Chapter 659

The Retreat

Selina’s Suite.

Jeff knew better than to try to lie to her, with try being the operative word. “Okay, originally, I was going to approach this indirectly, but I suspect that you would rather that I was direct. Look, we’re worried about you. Your personality, although loving as always, is a bit more somber.” As she started to deny it, Jeff went quickly on. “Please don’t. We love you too much for you to have to lie to us. I know that you take pride in solving all your problems yourself, but sometimes it helps to, at least, tell others why we are stressed — and stressed you are — maybe also somewhat sad, too. What gives, Selina? Sweetheart, before you answer, I’m talking to that full genius hidden in that pretty little head of yours and not the beautiful child sitting beside me.”

Astonishing the Prime, Selina’s eyes suddenly filled with tears.

“Whoa, Baby,” he said as the sobs started, and he pulled her into his arms. “Easy, Sweet Lady,” he said, unconsciously rocking her a bit while trying to show her that he was not treating her as he might a child. “Whatever it is, you know I’ll do my best to fix it.”

After almost a full minute of soul-racking sobs that were scaring the crap out of him, the Prime continuing to feel totally helpless, Selina began to regain control of herself. “Sorry,” she mumbled between gulps. “I am acting as if I were a baby.”

“Don’t you dare say that. None of us would ever think you acted in any way less than that of a lady. We all cry from time to time. I feel sorry for someone who never sheds a tear, no matter what. Men don’t cry much, but I’ve seen some macho guys shed tears after losing a loved one.”

When he said that, he felt her flinch, and knew. “Your mother and father?”

“Yes,” she wailed. “I know they don’t want me in their lives, and I suppose I can understand that — at least to some degree — but they have regularly kept in touch with me. I know they love me, and I also know that I was an accident. An accident that they haven’t been able to relate to. My older brother is off somewhere, and just like my mother and father, he is intimidated by me, but not as much as they seem to be. I suppose I can understand that they can’t relate to having a genius as a child. Even when I was a toddler, I knew that something was wrong. Then, when I was a little older, I realized that they just could not relate to me. In a way, I think they were a little afraid of me — maybe even more than a little. I know that I embarrassed them. I already knew things they didn’t, and it only got worse as I grew until I began to try to hide it so they would not be as embarrassed.

“When I was little, they tried to lock me out of their personal lives — their bedroom, their computer files, Facebook, banking, things of that nature, but the lockouts were child’s play to circumvent,” she said with a sick laugh. “Deep down, I think the ease with which I bypassed their roadblocks shocked them. Since I was barely past the toddler stage and should have still been in diapers, only made it worse. They incurred many problems with me, but I think that shook them to the foundations of their egos. My brother and much older sister are normal. My sister is in college and I never see my brother.

“My parents, intelligent adults by any measure you care to use, had to undergo the humiliation of their young child dominating them, and I found out later that it wasn’t just them. Having failed themselves and in apparent desperation, they called on nationally known security agencies to lock down their computers, phone, etc., all of which barely slowed me as I continued to humiliate them. To me, it was just a game — the type of problem-solving game that I loved. Of course, I was a small child at that point and did not understand what I was doing to their egos as I blew past their roadblocks with my incessant thirst for knowledge — any knowledge.

“I was enthralled with sex, as were my parents, apparently. My mother is beautiful and has the finances to afford the best plastic surgeons to keep her looking that way. My father looks much younger than his age — well, you have seen them. Of course, I could only watch the sex, but I learned a lot about it from them before they realized I had overridden their locks and had been watching their orgies and swaps for months. My brother was seldom home and was finally enrolled in a prestigious high-school academy out of state, and my sister was in an equally prestigious college. When my parents learned that I had been watching, it really scared them. What if the police or some — as you refer to them — do-gooder organization found out? They reasoned that they would be in jail and their daughter would be part of some system, and should the government find out how smart I was, no telling where I would be.

“They stopped having their sexcapades in the house, but I found ways of bugging their apparel, vehicles, etc. It wasn’t as efficient, but I still got more than they expected. I even used somewhat unscrupulous detective agencies that were only interested in the money — money my parents showered me with as they tried to distract me from their personal lives.

“As I grew, I learned to conceal my intelligence and act my age, which seemed to please my parents as they were now able to pretend that I was a normal child when we were around others. It reached the point that I would often act as if I were slightly retarded just to frustrate my mother more. Now that I am older and have spent time with you marvelous people, I have realized that my parents loved me — maybe still do — but they were terrified of me and particularly of what I might do to amuse myself. I would agree to almost any rule they introduced, but I would always find ways to bypass them and get whatever I wanted. To say that they are wealthy could be categorized as an understatement, and it is old money. They were accustomed to being rich, so money meant little to them.

“They gave me anything I wanted, and I, as you might say, pushed it. Their answer was to tell the staff to provide me with anything I wanted, hoping that something new would capture my attention and keep me out of their lives — at least for a time. They had an account set aside for me that had far too much money in it. They must have lied about my age, or else the banks and credit card companies didn’t care, because I soon had debit and charge cards — all basically without limits. I imagine that came about because, for amusement, I continually broke into their accounts and used them quite freely. The money worked to some extent in that I frequently became interested in new projects — for a time — but I always grew bored, and to their frustration, went back to spying on their sex lives.

