Enigma

by Tonya Kuper

  He cut my thank you off with his lips.

  Reid

  Josie opened her door and I closed it behind us. She walked backward slowly, her eyes locked with mine.

  I glanced to my sleeping bag on the living room floor then to her.

  Josie tilted her head and smiled, her hair sliding over her shoulder, exposing her neck. “Will you help me fall asleep?”

  Help my girlfriend fall asleep? Adrenaline spiked my blood, slamming my pulse into overdrive. A wide smile commandeered my face.

  Josie turned into her bedroom. I rounded the corner and Josie was frozen beside her bed. “Josie?”

  She didn’t answer or move. I reached her side in three long strides. By the lamp, a tiny round metal piece lay on the white nightstand. My guts twisted.

  The happiness that had lighted Josie’s face only moments earlier had been replaced with pallid fear. “How long has that been here?” she asked.

  I shook my head and knelt next to the bedside table, twisting to get a view of what was directly above the standard bug. A tiny dark spot stood out on the metal lampshade frame. I pressed my finger to the spot. It was tacky. Glue. The bug had lost its hold and fallen, and it was impossible to know how long it had been there—sometime after my second bug sweep. I grabbed the transmitting microphone, dropped it, and stepped on it. With silence as the backdrop, the crunch seemed louder than it should have been. I picked it up to examine it, to make sure it was destroyed. It had busted into four pieces.

  Josie hadn’t moved, she just stared at me, nibbling on her lip. I said, “We need to search, to make sure there aren’t any other microphones or cameras. And to make sure no one is in here. It’s safer to stay in the same room as we search.”

  Her shoulders pulled up toward her ears as she sucked in a deep breath. “Okay,” she whispered.

  We checked every inch of her place, Josie staying within two feet of me at all times. The disgust and resentment I had for the mole, or whomever they had do this, increased tenfold. To get this close. This act, her finding a tap in her place, was psychological terror, whether they meant for her to find this or not.

  All rooms, appliances, cupboards, everything, were clear. Josie had grown unusually quiet and I knew that smart brain of hers was thinking, working out ways the mole could have done this.

  “I’ll stay awake all night to guard. Why don’t you get ready for bed? I’ll text Cohen to update him on the situation and ask if he can take over early morning so I can snooze a little.”

  She jetted to the bathroom and was out before I was even done getting the whole story texted to Coe. Josie crawled into bed while I finished my text and emptied my pockets onto her bedside table.

  I tugged my shirt over my head and simultaneously Retracted my jeans and Pushed sweats. I slipped under the covers, raising my arm to wrap around Josie, and she was already tucked in by my side. She held on to me as if I might vanish from underneath her.

  She suddenly gasped. I followed her stare to our shadows moving on the wall. “It’s just me. You’re okay.”

  Peeking over my shoulder, I Pushed the switch on the lamp and darkness surrounded us. “Try to get some sleep, okay? You need your strength. I’ve got you.”

  Josie tossed and turned forever. I changed positions with her, rubbing her back, holding her, playing with her hair—anything that might help her sleep. She finally fell asleep, but even then, she was restless, jerking and mumbling.

  Looking over my shoulder, I checked my phone again. The conversation bubble blinked on the screen, indicating a text. I slowly rolled onto my back to grab and read my phone. It was 6:02 a.m. Cohen returned my text.

  Shit. You awake now? If so, let me know. I’ll come hang out in J’s living room and you can sleep.

  I typed: Yeah, still awake. I’ll meet you at her door in 5. I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to get some shut-eye if I was going to be of any use.

  I got dressed and let Cohen in. I closed the door and we stood in the small entryway of Josie’s place. “Meeting here at eleven,” I said.

  “Who do you think should be here?”

  “Us, Zac, and Kat.”

  “On it. Go catch some Z’s.”

  I made it out to the living room at eleven after having made a couple of calls to Dad. Everyone sat in the living room, quietly whispering, except Josie, who was guzzling water in the kitchen.

  “Did you get in a morning workout?”

