Foreseen (The Rothston Series)

by Smiles, Terri-Lynne

  “No,” I mumbled. “No, you can’t do this. It isn’t right,” I said as my voice grew stronger. My eyes pleaded with Mr. Jamison to help me, but he looked away. “You need to listen to what happened,” I begged with my voice growing shrill. “You need to understand. I didn’t do anything wrong!”

  Someone grabbed my arm and I jumped, turning to see the two Guards who’d been behind me. I backed quickly away from them, and they both pulled out boxy looking weapons and followed. What were those? And why were they pointed at me? My back hit the carved surface of The Seven’s desk.

  “You can’t do this,” I shrieked as one of the Guards bent down. I kicked at him, but he dodged the blow and I nearly fell to the side. He grabbed my ankle firmly, wrenching it under his arm.

  Mr. Jamison’s face appeared over the top of the desk. “Do as they say, Kinzie. It will be easier this way,” he assured me. I stared in disbelief. Easier? They’d said they were going to kill me!

  The QIT snapped around my ankle and the turbula vanished again as the Guards roughly grabbed my arms.

  “NO!” I shouted up to The Seven. “This isn’t right. You didn’t listen … you can’t … this isn’t even legal! I want a trial or a lawyer or … or something,” I yelled, grasping at anything that entered my head. The grip on my arms tightened painfully, and the Guards dragged me toward the door. I struggled against them.

  “This is murder! You can’t do this!” I shouted at the people on the platform, but they averted their eyes, as if I was an embarrassment. “Look at me!” I shrieked, but their heads dipped lower as they began to rise from their seats to leave. George Alphonse glanced over quickly, but just shook his head and moved toward their door.

  “NO!” I yelled, trying to twist from the grips of my captors, but they yanked me closer between them. My arms felt like they were being ripped from the sockets, but it didn’t matter. I twisted again. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” I shrieked, and they dragged me out the door.

  Chapter 26

  Greg

  I yanked open the side door to the campus administrating building, looking at the words on my phone one more time. In my two years here, I’d never been summoned to the security office until this afternoon. Must be one of my frat brothers doing something stupid and needed me to vouch for them. Man, we’d only been back on campus for two days. Couldn’t imagine what it could be.

  I walked down the short hallway, but I couldn’t see anyone I knew in the glass-walled waiting area at the end. Just some squat, middle-aged man tapping his leg furiously as he sat in one of the orange fiberglass chairs along the wall. A blue uniformed security dude with a shaved head was behind the counter. The guard I’d seen around campus. The older guy I’d never seen before, but I was barely through the glass door when he launched out of his chair, hurtling at me like a torpedo.

  “What did you do with her?” he yelled. I stepped back in surprise as he stopped with his face inches from mine. His salt and pepper hair was tousled like he’d been pulling on it, and sweat was seeping from the pores of his swarthy complexion. He looked like he was going to stroke out. “Where is she?” he demanded.

  The security guard was making his way around the counter, but didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

  “Where is who?” I asked the man attacking me.

  He stabbed me in the chest with a stubby finger. “Don’t give me that,” he spat. “Tell me what you’ve done with my daughter.”

  The bald security guy put a hand on the man’s arm and stepped in between us. “Let me handle this, Mr. Nicolosi.”

  My eyes shot open. “Nicolosi? You’re Kinzie’s dad?” I asked. My heart sped up as his questions sunk in. “Where’s Kinzie? What’s happened to her?” I shot back.

  “You tell me,” Kinzie’s dad accused, trying to out-maneuver baldy to get at me. “You’re the one always running off with her. What’d you do with her? Where …”

  “Running off with … I never … I’m not even …” I stopped, realizing this might not be the best time to tell him I’d dumped Kinzie if he didn’t already know.

  Baldy, between us, was getting pissed. He placed a hand on each of our chests and pushed us apart. “Both of you. Sit down. Now!” he barked. I hesitated, watching Kinzie’s father carefully as he glared at me. The man wanted to rip me apart, and I wasn’t going to compromise my position until he backed off.

  “Sit!” the uniformed guy barked again.

