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“Come with me.” He put his work away and reached for my hand to help me off the bed. I’m not even showing yet and already he’s so overprotective. We planned to tell the kids when they came home this weekend, though, even though it's early days yet.
Mark and I had had lots of conversations in the last couple of weeks since the whole Jessica and Jack thing died down, and one of the things we are most focused on is making sure our older kids do not feel as though they’re being replaced.
We’ve already started looking into ways and things to do with them to instill that fact because, for some reason, it’s something I’m very wary of. Maybe I should stop reading specific forums that only dwell on that very thing.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” We ended up in the theatre room. “You’re sure you want to know what happened to them?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” I could tell that he was having second thoughts already, and I rushed to my favorite seat before he could change his mind.
For some strange reason, he placed his hand over my tummy for almost a minute before coming to a decision. “Why are we in here anyway?”
“You’ll see.” He picked up the phaser and turned on the large screen that dropped down from above. I could see from his hesitation that he was still doubting himself, but I didn’t say anything; I let him come to the decision on his own because I still didn’t know why we were here of all places.
“A party? Why are we watching a party?” he didn’t say anything, just patted the hand he held and told me to ‘watch.’ From the looks of it, there was some kind of elite soiree taking place. I can tell because of the gowns the women wore, not to mention the jewelry that was meant to one-up each other.
I didn’t recognize the room or most of the people in attendance, though a few of them looked familiar, like a movie star or some public figure, but the camera never lingered on anyone for too long. “What’s this? Some kind of home movie?” Bummer, he really had me believing he was going to treat me like an adult.
The camera turned to the side, and I saw Jack up close and personal, like the camera was in his face. “Who’s holding the camera?”
Before he could answer Jessica’s face came on screen and was just as close as Jack’s was.
“Wait, what’s…”
“They’re both recording. Her camera is in her earrings, and his is in his tie pin.” We turned back to the screen as the two of them turned back to the room. We were just in time to hear the hush that fell over the room, and when they greeted Mr. Wallis, I tensed up.
I knew enough to know who the man on the screen was and what he represented. He could be heard on the video reprimanding them under his breath, “You two have got nerve showing up here like this. Come with me.”
The view changed from the party room as they made their way through parts of the house, with the cameras picking up everything as they went. It was obviously someone’s home, most likely Wallis’s, which was made obvious when he led them into the study and took his place behind the desk there while leaving them standing.
“Where have you two been? Do you know the hell you’ve put us through these last few weeks?”
“We can explain. We had to go under, and there was no way or time to contact you that wouldn’t have given you away.”
“I don’t understand. What could that have happened?”
“Someone from the past showed up there.”
“Who?”
“One of the girls, she’s been rescued somehow. I don’t know why she was there but I saw her before she saw me and got us out of there. I didn’t know if it was a setup or if anyone was watching us, but I didn’t want to take any chances.”
Wallis nodded while reaching into his desk. “There’s been stuff happening. A few of them have been rescued, but we don’t know who has been doing it. We lost quite a few clients a few weeks ago as well, so maybe it’s a good thing that you went under. I do wish you could’ve gotten word to me, though. I had no idea what was going on, and no one knew where you were.”
“Yes, we got rid of everything that could’ve led back to you before making our way back here. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
“No, you did the right thing; that was quick thinking. I’m just bummed we didn’t get that company, but there’re others.”
“Thank you for your understanding, sir.”
“Wait a minute, why does he sound like that?” There was something very off about Jack. I’d had more than my fair share of dealings with him over the years he’d been here, and his voice sounded almost monotone. Even odder is the fact that Jessica never spoke, not once.
“Well, I can’t be gone for too long, so since you’re here, you might as well join the party. Some of the others are here; I’ll show you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Thank you, sir.” Now, they both spoke, and she sounded even stranger than him.
