“Excellent,” he said, drumming his fingertips together. “This is coming along beautifully.”
Max entered the office, taking a seat and reaching into his breast pocket, “She seems a little better, but it might be a trick.”
“Let’s see what Layla reports back,” Reed mused. “In the meantime, go ahead and prepare Layla’s room… I think she’ll be a good influence on Caledonia.”
Max pulled a cigarette out and lit it, ignoring the professor’s irritated glance, “I still don’t get why you had to have her here. You’ll never be able to put her to work.”
The professor smiled condescendingly, “I don’t expect you to understand the intricacies of the scientific method.” He reached into his desk drawer for an ashtray, sliding it across the table with tight lips, “I do expect you to earn your lavish salary and procure me some female subjects right away.”
Max blew smoke across the desk, “I got a line on some girls coming in from Cambodia… No papers. I’m going to need access to the accounts… these guys want cash on delivery and no foolin’ around. I need to be ready at a moment’s notice.”
Professor Reed nodded, “Alright. I want to get started immediately… Offer double their asking price.”
“Sure,” He replied, getting up to leave. “I assume the usual bonus will apply?”
“After delivery,” Reed replied, waving the last wisps of smoke away with annoyance.
Max left the office, thinking how much easier life would be without having to deal with the crazy old nut-job. He could put Layla’s freaky abilities to much better use, he thought, and plenty of other people would pay good money for the smuggled girls. He cracked his knuckles and exhaled loudly.
He reached down to rub his sore shin with his sore hand, and felt a surge of irritation. All he needed was more money, and all he was getting was more trouble. That little bitch with her wide spooky eyes was the final straw.
It was high time he made a few phone calls.
~
Chapter Twenty Three – DECEPTION
~
When Calvin woke up to find Caledonia missing and the window standing open, he ran outside, checking all around the ranch. The awful thought crossed his mind that she had abandoned him, and he went cold with fear, unable to imagine what he’d done wrong. He wondered if she’d had second thoughts about running away with him, and the idea was as painful as a punch in the gut.
Then he found her knife, still in its sheath under the pillow.
When he realized what lengths they’d gone to in order to track her down, the magnitude of what she was up against scared him like he’d never been scared before. He could call the police, but he knew they’d only declare her a runaway, file a report and forget all about it. He was sick with fear, afraid of what they might be doing to her.
By the time he got home, it took both Jarod and Crystal to calm him down and get him to explain what had happened. He could barely sit still while he told them, pacing and ranting like a wild man, blaming himself for taking her someplace she could be tracked down. He was panicked, not sure where to begin looking.
“I bet it was those same guys,” Crystal said.
“Probably,” Calvin moaned, raking his hand across his scalp with despair. “I’ve been all over the internet. I can’t find anything about the professor.”
“So… This dude came to her house? To talk her aunt into handing her over?” Jarod asked.
“Yes,” Calvin’s voice was dark.
“I have an idea,” Jarod said.
~
Crystal knocked on the door, dressed in the highest heels and shortest skirt possible. When Phil opened it, his eyes nearly popped out of his head to see a scantily clad blonde standing on his porch, holding a bottle of Jack Daniels in front of her ample cleavage.
“Well hello there… Can I help you?” he asked, looking her up and down with avid eyes.
“I’m here for the party,” she giggled, wobbling unsteadily on her heels.
“Sorry sweetie, there’s nobody here but me.”
She knit her brows together and pouted her lips, “But they said number four…” She staggered back a little to look up at the house number, cocking her head flirtatiously, “Are you puttin’ me on?”
“No,” he grinned, baring his teeth with a wolfish smile, “But you’re welcome to come on in and check for yourself.”
“Kay,” she giggled, waving the bottle. “But only if you’ll have a little drinkie with me…”
Jarod and his brother watched the exchange from the parking lot, and when she disappeared into the condo, Calvin grumbled, “I’d rather we just beat it out of him.”
