else can sidetrack me,
Billy decided.