Recruits (New Haven Book 1), page 22
“What?” My head felt dizzy. “What do you mean?”
Dad held firmly onto my arm even though he seemed to be shaking. He took a deep breath.
“President Randall is your real father.”
I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was underwater again, drowning with no one to save me. “No!” I pulled my arm away from Dad. “How? … It’s impossible.” I looked at Dad. “You’re my dad.”
“Yes, sweetie, I am in a sense,” Dad said. “I’m the one who raised you and you’ll always be my daughter in my eyes. But it was not me who … contributed to you being born.”
“I don’t understand. How did this happen?” My voice filled with panic. I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t be that man’s daughter.
Dad kept his eyes down. “You know your mom works long hours with the president.” Sadness consumed his voice.
“She cheated on you? With him?” I gripped the sheet tight. How could she? It was so disgusting.
“It was a long time ago. It's over now.” The words came from Dad’s mouth, but he didn’t sound convinced of it. How could they have kept working all those years together and not have anything more happen?
“She did this to you and you stayed with her?” I couldn’t look at him right then. “You let her keep her job? Working next to that sick, disgusting animal?”
“Emmie, I didn’t feel like I had a choice,” Dad said. “Divorce is frowned upon. And we still had you and Derek to raise.”
“What about Derek?” I asked. “Is he …”
“He’s mine.” Dad sighed. “Although, most days I’d much rather claim you as my blood relative.” That at least made me smile.
Dad reached out and took hold of my arm again. “Emmie, I know this is a lot to take in, but I want you to know that I love you. You are my daughter and you always will be.”
“I love you, too, Dad,” I said, smiling at him. “I’m not mad at you. I understand why you did what you did. It’s just hard to digest, you know? And I can’t believe mom's capable of doing something like this.”
Dad turned to Frank. “I didn’t know about this prophecy, though. Janice never mentioned it to me.”
“I’m not sure that she knows,” Frank said. “Unless Whit told her, I can’t imagine how she would find out.”
“They think Emmie's the one it’s talking about?” Dad asked. “What does this mean? What does the president want to do with her?”
It took a moment for me to respond. Everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to answer. Obviously, none of them wanted to be the one to tell Dad the truth.
“Dad, today, with me getting caught underwater, it wasn’t an accident.” I stared at him, waiting to see his reaction.
Dad shook his head. “It was done on purpose? That can’t be true.”
I sighed. “It was a trap. President Randall did not intend for me to make it out of there. He didn’t even care if Tina didn’t make it out alive.”
Dad’s face turned pale. “He tried to …”
“He tried to kill me, Dad. And could’ve killed Tina, too, in the process.”
Tina shifted in her seat. When I turned to look at her, her eyes were wide. With all the stress and chaos that followed the events, she probably hadn’t stopped to think that he intended for her to die, too.
Whit probably saw it as a necessity to protect everyone from little ol’ traitor me.
“Well, we need to stop him,” Dad said. “Maybe I can talk to Janice and she could try to reason with him. Killing Emmie is not the solution.”
“It is to him,” Frank said. “He already feels threatened by her. If she’s alive, she will continue to fight. She can expose everything he has done, everything that he's capable of.”
“So can we,” Eric said, indicating everyone in the room.
“Another reason he wants Emmie stopped,” Frank said. “She has already convinced four others that the president is not the man we thought he was.”
“Only four?” Dee asked, looking at Frank.
“Well, I was convinced a long time ago.” Frank smiled. “But one man can’t do much.”
“But the six of us, we can at least do something, right?” I asked.
“What about Luke?” Dee asked. “Why did he leave? You told him, right?”
Tina and Eric looked at me.
“Luke is …” I started, but I got choked up.
“He isn’t on our side,” Eric finished for me, the tone of his voice closing the matter. He must’ve read my face to know Luke wasn’t going to stand with us.
Suddenly a beep went off near Frank. He pulled a little device out of his pocket and looked at it. His eyes shot up to me. “We need to get you out of here, now.”
“Why?” I asked.
“The president is on his way,” Frank said. “He’ll be here any minute.”
“Where do I go?” I asked.
Eric took the heart monitor off my finger, slowly removed the needle the nurse had put in my arm, and helped me out of the bed.
Frank opened the door and headed out of the room. The five of us followed. As we were walking down the hall, which was a little too fast for my still woozy self, Frank talked.
“There’s an underground system that a previous vice president had installed,” Frank said. “He knew the president didn’t believe the prophecy, so he wanted an escape route just in case something like this ever happened. The president doesn’t know about it.”
“Where does it lead?” Dad asked.
“Out of the city,” Frank said.
Before anyone could comment, Frank opened a door at the end of the hall. He led us down a flight of stairs and out another door. As we made tons of twists and turns, he started talking again. “I had some supplies arranged for you. They should be waiting for you at the entrance of the underground tunnel. I wasn’t sure if you were going alone or not, so I had some extra supplies put in.”
“I’m going with her,” Eric said.
“Me, too,” Tina said.
“Me, three,” Dee said.
“Me, four,” Dad said.
