Foreseen (The Rothston Series)

by Smiles, Terri-Lynne

  “She did not anticipate what the outcome would be,” the white haired man added, sounding like it was a justification. “She was merely doing what she’d been taught to do.”

  I sat back in my seat, crossing my good arm over my cast. “The guards at Auschwitz said that as well.”

  Mr. Reynolds nearly rose from his seat in offense. “This is hardly Auschwitz, Ms. Nicolosi,” he barked, then turned to his colleagues. “This is ridiculous. We need to stop wasting time and get down to business.”

  “Wait. Why are there only three of you?” I asked before he could go any further.

  “Four of us,” George Alphonse correct. “Mel has been fully reinstated.”

  “Fine. She should be. But where are the others?” I asked again. They shot glances at each other.

  “That is not your concern,” Norman Reynolds informed me.

  I snapped at that. “How is that not my concern? You expect me to sit here and let you decide my fate? You already voted to kill me. I want the others here as well.”

  Norman Reynolds stiffened in his chair. “The breakdown of any vote of this body is not …”

  “She has been lied to, Norman,” Mel interrupted. “Just as all of you were lied to, and we do not know how far those lies extend. I suggest clearing the air before we proceed.”

  A ruffle spread through them for a moment, before Rita Mendez answered me. “The Seven act as a unified body. It is highly unusual that we would identify any individual’s vote,” she said sternly. “However, these are highly unusual circumstances, and Melvina Whitacre is right: the misinformation we’ve all been receiving needs to be corrected. Those of us sitting here were highly concerned with your actions, Ms. Nicolosi. We still are. But rest assured, no one in this room voted in favor of your execution.”

  I sat back in my chair. This had been the group who voted against me. They’d condemned me because I was different and didn’t think like them. I was a threat to the old ways. But it was Mr. Jamison who’d told me that. He’d lied, again. Everything he’d told me had been a lie – or anything that mattered at least. A surge of relief welled up inside me, like turning on a light in a closet to discover the monsters weren’t there. But it flickered out when I glanced over at Greg. His jaw was set as if he didn’t believe a word they said. And he could be right. Maybe Jamison hadn’t lied to me about this. Maybe it was convenient explanation to get us to trust them.

  Greg leaned forward in his chair. “You haven’t answered her question. Where are the others?” he demanded.

  Reynolds’ mouth twisted as if he was going to object to the question again, but Mel held up a finger to silence him. “Mr. Pasternak has not returned yet from New York where he is in charge of the clean up. And Marci Lee has been suspended from The Seven while we investigate her involvement in recent events.”

  “Include my great uncle’s death in that investigation,” I told her. Several eyebrows raised around the table. “Gordon Prescott was murdered,” I announced firmly. “When he thought I was about to die, Rex admitted it. He translocated my uncle in front of that truck.”

  “We will look into it,” Norman Reynolds said, but it didn’t sound like he meant it.

  George Alphonse interjected. “Given recent events, it is plausible that there was also a conspiracy to ascend Ms. Lee onto The Seven …”

  “Of course there was a conspiracy,” Dad erupted, slamming his palm on the table. He looked Mr. Alphonse in the eye. “When are you going to come to your senses? Marci Lee should have never been one of The Seven. She’s a follower, not a leader. Even I know that!”

  “That was the point of your last lesson, wasn’t it, Mel?” I asked as it began to come together. “That the changes on The Seven weren’t right.”

  Mel’s eyes became bright and her forehead relaxed. “I couldn’t put my finger on it. It was more of a hunch that something wasn’t right. But yes, now I see that was it. Very good,” she added, like I’d mastered another lesson. The others looked puzzled.

  “Mel walked me through the all of the former members of The Seven,” I told them, fingering the pewter chivasta around my neck as I spoke. “There has never been more than two new members of The Seven in any … say any five year period. Until now. Three people in three years – that’s very improbable. And it would have changed how Rothston operates. That’s what Rex and Mr. Jamison wanted to do – get rid of the Minimal Intervention Policy.” My hand clenched around the chivasta.

