Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(18)
“Oh gosh, no, Dr. Chi. It’s just been us. Has there been another breach?”
Dr. Chi and Roaming Eyes looked at every person at the table, seeming to recognize each of us, including me. Once they were satisfied, they moved on to the next table, never answering Dia’s breach-of-security question.
Okay, let’s go, Jack-look-alike thought.
I stood and followed, as did Dia. My heart continued to pound. I had to get out of that basement, but I also wanted answers.
Jack’s look-alike led us around tables and to the door. The exit was now guarded by a man and a woman in dark suits, very much like the people I saw in SUVs that morning. As we approached, Jack-look-alike tightened his grip on my hand and mindspoke, Don’t look at them. Dia will make sure they see someone different when they look at you. They examined us closely, but let us pass. We headed down the hallway in the opposite direction from where I had originally come in.
The second we were out of earshot and eyeshot of everyone, I let out a huge breath. Jack’s twin turned and said, “Start talking.”
“Yeah, who the hell are you?” Dia asked, stopping in the middle of the hallway. “Why do you look like Dr. Whitmeyer? Only in cheap clothes?” She gave me a once-over.
“And decades younger,” the clone of Jack added.
I looked down at my clothes. There was nothing cheap about a North Face jacket or my two-hundred-dollar running shoes—which I was using for more and more running these days.
When I didn’t speak, Dia stepped closer. “Oh, look, Lin. She’s scared.”
“There you guys are,” another familiar voice said behind me.
I turned slowly, bracing for another clone. Sure enough, the boy behind me looked like Jonas—except clean-shaven.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” He even talked like Jonas—smug arrogance. “And, oh my, you look just like her.” His grin didn’t fade, and he didn’t really seem shocked at my likeness to the doctor. He cocked his head, studying me. Fascinating. The word, mindspoken by this replica of Jonas, wrapped around my brain like silk.
“Ty, maybe you can make her talk before the agents at the end of the hall discover her.”
“There’re agents here? Dia, she can’t be here.” This time, Ty grabbed my hand and pulled me forward.
I jerked it away and rubbed my chest. I didn’t want Jonas or this Jonas look-alike, a.k.a. Ty, touching me. Why did everyone feel the need to touch me and pull me along? “Where am I? What is this?” I finally asked. My voice came out breathy.
My eyes darted all around me: at the hospital-like walls, the white tiled floor, and the three human clones in front of me. I searched my memories. “Seven,” I whispered to myself. There were seven original clones. That’s what Dad’s spreadsheet said. He listed other clones he knew about, but they would all be younger, I thought. The freaks before me now were the same age as Jack, Briana, and Jonas—or pretty darn close anyway.
You will follow me right now if you don’t want to be turned over to IIA agents. Again, the presence inside my head was clear. Only this time it was Ty doing the speaking, and when he mindspoke, my feet immediately began doing what he ordered.
I walked directly behind Ty. With each step he took, I followed.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” Dia laughed at my obedience.
Though I couldn’t stop myself from complying, it felt wrong. I was walking farther into an underground facility somewhere on the University of Kentucky campus. There was no sign of an exit, and I was completely at Ty’s mercy.
~~~~~
“What are you going to do, Ty?” Dia asked. She grabbed onto his arm, but he only shook her off. She may be our only chance, she pleaded, switching to mindspeak, which I could still hear.
Our only chance for what? How, exactly, do you think she can help us, Dia? Ty asked, irritated.
Dia considered Ty’s question. We walked down yet another long hallway. I was under Ty’s spell. He had told me to follow, and though I was able to process everything going on around me, all I could do was submit to Ty’s command without speaking. I was helpless, and every cell in my body hated that feeling. It was not lost on me that I had inflicted a similar kind of mind control on others.
I had entered this facility to discover whatever it was Dad had found here before he was killed. Why had he toured this facility? Did he know that this existed? That there was another Jack?
At the same time, I had hoped to find a clue as to how Jonas had so much control over me. He led me to believe I’d find answers down here. Instead, I had plummeted into a raging sea of more questions.
Lin walked behind me to my left. I could see him in my periphery. Everything about him—from his furrowed brows to how he ran his fingers through his hair as he considered the situation—screamed Jack DeWeese. I missed Jack. Though I had seen him only hours before, we now couldn’t be further apart.
Who are you? Lin asked me. Why are you here? By the looks on the other two faces, it seemed that only I heard him.
I didn’t know what to tell him. Or if I could even speak, given that Ty seemed to have control over me. I tried anyway. Someone with less-than-good intentions led me here, I said. I was scared to say too much, but the loathing I felt for Jonas right then…
Seeming to hear me, Lin quickened his pace, now walking directly beside me. How did you plan to get out of here?