Designed with a Destiny (18 page)

“Sounds like a perfect environment for you,
Callahan—why don’t you take a peek, and we’ll wait outside,”
Harrington tries to insult me, losing his grin when I call him a
pansy and shove him out of the way.

“Anyone in here?” I shout, giving a loud
bang on the door which unintentionally causes it to swing wide
open. As fast as my reflexes are, I’m not quick enough to block the
sight from Cat or Natalie and they both scream simultaneously. I
immediately regret not using my gift to remote travel to scout the
area out ahead of time. Had I known, I never would have allowed Cat
to witness it.

“Dear God,” Zane breathes. His face pales
instantly, and he breaks out in a light sweat.

“It’s Mr. Harrington,” Cat murmurs, cluing
me in to the identity of the barely recognizable, bloated body
hanging by the neck from the bathroom stall.

“Let’s get out of here,” Natalie chokes,
making retching noises as she fights to keep from throwing up. She
grabs Zane’s arm and pulls his zombie like body out of the room
with her, and I do the same with Cat.

“You guys go downstairs and wait outside
with the others. I’m going to check out his office for clues.”
Natalie doesn’t need to be asked twice—she makes a beeline for the
elevator and punches the down arrow repeatedly with her fist trying
to call it to the floor quicker. Zane, still in a state of shock,
doesn’t protest either when she pushes him into the elevator. That
leaves just Cat and me. “I don’t suppose if I asked you
nicely?”

“Not a chance Callahan,” she says emptily,
walking away.

“Hey—are you sure you’re okay?” I grab her
arm and pull her around to face me, searching her eyes for
evidence.

“Yeah—I’m just trying to figure out
why…”

“
Callahans we’ve got company,”
Alisha
interrupts us with a telepathic bulletin alert.

“
Stall them—we still have to search an
office.”
Cat and I take off in a sprint down the hall to
Harrington’s office and as I prepare to kick the door down, she
simply unlocks it with her mind and opens it with her hand, smiling
apologetically for any offense. Both of us stop short though the
minute we’re inside.

“Whoa—looks like somebody’s already been in
here searching for something,” Cat says, trying to step over piles
of books and overturned drawers. "And that probably means his death
wasn’t a suicide,” I conclude, tossing out my initial assumption.
We leaf through a few of the papers scattered on the floor which
amount to nothing more than people's private financial records. The
place is such a disaster that I’m at a loss as to where to
start.

“A safe!” Cat suddenly yells. “There might
be a hidden safe. Contact Natalie and tell her to ask Zane.” She
continues her search much more purposefully now, focusing on the
cupboards for something much larger than random pieces of
paper.

“Not only did I marry beautiful…,” I brag a
few seconds later when Natalie gives me the location. “Zane says
there’s a hidden safe in the steel filing cabinet. Feel for the
indentations on the side, give two short pushes and hold for a
long,” I relay the instructions and sure enough, as Cat holds her
palm on the side of the cabinet, the base of the bottom drawer
clicks open exposing a concealed compartment with a stack of
papers. We hold each other’s gaze and scramble to empty it, shoving
everything into Cat's small backpack.

***

The two female janitors that arrived to
clean the offices are much better off being stuck in the elevator
waiting for the fire department to rescue them, than they are
roaming the eleventh floor where one of the first things they’ll
discover is Mr. Harrington’s gruesome body. Now with Alisha’s voice
anxiously pestering us to hurry up we fly down the emergency
stairwell, racing to get out before the arrival of the fire
department. Sirens in the distance get progressively louder, and
when we exit the building can be seen screaming up the street. I
practically shove Zane in to the back seat just to get him out of
the way so the rest of us can pile into the van, and he barely
reacts. I figure I’ll leave it up to Cat to determine how and when
to tell him that we weren’t the first ones to search his dad’s
office. If it matters to him at all, the evidence is leaning
towards murder versus suicide.

“
Ronan, if we can get to the airplane, do
you think that Zane is in any condition to fly us out of here?”
Alisha asks as we try to figure out what to do next. I glance in my
rearview mirror and see him despondently looking out the window,
and Natalie doesn’t look much better.

“
What are our other options?”

