Cristal - Novella (15 page)

Zero
: Evacuate to safe zone ASAP.

Safe zone? In the Truth Seekers’ game, this
meant that danger was afoot either from incoming fire or WMDs, or
more commonly known as weapons of mass destruction. Harry had shown
the team the Safe Zone during orientation training. It was located
in a hidden underground bunker, a few blocks from the GN office.
Gabriel had made a sarcastic comment saying, “Harry’s really taking
the online game beyond Virtual Reality.”

Onyx
: What’s going on?

Zero
: Follow protocol. Will contact
you in 10 hours.

Harry logged off the video chat. She closed
the lid of her laptop slowly.

“So, what did he text you?” Jenna asked.

Joanna heard what she said, but she couldn’t
move a muscle.

“Joanna, are you going to tell me or
what?”

When reality finally sunk in, she turned to
her and said, “Pack your stuff. We have to get out of here.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jenna
laughed.

Joanna grabbed both her shoulders and shook
her hard. “Did you hear what I said? Get your crap, now!”

Jenna’s eyes widened, her tanned skin
turning visibly pale. “What’s going on, Joanna? You’re scaring
me.”

The confident Jenna Adams looked like she
was going to wet her pants.

Joanna said in a low, soft voice, “If you
want to live, we have to leave now.”

Chapter 21

THE TIMING WAS ALL WRONG. He couldn’t
believe Cristal would run off with Kerim, someone she barely knew.
He wished he could have told her the truth. The truth about the
tests that Dr. Saeed had been secretly performing on her while she
was “working” at GN. She didn’t realize that the computer monitor
she was using had a special sensor connected to the camera, which
monitored her brain activity and breathing. Nor did she know that
the mouse had tiny needles that pricked her finger and collected
micro-samples of her blood.

Harry slammed his fist on the table.

“I told those guys not to go to the black
hole locations with Cristal.”

Not one of them understood how dangerous
this would be. The rules were clear, just like in the Truth
Seekers’ game; no one was allowed to question him about the
missions.

But this wasn’t the game anymore, and Harry
didn’t know what to do. He had to figure out which location they
were heading to. There were three black hole locations—one was in
Eilat, the most southern part of Israel; one was in the West Bank
near Bethlehem in the central part; and one closest to the GN
office in Akko in the northern part.

If only he could pick up the GPS tracking
signal from Cristal’s cell phone. He had spent the last five
minutes trying to search for it on the computer terminal in the
GN’s IT office, with no luck.
And where in the hell was Dr.
Saeed?
He walked out of the room and down the hallway to the
medical lab. It was late in the evening and only staff with
security clearance could work after hours. Fortunately, Harry
happened to be one of them.

Two Israeli security guards armed with
rifles walked by him. He looked them straight in the eye and nodded
his head. They looked down at his GN staff ID around his neck
before walking past him.

Harry began analyzing which location would
be the most possible out of the three black hole locations Kerim
would be headed to. He hoped that it was the one in Akko, the
closest to the GN office. It made the most sense for them to go
there, given that he had told Kerim and Rinaldo to stay away from
that specific location. But if he were wrong, he would be going in
the completely opposite direction of the other black hole
locations, which meant losing precious time. He needed time to stop
Cristal from reaching the black hole.

He turned down the hallway to the medical
labs until he reached the one that GN had assigned to Dr. Saeed.
The room looked empty through the glass window in the door. He
decided to go inside anyway and check.

He swiped his keycard and opened the door.
It was dark inside the room. It took a few minutes before his eyes
could adjust to the darkness. No sign of Dr. Saeed. He was about to
turn around and leave, concluding that he would have to go find
Cristal and Kerim without him.

He paused and listened. He swore he could
hear muffled voices. He looked across the room and noticed light
streaming from under the closet door on the far wall. Cautiously,
he walked towards the light. The sound of two male voices in a deep
conversation was becoming louder.

When he reached the door, he noticed it was
slightly ajar. He peeked into the crack and saw that the back of
the closet was a fake wall with a door half hidden by boxes. He
remembered going into the closet many times to get supplies, but he
had never noticed the door before. Now it seemed that the hidden
door was open, and the light was coming from behind it—
a secret
room?

