“I’m getting the very strong feeling that none of this has happened by chance,” William said. “You didn’t just find me because of some sort of business deal, did you?”
“I fully intended to tell you. But you know, the explosions and kidnappings got in the way.”
“Partly by chance, partly by design is the truth, I’m afraid,” Steven said. “The Corcillium has been moving chess pieces for some time now. I should know, I was one of those pieces. Obviously there was a reason they kept tabs on Dr. Martin’s family. Before Rex Martin died, he let the Corcillium know he’d told his son all about his research, hoping in vain that he would continue his work. No one could have guessed his great-grandson would be the one to pick up the mantle.”
“It caused a pretty big rift in my family,” Quincy said. “I obviously never met my great-grandfather Rex. He was dead long before even my dad was born. My dad grew up listening to his father grumble about his crazy father Rex, who told stories about people disappearing and reappearing into lightning. In fact, my grandfather took all of Rex’s notes that were stored in boxes and tossed them, but my dad secretly dug them out of the trash. And Dad really got into it, carefully keeping them in fact. Boy, did it piss off my grandfather when he found out. Said it was a bunch of crap that ruined Rex’s life. It was the beginning of the end for my dad and his father. As a final middle finger to his father, my dad made sure my first name was Rex. Being antagonistic is a family trait.”
“So those letters from your great-grandfather… you’ve read them before?” William asked.
“No. I just have his private scientific notes. In them, he made several references to the fact that he was hesitant to keep anything about his actual discoveries at his home, for fear that it could be discovered and his family would be in danger. You can imagine my fascination in reading that. And I only found out about his technical notations when your story came out, Will. I was just a kid too. Maybe ten years old. I clearly remember talking to my dad about the kid from Tennessee who was abducted by aliens, and my dad said, ‘You should read what your great-grandfather believed.’ I devoured it. And by the time I made my first million, I knew how I’d be spending my money. My business goal was to get your name on the dotted line for the new campaign, but honestly, this is what I really wanted to know: If my great-grandpa Rex was right.”
William felt the uncomfortable prickling of doubt. “Campaign?”
Quincy shifted his feet. “Yeah, about that. My company pioneered the app that projects hologram images from phones. We are about to launch a new version that allows you to project your image to whoever you’re talking to. I regret the name, now. Beam Me Up.”
William winced. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Bad taste. I get it. But the idea all along was to tell you about my great-grandpa Rex and his studies. I had no idea the connection to your great-grandparents and your grandmother. When I got that tip that you were living in Arkansas in a trailer, I figured you could use the money and might be a spokesman for it. Don’t punch me, I bruise easily.”
William then turned to Steven. “He received a tip?”
Steven held up his hands. “Full transparency: We knew we would be sending our people to try and keep you safe and bring you here. But we wanted a dual approach. If Rudd had failed, and you’d gone safely with Mr. Martin, then our plan was to reach out to explain that we needed to meet with you both.”
William shook his head. “I am getting the very distinct feeling that we really all are just pawns for your organization.”
Steven’s expression was grim. “We suspected when you surfaced, the SSA would not be far behind. Knowing what is happening here and around the world, we feared—and rightly so—that people were being abducted and returned again. But truly, all your great-grandmother wanted was to keep you safe. And so did I.”
“And you can’t blame him,” Quincy said. “If you were my grandson, I’d want you safe too.”
William flinched. “Excuse me?”
Quincy’s eyebrows raised, turning to Steven, who had closed his eyes in obvious frustration.
“Well, this is uncomfortable,” Quincy muttered.
The fan above the bed whirled slowly. William knew he should sleep, even if the nightmares were waiting. For once, the panic attacks were dormant, replaced by burgeoning anger.
And it was a petty anger, too. After everything that had happened, everything he’d learned, it was the smallest, most unimportant revelation.
He turned over, looking out the window of the upper bedroom of the house. After he had abruptly walked away from the fountain, he’d heard Steven call out that he would stay the night if William wanted to talk. He hadn’t responded.
The two burly guards had directed him to his room. He’d paced for a good thirty minutes.
Everything. Every whisper, every rumor, every suggestion that surrounded him his entire life was true.
“I can barely hear you above the violins,” he could imagine Roxy saying from the plush chair in the corner of the room.
I think I’m due a bit of rumination, Roxy.
“Really? Shall I introduce you to your grandmother? Who risked the exposure of her darkest secrets to find you? She’s the only one who gets to sit around and brood. And she vacuums instead.”
She should have told me the truth. I deserved to know.
“That’s crap, William. She and your parents and your Grandpa Tom gave you a normal life. Now that you’re in the middle of this mess, take a minute and be glad you lived in the bubble. Your grandmother risked everything to stabilize her family. And she did.”
William rolled over to his other side so he couldn’t see the chair.
I wonder how many other twentysomethings project their grandmother’s best friend as their voice of reason.
The sad part was, he wasn’t that surprised about Steven. Of course he’d heard the rumors. Once, a girl he dated had called him over to her laptop to show him a picture of Dr. Steven Richards from when he was arrested. William had gotten angry, asking what she’d been looking up. She’d just casually leaned back, pointing to the photo. “You know, you look a lot like him.”
The fact of the matter was, of all the rumors, William cared the least about the one concerning his grandmother’s affair, because it just didn’t seem at all possible. His grandparents were in love. It was obvious by the way that Grandpa Tom doted on Nanna. He’d heard his mother say several times that it wasn’t always that way, that it was practically a new development in their relationship.
Plus, it was miniscule. Grandpa Tom would always be his grandfather. Nothing would ever change that. It was simply just a final kick in the pants on a day that left his head spinning—
He heard the door handle turn quickly, and he sat up. Lily slipped through, wearing a nightgown, the whites of her eyes shining.
“Lily—”
She scurried past him to the windows. She was practically shaking.
“What is it?” he asked, sliding out.
“They’re here,” she said, pointing.
William looked through the glass. The moon was full, so the entire backyard was awash in pale light. He saw nothing but the fountain and the scattered gardens. Then, forms dressed in the color of night began to emerge from the trees and move towards the house.
TEN
By the time William shoved his feet into his shoes and grabbed Lily’s hand, Steven was at the door, still dressed in his clothes from before.