Undisclosed by Jon Mills Read Free Book Online Page B

murmured.
    “Ah, she was beautiful. Everything a man could desire. She taught me many things.” His eyes glazed over as he became lost in thought for a moment. “She wanted me to believe that humanity had goodness—that we could live together in peace, if we gave them more time. She was very convincing and for a moment I believed her. One evening I came home and she was gone, taking our child with her. As you can imagine, I was beside myself. It took me months to track her down—but I eventually found her.”
    Scott coughed as a waft of smoke blew his way.
    “She was with another man. It seemed that she had her own reason for wanting more time. Still, I consider myself a fair man. I tried to give her the option to return, that if she would come back, I would forget it all. And she refused.”
    Kaine puffed out another billow of smoke and turned towards Scott.
    “You see, Scott … humanity is flawed, despite all its best efforts, all its advancements and its belief that it can correct itself. It will forever continue to destroy itself. It’s incapable of understanding why. And no amount of time will change that.”
    He straightened up, motioning for Scott to walk with him to the door.
    “That’s why we have a marvelous opportunity here. Think of it like—giving evolution a slight nudge in the right direction.” He waved his hand as if conducting a symphony. “A mere speeding up the process.”
    “But it’s killing people. How many more people must die? You said it would help.”
    “And it will. Oh, Scott, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. And you’re so close.”
    Scott swallowed; if Kaine only knew.
    He halted.
    “It will be humanity’s greatest gift. Yes, that’s it, a gift!” he said as his lip curled up.
    “So, as you can see, it’s critical for humanity that we continue to move ahead now, that we don’t hold off any longer. Unless you have some other reason. Do you?”
    Scott swallowed; he knew that he couldn’t show any sign of indecisiveness.
    “No, sir,” he shot back.
    “Good.” They continued walking to the door. It slid apart, and Scott ambled through the exit, contemplating what Kaine had said. He paused and turned back. Kaine studied him with a slight glint in his eye.
    “You never told me—I mean, what happened to the man your wife was with?”
    “Nothing. I simply took back what was mine,” he said, giving him a look devoid of all emotion.
    Scott turned and went on his way. The way Kaine spoke the words sent a chill down his spine. He knew now, more than ever, he had to go through with what he had planned to do.

 
    Chapter Five

     
    “So, are you coming over later?” Ryan asked. “The old man left some brewskis in the fridge.”
    Kids were streaming out of classes, buzzing around them like flies as Travis threw a few belongings into his locker.
    “Ah, I wish—I can’t, man, I said I would fill in for my mom tonight. Anyway, I have no way of getting over there. The bike’s in the pound until I can get it out.”
    “Use the transit.”
    “Nah, another night, yeah?”
    Ryan shrugged.
    Travis was relieved the day was almost over. He wanted to get out of these sweaty, overcrowded hallways and away from—
    Too late. Travis grimaced. Closing in fast were Emily and her bitchy friend, Amber. Emily had gorgeous short cropped blonde hair, green eyes and wasn’t too skinny, but he liked that in a girl; there were far too many that were paranoid about overeating. Amber, well, she could have put a brown bag over her head and it still wouldn’t have been an improvement—God, he hated her. If there was ever a reason that Emily and he had never really had the chance to hit it off, or the opportunity to spend time together, it was because of Amber; she always invited herself along like an annoying third wheel.
    He had been seeing Emily for a couple of years. He’d met her out at the dome one weekend.
    At first, Emily had been pretty cool. There was never any