“Take it easy,” Jarod replied. “Crystal will have him down in no time.”
After about twenty minutes the door opened again and Crystal peeked out, waving them in. They hustled over and slipped inside, closing the door quietly. Crystal pointed to where Phil was sprawled out on the couch, eyes closed, snoring with his mouth hanging open.
“How long do we have?” Jarod asked her.
“The roofie should last him all night… but I dunno, he’s kind of a big guy.” Crystal looked at him with disgust, “He told me his roommate wouldn’t be home till after midnight… Typical pig.”
Jarod headed up the stairs while Calvin searched the countertops, flipping through stacks of papers. Crystal went through Phil’s wallet, pulling out a condom and tossing it back on the couch with a grimace. A devious smile spread on her face, and she retrieved the packet, tearing it open and leaving the wrapper on the coffee table between the two tumblers full of liquor.
“I might as well get him in trouble while we’re at it,” she muttered.
She pulled a tube of red lipstick out of her purse and applied it to her lips, picking up one of the glasses from the table to place an obvious lip print on the rim. She bent down to mark Phil’s cheek with a grimace, trailing her face down to be sure to smudge the collar of his shirt.
She stood and wiped her lips with the back of her hand just as Jarod came down the stairs waving a cell phone, grinning, “Got it!”
~
After another night on the hard mattress Caledonia was brought into Reed’s office. She did her very best to remain as neutral as possible when she was forced to sit and face the man she detested.
The professor looked her over clinically, “Layla tells me that you two really hit it off. How would you like to move into her room with her?”
Caledonia arranged her face into a pleasant mask, “Why yes, I’d like that very much.”
“Are you ready to apologize for your little… outburst… and behave yourself?” he took off his glasses, testing her.
She met his watery, faded blue eyes, and it took all of her restraint not to cringe outwardly. She stilled herself inside, projecting a tranquility that did not tamper with his suspicious yellow aura. She looked down, seemingly embarrassed, “I’m sorry I lost my temper … It’s just that those men who came for me were awfully rude.”
Professor Reed sighed, nodding in agreement, “It’s a pity, but the kind of people who do the work I need done… Let’s just say that they’re not always the most well-mannered of characters.”
“My mother used to say that if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas,” Caledonia said, looking up to gauge his reaction.
He smiled at her words, “That sounds like something Jenny would say. I certainly hope you haven’t inherited her sarcasm.”
“She always said I was like my father,” she replied, holding back her outrage; showing him only a bland facade.
He paused, looking closely into her eyes for a long moment. “I’ll have Max take you to Layla’s room.”
Max escorted her to a door in the same hallway as her first room, gripping her arm tightly enough to leave a mark. “If you pull any more of your shit, you’ll regret it,” he growled menacingly. He opened the door, shoving her inside.
Layla looked up from where she was folding some clothes on he
r bed with a triumphant smile. Caledonia’s eyes darted around, taking in a room that was very similar to the one she’d destroyed. There was the same lacy canopy over a large four poster bed, and furniture every bit as ornate as the things she’d just reduced to kindling. The only difference was, this room had a window. Her heart leapt when she saw daylight peeking in through lace curtains.
“Don’t bother,” Max snarled, reading her mind, “It’s four stories straight down, and just in case you try and grow wings, I’ve had it barred.” He spun around to leave, slamming the door and locking it behind him.
Layla cringed sympathetically, as if to apologize for his rudeness, “You’ll like it much better here… I promise.” She got up and showed Caledonia around her large and well-appointed suite, pointing out the drawers she’d emptied out for her. “Teddy sent some more clothes for you, and if you don’t make any trouble, he’ll let you take your studies with us. You’ll see… he’s not all bad. He’s always been very good to me and Michael.”
Caledonia spotted a phone sitting on her dresser and raced over to pick it up. She raised it to her ear, unable to hear a sound, “Does this phone work?”