My heart swelled. It comforted me knowing that no matter what happened, I had all of them with me. I looked at Dad as we walked. “Are you sure, Dad? What about Mom and Derek?”
“My relationship with your mother ended a long time ago and I haven’t had any belief in River Springs for years. To have someone who runs a city not abide by their own rules is unacceptable. And Derek, well, he’ll be fine. Frank will look out for him for now. Besides, I can’t leave my baby girl alone out there in the wild. Let alone, three other teenagers. You’ll need some adult supervision.” Dad winked at me.
When Frank finally came to a stop in the middle of a hallway, a few totes were waiting on the floor. He turned to look at us. “When you go through the door, it will lead you down a few flights of stairs. Follow the tunnel all the way out. When it ends, it will open to a small cave. Drop down and head straight. The cave will take you out to the forest.” He handed me a map. “Follow this map the best you can. It will take you to an area my predecessors scouted out years ago. I have some things to finish up here, but I’m hoping to leave here sometime in the next week.”
“You’re going to meet us?” I asked, making my heart hopeful.
“I hope to, Em,” Frank said. “River Springs needs a change and I don’t think anything can get done here. We need a fresh start. Besides, I’m pretty sure the president's on to me. It won’t be long until I’m next on his hit list.”
“What about your wife and kids?” I asked.
“As I said, I have some things left to do. Just follow this closely.” Frank pointed to the map. “You need to get going.”
Dante came to my mind. What had happened to him? Was he still alive? “Frank, where are Dante and Wallace? Did they leave?”
Frank nodded. “Yes, they left. There's not enough time to explain it all right now.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “So, they're alive. That's all I need to know.”
“Uh, where's the door?” Tina asked.
I looked around, thinking the same thing. We were, after all, just standing in the middle of a hall.
Frank gave us a mischievous smile. He reached over and touched the wall. A green line went down, scanning his hand. The ground opened next to us.
“Cool,” Dee said, looking down the opening.
“Grab the bags and get going,” Frank said.
I threw my arms around him. “Thank you.”
He kissed me on top of my head. “Be safe, Em. I have faith in you.” When I pulled back, he had tears in his eyes. “Now, go.”
Eric, Dad, and Tina all picked up a bag and the five of us went down the stairs. Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, the opening above closed, leaving us in the dark tunnel.
“They didn’t think to install lights?” Tina asked. Right when she said that, a light flickered on above us. “Well, look at that, they did think to install them.”
As we continued down the tunnel, the light behind us went off and another one in front went on. They continued to turn on and off as we made our way through the tunnel as fast as we could.
It took a couple of hours to get through the tunnel since I couldn’t go so fast, but we finally reached the end. Just as Frank said, the tunnel opened into a cave. There was some natural light coming from the top of the cave, making it just light enough so we could see.
Dad and Eric jumped down first with their bags. Tina threw her bag to them and then jumped down. Dee and I were last. When I jumped down, Eric caught me as I stumbled a little.
“You okay?” he asked me, holding on to my waist.
“I’m still a little lightheaded, but okay,” I said.
Right as we started walking, a noise came from the right. I turned to see a silhouette of a person standing there.
“You didn’t really think things went on in River Springs without me knowing about it, did you?” The man stepped out from the shadows. President Randall.
A few more noises and more figures stepped out, including Dean, Mack, and Pierce. There were at least ten others I didn’t recognize.
“It’s a shame to see such talented young kids and a valued employee go to waste.” Whit tsked. “But you all brought this on yourself, didn’t you? If only you would’ve obeyed the rules, this never would’ve happened.”
That made me laugh. “That’s funny, Whit, because I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
Whit’s face tightened. He motioned for the men to grab us.
The next thing I knew, we were all being bound and taken away. That whole day I had been anxious, afraid, and in pain. At that moment, it all disappeared.
Now I was just pissed.
T hey ended up having to gag and hogtie me, Eric, and Tina. We all put up a nasty fight. Dad and Dee went into a trance mode. Neither of them showed any emotion. It probably would’ve been smarter to go that way, but I wasn’t one to go down without a fight.
Pierce was the one who grabbed me. I squirmed so much, he knocked me across the face, a ring on his finger scraping my cheek, leaving it bleeding.
They took us to an underground holding cell area. All the walls, ceiling, and floor were concrete. The frigid temperature made my hair stand on end and the dank air was so thick I could taste it. I wondered how often that area was even used.
Pierce pulled my gag out, then took me by my still bound feet and hands, and tossed me in a cell like a bean bag. I landed on my side, the sting of the cold concrete floor on my arms catching me by surprise. Pierce locked up my cell and stepped back.
Whit came forward, looking at me with a smug smile. His face told me one thing: he’d just won. Well, that was what he thought. I was still alive, so I took that as a good thing.
“Oh, Emelia,” Whit said, leaning against my cell door. “You’ve turned into such a problem. I wish it didn’t have to come to this.”
“Come to what, Whit?” I asked. “Killing me? Why haven’t you yet, I wonder? I thought you wanted me eliminated right away?”
