Cristal - Novella Read online

  Chapter 20

  Safe Zone

  Zero: video chat in 15 min

  Onyx: see you then

  Joanna looked over at Jenna who was sitting on the couch, busy typing on her laptop. Although, she had agreed for her to move in temporarily, living with Jenna was driving her crazy.

  The sound of the chat tool notification alert interrupted her thoughts. She quickly read the message.

  “Was it Harry? What did he say?” Jenna asked raising one eyebrow.

  “Yeah, he wants to video chat soon,” Joanna said.

  “Awesome. Okay, I’m going to set up beside you, so he can’t see me.”

  Jenna stood up, grabbed her laptop, walked over and sat down on the chair beside her.

  “Great,” Joanna mumbled to herself. What did I get myself into? Not only do I have the boss interrogating me at work, I’ve got Jenna bossing me around at home.

  Every day at GN, senior management was breathing down her neck. Joanna knew that if she revealed Harry’s breach in security, she would only be revealing her own role. She wasn’t ready to be hauled into prison over this.

  Jenna turned to her, and asked, “Joanna, why don’t you introduce me to Harry?”

  “What?” Joanna couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you crazy? If he even suspects that I am talking to a non-Truth Seeker, he’s going to cut me loose. And where would that get you?”

  Jenna bit her lip, a sign that she was thinking up one of her crazy plans.

  “No way, Jenna. You just sit quietly right where you are. Or else, I’m going to call this whole thing off,” she snapped.

  Jenna sighed, and then said, “Okay, okay. Take a pill. I’ll sit over here and behave.”

  Joanna threw her a dirty look but knew that it was pointless. Jenna was so thick-skinned that nothing ever fazed her. She only worried about getting what she was after—no matter what it took.

  “You know, I don’t know if Kerim Ilgaz changed his name, because I can’t find much on him,” Jenna said, reaching for her glass and taking a sip.

  “Oh?” Joanna frowned.

  “He has absolutely no digital tattoo on the internet. No website, no social network. Not even an email account. I asked my contacts in Istanbul to find out more about him. All I could get was that he was in the military for four years. He has no family, no friends, nothing. As far as the database records show, before 2009, he was a ghost.”

  Joanna said, “Well, maybe he did change his name. If he was in the military, maybe he was a secret agent or something. That would explain why he doesn’t have a footprint online. For all we know, he’s still under cover.”

  “You know what, Joanna, I think you are onto something,” Jenna said, grinning like a kid who had just been handed an ice cream cone. “I’m going to see if my CIA contacts can find something on him.”

  “Seriously? You’ve got CIA contacts?”

  She gave her a wry smile.

  Jenna shrugged. “CIA agents are a dime a dozen these days with all the national security measures that President Roshenbaum brought in.”

  “Funny, I voted for Roshenbaum, thinking he’d protect our rights, but it looks like he’s worse than Sanders.”

  “Yeah, who would guess that General Sanders would be more liberal than Roshenbaum,” Jenna replied. “But hey, as long as you instill enough fear in people, they’ll all line up and give away their rights like candy.”

  The sound of the video chat alert interrupted their conversation. Joanna raised her finger to her lips, motioning to Jenna to keep quiet.

  Joanna clicked on Zero’s avatar and the video chat window opened, filling her screen. He was dressed in an ocean blue short-sleeved button shirt, which was opened at the neckline showing off his golden skin.

  Harry looks real good with a tan, she thought to herself. She also noticed that his eyes seemed to reflect the blue from his shirt.

  “Onyx, I don’t have much time. Do you have the data I asked you for yesterday?”

  “Hello to you too, Zero,” she replied.

  “Onyx, I need that data now.”

  She bit her tongue, trying hard not to glance over at Jenna who was drinking in Harry’s every word.

  “Sending it now,” she said in the most professional tone she could muster.

  Harry’s eyes looked down until the file was received on his end.

  “File received. Good job, Onyx,” he said.

