Mindsiege

by Heather Sunseri

  Jonas nodded. “I couldn’t come out and tell you. Someone within the IIA would hear me. It wasn’t just you being controlled. Some cloned freak was inside my head, too. Ty, mostly.”

  “But he’s not there now?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No. I can tell without a doubt when someone or something is controlling me.”

  “Something?” Jack asked.

  Jonas turned around and lifted his hair to reveal a round scar at the base of his hairline. “A tracker was placed inside my head to give the IIA full access to my mind and body. Sandra and the IIA can manipulate me and track my every move.”

  “Are you trying to tell me that someone was inside your head when you tried to make me kill myself? That someone else is trying to force me to kill Jack? That someone is inside your head now?”

  Jonas faced me. His eyebrows further darkened his brown eyes. “Not exactly.” He swallowed hard, then looked away.

  “What are you saying?” I crossed my arms, losing patience.

  “Some of that was me. I was getting inside your head after your dad died. I wanted to know more about you, and Jack was being very secretive. And when I thought you would ignore what you were created to do, I tried to scare you into needing to find out more.”

  Jack charged forward and stood in front of me. “It’s true then?” He grabbed Jonas by the neck. “You put our lives at risk?”

  Jonas gagged. “No,” he squeaked out. “Let. Me. Explain.”

  Jack, stop, I pleaded.

  No, he’ll answer to us, or he’ll find himself in his own sort of coma.

  I touched Jack’s arm. His blue eyes were on me instantly like two thick storm clouds. The pain that shot out of them was like a knife to my heart. “Let him explain,” I pleaded. When Jack didn’t immediately let go, I pulled harder on his arm. “He did keep me from going unconscious while I fixed Sandra’s brain. We need to hear what he has to say.”

  Jack let him go with a shove backwards. Jonas massaged his neck. “I wasn’t trying to kill either of you.”

  “What were you trying to do?” Jack asked.

  “The clones need Lexi. We need her to accept who she is and embrace her abilities. And you were just going to let her go.” Jonas was talking directly to Jack now. “You know she’s the key to our survival.”

  I took in a breath, watching them both, but mostly Jack. “What’s he talking about, Jack? What’s he mean ‘She’s the key to our survival’?”

  Jack stepped to me. He brushed the back of his hand down my face. “We know that Sandra altered our DNA to give us these supernatural abilities. My mother thinks Sandra also made sure that those abilities wouldn’t come without consequences.”

  “You mean the nasty side effects?”

  He nodded.

  “What does that have to do with me and our survival?”

  “Seth disagrees with Cathy. From conversations he’s had with his sister over the years, he thinks Sandra made sure your DNA was equipped with the ability to heal each of us. Seth doesn’t think Sandra planned on being separated from you. But your father hid you all these years.”

  “Is this why your parents and Seth are now at Wellington? Did they know all this?”

  “Probably. Cathy’s not really talking, still. And my father is nowhere to be found.”

  As if on cue, Cathy stormed in. “Jack! Addison is gone.”

  ~~~~~

  “Security cameras caught a female helping a child into the back of a sport utility.” Cathy paced. “Then she and a second female, a teen, climbed into the front seat. When I questioned the officers at the front gate, they claimed that I had left with Roger in my Mercedes at about the same time.”

  “That’s Dia,” Jonas said. “She can make anyone believe they’re seeing whatever she wants them to see.”

  “Who is Dia?” Jack asked.

  “She’s an identical match to Briana.” I spoke with my eyes closed, massaging the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger.

  “And you know this how?” Jack asked.

  “I met her.” I looked down at my hands. Jack would never forgive me if I could have prevented Addison from being taken. “There are others, Jack. There’s one that looks like Bree, another like Jonas…” I inhaled deeply before squaring my shoulders and facing him. “And one like you.” I’d spent all week trying to forget what it looked like for Jack to hold Bree in his arms. Only it wasn’t Jack and Bree.

  “And you’re just now telling me?”

  “I couldn’t. My mind was restricted by Jonas… or whoever was invading me.”

  Jack raised his hand. “We don’t have time for this right now.” He turned to Jonas. “Where will they take Addison?”

  “I guess to The Farm. She’s the one that got away.”

  What did that mean?

  On the other side of the room, Cathy had slipped out. “Jack,” I pleaded. “We’ll get Addison back.”

  “We won’t do anything. I’ll get her back. You’ll stay here. And you,” he said, pointing at Jonas. “You’re going to help me get into the IIA.”

  Jack turned and walked out. He slammed the door, causing me to flinch. I stared after him. “He’ll need our help to break into that stupid facility.” My voice cracked. I started after him.

  “It’s not breaking in that’s the problem. It’s getting back out.” A chill danced down my arms at Jonas’s words. His fingers circled my wrist, stopping my forward motion. “You and I have unfinished business.”

  I looked down at his hold, then at his face. “Let me go, Jonas.”

  “Not until you hear everything I need to tell you. Besides, he can’t go tonight. He knows that. Let him cool off.”