He pushed the door open enough so that he
could slide into the closet. The voices were audible now. He
recognized one as being Dr. Saeed’s.

“You’re going to jeopardize everything.
Don’t do this,” Dr. Saeed was saying.

“All the experiments have proven our
theories are correct. The girl is the key to unlocking the power
that I need.”

That male voice sounded familiar. Harry’s
heart started pounding hard against his chest. His hands suddenly
felt clammy. He took a step closer to see inside. He was surprised
that behind the hidden door was a high-tech medical laboratory with
expensive medical equipment, machines, and computers. His eyes
panned to where Dr. Saeed was standing, close to an examining
table, his back facing him.

Harry saw the shape of the man Dr. Saeed was
talking to. The color of his pants was tan, and the sleeve of his
shirt, beige. Dr. Saeed moved slightly to the left, giving him
a full view of the man he was speaking to. Harry sucked in his
breath.

“I don’t know what to say. You show up here
and want everyone to believe that you just arrived today?” Dr.
Saeed shook his head. “We buried you, for crying out loud.”

Dear Reader,

Find out what happens to Harry, Cristal, and
Kerim by purchasing the full novel “
Doubt
” (book 1 of the
Among Us Trilogy). If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to become a
Truth Seeker and register at the official Among Us Trilogy website
to enter Rafflecopter contests for free Amazon gift cards and more
at
http://www.amongus.ca
.

If you enjoyed the novella “
Cristal – Seeking the
Truth”
(which contains parts 1 and 2 of “Doubt”), please take a
few minutes to submit a review wherever you purchased this book. I
really appreciate your support, and it will inspire me to continue
writing. As an independent author, it is you, the reader, who help
me bring my characters to life. Without you, my work is
meaningless.

I’ve included the next chapter of Part 3 of the full
novel on the next few pages. For more information about my other
books and film projects, visit my blog at
http://www.anne-raevasquez.com
or send me a tweet
@write2film
.

Till our paths cross again,

Anne-Rae Vasquez
Truth Seekers and Geeks Unite!

Sneak peek of the next chapter in Part Three
of “Doubt”.

Part Three

The dawn has come
And the morning sun’s rays
Streak the painted sky, warm crimson shades of orchard rose
While the ocean tide caresses the damp dark beach
And a silent tear slides down her cheek.

AR Vasquez

“SAEED, I’M TELLING YOU, it worked! I’m
living proof.”

Harry watched in shock as Aaron Doub danced
around in a circle, shaking his arms like a mad man.

This man is not my father. My father is dead. This
stranger has my father’s voice, his face, and even his ridiculous
comb-over that hides his bald spot.
Aaron Doub looked exactly
the same way he did the last time Harry saw him alive.

Dr. Saeed said in a soft voice, “But you
were declared dead at the hospital.”

The hair on Harry’s arms stood on end. What
is going on here?

“Don’t say that word! You know I don’t like
that word.”

That was the kind of eccentric talk Harry
knew and grew up with—the paranoid scientist.
My father is
alive.
Somehow the shock didn’t register, as it should have.
Aaron’s presence made a strange kind of sense in Harry’s mind.

“Sorry, Aaron. I forgot,” Dr. Saeed said
quietly. “My only guess is that something must have happened at the
hospital. If someone took you from the hospital and then cremated
another body, then that could explain how we were made to believe
that you died.”

“Saeed! Didn’t I tell you NOT to use that
word?” He jumped up and down like an infuriated gorilla.

“Would you like me to give you a sedative?
It looks like the trip has made you quite anxious,” Dr. Saeed said,
crossing his arms.

“No! No sedative,” Aaron said, his anger
suddenly dissipating. He slumped down on the examination bed, and
whispered, in a breathy tone, “I don’t feel well.”

“You’ve just travelled through time at
superluminal speeds. The human body travelling at warp drive,
theoretically speaking, could affect the atomic molecular structure
of the person, agitating the body at a cellular level. You need to
hydrate and rest. When you are rested, I will do some testing.”