“
Well, Lawrence has an old friend who has
a house just north of here. He’s fairly certain that he’ll
accommodate us for the night—what do you think? I’m not sure about
you guys, but everyone in this car is wiped out. Claire is already
asleep on Jason’s lap.”

“
Let’s do it.”
I say, looking down at
Cat who has her head resting on my shoulder, her eyes closed, not
quite asleep, but not in optimal condition for fight or flight
situations.

“Follow me,” she says, passing me on the
left, making me brake hard when she cuts me off to take an
immediate freeway exit. Forty minutes later, I nudge Cat awake to
help us “convince” the guard at the front gate of the luxury gated
community to let us in without contacting the residence for
permission. After all, Lawrence couldn’t even be sure if the doctor
was still alive, let alone still living in the same community as he
was four years ago.

Bernie accompanies Lawrence to the front
door to test the waters. No one wants to talk about what our next
plan will be if he’s not willing to put us up for the night, so
there’s a collective sigh of relief in our car when hugs are
exchanged and the host waves the rest of us in the vans to come
inside. Cat catches Zane’s arm and holds him back as we’re walking
inside.

“I just wanted to say that I’m really sorry
about your father…” I hear her say before I leave the two of them
alone to talk in private, joining the others in a large foyer where
we are introduced to Dr. Kenneth Williams. He’s a tall, African
American gentleman with a bald head, and bushy gray beard, that he
strokes the end of as he surveys us with keen interest.
“Yellow,”
Claire announces out of pure habit, forgetting
that most of us can now see his aura as well. For me, I take
Lawrence’s advice and ignore the hazy visual in exchange for the
“feeling” of his energy. The contrast between the lightness I feel
now versus what I felt in Harrington’s office is night and day.

“I’ve known Kenneth for twenty years,”
Lawrence says, patting him on the shoulder after introductions are
made.

“So these are your Designer Babies all grown
up, huh?” he says with a Nigerian accent, shaking his head in
wonderment, drawing a short, gentle puff from the hand-crafted
tobacco pipe clenched between his teeth in the corner of his mouth.
He makes it look like an art form and unlike cigarettes, it has a
surprisingly aromatic, comforting smell to it. “And I remember you
were experimenting with the use of quantum physics at the time—how
did that work out with…” he struggles to be diplomatic in his
inquiry, cuing us in that he knows something of our potential.

“There you go again, always talking physics
with anyone and everyone,” a woman appears from around the corner
waving her hand in the air. “Dr. Emerick, I have to apologize to
you and your friends for my husband, he just can’t resist bringing
up the subject to anyone who’ll listen,” she says smiling good
naturedly at him. She is tall and slender, dressed in a pale blue
dress with a colorful scarf draped diagonally across her body.

“Please allow me to introduce my wife,
Lena,” he says sheepishly, reaching for her hand. “You remember Dr.
Emerick? He’s the one to blame for my incessant preoccupation—he
first introduced me to the field of energy two decades ago.” There
is a look of reverence, rather than blame in his eyes for the
influence Lawrence had on him. “I’ve been doing some experiments
that I think you’ll find fascinating, if you’re not too tired I can
take you downstairs and show…”

“Oh no you don’t—no you don’t, Mr. Williams.
It is late and our guests need rest. There’ll be plenty of time
tomorrow to show them your research lab.” She looks at us and rolls
her eyes. “The whole bottom floor converted into a science lab. I
give up my exercise room, art room, theater, all so that my crazy
husband can turn…” She pairs up with Bernie, a sympathetic
listener, hooking her arm around her shoulder as she leads her out
of the room, ranting about the numerous renovations that have been
done to their house to accommodate her husband’s increasingly
elaborate experimentations. Kenneth Williams chuckles as he watches
the two walk away.

After a light tap on the door, Cat enters
the house, carefully looking around until she spots first Claire,
then me in the crowd, her face instantly relaxing as she acquaints
herself with Dr. Williams. “Please call me Ken or Kenneth—I gave up
the title when I retired five years ago,” he says, smiling
warmly.