  ~~~~~

  “What do you want me to do with that?” I stared at the gun lying on a table between Jonas and me.

  “I want you to learn to use it.” He backed up against the wall of Coach Williams’s apartment, crossed his arms, and studied me. Coach had said Jonas could sleep on his couch. I figured an ex-FBI agent was the perfect person to watch over the boy who kind of tried to kill me.

  I raised my hand very slowly. My fingers hovered just over the metal before making contact. The texture was partly rough, partly smooth. The steel was cool to the touch.

  Pick it up, Lexi. His voice moved through my mind like an old friend looking for a place to relax for a while. It was confusing. I didn’t trust him, yet he seemed to want to help me. Jack was off dealing with his own issues. I needed someone.

  I slid my fingers under the handle and lifted. “It’s so heavy.”

  “That one’s pretty light. It’s perfect for a girl.”

  I glared at Jonas. “What? Because I’m a girl I’m weak?” I held the gun in front of me, getting used to the feel of it in my hand.

  He chuckled. “Uh… no. ‘Weak’ is not a word I would use to describe you. But you are small, and you’ve never used a gun before. This is a good start.”

  I set the gun back down and moved away from the table. “Why do I need to learn to use a gun?”

  “Because, although I was trying to get your attention by getting inside your head, I did not drug you, I did not run you off the road, and I did not put those marks on your neck. I also am not the one who murdered your father or his friend. I couldn’t hurt you, Lexi.”

  Not that a gun would have stopped some freak inside my head from hurting me. “What do you know about my father’s death?”

  Jonas stared down at the floor before looking at me again. “I saw your father in person for the first time the night of the talk he gave last month to that group of physicians.”

  “You were there?”

  “Mom… Sandra attended the event.”

  I thought back to that night. I would have remembered seeing an older woman that looked just like me. That was the first night I saw Seth.

  “I followed her there,” Jonas continued. “I remember thinking how strange it was that she wore black pants and a white button down shirt, until I watc
hed her go through the employees’ entrance. She hid among the workers, making sure to keep her distance from your father. But I knew immediately that she was watching him. She was acting so strange.”

  Unable to stand still, I circled the apartment, wringing my hands. “Didn’t you already know Jack? How did you spy on Sandra without Jack seeing you?”

  Jonas cocked his head. “I can hear her thoughts. See what she’s seeing. Just like I can hear and see what you’re seeing.”

  “How is that possible?” I asked. “I thought the only reason we have these strange supernatural abilities is—” I stopped myself. How can I speak to someone’s mind? Force them to do what I want? I turned away from Jonas. I had refused to learn this information. Seth wanted to tell me. Jack had tried to convince me to attend The Program lessons with him. I whipped back around. “Unlike me, she has no idea that you’re inside her head. Am I right?”

  “Until now, maybe.” Jonas’s voice took on a regretful tone.

  “Because of whatever it was she injected herself with?”

  He nodded. “She has watched, studied, and manipulated human clones for the past eighteen years.”

