by John O'Riley
“I don’t expect you to work clear through the night just because we’re partners,” Julie said teasingly.
“I was trying to see what was going on at Psi-Tech,” Jeremy said. “I intuitively received keywords for an online search and discovered there are three new psychic research companies like ourselves and Psi-Tech.”
“Really?” Julie asked sharply. “Are they subsidiaries of Psi-Tech?”
“No, they are owned by individuals and haven’t received any publicity. They’re advertising online. The closest one to us is in California. I think we need to check them out.”
“Is it your intuition?” Julie studied him appraisingly.
“Yes. I feel they are somehow linked with what is going on,” Jeremy said.
“Interesting,” Julie said musingly. “I would like you to go with Emily when she wakes up.”
“Okay.” Jeremy was relieved she hadn’t asked him to go immediately because he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to leave his sister in her current condition.
“I hired four more telepaths who can help us keep up with our work load. I’m sure I’ll continue to recruit a small number of people,” Julie said.
“I’m surprised they would choose to live here when they don’t know the danger that Psi-Tech poses,” Jeremy said.
“I’m letting them live here rent free while they work for us but it’s not a requirement. They’ll look for a home in the area. The salary I’m offering is very generous so we’re definitely going to attract new staff members,” Julie said.
“I wonder how we can possibly compete with Psi-Tech,” Jeremy said.
“If new companies like us begin to pop up everywhere, we won’t have to compete with them on our own. There will be plenty of competition. It may take the heat off us but I’m definitely going to want to learn how they’re linked with Psi-Tech,” Julie said. She smiled encouragingly at him. “I’ve got good news. Our psychic network has expanded to include over six hundred members.”
“That’s great news!” Jeremy exclaimed.
“Yes, it is.”
He checked in on Emily before getting a bite to eat. She was still unconscious and Kate was with her. Kate said she’d already eaten and preferred to stay with Emily so Jeremy went to find Skylar. The two of them went to the eating area for dinner and decided on sweet and sour chicken since they were tired of pizza.
“So how are things going? I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since yesterday,” Jeremy said.
“I’m okay. I visited Emily a couple of times during breaks. Kate said she’s definitely going to be okay. She saw her waking up in the near future. Is that what you saw?” Skylar asked with concern.
Evidently he didn’t share as much faith in Kate’s precognitive abilities as he did Jeremy’s.
“Yes, she’s going to be fine,” Jeremy said reassuringly.
He explained to Skylar what he’d learned about the new psychic research companies.
“I’m surprised that they would start up so quickly,” Skylar said. “It takes money to start up a business.”
“Yes, it does. I’m really curious about what we’ll find,” Jeremy said.
“I’d like to go, too. If there’s a link with Psi-Tech, it might be a good idea for at least three of us to be there.”
“Sure, you come,” Jeremy said.
After they finished their dinner, they checked in on Emily who was still lying unconscious. Kate paced back and forth in the room.
“I can’t take it for much longer,” Kate said.
“It’ll be okay,” Jeremy said.
They waited in silence as time dragged on. Jeremy sensed something strange and reached out with his mind to identify the phenomenon. After a moment, he realized that faint, dissonant ripples shuddered through the psychic network. Jeremy wondered how he could stop them. They weren’t doing any damage at the moment but that could change. He theorized that this may have preceded the first psychic attack that had immobilized Emily but that he hadn’t noticed. Abruptly, the dissonant ripples focused onto specific targets. Someone’s mind screamed in agony and Jeremy pushed back against the attacker. The target abruptly change and new destructive waves of dissonance energy crashed through the network. Jeremy tracked the new target but before he could intervene, it switched again. He quickly reached out to find the new victim but wasn’t fast enough. Fortunately, he had so far prevented anyone from losing consciousness.
Jeremy continued to pursue the attacker and at the same time tried to develop a strategy of locating him quicker. Whoever was doing this possessed a psychic imprint that was very familiar.
“Julie, I need some help,” Jeremy said telepathically.
“What do you need?” she said.
“Someone is attacking different people in our network. I need help locating him quickly and pushing him out when he attacks,” Jeremy said.