  She let out an exaggerated laugh. “You could say that. If you consider hurling inanimate objects across the room at varying speeds exercise, then yes. And that was after having tried the Force Push thingy four times with Cohen and once with Zac after he begged me to try. I couldn’t control the Push on any of my attempts.”

  Zac had a bandage on his left arm and a bruise on his forehead. “Geez. Hope your insurance is paid up, VP junior,” I said.

  He flipped me off.

  Josie moved to the couch next to Kat. “I can’t control it. It’s either too much force or not nearly enough. I can’t practice with these guys anymore; I keep hurting them.” The pitch of her voice had elevated.

  I pulled two chairs from the kitchenette and placed them across from the girls and Zac. Cohen and I sat. “Well, I take it Cohen and Josie brought you two up to speed on what happened last night.” They both nodded. “I checked on a few things this morning. Nothing suspicious happened to Meg or Eli last night or so far today. I had the cameras checked to see who accessed Josie’s room, but it shows that literally no one went in or out of her room during the time Josie and I took a walk.”

  Josie rested her forearms on her knees. “I have some ideas on that. The mole was either in my room earlier and hid for hours or—”

  Kat’s mouth twisted in disbelief. “There’s an or? That’s creepy enough.”

  “Well,” Josie continued, “they could’ve accessed my room another way, like Retracting walls to get in from a surrounding area. Or else the person has access to the cameras.”

  “It can’t be someone who hid in the room,” I said. “I had the footage of the cameras checked for the last twenty-four hours, and there wasn’t anyone we hadn’t already known about. So we have to assume it’s someone who has access to the cameras or they Pushed and Retracted their way in from a neighboring apartment. You have neighbors on each side. I don’t see them being okay with someone coming into their home to break into yours, but maybe they didn’t know. I keep coming back to the idea that it has to be someone who has some kind of clout, enough to get to the cameras.”

  Josie pulled the master list from her coffee table. “The list of possible suspects is just too long, and while the council gave us guards, an official inquiry will take too long.”

  I crossed my arms. “It could, but I think we need to check out a couple of Council members who are fairly new to their positions. Like Jared, for instance. I can’t find much background info on him at all. Red flag.”

  Cohen popped his knuckles. “Agreed. Better check that shit out.”

  Josie sat back and crossed her legs. “I still think we need something that will trigger a response faster. We have to set a trap. The mole could have gotten me twice now. It will happen for real if we don’t control the situation.” She laid it out there with no hesitancy whatsoever. Josie looked around the room, at each of us.

  “No,” Kat said.

  Cohen shook his head. “Too dangerous.”

  Zac’s brows arched high. “No way.”

  Her green eyes slid to mine. Hell no, I didn’t want her to do this. I knew exactly what she meant when she said trap. She was going to be the bait. I didn’t want to put her in harm’s way, but I knew if she wanted to do it, she’d do it. I had to be truthful, though. “I’d rather not.”

  Josie stood and gathered her hair into a ponytail. “I understand. But I came here to take down this mole. I know what I’m risking. With the Consortium being one step closer to singling out Anomalies and having one of their own inside the Hub, it’s time. We
need to do it soon, like tonight.”

  I stood, reminding myself that the three others were watching. “Man, you’re infuriating. I knew you were going to say that.”

  She shrugged and gave me a sorry-not-sorry look.

  I huffed out a fake laugh. “Fine. What’s your plan, because I’m sure you’ve come up with something.” I stepped behind my chair, bracing my arms on the back. I was too antsy to sit. My skin was crawling.

  Josie loudly inhaled and exhaled, looking between the four of us. “Here’s what I’ve come up with so far. Reid is going to make a show of looking super tired and worn down today. The mole will notice—clearly they’ve been watching closely.”

  Cohen smiled. “That won’t be too hard.”

  “Reid and Cohen stage an argument about how Cohen should watch me tonight so Reid can get a full night of sleep, but Reid refuses. Cohen will ‘get mad’ and leave, then complain to Max about it. Then Reid gets his dad to do a ‘surprise evaluation’ of the camera surveillance room in the Eye in the Sky, kicking out the normal staff, which he can do, since he’s a Founder. No one but Reid’s dad will know it’s happening, and his dad can watch untampered footage of the halls near my room.”

