The receptionist frowned a bit. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kristi didn’t believe her. The receptionist had paused a second and glanced to her right before replying, which usually indicated the person was lying.
“Maybe Dr. Hanson gave us a fake address,” Jaiden whispered into her ear.
She ignored him and pressed on. “We have important information the Revealers might be interested in.”
The receptionist looked taken a-back for a millisecond before dismissing the notion that three teenagers could possibly have any useful information.
“I’m going to have to ask you three to leave if you are not here for real estate related business.”
Kristi let out a frustrated sigh just as a woman with black hair neatly pulled into a bun caught her eyes. Maybe she could help us. The woman glanced over and made a sign telling her not to leave.
“I think I’m who you’re looking for,” the woman said from across the room.
Could this woman possibly be Tiffany?
The woman approached them.
“Sorry, I was just about to send these kids out,” the receptionist apologized to the black haired woman. “I can deal with them; I know you’re always busy with your work.”
The woman waved away the receptionist’s words and said, “It’s alright. I’m sure these kids have traveled far to come here.” She turned to them and said, “Why don’t you follow me to my office? I’m sure you have a lot of questions and in retrospect, I have a lot of questions for you as well.”
“Who are you?” Chelsa asked.
“I’m Tiffany, of course. Let’s take the elevator to my office, unless you feel like climbing sixty-seven flights of stairs. Beautiful leopard, by the way.”
Ghost purred in satisfaction.
Tiffany looked to be in her mid-thirties; however, appearances are often misleading with Perfects. There was always the possibility that scientists had tweaked with her aging genes to slow the formation of wrinkles.
The elevator dinged and opened up into a large office. The office had a wide window showing a picturesque view of Charleston. Despite the fact that there must’ve been over twenty electro-slates and computers on the five desks in the office, it was a very organized room. By the window was a coffee table with five chairs encircling it.
“Take a seat,” Tiffany said. “Drinks? I have juice, soda, water, coffee and tea.”
“No, thanks,” Kristi said.
Jaiden and Chelsa also declined a drink.
Tiffany got herself a bottle of mineral water and sat down in the chair across from them. “I assume you enjoyed your stay at the Rex Hotel?”
“It was you who made the reservation?” Chelsa said.
“Actually, it was Dr. Hanson who made your reservation. I am going to guess that you’re Kristi.” Tiffany shook her hand. “And you’re Chelsa.” She extended her slender hand towards Chelsa. “And you’re Jaiden.” Jaiden nodded.
“How did you know who we were when you saw us downstairs?” he asked.
“Dr. Hanson informed me of your arrival and provided me with pictures of all three of you. Not that I wouldn’t be able to recognize Chelsa and Kristi without the pictures Dr. Hanson gave me, despite the fact the last time I saw them was thirteen years ago.”
“Is it just me, or is this a bit confusing?” Jaiden looked around to Kristi and Chelsa.
“I suppose I should explain everything from the beginning,” Tiffany said. “Do you remember Stevey?”
“He’s kind of hard to forget,” Kristi said.
“Stevey used to work for the Revealers. He worked undercover at one of the government-funded labs for several years and provided us with invaluable information. However, a few days after a major promotion at the lab, Stevey began to go, ah, mentally unbalanced.”
“Why?”
Tiffany lowered her voice a notch, “We’re not sure. Ever since, it has become extremely difficult to communicate with him. However, we think that Stevey’s delirium is related to something that happened at the labs.” She raised her voice back to normal volume and continued on, “Dr. Hanson is Stevey’s caretaker. He checks on Stevey once a week to make sure Stevey has enough food, water and such. Well, he naturally became suspicious when Stevey started rambling on about three visitors with a leopard that seemed very interested in information about the Revealers. As a result, Dr. Hanson checked the tapes from the cameras at Stevey’s cabin to see who exactly the visitors were.”
“You have cameras installed at Stevey’s house?” Chelsa interrupted.
“To make sure Stevey doesn’t accidentally set his house on fire,” Tiffany said. “Anyways, after concluding that Stevey’s visitors were indeed who he suspected they were, Dr. Hanson sent me an instafication letting me know that you guys were searching for the Revealers’ headquarters.”
“And then Dr. Hanson recognized us at Country Inn and left us with this address,” Kristi finished.
Tiffany nodded. “Exactly. Dr. Hanson knew you were coming to Charleston, so he set up reservations at the Rex Hotel and sent me an instafication today when he spotted you three entering Verus Real Estate.”
“But what I don’t understand is why Maria and Don sent me to find you guys.”
“Do you mean Shelly and Kyle?” Tiffany asked.
Kristi then remembered her adoptive parents’ real names were Shelly and Kyle. “Yeah.”
“It’s because they left this behind for you.” Tiffany stood up and walked over to one of her desks. She entered a password to the padlock locking a drawer, then returned to them holding an electro-slate.
“They sent us halfway across the country for an electro-slate?” Jaiden sputtered.
“I think it’s much more than an ordinary electro-slate,” Tiffany said.
“You think?”
“Nobody except for Shelly and Kyle know what’s inside this slate.”
“Speaking of Shelly and Kyle, how did the trial go?” Kristi asked.
The sorrowful look Tiffany gave answered her question. They were dead.
Although Kristi hadn’t felt very close to Don and Maria—no, Kyle and Shelly—she couldn’t help but grieve at their deaths. After all, they had housed, clothed and fed her for thirteen years. She blinked back the tears threatening to trickle out.
Even Jaiden, who claimed he would never forgive his parents for not telling him they were spies, seemed a bit misty-eyed.
“Didn’t anyone try to crack open the electro-slate to view its content?” Kristi asked, changing the topic.
“Kyle and Shelly placed a lock on the slate. Go ahead, try to unlock the slate if you want,” Tiffany said.
Kristi powered on the slate and swiped her finger across the screen to unlock it. A message popped up:
Access Denied. Fingerprints of the Naturals required.
“Who are the Naturals?” Kristi asked.
“As you may or may not know, one of my jobs was related to Shelly and Kyle’s case. I was in charge of ensuring four chosen Accidents would survive. The government is very effective in making sure Accidents disappear,” said Tiffany.
“Why do you need four Accidents to survive?” Jaiden asked. “It seems kind of irrelevant, though I do appreciate you for making sure Chelsa and Kristi didn’t mysteriously vanish after birth.”
“I can’t answer that question because even I don’t know the answer. All I know is that Shelly and Kyle requested there to be four Accidents, also known as the Naturals, in order to complete their assigned cases. I’m sure all of your questions will be answered once you unlock the electro-slate they left behind.”
“Do you have the address of the other two Naturals?” Chelsa asked.
“No—”
“Great,” Jaiden said. “We get to go on another wild goose chase across the country.”