“Now that I’m a little older and have had you, My Prime, and all our family as examples, I realize just how much of a little bitch I actually was. You allow me anything I want, but not the way my parents did. They, as the expression goes, threw money at me in the hopes that I would not bother or embarrass them. You, of course, expected the absolute best out of me — still do, apparently — and you would never even think that I would harm anything or embarrass anyone just for the fun of it. And it works. Perhaps I have grown up somewhat. I would never intentionally hurt or embarrass any of you. You allow me to do what I always wanted, and that is search for knowledge — any knowledge, but my primary direction was, and continues to be, pure science.”

Selina stared at the floor for a time while Jeff patiently waited. “When I last heard from them, they were in Germany sightseeing and had been staying for the last few weeks in a hotel in Berlin, but she did not give me the name of the hotel. When my mother had not called when she usually does, I waited a few days before trying to call her. When neither answered their phones nor my emails, I began to wonder — then worry. They always checked on me regularly, even though they gave me to you, but they have not reached out to me for ten days before the attacks. I think...” she stumbled out, her voice suddenly sounding choked up, “Uh ... I am afraid they were ki...” Her voice suddenly changed, and she sat straighter. “I do not want to think of that,” she huffed out just before the tears returned with a vengeance. Turning to Jeff, she grabbed onto him as if she were drowning. “I treated them horribly, and now they are dead,” she wailed while violently trembling.

“Computer, tell Diana to come here now,” Jeff demanded as the shivering child’s tears soaked his shirt.

The AI, reasoning that Jeff’s order itself would be the most expeditious route to take, simply activated the system in the living room where Diana was and played back the Prime’s order.

Moments later, Selina’s door burst open and Jeff’s wives, let by Diana, charged into the room.

As the Queen’s eyes locked with her husband’s, Jeff quietly told her how long it had been since Selina had heard from her parents. But even as he did so, Oh, shit, he thought. With all that went on, I never stopped to consider what happened to her parents during the Miadax attacks.

The Prime came to his feet and got out of the way as the Clan Queen, in full mother mode, sat in his place and pulled the child into her arms, whispering into her ear and rocking her as she cried.

Jeff stood back for a time as the women questioned and consoled Selina. When Diana looked up, he caught her eye for a second while they communicated before she nodded and mouthed, “Go.”

“Jeff will find out,” she whispered into Selina’s ear. Diana moved back a little where she could speak normally. “In the meantime, we need to think positive thoughts and maybe think about what our Prime will need to find your parents. Perhaps, when you are a little more settled, you could list anything that you might consider pertinent concerning their habits, personalities, likes and dislikes — anything that could give him insight into determining even the general area they might have been when the attacks began.”

Selina has something to do to keep her mind busy. Bless you, Diana. Quietly, the Prime left the suite, already deep in thought. Selina doesn’t do things halfway. Knowing her, she has already exhausted all the obvious routes of inquiry and probably a number that aren’t that obvious. She has her own money provided by her parents — a substantial amount, plus Diana and I started an account in her name with an equally substantial balance. Our accountant has been instructed never to let Selina’s account go below half the original balance. In addition, she has charge cards with basically no limit on them.

Diana would have added one thing to Selina’s private interests — Jeff. He continued to tell Diana that once Selina was grown, she would find someone else to love and be her mate — probably another genius. Laughing, his Clan Queen accused him of being brain dead.

In his office, Jeff picked up his phone and dialed. “Jeff, you seldom call, let alone at this time of night. What’s wrong?” Fred, his longtime friend from Georgia, now a farmer near Winter Park, asked.

“Hi, Fred. If I interrupted, I apologize. Look, I need to talk to you as soon as possible, but I don’t want to do it on the phone. Could I stop by in the morning?”

Fred chuckled. “If you came down, then your wives would have to come, and that would mean that a few dozen security guys, vehicles and aircraft would have to come because some asshole is always trying to do something to you or your family. Better that we come to see you. Besides, my women have been bugging me to get off my ass and go visiting since we haven’t seen you guys in a while.”

“Yeah, talking on the phone just isn’t the same. So, how about breakfast in the morning?” Jeff asked.

Fred let out a chuckle. “You must be upset to have forgotten. This is a farm. By the time you’re eating breakfast, we’ve been up a minimum of two hours, probably three. At least we’re done with the planting, and spring calving time is over, too, so we can actually leave for a few hours now and then. What say we get there around eight? The women can talk, and you will have time to tell me what’s going on.”

“That sounds like a winner. I apologize for bothering you this late. Tell everybody I said, ‘Hi,’ and we’ll see all of you at eight tomorrow.”

Jeff dialed again.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Courtney.”

“Jeff, we were just talking about you guys.”

“You must be really bored,” he said, laughing. “It’s been two weeks since you three were up here, so what gives?”

“Oh, the usual. You know the drill. Matt has been busy at work and has been working from can to can’t, as you would say. Do you need to talk to him?”