“It’s only for calling cook or maid.”
Caledonia looked at her oddly, “Don’t they have names?”
“No,” Layla replied, matter of factly. “Teddy says that we shouldn’t develop any attachments with the help because they won’t always be around. If we call them by name he fires them.”
Caledonia said nothing, her lips curling in disgust. Reed had purposefully kept the twins from forming any bonds aside from him. It was ironic how Layla’s and Caledonia’s lives had taken a parallel track; her own parents had done exactly the same thing for entirely different reasons.
She rushed over to inspect the window. The metal bars were bolted down tight, and she’d need tools to get them off. Looking down, she saw a long sheer drop to the pavement below. There were no balconies or awnings to climb out onto; she slumped with disappointment.
Layla started explaining their schedules and routines, “We have dinner every night at exactly six o-clock, and we mustn’t be late or Teddy gets very cross. We call in our breakfast orders after dinner, and it’s delivered to our rooms at seven o’clock… Lessons start at eight, we take lunch with our tutor, and then–”
“Sounds like every second of your day is planned out for you!” Caledonia exclaimed. She was frustrated, realizing she’d only been moved from one jail cell to another. She wondered how long she could keep up the pretense of compliance.
“Teddy says that it’s important to be organized,” Layla said, honestly surprised at Caledonia’s reaction. “Is that bad?”
Once again, a rush of pity softened Caledonia’s heart, and she shrugged, “I don’t know… I was raised out in the woods like a wild girl… remember?”
“From one extreme to another,” Layla said.
Their eyes met, and they smiled at each other as they tasted the irony simultaneously. A sharp rapping knock made Caledonia look to the way she’d come in, but Layla headed towards a door that was off to the side of the room.
“It’s Michael,” she explained, “His room is connected to mine.”
She opened the door and Michael walked in, approaching them nervously with a curious and excited aura. Looking at the twins side by side Caledonia was struck by their coloring; they were like a pair of rare orchids, pale and speckled, topped with fiery red crowns of hair.
Michael stared goggle-eyed at Caledonia, burning with interest, and Layla rolled her eyes, nudging him with her elbow. “Put your tongue back in your mouth and say hello,” she chided him.
He reached his hand out to Caledonia, stiffly formal. She stepped forward to take it, shaking it politely while trying to ignore the intense way he was staring at her. He seemed shyer than Layla, almost like he was her younger brother.
“It’s nice to see you… I mean, h-how are you? I mean… How do you like it here so far?” he asked.
She raised her eyebrows, “Let’s see… I’ve been drugged, kidnapped, imprisoned and spied on. It’s been great.”
He was taken aback, speechless, uncertain of how to respond to her sarcasm. She had to remind herself that the twins were just as much victims of Professor Reed as she was, and there was no point in taking her frustrations out on them.
She took a deep breath, “I’m sorry.” She smiled apologetically, “It’s been a rough couple of days… You can call me Cali.”
“Why don’t you two have a seat,” Layla interjected, gesturing to a pair of couches in the corner by her book shelves. “I need to finish putting Cali’s clothes away.”
Caledonia sat down, tempted to make a snide comment about how those were definitely not her clothes, but she refrained, instead turning to the nervous boy who sat perched on the edge of the couch opposite hers.
“So, tell me about these field trips you take. How often do you get let out of here?”
“We go out every few weeks. If Layla is good at work, we go to the library, or we get to have dessert after dinner.”
“Good at work?” she asked.
“You know, jobs. For Teddy.”
“Like what? What does she do for him?”
He looked over to his sister on the other side of the room, “She changes people. Like you do. She makes them do what Teddy wants.”
Caledonia was starting to get it, “Like she changed my aunt?”
Michael squirmed uncomfortably, “Layla said she was a lot easier than some of the others.”
Layla returned and looked at Michael with a sympathetic smile, “Cali’s nice… You don’t need to be so nervous.”
