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“Anna?” Dani called, startling me. I hadn’t heard her come in. “Cas and I were just talking about getting something to eat and—”
I hurried over to her and shoved the laptop in her face. “Read this.”
“Um. Okay?” She took the computer, holding it up as she read. I knew when she reached the part about Sam by the way she looked at me, the pain in her eyes. “Oh no. I don’t… I don’t remember this at all.…”
“He did it. Sam killed them.”
“Maybe there’s an explanation.”
“No. It’s there in the files, and Uncle Will said he did it, and…”
She set the laptop on the floor and took my face in her hands. “If this is true…”
I swallowed the wedge in my throat.
“Where’s Nick?” she asked, pulling away.
“He’s sleeping in one of the bedrooms last I knew—”
“You have to go.”
“What, now?”
“Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? Who knows what else he’s capable of? Oh, God. I can’t believe he did it.”
“Where am I going to go?” I whispered.
“Do you have anyone you trust?”
“No… I mean… my dad, I guess.”
“Then call him.”
“What about you?” I asked.
She unplugged the flash drive from the laptop and slid it in the pocket of my jeans. “You want my advice, trust no one. Maybe not even me.”
“You’re my sister,” I said, and for the first time, it felt true.
“And as your sister, I’m telling you to go. I’ll feel better once you’re somewhere safe. Here.” She handed me a set of car keys. “It’s the blue SUV in the parking lot.”
“Where did you—”
“Shh.” She glanced toward the bedrooms. “Come on.” She led me to the door and scanned the hallway beyond before waving me through.
I grabbed my bag and followed her out.
In the hallway, she gave me a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. “Be safe,” she said and urged me into the stairwell, shutting the door behind her before I could respond.
With my heart hammering in my ears, I took the stairs down two at a time and slipped out the rear exit, near the parking lot. I hesitated just outside the door, looking back toward the lobby, wondering if I should tell Nick or Cas, or even Sam, what Dani and I had read.
I didn’t want to be alone.
I didn’t want to leave.
I’ll take my chances, I thought. There had to be an explanation, right?
But then the rational side of my brain kicked in and said that I needed to be strong, that I needed to go.
Inside the SUV, I jammed the key into the ignition. Snow started to fall in fat, lazy flakes that melted when they hit the windshield.
I tugged the car into drive and pulled out of the parking lot.
24
SINCE I’D LEFT THE CELL PHONE BACK at the condo, I had to go looking for a pay phone. I finally found one after nearly an hour of driving. And then it took me another ten minutes to find enough quarters in the car to make a call.
Dad answered on the second ring.
“Hello?” he said, his tone guarded.
“Dad. It’s me. I don’t have a lot of time. I’m on a pay phone.”
He breathed out. “If you’re calling me from a pay phone,” he said, “I can only assume you’re in trouble.”
I clutched the phone harder and looked out on the gas station parking lot. The sun was beginning to rise, and morning commuters were pulling into the parking lot to fill up on gas, coffee, and doughnuts. This station had a bakery in back, and I could smell the fried dough from all the way out here.
My stomach growled.
“I need to come stay with you for a few days,” I said.
“Anna,” he said with a quick exhalation, “you know it’s not safe, and—”
I couldn’t hold the tears in anymore.
They came pouring out. I scrunched my eyes closed as I tried to get control of myself, but it was no use. My breath quivered, and Dad caught on instantly.
“Where are you? Are you still in Michigan?”
“Yes.”
“What meeting place are you closest to?”
A week after we’d escaped Branch headquarters, Dad and I had come up with several meeting places around Michigan, and a few across the country, so that we could tell each other where to meet simply by using a code.
You could never be too sure about a secure line, or privacy, for that matter. The man wearing a business suit and bright-red tie hovering at the newspaper stand behind me could very well be a Branch employee.
I had to be careful. Always.
“I’m closest to location four.”
Four was code for Millerton, Michigan, just outside Grand Rapids, and Dad and I had agreed to meet at Millerton Park, in the center of town, if location four was ever needed.
I’d never been there before, but I’d consulted the Michigan map when Dad and I came up with the locations. I knew how to get to the park easily enough.
“I’m three and a half hours away,” Dad said. “I’ll meet you there soon.”
I sucked in a breath. “Thanks.”
“Just be careful till I get there. Okay?”
“I will.”
“And Anna?” he asked. “Are the boys with you?”
I squeezed my eyes shut again and wrapped the phone’s cord around my finger. “No. I’m by myself.”
Dad sighed, like he’d expected that answer. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Hurry, please.”
“I will.”
I bought a coffee and a cake doughnut from the gas station and then sat in the parking lot, stuffing my face.
Since I didn’t want to arrive at location four too soon, I waited around the gas station for at least an hour, then navigated back to the freeway. I arrived at Millerton Park just before nine.
