“Are your eyes closed?” he asked. His voice seemed far away, like a cloud speaking to me.
“Yes, they’re closed.” I kept them shut and tried to think of what else Nadia had said about what had happened with the Deleo, and it all came to me. Along with the words came pictures, moving pictures showing me what had happened the night before. I saw it played out before me as if I had been there—the two men drinking tea, Mr. Specter pulling the Deleo out of the backpack. And now, like someone had turned up the volume, there was sound: Mr. Specter telling the professor to open his eyes and stare at the image, the professor saying how beautiful and intense it was, and Mr. Specter altering his memories.
Voices played in my head.
Mr. Specter: Keep staring. Don’t look away.
The professor: Oh! It’s suddenly gotten very intense. This is incredible.
Mr. Specter saying: I know it’s intense, but you have to keep looking. Do not close your eyes!
I knew all of this came from Nadia. Somehow she’d shown me what she’d witnessed last night. What a smart, wonderful girl. There was probably no one else on the planet who could enter my consciousness and mind meld with me like that. I realized then that I’d let her down. She’d been worried and afraid, and instead of being there for her, I slept. If only she’d knocked on my door to wake me up, we might have had time to work out a plan. Now it was too late. Mr. Specter was going to alter my memories and there was nothing I could do about it. And not just me. He was going to do it to each and every one of us. Those who refused would be dead. Collateral damage, Mr. Specter had said. A necessary evil.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, forcing out the words.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be over in a few minutes,” he said. “Now open your eyes, and stare at the image. Tell me what you see.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Nadia
When Mr. Specter said, “Nadia, your timing is perfect. You can be next,” he had the Deleo hanging from his fingertips. At the sight of it, I swear my heart stopped. I saw the back of Russ’s head and when he didn’t turn around to look at me, I knew I’d arrived too late.
And in that split second, I made a decision. I wasn’t going to be next. And I wasn’t going to become anyone’s so-called collateral damage just for refusing. There had to be another way, and I would find it or die trying. “I’d love to go next, but Jameson would kill me,” I said breezily. “He’s dying to be tested. He thinks he’s going to have the high score and be top dog.” I rolled my eyes like I was an adult doing an impression of a teenager.
“But you’re here now; why not just get it over with?” Mr. Specter smiled encouragingly.
“Mrs. Whitehouse sent me down to get Russ. She’s making me eggs and toast and she wants him to eat too. She said he barely touched his breakfast.” These last few words I did an impression of her voice, which made him chuckle. I flapped my arms like she did sometimes—spastic jazz hands.
His smile expanded into a huge grin and I knew I’d pulled it off. That’s the good thing about being truthful most of the time. When you do lie, people don’t expect it. “Well, then off you go,” he said. “Let Jameson know I’m ready for him. Russ?” Mr. Specter pulled on Russ’s sleeve and Russ rose obediently to his feet. Mr. Specter gave him a nudge in my direction. “Follow Nadia and take it easy for a while.” He addressed me. “Russ isn’t going to be himself for an hour or so. The test is tiring. He probably won’t feel like talking, so don’t push it.”
“I don’t really feel like talking either,” I said. “My blood sugar is low. I’ve got to eat soon.” Like he was sleepwalking, Russ wandered past me to wait in the hallway. I stayed right on his heels.
Mr. Specter stood in the doorway. “You know the way?”
I nodded. “I’m excellent with directions.” I tapped on my forehead. “I’ve got it all up here.”
“Very good.”
I took Russ’s arm and led him away from Mr. Specter. I’d been afraid he’d want to walk back with us and get Jameson himself, but I lucked out and he stayed behind. My heart pounded so hard I could have sworn it hit my rib cage with every beat. Even though I was gripped with fear, I tried to act calm, walking, but not running, down the hallway. When I heard Mr. Specter close the door behind us, I exhaled in relief.
“Listen Russ,” I said, putting my hand in his, “we’re going to have to do something drastic.”
