Trellis Page 27

  “You are wrong. We were a normal family.” He boomed as he pushed away the memories that were starting to flash from his mind.

  “What did your mom and dad do? As a profession, Colin,” Sloan asked.

  Stuttering out soberly, “My dad was career military and my mom… she, was a nurse.” He said, his voice becoming husky and defensive. “That means nothing! Do you know how many families can say that same thing about their moms and dads?”

  D looked at the men and offered a small bit of the only explanation that could make sense.

  “What if your dad was an operative of Trellis through the government and your mom was the nurse I was speaking of? I mean they did have a few outside contractors come and go off the island, although extremely few. And what if your dad was in charge of the operations that took clones off the island to perform these hired jobs by the government… and you and Sissy were to be disposed of afterwards? And… he didn’t dispose of you, they kind of adopted you. Raised you like normal. Well, except the fact that you would have been brainwashed to not remember your time on Trellis.” She stood up and began looking Colin’s short haircut over for any type of tiny scar or many little scars like she had. Nothing.

  Then she remembered her Trellis branding of the feathered wings and quickly pulled down the band of her pants near her hip exposing hers.

  “Look, do you have this, too?” She asked, as she pointed out her Trellis markings.

  “No.” He answered and looked away out the submarine window.

  “Show us,” Jase countered.

  “You mean prove it because you think I am lying?” Colin stood up heatedly furious, “I only have a scar there from when I was young and fell off the porch stairs.” He pulled his waistband down a few inches exposing a three-inch scar.

  “According to your parents telling you this?” Sloan asked with doubt in his voice.

  D continued to pull the back of Colin’s shirt up exposing the zigzagged scars that crossed his back.

  He didn’t wait for her to ask about the scars intuitively guessing where she would be going with seeing them, “These are from a mission that went off course. They have nothing to do with Trellis or that doctor.”

  The men and D looked suspiciously at one another and one by one, they each moved clothing around to show the exact same branding scars. All of the men had these scars where the Trellis branding was on D. Like the branding had been surgically removed and sewn up leaving a thick caterpillar like scar three inches long.

  D hadn’t realized it but she hadn’t taken a breath in a few moments. Her thoughts processing slowly at first and then in a wrathful tenacity she quickly pulled her jacket off pushing her t-shirt sleeve up to reveal the scar the tracking device made on the underside of her arm when she had removed it in the plane, “Let me see your arm. Do you have a scar here, too?”

  Colin took a big gulp and pushed his shirtsleeve up revealing a scar similar to D’s. The rest of the men did the same revealing similar scars.

  “Maybe we were part of a larger plan? Maybe we weren’t rescued off the island, maybe this was all planned?” Jase reasoned trying to make sense of these mutual characteristics, his face stone and grim he asked, “What do these wings mean?”

  With heaviness in her voice she tried to explain to the men the best she could, “It means I belong to Trellis. This was on everything, like a car manufacturer would place their name on their product, Trellis branded everything with this,” She paused a moment and ran her fingers over her Trellis marking. “It was everywhere, from clothing, security vehicles, bedding, designed in the tile, and even on me… on all of us clones…”

  The men’s visions were concentrated on sadness for D and the other drones on the island having to endure what the doctor had subjected them to, still subjecting the others to, and it speared at their resolve like a pitchfork.

  “So you really think we were part of Trellis as well?” Harper asked, his voice isolated and cold.

  “I don’t know,” The words spilled from D, heavy with a deep burden of this possible revelation. “What about your parents? Do you have memories of a childhood?”

  Each man shook his head no. One by one, they each answered either adoption of foster care.

  “Even Doc. He once told me his parents had died in a fiery car crash and he was given to an orphanage at the age of three.” Jase explained, closing his eyes, remembering the conversation.

  Harper’s eyes narrowed to slits and asked, “How did we all have no family,” he looked at Colin and cleared his throat, “Except, Colin. How did we all wind up together in the same military unit? Have the same scars and no parents?” Sloan faintly asked.

  Colin’s fists balled and the hostility bubbled through his words, “Stop listening to her! You guys are wrong. These are all coincidences.” The recent thought of his parent’s death and the grief he and Sissy had suffered spewed out enflamed rage.

  His teeth clinched tight and a muscle feathered across his strong square jaw that D had witnessed in the interrogation room made its appearance again. “I am not talking about this further! You have witnessed a lot here today and you are not going to push your screwed up childhood on me! Sissy and me had a normal life, eat your vegetables, family game nights, baseball games with my dad, church on Sundays kind of life and we lived in the suburbs for Pete’s sake! I want to help. I do. I want to bring this Doctor to justice, so let’s start focusing on that. Does anyone have anything helpful to add that doesn’t involve a memory from years ago that may or may not have ever happened? Let’s focus on the here and now and stop the ambitious thinking we were part a bigger plan.”

  Tilting her head, D heard Jase’s thought and turned to him. He nodded his head at her and the men knew something new was just discovered. D didn’t want to let go of the conversation with Colin, she wanted to get to the bottom of Colin’s childhood but she knew she needed to let him digest what was said and revisit the information once he had time to think about the evidence with a clear mind.