“I think that some remote-viewers would come in handy,” Julie said. “I’ll contact them to coordinate efforts with you to track down the intruder.”
“Okay. If you think that will work,” Jeremy said doubtfully.
“It’s the best course of action,” Julie said crisply.
A group of telepaths met with Jeremy and he directed them to the next target when it occurred. They were successfully in helping to push back against the intruder when the next assault came. Following the same behavior as before, the attacker instantly retreated when they intervened.
“Did anyone track him down?” Jeremy asked.
“We see him,” two of the remote-viewers responded. “He’s at Psi-Tech in Seattle. We’re trying to see if we can ID him.”
“Show me what he looks like,” Jeremy instructed.
A very familiar image popped in his mind’s eye. Jeremy quickly identified the teenager as Kevin, the one who had visited the building earlier from Psi-Tech. He seethed with anger as he remembered Sharon’s reassurance that they wouldn’t attack. He telepathically relayed what he’d learned to Julie. Julie informed him she was going to call Sharon immediately. Jeremy doubted it would do any good so he instructed the remote-viewers to guide him to Kevin. They hesitated before complying with his order. An office materialized in Jeremy’s mind as he located the attacker. Kevin sat in a cushioned, black chair at a black desk with his hands planted on its surface. His black eyes were open and a distinct chill permeated the room.
Jeremy focused on pushing against Kevin’s mind in an instinctive attack. Kevin had obviously sensed his presence because he instantly blocked it and aimed a powerful stream of dissonant energy at him. It was much stronger than the earlier attacks and Jeremy instinctively retreated back to his body. Unfortunately, Kevin managed to follow him and continue the assault. Pain wracked through Jeremy’s body as he struggled to ward off the stream of psychic energy piercing into him. For some reason he couldn’t protect himself. Jeremy abruptly changed tactics and fought back instead of defending himself. Kevin was caught off balance and Jeremy took advantage of the surprise by pushing him roughly away.
Julie burst into the room to see if he was all right. Jeremy sagged against the wall as his legs threatened to collapse. Fatigue swamped through his body and he stumbled over to the bed to sit down. He’d successfully inflicted some damage to Kevin but had also suffered quite a bit himself.
“Are you going to be all right?” Julie asked.
“Yes. I just need to rest for a bit,” Jeremy said.
“It’s cold in here.” Kate shivered and frowned at them with puzzlement.
“It’s a side effect when a multipath uses a lot of their psychic ability,” Julie explained. “I called Sharon at Psi-Tech to demand that she stop the attack and she claimed she had no idea that there was one going on. I told her we identified Kevin’s psychic imprint and know it was him. She assured us that no attack was authorized and she would look into it.”
“Do you believe her?” Skylar asked.
“Not for an instant,” Julie said crisply.
“I got rid
of Kevin. I think I might have temporarily clipped his wings. He should leave us alone for awhile,” Jeremy said.
“Good work,” Julie said. “We’re going to need to figure out a way of defending ourselves against this kind of attack in the future.”
“I think what we’ll need to do is find out which of us have offensive, long-range capabilities and have them ready in situations like this. The remote-viewers can guide them to any attackers,” Jeremy said.
Julie nodded in agreement. “We also need to find a way to block intruders. There has to be a way.”
“I think the same technique of pushing back against remote-viewers who try to lock onto us would work,” Jeremy said.
“That’s something we should train everyone to do,” Julie said. “Great idea. I’ll coordinate a telepathic instruction guide so that all members of the center will know what to do.” She gazed down at Emily for a moment then looked up to address the group. “This would be a perfect time to gather information on Psi-Tech. I’ve already put the remote-viewers to work on it for random intervals but I think we should take a look now. If anyone is interested in joining with me, we can go as a group.”
Skylar and Jeremy both volunteered immediately. Julie nodded in acknowledgement and Kate piped up that she wanted to participate as well.
“Are you sure?” Julie’s surprise was obvious as she clearly hadn’t expected Kate to volunteer.
“Yes, I want to be a part of this,” Kate said.