“Something drastic?” He looked toward me, his face lacking expression. I realized then that even though we’d been touching I hadn’t picked up on any emotion. At all. He wasn’t happy or sad or in pain or upset. He was just empty. A human void. I wasn’t sure how much he would comprehend, but I talked anyway, keeping my voice very low. “Just follow my lead? No matter what I do, play along, okay?”
“Okay,” he said. It should have made me happy that he was agreeable, but I got the sense he was parroting rather than responding. There was nothing I could do about it. It would have to be good enough for now.
I’d lied to Mr. Specter about being excellent with directions, but the fates must have been looking out for us, because I was able to retrace my path without any false turns. Leading Russ by the arm was as easy as walking an old pony around the ring. Every time I glanced up at his impassive face I fought the urge to cry. Oh, Russ, what did he do to you? But the fact that he was incapacitated was all the more reason for me to stay calm and figure something out quickly. I had to be strong for both of us.
When we got back to the room where the others waited, I was eager to sound the alarm. Mallory still sat off to one side of the room, her arm propped up on the edge of the chair, her head against her hand. Her eyes were closed. She might even have been sleeping. Kevin was crouched down behind the couch, popping up periodically to shoot an imaginary weapon at Jameson, who clutched his chest and fell to the floor. They were, I would guess, reenacting some battle from a comic book or movie. Being away from home seemed to have helped Jameson loosen up. I’d never seen him play around like this in Edgewood.
“Duck, Nadia!” Jameson yelled from the floor. He was sprawled out now, as if getting hit had thrown him back into snow angel position. “He’s going to get you.”
I walked up to him. “Stop goofing around. I have to talk to you. It’s important.”
The urgency in my voice took the playfulness right out of him. He scrambled to his feet, looking sheepish. “What’s going on?”
I had Kevin’s attention too. He dropped his imaginary weapon and waited for my answer. I addressed everyone in the room, even Mallory who hadn’t moved since we walked in. “Listen. Something serious is happening and we need to band together. Mr. Specter isn’t who you think he is. He’s got this gadget called a Deleo. I’m not really clear on how the technology works, but it messes up your thoughts and erases memories. He’s using it to brainwash us under the guise of testing.”
“What?” Kevin asked.
“He’s got this thing called a Deleo, and it—”
“Oh no, you don’t have to say it again. I heard you the first time.” Kevin’s face showed how ridiculous he thought the whole thing was. “Nadia, I can tell you right now that it’s not true.”
“I saw it with my own eyes,” I said. “It is true. He straps this thing over your head and says he’s testing your powers, but that’s just a cover. It actually manipulates or wipes out memories. “
“I’m not sure what you saw, but believe me, I’ve known Sam Specter for more than thirty years and he’s a standup guy. Wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Now Kevin sounded irate.
I turned to Jameson. “Look at Mallory,” I said, pointing. “And Russ. He’s turned them into zombies!” I was shouting now. Mallory raised her head to look, but didn’t seem to register what was going on. “He’s scrambled their brains and he wants to do it to us too. We have to stop him.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Kevin said, holding up his hands. “Let’s all take a deep breath here. I can guarantee that Sam Specter would never do the k
ind of thing you’re talking about. Even if there was technology like that. Which there isn’t. Except for the Neuralyzer Tommy Lee Jones used in Men in Black.”
“I remember that!” Jameson said.
“I got a replica of it at the store,” Kevin said.
“Cool! How much?”
“Just under ten bucks. You’d be amazed how many I sell over the holidays.”
“Stop it!” I yelled. “I’m completely serious here. I’ve seen this thing, this Deleo, and I overheard him talking about it. He wants to do this to all four of us, and if we don’t do it, we’re going to wind up dead. Collateral damage. Look!” I brushed my hand against Russ’s cheek. “Look at Russ and Mallory. I’m not making this up.”
“Mallory, are you okay?” Kevin asked, to prove his point.