  Ken reluctantly backed away to the side wall and took a seat. Once he had, I sat down as well. I took a deep breath and remembered how overprotective Kinzie’s dad was. She probably just hadn’t returned a call.

  “Now, let me handle this,” the guard said. “You’re Greg Langston, right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “This is Ken Nicolosi,” he said waving his hand toward the man who still wanted to murder me. “I called you in here to find out what you know. When did you last see Ms. Nicolosi?”

  “Me? I haven’t … not since before break. Friday afternoon before break.”

  Ken Nicolosi leaned forward and put his forehead in his hands. He’d been hoping I’d have an answer. For a moment, I felt sorry for him, but he needed a reality check. Kinzie was an adult, and didn’t need to check in with him every five minutes. The security guard moved back behind the desk and began writing on a clipboard. “Where’d she go for break?” he asked without looking up.

  “Roth…”

  Ken’s head shot up in surprise, then cooled to a questioning look as he tried to figure out what I knew.

  “Where?” the security guy prompted.

  “Maine,” I told him, recovering. “She went to visit some friends there.”

  “Have you heard from her at all?”

  I shook my head, and decided Ken Nicolosi needed to face reality. “No. We broke up before that,” I answered, seeing Ken tense beside me again. I turned to look him in the eye. “I broke up with her three weeks ago,” I told him directly. “I guess she didn’t tell you. She probably didn’t think it was any of your business.” The fury that passed over the man’s face was more pain than anger, but he said nothing. He knew I was right.

  I looked back to Baldy. “I’m sure Kinzie is fine,” I told him. “She’s probably in class now. Have you talked to her roommate? She’d know if …”

  The guy was already shaking his head. “She doesn’t know anything.”

  “What?” I asked looking back and forth between Ken and the guard. I couldn’t have heard that right “What do you mean she doesn’t know anything? Kinzie’s actually missing?”

  “The roommate says they came back on the same flight but had some sort of falling out and hasn’t seen her since. We don’t even know if she got back to campus.” Ken Nicolosi’s head dropped to his hands again, and I could hear his breathing hitch. The guard caught it too, and took some sympathy on him. “She’s probably fine, just staying with a friend or something,” he tried to assure him. “I’ve got calls into her professors and her advisor to make sure she’s been in classes the last two days. I’m sure this will get cleared up.” He looked down at his paper again then back at me. “So you don’t know anything, huh?”

  “No, I don’t. Haven’t heard from her …” Then a chill spread through my body as I remembered it wasn’t true. I walked to the counter. “I got a text.” I pulled out my phone, hoping my memory was wrong. I tapped the screen until the words displayed, and showed it to the security guard. In trouble. What the hell was wrong with me? Kinzie wouldn’t have made it up. My heart was pounding hard and unevenly now. This was Kinzie, not some shallow, stupid girl.

  Ken Nicolosi rose and peered over my shoulder to see the text on my phone, and my asshole reply below it. I expected him to lash out again, or punch me like I deserved for blowing her off. But he didn’t. He swore quietly under his breath, then walked over to the wall, leaning with his head against his arm – a position of defeat. “Get out of here,” he growled. I could hear the anger growing.

  The security gua
rd finished writing down the text and my number then nodded for me to leave. I slipped silently out the door, but stood staring at the long empty hall. Damn. What had I done?

  Chapter 27

  Greg

  I smacked Mr. Heisenberg’s steering wheel, searching for answers in the section of highway illuminated by the high beams. The moonless, three a.m. darkness crowded in, broken only by the occasional flash of a semi heading south into Portland. I was making good time. If I’d stopped at home, it’d have been the fastest I’d ever made that drive. But I kept going, not knowing if it’d be fast enough. Not knowing if anything I did now could change things.

  Only a couple hours to go. I’d beat Ken to Rothston. Beat him by a long shot, assuming I could find the place. But what would happen then? Maybe I should have waited. Gone to the airport. Flown out with Ken. But the flight didn’t leave ‘til morning, and there were two layovers. This was faster – especially in Mr. Heisenberg. The engine wound higher into a steady purr as I pushed it over a hundred. The road was flat here, and straight. Let them try to catch me.

