Mindsurge (Mindspeak Book 3) Page 29

  She bent forward, cupping her injured cheekbone. “How did you do that?”

  Jonas shoved her into a chair and proceeded to tie her to it. But I knew that what he had just accomplished was much more than an injury to the woman who’d delivered and raised him, but a direct annihilation of the Omega Directive.

  Dr. DeWeese collapsed into a chair across from her, his eyes empty, lost.

  I flew at Jack, jumping into his arms.

  “Whoa.” He stumbled backward, then leaned his face into my hair. “Miss me?”

  My body began to shake as I cried into his neck. “I thought you were dead. I’ve been going out of my mind.”

  “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I’m here. As are several very influential people from the president’s staff. Apparently you made quite an impression on his deputy chief of staff.” He pulled his head away and glanced toward Jonas, whose lips tugged downward. Jack’s head fell forward.

  “What’s wrong?” I searched their faces.

  “I couldn’t heal him.” Regret filled Jonas’s voice. “He’s unconscious.”

  “What?” I clutched Jack’s cheeks. “I don’t understand.”

  Jack smiled weakly. “I’m sorry.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “Kyle’s got control of me. The yacht is close. But he can’t keep it up much longer. He’s losing his hold on me, and… Lexi, I’m fading.”

  Tears blurred my vision. “You tried everything?” I asked Jonas.

  He nodded, looking away. “I was able to help Georgia, but Jack’s condition is far worse. I… I’m sorry.”

  I searched Jack’s eyes. What do I do? I can’t lose you.

  He stroked my hair. Our eyes were locked. It’s okay.

  Jack was giving me permission to let go, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I shook my head. It’s not okay. Nothing about this would ever be okay. If Jonas couldn’t heal Jack, how was I supposed to?

  “Lexi,” Jonas said behind me. “You can do this. You have all the tools you need to heal him. You’re the strongest of any of us.”

  Slipping my hand into Jack’s, I pulled him over to the gurney. I eased him onto the bed, laid him flat on his back, and leaned over him. “I’m going to need Kyle to let go of you.”

  His eyes struggled to focus on mine. Reaching a hand to my cheek, he wiped the falling tears from my face. “I love you. I want the very best for you. Don’t stop searching for the good in what we were created to do.”

  More tears streamed down my cheek and landed on his arm. “Never goodbye.”

  “Never goodbye. I’ll see you soon.” His head relaxed into the pillow, and his eyes closed.

  ~~~~~

  The neurons inside Jack’s head were firing, but at a sluggish rate. They were the color of a dull, smoky blue, unlike anything I had seen in his head in the past. Still, nothing looked out of place. I continued my scan down his neck and spine, checking carefully, vertebra by vertebra.

  My heart pounded at an alarming pace, but all tears were gone. If I had any hope of Jack surviving, I had to get it together.

  Jonas entered my mind. He was watching how I searched through Jack’s body. You can do this. I know you’ve got the power to help him, Lex.

  When you inflicted him with this illness, what exactly did you do?

  She had me play with the bacteria that are produced naturally in our bodies. I moved it around as she directed. Through his organs, along his spine, and even into his legs.

  I turned my attention back to Jack’s body. His brain looked normal other than the fading neurons and low activity. I examined his other organs—heart, lungs, kidneys, stomach, spleen, liver. Everything looked normal. Nothing looked diseased, but his white blood cell count was overwhelming.

  Lexi. Kyle’s voice eased inside my head. Seth says that Jack’s body is acting like it has late-stage leukemia, even though it doesn’t have any cancer at all. His immune system and his body’s ability to fight infection are failing.

  What do I do? I worked hard to keep my voice even and calm.

  He says you need to do a stem cell transplant.

  A what? How was I supposed to do that? That would require a perfect match. I didn’t have time—

  My head snapped to attention. I turned to Jonas. “Bring John DeWeese back.”

  While I’d been examining Jack, Secret Service agents had arrived with a member of the president’s staff and had taken Dr. DeWeese and Sandra into their custody. Now, Jonas and a man I didn’t recognize led Dr. DeWeese back into the room and sat him in a chair beside Jack. The expression on DeWeese’s face still screamed of confusion.

  “Miss Matthews?” the man with Jonas said. “The deputy chief of staff is waiting to meet with you.”

  “Well she’ll just have to be patient,” I snapped. I wasn’t meeting with anyone until I had Jack back.

