Chapter 21

Athena

July 3rd 12 pm

Location: Wark's Home

I saw my mother talking furiously to the small white lady, she had just popped up at our house and mom told me to go sit at the table. My mother was happy, or at least she had been happy since we moved to Washington DC and we got away from him, but this small white lady was making her not happy and I could tell because she was going back to Patois. But I remember the white lady, she made me feel comfortable when she was asking all of those long questions and making me answer those problems.

"My Athena will not be poked and prodded by you-you-you white smadi." She spat.

"She will not be poked and prodded but kids with that type of IQ level," She pointed at me, "Are what saves lives and become President of the United States of America, or become Navy Seals, do you realize she has an IQ of 160," She laughed, "a ten-year-old and the crazy thing about it is, it's just going to grow she will be getting smarter, this program is going to groom her and help her probably become the smartest woman in America hell even in the world."

My mother fiddled with her necklace and looked at me, "How much is it going to cost."

"Nothing, you have already given us enough by raising such a bright little girl." She smoothed her pencil skirt.

"Ou long will this be, and will she have to be away from me and what will you do to her?" She didn't take her eyes off of me, I could see her heart breaking, she hated to be away from me.

"It lasts until she turns eighteen, but the good thing is she will not be away from you if that's what you want the CIA will do anything to cater your needs and we will be doing different programs to see what fits her, we're basically grooming her for greatness." The white lady explained handing mom a packet.

My mother put her hair into a ponytail and took the packet, "How will I be able to transport her to and from."

"We have people for that and if you are worried about safety the Secret Service makes sure that the kids are safe."

"Athena come here." I walked over to her and hugged into her side she gestured towards the white lady, "Ms. Stevens says that you're really smart and you'll be seeing more of her."

Ms. Stevens held her hand out, "I want to take you and Ms. Lu-"

"Ms. Token, I'm not with her father anymore." My mother waved a hand.

"I'm taking you and Ms. Token out on a tour of the school, will tomorrow be fine?" She had a friendly smile, a smile I knew that I wasn't going to forget.

"Tomorrow will be perfect." She smoothed my hair.

I woke up with a head ache what else should I expect, I learned so much last night that I thought my head was going to explode. I hadn't texted Jose yet just because I didn't think a text message could clear everything that I found out, a part of me wished right now that I had just a big ass billboard and papers and just go town with it, just sort out all of my thoughts and brainstorm I had always loved to do that when I was in the program or did I, everything about my time in the Program was very unclear after I left.

My feet padding against the floor was the only sound the house made as I sat on the couch, the only thing that was going to satisfy me was me picking apart my brain looking for answers I didn't function right if I didn't have control over my thoughts, clutter always made me agitated.

"Ms. Cole." I heard a deep voice call out.

I frowned immediately and reached for my gun that wasn't there, that was right Nicki Cole was too bougie to touch a gun. I cleared my throat, "Yes?" I looked around the room, if needed I had at least twenty different weapons I could use if shit went south.

Two men greeted me, James and the man with the tattoo, I had only learned James name because he introduced me to him and only him properly, "Wark sent us back to come get you." James expression was cold.

"He wants me-"

"Yes, and he says that if clothes are a problem he can get you new clothes all he need is sizes." The tattoo man interrupted.

"My father?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Call him." James crossed his arms, clearly bored with the conversation.

"Fine since you have everything figured out, I will do that, excuse me." I brushed past them and walked into the next room, I tapped Jose's number in quickly as soon as he picked up I spoke, "I'm going to Jacksonville."

"What the hell are you talking about chica?"

I glanced at their backs, "Wark wants me to come to Jacksonville with him."

"You're not going are you, I have to talk to Bay about this."

"I am and he is a good guy you don't need to be worried." I exclaimed, the more of a scene I made the less suspicious I looked.

"What the hell are you talking about chica?"

"I will call you later, bye." I hung up.

Walking back into the room I placed a hand on my hip, "Now can I get dressed at least?"

----

Bay

May 3rd 2pm

Location: Bay's Pin House

"She did what!" I yelled into the phone, "What the hell took you so long to tell me?!"

"I was trying to call you but you didn't pick up." Jose explained.

I facepalmed myself, I was too fucking busy with the cash houses and play houses to even check my phone. "Ima need for you to tell her hard-headed ass that I am on my way."

Just as I was about to hang up he said in a rushed tone, "Athena says she knows what she's doing boss, I am not second guessing you but she sounded like she had it all under control."