  Jase apprehensively stood up and moved to the front of everyone that was now sitting down.

  “Do you know that group that contacted us awhile back about that job for a million big green? They wanted someone extracted and brought to them in a remote location. They wouldn’t give us any more detail until we accepted the job. When we decided if we would do it or not we were supposed to call a number, that number was one number away from what Salvaggi gave us. That group’s name was Providence Parliament. If they tried to commission us for this mission, who else have they tried to get, and who has already accepted?”

  D didn’t wait for that to sink in before she began relaying the information she had gathered from Peter Coughlin the day she was at his home.

  “The number I got grabbed from Coughlin was the same, but the last digit was one… I am sorry I got you all in this mess. When we get back, I will go back in to hiding. I have many places I will be safe. You all need to go and resume a normal life. I couldn’t bare it if you were caught by this mad man.”

  Harper looked slowly around the spiracle tube they were floating in and gulped, “If the beach scene, the one where the,” he cleared his throat, “Where you forced the guard and the guard lost the battle and died, if that was a test, what if Coughlin was a test? To see your reaction?”

  Colin continued thoughtfully, “A test on her closeness and attachment to Coughlin?”

  Harper shook his head in agreement, “Then that means we were all being watched as well.”

  The room took a deep breath in unison.

  “I failed then. I fainted and showed weakness. I am a failure in Salvaggi’s eyes. I am sorry, guys. I am sorry,” D apologetically trailed off.

  “No, you have prevailed in spite of his programming. You rose above,” Jase said comfortingly; however, it was clear he wasn’t sure what to say in light of the circumstances that she had to endure.

  Colin placed his hand on hers and reassured her that they were not going to give up. “
We will find them. We will shut his operation down. True, we don’t know how far this goes in the world’s government systems but it can’t last forever and they can’t stay hidden forever. We will stick by your side, we will stop this evil, no matter how long it takes. Don’t apologize, this system, this doctor, they all need stopped.”

  The men shook their head yes at her and stuck their hands out to form a single holding bond. They looked at her and nodded for her to place her hand on top of theirs. They were in deep and they were going to do what needed to be done to shut Trellis down for good.

  D shook her head yes at the men, reached out and placed her small hand on the large pile of fists that were waiting for hers to complete the agreement. With tears in her eyes, she realized that she may have not been raised with a family, but she had found one. She also had a strong need to come face to face with Dr. Salvaggi, she wanted to look that evil man in his cold dark eyes, and end his surgical reign at Trellis.

  Trellis

  Book Two Chapter One Sample

  Brain Storm

  Research Alliance of the Neural Cerebral Hemisphere

  Trellis Initiative: Growing humans for political projects and creating human weaponry

  for personal and national gain.

  Chapter One~

  The island breeze blew the jade and peach colored ribbons and bows softly in the wind as the guests moved about between the white lined up wooden chairs. Peach and cream-colored flower petals lined the rolled out carpet to the lattice-arched walkway leading to the edge of the rolling waves. Banquette tables in the distance awaited the wedding party and a lone preacher stood under the flower-draped ceremonial arch. D was dressed in an elegant soft white dress, barefoot, and holding an overflowing peach bouquet. She moved closer to the petal covered carpet that led to the front. Standing in her view now was Colin in a causal suit, his cream-colored pant legs rolled up a few times, revealing his bare feet as well. A peach flower was pinned neatly on his dress shirt. He was waiting for her. Her? Tenderly, music started to hum, ‘Here comes the bride’.

  Peculiar as the scene was, it was almost as though she had been preparing for this day for a very long time, however, she didn’t remember preparing for it at all. As she approached, a hush settled over the guests and a chorus of oohs and ahhs purred from the besotted crowd. A coolness filled her steps and to her surprise this was something she had wanted, something she was longing for, to be part of something bigger than herself. She was going to be committed to more than herself, and D felt as if her life was about to take a turn for normalcy.

  Colin smiled at her reaching out for her hand, a soothing smile spread across his face, and he winked at her. Why couldn’t she remember getting to the place they were now? She liked the fact her hand was lost in his wide grip.

  “Is this real?” She asked in humbleness.

  A throaty chuckle left Colin, he squeezed her hand gently as he turned to face the preacher.

  D turned in the same direction, she squinted her eyes at the darkening sky on the horizon and at that precise moment thunder cracked, making the bride and groom lurch backwards looking towards the greying heavens. D could see past Colin’s shoulder, a slumped-over familiar body in the distant sand. It looked familiar. It looked like Treeny. The preacher’s face now in view as he stared at them. In a deep Italian accent, the preacher’s lips smiled sardonically, Dr. Salvaggi spoke the words, “We are all gathered here today.”

