Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(52)

A shiver moved through me. I thought about what Jonas had said when he’d laid the gun in my hand and explained what it was like to grow up with Sandra as a mother. I touched Jonas’s arm. “Go on. So, what happened?” Jack stiffened beside me.

“I already knew I had pretty intense mind control of my own. I constantly practiced getting inside the heads of others—inside the non-cloned when I didn’t want to be detected, then, as I got stronger, inside the clones. Before long I could tell any time Sandra’s machines altered my tracker, and I knew any time another clone entered my mind.” Jonas narrowed his gaze on me. “I made one mistake, though.”

“Ty.”

He nodded. “That’s right.”

“What do you mean? Why was Ty your mistake?” Jack asked.

Jonas shifted his gaze to Jack. “Ty is my DNA twin. By practicing, I became stronger. Ty picked up on this. And he followed in my footsteps. He became just as good, if not better, at the mind tricks.”

“But Ty seems so different from you most of the time.”

“Ty became distant from me. I caught Sandra whispering to him in corners over the past few months.” Jonas stopped, stared intently at me. “I knew, that morning when I had the most intense panic attack I’d ever experienced, right after having just had an unexplained panic attack the night before: Ty had learned to get inside my head, undetected.”

“Ty was controlling you the night you forced Kyle’s hand into the fire,” Jack confirmed.

“And, of course, the next morning when you practically forced me to stab Jack.” I glanced regretfully at Jack.

“The good news? I’m already another step ahead of Ty.”

“How?” I asked.

“Once I had Sandra’s trust, I was able to leave the facility. She was too busy in her own little scientific world to monitor everything I did, so when no one paid attention, I worked to strengthen other areas. And for some reason, she hadn’t made me return by the time she fell into a coma.”

I remembered how Jonas pinned Ty to the wall by his neck. “You built up your physical strength.”

“And I studied. I got into many forms of self-defense: guns, knives, martial arts.”

“Which is why you wanted Georgia, Fred, and me to take those classes.” Jack’s leg shook next to mine.

Jonas nodded. “At the same time, I borrowed your books and studied biology, DNA mapping, genetic engineering and manipulation… you name it.”

“And when Seth came along and started The Program…” Jack looked like he was understanding everything Jonas was saying.

“I jumped at the chance to find out what he knew and grow closer to you, Georgia, and Fred. I thought we could help each other. And I no longer trusted my mother.” Jonas said the word “mother” with more than a hint of disgust.

“And I led us straight here. To Wellington. To Lexi.”

I stared at a spot on the floor in front of me, trying to make sense of Jonas’s reasons for being at Wellington and for telling us everything now.

“I want you to know I’m on your side. You can trust me.”

I snapped my head in his direction.

“Yes, I hear almost everything you think, Lexi. You’re too new to all of this, but I’ve also been on the receiving end of your mindspeak.” Jonas’s lips curved up. “And let me just say, the moment you had me hold a scalpel to my own jugular vein, I knew it wouldn’t be long before you caught up to me in terms of mind strength.”

“What about Ty? Is he still in your head?” I asked.

“Not at this very moment.” I heard uncertainty in Jonas’s words.

Jack threaded his fingers with mine and rubbed his thumb across the backside of my hand. “Are you still in Lexi’s head?”

Jonas smiled. “Not at this very moment.”

Jack shifted. I squeezed his hand. Let it go for now. The least of our worries.

“Look, Jack,” Jonas continued. “You and I both know we can’t escape our fate. It’s been laid out before us. Lexi was never going to be able to run from this. I think you knew that.”

Jack pulled his hand from mine and stood. He paced across the room, running a hand through his hair. He faced me. Without taking his eyes off me, he asked Jonas, “Can you give us a minute?”

Jonas pushed off the table and exited the room. I had no idea if he gave us privacy or not. I couldn’t find him in my head. “I don’t think he’s reading my thoughts or listening in right now,” I said to Jack.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t like that he’s been tapping your thoughts, but that’s my problem to deal with. At least until you can shut him out.” Jack glanced at the door Jonas exited through, then brought his eyes back to mine. “I definitely don’t like the way he looks at you. He’s protective of you in a way that makes me want to punch him. At the same time… he can help make sure no harm comes to you.”

I stood and stepped close to Jack. I brushed the back of my hand down his face. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Hmmm. There’s plenty to worry about. You’re right about one thing, though. Jonas has different motivations than the two of us. He embraces the healing aspects of our DNA-tweaking, and he thinks that you will, too, eventually.”