  She smiled despite herself, her cheeks probably turning all shades of pink. Jenna was going to harass her later, she was sure of it.

  “Lionheart knows about the data that we retrieved from the restricted server. She tasked me to find proof that you and Dr. S. breached security.”

  He scowled, absorbing the news.“Stick with protocol. Divert the Lion away from us by using this data I’m sending now.”

  She waited until the file downloaded on her computer. “Confirming receipt.”

  “Also, if Shadow contacts you, flag it with me. Don’t reveal any intel to him. Until I have cleared him, consider him a hostile.”

  She could hear Jenna gasp. Joanna kicked her foot under the table.

  “Roger that,” Joanna replied.

  She knew not to ask questions, but she could feel Jenna growing anxious.

  “Zero, anything I need to know about Shadow?” she asked.

  Harry shook his head, but his face look pained.

  “Your next mission. Find out the correlation between these numbers…” he said, while typing in the text window.

  Zero: 11132013, 56609, 14350109, 57740910, 17300304

  “Where did you get these numbers from?” she asked, but then bit her tongue, realizing afterwards that she shouldn’t have asked.

  Harry’s eyebrows raised slightly. Preparing herself for the lecture, she was surprised when he smiled instead.

  “Yes, it would help put things in context if you knew what the source was. We have been gathering reports of people having dreams or visions since the earthquake. These are the numbers that many have reported seeing in their visions,” he said quietly.

  She smiled to herself. This was the first time Harry had shared crucial intel with her.

  “We will get onto this a.s.a.p.”

  Jenna kicked her under the table. Joanna glanced over to her and realized her mistake before whipping her eyes back to the screen.

  Luckily, Harry’s eyes were focused on his keyboard as he was typing.

  Zero: Evacuate to safe zone ASAP.

  Safe zone? In the Truth Seekers’ game, this meant that danger was afoot either from incoming fire or WMDs, or more commonly known as weapons of mass destruction. Harry had shown the team the Safe Zone during orientation training. It was located in a hidden underground bunker, a few blocks from the GN office. Gabriel had made a sarcastic comment saying, “Harry’s really taking the online game beyond Virtual Reality.”

  Onyx: What’s going on?

  Zero: Follow protocol. Will contact you in 10 hours.

  Harry logged off the video chat. She closed the lid of her laptop slowly.

  “So, what did he text you?” Jenna asked.

  Joanna heard what she said, but she couldn’t move a muscle.

  “Joanna, are you going to tell me or what?”

  When reality finally sunk in, she turned to her and said, “Pack your stuff. We have to get out of here.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Jenna laughed.

  Joanna grabbed both her shoulders and shook her hard. “Did you hear what I said? Get your crap, now!”

  Jenna’s eyes widened, her tanned skin turning visibly pale. “What’s going on, Joanna? You’re scaring me.”

  The confident Jenna Adams looked like she was going to wet her pants.

  Joanna said in a low, soft voice, “If you want to live, we have to leave now.”

  Chapter 21

  This Is Not Right

  THE TIMING WAS ALL WRONG. He couldn’t believe Cristal would run off with Kerim, someone she barely kn
ew. He wished he could have told her the truth. The truth about the tests that Dr. Saeed had been secretly performing on her while she was “working” at GN. She didn’t realize that the computer monitor she was using had a special sensor connected to the camera, which monitored her brain activity and breathing. Nor did she know that the mouse had tiny needles that pricked her finger and collected micro-samples of her blood.

  Harry slammed his fist on the table.

  “I told those guys not to go to the black hole locations with Cristal.”

  Not one of them understood how dangerous this would be. The rules were clear, just like in the Truth Seekers’ game; no one was allowed to question him about the missions.

  But this wasn’t the game anymore, and Harry didn’t know what to do. He had to figure out which location they were heading to. There were three black hole locations—one was in Eilat, the most southern part of Israel; one was in the West Bank near Bethlehem in the central part; and one closest to the GN office in Akko in the northern part.