I didn't like this, I didn't like this shit at all, "Fine but if anything happens to her tu culo es hierba, because I told you to watch her." (your ass is grass)

"Understood."

I hung up the phone and let out a frustrated sigh, I thought I could have a handle on that girl but I should have known that was a mistake, I shouldn't have left her in Chino, but I did what I had to do to protect her and to keep me sane.

"She'll be fine." Fres sat down in the chair and adjusted his tie.

"And how do you know that?" I side-eyed him.

"I dug a little bit deeper into Athena, and come to find out the CIA enrolled her into this Bright Future Kids Program, but come to find out they were grooming these kids to become spies for the government. It wasn't a program."

I frowned and leaned forward, "I am not comprehending, Athena grew up in the streets of San Fran from what you told me how in the hell did the CIA get a hold of her, the CIA only gets kids is if their parents were in the CIA."

He chuckled, "Everything I said was true, her father did kill her mother and beat her and shot himself, but she was picked up because, well read this." He handed me a news article.

I took the article and read the headline, 'Ten-year-old girl Smarter Than Einstein' The article came all the way from Washington DC, since when did she move to DC. "I don't understand what in the hell does this have to do with anything."

"Read it." He smirked.

"A.L. is a ten-year-old girl who is the brightest girl at her elementary school, so bright that she was able to skip to middle school, but she decided against. Now imagine you as a teacher watching one of your students be able to solve a NASA level problem, yeah, I can't imagine either. With the help of one of A.L. teachers we were able to get the story, A.L. was on a field trip at NASA and the little girl was able to escape from her peers and ended up accidently running into the room where all the mathematics that are part of the astronaut career takes place. A.L. was so small that she wormed her way through to the board and she ended up bringing the landing distance from earth to space to almost 100% accuracy.

People were so shocked that the head of the Program, Lucy Stevens, IQ tested her for a first time in history at the NASA base, Lucy Stevens said, and I quote, 'She has to be the most intelligent girl I have ever encountered and that says a lot coming from me.' But it had to shock her even more when her test results came back that she had a 160-score and. A.L. has since then from the IQ test has been enrolled to the Bright Futures Kids Program that is funded by the CIA and she plans on starting her first day next week, I am sure this will not be the last time A.L. will be making headlines, maybe we will see her making great strides in the government."

I laid back in the chair, this couldn't have been real, I just couldn't believe, I knew she was smart but damn this smart? "And you're sure she is A.L?"

"I am more than positive Bay, you almost killed her and you wouldn't have realized that you have a girl with an IQ score higher than 160 and she is CIA trained, and to add on top of that she knows how to handle herself, this girl is so much more than a mole Bay, she could help you take over the world." For the first time in damn ten years boredom didn't sit on his face, Fresno actually looked excited.

"How long was she in the program for?" I pushed the article away.

"Six years, she ended up staying in the program for another year after her mother was killed and father in prison, but her tìa, Olivia Token, came in and took custody over Athena and she came to San Fran and started public schooling."

"What you're telling me, is that her aunt put a genius in public schooling?"

"Yep, from what I can tell her aunt wasn't the richest."

I rubbed my face, I learned new shit about her every day, hell maybe Jose was right she could handle yourself.

----

Athena

May 3rd 2pm

Location: Jacksonville, Florida

It was hot and humid, and I hated it. I never did understand the hype of Florida, to me it seemed like everywhere else, I was happy that I decided to wear sneakers instead of red bottoms. I heard thunder coming from the distance and from the juicy fat storm clouds I could tell if we didn't get to a place with a roof over it we would be swimming in the Florida swamp.

"You're so dramatic."

No, I just hate nature, I have always hated nature, I mean it was beautiful if you studied it from inside a lab but it's just too much germs and if you take a few steps you could find yourself stepping into some species shit.

"The girl who killed people hates nature."

Sue me.

"Hey beautiful." Wark kissed me.

"Are you going to tell me exactly why I am here Wark?" I placed a plastic smile on my face, no matter how many times he kissed me that feeling still stuck there.

"I wanted to show you beautiful Jacksonville." He gestured to the environment we were in.

I held back my laugh as thunder struck, "I don't want to get in your way."

Placing both hands on my face he said, "You could never get in my way Nicki."

-----

9:12 PM

1.25.2018

Two stories back to back...no Drake...i'll go home.-A.A. xx