  ~~~~~

  Seth, through Kyle’s mindspeaking, had explained everything I needed to know to move the stem cells from Dr. DeWeese’s bone marrow into Jack’s bloodstream. Briana searched the medical cabinets for supplies we needed while I stared at Jack’s lifeless body, searching for the inspiration I needed to believe I could heal him and not do more damage. His eyes were closed, his face pale, but he was void of any stress or pain, thanks to Jonas.

  Lexi, Kyle mindspoke, a warning in his voice. As you do this, you’ll need to monitor his organs. Watch for any damage to his heart, lungs, kidney, and liver.

  No pressure, right?

  You need to get started. You’re running out of time.

  Jonas placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll watch his organs for any damage while managing his pain. You concentrate on the transplant.”

  I played with the blond hair that lay across Jack’s forehead, moist from a fever that broke and spiked intermittently. Leaning over, I brushed a kiss across his lips, chapped and dry from exposure to sun and tropical breezes. I won’t let you go, Jack. But I can’t do this alone. You have to fight. I kissed him again. “Never goodbye,” I whispered against his mouth.

  Briana stood patiently beside me with a tray of instruments we might need.

  I took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

  I began by administering a bag of IV fluids into one of Jack’s arms to prevent dehydration during the process. Briana did the same to Dr. DeWeese.

  Next, I took another needle and inserted it into Dr. DeWeese’s opposite arm, then did the same to Jack’s, attaching a tube between them.

  Now it was time to see what kind of healing I was capable of—a true test of my creation. With my mind, I searched through Dr. DeWeese’s body and located the stem cells that Seth had described to me—stem cells that were capable of fighting infection, capable of multiplying into the healthy cells that Jack’s body needed in order to take over and fight the disease.

  I directed the stem cells into the plastic tube and slid them into Jack’s blood. I massaged and finessed the cells Jack needed in hopes that they would travel to the parts of the body that needed them most. Luckily, Dr. DeWeese—the person Jack had been cloned from—couldn’t have been a more perfect match.

  What I was doing was so much more advanced than anything I had ever done before. Sweat formed on my brow and dripped down into my eyes. I blinked it away. But despite the effort, the mental strain, the intense concentration, it felt right. It felt… natural. Like I had been meant to help people. And I supposed I had.

  I knew I couldn’t cure all the ills of the world, but I could cure this one. I could save this one person. I could save Jack.

  Jonas looked up. “Lexi, his heart is slowing. The blood isn’t getting to his brain quickly enough.”

  I looked from Jonas to Jack. “C’mon, Jack. Don’t do this to me.” I redirected my attention to his heart, massaging it with my mind to keep it pumping.

  Jack gasped, his breathing becoming labored.

  “We’re losing him,” Jonas said.

  “No we’re not!” I pumped Jack’s heart for him, urging the blood to enter
and leave and travel on toward the brain. I’ve got you, Jack. Don’t you leave me.

  And then I felt his heart kick on its own. Even though my hand wasn’t literally touching Jack’s heart, I could sense it taking over, doing the job it was meant to do.

  “Good job, Lexi. He’s stabilizing.”

  I let out a sigh of relief.

  I returned my attention to the stem cells. They, too, were doing their job, moving to the infected cells and squeezing them out of existence, cleaning his bloodstream and freeing it of all disease.

  I had done all that I could do.

  But would it be enough? During the process I had felt confident, powerful, but now the reality of Jack’s situation hit me. Even with everything I had done, even with Jonas’s help and Seth’s expertise… Jack’s body was weak. Had I acted quickly enough? Would the stem cells be able to reverse the damage he had already suffered? Had his brain received enough oxygen throughout the procedure? Could Jack summon the strength he would need to recover?

