I walked into the hospital and found Morrighan and Peter waiting for me.
“Were you really in an accident?” I asked.
“No, but we wanted to make sure your cover story held up,” Peter said. “I brought her in and told them she was in an accident, had the doctor check her out. Now that you’re here, we can go home and have a pint.”
I understood. When dealing with telepaths, you need to make sure your cover story covers everything. One of O’Driscoll’s men could walk in, scan the place, and know if Morrighan had actually been there. A search of classified medical records wouldn’t be necessary.
We took our patient home and I called O’Driscoll the following day.
“Brendan? It’s Rhiannon.”
“What can I do for you?” his voice was distant, cold.
“You told me to call you.”
“How is Morrighan?”
“She’s doing better. She wasn’t seriously injured and the doctors have let her go home.”
“Well, that’s good. Give her my best.”
I let silence hang for perhaps half a minute. “You said you might want to see me again.” I let the tone in my voice convey a bit of hurt, a bit of longing, a bit of hope.
“Yes. I’ll pick you up for dinner on Friday at 6:30,” he said. Not asking, commanding. Testing to see how I’d react, or falling into the pattern he expected the relationship to take?
“All right. What should I wear?”
“Wear that teal dress you wore last time. I like it.”
“All right. Is there anything else?”
“Be ready on time.”
“I will. Where are we going?”
I heard a click and a dial tone.
As I hung up the phone, I had a precognitive flash. The scene in the vision was a Wuthering Heights gothic sort of thing. I was running along the top of a cliff with the ocean crashing against the rocks below me. Wearing that teal dress.
Turning to Rebecca, who had been listening, I said, “If a man I was dating ever talked to me like that, I’d kick him so hard his testicles would merge with his tonsils.”
“Yeah,” she said, “he’s a real sweetie.”
“I have a feeling he has more than dinner planned for Friday. He doesn’t strike me as being very patient.”
“Hell, he fed you once and didn’t get laid,” Rebecca said. “He probably figures you owe him.”
That’s exactly how he’d sounded. Like a bill collector.
“I think we should arrange stronger security for you,” she said. “Better safe than sorry, right?”
I hesitated, but something had been bothering me since the restaurant.
“Rebecca?”
“Yes?”
“The emotions you were pushing into me. I’ve never felt anything like that before.”
She dipped her eyes. I could tell she was gathering herself, deciding how much to tell me.
“Morrighan told you that I’m a wilder,” she said, raising her eyes to meet mine. “She didn’t tell you that I’m an s-carrier.”
I understood immediately. The energy-balancing thing. As a wilder, she would have no one to understand, no support.
“For ten years, from the time I hit puberty until the Clan found me, I was an outcast of a sort,” Rebecca said. “My mother was a bible-thumping prude. I think she had sex once and didn’t like it. She twice committed me to an asylum. An eighty-year-old priest performed an exorcism on me, trying to drive out the demon. Someone tried to label me the school slut in my senior high school yearbook, but it was caught by the administration and deleted.
“When I came to the Clan, and they figured out what was wrong with me, it was such a relief. Not only did they tell me that it wasn’t a moral failing, or a personality defect, they helped me to design a plan for managing it.”
Her face clouded up, and I thought for a moment she might break into tears, but she fought for control, and her face reassumed a calm demeanor.
“I have a lifetime worth of pain and humiliation I can draw on,” Rebecca said. “I have the Empathic Projection Gift. I’ve been taught to use it as an asset. O’Donnell has taught me that I don’t have to be ashamed, but that all of my experiences are valuable.”
I didn’t have anything to say. I opened my arms, and after a brief hesitation, she held out her arms and embraced me. I opened my shields, down to eighth level, and was surprised, but pleased, when she did the same. We stood hugging each other, just feeling and sharing. I couldn’t remember sharing such an intimate moment with anyone except my mother.
After a long, comfortable while, we drew back from each other.
“So, if you have to rebalance ...?” I asked.
