Jump Line (Book 1 - Jump Line Series)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

Theo studied Paul. "What else? I know there's more you're keeping from us. We want to know the truth."

Paul walked closer to the window. "You're right. We have been very busy over the past few hours. This is one of the reasons we should continue to work together. My son and I are excellent lab partners. Samuel, maybe you should tell them what else we've discovered."

Samuel cleared his throat. "I've known there was something going on with Luther for a while, so I decided to have LUX track him. At first, it didn't make sense what Luther was doing, but then I saw him jump to several random dates and return with extraction bags. I followed him and realized he was taking healthy people who weren't yet set to expire."

"Are you sure?" Audrina asked. "That's very dangerous."

"I know," Samuel said. "But there's something else.... Luther always looks different when he's on these missions. It's almost as if he's being controlled."

"I agree," I said. "The Luther I encountered in the area behind Marie's house was different from the Luther I've come to know over the past few days."

"Wait. Why would he bring healthy people to 2105?" Gave said from behind Theo. It was a valid question. "It doesn't make sense. Besides, it's risky. Too risky."

"Gave's right. Do we know how many he's taken, and how far back he's taken them from?" Audrina asked.

"I watched the areas where Luther had taken the people from for several days, and I scanned the news stories. It didn't take much to figure out what he was doing. He was taking people with certain skill sets. One of them was an Olympic runner, another was a prominent neurosurgeon and one was a famous architect. They were all instantly missed and stories circulated about their mysterious disappearances."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Audrina asked. I felt sorry for her, knowing that she was probably fuming that Samuel had kept this big a secret from her. First, he hadn't told her about me and now this. "We could have helped you figure it out. After all, we are, or were, a team. I understand you needed to talk to your father, but what about me? What about Theo and Gave?"

"I was about to tell you and then everything happened with Esa." Samuel looked defeated. "I'm sorry. I got so caught up in finding Esa that I thought I would try to get more information about Luther before bringing it to the group."

Theo shot back, "But you hesitated to speak to us. Why? Samuel, I understand how Esa is feeling right now. It's unbelievable how you've kept so much information from us."

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, but I knew Paul was the one I needed to talk to first. I figured he could probably help me put the puzzle pieces together since he's the only one who really knows Troy and our mom. I approached him right before I brought Esa back home. I knew you would all see this as a violation of trust, but he's my father," Samuel pleaded, doubtless hoping we would show him some kind of mercy. "If it makes you all feel any better, I wasn't sure I could trust him. It took me a few trips and then when I saw him with Esa, I knew he was telling me the truth that he didn't have anything to do with her disappearance."

Paul clicked his tongue. "Twenty-five years ago, Troy had his first big breakthrough and sent a mission to a newly discovered planet in another galaxy. Everyone was excited someone had found a place we might be able to move to if this planet was destroyed. Troy claimed the planet had similar properties to Earth, but, like all of the other missions, it was a failure. Everyone onboard died because they couldn't last the length of the trip. Their bodies simply weren't equipped to handle it."