The Unseen Trilogy (26 page)

I didn’t say goodbye to David, which felt odd, despite our circumstances. He was my father, and it would be several days before I saw him again. Seemed like there should’ve been some kind of fare well.

“I should’ve said goodbye to David.”

“There wasn’t really time.” She was so matter of fact about it—like it didn’t make a difference that I hadn’t said a kind word to my father before I left on a potentially dangerous mission. Okay, that was dramatic, but still, it was true.

The airport was only about twenty minutes from the facility, and we were still tight on time, so my concerns about David were whisked away by the bustle of the airport.

“David could’ve asked us to meet him at seven,” I grumbled. “It would have given us more time.” I was still stewing about my rushed goodbye with Owen, not to mention my nonexistent goodbye with David as Tracy kept a brisk pace toward the security line.

Rather than acknowledge my statement or respond in any way, she kept her eyes on the target ahead. That was fine with me. Nothing she could say would change our circumstances or ease the stress of the situation.

Besides, the pace she was keeping was enough to make me breathless before too long, so any additional conversation was impossible.

We didn’t have any bags to check, so that helped, and they were boarding by the time we got to the gate, so we just walked right onto the plane.

Once seated, I took a few moments to catch my breath.

“You’re out of shape,” Tracy said. “You should keep up with the workout regimens.”

“I do! And yet, it’s still hard to keep pace with you in a crowd,” I muttered as I leaned my head back against the seat and waited for my heart rate to go from sprint run to resting.

“I like it that way.” She made no effort to hide her smile.

I shook my head and leaned forward to grab the file on the scientist. Figured I might as well get some studying done on the way. The flight took off while I attempted another read through of his articles about separating chemicals and isolating the most dangerous toxins, but I got frustrated about halfway through the flight. It might as well have been moon language for all the meaning I was able to take away.

Exasperated, I closed the file and jammed it back into my backpack. “Tracy, I don’t know how much help I’m going to be. I don’t even understand what this guy is studying. If his mind is anything like these papers, I’m not going to understand a single one of his thoughts. I’m not a chemist. I’m a music therapist.”

“No.” She lowered her voice and glanced at the people sitting near us. “You are Unseen. Identifying potential dangers isn’t about understanding their specific fields, although that can be helpful. It’s about understanding people—what motivates them, and what they intend to do with the resources available to them.”

I sat back in my seat, trying to find some comfort in her words. But David’s last words to us haunted me. Why would he want
me
to be right? Unless he was genuinely worried that this guy was bad news… but if that were the case, why would he send his daughter into a potentially dangerous situation?

I still didn’t have any answers when the plane landed, though I had plenty of remaining questions. As we disembarked, Tracy checked her watch. “One thirty. We’ve missed his lunch hour. He gets off at five, and then he goes straight to a café for a cup of coffee after work.”

Based on what I’d seen online and in his file, the man’s personal life was nonexistent. Never married, no kids, estranged from his parents, and no siblings. Lots of people had bad relationships with their families, of course, but maybe it was David’s sign of something amiss?

The cold Michigan air bit into me the instant we stepped outside to get the car, freezing the air in my lungs, making me cough. I wrapped my arms around my body, tucking the coat Tracy had loaned me for the trip closer to my skin.

“Good Lord. We couldn’t have been given an assignment in a more tropical part of the world?”

“We live in a more tropical part of the world,” Tracy said, deadpan as ever as she buckled her seat belt.

“Touché.” I rubbed my hands together, trying to warm them up after the short trek to the car. “I hope we don’t have to spend much time outside for this one.”

“Suck it up. Your thin Florida blood could use some thickening anyway,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah.”

As Tracy drove to the university, I scanned the file again. It didn’t reveal much. Dr. Jeppe lived in a small apartment near the university. In addition to his post-work cup of coffee, he began his mornings with a cup of joe at the café. He spent most of his weekends working or delivering lectures, which helped explain why he was single. Who would want to date someone who never had time to be together? I wondered if he even cared. From his very impressive resume, it seemed to me that he was married to his work… and that was how he liked it.

We arrived at the university long before the scientist’s workday was over, so we staked out the campus a little, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man we were there to watch. We planned to make a sneak attack on his mind later, at the coffee shop. It was exhilarating to be out on a real job, even if I was just supposed to gauge whether this guy was a threat.

We never did catch sight of him, so at four thirty, we headed over to the café listed in the file so we could ensure we had a seat when the professor arrived. If he left on time, he would be there at five fifteen. It would be my first opportunity to delve into his mind.

We ordered drinks and took a seat in the back corner of the café. It was a cute little spot with outdoor seating, but it was way too cold for anyone to take advantage of it. Part of me already longed for home, milder temperatures, and Owen’s warm embrace. But the rest of me knew I needed to stay focused.

I’d never spent many nights away from home, Maddie’s house notwithstanding. The woman who’d raised me, Amanda, never took me anywhere, and she avoided spending recreational time with me like it would’ve killed her. Since I hadn’t been a performance major, I never even traveled to competitions with school.

“I think this is the first legitimate trip I’ve ever taken.” I addressed the words as much to myself as to Tracy.

“How old are you again?”

My back straightened, and I held my head high. “Twenty-five.”

“That’s a quarter of a century mostly wasted, if you ask me. You need to get out more.”

Tracy couldn’t help but tell it like it was; I couldn’t help but laugh.

At five o’clock, Tracy ran through the scenario one last time. “When he comes in, you get to work. I’ll do what I can to ensure you have a safe space to do your job. If you encounter any problems, get out, and we’ll try again in the morning.”