“That’s why Donny came with me,” she said, through a misty-eyed smile. “We don’t love each other, but he’s one of my closest friends. And a really tough and competent Protector, despite what you saw yesterday.”
I chuckled. “I’m not going to blame him for that. I didn’t see it coming either. Chantelle is a major bitch.”
Rebecca nodded. “I haven’t had to depend on Donny’s kindness. The twins have been quite attentive, and they don’t mind sharing.”
I felt my face flame.
“Too much information,” I said, “though I know I asked.”
A true smile broke on Rebecca’s face. “I’m used to hanging around with succubi,” she said. “Morrighan finds you an infinite source of amusement.”
“I’m not a prude,” I defended myself.
She squeezed my ass and I jumped away from her.
“Don’t worry,” she laughed, “I’m not into women. But, Goddess, you need to loosen up.”
~~~
Peter ordered a twenty-man team to keep O’Driscoll under surveillance twenty-four hours a day. They also followed his two main subordinates. It wasn’t credible that he had stopped all of his trafficking activities. Although Gordon was dead, and Ramona Fitzpatrick had disappeared, I couldn’t imagine he would just go on as though that part of his life never happened.
The O’Byrne interrogators who were reprogramming Myrna had some ideas. We were looking for clues that might lead us to what he was currently doing.
Rebecca and I took the Cooper and went around visiting O’Driscoll’s party partners.
John Murphy, the banker, was out on bail, fired from his job and going through a divorce. We tracked him to the hotel where he was staying. The look on his face when he opened the door and saw me was priceless.
I scanned his mind and found that although he hadn’t had any contact with O’Driscoll or the rest of the pedophiles, he was regularly soliciting escorts. I couldn’t believe he was that stupid.
I scanned the area as we left, then touched Rebecca on the shoulder and hooked my thumb toward the door across the hall. *Check out the guy in that room.*
Rebecca burst out laughing. *Oh, my God. What an idiot.*
The room was rented to a private investigator hired by Murphy’s wife. He was taking pictures of every woman who went into Murphy’s room.
*And now he has pictures of Murphy hiring two hookers at the same time,* Rebecca said.
I realized she meant us, and also started laughing.
We found the broker Jason Perry at his favorite pub, and discovered that the fear he’d shown when I talked to him weeks before had faded. He hadn’t been able to control his lust for young girls. Reading his mind, we discovered that O’Driscoll was back in business. He’d supplied a girl to Perry the night before taking me out to dinner.
We sat with him for almost an hour, shamelessly ransacking his mind while he bought us drinks. After squeezing him dry, I indicated we should go.
*Do you mind if I cure him of his pedophilia?* Rebecca asked.
I shrugged. *He’s not a friend of mine.*
Rebecca put her hand between Perry’s legs. The man jerked and screamed. All sound in the pub died, and everyone turned to look at us. Perry flopped around in his chair for a bit and then slumped. An unpleasant
smell told me he’d lost control of his sphincters. I glanced down and saw a growing wet spot on his trousers.
“Yuck,” Rebecca said, holding her hand away from her. “I need to wash my hands.”
“I’ll come with you,” I said, grabbing both our bags.
“The girl was a norm,” Rebecca said, as she washed her hands in the loo. “Just like the one we saw the other night. Why do you suppose he’s given up on telepaths?”
“A lot fewer telepaths in the world. We aren’t as easy to find, and he doesn’t have Myrna and Ramona recruiting for him anymore.” I had been thinking about this exact point while we were interrogating Perry. “O’Driscoll has to be discreet in his position. A young girl disappears after being seen with him, the Garda might come calling. Norms are easy.”
As we left the pub, Peter called on my mobile.
“O’Driscoll’s man just went to an apartment in a building O’Driscoll owns. He came out with that girl we saw and another one. We’re following them.”
“What about the apartment?” I asked.
“We’re checking it out now. It appears there are still five people inside. Should we take it?”
