Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(19)

A knot flipped around in my stomach. I had counted on walking out. I figured the security was for getting in. It never occurred to me that I would need permission to exit, too.

I was so blinded by the desire to know why my father was killed, and why some clone could seize my mind, that I didn’t stop to consider that I might trap myself.

Suddenly, Ty left my head. I stopped in the middle of the hallway. Lin’s presence disappeared as well.

“Uh-oh,” Ty said.

“What?” Dia looked panicked. “They’ve shut us off, haven’t they?”

“What does that mean, they shut you off?” Now that I was able to talk to the wack jobs in front of me, I wanted answers. “What the hell is this? Where am I? You’re obviously clones. What is your purpose?”

Ty got up in my face. “It’s getting ready to get really ugly down here. Any second a gas is going to be released into our air that’s going to knock us all out. They obviously were somewhat prepared for your arrival…”

“Not prepared enough,” Dia scoffed behind Ty. “Or they’d have her already.”

My heart raced. “What kind of gas?” I swallowed hard.

Ty grabbed my arm. “The sleeping kind. We have to hurry.” He urged me along, and for some reason, I went willingly this time. The sounds of voices yelling echoed through the halls behind us. “In here.” Ty pushed open a door to our right.

We entered a dark room. Ty held up a small flashlight that helped us see. The room consisted of many long tables with chairs all pointing in the same direction. A classroom, maybe.

Ty faced me. “How did you get down here?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” I said, crossing my arms.

The corners of Ty’s lips lifted. “No, you don’t. But if you don’t, I won’t show you the way out. And I promise, you have a matter of minutes, maybe seconds, before you’re discovered.”

I thought about that. Would he really show me the way out? “Fine. I got in by the retinal scan.”

“Are you that stupid?” Ty asked. “Surely you know that every person’s retinal scan is completely unique. Not even identical twins or humans cloned from the same DNA share retinal patterns.”

My hands balled into fists. I was seconds away from hitting this jerk. Jonas put me in this position. And now I stared into the eyes of his cloned twin.

Ty continued. “If you were able to get through security based on your retinas, your scan was already in the system. You walked right into their trap.”

I sucked in a breath. My hands began to visibly shake.

Lin moved in and grabbed my arm just above my elbow. His gentle touch made me long for Jack. “You’re obviously a clone of Sandra Whitmeyer. Did you know that already?”

I stared into his gentle eyes, debating what information to trust these three lunatics with. I wasn’t in too much of a position to argue. “Yes. I am aware of that.”

“Are there others besides you?” I couldn’t decide if it was hope or pity I heard in Lin’s voice.

I looked at the three of them, one by one. Dia’s eyes urged me to answer. Ty looked at me expectantly. Lin was expressionless, patient while he waited. “Yes, I said. There are others.” Did I tell them that there were others who shared their very DNA?

“Do you have powers like ours?” Lin asked.

As Lin asked his question, Ty crossed his arms and widened his stance. I was caught between good cop and bad cop. But the more I answered Lin’s and Dia’s questions, the more they seemed to loosen up. “Yes, but I’m afraid we don’t know the extent of those abilities. You seem to be more… practiced, maybe?” Of course, that was just their ability to control minds. Did they have abilities to heal in some capacity, as well? “I have a question of my own.”

“You don’t get to ask the questions,” Dia said.

“Let her ask.” Lin rubbed my elbow. I looked from his hand to his eyes. Dia stiffened next to me.

“You said they shut your powers off. How did they do that?”

Dia reached out and grabbed Lin’s arm, pulling it away and holding his hand in her own. Was she jealous? Many of her mannerisms reminded me so much of Briana. Amazing how some personality traits transfer through DNA. A chill slithered down my spine as I considered my own shared DNA with Sandra. Oh, how I hoped I was nothing like her.

“You have no idea what they’re doing here, do you?” Dia asked, and I shivered visibly at the coldness in her voice. She stepped closer. “They have complete control. They decide who we are, what we do, when we do it, and eventually where we do it.”

My stomach knotted with the way she said where, though I wasn’t sure what that meant. “And by they, you mean…”

“The International Intelligence Agency. The side of the government very few see or believe exists. The IIA.” Ty enunciated the acronym very slowly and clearly, confirming what I suspected. “If you’re down here, it was by design. And if they want you to stay down here…”

A hissing sound interrupted Ty. A thin smoke spewed from vents along the top of the walls.

“What is that?” I asked, staring up at the ceiling. I lifted my arm and breathed into my elbow.

“Time for a nap,” Ty answered, like this was some sort of a joke.