She nodded. “I’m fine. Just a little tired.”
“How about you, Russ. How are you feeling?”
Russ said, “Tired.” Echoing the last word Mallory said.
“See,” Kevin said. “They’re both tired. Which is exactly what Sam said would happen after the testing.” He came closer and leaned over to look me in the face, so close I could smell his hair gel. “Nadia, you gotta chill. We’re all kinda out of sorts after what happened yesterday. But if we don’t trust each other, what do we got? I’ll tell you what we have. Nothing. We’ve just gotta hang together.”
I stood firm. “I know what I saw.”
Kevin straightened up. “I’ll tell you what. Let’s all go down there right now and talk this through with Sam. We’ll get to the bottom of whatever it is you think you saw.”
“I’ll go next if you want, Nadia,” Jameson said. “I’m not afraid.”
“Don’t do it, Jameson,” I begged. “Please don’t go along with this.”
“You can watch when it’s my turn if it would make you feel better,” he said.
Jameson and Kevin were acting like I was a kid afraid of needles trying to get out of a vaccination shot. Why couldn’t I get through to them?
“Come on, let’s go.” Kevin gestured to the doorway. “We’ll do it together. You can lead the way.”
“I’ll stay right with you,” Jameson offered.
“Oh, Jameson.” I shook my head, my heart filled with frustration. “I thought you were smarter than this.”
Mrs. Whitehouse walked into the room, carrying a steaming plate full of food. “Oh there you are, Nadia. I rustled up some breakfast for you.” She stopped to take in all of us, frozen in place like we were a life-sized diorama. “What’s going on?”
“I’m going to find Sam, that’s what’s going on,” Kevin said. “We need to get this cleared up.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jameson declared. He clapped a hand on my back. “Don’t look so worried, Nadia. I’m sure there’s an explanation.”
“An explanation for what?” Mrs. Whitehouse called out, after they’d sprinted out of the room.
I took a piece of toast off the plate she’d extended in my direction. Lightly toasted with strawberry jelly. “Thanks for making me breakfast,” I said. “But I won’t have time to eat it.”
CHAPTER FORTY
Russ
People talked and someone fell on the floor and there was a girl eating jelly toast. Me, I was just there. Watching, but not caring. I was an inanimate object being moved by the will of someone else. Portable. Like the shell of a human being.
I’d fought the Deleo as much as I could, but it was powerful. Its tentacles tapped at my thoughts and memories and slithered in wherever it found a weakness. At first I held back the intrusion as best I could, thinking of childhood songs, and reciting the multiplication table in my head.
Twinkle, twinkle little star…
“When we’re finished here, you will do whatever I tell you to do without question,” Mr. Specter said.
The bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountain…
“You will feel no remorse when it’s necessary to kill people.”
Five times five is twenty-five.
“You will not have an emotional connection to Nadia, Mallory, or Jameson.”
I felt myself slipping and knew I needed to do something more. My efforts weren’t enough. Not nearly enough.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Nadia
I was the worst friend in the world. I left Mallory behind. It wasn’t that I wanted to; it was that I had to. Getting Russ out of the house was all I could manage. I couldn’t have done two of them. Besides, I figured she was safe enough. She’d already had her date with the Deleo. I didn’t think Mr. Specter could do any more to harm her.
“Where are you going?” Mrs. Whitehouse said. I didn’t blame her for being mystified. We were all headed in different directions and no one had explained anything to her.
“Forgot something in my room,” I said grabbing a second triangle of toast. I looped my hand around Russ’s arm and maneuvered him out the door. “Be right back!” I said in as normal a voice as possible. All the while, I was jerking on Russ’s arm and thinking we had to go faster. Faster. Faster. My flight instinct had kicked in—in a big way. I sensed that Mr. Specter was not going to back down. Something bad was going to happen, if not now, then later. And I wasn’t going to wait around and see it happen.