  “In fact, they already had,” Mel added. “They’d been circumventing this body for years. Stacking The Seven was simply the last step so they would no longer need to hide their actions.”

  “But what about Mr. Pasternak?” I asked.

  Rita Mendez responded. “We have no indication that he has been part of any conspiracy. It appears he simply agrees with some of Mr. Jamison’s ideas, and perhaps it was Mr. Pasternak’s ascension three years ago that prompted the idea of …” she hesitated, trying to find the right words. “Replacing us,” she finished, looking like the words were sour.

  Mel looked to George Alphonse across the table. He nodded to her before speaking. “We have already begun our investigation of Mr. Jamison and Rex Brolie,” he said in his big voice. “Reviewing the airline itineraries for both over the past two years, as well as our own flightlog, it seems there were many trips made to Washington as well as other government facilities and military bases that do not correspond with any activities or directives of this group.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, and Greg answered this time.

  “It means, they were out screwing up the government on their own – doing whatever they wanted.”

  “What?”

  “That’s what you were doing in D.C.,” he told me.

  “They duped you, Kinzie,” Mel said. “Rothston did not send you to Washington on a mission; Jamison did that on his own. From what we can tell at this point, they had been reinforcing and increasing the thoughts of self-interest and partisanship, to ensure that nothing meaningful could occur unless they controlled it.”

  My skin crawled at the idea of Jamison and Rex taking over Congress and expanded into a blistering heat. They’d used me to do it! ME! They’d been using the petty thoughts of our elected leaders to render them ineffective. To control what happened. And how far it had gone? How many others, like Jake Brady, had they destroyed because they wouldn’t go along? My stomach wrenched at the thought that I’d been part of it, and how easily I could have gone along with it. I’d thought I was living my dream, when in reality, I’d been destroying what I sought to protect.

  My hand clenched into fist, and Greg leaned close. “You couldn’t have known.”

  I shook my head slowly. “I should have known,” I said determinedly. “I was trying to make people do what they didn’t believe in. I tried to make Jake Brady do that. I …” My words choked off before I could finish the thought – I hadn’t thought my actions through. Just like Sasha. If I wouldn’t forgive her for what she’d done to me, then I couldn’t let myself off that same hook. Silence settled over the room.

  “We don’t hold you responsible,” a deep voice assured me.

  “But I do,” I said without looking at Mr. Alphonse. Greg squeezed my hand.

  “We have all been taken advantage of,” Mel added kindly. “And perhaps that was due to our own lack of vigilance. We cannot undo what has happened, but we must move forward.”

  “Yes, we must,” Rita Mendez agreed. She turned to Greg. “Mr. Langston, we respectfully ask that you call off any investigations of this Institute you have arranged so that we may continue our operations.”

  “No,” Greg answered flatly, and the faces around the table became grim. Even Mel’s lips set into a thin line.

  “But you must stop the investigations, Greg,” Mel echoed.

  “No, I don’t have to,” Greg responded steadily. From the corner of my eye, I saw him straighten in his chair, and his chest expanded in defiance. “As I told that Brenda-woman
when I showed up here, if anything happens to me – to any of us – I will make things worse for you. That wouldn’t be best for any of us. So I will not cancel the investigations, except on our terms.”

  Mel was shaking her head before Greg finished. “And I assume your terms include Kinzie walking out of here today.”

  “Of course,” Greg confirmed.

  Rita Mendez met his eye, as I let my adept senses take over to figure out what they were trying to do. “I am afraid you do not understand the circumstances,” Ms. Mendez informed Greg. “Allowing Kinzie to leave would be in no one’s best interests. We do not make this request lightly, Mr. Langston. I ask that you trust me in saying that allowing us to operate unfettered is in all of our best interests.”

