Project Integrate Series Boxed Set

by Campbell, Jamie

  “No, what is it?” Garrick took a step to stand beside me, just as curious as I was.

  I unfolded the single piece of paper, noticing there was something written inside. When I ran my eyes over the message, I audibly gasped.

  CHAPTER 22

  The message wasn’t signed by anyone and I didn’t recognize the hasty scrawl. The paper itself was torn from a wire bound notebook, blue ruled lines crossed the page.

  I read it for the fifth time, it never got any better seeing the words. By the time Garrick took it from my hands, I had memorized each of the letters.

  Don’t go to the Department, it’s a trap. Stay away.

  “This has got to be a joke,” Garrick muttered.

  “Someone was here,” I replied, searching around the small trailer to see if there was anything else disturbed or missing. Lochie’s laptop was there, at least they hadn’t stolen the only valuable thing in the place.

  Garrick seemed to be as dumbfounded as I was. “Nobody besides Kyle knows we have the meeting with the Department. And I know he wouldn’t leave the note.”

  “Kyle wants to see us.”

  “Great, just what we need.”

  I took the slip of paper back. “I don’t think we should tell Kyle about this. He needs us to go to the meeting, he won’t take kindly to anyone trying to stop us attending.”

  “Agreed,” he nodded. “This stays between us.”

  “He said it was urgent we see him. Do you think this place will be okay?” I hated the thought of someone we didn’t know being in our home. It may only be a rented trailer, but it was ours for the time being. We didn’t have much else we could say that about.

  Garrick surveyed the room before he replied. “They could have taken anything before. They wouldn’t come back just to steal something. We should go.”

  I silently followed him out, triple checking the lock on the door before I joined him in the car. The note had made my hands shake as I considered the implications of the message.

  So someone knew we were meeting with the Department. The list of people that had knowledge of our appointment was minimal. I only had Garrick, myself, and Kyle on the list. I couldn’t imagine the Department telling a great deal of people about it. High level negotiations between them and Trucon were probably classified up to the highest clearance level.

  If it was someone within the Department, why would they warn us about it? They obviously knew where we were hiding, why not just come and get us before the meeting? That way they wouldn’t have to explain setting a trap to our leaders. They might be able to avoid a diplomatic incident.

  But why would they want to warn us about the trap? We already suspected it was such, but nobody on our side apart from Kyle knew we were going there.

  Unless it was another alien spy? Kyle had said he wasn’t the only one, that there were forty in total spread around the place. What about if another one had knowledge of our meeting and didn’t think we should go?

  But, then again, how did they even know where to find us? Kyle and Lochie were the only ones who knew of our trailer. I knew Lochie wouldn’t have told anyone, even if he was incredibly mad at me.

  That just left Kyle. Garrick and I had been guarded in the information we shared with him, but it was difficult keeping our trailer from him. We trusted him to a degree, he had won us over and proved himself worthy. But he was the best suspect for betraying our location.

  Yet Kyle wouldn’t have been the one to leave us the message, I was certain of that. He knew what was hinging on the Department meeting. If we didn’t attend and the negotiations didn’t go well, then Trucon was stuffed. Earth was probably stuffed too in that situation. Kyle knew we had to go there and he trusted the leaders to ensure our safety.

  The thoughts only swirled around in my head until they started hurting. The creases on Garrick’s forehead told me he was probably having the same trouble. If we were on better terms, we might have been able to talk it over in detail like we used to. Our argument had seen to ensuring that didn’t happen.

  The moment we were through Kyle’s front door, he practically pushed us into the plastic chairs in his living room. He paced frantically in front of us, a bundle of nerves. Anyone would think he was the one who was preparing to walk into a trap that would ensure his death.

  “Kyle, what is it? You’re scaring me,” I said.

  “I’ve just been at an emergency meeting with the Originals. It’s happening, they’re doing it.”

  “Doing what? What’s happening?” Garrick asked. I felt like shaking Kyle to see if he could start making sense again. “Just calm down and tell us.”

  He stopped pacing which was an improvement but his hands were still flapping about like he was a bird about to take flight. “Remember how I told you the Originals were planning something big? Something they had been working on for years?” We nodded. “It’s coming. By the end of the month, they’ll be ready for it.”

  “What have they got planned?” I asked. If Kyle was worried about something, then it was something worth worrying about.

  “I don’t know,” he said with a grunt, as if it was the most frustrating thing in the world. “I have begged for them to let me into the inner circle. I told them I wanted to serve the human race but they still shut me out.”

  “You don’t think they know what you are, do you?” Garrick asked, the thought occurring to him as he cocked his head to the side. “They could be using you just like you’re using them? They haven’t seen your triangle mark, have they?”

  “They were prepared to use Lochie like that,” I added. “They planned on using him as bait to get to me.”

  Kyle shook his head vehemently. “They have no way of knowing I’m an alien. Of course I would never let them see my mark, I always wear a long sleeved shirt to the meetings. It’s more like they only have a handful of people in their inner circle and don’t trust anyone else to keep their secret.”

