Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(8)

But could one also hide there in plain sight?

A short, stocky waitress approached my table. She was dressed head to toe in black and adorned with two nose rings and an eyebrow ring. “How are ya?” she asked in a high-pitched southern accent.

“I’m okay.” I guessed that was true. I was more okay at that moment than I had been.

“What can I get ya?”

“Chai tea latte and a yogurt with granola?” I said in more of a question than a statement.

After writing down my order, the girl with the piercings stuck a pencil behind her ear, then eyed me curiously before spinning on her heels and skipping off.

I pulled my phone out of my back pocket. Five missed calls from Jack. He would understand why I ran—as soon as I found the right opportunity to tell him. I rubbed the spot over my heart that throbbed anytime I considered how I might have to live without him. On the run, even. I could barely swallow past the ginormous lump in my throat. I wouldn’t go back to Wellington.

I had to focus. I texted Marci McDaniel. “Marci, need your help. Can u come get me?” Dad trusted the reporter enough to leave the puzzle box with her—the box that had contained instructions for finding his journals. Surely I could trust her.

After I hit send, I pulled out my laptop and connected to the Wi-Fi. I glanced around the coffee shop. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get their order, or was otherwise engrossed in conversation. No one even lifted an eye in my direction.

Deciding it was safe, I pulled up the website my Dad had created to house the years and years of journals and other information he had compiled. There was so much data. It would take weeks to read through it all. I opened the earliest-dated journals. Scrolling through page after page of scientific data did nothing but confuse me. Words like genomic DNA sequencing, somatic cell nuclear transfer, therapeutic cloning, and reproductive cloning got jumbled in my head. I couldn’t make sense of any of it. Not quickly anyway, and not without a dictionary. I simply didn’t have time to look up every word or phrase on Wikipedia.

Switching gears, I brought up the last journal he’d typed. At first, all I saw was an entry outlining his keynote address to the Association of International Physicians and Research—the same speech I’d heard the night I met Jack’s father, Dr. John DeWeese. Dr. DeWeese was Dad’s oldest and dearest friend, and his lab partner from before I was born.

Behind his speech notes was an itinerary for his stay in Lexington. The day leading up to the AIPR dinner included a tour of the University of Kentucky Hospital and a visit to the College of Agriculture. After the day of touring, he was to attend the dinner and deliver the keynote address, followed by a visit with me that never happened.

“That’s strange,” I whispered to no one. Why the College of Agriculture?

My phone vibrated. A picture of Jack appeared on the screen.

“Hi,” I answered, keeping my voice low.

“Why’d you run?” he asked. His voice was calm. There was road noise in the background.

“I told you why. Where are you?” Please be away from Jonas.

“Kyle and I are on our way back to Wellington. We had to leave, but I have to know that you’re okay.”

Of course, I wasn’t okay. The girl set my tea and yogurt in front of me. I mouthed a “thank you.”

Jack continued. “Why did you run without telling me or giving me a chance to say goodbye?”

I leaned my forehead into my palm. The smell of the chai tea—the soothing scents of cinnamon bark, nutmeg, and ginger—reached my nose. “I heard you guys on the porch. You wanted Jonas to take me, and…” I paused for a minute to consider how he was going to react to the news that Jonas was getting inside my head. “It was Jonas, Jack. He's getting inside my head. He tried to drown me, and he tried to make me—”

“No way. It couldn’t have been Jonas. I understand why you think that, but…”

I remained silent, giving him time to digest the information. My phone buzzed in my ear, alerting me to an incoming text. “Hold on.” I read the text from Marci. “Of course. Where r u?”

I looked up at the picture painted on the window at the front of the shop and read the name backwards before typing: “Big Blue Brew on UK campus.”

With the phone back at my ear, I said, “Jack, I know you trust your friends.”

“What proof do you have that it was Jonas?”

I gasped. “Proof?” My defensive instincts rose. “You want me to prove that Jonas was inside my head? Are you kidding me with this?” I broke out in a sweat. To think, I actually thought he would simply take me at my word.

“It’s just that…” As Jack spoke, I imagined him running his hands through his hair. “He’s my friend. He promised me he would watch over you while I took care of Addison. I’m just having a hard time believing he would do what you’re suggesting.”

“Do what I’m suggesting? Are you hearing yourself? He’s your friend? What am I, Jack? The liar you hugged and kissed this morning in bed?”

“No, Lexi, I didn’t mean…”

“You know what… never mind. I…” Closing my eyes, I squeezed the bridge of my nose. When I reopened them, I noticed movement outside the coffee shop. I craned my neck to get a better look. A black SUV had pulled up in front and stopped. Strange, since there’s no parking in front of the shop. Two men in suits climbed out of the front seat. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention. “Jack, something’s wrong. Someone’s here.”