  “Trust you?” Greg roared as his fist hit the table. His refined demeanor dropped away, as rage poured through him. “You tried to murder my girlfriend! You are all power-crazy and don’t know when to stop. Well, you’ve met your match. I can stop you, and I will.”

  I placed my hand on Greg’s forearm to calm him. The intensity of the current surprised me and I inhaled quickly as the turbula became more clear. “Something else is going on here,” I told him. “Something they’ve decided not to tell us, but I can’t tell what it is.”

  “It is disrespectful to read us,” Rita Mendez snapped.

  “Disrespectful is trying to kill my daughter when she’d done nothing but protect herself,” Dad blasted, leaning into the table. “Disrespectful is throwing this guy in a cell and beating him. Disrespectful is this way you treat commons. Don’t claim we’re being disrespectful.”

  Rita was turning red with anger, and George Alphonse slapped the table, but when he opened his mouth to respond, Mel raised her hand to stop him.

  “There may be some truth in what they say,” she said, perhaps to pacify my dad who looked like he was about to launch himself across the table and throttle them. “And as I said before, they deserve to know the truth. In fact, they need to know it,” Mel said to her colleagues, but Norman Reynolds shook his head.

  “It is an internal matter. These are two commons and a girl who barely knows anything of this organization. They are not part of this.”

  “Of course, they are part of this,” Mel snapped back at him. “And after what we have done to them, you can’t expect them to blindly obey our whims without explanation. These are not fools.”

  “We have done nothing to them,” Norman Reynolds argued back. “None of us voted for this child’s execution.”

  Mel’s face turned to stone and her voice cooled. “We have done much,” she said to her colleagues. “We’ve set up a system that allowed our people to treat this young man worse than commons are allowed to treat their dogs. And each of you was willing to stand by and watch the destruction of an innocent girl.”

  “She is hardly innocent,” Norman responded in an equally cold tone.

  A stony silence lingered until Rita Mendez broke the tension. “We will tell them,” she said, putting an end to the argument. The old woman raised her eyes. “We have a problem,” she began slowly, studying the three of us in turn. “Rex Brolie is missing.”

  “WHAT!?!” The word roared from Dad’s mouth as he rose from his seat. Greg’s hands slammed down on the table on the other side of me. “I saw that kid this morning,” Dad raged. “Wheeled in with two busted legs and a concussion. He didn’t get up and walk out of here!”

  My skin crawled as I thought of how Rex could have escaped. “Jamison,” I breathed with a shudder. Greg placed his hand on my shoulder, assuring me I was safe. But I didn’t know if I was. Would he still want me dead now that the others knew what he’d been doing? And what about Curtis? Would he be safe?

  “We have no evidence that Brad Jamison returned to Rothston,” Norman Reynolds stated. “Rex is simply missing, as if he vanished into thin air.” There was an edge to his voice like he suspected me.

  “I didn’t do it!” I blurted, but it came out more like a terrified shriek. Fortunately, George Alphonse came to my defense.

  “We are not going to accuse this girl again when we have no evidence of any foul-play,” he told his colleague firmly. “Not while I am on The Seven.”

  Dad leaned with his hands on the table. “What are you doing to find him? Or Jamison?” he demanded.

  “Everything we can, Ken,” Rita Mendez answered calmly. “But it is going to be much more difficult if we must also deploy ourselves to combat government investigations, or even the meddling of private detectives. And, under the circumstances, we need Kinzie to remain here until …”

  “Like hell!” Greg bellowed, rising from his chair, and a “No!” blasted out of Dad at the same time. “I’ll take her somewhere, but she’s not staying here,” Greg told them.

  “She’s coming home,” Dad demanded right after him. “That’s where she’s been safe for all these years. At home. With me. She’s not staying here.”

  “She stays here,” Norman Reynolds interjected, rising from his chair as well. “Neither of you have trained security forces that can …”

  “Trained? They’re so good they let two guys escape – one who couldn’t walk!” Greg blasted back. “I’m taking her away – from all of you.”

