by Susan Bohnet
Kai heard the sound of a door opening and closing again, its bang reminding him of the lazy summer days he had spent at the family cabin at the lake, fishing, boating, hiking in the mountains with his father, and singing family tunes around a blazing campfire. He shook his head. Why was he traveling down memory lane like this? Whoever these people were, he was fairly certain they weren’t Trebladores. That meant that he wasn’t going to find Beth here, either.
He turned and edged out from behind the side of the bunkhouse. His steps faltered as he caught sight of a tall, straight-shouldered man walking from the center building toward one of the bunkhouses on the far side. The man had his back to Kai and Kai breathed a sigh of relief. Pausing, he watched as the man walked along the pathway to the bunkhouse and then stepped to the front door of one of them.
This bunkhouse had its windows boarded up as if there was something inside that needed to be hidden from the bright light of day. Kai thought of Beth but dismissed the idea as quickly as it came. These were not Trebladores. Beth would not be here. He might as well trek back to the resort.
He turned and almost ran into someone standing behind him. He jumped back, startled, and then straightened.
“Can I help you?” the man asked. Kai looked him over. Tall, maybe six feet. Light brown hair cut short, a goatee that did not quite cover the scars under his chin. He smiled and Kai noticed that the smile did not reach his dark brown eyes.
“Hi,” Kai said, falteringly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you. I just came across this place while out on a little hike and I wondered who was here. It’s a little early for summer camp and the place needs some work so I was surprised to hear children.”
The man stood there for several moments in silence, his gaze hard and steely. Kai felt a shiver of premonition run down his back and he stepped back. Then the man smiled again and offered his hand.
“I’m Ronan,” he said. “I am in charge of the camp here. It is a camp; you are right, but not a summer camp. These children are all special children who are getting a break from some very dark and disturbing homes. They spend most of their time in families that are dysfunctional and we offer a chance for them to get away for a while and spend some time with other kids who also have family issues they are dealing with. We provide them with schooling here so they don’t lose that part of their education.” He looked around at the empty pool and hot tub and shrugged.
“We just started here,” he continued. “Don’t have the repair work done. It’s a little too early for the pool to be running and we don’t want to set up anything that could pose a danger to the children until we are fully staffed for it either.” He glanced at Kai, tilting his head as he considered him.
“Oh. That’s good,” Kai stammered. He hesitated again, stepping to the side and edging toward the road that led out of the camp area. “I guess I should be going. I’ll just head out along the road, then, and leave you to your business.”
Ronan nodded, his eyes never leaving Kai. Kai kept going down the road, waving a slight good-bye as he reached the two large trees that marked the entrance to the camp. He glanced back and saw that Ronan was standing exactly as he had left him. For some reason this man gave Kai the creeps.
Chapter Twenty-four
It was a circular route from the camp road back to his vehicle, and the time to think as he jogged only tormented him. Trebladores were definitely involved in Beth’s disappearance. The man who paid her rent impersonated her father. Where was he going to look now? Any step he took next would be equivalent to a wild goose chase.
He slowed his pace to a fast walk. His thighs burned from exertion and he rolled his shoulders to loosen the tight muscles there. A sense of despair rolled over him. Beth. How selfish he’d been to love her. He had put her in danger. Had she known what Kai was, would she have even chosen to be with him? It seemed like the title of a cheesy teen movie, My Boyfriend’s an Alien. Well, this alien was going to do all he could to rescue her now.
By the time he reached the truck, he had a plan. He would do the thing the rebels feared most. He started his truck and headed back toward home.
Kai pulled into the driveway of Trebladore Headquarters, slowing to show his eyes to the scanner so the bar would rise. No ticket needed, just prove you’re one of us, and you’re in the door. Outsiders thought it was a retina scan, but all it did was check for the telltale gold fleck in the right eye. Core Enterprises had their fingers in many pies, lucrative pies, but Influencing was the main branch and the reason the others existed. They needed a front for the Influencing and something that would provide financial support.
He took a breath, parked, and headed toward the main entrance, his shoes soundless on the asphalt, his heartbeat thundering behind his eyes. Some of the Trebladores in here could be rebels, but if he could get in the crowded lobby, no one would dare touch him.
Just as Kai approached the edge of the parking lot, a jeep came barreling toward him. He jumped to the right and rolled. He didn’t see the driver but he was pretty sure Lincoln was in the passenger seat and, judging from his hand gestures, calling the shots. The jeep spun around and came at him a second time, but Kai was already on his feet and sprinting for the door.
Inside, Trebladores walked by him with purposeful strides. No one seemed to notice his wild entrance. He turned down the hallway to the right. It wasn’t a large building; there weren’t that many Trebladores in this area. Many from the nearby city came to work in one of the branches here, but many more held jobs in the regular sector: doctors, lawyers, business owners, and so on. Sometimes a Trebladore needed someone who could understand.
Like now! There was one Trebladore he could trust. The one who surely wasn’t involved with the rebels … Jessip. He knocked on the office door and opened it without waiting for an invitation.