  “But she’s your mother? She raised you? What does having her as a mother even mean?” Absentmindedly, I touched my fingers to my lips, remembering Jonas’s lips on mine. I bowed my head so that he couldn’t see my face. As mad as I had been at Jonas for kissing me, it had never felt like kissing my brother or anything.

  Jonas pushed away from the wall that he’d been leaning against since we started our conversation. He hooked a finger under my chin and lifted my face so that I had no choice but to meet his probing gaze. “We are not related in any way. My DNA is of some doctor I’ve never met. I share no relation to Sandra Whitmeyer, or to you.” His brown eyes looked almost black as his pupils dilated. One could get lost in the darkness and danger he emanated.

  I blinked twice, three times. If I hadn’t been completely in love with Jack, I wondered what kind of pull the boy in front of me would’ve had on me.

  When I pulled my face from his grasp, a grin spread across his face. He walked to the table where the gun lay, picked it up, and rested it against his palm. Never really closing his fingers around the handle, he stepped to me.

  My pulse quickened. I stared at the dark metal, then up at Jonas. He watched me expectantly. I was sure he could hear the beating of my heart, feel the shaking of my limbs.

  My eyes returned to the gun. Jonas let the gun slip and turn until he held it by the barrel, pointing the handle toward me.

  Take it!

  I shook my head and backed away a step.

  He followed. He reached out with his empty hand and grabbed my arm, giving me no choice but to stand close. I followed the line of tattoos running up his arm until they disappeared beneath the sleeve of his shirt. He breathed heavily, like me.

  Hold it, Lexi. Now!

  I jumped at the boom of his voice inside my head. Slowly, I took the object from him, lifting it with extreme caution. I squeezed the handle without putting my finger anywhere near the trigger.

  “I can smell your fear,” he whispered. His hand slid down and circled my wrist. Goosebumps spread up my arms. “I can feel your pulse racing underneath my fingers. And I can hear your short breaths like you’ve just finished a sprint.” He leaned closer to my ear, and I was sure I would pass out from his closeness and the fear of him I still felt. “The way you feel right now… that’s what having Sandra Whitmeyer as a mother meant. Being poked and prodded. Being observed, studied, and held prisoner in a life that you can’t escape.” Jonas’s eyes glassed over.

  “Why didn’t you run when you had the chance?” I asked.

  The corners of his lips lifted slightly. “Naïveté really isn’t attractive on you, Lexi.”

  That’s how I knew. You couldn’t run. Just like I can’t, now. I pulled away, backed up, and sat on Coach’s sofa. I lay the gun gently on my knees and rested my hand across it. As easily as I could have sunk to my knees and cried myself senseless, I knew that was not the answer.

  “When I led you into The Farm, then helped you escape, I pretty much signed my death warrant.”

  I cocked my head. “What do you mean?”

  “I showed you the most top secret government experiments in the world. I showed you into the devil’s lair and provided you with all the ammunition you needed to expose the government for playing with human life. How do you think the public will react if they discover just how many human lives are lost for each cloned human they’ve produced? Even worse, how do you think Americans will react when they learn that the government had discovered a way to control minds?”

  I stared at him; my heart practically stopped. “You think they’ll murder you for showing me the facility and the other clones?”

  “No. They’ll kill me for showing you the exit.”

  “I thought their goal was to cure disease.” My breath got caught in my throat. I thought Jack and I were created to help people. Cure illnesses. Fix fatal injuries.

  “That’s what they’ll want the public to believe. Think about it. If the government tells the mother of a child born with a brain defect that they can now make that child normal? Or what about someone who’s in an accident and wakes up paralyzed from the neck down? You think they’ll fault a government who’s discovered a way for that person to walk again? Even if they have to overlook the fact that the government uses that same technology in other ways.”

  I stared at the gun in my lap. The heat of anger spread up my arms, across my neck, and to my face. Would the government truly do something that deceptive? And where did I fit into this?