Dr. Saeed helped Aaron step down off the
examination table and got him safely situated on a nearby bed. He
reached for a folded sheet and covered Aaron’s body.

“Here, drink this,” Dr. Saeed said, as he
handed Aaron a plastic cup filled with water.

“Straw, please?” Aaron asked, his eyes
looking up at Dr. Saeed. He grasped the sheet, pulled it up to
his neck, and waited while Dr. Saeed put a straw into the cup.

“Thank you, Saeed. I don’t know what I’d do
without you,” he said, grinning sheepishly.

“Now, now, Aaron. Just relax. I need you to
tell me everything you can remember before you arrived here,” Dr.
Saeed said in a soothing tone.

Harry could barely contain his desire to
burst into the room and demand answers from Dr. Saeed and his
father. Fortunately, the Truth Seeker in him knew enough to stay
still. He had to watch and listen.

What other information has Dr. Saeed withheld from
me?

Tasting the same bitter betrayal Cristal must have
felt towards him, he knew this was karma
—
what goes around does come around
.

Dr. Saeed turned away for a moment, his back
to Harry. When he turned around, he was holding a needle syringe.
He gently pulled up Aaron’s sleeve, wiped his arm with a cotton
swab, and injected what Harry assumed was a mild sedative.

Aaron smiled as his body relaxed. “Ah, you
always knew how to make me feel better, Saeed.”

Dr. Saeed pulled a chair up beside the bed
and sat down. “Okay, are you ready to tell me everything?”

Aaron closed his eyes in affirmation. Harry
was baffled. He never remembered seeing his dad like this
before—vulnerable and almost childlike.

Harry looked at his watch. Time was ticking
by. If he didn’t leave soon, Cristal would reach the black hole,
and—the thought of what could happen made his gut wrench. Torn and
emotionally sucker-punched, Harry was reluctant to leave. The truth
he sought might have been a complete lie. Dr. Saeed and Aaron were
both in on something, and now, Harry’s world was turned completely
upside down. He knew that whatever secrets those two shared would
definitely affect every Truth Seeker, not just himself.

“Do you remember the dinner party at your
house?” Dr. Saeed asked in a monotone voice, hypnotically
soothing.

Aaron mumbled to himself, his eyes still
closed. “Ah, yes. I was telling everyone about our latest findings.
About time travel.”

He chuckled quietly, grasping the top of the
sheet tightly.

“Go on…” Dr. Saeed prompted him.

“I don’t remember the rest of the dinner. I
must have fallen asleep. I woke up and found myself in a lab, just
like this. Yes, yes…I remember now. There were people around me
wearing hospital masks. I tried to say something, but I
couldn’t.”

“Do you remember what they were saying?” Dr.
Saeed asked.

“Nothing. No one was talking. I thought that
was strange. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t move a muscle. Then
they all left the room, leaving me alone on the gurney. That’s when
I felt the room shaking. My body started convulsing violently. I
felt the air being squeezed from my lungs. I wasn’t scared though,”
he said, half whispering.

“Why weren’t you scared?”

“It almost felt like the first time when we
almost succeeded. I felt myself slipping out of reality. The atoms
in my body were pulling apart; the room was spinning around me. And
then there was a flash of white light. Then blackness, like I was
falling into a deep endless pit.”

Dr. Saeed frowned, nodding his head as if he
was picturing what Aaron was saying in his mind.

“It seemed like I would fall forever,
horrified and worried that it would never stop. After what seemed
an eternity, I felt all my atoms rush together like a magnetic wave
pulling all my cells towards the core of my body.”

Harry was puzzled by Aaron’s words.
What was he
talking about?

“And then I felt as if a bus had hit me. I
thought I was going to die. Then I was stumbling in here,” Aaron
said, his eyes opening.

He looked around. “Looks like you have
upgraded a lot of things, since I’ve been here.”

He’s been here before? What the --?

“Like I said, it has been five years. Harry
and I were trying to continue the work that you started. But this
lab, I’ve kept secret. I don’t want GN sticking their noses into
our work. I also wanted to protect Harry.”