  If only he could pick up the GPS tracking signal from Cristal’s cell phone. He had spent the last five minutes trying to search for it on the computer terminal in the GN’s IT office, with no luck. And where in the hell was Dr. Saeed? He walked out of the room and down the hallway to the medical lab. It was late in the evening and only staff with security clearance could work after hours. Fortunately, Harry happened to be one of them.

  Two Israeli security guards armed with rifles walked by him. He looked them straight in the eye and nodded his head. They looked down at his GN staff ID around his neck before walking past him.

  Harry began analyzing which location would be the most possible out of the three black hole locations Kerim would be headed to. He hoped that it was the one in Akko, the closest to the GN office. It made the most sense for them to go there, given that he had told Kerim and Rinaldo to stay away from that specific location. But if he were wrong, he would be going in the completely opposite direction of the other black hole locations, which meant losing precious time. He needed time to stop Cristal from reaching the black hole.

  He turned down the hallway to the medical labs until he reached the one that GN had assigned to Dr. Saeed. The room looked empty through the glass window in the door. He decided to go inside anyway and check.

  He swiped his keycard and opened the door. It was dark inside the room. It took a few minutes before his eyes could adjust to the darkness. No sign of Dr. Saeed. He was about to turn around and leave, concluding that he would have to go find Cristal and Kerim without him.

  He paused and listened. He swore he could hear muffled voices. He looked across the room and noticed light streaming from under the closet door on the far wall. Cautiously, he walked towards the light. The sound of two male voices in a deep conversation was becoming louder.

  When he reached the door, he noticed it was slightly ajar. He peeked into the crack and saw that the back of the closet was a fake wall with a door half hidden by boxes. He remembered going into the closet many times to get supplies, but he had never noticed the door before. Now it seemed that the hidden door was open, and the light was coming from behind it—a secret room?

  He pushed the door open enough so that he could slide into the closet. The voices were audible now. He recognized one as being Dr. Saeed’s.

  “You’re going to jeopardize everything. Don’t do this,” Dr. Saeed was saying.

  “All the experiments have proven our theories are correct. The girl is the key to unlocking the power that I need.”

  That male voice sounded familiar. Harry’s heart started pounding hard against his chest. His hands suddenly felt clammy. He took a step closer to see inside. He was surprised that behind the hidden door was a high-tech medical laboratory with expensive medical equipment, machines, and computers. His eyes panned to where Dr. Saeed was standing, close to an examining table, his back facing him.

  Harry saw the shape of the man Dr. Saeed was talking to. The color of his pants was tan, and the sleeve of his shirt, beige. Dr. Saeed moved slightly to the left, giving him a full view of the man he was speaking to. Harry sucked in his breath.

  “I don’t know what to say. You show up here and want everyone to believe that you just arrived today?” Dr. Saeed shook his head. “We buried you, for crying out loud.”

  Dear Reader,

  Find out what happens to Harry, Cristal, and Kerim by purchasing the full novel “Doubt” (book 1 of the Among Us Trilogy). If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to become a Truth Seeker and register at the official Among Us Trilogy website to enter Rafflecopter contests for free Amazon gift cards and more at http://www.amongus.ca.

  If you enjoyed the novella “Cristal – Seeking the Truth” (which contains parts 1 and 2 of “Doubt”), please take a few minutes to submit a review wherever you purchased this book. I really appreciate your support, and it will inspire me to continue writing. As an independent author, it is you, the reader, who help me bring my characters to life. Without you, my work is meaningless.

  I’ve included the next chapter of Part 3 of the full novel on the next few pages. For more information about my other books and film projects, visit my blog at http://www.anne-raevasquez.com or send me a tweet @write2film.

  Till our paths cross again,

  Anne-Rae Vasquez

  Truth Seekers and Geeks Unite!

  Sneak peek of the next chapter in Part Three of “Doubt”.

  Part Three

  If You Only Knew

  The dawn has come

  And the morning sun’s rays

  Streak the painted sky, warm crimson shades of orchard rose

  While the ocean tide caresses the damp dark beach

  And a silent tear slides down her cheek.