  She took a deep breath, glanced down at the floor. Then she squared her shoulders and kept going. “I will pretend to drain myself too much in practice today trying to control the Force Push. I’ll talk loudly about it in the Pub at dinner. Cohen will be hiding in the garage as a safeguard where the only exits are. Reid will be on standby to follow them out of my room when they come. He and I can Push and Retract to capture the mole. Kat and Zac need to be near my mom and Eli’s room, in case the mole tries to use them as insurance or in case he has help. If you hear Reid yell for you or text you, you may have to assist us with the mole.”

  The room had grown warm as we all stared at Josie. “It could work,” I finally said. “We’re hoping the mole only wants to kidnap Josie, not kill her. They could have already killed her if they wanted to.”

  My phone buzzed with a text from Dad.

  Meet in Meg’s room.

  I shoved my phone back in my pocket. “Apparently, Josie and I have a meeting with our parents. Is everyone good with the plan? If not, say so now.”

  No one spoke, until Zac stood. “What time are we meeting for dinner in the Pub tonight?”

  “How about seven?” Kat asked as she stood.

  No protests. No hesitancy in Kat’s eyes.

  Cohen stood, too. “Works for me,” he said, his deep voice firm.

  We were going to go through with Josie’s crazy plan.

  “Seriously guys?” I eyed everyone. “You all stood up all dramatic like. What is this? A freaking superhero movie?”

  We all laughed, but I was scared shitless. I think we all were.

  12.

  Josie

  We walked in silence downstairs to my mom’s room. Cohen followed us, saying Harrison asked him to care for Eli. If anyone was going to hang with my little brother besides me or Reid, it would’ve been Cohen.

  I couldn’t believe I’d gotten everyone to agree to the plan for the trap. Well, they weren’t trying to stop me, anyway. Reid clearly wasn’t excited about it, but that was because he cared about me. And that turned my insides to goo.

  Harrison let us in, and Eli immediately came at me with a hug. I snuggled him in, ruffling his hair. Mom’s lips turned the faintest bit upward as she watched us. That was not her norm—not for the last two years, anyway. She didn’t approach me with open arms like my little brother had, but I didn’t expect her to. The barely there smile was enough for me.

  “Eli is going to get a tour from Cohen while we have a little meeting,” Mom said, “but he wanted to see you first.”

  “I want to see you, too, buddy. You doing okay?”

  He shrugged, his bangs flopping across his forehead. “Yeah, I guess. It’s been really weird. Like, something-from-one-of-my-video-games kind of weird.”

  I nodded and Mom let out a short laugh.

  Cohen leaned out from behind me so Eli could see him better. “Hey, I’m here to show someone a good time. Oh, I mean take you on a tour of this compound.” Eli grinned.

  After a quick reintroduction, Eli seemed comfortable with Cohen, especially when Cohen mentioned the garage and a secret spring where they went swimming sometimes.

  Eli hugged me again on his way to the door. I didn’t want him to go. He’d already been impersonated and I didn’t want anything else to happen. Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention—Cohen beckoning me with a wave. He closed the distance between us and gently laid his giant hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. I won’t take my eyes off him and I’ll protect him with my life. Growing up, Reid was like my brother in the Hub, and I always heard about your family. He cares about you guys. I’ll treat you like my own family. Promise.”

  In less than two days, Cohen had proven himself trustworthy and I believed him, that he would take care of my brother. The anxiety building inside me calmed. “Thank you, Cohen.”

  When Eli and Cohen left, they took the easiness and smiles with them.

  “We ordered brunch. Let’s eat and get started,” my mom suggested on her way to the table.

  We filled our plates with bagels, fruit, and bacon, poured coffee or juice, then sat around the small table. Mom opened her laptop. She wasn’t wasting time.