As Kai burst in, Jessip looked up startled. “Kai? What is it?”
“I need to talk to you.”
Jessip rose and came around his desk. He laid both hands on Kai’s shoulders. “Calm down. It’s okay.” His voice had a soothing effect. “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it together. Okay?”
Kai nodded. He felt like he could breathe again. Jessip pointed to the couch. While Kai took a seat, Jessip went to the little fridge at the back of the room and poured a glass of grapefruit juice. He handed it to Kai and took the seat to his right.
“You remembered,” Kai said, sipping the tart drink.
“Of course. You and I prefer grapefruit to orange juice and we’re in the minority, my boy. Now, what’s going on?”
“I have a friend … no, I have to start somewhere else.” He drank the grapefruit juice, letting the rejuvenating feeling he got from it invigorate his skin and his thoughts. “Jessip, the Trebladores have always worked together in their cause…”
“Of course…”
“Well there are some taking a different … tactic.”
Jessip’s forehead furrowed. “Different tactic?”
“I’ll just say it straight out. There are rebels among the Trebladores.”
“What?”
“They think humans aren’t responding to Influencing as well as they want, and some of those humans are beyond helping. You know that happens. Not all of our missions are successful. They want to turn to violence — to kill those who don’t respond to Influencing. They believe they’ll better help the human race this way.”
Jessip’s face drained of color. “How do you know this?”
“They tried to recruit me. And I think they have abducted my friend, a human.”
“Abducted? A human!”
“Yes. I think they’re trying to force me into their rebel society by holding Beth hostage.”
“Your friend?”
Kai nodded, swallowing. Did Jessip suspect that Beth was so much more to him?
Jessip seemed to study him carefully before he spoke. “
What you’re saying … it’s not possible.”
“It is possible. They want to kill the worst humans.”
“How many rebels are there? Who are they?”
Kai swallowed. If he exposed them, they could retaliate … hurt Beth. “I’m not sure.”
“If we’re going to find your friend, we need all the information we can get, Kai. How do you know they’ve taken Beth?”
“At least one of them helped her move out of her apartment.”
Jessip nodded thoughtfully.
“And the ones that approached you to join them?”
There was no way to conceal his knowledge and help Beth. He had to trust that Jessip would not only believe him but also mobilize the Trebladore forces to find Beth. “Yes, I’ll tell you everything I know. Just help me save her before she gets hurt.” His voiced cracked on his final word.
“You truly fear for her safety?”
“They’re not acting like Trebladores. They’ve turned against their natures. And they’re dead serious in what they see as their cause.”
Jessip rose and grabbed a notebook off his desk. “Yes. I suppose if they’re willing to lay down twenty-four hundred dollars for her rent, they mean business.”
Kai nodded.
“Who are the rebels?” Jessip’s pen hovered over the tablet of lined yellow paper.
Kai considered which Trebladores he’d encountered in his abduction. Then he stopped.
How did Jessip know what Beth paid for rent?
Chapter Twenty-five
“What?” Kai said, springing from his chair. “Just a minute.”
Jessip froze, looking at Kai with confusion on his face. “Who’s in this rebel group? You were going to tell me the names of those you know.” Jessip watched Kai with eyes that were unusually devoid of any kind of feeling. Kai wondered just what the Trebladore Master was up to. If they knew the cost of Beth’s rent, then the Master had to be in on her disappearance.
“You did it,” Kai hissed. “You were the ones who took Beth. You have no right! You can’t just make people disappear!”
Jessip held up a calming hand. “Why don’t you just sit down for a bit and we can talk this over,” he said. He made no attempt to argue his innocence.
“Why do you think I would believe anything you tell me? You took the woman I love away, she just disappears, and you want to ‘talk it over’? What have you done with her? Why would you do something like this? We are Trebladores! We don’t hurt humans; we help them. We try to help them be better people and turn away from the ugly, cruel things they are inclined to do.” Kai swung away from Jessip, pacing the floor of the tiny room. “What is going on? I don’t understand! How could I have been so blind?”
Jessip stepped toward Kai, a hand raised in supplication. “Kai. Calm down. I know you are worried about Beth.” Kai stopped his pacing and turned sharply toward Jessip, both eyebrows raised.
“Worried? Don’t you think I have a right to be? She is gone. Everything she had in her apartment is gone. Even her parents are gone.” He moved to stand inches from Jessip, “What have you done to her?”
“She is fine, Kai,” Jessip said. He stepped back from Kai, and went behind his desk as if trying to put some distance between himself and the angry young man. A quizzical looked passed over his face and Kai found himself wondering at it.
“She is going away for a while,” Jessip said. He sat in the chair behind him, his shoulders ramrod straight. “We simply convinced her to take advantage of an opportunity to go work with Paul Denton, the DNA researcher she admires. He happens to be a Trebladore, and he will take her as his assistant and teach her all the things she wants so badly to know.”
She left him, without a word … for a good opportunity. Kai drew in a deep breath, trying to slow down the racing of his heart. “How did you get her to agree?” he asked.