“All right. Let’s all sit down and get comfortable so we can begin. We’ll need to concentrate for possibly quite awhile,” Julie said.
They found each other in the psychic network as well as the remote-viewers who had been patiently waiting since Julie had telepathically let them know her plans just before asking for volunteers. The group was pulled along in the wake of the remote-viewers who locked onto Kevin’s position. The teenaged multipath was seated at a desk in a medium-sized office with his eyes closed and fog escaping from his breath due to the cold temperature. The computer monitor in front of him was shut down so they all knew he hadn’t been working on it. They all waited for something to happen and wondered if anything would until finally Kevin’s eyes opened to reveal completely dilated pupils with no trace of color whatsoever. This alerted everyone to the fact that he was still utilizing his psychic abilities in a major way. The door unexpectedly burst open and Sharon stalked inside wearing a crisp, black business suit.
Her face conveyed a livid anger as she approached the desk followed by two security officers who already had their guns drawn. Surprise finally registered on her face as the cold air permeated her consciousness but the anger quickly took over again.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Sharon bit out furiously.
“I was attacking the psychic network at Phoenix Enterprises,” Kevin said in a cold, matter-of-fact tone.
“On who’s authority?” Sharon demanded.
“My own, of course,” Kevin taunted.
“You have no authority to take such action on your own! You need to learn to follow orders! When George hears about this, he’s going to strip away your authority and make you a lowly peon. You jeopardized our security with your childish attack,” Sharon snapped.
“I used my healing ability in an experiment to see if it was possible for long-range attacks. It turned out to work very well. George will slap my wrist but will approve of the results,” Kevin said calmly.
“He won’t approve when he learns that you acted on someone else’s behalf. I’ve been investigating you and have learned some interesting things,” Sharon said smugly. “You’ve been working against us from the beginning.”
“You’ve had psychometrists read my room,” Kevin said bluntly.
“That’s right,” Sharon said with a tight, angry smile. “And you’ve been working for someone who has their own agenda. I’m not sure what you were trying to accomplish by attacking Phoenix Enterprises except maybe you were trying to increase tensions between us in order to undermine Psi-Tech’s power base.”
“That wasn’t my intention,” Kevin said slowly. “My associate and I wish for Psi-Tech to remain strong and have helped your efforts. I was learning my potential in the attack on Phoenix Enterprises and also buying us some time. You see, there are two members of the Phoenix Enterprises psychic network who will learn information that will ultimately lead to our failure to attain a power base.”
“Who are these two individuals?”
“You’re very well acquainted with one of them. Her name is Emily Winters. The other is Nathan Roedrill.”
“And what exactly would they learn that would lead to the failure of Psi-Tech?” Sharon demanded. When Kevin failed to respond, her face contorted with renewed anger. “It’s just as I thought. You’re protecting your own agenda and it’s not necessarily in Psi-Tech’s best interests. You can no longer be trusted.” She threw a commanding look at the security officers. “Shoot him.”
They immediately complied as they hadn’t lowered their guns during the entire tense, verbal exchange. The tranquilizer darts froze in midair about a foot from each gun, slowly turned and shot back at each of the operatives, injecting them in the neck. They crumpled to the floor in unconscious heaps as Sharon blinked in surprise. Kevin smiled widely with evident satisfaction.
“When did you become telekinetic?” Sharon asked shakily.
“I’ve always had that particular ability.” Kevin slowly rose to his feet. “I have a lot more abilities than I admitted to this company. I’ve known all along that we would be forced to part ways. You’ve outgrown your usefulness to us.”
“Psi-Tech has vast resources. They will hunt you down no matter where you hide,” Sharon said coldly.
Instead of responding, Kevin merely gazed at her with his chilling, black eyes. Sharon pulled out a gun from inside her suit and pointed it at him. The weapon whipped out of her hand and landed in the far corner of the room. Sharon gasped and retreated several steps toward the open door. Her eyes widened with terror and she grasped her chest. She drew breath laboriously as if something impeded her lungs.
“It’s very unpleasant to have dissonant healing energy directed at you.” Kevin smiled chillingly at her.