  Jonas knelt in front of me and covered my hand with his. “You get tonight to mentally prepare,” he said, his voice taking on a harshness that contradicted the gentle touch of his palm.

  I lifted my eyes to study him. “Prepare?”

  “Tomorrow, you’ll learn to shoot that gun, and you’ll learn to protect yourself. Both physically and mentally.” That’s where we’ll start, anyway.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Saturday morning’s swim competition came way too quickly.

  Somehow I managed to win each of my races and put up times good enough to qualify for the next meet, but I didn’t score a single personal-best time. Not surprising, since I had spent so little time in the pool the past week.

  The meet finished around lunchtime. I stuffed my goggles and swim cap inside my bag, grabbed my water bottle, then threw my bag over my shoulder. When I turned toward the locker room, I ran into a wall of a body.

  Every muscle in my stomach tightened. “Jack, hey.” Feeling naked in my swimsuit, I crossed my arms across my chest.

  “Hi.” His voice was so quiet I barely heard him.

  “I’m surprised you’re here.” His stormy eyes sent a chill down my arms. I was shocked to see him after what had happened the night before.

  “Jonas made me see the risks of barging in on the IIA before we’re ready with a plan.” He turned his head toward the crowd that was thinning behind him. Jonas stood near the door—waiting for Jack, maybe. Or possibly he was waiting to show me how to use a gun. I suppressed a roll of the eyes just before Jack turned back. Keeping his voice low, he said, “We need to talk.”

  “Okay.” I shifted on my feet. Why was I so nervous in front of him? “I need a shower.”

  “Meet me behind the stables?”

  I nodded. The stables were always fairly deserted on Saturdays and a perfect place to relax with Jack. I first started to fall for Jack when he introduced me to his passion for horses and to Cheriana, his cloned quarter horse. I craved alone time with him. Time to tell him how sorry I was. About Addison. About our recent argument. Would he ever look at me like he had the night of the gala? Like I was the only woman left on this earth and made especially for him? Did we even have time for that?

  We also needed to discuss everything I’d learned about The Farm and what Jonas had shared. “Give me thirty min
utes.”

  “I’ll get you something to eat.” He slipped his hand behind my neck and leaned in, kissed my forehead. “Hurry, okay?” He turned and left me staring at the back of his concert tee and admiring the well-sculpted muscles underneath. Wellington really should get rid of uniforms during the school week. I smiled, but it only lasted a moment before someone knocked into my back.

  “Oh, sorry,” Briana said, but I knew she wasn’t. “Who is that?” She nodded toward Jonas. Jack spoke to him for a second, then pushed through the door, leaving Jonas alone.

  Jonas had been watching me during my entire conversation with Jack, and he continued to stare now.

  “That’s no one,” I said, my gaze still directed at him.

  Briana moved to stand directly in front of me. “Why is ‘no one’ practically eating you for lunch with his eyes?”

  I peeked around Briana. Sure enough, Jonas was smirking. His eyes pointed at me like a missile locked onto its target. He could hear Briana through my mind, and see what I was seeing. “Don’t be ridiculous. And by ‘no one,’ I meant no one you need to concern yourself with.” In other words, none of her business. “I have to shower.”

  I moved to get around her, but Briana cut me off. “What are you not telling me? Who is he?”

  I sighed. “He’s a friend of Jack’s.”

  Briana moved beside me again, not bothering to hide the fact that she was openly staring down Jonas. “Introduce me.”

  “What? No.” I lifted my water bottle and took a huge gulp.

  Yes, Lexi, introduce us. Jonas’s words filled my head. I had enjoyed an entire morning without him there. I’m thinking this Briana is much prettier than Dia.

  They’re identical, you idiot. I took another drink as I glanced sideways at Briana. When I saw her, this time I spit my water all over her.

  “What the…” Briana brushed the water off of her chest. “What is wrong with you?” she screamed at me.

  “Me? What is wrong with you?” I looked directly at her chest. She had always been well-endowed. Compared to me, any girl was. But looking at her now, I practically burst out laughing.