Chapter 7

Now that Veni had connected with Reid, all she could do was wait in anticipation, hoping somebody would get her and her mother out of this mess. Veni had no way to let her mother know that things were looking up. Veni was also even more confused about the unidentified voice she had heard earlier. Whether it was helpful or a trick, she didn’t know, but she was wary.

She would talk to Reid, but this other man? No way. It crossed her mind briefly that maybe Reid himself had been a trick of her mind or even a setup by the government. It wasn’t beyond them to have dragged through her history and found Reid in there. When Reid spoke to her and mentioned several things about her not wanting to pursue this field, that had convinced her more than anything that he was legit because he’d been gung-ho about this, yet not sure where to go and how to go about doing it, yet open to the idea, whereas she had been the polar opposite.

She didn’t want anything to do with it, not seeing any real purpose, and she had been honest when she had admitted that it scared her. The thought of a boogeyman in the night coming at her from a direction she couldn’t even see wasn’t something she wanted to consider. Whereas Reid had been all over the idea that, at least this way, they would see it coming. She didn’t see his point of view back then.

Since they hadn’t had a whole lot of connection other than that, they had drifted apart, or maybe that was more about her, as she had just slammed the door on him. She’d been good at that back then. All about denial, all about her way or the highway, though that hadn’t gone that well for her either. Only when she hooked up with her mom to help her out with her research did Veni realize the potential for a larger purpose with her gift. It had been the first time she’d had any inkling of the import of what she could do and what it could be applied to.

When she’d realized that she could transmit messages to cells, it had quickly all become something beyond her comprehension. Even her mother had stared at her for a long time, wanting to test her, to open up her brain, and to figure out what made her tick. It had taken a lot to convince even her own mother that this was something that had to be done gently and carefully. Otherwise it would likely harm Veni.

She knew her mom would never hurt her on purpose, but Veni hadn’t been the most cooperative in terms of assisting her mom either. Veni felt bad about that now too. All she seemed to be doing was feeling guilty, and that wasn’t productive. She wanted to bang her head against the wall, like some SOS signal, hoping to get somebody in here to free her and her mom. Yet all she could do was sit in silence and wait.

When the door opened a little while later, she stared with dull eyes at the guard, the one missing a tooth.

Her jailer frowned at her. “You don’t look too good.”

She didn’t say anything, just turned her gaze to the wall. Better that they thought she was getting sick or depressed at the very least, and she didn’t even have to put on an act for that. The lack of daylight, the lack of any decent food for days now, all took its toll. She had always been a very active person, and this captivity wasn’t her usual state, yet they wouldn’t care. They wouldn’t care about anything, unless it affected her ability to do what they wanted her to do.

“Somebody is here to see you,” he announced.

She shifted her gaze back to the door and his face. “My mother?”

“No, not your mother. Somebody else.”

And with that, her jailer—the one playing games with her, talking about cooperation, yeah, right—stepped into her room. She had absolutely no interest in seeing him again. She needed to come up with a name for them, just to separate them out. The normal guard, the one who fed her, who had led her mother in, she would call Toothless because he was missing a big front tooth. But this guy? Well, she didn’t think he was the boss, but he definitely had that persona, so the Boss he was. She waited for him to say something.

“Your mother is willing to cooperate,” he began, “to come back to the job that she had and to continue working in her field. We want you to come back with her.”

She stared at him. “Why would she do that?”

“That’s easy,” he replied, “because we assured her that we would let you live.”

She winced. “Yeah, that’s pretty-well guaranteed to get any mother’s cooperation, isn’t it?”

He laughed. “We’re not above using whatever force we need to make this happen. We really don’t want you to suffer. You don’t look like you’re doing all that well.”

“No fresh air, no daylight, no decent food?” She shrugged. “What did you expect?”

He frowned at her. “The food’s not that bad.”

“I wouldn’t know because I haven’t gotten very much of it,” she noted, looking at him in surprise. “A couple sandwiches over a few days, and that’s it.” She watched anger build on his face and noted that he hadn’t known. “Maybe your jailer is pocketing the money that you’re giving him, keeping it for himself. I mean, after all, I’m just a prisoner, right? Why should I get any special treatment, like decent food to keep me alive and my brain functioning?” she asked.

He disappeared quickly after that, and she heard yelling but couldn’t hear what was said, although she had a pretty good idea what had set it off.

