Mindspeak (7 page)

Otherwise, the attached document
and others get sent to WikiLeaks.

I double clicked the attachment. A PDF
of an email popped up on the screen, dated June 5, 1995.

The email was from S. Whitmeyer to
[email protected]. And cc: P. Roslin and J. DeWeese.

Dear Dr. Daniel:

Embyros altered – A SUCCESS! Success
rate 2%. Embryos lost – 351. Will be in touch.

SW

Wellington Labs, Inc.

The words blurred on the screen.
Embryos
altered
? I rubbed circles over my heart. What did that mean? Like designer
babies? The computer geeks’ muffled conversation sounded like it was traveling through
a tunnel. The room began to spin, and the walls started to close in.

“Think, Lexi. Think.” I drilled two
fingers into my temple and replayed the conversation with Jack. “Eighteen years
ago,” I whispered. Dad’s lab burned down eighteen years ago. He and Jack’s father
stopped working together eighteen years ago. John DeWeese hadn’t seen my father
in eighteen years—since before I was born.

International Intelligence Agency? Dad
had received threats before. I’d heard him talk about it. Still, this email was
different. Not only did this email suggest that Dad was involved in something
with Jack’s father and the IIA, it suggested that I was a “lab rat.” What did
that mean?

Furthermore, Dad had cut ties with
Dr. DeWeese. Why?

Did Dad trust Dr. DeWeese now?
Could I trust Jack?

I pulled out my phone and dialed
Dad’s number. Straight to voicemail. I hung up.

I took deep breaths. In and out. “Dad,
what did you do?” Why was someone targeting me? I’d never even seen the
journals. I raised my head. My eyes circled the room for the millionth time
that evening.

Reaching for the mouse, I printed
both emails and then logged out of my account.

After I grabbed the paper off the
printer, I lifted my bag over my shoulder and slipped out of the room.

I was going to be late to dinner, and
tonight was the night I would introduce the enigmatic Jack DeWeese to
Wellington.

Chapter
Six

I followed behind Kyle in the
dinner line. After every inch forward, I glanced at the phone positioned
carefully on my tray.

I couldn’t get the email out of my
mind. I was starting to worry that something had happened to Dad. Why else
wouldn’t he have called me?

“Oh, Miss Sanders, you are the
sweetest lady at this school,” Kyle said when one of the ladies served him way
more than his share of spaghetti noodles and sauce. Then Mrs. Flowers gave him
extra bread.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re going to
sink to the bottom of the swimming pool.”

“Are you kidding? Pasta creates
energy. I’m going to win big in every race on Saturday.”

“Arrogant, much?” I glanced
backwards again.

“Why are you so jumpy? You keep looking
over your shoulder and at your phone. Who are you expecting a call from?” Kyle
asked, impatient.

“No one,” I said and picked up my
tray. “You lead, but if you sit anywhere near Bree, I won’t give you my
dessert.”

Kyle chuckled. “Something new
happen between the two of you?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary.”

The cafeteria bustled at full
speed. Kyle led the way. I didn’t bother to pay attention to which table he set
his tray until it was too late. He was settling in across from Jack. I either
followed suit, or appeared rude and drew unnecessary attention to Jack and me.
It wasn’t like I could ask Jack right in front of Kyle over spaghetti and
garlic bread,
Hey, by the way, were our embryos altered before we were even
placed in our mothers’ wombs? Were we like designer babies or something? Did
your mom prefer to only have blue-eyed babies with a predisposition to a perfectly-sculpted
pectoral region?

What did I care about appearances? “I’ll
catch you later, Kyle,” I said, not giving him time to react, and continued on
to a table by the window in the back. I still had to prepare some sort of
introduction for Jack anyway.

Maybe I could fake a stomach bug.
At that moment, I wasn’t sure how far an upset stomach was from the truth. When
the smell of garlic and oregano hit my nose again, I pushed the plate of
spaghetti away, then looked down at my phone. “Call, Dad.” Too bad my mind
tricks didn’t work from far distances.