The park was situated in the middle of town and covered a total of five acres. There were at least six different parking lots, so Dad and I had agreed to meet on a park bench near the center, where the fountain was.
I plopped down on a bench, zipping up my coat against the cold. Behind me, the fountain was dry, the base cluttered with trash and dead leaves. The playground just over the next hill was empty.
It seemed to take my dad forever to show, and when he finally did, we stood awkwardly, each waiting for the other to do something. Dad and I weren’t the hugging type.
“It’s good to see you,” he said, stuffing his hands in his coat pockets.
“You, too.”
I took a second to look Dad over. He seemed like he’d aged a lot in the weeks since I’d last seen him. There were new wrinkles bursting from the corners of his eyes and new laugh lines hugging his mouth.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I’m feeling all right. And you? You look skinnier. Are you eating well?”
“Yes. I’ve been running regularly with the boys.”
Neither of us acknowledged the reason behind my sudden interest in endurance and physical training. After all, Dad was partially responsible for this new way of life. He’d been a Branch employee for a long time. And he’d headed the program that’d altered the boys and me.
But I didn’t blame him. Not really. He’d been doing what he’d thought was right at the time. And he’d helped us when it counted.
He still felt guilty, though. Which was why I mentioned the Branch as little as possible.
“Come on,” Dad said, nodding toward the parking lot behind him. “Let’s get out of the cold.”
I’d planned on ditching Nick’s stolen car anyway, so I’d brought my things. Dad led me to a pickup truck. It was indigo, with a few patches of rust and a white pinstripe along both sides.
I climbed in and set my stuff on the floorboard. Dad slid in next to me and started up the truck with a bit of coaxing.
He gave me a smile. “The Branch would never suspect I’d drive an eighty-one Chevy. It’s a good cover car.”
“I like it.”
“You don’t have to lie. It smells like stale cigarettes and runs like crap. But it gets the job done.”
“That’s all that matters.”
Dad drove south of town, sticking to back roads. The snow had let up some, but driving conditions weren’t the best, and the main streets were a slushy mess.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?” Dad finally asked. “Last I heard, I was supposed to be looking into a new brainwashing technique at Sam’s request. Now you’re alone, and you need my help. Sam wasn’t brainwashed, was he?”
“No, at least not that we know.”
Dad visibly relaxed. “Well, that’s good. I don’t know that we’d be strong enough to go up against Sam.”
We weren’t.
“So, tell me,” Dad said.
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“From the beginning is usually best.”
I recounted everything we’d learned. Dad listened while he chewed on a straw. “You suspect Sam killed your parents?” he asked a few minutes later. “That’s quite the theory.”
“It’s not a theory. It was in Sam’s files. And my uncle was there, too.”
Dad frowned. “Your uncle?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I don’t know.” Dad shrugged. “I was told you had no surviving family. I suppose I shouldn’t have believed anything Connor told me, but I didn’t know you had an uncle out there. If I had…”
“It’s all right, Dad. Really.”
“Yes, well.” He let out a sigh. “Anyway.” He cleared his throat. “So you think the boys could possibly have been programmed with some kind of new brainwashing technique.”
“Yes. Sam told you about the others we found in Delta lab, right?”
“He did.”
“We think maybe the Branch programmed Cas and Sam while they were at Branch headquarters a few months ago.”
“But”—Dad lifted a finger—“if they’d been brainwashed then, why not activate them during the confrontation at headquarters? Connor could have saved himself a lot of trouble and spared his life if he had. Seems like a waste.”
I frowned. “Yeah, good point.”
“And to be honest, Anna, I wouldn’t believe everything I read in those files. Even if Trev’s actions were well-intentioned, that doesn’t mean the information is true.”
“But how could they have known to plant false information at the time Trev copied the files?”
Dad thought about that one. “I don’t know. Has the flash drive been in your possession ever since then? Has it ever been out of your sight?”
“You mean, for someone to add that file?” I asked. Dad nodded. “I’m pretty sure it’s been with Sam since we left our last rental house.”
“No one has had access to it?”
“Not that I know… well, wait… Greg. Or either of the other two boys from Delta.”
“There you have it,” Dad said as he slowed for a traffic light.
A small feeling of hope spread through me.
Dad clicked on his blinker. The idling of the truck engine was now the only sound between us.
Something else wasn’t right; I just didn’t know what it was. I could see the pieces in my head, but I couldn’t put them together. I didn’t think Greg or the others had had the time to alter the flash drive. And even if they had, they would have been fully conscious at the time.
Greg and the others had seemed grateful for being rescued. And when they were activated, they were completely blank with one sole mission: to take Sam, Nick, and Cas out. Greg had punched Dani, but once she was out of the way, they’d ignored her and gone after the boys.