  Thunder clapped again as heavy rain began to plunk down on the guests running for shelter. Chairs and wedding décor began to blow sideways and the howling of the wind came rushing in from what was once a peaceful sea. Pushing their bare sand covered feet into the wet beach, the couple tried to run for cover from the approaching storms. A hand broke out from the rain soaked sand grabbing at her ankle, it was the deceased Peter Coughlin. Partially he emerged from the sand trying to pull her under with him, clawing at her bare leg. Colin immediately tried to pull her from Coughlin’s grip and she could feel herself sinking deep in the sandy-grave regardless of her grooms attempt at saving her. She wasn’t going to break free. Her skin burned where Coughlin’s grip held tight. Was he ripping her skin? In moments, she would be buried alive in the sandy tomb with Peter Coughlin. Sand started to fill her mouth, she spit and gasped for air. Colin wasn’t going to be able to save her from being pulled under, and she knew her time was up. Her normalcy had ended, like it always seemed to do.

  D screamed out in the aching silence, waking up from her dream she tried to catch her breath, holding back a wall of tears and vomit. Finally realizing she was dreaming and Dr. Salvaggi was nowhere in the vicinity. She could breathe again but her heartrate would not slow for some time. Reaching up with her palm, she covered her heart and could feel the drumming through her chest. If it wasn’t a nightmare and just a normal wedding, would she have went through with the wedding? To Colin Banks? She tried to shake off those thoughts that weren’t necessarily balanced with rationality considering everything she had been through the last few months…

  “Well, that dream will get pushed to the Do Not Remember Brain Drawer and will be the last time I watch my DVR’d ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ before going to sleep.” D mumbled while sitting up and rubbing her face.

  Glancing at the clock, she knew she wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep easily and it was early enough to catch the breakfast menu still being served across the street at the coffee shop.

  She had had a few quiet days since most of the men were doing recon on Simon, her technology teacher from Trellis. The men were in Silicon Valley, California, all but Colin, he had stayed behind to keep a protective eye on D. She acted as if he annoyed her but clearly, she was enjoying being looked after, even though, a control freak was doing the looking after. They had acquired a large black motorhome the men referred to as the roving latrine or The RL for short. It was spacious and gave the men a small kitchen, tiny shower, and had beds for each of them. They pulled a black jeep behind the RL and despite the large size, they were rather inconspicuous in their travels.

  It had been months since they had found Trellis abandoned and had tried with failure to locate another option where Dr. Salvaggi could have moved the large island operation. Despite the impasse, they were not giving up. Colin had a detailed list of ideas and had pedantically marked items off that hadn’t produced a positive outcome. Almost all of the men had come to terms with the fact they could have been a product of Trellis. The scars they all had in the same place where Trellis branded their clones was too big of a coincidence to ignore. The fact they could not remember any of their childhoods when questioned was the biggest factor for believing this coupled with the scars they had. However, Colin Banks would not entertain any conversation about these facts while he was in the room. He exploded every time they mentioned the scars or mentioned his old family picture, which D swore looked like people from the island that she remembered well.

  Trying to shake the bad dream out of her mind, she could hear the howling winds outside and lightening in the distance. The storms lately were getting worse and each time she turned the news on more deaths from tornadoes or lightning strikes dominated the headlines. She avoided the news as much as she could the last week, hence why she was watching ‘Say Yes to The Dress’ last night before bed. She had been lying in bed since early yesterday, ever since the island fiasco she had been fighting mental exhaustion. Her exhaustion was another reason she and Colin did not go with the others to track down Simon. Simon was D’s technical instructor on the island and he had been running a successful business for some time since being released, but D was sure he had to promise the moon and stars for Dr. Salvaggi to have let him go free and clear. Dr. Salvaggi had never done anything nice that wasn’t a benefit to Trellis or a benefit on his operating table. An operating table that she knew far too well. If it hadn’t been for that eccentric medical doctor, her brain wouldn’t have had the scar marks it did, of course without that doctor she would have never been created fo
r the government. Without his trial and errors, she and the other clones would not exist.

  The men’s trip out west was strictly designated to set up surveillance on Simon, and to see if there is still a connection between him and the Trellis program. Colin didn’t think it was safe for D to travel out there, at least not yet. He wanted to secure a way to talk with Simon before D was implemented as a means to gain information. Not to mention the fact she could hardly stay awake lately.

  A loud thumping sound startled her out of her thoughts at the front door. BANG, BANG, BANG!

  D thought instantaneously that it must be Colin since she couldn’t hear his thoughts. She leaned over, grabbed her remote for the electronics in her loft, pushed a few buttons, and the security screen popped up on her T.V. showing Agent Colin Banks frantically screaming, “Open the door, D!”

  By the time D unlatched the last lock Colin was charging in her home, breathless and in a hurry.

  “Why haven’t you answered your phone?” He demanded as he moved around the apartment gathering up maps and then moving to her secret room of weapons.

  “What is going on?”

  “You haven’t seen the news at all!” He screamed as he continued to gather things in a black duffle bag.

  “Go get a bag of clothes put together, we are going to be gone a few days. Hurry! Go! You have two minutes!”

  “Stop yelling at me!”

  He took wide strides towards her, closing the distance, his large strong hands gripping the tops of her arms, meeting her eyes he calmly spoke, “I will explain when we are in the car. I am sorry for yelling but we have very little time.” He dropped his grip and returned to filling his duffle bag with maps.