  “How are you going to stop them if you don’t even know what they’re up to?” I asked. I guessed on the plus side of walking into a trap, we wouldn’t be around to see the fallout of the Originals’ plan.

  “I don’t know, but I have to work it out. We only have a few weeks before it all goes down. For the first time since I got to Earth, I’m stumped.”

  “Can our leaders advise you? Maybe do something to help?”

  “I’ve opened the communications line but they are hesitant to do anything before they know the outcome of the meeting with the Department. They don’t want to make a move until they’ve squared everything away with the project.”

  Somehow, it all hinged on Garrick and I again. Whoever’s idea it was to put so much on the shoulders of two seventeen year olds was seriously misguided. Perhaps teenagers were smarter on Trucon than they were on Earth? If that was the case, they should have done their research first.

  “What about if I handed myself over to the Originals?” Garrick asked in the silence. Both Kyle and I shot around to stare at him, barely believing what he just said.

  “That’s ridiculous!” I cried out, much louder than I intended.

  “It’s a suicide mission,” Kyle added.

  “If the Department doesn’t get me, then the Originals will. Why not sacrifice myself? It might help us work out what they are planning.” Garrick spoke with such calmness that it only made me angry. After everything we had fought for, everything we had done for our freedom, to just give up? Offer himself up on a platter? Ugh, I wanted to kill him myself.

  “They’re not going to tell you what they’re up to,” I shot back, unable to keep the anger at bay. “They’ll just kill you. Or, even worse, keep you around to make you a sacrificial lamb when they’re ready. Don’t pretend like you’d be doing something noble. You’d only be doing it for selfish reasons.”

  “I’m selfish?” At least his calmness was now gone. His anger made me believe he still had feelings underneath it all. “I’m selfish? I’ve been doing nothing but fight for our people m
y entire life. It’s cost me everything, my freedom, my friends, my-. And I’m selfish?”

  His words caught me by surprise. He was so obviously talking about his adoptive parents and I didn’t mean to rub salt into that wound. Still, he couldn’t act like we had already lost. We still needed to fight. I needed him to fight.

  “Guys!” Kyle interrupted. “Nobody is doing anything stupid. No matter what the Originals are planning, it doesn’t change your meeting with the Department. If that goes well, the Department will be able to help us fight the Originals. Okay? No suicide missions.”

  I would have laughed if I wasn’t so upset, like the meeting wasn’t a suicide mission in itself. Kyle really didn’t have a clue about how the Department really worked. He had never dealt with them firsthand, it wasn’t his fault so I couldn’t blame him for his blind optimism.

  I stomped away from the living room, muttering something about needing water. I needed to be away from Garrick for a moment so I could think straight again. I wished we could go back to the time when we didn’t have to argue about everything. Those were the days.

  Kyle’s house was the scene of the crime, the moment when everything had gone downhill between us. With that single kiss Garrick planted on my lips, something completely shifted. We hadn’t been the same since. And that was totally his fault too.

  I poured a glass of water and drank it slowly, trying to calm my shaking hands. Footsteps approached from behind, my entire body tensed at the thought of it being Garrick.

  “It’s all a bit difficult, isn’t it?” The voice belonged to Kyle, I relaxed a little. But only a little.

  I spun around to face him, unwilling to have the conversation with the wall. “Garrick makes it difficult. He just wants to give up.”

  “I don’t think it’s that,” Kyle said gently. “I think it’s more that he’s scared. We all are. Nobody knows what’s going to happen, we’re in unchartered territory. Some people react differently to fear. You fight through it, he tries to find an alternative course. Everyone’s different.”

  Even though he sounded reasonable, it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I wanted him to get just as angry with Garrick as I was. Not so understanding.

  “Amery, you have to be patient with him,” Kyle finished.

  “He kills my patience.”

  “I know. But it will all be over soon, you don’t have much longer before the meeting.”

  I lowered my voice even though we were already speaking low. “What would happen if we didn’t go to the meeting?”

  “Are you thinking of backing out?” He shot back at me straight away, his eyes open with surprise.

  I shook my head in case I couldn’t lie to him. “I’m asking out of curiosity only. How bad would it be?” My thoughts flashed back to the note left in our trailer, it made me shudder.

  “The meeting is our last shot at being able to resolve the situation peacefully. If it doesn’t go ahead, it’s unlikely the Department will agree to another one. If the project doesn’t recommence…”

  I could fill in the blanks. “Then it means our people will never be able to come to Earth.”

  “Or our leaders will have no other choice except to integrate by force. It could plunge our planets into a bloody war.”

  “So no pressure then,” I joked. It was all I could do not to cry.

  Kyle regarded me cautiously, for so long I started to squirm under his gaze. “If you don’t think you can do this, I can go in your place. I can try to clear it with our leaders, try to convince them I would be better suited.”

  “You can’t, they aren’t supposed to know anything about you.”

