Chapter Eight #2
“Me, too. I never got to say goodbye to him. They ran his car off the road and tried to act like they had nothing to do with it. They sent me an obnoxiously large bouquet of flowers. That’s how I knew they were behind it.
But you know what? It was the best thing they could’ve done.
Because it reminded me that I could play hardball, too. ”
There was a fire in her cousin’s eyes.
“The loss of my fiancé, Christian, ended up giving me the excuse I needed to take a few months off and get away from them.”
“Christian.” Bree couldn’t help but smile at the name.
Melissa’s smile was tinged with sadness. “Yes, he went by Chris, but his full name was Christian. I named the twins after the two people I love most in the world.”
Bree reached out and touched Melissa’s arm. It felt stiff and unnatural, but Melissa didn’t seem to mind.
“The Organization just let you go?”
“No, of course not. I kept working. But I did it from a remote location. They were tracking me to see if I would do something to hurt the company, not for anything as mundane as pregnancy. And that’s going to be their downfall—the fact that they’re so narrow and conceited in their focus.”
“They don’t understand the concept of family.” Neither did Bree, if she was honest.
Melissa nodded. “I used their information system against them. I didn’t have the babies in the hospital, and I made sure all social media and pictures from my phones created the narrative I wanted. One that gave no suggestion of their birth, just that I was grieving the death of my lover.”
“You outstrategized them.” Bree smiled and nodded. “Good for you.”
Melissa smiled. “I was never what you were. Never a prodigy. They tried to make me into you, but I was never good enough. You think like a computer, Bethany. I never did. My emotions got in my way.”
Bree knew her cousin meant the words as a compliment. But the knowledge that she was colder, harder, more machinelike tore at her, at a level she wasn’t really aware had existed before the babies came into her life.
She had feelings, too. They weren’t easy to process or express, but she had them.
“Once the Organization’s new system takes hold, it will be nearly impossible for you to hide,” Melissa said. “You’ve been so careful, but rumors are flying again that you’re still alive. You’re the ghost in their machine.”
Bree sighed. “I’ve been trying to poke at their system through a back door with the files you gave me. They shouldn’t have been able to tell it was me.”
“I’ve been covering for you as much as possible. Anything that looked like it was coming from Colorado, I rerouted, but I think they’re onto you, or me. I’m not sure which.”
Bree looked around at a phantom sound. She didn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean no one was there. “Do you think someone followed you here?”
Melissa nodded. “I’m sure they did, but I bought us enough time to meet. I’ve made it common practice to duck into churches—it’s part of the narrative I’ve set up to help deceive the Organization. So they won’t find it uncommon for a while.”
Bree shook her head in wonder. Melissa might not have had the natural programming and coding skills Bree possessed, but the woman was brilliant in her own right, evident by the way she’d fooled the Organization these last few months.
“But that’s why I wanted to meet,” Melissa continued. “You haven’t been able to make much progress with the files, have you?”
“Unfortunately, taking care of two infants and working full-time has been taking up a lot of my attention.”
Melissa grabbed Bree’s hand and squeezed it, tears in her eyes once again. “Thank you, for all you’re doing. I wish it was me up all night with them. But you have to stop digging into the files. The Organization is too suspicious.”
“I’m trying to be as secretive as I can. I don’t think I’ve left any footprints that could be traced back to Risk Peak.”
Melissa squeezed her hand again. “That’s part of the problem. You’re too good. They know someone is attempting access but aren’t sure who or where. There aren’t many people in the world who can breeze in and out undetected the way you can.”
Bree was about to protest when Melissa’s next words stopped her. “Michael Jeter came to see me last week.”
Bree’s entire body stiffened at the mention of the head of Communication for All. He had been the one who had recruited Bree when she was a child, and he had made her life a living hell when she’d refused to cooperate.
“He came to see you personally?” That was never good.
Melissa rolled her eyes. “The official reason he gave was to offer condolences about Chris’s death, even though it was a year later. He wanted to make sure I was doing all right, since he knew I didn’t have any family.”
“But you didn’t buy it?”
“Not even for a second. He was there to fish out whether I was in touch with you. And then, as a ‘gift’—” Melissa put the word in air quotes “—they were giving me one of the first completely upgraded computer systems. They took mine without a word. If I’d had anything on there...”
She didn’t finish, but she didn’t have to. They hadn’t given Melissa any warning or time to erase anything on her hard drive. If her computer had contained any trace of communication with Bree, they would’ve known about it.
Michael Jeter showing up himself just confirmed how suspicious they really were.
“There was nothing on there that could’ve led them to me and the kids?”
“Nothing. This is the only thing I use to communicate with your phone.” She held out a phone that looked similar to Bree’s—old with no camera.
“I tracked you using a public system outside the Organization. But once this new system goes live, they’ll find you, Bree. It will only be a matter of time.”
“Okay, I’ll work harder on the files you gave me.” She didn’t know how she would find the time and energy, but she would make it happen.
“No. That’s the opposite of what needs to happen. I’ll focus on the Organization files. You just keep off the grid and keep the kids safe.”
“But—”
Melissa’s phone buzzed in her hand.
“We’re out of time,” she said. “You need to get out right away. I’ll go out the front and draw them away. You go out the side.”
Bree grabbed Melissa’s hand. “Are you going to be able to decode the files before the summit? Especially with them watching you?”
“I have to. That’s all there is to it. Your job is to keep yourself and the babies safe. That’s the most important thing. Nobody knows about Risk Peak, so just stay there and stay out of it.”
Before Bree knew what was happening, Melissa pulled her in for a hug. Bree stiffened before forcing herself to relax into it. This was her cousin. They’d hugged each other as children. Melissa had been the only person who’d ever really befriended the stiff, difficult Bree.
“You’re doing a great job with the kids,” Melissa whispered in her ear. “Thank you.”
They pulled away from each other as a door slammed in the back.
“Mellie, be careful.”
“The twins are the only thing that matters. If something happens to me...”
Bree wasn’t going to offer useless platitudes. She nodded. “The twins are the only thing that matters,” she repeated. “I’ll make sure they’re safe, first and foremost.”
They squeezed each other’s hand, then Melissa’s phone buzzed again and she rushed toward the front door.
Bree kept to the shadows, moving faster when she heard a man’s voice talking on the phone in the hallway behind her, a priest saying something about communion for the next Mass.
She crouched behind a pew and waited for the voice to move past, relieved when he didn’t seem to slow at all near her.
She made her way to the side door she’d come in through.
She slid the door open quietly and stepped back into the alley. Glancing both ways, she turned and walked rapidly in the opposite direction from the way she’d come.
It looked like she was going to make it out of the city alive after all.
She was about to round the corner into the larger avenue when a hand reached out from the shadows, covered her mouth and yanked her hard against the wall.