“All right then,” Mrs. Whitehouse called out. “I’ll put your plate in the kitchen.”
I finished swallowing my bite of food. “Okay!”
I had a general idea of where the front entrance had been, and when I found it, I was euphoric. Even better, the massive front door easily swung open when I pulled on the handle. “Let’s go,” I said to Russ, who didn’t react at all. It was like talking to my mom’s cat, Barry.
Once outside, I headed toward the bus. My thinking was that if Kevin had left the keys in the ignition, I could drive to the closest town and get help. There had to be a U.S. embassy in Peru that would help us. At the very least I could call home collect. That would go over well, I thought ruefully. After something like this, my mother wouldn’t let me leave her side until I was thirty-two, if then.
“Wait here,” I said to Russ when we reached the side of the bus. He stood there, hands at his side. He wasn’t going anywhere. I pressed on the folding door and miraculously, it opened. “We are in!” I scrambled up the stairs, and sat behind the wheel. No keys. A crumpled candy bar wrapper was on the floor near my feet; some folded bills and change were in the compartment next to the driver’s seat, and on the jutting out part of the dashboard, sat Mr. Specter’s GPS. I scooped up the money and the GPS, and stuck them in the front pocket of my sweatshirt. I did a quick walk through the bus to see if there was anything else, but our group had been tidy and efficient and taken all their stuff inside when we’d first gotten here. Crap.
I jumped down the steps onto the packed dirt. “Russ, we’re going to have to walk. Let’s go.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him in the direction of the front gate. If we could get past the gate, and get a head start, we had a chance. We couldn’t outrun a car, but we could hide.
The driveway was long and we were visible from the house, but hopefully no one was looking. “We’re going to be fine,” I said aloud. “We’re going to get out of here and get help and everything is going to be fine.”
“Everything is going to be fine,” Russ agreed speaking in even tones.
One foot in front of the other, that’s what I concentrated on. Every step was another step away from the house, another step closer to the gate. I thought the gate probably opened from the inside. If not, I’d worry about it when we got there.
Russ was proving to be good in a crisis, considering his brain had been hijacked. He moved at a fast clip right alongside with me, didn’t contradict my instructions, and still looked good. The way to the front gate was longer and more curved than I remembered from our arrival. Of course, we’d been in the bus then. Russ and I were jogging now, hand in hand, me leading the way around the deep ruts in the packed earth. Even as we were fleeing for
our lives, I was glad to be doing it with him and no one else. “You know,” I said looking up at his profile, “I really love you, Russ.” I didn’t plan to say it or anything. It just popped out of my mouth. Something about thinking you might die soon makes it important to get it all out.
I thought I saw him smile, and I know I heard him murmur something, but I didn’t quite catch what he said because at the same moment, I heard the sound of a car engine revving.
I looked back and so did Russ, probably because he was copying me. I saw the glint of sunlight on the SUV as it came barreling down the drive directly toward us. “Run!” I yelled. He must have sensed the danger through his mental fog, because he immediately increased his speed to match mine. Our legs pumped almost in unison and my heart and lungs threatened to explode, but I wasn’t stopping.
Looking back, I could see the front grill of the vehicle getting closer. In my heart, I knew it was over. Still, we kept on. When we reached the gate, we skidded to a halt. My breathing was labored and my legs shaky, but there was no time to worry about anything but getting out of there. The gate was made of wrought iron bars too close together to slip through, and the walls on either side were way over our head and topped with barbed wire and shards of glass.
I let go of Russ’s hand and frantically looked for a push pad on this side of the gate, but there wasn’t one. I had a sudden thought. Maybe I could reach the one on the other side? I slipped my arm through the gate and stretched, but my fingertips feel just short. It was too late anyway; the car was nearly here, coming at full speed, the spinning wheels kicking up dust. If we’d had more time we could have run the perimeter of the fence, looking for a weak spot. But I knew we couldn’t run anymore.
Edgewood Series: Books 1 - 3 Page 47