The Complex (The Omega Protocol Chronicles Book 3)

by Courtney McPhail

  The others laughed and Jackson found himself joining them without realizing it. Seeing the little girl making jokes was like a soothing balm for his soul. For days now, he’d been twisted up with worry but now he could finally let some of them go.

  Still, there was a single dark cloud hanging over him. Veronica.

  As if Hannah could read his thoughts, she tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. “Where’s Veronica?”

  Jackson glanced at Quinton, looking for some help here but Quinton shook his head. He was right. He couldn’t pawn the questions off on someone else. It was Jackson’s job to tell her.

  “She was real tired so she’s takin’ a nap,” Jackson said. “She’ll come see ya when she’s all rested up.”

  Hannah settled back against the pillows. “I’m real tired too.”

  She seemed to deflate like a balloon, alert and excited only a moment before but now her eyes were drooping closed. Jackson shot a concerned look at Quinton but he waved it away.

  “They’re all low on energy and get tired out a lot faster,” Quinton said. “It’s just part of the healing process. Don’t worry about it.”

  Hannah’s eyes drifted closed as she slipped off to sleep, soft little snores puffing out of her open mouth. Jackson glanced over at Craig, who looked just as tired, slowly spooning soup from the bowl on the tray over his lap. Matthew and Mark were still asleep, all their talking doing nothing to rouse them. Okay, yeah, it made sense they’d be like that.

  Audrey looked at Jackson, her face serious. “What happened to Veronica?”

  “Like I said, she’s tired.”

  “Bullshit. She’d be here no matter how tired she was. I know something bad happened to you guys out there. Tell me the truth.”

  Jackson debated what to do. He wanted to shield her from the worst of the world but he also knew that she was bound to overhear something. She was a good little eavesdropper and when she wanted to know something, she’d find it out. It was better if she heard the truth from him rather than gossip.

  “Another group found Veronica and the others and took ‘em. They hurt her. She’s gonna be okay but she’s gotta rest up and heal for a while.”

  “Why did they hurt her?”

  “‘Cause they weren’t good people. They just wanna hurt anybody they can.”

  “But why? Why would people be like that?”

  He wished he had an answer for her but it was an age old question that didn’t have an answer. She had to learn that.

  “Don’t know,” he admitted. “That’s the thing ‘bout the world. We don’t know why people do bad things. Lots of people try to figure it out. Bad childhood, abuse, addiction, but there’s all sorts who went through the same thing and turn out to be good people.”

  “Like you,” she said.

  “Whatddya mean?”

  She gave him a guilty look. “I’ve heard the others talking. You’ve been in jail.”

  He hated that the girl knew his secret. He’d hoped he’d be able to keep the girls in the dark about his past. Now he had no choice but to come clean.

  “That’s true. I did a bad thing and I went to prison for it.”

  “What did you do?” she asked.

  “Robbed a store and shot the man who worked there.”

  “Why were you robbing the store? Did you need the money?”

  He shook his head. “Nah, I just wanted the money. See, I was addicted to drugs. Made lotta bad decisions then and did lotta bad things. I learned though, realized that if I made bad decisions, I’d be a bad person so I started makin’ good decisions.”

  “And you turned out to be a good person,” she said with a smile. “You did some bad things but now you’re a good person because you chose to do good things. Maybe the other people can do the same.”

  Jackson shook his head. “Don’t know ‘bout that.”

  “You never know,” Audrey said and her optimism scared him instead of reassuring him.

  That sort of naiveté would hurt her in this world. Quinton had said she was strong but she wasn’t prepared. She needed to know the truth of what sort of people could be out there.

  “There are some people beyond hope,” he told her. “When she’s awake, we’ll go see Veronica. She’ll wanna talk to ya.”

  Veronica might not want the girls to see her injured but Audrey needed to see it. They couldn’t shield her anymore. She needed to know exactly the threats that existed out there. It would be the only way she’d stay alive now.

  Subject File #760

  Subject: I’m sorry I doubted you. I feel like an ass.

  Administrator: It’s fine. I didn’t take any offence.

  Subject: Do you really think you can help her?

  Administrator: I do but I think it’s going to be an uphill battle.

  “Everything looks okay,” Lorraine said, turning off the penlight she had been shining in Travis’ eyes. He blinked a few times, letting his eyes adjust to the dim interior of the clinic. “Pupils reacting normally. No nausea right?”

  “None,” Travis said. “In fact, I’m pretty hungry.”

  “Good sign,” she said. “The wound on your head isn’t deep enough for stitches. I cleaned it and it should heal on its own.”

  She pulled off her gloves with a snap and tossed them into the trashcan. “You’re clear to go. Food should be ready in the lodge. Raquel and Kim have been making sure we’re all fed despite the crazy hours we’ve been keeping.”

  “How’s Jenny been doing?”

  “Fine, I think,” Lorraine replied. “I haven’t seen her since you left but I haven’t been out of the clinic much since you guys left. I know Kim and Angela were checking in on her though.”

  He thanked Lorraine and left the clinic for the lodge, where he found the dining room occupied by nearly everyone on the island. Those who had stayed behind were eating with those who had returned but there wasn’t much in the way of conversation happening.