“It was something she wanted.”
“And … me?”
Jessip watched Kai for several moments in silence. He sighed. “We told her you were married and had children.”
Kai stood frozen in place. Now his heart really did scream, racing again despite his attempts at slow breathing. How could they do this? How could they tell her such a thing? Trembling, he stumbled to the chair in front of the desk and sat. He didn’t think his legs would hold him up any more.
He raised burning eyes to Jessip and stared at him. They told her he lied to her. How that must have hurt!
An ache flared in his chest. She shouldn’t have believed them. Didn’t she know him? “How did you convince her? She doesn’t know you. Why would she believe you?”
“Anthony saw you two in that restaurant. She remembered him. He said he was your cousin and we thought she deserved to know the truth. You were stringing her along and it wasn’t right. Your reaction that night convinced her you were hiding something.” Jessip paused to raise one eyebrow. “She didn’t know that you were hiding something even bigger than a family.” Jessip shook his head, then looked at Kai with hard eyes. “You know you can’t become romantically involved with humans, Kai. You know it is against the rules.”
Kai glared back at Jessip. He was silent a moment, trying to process all that he had just been told. Then he sat back in his chair. He knew that Jessip was most likely telling the truth about what had happened to Beth. He had no reason to lie to him now. He would gain nothing from it but to further alienate Kai from the Trebladore cause.
Jessip watched Kai for a moment, rubbing his hands along his thighs. “We have always protected ourselves from this kind of danger by separating any Trebladores and humans who we see are beginning to be too involved with each other. We distract the Trebladore and convince the human to disappear.” Now Jessip held up a hand to forestall Kai’s questions. “They are never harmed. But sometimes it is necessary to cause some small emotional pain to avoid a larger tragedy.”
“Small emotional pain?” Kai hissed, leaning forward in his chair. “How can learning that the man you have fallen in love with has a wife and children be a ‘small emotional pain’?”
“Kai,” Jessip said, his voice steely now. “You knew the rules and you chose to disregard them. Do not blame us for doing what we had to do to protect ourselves. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself. You knew you couldn’t continue this relationship with her. What did you think would happen? Did you think we would just shrug our shoulders and say it was okay? Do you think you are special? That you should be allowed to do what no one else in thousands of years of history on Earth has been allowed to do?”
Kai sank back into his chair. It was his fault that Beth had had to suffer like this. He thought of her smile and the light in her eyes when she laughed. The ache in his chest ballooned and seemed to press against his ribs. His heart thrummed heavily in his chest as if to remind him of its importance. He took a deep breath, fought back the tears that threatened, and swallowed. He knew, at some level, that Jessip was justified in his efforts to protect the Trebladore Society. He knew that this break with Beth was coming. He just wished he could have ended it better than this.
“Kai,” Jessip added, breaking into his thoughts. “Beth is going to a new life. She will be entering into something she has wanted her entire life. She will be following her dream. Once she leaves, she will be entering a phase of her existence that will transcend all that came before. Leave her to go. Let her get on with it.”
Chapter Twenty-six
All the logical talk about letting Beth go, about following the rules, about being a good little Trebladore with subdued emotions and calculated relationships exploded as Kai’s anger came to the surface. He loved her and they convinced her that he was playing her for a fool, using her, and lying to her! With Beth’s sense of morals, how she must hate him now. If he really were married and a father while sneaking around to date Beth, Kai would hate himself, too. They weren’t just taking her
away; they were tainting every moment they had ever spent together.
Jessip picked up his pen. “Who are the rebels?”
The tears that had threatened now arrived, bringing a sting to his eyes and nose. He stood and paced the room. How could he stand it? Beth hated him from wherever she was in the world right now. The tendrils of her anger and disgust seemed to reach out to him over the expanse of space. “Where is Beth?”
“Let her go. You know it’s for the best, in the end.”
“I know,” he admitted grudgingly.
“She will start the next phase in her life and reach her potential in ways she never would with you in her life.”
Suddenly, the tense in all of Jessip’s comments struck him. She will start the next phase. She is going to a new life. She will be following her dream. She hadn’t left yet. The tears spilled over and down his cheeks. She was here. But she hated him. He angrily brushed the tears away. He couldn’t let it end like this.
Another tear ran down his face. He turned to Jessip. “I need some time to think.”
“But Kai … the names!”
The rebels might have their horrible tactics, but the Masters were not as squeaky clean as Kai had always believed. Jessip could wait for the names; it was the least Kai could do to repay him for ruining his life. “Not now,” Kai said, turning to face Jessip’s steely, yet fatherly, expression.
“It will be okay,” said Jessip, the fatherly side of him winning out.
Kai turned the doorknob and burst from the office. Jessip called after him, “Come tomorrow.” Kai strode away.
His footsteps sounded hollow on the polished tile floor. Where could Beth be? He’d wasted so much time assuming the rebels abducted her. They had nothing to do with Beth’s disappearance. But how would he know where the Master would keep her … wait!