Confrontation (Implanted Book 3) Read online

  She shook her head. “No time for that. If Michael tries to look in your head and can’t—and that’d be ‘cause I’m in here—he’ll know something’s going on. You got to go to their place, wherever they are. Uncle knows the way. Once you’re there, you got to get Mama and you two gotta make Michael stop. Katie said to kill him, but you can’t cause he’ll throw you into his imaginary world and you’ll be powerless.”

  “I can find the way. Michael made that easy enough. And the twins know the way too.” He couldn’t believe this was happening. “How have you been monitoring me without Michael knowing?”

  “We got lucky, maybe. But he does have to sleep sometimes. And he has to tell all them other people what to do in their imaginary worlds, and have meetings, and all that stuff.”

  “He has to know about you. This can’t be safe. Cecily is with him. He had to have looked in her head, seen you. Know about you.”

  Suddenly, Emily’s form changed in a flash. Now, Jamie stood before two unicorns, the white one and a rainbow-colored one. “This is how you’ll see me from now on and don’t use my name. See, thing is, he ain’t never felt me before cause I never had the brainstem implant. So if he sees you talkin’ to a unicorn, he’ll never know who it was. That is if he can see this memory. I just had to show you me at first so you’d know me and believe me. And I had to look a little different cause of Mama’s memory of me. But you do know it’s me, right?”

  Michael may be an evil genius, but he couldn’t imitate that accent and attitude. “Yes.” He did believe her. He had to. It was his only hope at this point.

  “I know you ain’t got a tablet, but there’s a hurricane coming your way. That’s the storm you’re in. What Katie and Uncle Steven said to do is make sure you time getting to Michael, Mama and the others just as the storm’s at its worst.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Katie thinks it’ll knock out the pin implant system. The satellites, well, they won’t be able to transmit nothin’. Or something like that.”

  “What am I supposed to do? I have no weapons…I can’t take on twelve people.” His lips were set in a grim line.

  “Eleven,” she corrected him. “Mama hasn’t joined them. She’s still fighting, and she’ll fight with you.”

  “Have you talked to her? Like you’re talking to me now?”

  The white unicorn folded its legs under its body and settled into the grass. Emily’s unicorn’s head turned to one side and eyed him. “No, that’s too dangerous. Well, I might have dropped by in a dream when they were asleep. You know who. But I was this me. Unicorn me.

  “I’m here to tell you to go to the ranch, and when. You need to get there at seven in the morning, just after sunrise. That’s when the storm will be real bad. Uncle Steven said the ranch is a three-hour walk from where you are, but in the storm, it’ll probably take you longer. They said to leave now.”

  “But my kids…they went into a trance. I can’t wake them.”

  The unicorn’s mouth frowned. “You have to find a way. I know you can do it. You’re gonna get Mama and we’ll all be safe. I just know it. Including Mandy and Junior.”

  He resisted the urge to stroke her mane. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  “I have to go now. It’s been too long as it is. Good luck.”

  Everything faded back to the dark, shaking treehouse. Thunder pounded the air and lightning showed through the cracks in the boards over the windows. He blinked his eyes several times and tried to clear his mind. He had people on his side. But what if Michael looked into Jamie’s mind and could see that memory before the three of them made it to the ranch? He’d know the plan.

  Still, Steven, Katie, and Emily had to get the information about the hurricane to Jamie somehow. It was a risk. He had to figure out a way to block Michael.

  The twins.

  He looked at each of them. They seemed to be in deep slumber. Nobody could sleep through this storm. He tried waking them by shaking their shoulders and calling their names, but they kept sleeping.

  They had to move, get on the path to the ranch, but he needed them to show him the way.

  He pried Mandy’s eyelids open. “Mandy, it’s Daddy. Wake up, sweetie, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” Her eyeballs stayed rolled up in her head.

  Just as he let her eyelids fall closed, the hardest gust of wind yet hit the treehouse and Jamie heard a terrible splitting sound below him. The tree they were in swayed to the south, and then all at once, the tree, treehouse, and the three people inside fell fifteen feet in seemingly slow-motion to the ground below.

