Hi!!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know; I suck. This is a long time coming. In my defense, I had an original ending when I posted chapter 3 of Kismet Encounter but wanted it to be so much more. It
deserved
to be better. So, while trying to somehow better the ending, I decided I wanted to completely rewrite the story. Funny, in hindsight, funny and dumb. I got distracted by other stories, then had a manuscript accepted by a publisher, then a second, and one thing led to another. Things have been insanely busy in my world, with my day job, family life, and writing prospects. Then came the COVID19 crisis (I work in healthcare).
My point is, I apologize for the wait. This is the final chapter in Kismet Encounter, unless, you know, I decide on some spinoffs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I sincerely appreciate the emails and comments from readers saying how much they like the story and wanted the ending to finally come. Here it is! I hope it doesn't disappoint, seeing as you all have waited far too long for it.
If you're new to this series, go back and read the rest. This is definitely not a standalone series. I promise it's worth it!
Thanks for your patience and gentle pushes to finish the story-it meant a lot.
Huge thank you to
E
for pushing me to finish this and for edits.
Recap: we left off with Roland and Camille being shoved into the back of a dark SUV.
***
"Where's Camille?" Allen asked as he entered the living room, scratching his chin.
Jude looked to Malcolm as he shrugged his shoulders before he turned back to the video game he was playing. "I haven't seen her since she left with Roland." Hours had gone by since the two left together.
Carey and Autumn simultaneously shook their heads.
Jude could only imagine what they were doing but had a good guess. Who could think of sex at a time like this? Her sister, of course. She rolled her eyes.
Malcolm cleared his throat. "Has
anyone
seen her?"
Jude nodded. "I saw her and Roland leave a couple hours ago but they haven't come back."
Allen's eyes widened, and he turned to the bay of computer monitors, his red hair whipping around him. His fingers moved across the keyboard at record speed and Jude stood from her spot on the couch to see what he was doing.
"Carey," he said without halting his movements. Carey got up and walked over to Allen's plethora of screens and leaned in. They both looked intent in their search of the screens and Jude became intrigued. She stood, dusting her pants free of whatever made up the crumbs all over her pants and she ambled over to the men.
"Oh, fuck, oh fuck," Allen muttered.
Malcolm put his video game down. "What's going on?"
Allen shook his head as he scrolled through a long list of numbers that Jude couldn't understand. "They have your sister and Camille."
"What?" The word came out on an exhale and Jude had to steady herself by grasping the back of the chair Allen sat in. "What the hell are we going to do now? Oh, God." She slapped a hand to her forehead as dizziness washed over her.
Fuck.
"Don't freak out just yet," Allen said without looking up from the computer. Jude felt nauseous, the thought of the two most important people in her life in danger proving too much for her to handle.
"Don't...freak out? Too late." Jude wasn't a fainter but at that moment, the whoosh in her ears had her wobbling on her feet.
Carey stood and hooked an arm under Jude's, leading her back to the couch. "No passing out, dude. We'll figure this out."
"What are we going to do? That ruins your whole plan." Jude put her head in her hands. Never in her life had she felt so helpless. Not only was Natalie probably in a state of terror locked in a room in the old psychiatric hospital—better that than dead, she reminded herself—but now her sister was as well. The tough one of the twins. The one who had been Jude's rock their entire childhood.
Allen's brow scrunched. "Our plan isn't ruined—we just have to recalibrate."
"Can't we call the police?" Jude inquired, lifting her head with hope. The thought had her feeling a little less despondent until Allen shook his head.
Allen stuck his fingers out, bringing them to his head like a mock phone. "Yes, hi. I'd like to report a kidnapping by a secret organization. They took my friends who have magic powers and they're testing on them at that old hospital in Kirkland. Yeah, the one that shut down." He lowered his hands and met Jude's eyes, the whole charade igniting Jude's distress. "Would you believe that?" Jude shook her head. "Good, because I sure the fuck wouldn't."
Carey placed herself in a chair opposite Jude and gave her an empathetic look, lips a frown and brows knitted. "The hospital Dr. Thorn purchased isn't being heavily guarded. I don't think she's wanted much attention on her little science project; the less people involved, the better. There's a chance, a slim one, that we could breach the system and get in there to find our people. We may just have to go with the fire idea and hope for the best. The fire department and the police will respond to a fire because of the alarm triggering an alert in their system. We get in, get our people, and get them out."
Allen sneered, tossing a pad of paper on the coffee table. "Yeah, and there goes our hope to expose those sons of bitches."
Carey whipped her head around. "At this point, it's not about that. We have no idea what Thorn could be doing to any of them or what she's already done. The best we can do is try to hack into the mainframe fire panel and turn on the fire alarms, though of course that'll cause the sprinklers to go off. Potential for damaged documents."
Allen rolled his eyes and let his head loll back. "Ugh, waterlogged documents are not going to hold up in court."
"You got any better ideas in that big brain of yours?" Carey snapped.
Shaking his head, Allen sat forward. "No, I don't. We'll just have to do what we can and hope for the best."
Jude watched as the group gathered once again. Autumn, Carey, Allen, Brian, and Dylan surrounded the coffee table, the printed lay out of the hospital building spread over the table and they discussed the logistics. She tried to pay attention, but her fear was overwhelming.
Closing her eyes, she bent her head down, trying to reach out to her sister. It hadn't worked the countless times she'd already tried to reach out to Natalie but there was a shred of hope she could contact her sister.
The last words she said to her the night before were hurtful. Roland had been crass in her attitude toward Natalie's recuse, no doubt, but Jude hadn't meant to snap at Roland with such venom. She cursed under her breath when she came up with the same white noise as she did when she attempted to communicate with Natalie.
The rule of proximity applied to the twins shared telepathy just as it did with any other person but Jude had hoped it would be possible. With a sigh of resignation, she opened her eyes and tuned into the conversation unfolding before her, hoping they had better luck with a plan than she did.
***
A raging headache gnawed at the corners of Natalie's brain as she woke. When she opened her eyes, bright fluorescents overhead assaulted her eyes and she squinted as she took in the room around her. It looked like a large exam room in a hospital, white walls, tiled floors, and various equipment pushed to the side.
A reasonably sized window showed off the sky, a deep purple of either early morning or late night, Natalie couldn't tell. through the window. Cars zipped across an overpass that had to be only a few miles away from wherever they were located. It looked slightly familiar, but fog clung to the periphery of Natalie's mind, and she couldn't place the geography. Soreness spread through her arms as she tried to move them and she realized with horror they were restrained to the bed by soft cuffs wrapped around her wrists.
Panic set in and she tried to move, her unrestrained feet kicking the blanket from the bed she was in. She noticed that it wasn't a bed at all but rather a stretcher. A thin, clear tube was sticking out of her arm leading to a small machine beside her that let out a soft beep every few seconds.
Cords trailed from her chest out of the thin hospital gown she wore to another bulky contraption. When did she change her clothes? Natalie looked around for anything to get her out of the restraints, but she couldn't see anything within her short reach. She remembered with a sickening feeling where she was, or where she had been before.
