Quantum (30 page)

“There are a boy and girl in there. The girl is going nuts. The boy is trying to calm her, but she won’t let up. She is completely hysterical. What do you want us to do?”

Simla and Justin
. I ran through the hallways toward the room and burst through it before Kellan or Gramadea could stop me. Simla was weeping hysterically while Justin looked helplessly toward me while trying to restrain her. The Sigma-Ws were looking uncomfortable, shuffling around.

“Everyone, leave,” I shouted, taking charge, while Kellan and Amadea arrived in the room. They stayed as the rest of them left. I went over to Simla and grabbed her hand. “Shut up! Pull up your big girl panties and shut up!” I seethed through clenched teeth. “Get hold of yourself!” She looked startled, by my lack of empathy I guess, and turned angry.

“You stupid… troll!” she yelled, and clenched her fists.

“Troll?” I snorted.

She came at me. I stood back as Kellan and Justin grabbed hold of her.

“Nice going, Arizona! What were you thinking?” Justin gasped as Simla was spewing obscenities at me.

“Well, it worked! I had to do something to get her out of her Bella Swan despair. Look! No despair now,” I declared proudly.

Kellan shook his head. Well, it had worked. All we had to do now was wait for her to simmer down and then she’d be good to go. It didn’t take long. She looked at me long and hard and then started chuckling. She either thought the situation was funny or she’d completely gone bananas on us.

“Simla?” Justin queried, letting her loose.

“Oh, never mind. Let’s get out of here,” she said.

“Wait a minute,” Gramadea said, walking up to us. “I take it you’re Simla and you are Justin?” she asked.

They nodded at her.

“I am Amadea, we’re here to take you back home. Can you first tell us what happened? Where are Potomal and his group? You two seem to be the only ones here.”

“Are you sure?” Simla asked, here eyes welling up again.

“Yes, the team has now searched through the building. It’s empty.”

“You didn’t find my dad?” Simla asked, clearly upset again.

“Your dad? Raj Sen?”

“Yes,” she sobbed.

Gramadea frowned. “Simla, why would you think your dad was here?”

“I saw him. He was brought here when I tried to escape, as leverage to get me to go along with their plans.”

“Do you know where they were keeping him?”

“No.”

“Do you have any idea what happened here? Where is Potomal?”

Justin shrugged. “All hell broke loose when Arizona disappeared. Potomal gathered all of us for deployment to one of his other residences. Simla said that she wouldn’t go without her dad, so Potomal just shrugged and left us here. They just disappeared on us, all of them. They seemed to be in an awful hurry, like they were expecting you to arrive.”

“Do you think they took Dad?” Simla whispered.

“No, I can’t see any reason they would do that,” Gramadea mused. “How exactly did Potomal threaten you with your dad?”

“He said that if I didn’t do what he asked, he’d deliver Dad to the FBI,” Simla said, barely breathing. “Do you think he would really do that? Why?”

“Because he said he would. Potomal usually does exactly that. I have no idea where your father is, though, or if Potomal even had time to carry out a plan like that. He couldn’t just walk into the Bureau with Raj beside him. It’s more likely that he dumped him somewhere, to get rid of him. We’ll get our Intelligence on it, though your father is very resourceful and knows how to avoid being discovered when he wants. I’m not even sure that your dad is someone we want to get involved with other than the fact that you’ve been inadvertently involved in this because of us. Our council will make a decision. Will you both need help to get back home or have you learned to wander?”

They both shook their heads. “No, we can’t wander. We’d just begun to train.”

“Okay, we are going to transport you back home, well, to Constance’s house. Grayson is staying over there.” Gramadea turned and looked at us. “Are you ready to go back?”

A while later we were back in Spencer’s Wimbledon house, getting ready to journey back to our home in Mountain View. Although our safety could not be guaranteed, Mom was adamant that she wouldn’t remain in hiding forever. Besides, I wanted to get back to hockey. Harry was going to stay behind for a while to learn more about the Sigma-W, and since he was the most at risk–being Spencer’s only biological grandson–it was for the best. Gramadea assured us that, for our safety, she would make sure Potomal was informed that Ella and I were adopted, not that it made a bit of difference to her, but anything that made us less attractive to Potomal was worth a shot. So we were returning home, knowing full well that we were at risk. Security around us was tightened considerably and Mountain View was now swarming with an influx of Sigma-Ws, in all shapes and sizes, who would watch us. We were greatly relieved when Intelligence told Gramadea that Potomal was having trouble holding on to his recruits after the last attempt at initiating a takeover. It would be sometime before he tried anything again, if ever. Here’s to hoping he was enjoying his wealth on a warm beach somewhere.

I did wonder what had happened to Luna and Stan. In a way, I had kind of gotten to like them, even though they were holding me captive. They’d just seemed like two interesting college kids, inadvertently caught up in their father’s schemes–a bit like Simla. I wondered if they had managed to go back to school or if they were forced to continue their education elsewhere. “Gramadea, do you have any idea what happened to Luna?”

