Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(15)

I’m amazed at your father’s level of irresponsibility. Jonas’s voice snaked in and around my thoughts, bringing me back to a reality I had to face. The reality that Jonas—someone—could get inside my head and push my buttons.

“Don’t talk about my father,” I said through gritted teeth. “You don’t have the right.”

“Hmm.” The corners of Jonas’s lips lifted once again. “You don’t think so? That’s interesting. I think I have the right to talk about any of the doctors who did this to us.”

I studied him. Anger flared across his face, yet his voice remained calm. “You don’t like your abilities?” I asked.

“They come in handy sometimes.”

“Like when you want to control someone’s actions? Have someone do something against their will? Maybe even force someone to hurt themselves? Or someone else?”

“Yeah, like that.”

“What did you mean earlier? When you said it wasn’t you who tried to hurt Jack this morning.”

“Ahh.” He rubbed his chin back and forth with his finger. “I’m not under your control now, Lexi. And you can be sure I won’t be letting my guard down on my mind around you again any time soon.”

The muscles in my neck tensed. I knew Jonas could get inside my head. I had felt his presence, heard his voice, and even smelled the cigarette smoke. Now, I was supposed to believe that it wasn’t him? Just because he said so?

“She sure was willing to risk a lot to help you,” I said, nodding toward Georgia. Jonas’s eyes narrowed. He studied me, much like I studied him. “And Jack is quick to defend you,” I added. Jack was ready to trust Jonas to keep me safe, and he’d left me here with him now.

Jonas’s grin grew. “You did tell Jack about me, didn’t you? Why else would he defend me?”

I turned my gaze to a stain on the tile floor.

“He didn’t believe you,” Jonas said. He inched forward, leaning his face downward and forcing me to look at him. Your thoughts betray you, Sarah.

In an unusual moment of confidence, I rotated my shoulders back and stepped right up to him—my five-foot-three-inch frame up next to his five-eleven or so. I looked up. Stared straight into his cold, brown eyes. “How’s your neck, by the way?”

That was when I saw it. Although slight and brief, I saw a flicker of fear in Jonas’s eyes as he touched his fingers to the two-inch slice the scalpel had left.

He wrapped his fingers around my arm, just above my elbow, and pulled me even closer. “You cut me.”

I couldn’t stop the sound of my shallow breathing, but forced a smile onto my lips as my eyes burned into his. “I didn’t cut you. You cut yourself.” I wanted to tell him that if he ever got inside my head again, I would do more than inflict a superficial wound on him. I wanted to tell him that two could play this game he started.

“You won this round, Lexi. But be careful.” He leaned in and whispered into my ear. His breath was hot on my neck. “You’re playing with fire. People who play with fire often get burned.”

His reference reminded me how he’d forced Kyle to stick his arm into the fire pit. I pulled away from him and grabbed my backpack off the floor. “That’s okay. Just so you know, if you burn anyone I love again, literally or metaphorically, the cut to your neck will go much deeper.”

I turned, and had almost made it to the door when he entered my head. Lexi, I’m going to give you a little gift. Since your father failed you in so many ways, I’m going to show you a little piece of who you are meant to be.

I reached out and wrapped my fingers around the doorknob. My hesitation gave him the invitation he needed to continue.

What you’re looking for is in the Keiser-Boone Building.

Slowly, I faced him again. “How could you possibly know what I’m looking for?”

You’re not looking for the thing your dad discovered just before he was killed? And you’re not searching for the reason I’m inside your head now? You’ll find both inside the College of Agriculture admin building. The Keiser-Boone Building.

“I thought it wasn’t you inside my head.”

He laughed. I never said I wasn’t inside your head. I only said that it wasn’t me who tried to hurt Jack.

~~~~~

The Program was located in a wing of a building near the hospital. Seth worked as a neurologist in the trauma unit of that very hospital, which was where I’d first laid eyes on the one and only Sandra Whitmeyer. Well, not exactly one and only—seeing as I was cloned from her DNA.

Other than my steps echoing down the hallway, the building was eerily quiet. As I approached an exit, a fluorescent light flickered above me. “I never said I wasn’t inside your head…” Jonas’s words repeated in my mind. I pushed through the exit, thankful I had not run into Jack or Seth again. Jonas had stayed with Georgia.

I thought about checking into a hotel for the night, and planning a way out of this town first thing in the morning. Take the documents and the money Jack gave me just last week when he thought it best that I run. Would Jack miss me?

He no longer trusted me, or even believed me when I told him who was inside my head. How was it possible that he refused to think the worst of Jonas?

I rubbed the area above my heart. Had Jack changed his mind about me? The guy who’d wrapped me in his arms that morning? The person who’d risked everything to break me out of Wellington three days ago?