  I kept expecting to wake up. This was one of those nightmares where nothing goes right, but makes so little sense, you know you’re dreaming. But the call from Ken Nicolosi, an hour after I’d left him, kept ringing in my ears. “They’re going to kill her, Greg.” The agony and the desperation in his voice ripped through my soul. He didn’t think he could change anything by going to Rothston, but he was going to try. And he’d called me, simply because there was no one else he could tell. The loneliness of his life of secrets tore at me, and reminded me of my own.

  He’d called me twice more as he waited at the airport. He agonized over his mistakes, saying he should have taken her and run when they’d discovered she was adept. That was his job, he kept saying. He’d been entrusted with keeping her from Rothston, and he’d failed. And if he didn’t stop this – if this menace of a place killed her – it was a torment he’d have to bear forever.

  Just like mine.

  Why hadn’t I gone to meet her when she’d asked? Why had I ignored her cry for help? Why the hell had I been too wrapped up in me to listen when she asked? When she needed me? God, I’d fucked up bad this time.

  I wasn’t going to blow it a second time. Whatever was at the end of this road, they were going to have to deal with me, and I wasn’t going to make it easy. I’d made sure of that. I took a deep breath and hoped it wasn’t too late. My fingers tightened around the steering wheel, and the engine wound higher.

  ψ

  In the morning light, I turned Mr. Heisenberg onto an overgrown gravel drive. I’d spent the past hour driving along the coast, turning in every drive I could find in search of the place, but had found nothing but houses so far. This drive looked abandoned, so I’d passed it twice. Maybe that was on purpose.

  I crept the car along, noting that none of the bushes touched the sides. This path wasn’t as decrepit as it looked. That was a good sign, but eerie. After a quarter mile, the brush opened up, and a massive stone mansion rose up across a several acre lawn. I grinned with momentary satisfaction. Rothston. I’d found it. Kinzie had been right; it was impressive. With resources like this, these folks were probably used to getting their way. But if there was anything I understood, it was people like this.

  I drew myself up tall after climbing out of the car, and felt my pocket for the note – the insurance that I wouldn’t get killed on the spot. Then, I locked my phone. I hoped this would work, but with what I knew about this place so far, I couldn’t be sure. Still, if I couldn’t save Kinzie, dying wouldn’t be so bad, especially knowing this place would be brought to its knees and dismantled by a power far superior to their own. But that would only happen if I didn’t cave. I needed to be determined. Never consider any other option. From what Kinzie had told me, that would make it harder for them. I thought back to the magazine I’d picked up on the table of the hospital. I never even thought about what I was doing. This wasn’t going to be easy, but Kinzie’s life was on the line.

  I walked across the drive, and didn’t see a soul. It was more than a little intimidating. But I had no doubt they were watching me. They. Whoever they were. My eyes ran over the huge granite structure and I turned a circle examining hedges manicured to a knife’s edge, black windows high in towers, and dank woods that seemed to sink into darkness. They could be anywhere, goons with high-powered sniper rifles trained on my head. But from what Kinzie had told me of the place, that probably wasn’t their style. In fact, I figured these guys for much sicker than a simple headshot.

  I strode up the five stone steps, hesitating before the massive plank door. Should I use the wrought-iron knocker or just barge in? It was like knocking on the front door of a college. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. A position of strength, I told myself, grasped the door handle and pulled, uncertain what I’d find.

  Inside was an empty slate entry, and the damp scent of cool stone met my nostrils. It was silent. At five-fifteen in the morning, there was no rustle of pubescent kids, nor anyone else. I walked across the slate floor and through the open doorway on the other side into a huge open chamber, like a cavern, but in place of stalagmites, there were bookcases reaching toward the ceiling. This was the library Kinzie had talked about so many times. Her favorite place here. I studied the stained-glass image – the woman – adept, no doubt – controlling the puny men in her hand. Kinzie had described it as beautiful and full of life when the sun would stream through. Now, in the early dawn, she was gray and lifeless. Undead. Arrogant. These monsters needed to be stopped. But first, I needed to find Kinzie before this lich-bitch sucked her life out too.

  “Can I help you?” a soprano voice asked from behind me.

