minds.
Claire briefly nodded, and then inwardly cringed when she saw the older man’s eyes narrow. He had seen non-verbal communication and knew something was happening between them. He looked at Claire and then at Jenna and Brian before he leaned forward, “You can talk to each other in your minds?”
Years of being trained to deflect and hide the truth came rushing to Claire’s help, “No, most certainly not. Why would you ask me something so crazy?”
“Look, Claire. You and your parents have been ina special sort of witness protection program for the last twelve years. I can’t go into all of the details right now, but we think your parents have been kidnapped or worse. We also have information that whoever is after your parents is coming after you next.”
“Why? I don’t understand any of this.”
The younger man, Seth, pulled a manila folder from his briefcase and slid it across the desk towards Claire. “Read through this. We’re going to go grab a bite to eat and then we’ll be back. I promise we’ll answer any questions we can.”
The older man looked like he wanted to object, but then he stood up and followed Seth out the door. Brian and Jenna scooted their chairs closer to the desk as Claire opened the file.
There on the front page was a picture of Jason and Diane Helmsworth, much younger, wearing lab coats, and big grins. There were several other pictures of their parents in the folder, but they weren’t what captured Claire and her sibling’s attention.
What captured their attention was the information that Jason and Diane Helmsworth used to work as genetic engineers in a company called Prodigy. The company had since been disbanded and all of the employees taken into protective custody.
Prodigy had been the forerunner in developing ‘artificial telepathy’ after the end of the Cold War. Their research had included forays into manipulation of the audio cortex of the human brain with electromagnetism, microwaves, and cosmic radiation given off by a meteor.
They had used specially designed drugs, which targeted the brain cells, and then could be used to alter the DNA of human cells to obtain specific abilities. Telepathy, empathy, precognition, and mind control…all of these abilities were listed as being the results of scientific studies.
Unfortunately, all of the test subjects had been adults and had suffered traumatic mental breaks within months of participating in the live study. The Helmsworth’s had been sure that using children with brains that were not fully developed was the key to the project’s success, but before they could receive clearance to begin clinical trials on teens and children, the project had been officially shutdown.
Congress had begun asking questions and the project had gone black. Jason and Diane Helmsworth had worked for several more years in an underground, secret facility, but too many questions had been asked and the project was finally closed down for good.
Chapter 4
The trio looked at each other and no one said anything for several minutes. Finally, Jenna spoke up, “You don’t think…”
“…mom and dad used us as lab rats?” Brian finished for her.
Claire was silent, as she didn’t know what to think.
“I find it interesting that all of the results they discovered in their test subjects mirror the special abilities that we have.” Jenna was trying desperately to make sense out of this new information.
Flipping through a few more pages, the answer to that question was found. Jason and Diane Helmsworth had indeed experimented on their own children. Claire had been ten years old at the time and Jenna had been turning eight. Brian hadn’t been included in the first round of testing since he was so young.
Claire and Jenna read detailed laboratory reports stating how well their training had been coming along and that they were able to read each other’s minds and communicate with each silently.
Brian was entered into the experiment six
Legs McNeil, Jennifer Osborne, Peter Pavia