“I don’t see why not,” I answered. I turned to Rebecca. “Peter says they’ve found an apartment where O’Driscoll’s keeping his stable. Any reason not to clean it out?”
“No,” she said. “But you shouldn’t be there. We don’t want to take a chance of tipping him off.”
I thought about it.
“Peter, the last time we disrupted O’Driscoll’s operation, he ran. We don’t want him to run now. Can’t we wait until Friday when he picks me up for dinner?”
I pulled the phone away from my ear so Rebecca could hear. “It bothers me to leave any girls with him another minute, but you’re probably right,” Peter said.
Rebecca leaned over. “Peter? Can we take the driver and the two girls who are out? And take the johns also. Do it quietly. Just disappear the lot of them,” she said.
“You don’t think it will spook him?” Peter asked.
“He won’t know they’re gone until tomorrow,” Rebecca said. “And if there’s no alarm, no clues, he won’t even know what’s happened.”
“I like it. I’ll let you know what happens,” Peter said and hung up.
~~~
We drove back to Morrighan’s and went out to dinner. The crew straggled in about an hour after we got home.
“All done, and nary a whisper to let anyone know,” Peter said. “All four men and the two girls are safely on their way to Wicklow.”
“Four men?” Rebecca asked.
“There were two men waiting for the younger girl when she was delivered. Goddess, she’s barely fourteen. They had everything set up for a porn film. Cameras, lights, with a king-size bed in the middle of the room.”
He took a pull on his pint and chuckled. “Your boy Donny taught me a new trick. After the driver dropped off the other girl, Donny hit him from behind with an air shield, like you’d use to batter down a door. Ran over him like a truck. He was out before he hit the ground. No chance he signaled anything to O’Driscoll. Then we just sauntered in and took the girl and the john.”
“We cleaned it all up, even took the cameras,” Donny said. “There isn’t a trace that the girls were ever there. O’Driscoll won’t have a clue as to what happened. For all he’ll know, they were all abducted by aliens.” He looked fondly at Rebecca, “I learned that trick from Rebecca. She has a unique way of looking at our Gifts. I think it’s because she’s a wilder. She manipulates air in ways I’d never dreamed of.”
Rebecca leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. “Flatterer,” she said. “You just want a little extra in your next paycheck.”
Peter smiled. “Is that one of the ways you motivate the troops?”
She tossed her hair and looked down her nose at him. “A good leader goes the extra mile to inspire loyalty. Quote from Seamus O’Donnell.”
We all laughed.
~~~
Chapter 26
Brendan O’Driscoll showed up at Morrighan’s at 6:29. I was ready and opened the door immediately. I thought I saw an almost-smile cross his face.
*Good luck,* Rebecca sent. I would be maintaining an open link with her, as though she was riding in my mind. Peter’s entire team of thirty Protectors was bracketing us, with our small team following closely but out of sight. With the link between Rebecca and me, they couldn’t lose us.
Brendan made a few perfunctory noises about how nice I looked and bundled me into the back of his limo. In addition to the driver, another thug sat on the left in the front seat. We headed out toward the M-50 and entered the motorway going south. Brendan didn’t say anything, so I didn’t either. A good girl is seen but not heard. I sat back and let Rebecca’s succubus perfume work on him.
When we swung off the ring road and headed south and west, I began to get nervous. We were heading out of town.
“Where are we going?”
“I want you to see my family’s estate. We should spend some time getting to know each other. We’re adults. We shouldn’t be wasting time going on dates like teenagers.”
“You’re from Cork, aren’t you?”
“Dun na Sead,” he said in Gaelic. Fort of the Jewels.
“That sounds very romantic.”
The expression on his face softened. “I don’t actually live in the original castle. The English took that generations ago. My family has an estate near there. The modern house is much nicer than a drafty 17th century castle. I think you’ll like it.”
Rebecca spoke in my mind, *The modern name is Baltimore. It’s about 350 miles south of Dublin. Four hours by car. It’s the most southern tip of Ireland.*
“Is it far from Cork?” I asked.
