The Secret (The Scinegue Series Book 1) (15 page)

She turned the thought over in her mind before continuing, “You dumped garbage for them for a few months.” She shrugged. “What could they see in you from that? Sorry! I don’t mean that bad, I just wonder why you are worth so much to them.”

“I’ve been wondering the same thing ever since Mr. Bryant offered me the job. They don’t know much about me as an employee. They’ve obviously been checking up on us, and I’m sure they know how I did in school and at my last jobs, but even I know I didn’t do anything outstanding that would make me valuable to them.”

Sarah nibbled on her sandwich and took a drink of juice. “Wow! That juice really is good.” She took another drink, savoring the flavor before swallowing. “I’ve never tasted anything like it before!”

Billy took a drink and nodded. “This is what I had with Mr. Bryant. They must have stocked our fridge with it because I made such a big deal about how good it was at the restaurant.”

“So, what are we going to do about all of this?” Sarah asked. “What are
you
going to do?”

“Don’t do that. We’re in this together, and we are going to make our decisions together.” He drummed his fingers on the concrete table, his sandwich forgotten. “What I hope is that Scinegue is a great company that just got a bad reputation. I’ll love my new job, make lots of money, and we’ll live happily ever after.” He gave Sarah a grin.

“What I’m afraid of is that they aren’t such a great company, and they want me to do something illegal or immoral, and if I don’t they are going to hunt me down and dispose of me.” He took a deep breath and held it before releasing it with a whoosh.

“What I know is that if we want to find out what’s really going on with this company, good or bad, I have to take this job. Bob seemed to think it was important that I accept any job I was offered there. Maybe I’ll even run into him now that I’m working in the office. He might be able to give us more information.”

“Maybe so,” Sarah agreed, and took another tiny bite of her sandwich before changing the subject. “Linda Brown stopped by for a few minutes this morning. She said she was there to let me know they had some garlic we might like to grow, and that it was about time to plant it.” She set the sandwich back on the napkin. Nerves were causing the little she’d eaten to roil threateningly in her stomach.

“When we went outside she told me that they heard rumors that a big meeting with all the Tops from around the world would take place very soon. She said they also feel it’s imperative for you to be inside the company. So, I guess you get a new office, and we get a new house, for a while at least, until we can find out what is going on.”

Billy took another big bite of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully, his appetite not hampered in the least. “I think that’s all we can do for now. If I’m working there I’ll at least have a chance of finding something out. I almost forgot! I stopped by Ben’s house today.”

“Really? Did you talk to him?”

“No, but I talked to his wife. She said Ben was sent to reprogramming by Scinegue when he wouldn’t accept a job they offered him.”

“I wonder if it was the job they gave you,” she said. “What is reprogramming, anyway? Did his wife tell you?”

“Not exactly. It sounds like they want to
reprogram
his way of thinking until he thinks what they are doing is right. I think it might be one of the self-help programs Mr. Bryant told me about over dinner.”

“So, there is really no question about you taking the job. If you didn’t, they might take you away like they did Ben. Does his wife know where he is? Is she trying to get him out?”

Billy shook his head. “It sounds like they just need to believe they’ve got him thinking like them, and they’ll let him go.” He gave a brief shrug.

Sarah turned so she could watch some little kids playing on the swings. “Do you think we will ever have children?” Her question would have seemed random if Billy didn’t know her so well. He knew it was an underlying thought no matter what she was doing.

Billy studied her profile, noting the sadness etched on her face. “We’ll have children when the time is right. I know it.”

A hint of a smile crossed her lips before disappearing. “Do you really think the pills I was taking from the doctor were keeping me from getting pregnant?”

“I don’t know, maybe. Bob seemed pretty adamant that you stop taking them. Just the fact that he knew you were taking them must mean something.”

Sarah swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and reverted to her previous subject. “Linda said we could come by tonight for a preview of what our class will be like if we want to.”

“I think that sounds like a good idea. They seem to know something about what is going on. Whether they’re right or not remains to be seen, but it won’t hurt to find out what they think is happening at Scinegue.”