  I was afraid I might need a miracle for Jack to wake up normal again.

  But whatever happened next… it simply wasn’t up to me anymore.

  ~~~~~

  A procedure that would have taken infinitely more preparation and much longer to perform in a typical hospital setting was completed in less than an hour.

  “Now what?” Briana asked. She appeared tired and disheveled.

  Jonas leaned against the far wall. His shoulders drooped forward.

  “Now we wait.” I slid my hand under Jack’s, and sitting in a chair beside his bed, laid my head on his stomach. I couldn’t imagine my life if this didn’t work. I didn’t want to. But I wouldn’t let him down.

  I don’t know how long it took before I drifted off to sleep.

  ~~~~~

  Something woke me. I glanced around the room, looking for movement or a sound that could have disturbed my restless sleep. Jonas sat against a wall. Briana lay across his lap.

  Jonas raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot.

  The room was silent except for the blowing sound of the air conditioning.

  Then it happened again—the smallest squeeze to my hand. I jumped to my feet, knocking the chair over behind me, but not removing my hand from Jack’s. I searched his face. The coloring in his cheeks had transformed from a dull gray to a nice tropical suntan. His nose was tinted pink from recent sun exposure.

  Come back to me, I whispered with my mind.

  He squeezed my hand harder, but still a bit feebly. Where am I?

  Palmyra. Do you remember anything?

  His closed eyes tightened. I remember blowing something up.

  A happy sob escaped my lips. Boys. That’s what you would remember.

  Hey! I blew up a cell tower to save you from Sandra’s wrath.

  Thank you. I laughed. What about the satellite connection?

  We couldn’t fix it. Your mom is going nuts.

  He lifted a hand then, reaching out until he found my cheek, brushing at the moisture. His eyes fluttered open.

  “Hi.” I leaned into his touch.

  “Told you I would see you later.”

  I laughed through another sob. “That you did.” I swallowed hard. “You scared me.”

  “Ditto.” He leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. “That’s some healing power you’ve got there. I’m feeling much better, I think.”

  I laughed again, out of relief. “Georgia?”

  “She’s doing okay; Jonas saved her. She’s back on the boat, recovering. Fred’s with her.”

  Jonas and Briana stood and made their way over to us. “Welcome back, man,” Jonas said. “I’m so sorry.”

  Jack reached out and grasped his friend’s hand. “You kept my girl safe. And you did what you had to. You’re forgiven.”

  “How did you find me?” I asked.

  He tugged on my braid. “The ribbon, remember? I’m considering permanently implanting GPS into your hair.”

  “Sandra was going to strip me of my abilities.” I shuddered. “I couldn’t get the tracker communications routed to the satellite. I was so scared, Jack. I don’t even know why she didn’t simply terminate me along with the rest of the clones with trackers.”

  “We took out the cell tower.”

  I grinned. “I saw the big boom. I’m glad you managed to have a little fun while I was being treated like a monkey in a cage.”

  A pensive expression shadowed his face. “Did you know there are more than a hundred cloned humans living in the building behind us?”

  “I knew there were a lot. Which reminds me. Now that you’re awake, I need to meet with the people who came to see what was happening on this atoll. The president could have already launched a missile to take us all out for all I know.” I stood and kissed Jack on the forehead. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  He nodded. Never goodbye.

  Before I left the room, I turned to Jonas. “What’s going to happen to Sandra and Dr. DeWeese?”

  “A plane landed thirty minutes ago. I was told they’ll be moved to a special high-security facility in Hawaii for now.” Jonas smiled. “Their days of experimenting on humans are over.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Hi, Ms. Meyers.” I shook the hand of the president’s deputy chief of staff. “So nice of you to come to Palmyra.” She and I stood inside a meeting room at the end of a hallway of laboratories.

  “Well, Miss Matthews, this is quite a facility.”