  The impact was terrible. It knocked Jamie unconscious when his head slammed into the wall.

  Chapter 4

  When he came to, the children had their heads tucked under each armpit. All three of them were soaking wet, and the rain pounded them. He squeezed them to him and yelled over the howling wind, “Are you okay?”

  They jumped up and looked at him. “We thought you were dead!” Mandy squealed while Junior’s eyes filled with tears.

  He looked up. The treehouse had been demolished around them. “Do all your body parts move, kids?”

  “Yes,” they said together.

  “Mine do too.” He rolled his shoulders.

  “You have blood on your face,” Junior said. “I thought for sure you were dead, and I was just so sure…”

  Jamie wiped rain water out of his aching eyes. “Nope, alive and well. A bit of a headache.” He reached up to his stinging temple and then looked at his fingers. Blood washed away in the rain. “We have to get going. You two remember the way to Michael’s ranch?”

  They nodded, still looking unnerved.

  “Don’t be afraid. I’m here and I won’t let anything happen to you.” He hoped they believed him, but they said nothing and simply stared into his eyes as though waiting for him to say magic words that would make all the problems they faced disappear.

  He stood up and helped them to their feet. “We need to be there by sunrise. We have to walk through the storm.”

  “It’s a bad, bad storm,” said Mandy, her eyes wide and frightened. “I’ve never walked in a bad, bad storm. I don’t think we can make it to the ranch by sunrise. Trees will be falling, the wind will slow us down. The rain and darkness of night will turn us around and around…”

  Junior put his hand on his sister’s arm. “No, Daddy says we have to, so we’re going to. We’ll make it, but all three of us have to stick together and be strong for each other.”

  Mandy nodded, looking down.

  “Come on,” Jamie said. “Lead the way. Let’s hold hands so we don’t get separated. It’s hard to see. Speaking of that, how can you know the way in this pitch blackness?”

  “We always know how to get back to Uncle Michael,” said Junior.

  “How?”

  “We just do,” he replied, shrugging.

  Through the swirling wind and rain and into the darkness of the forest they went, ever so slowly. They heard more trees snapping all around them, and Jamie hoped they’d be lucky enough not to find themselves under one when it crashed to the ground.

  There seemed to be no time as they walked, and the wind and thunder were so loud, they couldn’t even shout to hear each other. Junior led the way, arm trailing back to Mandy, who reached back to Jamie’s hand. Single-file. In flashes of lightning, Jamie could see them, but only then. Mandy’s grip was wet with both rainwater and sweat.

  How long had they been out here? Where were they going? Junior steadfastly tromped ahead, but stopped each time the thunder boomed. And then he’d start walking again.

  They climbed over fallen branches and trees, Jamie scuffing a knee at one point so badly it bled, but he didn’t say anything about it to the twins.

  It felt like days had passed this way until Junior stopped and said, “There’s the church,” as light slightly filled the sky. Through low, swirling clouds, Jamie made out a brick building with a cross set high on top. “The ranch is close,” cont
inued Junior. “We may make it in time. Sunrise, like you said. But I think we should stick to the main roads where there aren’t any trees.”

  Junior looked around. “He’ll see us coming. We have to find another way.”

  His children turned and looked at him, their wet curls whipping around their heads in the strong winds. “Why don’t you want him to know we’re coming now? He’ll figure it out,” said Junior. “Even with back roads.”

  “Look,” Jamie said softly. Maybe it was about time to tell some truths about McElroy the kids might not like to hear, but it was a desperate time. “He can’t. Do you trust me?”

  They looked at each other for a moment and then back at him. “I trust you,” Mandy yelled over a crack of thunder. Rainwater drenched her hunched shoulders.

  “Me too,” Junior agreed. “But did you ever think you may need to trust us?”

  Mandy nodded, looking solemn and much older than her years.

  Jamie put his hand over his face, rubbing it slowly. His instinct—hell, it might even be his parental one—told him to make the kids obey so he could keep them safe. But the smarter part of him, the one that had been screwed over, knew these two, indeed, could walk him right through the front door…and maybe that was the right thing to do.