“Okay,” Sarah agreed. “So, you have a nice office, huh?” She changed the subject again and turned to him with a smile.

“It’s beyond nice. I can’t wait for you to see it. There’s also a kitchen with a personal chef and a gym. And the bathroom!” His voice was filled with excitement as he proceeded to tell her all about his morning.

“
T
hanks for having us over,” Billy said as he shook hands with Farmer Dan.

“The pleasure is ours. We just finished dinner so if you want to come into the living room for a few minutes, I’ll help Linda clean up the kitchen. Then we’ll give you a ‘sneak peek’ of your first class.” He winked at them and turned toward the kitchen.

“Wait,” Sarah hurried after him as Billy went to the living room. “I’ll be happy to help Linda if you think that would be okay with her.”

“I think she would enjoy your company. Go right on in.”

Farmer Dan returned to the room that was used for the meeting, now arranged back into a functional living room. He lowered himself into a well-used overstuffed chair across from the couch Billy sat on. “When the ladies finish we can go out to the greenhouse, and I’ll show you that garlic seed Linda told Sarah about.” He gave Billy a pointed look, which Billy took to mean he should wait until they were in the secure greenhouse before saying anything important.

“That sounds good. We both like cooking with garlic, and it’s really great for fighting off a cold.”

“It is indeed. Unfortunately, Linda’s sensitive to garlic for some reason. If she eats too much of it she gets a terrible migraine headache. Me, I could eat it every meal, but I restrain myself for her sake. She really likes it and that would just be mean of me,” he joked. “Linda said you and Sarah have a very nice garden already. Do you put one in every year?”

“This is our first garden together. My grandparents always had a garden when I was growing up and I was fascinated with it.” Billy smiled, remembering good times in the garden and the important responsibilities he had to water and pull weeds. “I loved watching those little seeds turn into something we could eat.”

“It’s very important to be able to raise your own food and provide for yourself,” Farmer Dan said with a meaningful look.

Linda and Sarah finished in the kitchen and came out laughing and chatting as if they were old friends.

“Already done?” Farmer Dan asked in surprise as he rose from his seat.

“With the help of this little lady!” Linda laughed and gave Sarah’s arm a pat. “She really knows her way around a kitchen.”

“Billy, you should see the Dutch oven Linda has. You thought mine was heavy,” Sarah laughed.

“You’ve got to have the right tools to do a good job.” Linda rubbed her hands together. “Are we ready to head to the greenhouse?” she asked. Billy stood and nodded. “Let’s go then, before it gets any later.”

They entered the greenhouse with the security panel on the wall by the door and Farmer Dan punched in his code. “Okay, safe to talk. We just can’t stay in here a suspiciously long time.”

He went to stand beside his wife and put an arm around her. “We’re glad you were able to come before the class started. Everyone that was in your group has either recently been approached by Scinegue with a job offer, has just started working there, or is a spouse like you, Sarah. You differ from them a bit, though.” Billy and Sarah anxiously waited for him to continue, having decided to keep quiet about what they’d learned until they heard what the Browns had to say.

“We’ve learned more about the company since we stopped working there than we ever did while we were there. We’ve had to do a lot of digging, contact a lot of old coworkers. As you know, Scinegue is a private company, but we’ve learned many things that we believe are accurate, and not all of them good. The thing we’ve found that will be of most interest to the two of you is that you, Billy, are one of twenty or so experiments, if you will, done by Scinegue over several generations.”

“What does that mean exactly?” Sarah asked when Billy remained quiet.

“I’m not sure how much you know about Scinegue so how about I give you a brief history first?” Linda took over and waited for Billy and Sarah to nod their approval before continuing. “Scinegue is a new name for a very old company. Some like-minded individuals started it in the early 1900s, thinking they had found a way to make the world a better place. Like many causes, it did start out with a good idea that just got carried to the extreme.”

“What does that have to do with Billy?” Sarah asked.

