The Pandora Project (9 page)

“Love you, too,” I whisper back, trying not to cry.

She gives John a quick squeeze as well and I see him transfer the chip from his jeans pocket to the pocket of her jacket. She skips away before I can grab it away and John pulls my hand back. “Don’t say anything,” he whispers loudly as he squeezes my hand for emphasis.

On the way
to Lexi’s car, Jake and Lex drive up, Jake rolls down his window, screams, “Try to keep up!” and speeds out of the parking lot.

“Get in, now!”
John jumps in the driver seat of Lexi’s Prius. “We don’t have much time, we need to make our move before they reach your house.”

“What have you done?
Are Lexi and Jake in danger?” Heat rages through my body at the thought of anything happening to either of them. It is bad enough my entire family is at risk, but my best friends too?

“No, they don’t know anything.
They’ll get to your house and wait for us to show up. They will wait, and wait and then they will call the police. They will be watched, certainly and I am sure some attempt will be made to get the chip off of Lexi, but they should be safe.”

“You set this up, what did you tell Lexi?”

“This is why I let Ashlynn bring me here. I needed to get a note to Lexi, hoping you would come with me. I don’t know how long they were there waiting for us. Thankfully it is not all that uncommon for kids to hang around there for hours. I just told her your life was in danger and we needed to swap cars. She played along amazingly well.”

“She is wonderful,” I say with a catch in my voice.
“She just believed you?”

“Not really, I also told her I know the truth about your hands and your family
. She is not stupid. She believed me.”

“Do you really know the truth?”
I ask, not sure I want to know the answer.

“I do.”

“Will you please tell me what is going on?”

He t
akes a deep breath, “I don’t know if you can handle it.”

“TELL ME!” I scream and clench my hands as I realize they are heating up.
How can he cause these intense outbursts of emotion? Maybe because he has come into my life, messed with my hormones and ruined everything we have been working on for the past seventeen years.

Breathing deeply to calm myself I try again, “Please tell me, I can handle anything.”

“Where to start?” he asks as he looks in the rear view mirror. I assume he is watching for a tail.

Chapter
10

“I think the beginning would be good,” I answer sarcastically. What a stupid question.

“Alright, the beginning.
About thirty years ago, a brilliant scientist by the name of Andrew Cox became obsessed with genetic mutations caused by frequent or excessive exposure to different types of radiation.” He glances over at me and again checks the rearview mirror.

“Go on,” I prompt.

“Do you want the scientific explanation, or the comic book explanation?”

“Let’s
shoot for something in between,” I respond impatiently. “I am pretty sure I can keep up either way.”

“Ri
ght. In between.” He pauses, continuing to check his mirrors, his hands a death grip on the steering wheel. “I assume you are aware of the treatments your mother received while she was pregnant with you?”

“Don’t insult my intelligence, of course I am aware,” I testily respond.

“Why don’t you tell me what you know and I will fill in the blanks for you then,” he has never been so gruff with me and it takes me by surprise.

“Right, you aren’t going to get information out of me that easily.”

He lets out a mean snort, “I have a feeling I know a lot more than you and I am more than willing to share all I know. I am the one making all the sacrifices to save your butt so how ‘bout you give me the benefit of the doubt for a moment?”

“What do you mean you are making all the sacrifices?
If I am not mistaken I just walked away from my entire life on your word.”

Again he laughs, but in a condescending almost cruel way.
“Well, my father was killed by the man who is after you, my mother will soon die by the same hand, I have walked away from my life more times than I care to count and hours ago I let your father cut into my shoulder with no anesthesia to remove a tracking chip so I could help you escape. So let’s pretend for one second that I am on your side and deserve at least tolerance if you can’t muster something more than that. Do you think you can handle that?”

S
peechless and horrified, I force myself to melt into the seat. How could someone who has endured so much pretend to be a happy-go-lucky teenager? A strange mix of horror, gratitude and sympathy washes over me, leaving me unable to respond to his tirade. Staring out the window, I try to hold back tears. Unfamiliar landscape shoots by at incredible speeds. I thought I knew every nook and cranny of Painted Rock.

“Where are you taking me?”

“In the short run, we are heading to a car your father has stashed for a situation exactly like the one we find ourselves in.” Judging from the anger in his voice, I’m not getting out of an apology.

“I
’m sorry.” I try not to sound defensive as I say it. “I’m so confused. I’m scared and I feel completely alone.” That better be enough because that is all he is getting.

“
Clearly, you had a very involved conversation with my mother. Are you ever going to share?”

He turns to face me and his eyes soften, “You
’re not alone. You have me.” He releases his death grip on the wheel and runs a finger lightly down the side of my face. Every muscle from my knees to my shoulders clinch in response and I hate my body for reacting so intensely to his touch.

Trying to negate my body’s reaction,
I just nod and turn away, denying him access to my face. We both lurch forward when John slams on the breaks and curses under his breath. “Just missed our turn,” he explains as he throws the car in reverse to backtrack. Good thing the road we are on is practically abandoned.

“Your dad was very specific about how many miles outside of town this road would be,” he answers my unasked question.

“Not sure you could call this a road.” The trail he pulls off on is little more than two thin lines of rock that are barely keeping the grass at bay.

“That is the point.”

We follow the trail for a very uncomfortable couple of miles until we are well behind the tree line.
The overlapping branches of the Ponderosa pines provide a wonderful cover that obscures from any passing cars. We come to a barn that looks to be growing out of the trees. The distressed forest green and deep brown it was painted with ensure the barn is incredibly well concealed.