I nodded, searching restlessly for Dr. Jeppe. Each time the bell over the door jangled, my heart raced. And each time it wasn’t him, I swallowed my disappointment and kept right on looking.

After what felt like an eternity, I saw him walk through the front door. He didn’t go to the counter and order his drink. Instead, the barista called out a greeting to him as he took a seat at his usual table, which we had strategically stationed ourselves next to. “Afternoon, Dr. Jeppe. Your coffee will be ready soon.”

Rather than acknowledge the greeting in any way, he buried his face in some paperwork. I could only assume it was work related. Tracy cleared her throat, signaling me to get to work.

Leaning back in my chair, I shut my eyes, hoping I looked like I was just resting for a moment.

As I reached out for his mind, I was immediately met with a problem. Walking through the darkness, I stepped onto a spring trap that launched me out of his mind. I opened my eyes and gasped in surprise.

Tracy eyed me as I glanced around, hoping I hadn’t drawn too much attention to myself. No one seemed to be watching, thankfully, and the doctor was still consumed by his work.

He has defenses,
I thought to her as I tried to calm my racing heart. If he were truly a run-of-the-mill scientist, he wouldn’t have any need to protect his mind. He wouldn’t even know such a thing was possible or necessary. It meant he was either a mind reader or working with one.

Tracy frowned.
Well, you know how to get past defenses. Find out why he has them.

Frowning right back at her, I gave her a sidelong glance before closing my eyes and venturing out again. This time, I was prepared, so I adjusted my approach accordingly.

I set off the spring trap again, but it didn’t affect me this time. After all, it wasn’t real, and the element of surprise—the only thing the trap had going for it—was gone. There was a barrage of additional defenses, including a box that fell from above to apparently trap an intruder and what appeared to be a minefield. However, I wasn’t sure because I never set any of them off. I just saw the lumps in the ground. There was also a pit covered with leaves and foliage. All in all, it was pretty uninventive.

Until I got to his wall. It was immense, and it stretched out before me, seemingly extending forever. It was nothing like Tracy’s wall. Hers seemed to go on for infinity too, but this… I paused as I looked at it, struggling to define it. It was infinite, but it was also empty. There was no sign of any memories embedded within it.

How can that be?
I wondered as I leaned in closer.

But I didn’t get to examine it to my heart’s content. Suddenly, I was jerked away from the wall and rather unceremoniously plopped back in myself.

Blinking at Tracy, I asked, “What happened?”

She nodded toward the target, and I saw him leaving the café, coffee in hand.

“I—”

She cut me off. “Not here.” And with that, she stood and walked back to our car, never once looking back to ensure I was following her. Scrambling to my feet, I struggled to decode the strange scene I’d just witnessed while also keeping pace with Tracy. I stumbled on the way to the car, but I played it off as if I’d slipped on an ice patch, and I nodded gratefully to the passerby who helped me up.

Before I knew it, Tracy and I were sitting together in the car, but I was a little afraid to speak. Tracy was stone faced as she stared straight ahead, navigating the car toward our hotel. I took the opportunity to try and sort through what had happened, and what it might mean. Obviously, David had been at least partially right. There was just cause to suspect Dr. Jeppe. Otherwise, why would those defenses be in place? They seemed so weak, almost artificial, with the exception of that wall.

Silently, Tracy drove to the hotel where we’d be staying, and I trailed her as she checked in at the desk. We didn’t exchange a word until she secured the locks on the door of our room and sat on the bed across from where I’d absently seated myself.

“Tell me what happened.”

“His defenses were odd,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “Almost insincere.”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked.

“Well, it was too easy to get past them. Like he didn’t have any stake in them working.”

That gave Tracy pause, but she didn’t comment. “Go on.”

“His wall, on the other hand… well, I’m not sure how to bypass it. It wasn’t like yours or mine. There didn’t seem to be any way around, above, or through it.”

Tracy’s expression seemed confused, so I took a breath, trying to gather my thoughts.

“Our walls are made from memories. Although there are a million or more of them, our memories are limited to our personal experiences. Eventually, inevitably, there is an end. Everyone has a first memory, right? Well, Dr. Jeppe’s wall is made up of… nothing. And nothingness can potentially stretch on forever.” I flopped back onto the bed, absorbing what I’d just said. How on Earth was I supposed to get inside this guy’s head? Suddenly, my seemingly mundane task was becoming much more of a challenge than I’d anticipated.

“Do you think you could come with me in the morning? Maybe you could identify his wall, help me understand what to do.”

She shook her head. “You need a lookout; someone to make sure nothing is amiss. The fact that he has defenses is extremely unexpected, and it’s all the more reason for us to be on our guard.”

That night, as I lay in an unfamiliar bed, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, I found it hard to relax. I tried not to despair, despite the fact that I felt like I was failing at my first job, but trying was definitely different from doing.

Clearly, there was more to Dr. Jeppe than met the eye, and I’d missed it from the first. Perhaps if I’d been more prepared, I would’ve had a better idea of what to do at this stage. As far as I knew, he wasn’t a reader. So what could explain his wall of nothing? How and why had he formed such seemingly iron-clad defenses? I continued to circle back to those questions as sleep evaded me.

My emotions ran wild as I flounced onto my side, willing myself to sleep even as I raged at the situation.

“Stop it. I’m trying to sleep,” Tracy called out from the next bed.

“Stop what? I know I wasn’t snoring.”

“You’re huffing and tossing and turning. Whatever you think you did wrong, it doesn’t matter. Settle down. You need your rest.”

“But—”

“It doesn’t matter. Tomorrow does. And I’d like to get it right this time so we can go home and get out of this freezing, godforsaken state. So go to sleep. I’ll blame you if we have to stay here another night.”