Whit smiled. “Oh, I want to, Emelia, and I will. But you have caused pandemonium and there needs to be a punishment for that. Before I kill you, I will make sure you see each one of your friends and family die before you. I want you to understand the consequences of your actions. And to think, all you needed to do was obey the rules.”
“You keep saying that, but it’s hard for someone to want to obey the rules when the president can’t even do it.” I scooted my body a little closer so I could see him better.
“I do what's necessary for River Springs,” Whit said, folding his arms.
I tilted my head. “Really? That’s interesting. And how is committing adultery helping the city, exactly?”
A flash of anger crossed his face, but he quickly changed it to a mischievous smile. “You heard the good news? I must say, the determination you get from me, and the fiery part you get from your mother.” His smile twisted. “But this resisting authority, I just don’t know where you get it from. It’s rather unbecoming, Emelia.”
I clenched my teeth. I wanted to hurt him so bad. Fortunately for both of us, I wasn’t in a position to. “What you call resisting authority, I call using my brain and thinking for myself. And that, I know for a fact, I get from my real father.”
Whit gripped his hands around the bars to my cell. “I am your real father, Emelia, and it’s about time you show me some respect.”
“You’re not my father, Whit,” I said, disdain filling my voice on the last word. “Philip Woodard is my real father. He’s the one who raised me, the one who taught me everything I know, the one who showed me love. Just because you contributed your genetic material to have me doesn’t make you my father. All it makes you is a sperm donor.”
Whit narrowed his eyes at me. “I want you to sit here and think about everything you’ve done. I want it to sink in that you’ll be responsible for five deaths besides your own. Once it has had time to settle, we’ll start with VP Oliver and end with your boyfriend, Eric.” He slammed one of his hands against the bar and left.
Pierce snarled at me before he followed him out.
Dean walked past my cell.
“You know this is partially your fault, too,” I said to him.
He stopped and looked at me. “What did you say?”
“If you hadn’t failed at your job in the first place, then none of this would’ve happened.”
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that.” His eyebrows furrowed together making a small vein pop out from his massive forehead.
“Does it make you mad, Dean, that you were outwitted by a seventeen-year-old?” I asked, a small smile forming at the corner of my mouth.
Dean came up to my cell and looked me straight in the eye. “You deserve everything that’s going to happen to you, you selfish, selfish brat.”
Before I could respond, Dad spoke up from his cell. “Em, that’s enough. Just let it go.”
Dean smiled and then walked away. His footsteps faded down the hall and then the door closed, leaving us prisoners by ourselves.
“What now?” Tina asked from her cell.
“There isn’t much we can do right now,” I said. “Are you still bound?”
“Yes, I am,” Tina said.
“Me, too,” Eric said.
“No,” both Dad and Dee said. Of course, they weren’t. They were the good ones.
“Dee and Mr. Woodard, can you see any way out of your cells?” Eric asked.
“No,” Dad said, “and you may call me Philip, Eric.”
“I don’t see anything in my cell that could get us out,” Dee said. “Unless a miracle happens, we’re stuck down here.”
“Have any brilliant ideas this time around, Tina?” Eric asked.
There was a small cough down the hall. “Eric?” The voice was hoarse. “Eric, is that you?”
“Dad?” Eric’s voice sounded hopeful.
He scooted closer to the opening of his cell, which was just to the left of me. It sounded like Tina was to my right and Dee and my dad were across the way.
“Son! It’s you!”
Eric released a small laugh. “You’re alive.”
“Last time I checked, yes,” Mr. Greene said. Or should I call him Alexander? No, Mr. Greene was the appropriate way to say it. And we all know how well I do at appropriate.
“I don’t believe it,” Eric said through sniffles. “All these years, I thought you were dead.”
“I have been in a way,” Mr. Greene said. “I’ve been down here this whole time.”
“How come they’ve kept you down here, alive?” Eric asked.
“Information,” Mr. Greene said. His voice shook with emotion. “There are still a lot of the historical documents they need help with and I’m the only one who knows it.”
“Why did they take you?” Eric asked.
“It’s a long story, Eric,” Mr. Greene said. “It had to do with my research into your mom’s condition.”
“I thought mom had cancer?” Eric asked.
“That’s what they originally thought, but after working with some of the medical staff and doing some tests, it was something else entirely. It was a disease they had never seen before. I kept looking into it and found some others who had died in different cities that had the same symptoms as your mother.” Mr. Greene sighed. “After going back about fifty years, I noticed that the number of deaths from the disease was steadily increasing. Of course, they kept covering it up, making up all sorts of excuses. I told them a cure needed to be found and that something had to be done or it could end up being an epidemic.”
“And they didn’t care?” I asked. I didn’t mean to butt into the conversation, but I was curious.
“No,” Mr. Greene said. “They told me to keep quiet. But I just couldn’t let it go. Something had to be done.”
“That’s why they took you? So you wouldn’t tell people about this disease?” Eric asked. That seemed so extreme to me.
“More or less. There was also the prophecy issue,” Mr. Greene said.
“What prophecy issue?” I asked.