  He dropped his hand and shifted his eyes back and forth between them. There was love; there was blood. He knew who to trust.

  “Take me there.”

  Chapter 5

  The ranch was about the size of the way station in Apache Junction from what felt like five hundred eons ago. It was made of cedar, and had a sloping, shingled roof. The windows were boarded shut from the outside. Jamie realized they knew about the hurricane. But did they know there was a potential weakness because of it, as Emily said Katie had figured? Would they be prepared for that? And what was it?

  Junior pointed at the front doors. “He's going to open them now.”

  Jamie got chills as the double red doors opened outward and a badly scarred man eyed them. What had happened to this guy? His face was covered in white, angry and vicious marks, and a mop of badly cut auburn hair fell over a bright green eye. He limped forward as though someone had just a moment ago kicked him hard in the kneecap.

  The man’s hair instantly got soaked, and the wind blew it off the rest of his face. Something about those eyes, Jamie thought. Something so familiar…but what? There was fear in his green eyes. And something else. Hatred? No, it was regret.

  Thunder pounded the air. The man said, “Come on, it's about time. We've been waiting all night for you.” His voice sounded tired.

  Mandy turned her face up to Jamie. “That’s John.” She looked at John. “This is Daddy.”

  “We've met.” Jamie caught on that the man’s voice didn't sound tired, it was more like he found it difficult to talk.

  “We have?” Jamie asked. He had no clue.

  “Yes. Come in, please. The worst of the hurricane is on us for the next hour. It's good you got here…” He took a deep breath so he could finish, struggling to get the air for his words. “Before then. Please.” He gestured for them to enter, and they did. The odd, deformed man followed, his wet sandals slapping against the hardwood floor.

  Jamie was amazed at how big the place was from the inside. They stood just inside the door, with everything lit by electric lanterns against the far walls. The windows were boarded and Jamie's eyes adjusted slowly. He made out southwestern décor everywhere. Figures stood shadowy, all directing gazes from faces hidden in the eerie lighting.

  Who were they? Where was Cecily?

  And that’s the first thing that came out of his mouth. “Where's Cecily?”

  One of the shadows moved toward him and he smelled her, knowing instantly. “Oh thank God,” he said as he grasped her upper arms. “Are you alright? Has anyone hurt you?”

  Cecily stared hard at him. “No, of course not. Only you. You're hurting me.” She twisted in his grasp and he jumped back, letting go.

  “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—”

  She rubbed her shoulders and took a step back. “Just do what they say. It's much easier and it kind of makes sense.”

  Mandy rushed to Cecily and took both her hands. “Auntie Cecily, are you okay? Did you have a convulsion?”

  A deadpan voice in the darkest corner of the ranch hall said, “I've never taught you the word, ‘convulsion’.”

  Cecily’s dark shape spun on McElroy. “Shut-up, Michael, and just do your thing. Your big nirvana.”

  “I think,” Junior whispered to Mandy, who was wringing her hands together, “she was being sarcastic again.”

  Jamie could see her eyes flashing in a lantern now. Big, deep pools of some inscrutable emotion. His head spun with confusion. “Just tell me you're alright.”

  “According to the mad genius hiding in his armchair, in about five minutes we’ll be okay. Better than okay.”

  “It's sarcasm again,” Junior whispered, but this time to Jamie.

  McElroy’s form rose from sitting in the darkness and he moved toward Jamie and the kids. Light hit him. He looked older, eyes sunken in…tired, but there were pinpoints of light in his black eyes. Madness glinted up at Jamie. Madness and something more. Excitement.

  “First, Jamie, everyone here but you knows what we are about to do. There are six beings in this room you need to meet first. I'll be your guide. Think of it that way.”

  Jamie counted fast. Junior, Mandy, Cecily, that weird woman Becca, McElroy himself…and the deformed man. And of course, Jamie.