About an hour later, her door opened again. Toothless came in, glaring at her. “Complaining about the food, are you?” he snarled. “Don’t worry. I’ll remember that.”

“I didn’t complain about anything. He asked me what I had to eat, and I told him the plain and simple truth.”

He looked at her, uncertain, but slammed the tray down on the table and quickly disappeared.

She got up slowly and walked over, surprised to see more food than normal and of slightly better quality. She would take it because, right now, she needed everything she could to replenish her energy to get out of here.

A hint of dark suspicion arose in the back of her mind, which she didn’t dare put any thought into. Still, when she was calmer, when she was ready, when she had a chance to consider who was behind all this, Veni would have to take a closer look at that suspicion. If she ended up wrong, that was perfect, but if she were right?… Well, it would break her heart.

*

“What is itwe’re thinking is happening here?” Terk asked Reid on the phone.

His cell was on Speaker, and Reid and Anders sat in their rental vehicle. “Somebody wrote help on a napkin, so whether that was just a joke from somebody else, I don’t know,” Reid related. “We dropped everything off at the local lab, as per your instructions.” He shook his head and added, “Now we’re just sitting here, waiting, trying to formulate a plan for where to go from here. Did you get any research back on the company?”

“Yes, I have it for you. They’ve been running supplies for the Russian government for quite a few years now,” he said.

Reid replied, “So anybody who’s worked there probably has a good relationship with them.”

Terk agreed. “That makes sense. In order to keep a business like this, you want to keep your suppliers happy. Now, whether that relationship was with the mother or the government itself, I don’t know. We’re still checking on that.”

Reid asked, “Veni’s father also worked for the government, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did, although he’s in a very different location, and apparently they’re separated.”

“Interesting,” he murmured.

“Why?” Terk asked.

“Just… I wondered if he could be involved in some way.”

“It’s possible. I mean, the two of them are separated. I don’t know anything about those circumstances because we don’t have any of the related personal details.”

“But we do have this company address, so that’s where we will go next,” Anders stated, as he fired up the car, “because we’re not getting very far just parked here, like sitting ducks.”

“The DNA will come back fairly quickly. If it is Veni and her mom, then we’re right on track,” Terk noted.

“Honestly I believe we’re on track just because of Langdon’s involvement,” Reid admitted. “Does he want to fire up that instinct of his again and give us some directions as to where to find her? If she’s here, the best thing would be that we locate her and fast.”

“Right,” Terk admitted. “I’m also trying to figure out who else may have telecommunicated with her.”

“Yeah, that’s another concern,” Reid agreed, “but not the most prevalent one at the moment. We need to find her and get her out of there, while we still can.”

“Have you talked to her since?”

“No, but I was wondering about it,” he shared, casting a glance at Anders. “Anders is afraid that, if I do, whoever this other voice belongs to will track us backward.”

“Hmm.” Terk pondered that. “I hate to say it, but it’s quite possible, and Anders is looking out for you—and all of us really. So, he may not be wrong.”

“No, he might not be wrong, but that doesn’t mean I have any other option.”

“Try it again. Do you know how to find out if you have a tracker?”

“No, I sure don’t,” he said. “I do what I do, but I don’t have any training in any of the rest of it.”

“If you survive this,” Terk replied, with a note of humor, “we can do something about that. Yet, for the moment, we’re kind of stuck with whatever we have to work with.”

“So basically, not a whole lot,” he muttered.

“Try to contact her again and ask if she left the napkins in that vehicle. We should get the DNA back very quickly. Get to the offices of that company, and let’s see if she could be held there. When you’re there, text me, and I’ll see if I can get Langdon to tap in. He’s been trying. Don’t get me wrong, but it’s not always something we can switch on all the time.”

“That’s the thing I’ve never quite understood,” Anders added. “The information, when we get it, is great, but it’s not something we can count on getting.”

“It never is,” Terk agreed. “But, as you said, when we can get it, it’s golden, and we need some of that right now.” And, with that, he signed off.

Anders punched in the address they’d been given. “Okay, let’s head to that medical supply company.”

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Reid shared.

“Will you contact her?” Anders asked.

“I’ve been trying for the last few minutes, but either she’s asleep or she’s unconscious again.”

At that, Anders nodded. “If she were my prisoner and if I thought she could do something like this, I would probably keep her unconscious too. Maybe for a lot longer than usual.”