“We were just talking about the jobs you do for Teddy,” Caledonia said. “Tell me more about your work.”
She started out reluctantly, but Caledonia nodded and smiled encouragingly, and soon she was telling her everything, detailing exactly how the professor was using her to finance his continued research.
The twins would accompany him on various business meetings, posing as grandchildren he was setting up trust funds for. Layla would manipulate bankers and investment fund managers, softening them up so Michael could question them. Together, they forced them to give up passwords, access codes, and insider trading information. Sometimes they would get lucky, ferreting out corporate or personal secrets to blackmail them with.
That was where Max and his crew fit in, working as debt collectors.
Caledonia scoffed, “So that’s how he makes his money… He steals it.”
Michael got defensive, “That’s how they all do it on Wall Street. They use complex trading derivatives to make billions… We only take advantage of a little extra information.”
“So it’s okay then,” Caledonia said sourly.
Michael smiled, completely oblivious to her sarcasm, “I bet you’d be really good at it. Teddy even lets me manage some of our holdings. I get higher returns than most institutional investors.”
“Michael is really good at math,” Layla said proudly.
“Yeah,” he puffed up a little. “Max even asked me for help with the accounts today… He says I’m going to be his new right hand man.”
Caledonia looked back and forth between them, “Why do you two stay here? You’re both over eighteen… Why don’t you just leave?”
They looked at her like she’d gone mad, “This is our home. We’re a family.”
“The professor is not your father!” Caledonia exclaimed.
Layla sighed, “Teddy is good to us. All we have to do is follow the rules and everybody’s happy.”
“I won’t be happy until I get out of here.”
“He’ll never let you go,” Michael said firmly. “He cares about his research more than anything else. He’s very interested in testing your capabilities.”
“Well he can’t,” she spat out vehemently, hatred and anger swelling in her heart. “I’m not one of his subjects.”
She looked at Layla’s shocked face and took a
deep breath, trying to get a hold of herself. She had to maintain a positive attitude or they were never going to let her go on one of their little trips. She thought about the possibility of waiting weeks or months to get back to Calvin, and wondered where she would find the patience.
She realized that twins had been trained, groomed from the first moment they could talk to be obedient. The professor had brainwashed them into the docile pair that sat before her now, and Caledonia wondered what their poor mother would have thought about it.
Layla jumped up, “Oh my gosh! Look at the time… Out of here Michael! We need to get dressed for dinner!” She was flustered, clearly in fear of being late and incurring the wrath of Teddy.
Michael got up, heading for the door that separated their two rooms. He turned for one last glance at Caledonia and bonked his head on the door frame, rubbing it sheepishly as he stumbled out.
“He’s not usually like that,” Layla apologized for him. “It’s just that you’re the prettiest girl he’s ever seen.”
“I have a feeling I’m the only girl he’s ever seen,” muttered Caledonia.
Layla picked out an outfit for her, and she dressed swiftly while looking around for a camera. She let Layla fix her hair, tying it back neatly with a large black bow while she frowned at herself in the ornate gilded mirror.
“Ready?”Layla smiled encouragingly.
Ready as I’ll ever be, she thought. Dressed in a jumper over a frilly blouse, she looked just like a doll stuck inside a pretty little dollhouse. She clenched her jaw and prepared herself to face Professor Reed once more.
There was a rap on the door leading out into the hallway, and this time it was their escort to dinner.
“Layla?” Caledonia asked, following her towards the door, “Does your brother have a window in his room too?”
~
Chapter Twenty Four – FREEDOM
~
Calvin and Jarod checked every number in Phil’s phone, finding only three without names attached. The first was a phone sex line, the second, a waitress at a local bar. The third and final number rang to a mysterious voice-mail account with no message. They took the phone to an old friend of Jarod’s, a reclusive computer gamer who hacked into a reverse directory to track down a billing address in San Francisco.
The Athena Effect Page 23