Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(47)

Chapter Twenty


I was unsure about a lot, but I knew one thing for certain: I would not allow my DNA donor to capture me for her wack job experiments. And I worried about my schoolmates trapped in the locker room. I had to get help. I started to back away from the corner, but was stopped.

A hand slipped around my waist. Another cupped my mouth. I sucked in a deep breath through my nose. “Shhh. Don’t scream.”

Every muscle along my spine tensed until I recognized Jack’s scent and voice.

I turned and threw my arms around his neck. He circled his arms around my waist. You okay?

I nodded, breathing into his neck, but tensed as his hands continued around until they came into contact with the gun tucked into my jeans at the small of my back.

He pulled away, taking the gun with him. “What the hell, Lexi?” he asked in a loud whisper. “Are you crazy?”

I only shrugged, then leaned my head back and looked down the hallway. When I met his angry gaze again, I mindspoke, Seriously? You want to debate my mental state right now?

Let’s go. After tucking the gun into the back of his own pants, he grabbed my hand and pulled.

I grunted in pain. Jack turned and looked down at my leg, then released a heavy sigh. Can you walk until we get to the next building over?

Yes. What about the girls in the locker room? I asked. Bree has them corralled in the shower.

They’ll be fine. His facial expression did not reflect the certainty of his words.

Instead of going outside, Jack led me down the steps to the building’s basement.

“Where are we going?” I had never gone into the basements of the school buildings. Not until last week when Kyle led me to The Program.

“To the tunnels. We’ll cross over to the classroom building and find a spot to hide out while I heal that leg.”

And ankle.

His grip on my hand tightened. “What happened to Jonas?”

“I don’t know. One minute you both were inside my head telling me what to do, the next… he was gone.”

We made it most of the way across the tunnel. When I stopped a second time from the pain, he reached down and scooped me up into his arms.

“You need to save your energy.” I leaned into his chest. I knew he needed every ounce of strength to heal my ankle. Unless I could somehow take on some of the negative side effects like I had when he healed Kyle.

He hugged me close. “I’ll be fine. Let’s get to a bathroom, though, so we can clean up your knee.”

And hide. “There, on the right,” I said when I saw the ladies’ restroom sign.

We were ten feet away from our destination when we heard a voice behind us. “Put her down, Jack.”

Jack stopped. He slowly turned. Jonas pointed a gun at us.

“Why, Jonas? I thought…” I didn’t know what I thought. I studied the straight edge of his set jaw and the lack of emotion on his face. My eyes traveled over his body, landing on the smooth, pale skin of his arms, void of any ink.

“Jonas, she’s hurt. I need to heal her.” When I set you down, I want you to reach behind me and get the gun out of my waistband.

Jack slowly set me on my feet. I pretended to steady myself by hugging Jack, allowing my right hand to slide down to his waist. I wrapped my hand around the handle of the gun and lifted it from his jeans. I looked up into Jack’s concerned eyes. This isn’t Jonas. Meet Ty. Notice the lack of tattoos on his arms. Jack’s face softened upon hearing that it wasn’t his friend who had betrayed us, but the relief that fell over his face was soon replaced with deep trenches of worry across his forehead.

“Turn around, Lexi.” Ty’s voice sounded somehow off to me. “You had to go and make everything so difficult. I told you what would happen if you didn’t cooperate. I told you I’d force you to hurt Jack.”

Leaving my right arm behind Jack, I faced Ty. He was going to see through my awkwardness or hear my thoughts. Then it dawned on me. He wasn’t hearing my thoughts. At least he hadn’t reacted to any. “You’re not going to force me to do anything,” I said, with much more conviction than I felt. I hopped in front of Jack on my one good ankle and bent my right arm behind me. Jack took the gun.

Keep him talking, Lex. Jack fiddled with the gun at my back.

“What kind of coward has to hide behind the face of someone else to exert control over little ol’ me?”

His lips quirked up. “It was definitely more fun when you couldn’t tell us apart. What’s the use in having a clone if you can’t use them to do your dirty work?”

I cocked my head, studying Ty. “You came with the IIA? They’re controlling everything you do. You know that, right?” I broke my contact with Jack and hobbled away from him. Though Jonas practically strangled Ty that day at The Farm, Ty had helped me find my way back out. His actions now didn’t make sense, nor did his desire to harm Jack.

The clones inside the IIA facility were simply pawns.

Ty’s lips quirked. “Controlling me? No.” And we are most certainly not pawns.

I flinched at the sound of his mindspeak. Why was he in my head now? And not before?

“Jack is your shield,” he said, as if the brightest lightbulb in the world just clicked on in his head.

I looked nervously at Jack. “My shield?”