“Well, these people believed that certain characteristics made for more productive people who would improve the world and make it a better place to live. They knew that proper education and nourishment were crucial for a person’s development. Their main focus was on breeding what they considered outstanding examples of humans to produce babies with the best traits of their parents.” Linda paused and looked at Billy with a sad smile, then looked to her husband to pick up where she left off.

“‘Selective breeding’ of people seems a little strange, I know, but I don’t think there is anything terrible about promoting desirable characteristics,” Farmer Dan continued. “What was disturbing is that while some of the group was focused on producing ‘excellent’ humans, the other side of the group wanted to eliminate people who didn’t meet their expectations in some way.”

He cleared his throat then continued, “The darker side of the company started out quietly—but convincingly—by promoting sterilization for severely physically and mentally handicapped people, and they soon added extremely dangerous criminals to their list. The idea became so popular with the ‘elimination’ group that mandatory sterilization was soon performed without the consent of the individual or any family members or representatives. People were just names on a list, and their ‘defect’ was listed beside the name. If it met the sterilization criteria, the people were scheduled to be sterilized.” Farmer Dan paused to see if there were any questions.

Sarah darted a glance at Billy, still wondering what any of this had to do with him. When he shook his head no she did the same and Farmer Dan continued, “There were already problems arising with the sterilization plan because many people were sterilized against their will. They weren’t all the incapacitated humans the group portrayed them as being. Although the plan started for just severely disabled people and highly dangerous criminals, the criteria kept modifying until it included people with only minor physical or mental impairments and all criminals. The poor were soon added to the growing list.”

Sarah noted that his words were lining up with the research she’d done and she found herself trusting the Browns even more. She wished they would get to Billy’s part in what they were talking about, though.

“Since they started including more and more reasons for sterilization slowly,” Farmer Dan continued, “people seemed to be pretty accepting of it in general. They might have gotten away with their plan if it hadn’t been for Hitler taking the idea to an extreme and actually doing what people in the company had only been able to dream of
:
actually killing individuals who didn’t meet their criteria. Well, as you know, that caused an uproar that sterilization hadn’t, but it helped lead to the end of the sterilization plan.”

He glanced at his watch before continuing, “The other side of the company was still going strong with their selective breeding program. They worked with volunteers from within the company so word wouldn’t leak out to the general public.”

Farmer Dan paused to take a breath and shared a private look with Linda. She nodded, as if giving him her consent, and he continued.

“Billy,” his voice was grave, “your great-grandparents were among some of the very first couples chosen for selective breeding. Your great-grandpa and your great-grandma both worked for the company and were chosen as compatible ‘breeding’ partners. I’m not sure if they even knew each other before the company matched them and arranged for their marriage.”

“What?” Billy asked with a shake of his head, not sure how he was supposed to believe what he was hearing. Was it possible that he had been a part of this experiment?

“I don’t want you to think poorly of them, Billy. They believed in what they were doing, just like Linda and I believed in the company while we worked there. And really, they didn’t do anything immoral. Arranged marriages happen to this very day.”

Sarah reached for Billy’s icy hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“A few other couples were also chosen from within the company to be married and have children. They were provided with the best nourishment and health care available, and were taught how to exercise and maintain their ideal weight. Their children certainly displayed desirable traits, and they were given excellent educations to encourage the growth of their minds.”

Sarah kept looking from Farmer Dan to Billy. He stood statue still, and his hand was limp in hers. She was starting to worry about him.

“The children were not told of the experiment,” Farmer Dan continued, “until one of them from each couple was selected to marry and reproduce with a child from another couple in the experiment. Only the chosen children—including your grandparents—knew about the program, and they were convinced of the importance to go along with it. But by the time their kids—your parent’s generation—were old enough to think about marriage, the world was a different place. The company didn’t believe those children would condone arranged marriages, and the leaders were afraid the company’s secrets would be exposed to the public.”

He paused to gauge Billy’s expression before going on, “Again, what they were doing wasn’t wrong, but they knew some people would try to stop them so they decided not to tell that generation about their roles in the experiment. The company identified ideal mates and the parents—your mom and dad’s parents—made sure they spent lots of time together and encouraged a relationship between them. I’m pretty sure your parents, and the other ‘experiments’ of that generation, never knew anything about it. They had their children and were tracked from afar.”