“About an hour south. It’s about as far south as one can be in Ireland,” Brendan said.
“Oh,” I smiled, “I should have brought a bathing suit.”
He actually shuddered. “I think not. The water there is not something a rational person would go swimming in. It’s rather cold and rough.”
“I should call Morrighan and tell her,” I said, digging for my mobile in my bag. “I don’t want her to worry when I’m late.”
He reached over and took my phone. Turning it off, he slipped it into his jacket pocket on the side away from me. “You’re a big girl. Morrighan will just assume you got lucky.”
I’m sure his smile was meant to be playful, but it came off as creepy.
*Rebecca, I’m being kidnapped.”
*I was afraid of that. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you.*
*I can take care of myself, but I’m afraid of the car crashing if I flood it with Neural Disruption.*
*Yeah, don’t do that. He has a van full of goons in front of you and another one in back. You’d have to fight seventeen men, even if you survived the crash.*
Great.
Since I’d taken the news of where we were going so calmly, Brendan began to talk. Mostly he asked questions about me. Where I grew up, what it was like, where I went to university, and what my life was currently like. He asked a lot of questions about my boyfriend. He’d ask seemingly innocuous questions, then get more personal, then hit me with something like, “It seems your boyfriend likes to treat you rather roughly. Does he treat you roughly when you have sex?”
“He likes it, yes,” I answered.
“Do you like the orgasms you have when he’s rough?”
I would try to steer the conversation in another direction. Any questions I asked him were met with brief, shallow answers, then we’d be back to talking about me.
*Rebecca, he’s making me very uncomfortable.*
*Uncomfortable? If I was in that car, I’d be terrified.*
*You’re not doing a good job of holding my hand,* I told her. *Don’t quit your day job to become a counselor.*
He reached into the small refrigerator behind the driver’s seat and brought out a bottle of champagne.
&nb
sp; *Uh oh. I don’t think I’m going to be able to go the whole night without drinking or eating anything.* I sent.
*Yeah. The cocktails of drugs we’ve seen traffickers use on telepaths hit so hard and fast, it’s impossible to detoxify them in time.*
*That makes me feel better. Keep it up, you’re doing a great job of easing my mind.*
I thought furiously. If he drugged me, he might not get into my mind, but my body would be helpless. I thought back to the memories I’d found in Ramona Fitzpatrick’s mind. Brendan tying her to a cross and whipping her until she bled. And that was only foreplay.
*Rebecca, can you lay a compulsion in my mind from a distance?*
*I don’t know. I’d have to be in your mind. We’re communicating because you’re contacting me. What kind of compulsion?*
*Perhaps you can drive closer, within your range, for a short while?*
*We can do that. What kind of compulsion?*
*I want you to set up something in case I’m drugged. Something to trigger my air shield and Neural Disruption.*
She was silent for almost a minute while I watched Brendan pop the cork and pour two glasses of champagne.
*Yeah, I can do that. Give us a few minutes to get closer.*
I took the glass, got ready to trigger my Neural Disruption Gift, and took a small sip. As soon as it was in my mouth, I began trying to analyze it for something more than alcohol. Of course, I wouldn’t really be able to tell until it hit my bloodstream. I relaxed when Brendan took a drink.
It seemed like forever before Rebecca sent me a spear thread outside of the link we’d been using.
*Can you hear me now?*
*Yes.*
*Okay, I’m in range. You’re going to have to create a hole in your shields to let me in.*
And pray that O’Driscoll didn’t sense the hole. He’d been probing me constantly since we left Morrighan’s.
I felt her enter my mind. On my third level, she did something at the place where I trigger Aerokinesis. She did something else on my fifth level where I trigger the Rivera Gift. Neither of the changes she made in my mind were quite what I would have done. There was also a little something extra on both patches.
Broken Dolls: An Urban Fantasy (The Telepathic Clans Saga Book 3) Page 22