  “No!” Dad roared, this time at Greg. “She’s coming home with …”

  “STOP!” The room froze in silence at my command, although Dad and Norman Reynolds had been the only ones I’d quickly influenced. This wasn’t what I wanted – the fighting or any of the alternatives. I had no intention of staying here, but neither was I a little girl who could hide safely in my bed at home. And as much as disappearing with Greg may sound romantic, I didn’t want to run. That wasn’t my life. And all I wanted now was my normal, ordinary world back. Go back to college, study, and be a student.

  I rose from my chair and looked at each of them. “I know you want to protect me, but it’s my decision, not yours.”

  “I know places we can go, Kinzie,” Greg pleaded quietly. “Where no one will find us.”

  I gave him a patient look. “But I don’t want to hide, no matter how pleasant you could make it. I just want to be normal.” With that, I looked up to address the others. “I am going back to school,” I announced. “If you want to assign some Guards to come to Hutchins, Mr. Reynolds, I won’t stop you. I’d just rather not know they are around. But I am not going to drop out of college three-quarters of the way through my freshman year.” I stated it firmly so it wasn’t negotiable, but when I looked over at Greg, his deep blue eyes probed into mine, searching for what was inside. I looked away, before he found the fear.

  “The investigations, Kinzie,” Mel prompted me.

  I took a deep breath, and nodded. “Call them off, Greg. Mr. Jamison and Rex Brolie need to be stopped,” I told him. “We can help with that or we can interfere. Rothston’s resources are limited.”

  Greg scowled, fingering the touch screen of his phone as he pulled it out of his pocket. I knew he was struggling with the idea of letting this place go, but Rex Brolie and Brad Jamison were out there somewhere, planning who knows what, without anyone to stop them.

  I put my hand on his arm, feeling the tingle flow through us. “It’ll be okay,” I assured him, not quite believing it myself. Greg looked into my eyes again, and nodded.

  “We all leave Rothston unharmed?” he demanded to the five faces carefully watching us.

  “Of course,” Rita Mendez agreed.

  “And you’ll leave her alone?”

  The old woman nodded.

  Greg punched in the code to unlock his phone, hesitating for a moment before tapping out a text. He glared around at the people in front of us again before hitting send. “Fine. You win this round,” he told them. “But I can trigger those investigations instantly, anytime I need to … anytime you screw up.”

  “We understand,” Rita Mendez acknowledged as the tension deflated from the room. “Thank you. We will not let you down.”

  “We’ll see,” Greg sai
d flatly, and the three of us walked out of the secret room.

  ψ

  “Are you and my dad ever going to leave me alone?” I asked, as I stared up at the goddess in the library window. I wasn’t entirely teasing. They’d barely let me go to the bathroom by myself while we waited to leave Rothston. If they kept it up once we were away from here, this was going to be a problem.

  Greg swung our hands in a gentle arc between us. “Do you want me to go away?”

  “No, I guess not,” I answered lightly. I looked up at the beautiful face, bathed in the golden light that streamed through window, and my brow knotted, feeling like I ought to tell him the words I’d never said. But I didn’t know how. He caught the expression.

  “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. So, I guess we’re friends again?”

  He smirked. “I threw myself in front of a train for you. I think that qualifies as something more than friends.”

  “If you wanted to get back together, you could have just texted me,” I laughed, leaning into him with my cast as I turned to face him.

  “Well, I have broken up that way,” he said as his arms gently encompassed me, pulling me closer.

  “That seems like a million years ago. A different place and time,” I said to continue the banter. I laid my head against him, marveling that he was here. I never thought I’d feel this again.

  He laid his cheek against my hair. “A text saying ‘Let’s get back together.’” He pondered. “Nope. I had to do something bigger. More meaningful.”

  “I suppose saving my life qualifies.” He stiffened when I said it, and I peered up to see him looking away to stare at the goddess again. “What?” I asked.