  There were six shadow strangers in the room who had looked into his head when he didn't know. They knew his most private of privates. Jamie had no doubt McElroy would “allow” them to see those things.

  It hit Jamie hard and unexpectedly. McElroy absolutely hated Jamie, and he was certain that had to do with Amanda. He sucked in his breath like he'd been hit by the lightning that just crashed and flashed outside.

  He’d thought the man was fixated on him and his family as part of the mystery of it all, but truthfully, McElroy couldn't stand being in the same breathing space as Jamie. The feeling was mutual.

  McElroy gave Jamie a curious look, pacing and staring at the dark wood floor. “You really don't know much about me,” he continued. “I've had a long life, and I've done a lot with it. I've traveled the earth and space, and I've traversed the minds of many. The souls of a few. I won't go through the trouble of introducing you to the other six just now. No, not now.” He stopped, facing sideways from Jamie, and chuckled.

  “You're such an asshole,” Cecily said quietly to McElroy.

  He turned to Jamie. Mandy and Junior chose that moment to slip a hand in each of his. Jamie didn't have time to wonder why. It felt…natural.

  “Air needs to be cleared before we begin our psychic journey as the first thirteen humans to connect our entire beings into one great melding of souls and knowledge. Please, if inclined, sit. The storm is raging. The weather is supposed to never be predictable.”

  Becca, the cripple, and the other faceless ones gathered by the wall furthest from the door, as per McElroy’s instruction.

  They sat in a semicircle, watching and listening. It was the deepest part of the house, and if living in Virginia all those wonderful years ago with his family taught him anything, McElroy explained, then it was to be deep in a house during a Class 5.

  God, Jamie wanted to punch him. His hand fisted around Junior’s hand and the boy said, “Ow!” He looked up at Jamie in confusion.

  Why not? Why not just punch his sad, sagging, mad-as-a-dog face? He took a step…

  …and then blackness took him.

  McElroy stood in the nothingness of his void. Floating? Just kind of being? He was young, maybe twenty. His dark eyes looked like Cecily’s, but not in shape. Just color and fire. Brilliance and luster, on the verge of tears.

  Jamie realized she did always look just about to cry a small tear, but never put her guard down enough to do it. It made her beautiful. />
  McElroy knew that.

  “Did I ever tell you I was on the Space Station Enterprise when I was eighteen?” McElroy’s voice was conversational. Soothing. “I was and still am exceptional at being smarter than other people. But look at me. Eighteen, deep cover military operative before the implants were mandatory, hardly known of, in fact. And collecting all knowledge of how implants work at the minute level of the parts making wheels turn way out in outer space. I knew everything. Try moving.”

  Jamie held out his right hand, palm up. He could see himself in McElroy's void now. The darkness lightened. The two of them stood on the bridge of a Space Station. There were no other people, just the two of them. Jamie looked down over the rest of his body. He wore a blue mark ranger uniform, as did McElroy.

  Blue mark rangers were only used in the 2020s. Military…Jamie tried to remember. They had to do with being laser experts in the space programs and with satellites, preparing Earth for implants. But something more…

  They had the first implants ever.

  “How fucking old are you?” Jamie asked, trying not to snarl.

  “I know more about the history you taught than you'll ever dream of knowing for yourself if you spent three lifetimes studying it. What I'm telling you is that you can.”

  “Why did you kill her?!” He couldn't control his rage any longer. His yell was guttural, fury and pain laced with pointed blame.

  “I had to examine her.” McElroy said it as casually as if he’d said he had to take a piss. “I had to find out why she wasn't influenced by me. I'm an honest man. Anyone will tell you that. I had one goal in mind when I was that age, and it was figuring out the pineal implant system to its best advantage. Amanda wasn't only implanted with our new brand, the one where XChange credits worked with her thumb scanner, but she and I had the first of the pineal implants. And then she went mad, lost sight of what mattered.”

  “And what the fuck is that?”

  “Using the pineal system with my own designed brain stem implants, of course. To lose all power struggles in the world. Don't you see?” McElroy spoke to Jamie as if he was explaining basic math.