“She’s the one. She and her brother are the
ones I used the synthetic DNA strand on,” Lawrence eagerly shares,
proudly waiting for Ken to acknowledge the significance. I’m not
keen on the way he openly reveals Cat’s identity, not to mention
the fact that he makes her sound like some sort of lab rat, and I
don't feel apologetic when I interrupt their conversation.

“Ken, would you mind if I steal my wife
away—it’s late and Claire should be in bed?”

“Wife?” He stares at the two of us, holding
his pipe suspended away from his mouth. He must feel confident of
his math calculations because he feels compelled to admit “My wife
and I were married when we were eighteen years old, too, and that
was forty-five years ago. People said we were too young and
predicted we’d be divorced within five years. I knew she was the
one from the second I laid eyes on her, and to tell you the truth—I
wouldn’t hesitate to do it the same way all over again.” He winks
at us, and shakes his head continuing. “It’s all about the energy.
Doesn’t matter if you know someone three weeks or five years—if you
don’t have the right vibrational…” He trails off, looking at the
others, with Claire now resting her head on Jason’s shoulder, eyes
half closed. “Oh yes—sleep—of course. Let’s see, I’m sure Lena’s
already setting up the guest rooms. I only have two, but if you
don’t mind sleeping on the floor, there’s a loft upstairs with
plenty of room. It’s where our grandkids sleep when they come to
visit,” he says, leading us through a large great room, pointing
out the circular staircase leading to the loft. Jason hands off
Claire to me, and while the rest of us resign ourselves to a space
on the floor, he and Alisha claim one guestroom, Bernie and
Lawrence the other. Zane comes inside a short time later, and
accepts Lena’s offer to sleep on the couch downstairs. With Claire
settled in, Cat finally lies down next to me, and instead of
curling up and going to sleep, she faces me and props her head on
her hand. One look in her eyes lets me know she has something
important to say, and I am instantly wide awake.

“
What is it?”

“
You know Zane’s announcement about his
father?”

“
Yeah—what about it?”
Nothing about
Zane really interests me, especially the fact that he’s the
illegitimate child of an adulterer who had a wife and family.

“
Well it turns out that he knows who his
real father is.”
The fact that he felt the need to discuss this
with her annoys the hell out of me, but I don’t admit this to her.
Her brows furrow as if she’s still trying to make sense of the news
herself.

“
It’s Dr. Kappel,”
she finally blurts
out.

“
What? Elizabeth’s…?”

“
Yep.”

“
You mean, he and Elizabeth
are…?”

“
Yep—Brother and sister,”
she
says
.
I roll on to my back and stare up at the ceiling, my
mind racing as I try my damnedest to piece together that puzzle. It
seems like forever before I finally find my voice again.

“
What if he’s lying? You know—to squeeze
a place for himself within the group.”
I test for other
possible scenarios, not ready to accept that somebody as good as
Liz could be related to him.

“
He’s not lying—Lawrence is the one who
told him.”
If anyone would know it would be him.

“
Is he going to tell her?”
I can’t
hide the cynicism in my voice—for completely selfish reasons I hope
not. Aside from the fact that I love Liz like a sister, and don’t
want to see her get hurt, I also don’t want him sticking around
once our families are found. Cat reaches over and places a hand on
my chest, sending a surge of warmth and tingling throughout my
body. The tranquility that follows can only be due to her
influence.

“
I can totally feel that you know,”
I
say. She smiles and rests her head on my arm.

“
Well then don’t be such a pessimist. He
has to tell her—and I think it could be a good thing for her. I
mean what if you had a half sibling roaming around—wouldn’t you
want to know?”

“
That all depends on who it is. Zane
Harrington—hell no. Anyone else—probably.”
She yawns. A few
minutes later, she’s softly snoring in my ear, the only one I know
who can make sleeping noises sound sexy, and I’m left alone with my
thoughts of twisted love affairs and deception. Call me
old-fashioned, but even at almost nineteen, I’m inclined to agree
with Ken—one girl forever.

“
Would you quit staring at them,”
Cat
unnecessarily whispers telepathically, as we sit at the dining room
table, finishing an early morning breakfast hosted by the Williams.
Zane is seated next to Elizabeth, and I can’t help but watch the
two as he attempts to make polite conversation with her, treading
gingerly until he finally gets around to the topic of her dad.