  “Yes, ma’am. And it sounds like you have an impressive military fleet awaiting orders from the president on what to do about this place.”

  She waved her hand. “Oh, them? That’s nothing. Just a few vessels that didn’t mind sitting around this island for a day or two. They don’t even know why they’re here.”

  I smiled. “What about the Conservancy?”

  “We have convinced the Conservancy that private ownership of the atoll is a good idea. They, of course, will continue to own their portion of the island and protect it as a nature preserve, but at the direction of the president, they understand that the new owners are a nonprofit organization created for the protection of ‘animal life.’ The members that are here now have toured the island and have seen exactly what we needed them to see. There’s a slew of paperwork that will iron out the details, but as far as the president is concerned, this island will run privately—although still under U.S. law, you understand. As long as you obey the laws of your country, Ms. Matthews, this island is yours.”

  “What about Dr. DeWeese and Sandra Whitmeyer?”

  “They have been taken into custody and charged with multiple federal crimes. I doubt they’ll ever see the outside of a prison again.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Meyers.”

  “Don’t thank me. I’m not sure what you’re getting yourself into by purchasing this island, but I wish you the best of luck. I can see that you’re a smart young woman, and you seem to have a great team behind you.”

  “That I do.”

  ~~~~~

  “Are you saying that no one beyond the deputy chief of staff knows exactly what’s happening here on Palmyra?”

  Jonas sat on a log at the edge of the tree line facing the ocean. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark Prada sunglasses.

  I knew Jonas was hiding more than exhaustion from the events of the past twenty-four hours. He’d been fighting pangs of guilt for what had almost happened to Jack and for what Sandra had put me through.

  “That’s right.” I leaned backward against Jack. His arms were circled around me, and he drew figure eights on my arm. “I’ve been assured that the president understands just enough to know that any mention of the goings-on here needs to be buried deep in classified documents. And the FBI agents Coach called to Wellington were his trusted friends. Even so, we were careful about what we actually told them.”

  “Do you trust them?”

  “As much as I trust anyone.” I tried to laugh.

  Jack came around
beside me and faced the ocean.

  You okay? I asked. I inhaled the salty air. The soothing sound of the waves wasn’t enough to cut through the tension that surrounded the four of us.

  Better than okay. I’m alive, thanks to you.

  “So what happens now?” Jack asked aloud. “The IIA agents will be taken to a Secret Service field office and questioned. But what about the doctors and lab techs that are still here?” I noticed that Jack had avoided asking the questions we all were afraid to talk about: What happens to the clones here on Palmyra? Do we take them to Wellington? And what about the ones in incubators who have yet to be born?

  Jonas drew shapes in the sand with a long stick. “I’ve been inside every one of their heads over the last few weeks while Sandra thought I was under her control. The ones who are loyal to Sandra and John will be taken into custody as well. The ones I think I can trust are staying.”

  The tropical breeze blew hair across my face. I tucked the loose strands behind my ears. “Bree? You’re awfully quiet.”

  Briana had been sitting quietly, several feet away from Jonas. At my words, she seemed to come back to our conversation from some faraway place, but still didn’t say anything. She, too, hid behind a pair of oversized sunglasses.

  Jonas reached a hand out to her, urging her to move closer. She did, but didn’t take his hand. Instead, he put an arm around her shoulders, tucked her beside him, and kissed her temple. When he looked up, he met Jack’s eyes, then mine, and said, “I’ve decided to stay here on Palmyra.”

  That explained Briana’s melancholy. She swiped her fingers across her cheek and under her sunglasses, appearing to clear tears from beneath her eyes.

  “Are you sure you want to do that?” I asked.

  “Who else is going to do it?”

  I glanced back toward the ocean. I didn’t know how to answer him, so I walked over and knelt before him. I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you.” It was what I’d hoped would happen, but I couldn’t possibly have asked him to do it.

  When I stood back up, Jack pulled me into his arms again, and I let him. Anything to be close. “Jonas, I’ll stay until we know why the Delta clones are dying. I’ll do what I can to heal them.”