  “I don’t have to reveal who I am, just that I am authorized to speak on our leaders’ behalf”

  I shook my head, refusing to even entertain the idea. If the Department knew spies like Kyle were on Earth, they would have a valid reason not to continue with the project. I didn’t want to give them any fuel to add to the fire. They couldn’t have an excuse to abandon our people.

  Not to mention the fact we needed Kyle on the outside. If Garrick and I were detained, then we had to be sure there was someone with the ability to tell our leaders what was going on. He would be our only lifeline.

  “It’s okay,” I started, sounding surer than I had all day. “Garrick and I can do it. Even if that means dragging Garrick the whole way.”

  “He’ll snap out of whatever he’s in.” I wasn’t so sure, but it was no use discussing it any further. Hopefully everything would look better after he had some time to sulk. Space was the only thing I could give Garrick.

  “Kyle, at the Originals meeting earlier, was there a guy called Lochie there?” I asked, purposefully changing the subject. I wished I had a photo to show him.

  “I don’t think so, what does he look like?”

  “He’s about this tall.” I placed my hand about half a foot above my head. “Blue eyes, caramel colored hair, my age?”

  Kyle pursed his lips as he thought about it. Finally, he shook his head. “I don’t think so. All the usual people were there but some were missing. I’ve heard whispers about some people being afraid of what is planned. They’re worried the big shots are going to take their mission too far.”

  I hoped Lochie wasn’t there, not when he was in such a mood anyway. A seventeen year old boy with a short fuse and hot temper was like a grenade with a loose key. “I would have thought the members of the Originals would be keen to do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of the human race?”

  “Some are keener than others.”

  “Could that fear be leveraged?” I asked, my mind already thinking of ways to bring the Originals down. Kyle was a smart man infiltrating the organization.

  “I’m working on it,” he assured me.

  CHAPTER 23

  The rain on the trailer’s roof was as noisy as a saw cutting through wood. The droplets pounded on the metal like a symphony of tiny hammers. It was the only noise in the small trailer.

  Garrick was sulking, watching television and refusing to participate in a conversation. Not that I really tried to engage him in one. I put his bad mood down to his parents leaving him on top of everything else that was going on and left him alone.

  I was on Lochie’s laptop, using the wi-fi to visit the message boards dedicated to conspiracy theories. It was where I had met Hayden and a few other people who had helped me during my quest for freedom.

  I started a new thread. The handwritten warning note telling us not to go to the Department was on the table beside me. I believed the meeting was a trap, just like the words said. That meant I might not have much time to do anything about it, especially considering tomorrow was the seventh – D Day.

  On the message board thread, I gave the address of a place that was supposed to be keeping teenagers secretly stashed away in captivity. I didn’t say why they were being held there, anyone reading it would be able to make up their own theory.

  The point was that I got word out about the complex. If I wasn’t going to be around to free all the other members of the project, I wanted someone to know they were there. And the visitors to the message boards never let their curiosity go unsatisfied. I knew at least one of them would have to visit the site and see what was going on.

  If I was to end up back there, I hoped one of them would come looking. If anything, the conspiracy theorists were true to the cause. They sought the truth and they rarely gave up because it was too difficult. The guards surrounding the building would only stoke their burning curiosity.

  Before I got a chance to leave the thread, I was already getting replies.

  What’s there?

  Why are they holding them?

  Who are they?

  How do you know?

  The questions could have kept me there all afternoon and into the evening. I typed a simple message back to cover all the posts:

  I don’t know any details, just the address. There’s a huge building complex there, guarded around the clock. The
y’re keeping something from us, something big.

  I left the thread and started going through some others, to keep my mind occupied more than anything else. Garrick was watching a football match on television, not my kind of thing.

  Nobody had any new alien theories. Obviously the Originals didn’t think to spread the word of their cause on message boards. They really should have, they would probably double their membership numbers. People loved jumping on a bandwagon.

  “What are you doing?” Garrick asked during an ad break in the game.

  “Passing time.”

  “This rain is killing the TV signal.”

  “If that’s your biggest concern then I guess we can all go home.” I meant it as a joke but it didn’t come out right. Clearly, Garrick thought the same.

  “You think I’m not worried about the meeting tomorrow? Just because I’m enjoying watching the game and feeling normal for an hour?”

  “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  He shot me a glare with his burning eyes. “Yeah, sure you didn’t.”

  “I really didn’t, I’m sorry.”

  A thundercloud clapped somewhere overhead, making the walls of the trailer shake. I jumped with the sudden noise, wishing the rain would just go away already.

  “You’re not sorry,” he muttered.

  “Why don’t you just go back to sulking? I think I like it better when you’re giving me the silent treatment,” I threw back at him, my anger levels rising again. Why couldn’t he just accept my apology? I didn’t mean to sound snarky and I had tried to fix it.

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You like being in control of everything.”

  Where did that even come from? I didn’t have control of anything, I didn’t even have the remote control for the television. Obviously I had done something to upset him and I really didn’t care what it was at that point.