Deciding there was no way I was
escaping Jack’s big introduction, I grabbed the folded emails and a pen from my
bag. One page of the printed emails was mostly blank paper. I tucked the actual
emails under my phone and began making notes on the other piece of paper.

“Why hello, Miss Matthews.”

Jack stood beside the table. Close.
I followed the line of his hips up past the tight curves of his chest, hidden
only slightly by the navy polo, until I landed on those blue eyes I was
beginning to suspect were created custom. He pulled out a chair beside me and
sat down.

I tucked my hands under the table
and began massaging my pressure points. I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to Jack
again until I spoke with Dad. Although, if Dad kept avoiding me, I’d have no
choice. “Where’s Bree tonight?”

“I wouldn’t know.” He paused a
couple of beats, opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and then opened it
again. “There’s nothing going on between Bree and me.”

“Does she know that?” I asked,
fighting back a smirk. I’m not sure why I cared. “It would seem you and she
have gotten pretty tight since you arrived here.”

Maybe I could get Bree to introduce
Jack.

“I’m not at this school to meet
girls. Just to get to know one.” The corners of his lips tipped up as he
reached for the garlic bread on my plate. “You going to eat this?”

I shook my head, and swallowed the
urge to throw up on Jack. Was he flirting with me? Then, before I could stop
myself, I did throw up… words. “Did our fathers alter our embryos before we
were conceived? Are we what they call designer babies?” It sounded stupid
saying it out loud now. And arrogant to think we were born to parents who cared
about our eye color, or how tall we would grow to be.

Jack shot a quick glance over each
shoulder, then took a bite of garlic bread. A line formed between his eyes. My
words hung in the air like the elephant in the room that they represented—the
secret kept from poor, little, weak Lexi her whole life. “Not exactly,” he
finally said.

“Then what? Shit, Jack.” I placed
my face in my hands. I couldn’t suppress the quiver from my voice. “Did Dad
think I was too weak to handle the truth?”

He tossed the rest of the bread
back on the plate. “Look, I’m sorry. I want to tell you everything. The thing
is, I simply don’t know it all. I’m trying to piece it together myself.” He
took a heavy breath in and let it out slowly while staring out the window.

“What are you not telling me?”

“Oh, there’s a ton I’m not telling
you. So much of it doesn’t make sense. And when I realized you were speaking to
those peoples’ minds and then to Briana’s earlier, I knew.”

“You knew what?”

“That we were alike. We both were
keeping a secret so big.”

“But you knew me before you even
arrived.”

Jack ran a hand through his hair.
Silence followed.

“Jack. Tell me. Are we some sort of
scientific experiment?” Of course we were. I was such an idiot. When he didn’t
answer, I lifted my head and glanced again at my phone and the piece of paper
underneath.

“Couldn’t get a hold of him?”

I shook my head. Then, without
thinking anymore about it, I reached and yanked the printed email from under my
phone and handed it to Jack before I changed my mind.

He unfolded the piece of paper and
started reading. Meanwhile, Dean Fisher stood on the stage at the front of the
dining hall and asked for all those who were making introductions of new
students to make their way to the podium.

I started to stand, but Jack
grabbed my arm. His eyes wide with fear. “Where did this come from?”

I pointed to the email address at
the top of the page. “That’s all I know.” I pulled my arm from his grasp. “I
have to go. Everyone is staring.”

“Lexi,” he said. My gaze met his. “Try
to act normal. You don’t know who knows what around here.”

Right… Normal.

I made my way to the front of the
dining hall, wringing my hands as I skirted around tables. It was Thursday
night. Many of the teachers stayed and ate at the staff table near the front,
as they often did when introductions were made.

Danielle waved. “Where’ve you been?”
she mouthed as I passed by her.

I shrugged and forced a smile.

Next to her, Bree pretended to scratch
her temple with a completely inappropriate finger.

Most of the introductions were from
the newest seventh grade class entering Wellington. There were only a few from
each of the classes after that and just one senior—Jack.