I hurried over to her and shoved the laptop in her face. “Read this.”
“Um. Okay?” She took the computer, holding it up as she read. I knew when she reached the part about Sam by the way she looked at me, the pain in her eyes. “Oh no. I don’t… I don’t remember this at all.…”
“He did it. Sam killed them.”
“Maybe there’s an explanation.”
“No. It’s there in the files, and Uncle Will said he did it, and…”
She set the laptop on the floor and took my face in her hands. “If this is true…”
I swallowed the wedge in my throat.
“Where’s Nick?” she asked, pulling away.
“He’s sleeping in one of the bedrooms last I knew—”
“You have to go.”
“What, now?”
“Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? Who knows what else he’s capable of? Oh, God. I can’t believe he did it.”
“Where am I going to go?” I whispered.
“Do you have anyone you trust?”
“No… I mean… my dad, I guess.”
“Then call him.”
“What about you?” I asked.
She unplugged the flash drive from the laptop and slid it in the pocket of my jeans. “You want my advice, trust no one. Maybe not even me.”
“You’re my sister,” I said, and for the first time, it felt true.
“And as your sister, I’m telling you to go. I’ll feel better once you’re somewhere safe. Here.” She handed me a set of car keys. “It’s the blue SUV in the parking lot.”
“Where did you—”
“Shh.” She glanced toward the bedrooms. “Come on.” She led me to the door and scanned the hallway beyond before waving me through.
I grabbed my bag and followed her out.
In the hallway, she gave me a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. “Be safe,” she said and urged me into the stairwell, shutting the door behind her before I could respond.
With my heart hammering in my ears, I took the stairs down two at a time and slipped out the rear exit, near the parking lot. I hesitated just outside the door, looking back toward the lobby, wondering if I should tell Nick or Cas, or even Sam, what Dani and I had read.
I didn’t want to be alone.
I didn’t want to leave.
I’ll take my chances, I thought. There had to be an explanation, right?
But then the rational side of my brain kicked in and said that I needed to be strong, that I needed to go.
Inside the SUV, I jammed the key into the ignition. Snow started to fall in fat, lazy flakes that melted when they hit the windshield.
I tugged the car into drive and pulled out of the parking lot.
24
SINCE I’D LEFT THE CELL PHONE BACK at the condo, I had to go looking for a pay phone. I finally found one after nearly an hour of driving. And then it took me another ten minutes to find enough quarters in the car to make a call.
Dad answered on the second ring.
“Hello?” he said, his tone guarded.
“Dad. It’s me. I don’t have a lot of time. I’m on a pay phone.”
He breathed out. “If you’re calling me from a pay phone,” he said, “I can only assume you’re in trouble.”
I clutched the phone harder and looked out on the gas station parking lot. The sun was beginning to rise, and morning commuters were pulling into the parking lot to fill up on gas, coffee, and doughnuts. This station had a bakery in back, and I could smell the fried dough from all the way out here.
My stomach growled.
“I need to come stay with you for a few days,” I said.
“Anna,” he said with a quick exhalation, “you know it’s not safe, and—”
I couldn’t hold the tears in anymore.
They came pouring out. I scrunched my eyes closed as I tried to get control of myself, but it was no use. My breath quivered, and Dad caught on instantly.
“Where are you? Are you still in Michigan?”
“Yes.”
“What meeting place are you closest to?”
A week after we’d escaped Branch headquarters, Dad and I had come up with several meeting places around Michigan, and a few across the country, so that we could tell each other where to meet simply by using a code.
You could never be too sure about a secure line, or privacy, for that matter. The man wearing a business suit and bright-red tie hovering at the newspaper stand behind me could very well be a Branch employee.
I had to be careful. Always.
“I’m closest to location four.”
Four was code for Millerton, Michigan, just outside Grand Rapids, and Dad and I had agreed to meet at Millerton Park, in the center of town, if location four was ever needed.
I’d never been there before, but I’d consulted the Michigan map when Dad and I came up with the locations. I knew how to get to the park easily enough.
“I’m three and a half hours away,” Dad said. “I’ll meet you there soon.”
I sucked in a breath. “Thanks.”
“Just be careful till I get there. Okay?”
“I will.”
“And Anna?” he asked. “Are the boys with you?”
I squeezed my eyes shut again and wrapped the phone’s cord around my finger. “No. I’m by myself.”
Dad sighed, like he’d expected that answer. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“Hurry, please.”
“I will.”
I bought a coffee and a cake doughnut from the gas station and then sat in the parking lot, stuffing my face.
Since I didn’t want to arrive at location four too soon, I waited around the gas station for at least an hour, then navigated back to the freeway. I arrived at Millerton Park just before nine.