Linda put a hand on Billy’s arm, excitement lighting her dark eyes as it had the first time they met. “Billy, you are a third-generation product of their breeding experiment, and we believe that is part of why they are so desperate to have you work for them. There are only about 10 remaining people in the world who are products of their experiments.”

“So you’re telling me I’m an experiment?” Billy exploded, his face flushed and his hands balled at his sides. “Like some kind of test-tube baby?”

“Shh.” Linda tried to calm him. “We can talk freely in here, but loud noises still carry.”

“Now Billy, you are hardly a test-tube baby,” Farmer Dan stated. “You are an experiment of sorts, but nothing that drastic.”

Billy gave them both a hard look then stalked towards the back of the greenhouse trying to decide how this impacted him. He came to a stop in front of a group of brightly colored flowers like some his grandma used to grow in pots on her front porch.
Gerber daisies,
he thought distractedly as he remembered happy summers spent at his grandparents’ house.
How could they have not told him something like this?

Sarah walked up beside him and rubbed his arm. “What are you thinking?”

He shook his head, his eyes fixed on the flowering plants. “I’m thinking this is exactly like Mr. Bryant’s plant analogy, only I’m part of it.” He turned his head toward her and she was startled by the hurt in his eyes. “I’m some kind of experiment. Some kind of freak! And,” he continued lowering his voice, “I’m thinking that my grandparents knew what Scinegue stood for and supported it.”

He paused a minute. “My great-grandparents too, but I never really knew them. But my grandparents knew. They must have watched me like a science experiment every time I went to visit. I didn’t know my mom’s parents very well, but I spent a lot of time with my dad’s before they passed away.” He placed his hands on the potting bench before him and lowered his head. “I loved them.”

Sarah wrapped her arms around his waist. “Billy, I’m sure they loved you too. Farmer Dan is right. Arranged marriages happen every day. It doesn’t make you strange just because you come from a line of arranged marriages.”

“You know there’s a difference,” Billy said without looking up. “I was ‘selectively’ bred. How disgusting is that?”

“I’m pretty sure that arranged marriages do the exact same thing. Parents are looking for the best spouse for their child. It’s not something we are used to, but it isn’t really bad,” she tried to comfort him.

“At least my parents didn’t know,” he said softly. “I’m not sure if I could ever face them again knowing they only raised me as part of an experiment.” He straightened and faced the Browns, his eyes hopeful with a sudden thought. “My parents wouldn’t have fit Scinegue’s criteria in a lot of ways. I don’t think my dad is tall enough, and my mom wears glasses, and neither one of them scored exceptionally high on an IQ test we all took when I was young. There has to be some mistake.”

Linda’s smile was sad. She could only imagine the shock Billy was undergoing. “There isn’t a mistake. It all happened as Daniel told you. You’re correct that your parents didn’t meet the standard Scinegue criteria. That almost caused the whole program to end. Recessive genes were discussed and factored in, and the company decided to give the experiment one more generation
:
You. You turned out perfectly, and other than the minor glitch of your parents not turning out exactly as they expected, the results have been pretty consistent.”

“I still don’t understand why they think they need me. If what you’re saying is right, I’m sure they’ve studied me all my life. They certainly don’t need to pay me a huge salary just to get basic information from me.”

“There is more to it than them wanting to study you,” Linda started, before Farmer Dan nudged her and held out his arm so she could see his watch.

“We can’t get into this right now. We are also being watched. If we stay in this greenhouse where they can’t hear us for too long, they’ll get suspicious. Let’s just say your great-grandparents on your dad’s side were Tops, and that legacy is being passed on to you.”

She gave him a glowing smile before continuing, “We worked for the company for several years before going into business for ourselves. That’s how we are acquainted with, um, Bob, is it? During that time we fully believed the cover story that Scinegue was working for the good of all humanity. It now appears as if they never veered from the original company’s goal to dispose of anyone who didn’t match certain criteria; as if they were just trying to make themselves look good until they could find a way to go ahead with their plan.”