  It made sense. There were no good stories to be told about their time on the mainland and the tension as the others waited here for them to return wasn’t much of a story. Everyone was simply content to share a quiet meal together.

  He searched the gathered faces for Jenny and frowned when he couldn’t find her in the dining room. Was she still on her feet, working in the kitchen? She had to stop that. She was getting close to giving birth and she needed to take it easy.

  Except the kitchen was empty when he glanced through the serving window. Where was she?

  His heart jumped when he turned around and found Angela standing behind him, her hands clasped together in front of her.

  “Travis, there’s something I need to discuss with you.”

  “Is Jenny okay?” he asked, his heart beginning to race as fear slithered through him.

  “Physically, yes,” Angela said. “I‘m worried about her mental health. Why don’t we take a walk over to see her? We can talk on the way.”

  He forgot about being hungry and followed Angela out of the lodge. “What is it?”

  “Well, normally I wouldn’t be speaking about this with you,” Angela began, “I do believe in confidentiality, however, I feel that this might fall under the ‘danger to herself’ clause. She hasn’t come out of her cabin since you left. In fact, she refuses to come out.”

  “Why?”

  “She is afraid of getting sick.”

  He remembered Jenny’s freak out when they’d first learned about the meningitis. Now it made sense and the fear that had gripped him since Angela approached faded away.

  “I talked to her about that before I left. See, she wanted to leave the island. She was terrified that she or the baby would get sick. It was just a hormonal moment. After I talked her down, I told her that she should stay away from anybody who had been around Craig or the kids. She’s just making sure she doesn’t get sick.”

  “And if she was handling it sensibly, I wouldn’t even be talking to you, but it’s gone beyond sensible. She’s been hoarding f
ood. We found her compulsively cleaning the cabin and the things she was saying concerns me. She’s suffering from an acute case of germaphobia. Maybe OCD as well. Has she ever shown any signs of this behaviour before?”

  Travis began to shake his head but then he remembered their senior year of high school. He hadn’t thought about it in years.

  “When we were seniors, she was under a lot of stress. She was studying for SATs and in a bunch of clubs and other extracurriculars. She was pushing herself too hard and she had a bit of a breakdown. Her parents had her see a therapist. I never got all the details about what happened but she got help and was back to normal before the end of the year.”

  Angela frowned. “She never mentioned that in our sessions. So this may be brought on by stress.”

  “What do you need me to do?” he asked.

  “The best thing would be to convince her to leave the cabin,” she said. “There might be a chance she’ll believe you if you tell her it’s safe. I tried and she made all the right responses but she still won’t leave the cabin.”

  Of course he’d try. It wasn’t even a question. But he also felt like Angela might be overreacting.

  Jenny was just doing the sensible thing to keep herself healthy while things were in limbo. They had the meds and the sick were on the mend. He was sure that when he told her it would be okay, she’d listen.

  The curtains were drawn over the cabin windows and when he climbed to the porch to knock on the door he noticed the panes were closed even though it was a warm day. One of the curtains moved after he knocked but Jenny didn’t appear at the door.

  “Jenny, open the door,” he called out.

  The door didn’t open but the curtain in the window next to it was pulled aside and Jenny appeared.

  “I won’t open the door,” she said, her voice muffled behind the glass.

  Travis crossed over to stand in front of the window, hands on his hips. “Why not?”

  “Because you aren’t clean,” she said. “I’m not trying to be mean. I’m happy to see that you are back but who knows what kind of germs you picked up over there. You know what happened the last time you guys left the island.”

  “I washed up, Jenny, changed my clothes,” he said, “I’m all cleaned up.”

  She shook her head, taking a step back from the window. “It’s not enough. You could be carrying something that won’t show up for days. Any of you that went over there could be. I can’t ask all of you to go into quarantine so I’m doing it to myself.”

  “You don’t need to be in quarantine. It’s not healthy keeping yourself shut up in there, Jenny. You’re starting to worry me here.”

  “It’s safe in here and that’s what’s most important,” Jenny replied. “I appreciate that you’re worrying about me but you don’t have to. I know Angela told you I’m crazy but I’m not.”

  Angela stepped forward. “Jenny, I don’t think you are crazy, I just think you are suffering from germaphobia and you need help. I can help you with it if you just let me in to talk to you. You don’t have to come out, just let me in so we can talk about it.”

  “I am fine,” Jenny spit out each word, her eyes flashing with anger. “Just leave me alone.”

  Anger and concern began to twine together inside Travis in equal measure as he stared at Jenny through the glass.

  She was well put together, clean clothes and her hair in a sleek drape over her shoulders and she even wore a swipe of pink lipstick on her full mouth. She looked fine but the things she was saying were not fine. He was starting to realize that Angela hadn’t been overreacting.

  “Jenny, I can’t leave you alone,” Travis said. “You know that if Alan was here, he wouldn’t let you just stay in there. He’d demand to be let in and if you didn’t, he’d knock the door down. I’m not going to let him down by giving up.”

  “My God, Travis!” The glass rattled as she slammed her hands down on the window pane. “I know you want to pretend you are my husband but you aren’t!”