The park was situated in the middle of town and covered a total of five acres. There were at least six different parking lots, so Dad and I had agreed to meet on a park bench near the center, where the fountain was.
I plopped down on a bench, zipping up my coat against the cold. Behind me, the fountain was dry, the base cluttered with trash and dead leaves. The playground just over the next hill was empty.
It seemed to take my dad forever to show, and when he finally did, we stood awkwardly, each waiting for the other to do something. Dad and I weren’t the hugging type.
“It’s good to see you,” he said, stuffing his hands in his coat pockets.
“You, too.”
I took a second to look Dad over. He seemed like he’d aged a lot in the weeks since I’d last seen him. There were new wrinkles bursting from the corners of his eyes and new laugh lines hugging his mouth.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I’m feeling all right. And you? You look skinnier. Are you eating well?”
“Yes. I’ve been running regularly with the boys.”
Neither of us acknowledged the reason behind my sudden interest in endurance and physical training. After all, Dad was partially responsible for this new way of life. He’d been a Branch employee for a long time. And he’d headed the program that’d altered the boys and me.
But I didn’t blame him. Not really. He’d been doing what he’d thought was right at the time. And he’d helped us when it counted.
He still felt guilty, though. Which was why I mentioned the Branch as little as possible.
“Come on,” Dad said, nodding toward the parking lot behind him. “Let’s get out of the cold.”
I’d planned on ditching Nick’s stolen car anyway, so I’d brought my things. Dad led me to a pickup truck. It was indigo, with a few patches of rust and a white pinstripe along both sides.
I climbed in and set my stuff on the floorboard. Dad slid in next to me and started up the truck with a bit of coaxing.
He gave me a smile. “The Branch would never suspect I’d drive an eighty-one Chevy. It’s a good cover car.”
“I like it.”
“You don’t have to lie. It smells like stale cigarettes and runs like crap. But it gets the job done.”
“That’s all that matters.”
Dad drove south of town, sticking to back roads. The snow had let up some, but driving conditions weren’t the best, and the main streets were a slushy mess.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?” Dad finally asked. “Last I heard, I was supposed to be looking into a new brainwashing technique at Sam’s request. Now you’re alone, and you need my help. Sam wasn’t brainwashed, was he?”
“No, at least not that we know.”
Dad visibly relaxed. “Well, that’s good. I don’t know that we’d be strong enough to go up against Sam.”
We weren’t.
“So, tell me,” Dad said.
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“From the beginning is usually best.”
I recounted everything we’d learned. Dad listened while he chewed on a straw. “You suspect Sam killed your parents?” he asked a few minutes later. “That’s quite the theory.”
“It’s not a theory. It was in Sam’s files. And my uncle was there, too.”
Dad frowned. “Your uncle?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I don’t know.” Dad shrugged. “I was told you had no surviving family. I suppose I shouldn’t have believed anything Connor told me, but I didn’t know you had an uncle out there. If I had…”
“It’s all right, Dad. Really.”
“Yes, well.” He let out a sigh. “Anyway.” He cleared his throat. “So you think the boys could possibly have been programmed with some kind of new brainwashing technique.”
“Yes. Sam told you about the others we found in Delta lab, right?”
“He did.”
“We think maybe the Branch programmed Cas and Sam while they were at Branch headquarters a few months ago.”
“But”—Dad lifted a finger—“if they’d been brainwashed then, why not activate them during the confrontation at headquarters? Connor could have saved himself a lot of trouble and spared his life if he had. Seems like a waste.”
I frowned. “Yeah, good point.”
“And to be honest, Anna, I wouldn’t believe everything I read in those files. Even if Trev’s actions were well-intentioned, that doesn’t mean the information is true.”
“But how could they have known to plant false information at the time Trev copied the files?”
Dad thought about that one. “I don’t know. Has the flash drive been in your possession ever since then? Has it ever been out of your sight?”
“You mean, for someone to add that file?” I asked. Dad nodded. “I’m pretty sure it’s been with Sam since we left our last rental house.”
“No one has had access to it?”
“Not that I know… well, wait… Greg. Or either of the other two boys from Delta.”
“There you have it,” Dad said as he slowed for a traffic light.
A small feeling of hope spread through me.
Dad clicked on his blinker. The idling of the truck engine was now the only sound between us.
Something else wasn’t right; I just didn’t know what it was. I could see the pieces in my head, but I couldn’t put them together. I didn’t think Greg or the others had had the time to alter the flash drive. And even if they had, they would have been fully conscious at the time.
Greg and the others had seemed grateful for being rescued. And when they were activated, they were completely blank with one sole mission: to take Sam, Nick, and Cas out. Greg had punched Dani, but once she was out of the way, they’d ignored her and gone after the boys.