  “While she pulls that up,” Harrison said, “we’ve yet to hear from Vice President Brown directly. We don’t know his whereabouts, and the Council doesn’t seem to be as concerned about this as Meg and I are. We want to make sure both he and the enhancing serum are safe.” He glanced to Mom then grabbed his coffee cup. “He’s the Resistance’s ‘in’ with the government.”

  Worry festered in my stomach like an ulcer. The food didn’t seem as appetizing, but I forced myself to spear a chunk of strawberry, knowing I needed to eat if I’d be tapping into my energy bank later in the day.

  Reid shook his head and mumbled “crap” around a bit of bagel.

  “But,” he continued, his voice lilting upward, “Meg managed to hack the VP’s private email address that he usually uses to correspond with her.”

  “And?” I asked.

  Mom wiped her mouth with a napkin. “He’s been extremely careful in what and whom he emails. The only thing I could pick out was a mention of meeting someone soon in Colorado. On a separate note, the history seems to be missing from Jared’s private file. He was the last official to be elected to a Council position. The only people with access to such information are the Founders and Council members. Red flag. We’ll dig deeper into Jared’s background.”

  Red flag on Jared, a Council member. Holy shit balls.

  Mom took a bite of bagel and held up a finger as she finished chewing. “I’m going to ask Dee if she’s overheard anything from the Council members when I let her know about the missing file. I thought that would be better to do face-to-face. After talking with her the other day, it seems like she’s struggling a little.”

  I swallowed another strawberry. “What do you mean?”

  “She’s not coping with grief well. Her daughter, Stella, and now the Davises, who were like her parents, are presumed dead. She said she’s easily overwhelmed, hasn’t been going to meetings unless she has to, suffers from insomnia, stuff like that. I also want to keep her in the loop, engaged in life.”

  I nodded. Reid and Harrison didn’t argue with keeping Dee in the know. All four of us at that table knew grief on a personal level. We knew the trenches too well.

  Harrison rotated back to my mom. “I have calls to make. You do, too.” He wrapped the rest of his bagel in a napkin and stuffed it in his pocket then grabbed his coffee cup. “Can I escort you to see Dee?”

  Mom closed her laptop, pushed her chair away from the table, and grabbed her cane that’d been leaning against the table. “Yes, that would be great.” She grabbed the other half of her bagel with her opposite hand and grunted to a standin
g position. Harrison held a hand out, allowing my mom to the lead the way. She turned to me. “I’ll talk to you later. Stay safe.”

  Reid was going to talk to his dad about our plan for a trap later, but I asked that he not share it in front of my mom. She’d been through enough; she didn’t need to worry about this, too. I was keeping it from her for her own benefit, but guilt still burrowed through me.

  Reid

  We went straight to training room number five for Josie to practice sightless Pushing. If she could even partially figure it out before we put the trap into action, it would be less risk.

  I walked backward and watched her hips sway in her spandex workout pants. Damn.

  “Are you up to trying something a little unorthodox?” I asked.

  She cocked an eyebrow.

  I held my empty hand out. I Pushed and a folded red bandana lay diagonally across my palm.

  A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. “A blindfold? What exactly do you have planned?”

  I barked a laugh. “I could say a lot of things right now. But I won’t.” We didn’t have time for my mind to be in the gutter. “Let’s cover your eyes, and I’ll guide you through the steps to Push something into existence.”

  Her gaze shifted from the bandana to my face, her brilliant green eyes shimmering in the overhead lights. “If you’re the only one who’s ever done this, what makes you think I’ll be able to?”

  “Because I saw your brother do it several times. The first time was in this very room.” She watched me, unblinking. I hadn’t wanted to tell her because I didn’t know how she’d react. Now guilt bit at my conscience. “Sorry.”

  “You don’t have to be sorry. That’s good to know.”

  “I’ll give you an example, okay?” I closed my eyes but continued to face Josie. Palms up, side by side in front of me. She needed to witness my eyes closed as I Pushed and Retracted. I Pushed one of my favorite books, a leather-bound copy of The Lord of the Rings. I opened my eyes. “It took me six months of practice to get it down. Give it a go,” I urged, holding out the bandana to her.