  I spun around to find myself facing a dark-skinned girl, barely a teen. In all the scenarios I’d run through in my head, this hadn’t been one of them. “Yes,” I answered, giving her a smile. “I’m here to see Kinzie Nicolosi.”

  The girl scrunched up her nose. “I think you made a mistake,” she said, and I noticed her eyes growing blank. This wasn’t just a child. “There’s no one here by that name.”

  I didn’t take my eyes off her. “Yes, there is. And you are not going to make me believe otherwise,” I said factually. Her eyes widened. “Now, go get Kinzie and bring her here or find someone who can.”

  The girl had started backing away before I had finished. But at my last word, she turned and bolted out of the room. Good. Events were set in motion. I was here to get Kinzie, and nothing was going to stop me.

  I studied the faces in a photograph by the doorway as I waited. A group photo of The Seven, I guessed from their robes and impudent scowls. Brolie wasn’t among them, I noted. Maybe they’d come to their senses and didn’t “anoint” the asshole – or whatever it was that Kinzie called it – but it didn’t seem likely. The idea of this place in the hands of that guy burned inside me. He was behind this somehow. I was sure of it, and when I caught up with him, I was going to rip his arm off and beat him to death with it, and anyone else who got in my way.

  A few minutes later, the girl returned. She stopped outside the door and pointed. A middle-aged woman and two black-suited guys sweep past her. Bodyguards. I’d seen the type before. Tried not to use them myself.

  “May I help you?” the woman asked curtly. Her voice had a pleasant ring, despite the wary tone.

  I knew exactly what to say and how to say it. I remembered the tone and words from my dad, and I’d hated them then. Now, I hoped they would serve a better purpose. I gave the woman a condescending smile as the guards flanked me and held their position. “I hope so, for all our sakes. And you are?”

  The question hung unanswered in the air, as the woman fidgeted, not expecting to be questioned. From their vacant looks, the guards were trying to influence me, or at least read my decisions. And from the fact that their brows began to furrow, I’d say it wasn’t working. They didn’t understand that this was my show, and I was determined to make it work.


  “Yes?” I prodded as the women remained hesitant to speak.

  She glanced quickly over her shoulder before finally speaking. “I am Brenda Thompson, Administrator of The Rothston Institute.”

  “Good, Brenda. Now, if you would be so kind as to have these gentlemen bring me Kinzie Nicolosi, I will be on my way, leaving you and your adepts alone.”

  Confusion spread across her face, but not before I caught the surprise she was trying to hide. “I don’t know what you are talking about, sir,” she replied. “Who are you and why are you here? You are trespassing, you know. I could call the sheriff.”

  “Call him,” I half-laughed. “We’ll talk about Kinzie. Even if he’s not interested in my theory, I’m sure someone else will be.”

  One of the guards moved his hand – maybe he had a weapon under his coat. I needed to stay calm and not give him a reason to use it.

  “Who are you?” Brenda asked again, beginning to sound nervous.

  “I am Gregory Nicholas Langston,” I informed her, using my full name in case she had to look it up. “The son of Martha Taylor Camden.” Brenda’s eyebrows shot up at my mother’s maiden name, and I was relieved. She obviously knew the name – and the wealth. I didn’t have to explain. “I’ve told you why I am here. I am taking Kinzie away from you,” I said calmly. “And you are going to bring her to me, and I will show you why.”

  I reached for my pocket wondering if I was going through this too fast. Pacing was crucial. Let each fact sink in. At my movement, the guard’s hand flashed inside his jacket. I needed to slow down.

  “I am unarmed,” I told him, holding up my arms again so he could see. “I have something Ms. Thompson, here, needs to see.” My heart was beginning to gallop like a thoroughbred, but I managed to keep the fear out of my voice.

  The guard’s hand emerged from his jacket with a clunky device, and I breathed a little easier. A taser. Even if he got trigger-happy, it wouldn’t kill me. I moved slowly to pull the page from my back pocket and hand it to Brenda. She eyed me suspiciously again before unfolding it and reading. Her eyes shot up to me once and her complexion paled, but she was tough and now that she knew the stakes, she was determined to gain control.