“I do. Luna is still attending college in Paris, which is the real reason why Spencer has given his permission for you to go home. We were dumbfounded when we heard that. Luna must have either completely fallen out with her father or they’ve come to some understanding where he has promised her peace while she finishes college. Either way, she is
available
to us, should anything happen to any of you,” Gramadea said meaningfully.

So, we were ready to go home. Ella was wearing her tiara–given to her on the understanding that she couldn’t wear it to school; Mom would keep it safe. I wondered what it was worth–a fortune. Ella had really enjoyed her royal time here and made plans to come back during vacation.

Kellan and I braced ourselves for the journey. As Simla and Justin had already been transported back, it was just us, Mom, Rupert and Ella. David was coming with us as well, at least long enough to say goodbye to his mom before he went to his dad’s again. I hoped we would get to spend some time together before he had to leave.

I closed my eyes as I felt the pressure to my shoulders and the following weightless sensation. I gave in to total relaxation and let my mind wander. Total relaxation until my mind wandered to Simla, or rather her dad. Simla told us that she’d seen him. He’d been in London at the Potomal residence. Now, no one knew where he was. Sigma-W Intelligence had come up with nothing. What could Potomal have done with him? Maybe he took Raj with him. Raj’s resourcefulness might prove useful in Potomal’s schemes. If Potomal had done that, why didn’t he force Simla to go with them? I rolled my eyes–as much as I could with them firmly shut. It would be way too much bother to deal with a screeching, hysterical Simla while orchestrating a quick getaway. Potomal probably just got fed up. As long as Raj didn’t turn up on our doorstep, I really didn’t care what happened to that idiot. I just hoped that Simla could let it go, but I wasn’t too optimistic about that. I hoped she didn’t do anything stupid. I would love for everything to go back to normal so we could just get on and enjoy life for a while.

That would have to include a trip to see Dad, though. Since the portal was now functional, I saw no issues with that whatsoever. Mom and I would just need to work out the logistics, I was thinking as I landed on a soft surface and opened my eyes.

I was home.

H
e still had power over her, Raj thought to himself. He knew how to contact the one person he could blackmail Olivia with–Dillard. The threat of exposing her family to Dillard would guarantee Raj the blueprints. All he had to do was get her to take him back to the cottage, so he could retrieve the prints that had been left behind when Potomal plucked him out of there.

After that, he’d be rich. He had already contacted his buyer, Dr. Masterson, who was still very interested. Of course, Olivia and the portal would be totally unnecessary if Simla would just learn to wander. Then she could go and get the blueprints herself.
Wait!

It occurred to him that he really didn’t need to go back at all. Why not just get a fresh set of prints from Olivia? That would be the simplest option.

He’d staked out the Weeks’ home all morning, but there were no signs of anyone apart from the pesky FBI agents. How much more obvious could they be? And, more importantly, what had become of Simla? Where was she? If she was back home, she should have gone to school this morning. But, there were no signs of her being back. Did she permanently join forces with Potomal? Surely he wouldn’t have been dumped back here if she did. Did Simla know that he’d been unceremoniously dropped off at some old ladies’ house in the middle of nowhere, without any money? He was more than a little angry with her. She should have done what Potomal asked.

Raj found himself holed up in yet another crummy roadside motel. This life style had to come to an end, he thought; he was thoroughly fed up with it. As he stared up at the moldy popcorn ceiling illuminated by a dusty, naked light bulb, he wondered if he should pick up the phone and make the call to Dillard. Why wait?

~

Constance braced herself for Simla’s return. Grayson looked stressed. Word had reached them that the FBI was back in Mountain View asking about Simla and it seemed that Grayson’s house was now being watched. Constance was glad that Simla and Justin were being returned so promptly. If they were missing for much longer, their disappearance could spark a full-scale search and investigation by the FBI. As far as she knew, the FBI agent, Claire Adams, was the same agent who had been in charge of the Darley kids’ disappearance last year. What was she doing back here now? Had some new evidence come to light? Whatever it was, the timing was terrible.

“Any more news as to what the FBI is doing here?” Constance asked, looking over at Inez and Grayson.

“Morgana has a contact over at the police station, she is trying to find out,” Inez replied. “She should be here any…,” Inez stopped as the doorbell rang.

“Morgana, any news?” Inez asked her, as Constance ushered her into the living room.

Morgana’s lips turned into a grimace, her brows furrowing into a look of confusion. “I’m really having a hard time understanding what’s going on. My contact at the station told me that they backed up the FBI on a call this afternoon. He couldn’t give me the location, but said that a man had appeared at a house occupied by two elderly sisters, burglarized it and then took off. My contact told me that it is very unusual for the FBI to get involved with a seemingly routine burglary. A call like that would normally be handled by the local police.