  AR Vasquez

  Chapter 22

  In The Flesh

  “SAEED, I’M TELLING YOU, it worked! I’m living proof.”

  Harry watched in shock as Aaron Doub danced around in a circle, shaking his arms like a mad man.

  This man is not my father. My father is dead. This stranger has my father’s voice, his face, and even his ridiculous comb-over that hides his bald spot. Aaron Doub looked exactly the same way he did the last time Harry saw him alive.

  Dr. Saeed said in a soft voice, “But you were declared dead at the hospital.”

  The hair on Harry’s arms stood on end. What is going on here?

  “Don’t say that word! You know I don’t like that word.”

  That was the kind of eccentric talk Harry knew and grew up with—the paranoid scientist. My father is alive. Somehow the shock didn’t register, as it should have. Aaron’s presence made a strange kind of sense in Harry’s mind.

  “Sorry, Aaron. I forgot,” Dr. Saeed said quietly. “My only guess is that something must have happened at the hospital. If someone took you from the hospital and then cremated another body, then that could explain how we were made to believe that you died.”

  “Saeed! Didn’t I tell you NOT to use that word?” He jumped up and down like an infuriated gorilla.

  “Would you like me to give you a sedative? It looks like the trip has made you quite anxious,” Dr. Saeed said, crossing his arms.

  “No! No sedative,” Aaron said, his anger suddenly dissipating. He slumped down on the examination bed, and whispered, in a breathy tone, “I don’t feel well.”

  “You’ve just travelled through time at superluminal speeds. The human body travelling at warp drive, theoretically speaking, could affect the atomic molecular structure of the person, agitating the body at a cellular level. You need to hydrate and rest. When you are rested, I will do some testing.”

  Dr. Saeed helped Aaron step down off the examination table and got him safely situated on a nearby bed. He reached for a folded sheet and covered Aaron’s body.

  “Here, drink this,” Dr. Saeed said, as he handed Aaron a plastic cup filled with water.

  “Straw, please?” Aaron asked, his eyes looking up at Dr. Saeed. He grasped
the sheet, pulled it up to his neck, and waited while Dr. Saeed put a straw into the cup.

  “Thank you, Saeed. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he said, grinning sheepishly.

  “Now, now, Aaron. Just relax. I need you to tell me everything you can remember before you arrived here,” Dr. Saeed said in a soothing tone.

  Harry could barely contain his desire to burst into the room and demand answers from Dr. Saeed and his father. Fortunately, the Truth Seeker in him knew enough to stay still. He had to watch and listen.

  What other information has Dr. Saeed withheld from me?

  Tasting the same bitter betrayal Cristal must have felt towards him, he knew this was karma—what goes around does come around.

  Dr. Saeed turned away for a moment, his back to Harry. When he turned around, he was holding a needle syringe. He gently pulled up Aaron’s sleeve, wiped his arm with a cotton swab, and injected what Harry assumed was a mild sedative.

  Aaron smiled as his body relaxed. “Ah, you always knew how to make me feel better, Saeed.”

  Dr. Saeed pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down. “Okay, are you ready to tell me everything?”

  Aaron closed his eyes in affirmation. Harry was baffled. He never remembered seeing his dad like this before—vulnerable and almost childlike.

  Harry looked at his watch. Time was ticking by. If he didn’t leave soon, Cristal would reach the black hole, and—the thought of what could happen made his gut wrench. Torn and emotionally sucker-punched, Harry was reluctant to leave. The truth he sought might have been a complete lie. Dr. Saeed and Aaron were both in on something, and now, Harry’s world was turned completely upside down. He knew that whatever secrets those two shared would definitely affect every Truth Seeker, not just himself.

  “Do you remember the dinner party at your house?” Dr. Saeed asked in a monotone voice, hypnotically soothing.

  Aaron mumbled to himself, his eyes still closed. “Ah, yes. I was telling everyone about our latest findings. About time travel.”