  Her words were like a slap in the face, wounding him enough that he took a step away from the window. No matter what had happened between them, she had never once thrown his feelings back in his face.

  The pain he felt faded and fear replaced it as he stared at Jenny, her lips curled up to bare her teeth. The woman behind the window wasn’t someone he recognized anymore.

  “My husband is dead.” She clutched her belly, the anger in her eyes turning to fear. “I’m not going to let the same thing happen to his child. Now leave me the hell alone!”

  Jenny stepped away from the window, the curtain falling back into place. He moved closer, trying to see through the fabric but they were too thick. They’d lost her.

  “You have extra set of keys to the cabins, right?” he asked Angela.

  “We do but I’m not sure if that’s the right thing to do,” Angela replied. “This sort of thing, it has to be handled delicately. The cabin is her safe space and if we force our way in there, it will no longer be safe. It could make her worse.”

  “Then what the hell do we do?” Travis demanded, running a frustrated hand through his hair. “She can’t stay locked up in there forever. There’s something really wrong with her.”

  “I know,” Angela said, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “But she’s got to want to be helped. We can’t force it on her.”

  “I’ll convince her,” he said but that just made Angela frown. “What?”

  “I don’t think you’re in the best position to convince her,” she said. “Look, I’m not here to judge, your feelings are your feelings, but I saw the look on your face when she said those things. She touched a nerve because she wanted to push you away and it worked. She’s got power over you and that’s not good for working through something like this.”

  “But she can’t stay like this,” he said. “She can’t isolate herself.”

  “And we’re going to work to make sure she doesn’t, but it’s going to take time. She’s deep in this but there’s also logic to her thinking. She’s worried you and the others brought something back with you. Time will prove that you didn’t. She’s worried about catching meningitis from the kids. Time will prove they are cured. That might be enough to get her to work with me, figure out what her triggers are and teach her coping skills.”

  Angela’s plan impressed him. It sounded a hell of a lot better than his plan of breaking inside and then...well, he hadn’t really thought the rest of it out.

  Yeah, probably best to go with Angela’s plan. Still, he hated the thought of walking away and leaving her.

  “I just wish we could fix it now.” He looked back at the windows but the curtains were still in place.

  “I know,” Angela said, “But we’ve just got to be patient. This isn’t a crisis with an immediate solution.”

  She was right and it made him want to hit something. They’d got the meds and they’d fought their way back here. Things were supposed to be good again.

  But maybe he’d been naive to think that would be the end of it. Life wasn’t that simple.

  Subject File #750

  Administrator: Did you tell Audrey about what happened to you?

  Subject: I did. I told her every detail.

  Administrator: Are you sure that was a good idea?

  Subject: She needs to know the truth. Sheltering doesn’t help her, it will only hurt her.

  When Veronica opened her eyes, she was relieved to see the framed photo of her parents on the bedside table. Her memories of being on the boat and making it back to the island hadn’t been a dream. She was home again. No more running, no more danger, she was safe now.

  She tried to shift on the bed but pain flared up across her back, pushing through the fog of the painkillers. The moan that slipped out seared through her dry throat and she tried to swallow but her tongue was thick and swollen and her neck ached.

  “Do you want more pain pills?”

  Veronica forced her eyes open to stare at Claudia, who
had come to kneel at the head of the bed.

  “Water,” Veronica croaked out, her voice a rough whisper.

  Claudia produced a water bottle with a straw in it and Veronica gladly sucked on it. The cool water was refreshing, soothing her throat and helping clear her head.

  She shifted again, this time prepared for the pain, scooting herself up a little higher so her face wasn’t half buried in her pillow.

  “Careful, you don’t want to tear your stitches,” Claudia said, putting a hand on her shoulder to still her. The memory of Quinton coming to stitch her up came back to her. That hadn’t been a dream either.

  “How long have I been out?” she asked.

  It was still a struggle to speak but she needed to talk and she didn’t want to waste the time trying to write it out.

  “About six hours, I think,” Claudia told her. “I nodded off for a few hours but I don’t think you woke up.”

  “You’ve been here the whole time?”

  “I wasn’t the only one. Quinton’s been by to check on you and Jackson was here for a while, but Hannah was feeling better and so he went to eat dinner with her and Audrey at the clinic.”

  “But you stayed the whole time,” Veronica repeated.

  “I didn’t have anything better to do,” Claudia shrugged, avoiding looking at her but Veronica spotted the gleam of tears in her eyes.

  She could see through her sister’s bravado. There was something bothering her.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s nothing,” she said, wiping away a tear.

  “No it’s not.”

  “It just sounds so selfish.”

  “You know I don’t care about that.”

  She sighed, closing her eyes and squeezing out a few more tears. “I keep seeing you getting pushed off the trailer. Falling and then...I can’t forget it.”

  “Oh Claud...”

  “No!” She scrubbed at her tears with the heels of her hands. “It actually happened to you. I shouldn’t be talking about how I feel having to see it.”

  Truth was, she didn’t really remember much of it now. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the pain meds or that the lack of oxygen had killed those brain cells but the events were hazy. Even the fear that had paralyzed her before seemed like a distant memory.