Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(45)

Lexi, Jonas said to my mind. There are IIA agents on campus. They’re armed, and they’re coming for you—and any other clones they might find.

My heart rate sped up, but my mind finally began to work. I stared right into Briana’s eyes. “Yes, that was gunfire. Help me get the others away from the door.”

Briana didn't ask questions. She began shushing the twenty or so swimmers and instructing them to move into the showers and to “Shut the hell up!”

I kept walking, past the showers to the door that led to the pool. Briana grabbed my arm. “Where are you going?”

“I'll be fine. Let me go.”

“No, Lexi.” Panic surged across her face, her eyes.

I pulled my arm from her grasp and placed my hands on her shoulders. “Listen. I’ll be okay. I don’t know how much you understand about what you did out there by the pool, but I have abilities of my own. I need you to trust me. And I need you to keep them quiet.” I lifted my chin in the direction of the other girls. “Actually, I want you to try something. Do you know how you… uh… enhanced your figure? I need you to imagine those girls and yourself as invisible. Can you do that?”

Her eyes doubled in diameter. She shook her head. “No. I don’t think I can. I don’t even know how I did that. Not really.”

“Just try. Okay? I know that you can do this. I’ve seen it done.”

Briana nodded, seeming to understand. She and I would be having a little chat sometime very soon about how much she already knew.

I turned and opened the back door just wide enough to slip through. A headphone-wearing custodian picked up trash in the bleachers on the far side of the pool. I stayed close to the wall as I crossed toward the main exit. A few stragglers from the swim meet were huddled in the bleachers. Some lay flat, unmoving, between rows. My eyes traveled to the other end of the pool to a single door—an exit very rarely used and away from the direction of the gunfire. Just as I opened my mouth to yell at the remaining spectators, a door to the main exit flew open and in walked a group of men and women holding guns, very much resembling a SWAT team.

I quickly ducked inside Coach Williams’s office undetected, a little shocked that it was open. The room was dark. The only light came from the pool area. Jack, I’ve got trouble. I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled under Coach’s desk. I curled into a tiny ball.

Where are you?

I’m in Coach Williams’s office. Trapped. I heard gunshots. Jonas says it’s the IIA.

I’m on my way, he said.

I heard voices approach. I thought my heart would explode.

Jack, just in case, I want you to know I’m so sorry about Addison. I never meant to put her at risk. I didn’t want to heal Sandra, but I couldn’t control—

Shh. I know. You’re going to be fine. We’re going to be fine. I don’t blame you about Addison.

The way he said “we’re” sent a spark through my blood. It was near impossible to see a future beyond this school anymore, beyond the predicament of being a clone with abilities these murderers and scientists wanted to use—and more to the point, abuse—but I knew one thing for sure: I did not want to imagine a life where Jack blamed me for some part of this mess. I had to find Addison and make everything right.

The voices got louder. I tilted my head back, closed my eyes, and said a silent prayer. When I reopened my eyes, a dark metal object stared me in the face—a handgun of some sort was fastened to the underside of Coach’s desk. I pushed further into the oak desk, unable to distance myself from the deadly weapon.

Jonas? Where had he gone? He hadn’t spoken to me since he warned me of IIA agents. Are you seeing this? Boy do I wish I had taken you up on your offer to teach me to shoot.

Additional voices joined the small group. There had to be a dozen agents just outside the office.

Lexi, reach up and unsnap the strap holding the gun, Jonas said.

Just as I put my fingers on the strap and began to pull, Jack said, What gun? No, Lexi. Don’t. You don’t know how to use a gun. You’ll only put yourself in greater danger.

Great. Now, I had both of them inside my head, contradicting each other.

Do it, Lexi! Jonas screamed.

“Did anyone check the pump room and the offices?” one of the agents asked outside Coach’s office.

They’re coming in! I screamed inside my head so that both Jack and Jonas could hear. Jonas could force me to grab the gun. He hadn’t, though, and I needed to act.

Keep calm. I’m coming. Jonas, where are you? Jack asked.

Jonas said nothing. He’d gone silent. I searched my mind and found nothing. Great. When I wanted nothing to do with him, he gave me no privacy. Now that I needed him…

Whispered voices came closer. “Can you imagine the reward for finally capturing Sandra Whitmeyer’s clone?” a woman asked.

“It’s hard to believe the great and powerful Peter Roslin trusted the wrong person in the end,” a male voice answered.

An audible gasp escaped my lips and tears stung my eyes.

“I’d heard Dr. Roslin had information to destroy the IIA labs, but someone killed him before anyone found it.”

A gunshot, followed by crashing glass, shattered my thoughts. “What are you two just standing there for?!” a third agent joined the conversation.