Sharon continued to breathe laboriously and sank to her knees as fatigue set in. Soon, she passed out and Kevin stepped over her. He paused at the door and looked around the room. Without warning, Jeremy and his group were thrown out of the room and found themselves back in their bodies with an alarming rapidity. Jeremy opened his eyes to find himself falling out of his chair in Emily’s room.
“He must have known we were watching the entire time but didn’t care,” Skylar said.
“Or maybe he didn’t notice us until he was leaving,” Julie said.
“No, I sensed that he wanted us to see him in action,” Jeremy said.
“He must have a pretty big ego,” Julie said. “It looks like we have another problem besides Psi-Tech. I wonder who his associate is.”
“If it’s just two of them, they aren’t really a threat,” Skylar said. “They’re up against both Psi-Tech and us.”
“I believe that they are manipulating us somehow,” Julie said. “If it’s just the two of them, the only way for them to be effective is to pull the strings of larger teams or to take over one or both teams.”
“Do you think that’s possible?” Skylar said with alarm. “How could they take over Psi-Tech?”
“I’m not sure. Psi-Tech is a large company so maybe they have several people in key positions who are being blackmailed or controlled somehow,” Julie said. “We’ll need to find out more about them.”
Chapter 16
Jeremy met with Julie and Ryan in the main conference room early in the morning before business operating hours. They all had large mugs of coffee in front of them and a copy of the appointments set for the next several days.
“Congratulations are in order,” Julie said crisply. “We have kept every obligation so far i
n spite of the very tight scheduling. Last night, I purchased three plane tickets for you to visit Psychic Parallels and investigate the company. You can bring whoever you like but I would suggest that at least one of them be a psychometrist. I know you don’t want to leave your sister while she is in her current state but she was supposed to have awakened by now and it’s obvious something has changed. I believe our best shot of helping both Emily and Nathan is to find out what’s going on.”
“I agree,” Jeremy said. “I’ll definitely bring Skylar with me. Kate had originally wanted to go with us but since Emily is still unconscious, I’m sure she’ll want to remain here.”
“The strongest psychometrist we have right now is Lynette. She’s a new-hire who doesn’t yet know about Psi-Tech so you’ll have to be careful what you say around her. We don’t want to freak people out by making them think we’re off balance. We lost a lot of potential telepaths to our psychic network because they thought we were crazy. As you know, a lot of people find it hard to believe that Psi-Tech has secretly been killing telepaths – especially when they are adding telepaths to their psychic network,” Julie said.
“In spite of their new policy of accepting telepaths, Psi-Tech is somehow going to be even more of a threat in the future than ever before,” Jeremy said grimly. “When does the flight take off for California?”
“At nine o’clock so you’ll have to leave here in a couple of hours,” Julie said. “The return flight isn’t scheduled back until seven in the evening which will give you plenty of time to investigate Psychic Parallels.”
She slid the envelope containing a printout of the online tickets she’d purchased across the table and Jeremy accepted them.
“Thanks,” he said. “Do you have enough skilled precognitives to fulfill the obligations for our current clients?”
“We have three precognitives that can do the job for today,” Julie said reassuringly.
The rest of the meeting covered a variety of topics regarding ideas for increasing their psychic network more quickly. The main concern was Psi-Tech’s rate of expansion which remote-viewers had reported was four times greater than Phoenix Enterprises. Afterwards, Jeremy telepathically informed Skylar and Lynette of their mission to Psychic Parallels. When they gathered in the lobby, Jeremy and Skylar introduced themselves to Lynette who they hadn’t met before. She was a middle-aged woman with graying brown hair, blue eyes, and a friendly smile. She wore pink slacks, a pink blouse, and pink tennis shoes with a bulky pink purse. As Jeremy drove to the airport, they made small talk and Lynette offered her sympathies over Emily’s current state. Unfortunately, Julie hadn’t been able to purchase seating on the plane together so they were dispersed in different sections. When they arrived in San Diego, Jeremy rented a white sedan and drove to Psychic Parallels which was situated in a small, run-down white building on the outskirts of the business district.