John gives me a look of appreciation, “Your dad is a genius.”

“I know,” I say in a tone of hushed reverence.

We pull as close to the barn as John can manage without ramming the doors.
John jumps out and I can barely see him enter a code on a touch pad on the outside of the barn door. The door rises like a garage door and John runs back to the car.

Driving into the barn, I notice a pretty nondescript black Ford Fusion.
Parking beside the Fusion, John jumps out and gets to work. I hesitate before getting out. Should I leave a thank you note for Lexi? Let her know how much she helped us? I can’t do anything to endanger or implicate her so I send silent thanks, bring my fingers to my lips, reach over and press them to the dashboard. After saying my goodbyes, I drag myself over to the trunk of the new car.

John throws a new outfit to me, “Change your clothes, everything, underwear too.”
I bobble the clothes, embarrassed he has handled my undies. I stare at him blankly, “What?” he asks, staring at me.

“Um, you want me to change here?”

“Sorry, I won’t look,” and he turns and starts rummaging through the trunk again.
Realizing this is as good as it gets, I pull off my shirt. When my shirt is off, John starts stripping down. Should I turn around as well? His pants and underwear are off before I know what is happening and I find myself ogling his bare backside. He is so perfectly shaped; I can’t seem to look away. Great, I’m a monster and a peeping tom!

He dresses quickly in clothes
that must have been for my father and asks, “You done yet?”

Oops, “Almost,” I undress faster than I ever have in my life, trying to make up for the time spent admiring him.
I throw the new clothes on, relieved that they fit and give the go ahead to turn around.

Facing me again he holds a new pair of gloves in his hands.
He hands them to me. Knowing how closely he is watching me, I begin to take my gloves off.
Please don’t let my hands be glowing
. I am relieved that they aren’t and quickly cover them again.

John returns to Lexi’s Prius and emerges carrying my purse.
He pulls my phone out, takes it to a workbench attached to the side of the garage and begins to beat the crap out of it with a hammer.

“Hey!” I run to him, trying to stop him.
Barely trying, he restrains me easily and pulls his phone out and gives it the same treatment. This makes me feel a little better. He throws Lex’s keys onto the driver’s seat and closes the door.

Striding quickly to the Fusion, he
’s behind the wheel before I have time to move. Clearly he expected me to follow, but I just stand beside my mangled phone and cross my arms over my chest.

“Come on, Paige.
We have to move.”

“Are you finally going to tell me what is going on?”
The tears in my voice surprise me. What a crybaby I have become.

“I promise.”

I don’t know how much that is worth, but it will have to be enough. I start to grab my purse, more out of habit than anything else when he stops me, “Leave it, we don’t want anything that has been in contact with anyone or anything from Painted Rock.”

Nodding my understanding I move around the Fusion and get in.
John wastes no time making his escape, stopping just long enough to close the sliding door. Night has completely fallen and between the heavy canopy of trees and the crescent moon, it is pitch black out. Surprising me, he doesn’t turn the headlights on and pulls some sort of night vision device out of the back seat. He heads out of the woods opposite from the way we came in. I save my questions, letting him concentrate on the drive.

The numbers on the clock slowly tick away and they do less to assuage my nerves than staring into the endless blackness, waiting to hit a tree.
Closing my eyes, I try to get my thoughts in order so I will be prepared for our conversation. Forty-seven minutes after leaving the barn, John pulls out onto another country road, pulling the night vision glasses off his head. He flips on the headlights and accelerates quickly away from the trail. Relief washes over me. It feels wonderful to be on a good solid road with the lights on.

“Thanks, I know you really want answers.”
He says as the settles back in to scanning all mirrors for pursuit.

“No problem
.” It is probably better not to mention I almost screamed from frustration. “I really want as close to your undivided attention as possible.” I reposition myself so I am comfortably facing him.

“Alright, shoot.”

“Where are we going?” Better to start easy; plus this is my most pressing concern anyway.

“We are heading to a cabin your father has requisitioned
in Cold Spring, New York. We should be meeting up with your parents there and we will plan our next move.” It doesn’t matter where we go, as long as my parents will be there. Still, New York is exceptionally far away. Can I handle being alone in a car with John for that long? Can he?

“Who are we running from?”

“Dr. Cox,” he answers quickly and succinctly.

“Why are we running from Dr. Cox?
Who is he to me?”

“He is the man responsible for the radiation treatments your mother received.”

If I have to drag every answer out of John I might just kill him. Trying not to show my aggravation, I take a deep breath. “From the beginning?” I prompt.

“Let’s start with Chernobyl, shall we?
You do know what happened at Chernobyl, right?”

“Are you referring to the explosion at the nuclear power plant and the radioactive fire that burned for ten days releasing 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?”
Of course I know about Chernobyl, please! What self-respecting radioactive teenager doesn’t do a little research!

“A simple ‘yes’ would have sufficed.”
I give him a smug smile and cock my head, waiting for him to continue. “Dr. Cox is a brilliant evolutionary biologist, radiologist and physicist. He has more PhDs than wall space to display them. When the Chernobyl disaster occurred, he was already conducting experiments and doing extensive research into the effects of radiation on genetic mutations. Chernobyl advanced his research light years and turned his interest into an obsession.” Great, we are running from an obsessed super nerd.