I stepped up to the podium,
reminding myself that these intros were supposed to be light and fun. My legs
felt barely strong enough to hold me. Swallowing the lump in the back of my
throat, I said, “I’m here to introduce Jack DeWeese, who joins our senior
class. He’s standing there, in the back of the room.” I pointed to Jack. He
waved. “He’s another one of those ridiculously smart kids.” I rolled my eyes. “You
know the type… The kind that breaks any possibility of a curve on the tests. He’s
aiming to get accepted to a pre-med program on early admission. So, if you’re looking
for him this semester, you’ll find him in the library.”

I paused, while several students
laughed. Jack made a circular motion with his hand that said, “Wrap it up.”

I leaned closer to the mike. “For
all you gals out there, I’m sorry to say, Jack’s already spoken for. He left
his girlfriend of two years back at his last school. So he gave me permission
to tell you, hands off the goods.”

A low rumble of chuckles erupted as
I stepped down from the stage. Bree stared at her plate of half-eaten
spaghetti, her face the color of her remaining peas. I wove in and around
tables to join Jack in the back. When I reached him, he handed me my bag and my
phone and gestured toward the door.

His hand pushed into the small of
my back as we walked. He leaned in, his mouth close to my ear. “FYI, I was
homeschooled until now.” When I stiffened, he said, “There are no other girls.
Only you.”

~~~~

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere we can talk
uninterrupted.”

The lit windows from the dining
hall got smaller and smaller the further away from the main school buildings we
got. I had to take three steps for every two of Jack’s just to keep up. We
approached Wellington’s horse stables, on the very back of the property.

“You don’t think the horses will
interrupt us?” I flashed an uneasy smile as Jack led me away from the main
campus buildings.

His words echoed in my ears.
Only
you.
What did that mean? I was the only girl he was currently stalking. The
only girl who might find the journals that proved we were freaks.

The stables were typically
off-limits unless you boarded a horse there. I did not own a horse, so I rarely
ventured into the barns. It wasn’t that I disliked them. However, they did
smell at times. Like now. I breathed in the stench of hay and horse manure.

Darkness settled into the shadows
of the barn the closer we got. An autumn breeze sent goose bumps down my arm. Leaves
swirled in a tornado pattern in front of us.

Gravel crunched beneath my feet
with each step. At the same time, my heart sped up at the uneasy silence that
churned in the air, void of students hustling about this far away from the main
campus. I could hear my breaths as I marched into a situation I couldn’t
control. “Jack, please wait.” I stopped and placed a hand on the side of the
large black barn and pressed the other into my queasy stomach. I bent over at
the waist and sucked in several quick breaths.

“Are you hyperventilating?

I flipped my hair out of my face. “Probably.”
I dug my palm into my chest. “I need you to just tell me. What am I? Did my dad
do something to us?”

He took a step closer. “Lexi, I don’t
know exactly. I’m still trying to figure all this out, too. Why do you think
your dad hasn’t called you back?”

“I don’t know.” I studied Jack’s
face. “But I’m scared, Jack. Something frightened him the night of the dinner.
And now…” my voice cracked. “…I’m getting threatening emails.” My eyes pleaded
with his. “Just tell me. Is it what this email says? Was I altered as an
embryo? Did our fathers figure out how to play with human genes? To change
them? Are my eyes freakin’ green because Dad wanted green eyes?” That sounded
ridiculous when I said it out loud. I was losing it.

“Not exactly. At least that’s not
how I think it happened.” Jack reached out a hand to me.

I studied it with a raised eyebrow.

“What? You scared of my hand, now?”
he asked.

“Terrified.”

“Grab my hand. I’ve got something
to show you.”

I slid my hand into his. His grasp
was firm, but warm and comforting in a way. I followed him around the sidewalk
to the barn entrance.

“Hey, Barry.” Jack nodded at a man
in jeans and a baseball cap. “Everything okay?”

The man looked up from the pile of
leather bridles and the like at his feet. “Oh, hi, Jack. Come to see your pony?”

“Yeah. How’s she doing?”

“Oh, she’s good. Settlin’ in real
nice.” The man lifted the bridles and began hanging them on hooks. “You guys
can’t stay too long, okay? I’m headed out. The night watchman will make his
rounds later.”