Sleight

by Tom Twitchel

  The bearded hulk roused himself, and in a surprisingly high voice, said, “Isaac. My skin don't break.”

  Griff crossed his arms and stared expectantly.

  “Uh, and I don't bleed,” mumbled Isaac.

  Griff looked at Ethan. “Ethan. Gift?”

  Ethan, who'd been slouching straightened up and cleared his throat, “Why's everybody get to know our names?”

  That got Griff's attention, and not in a happy sort of way. He moved away from the podium and stood in front of Ethan. Ethan’s oversized gray sweatshirt, baggy pants and beanie had the unfortunate effect of making him look like a child as Griff stared down at him.

  “Everybody gets one, right?” Griff asked.

  “Uh, one what?” squeaked Ethan.

  Cracking his knuckles Griff smiled. I noticed how densely muscled his arms and hands were. I'd written off his stocky shape as fat, but up close it was evident that he was one solid piece of muscle. In addition to his telekinetic display there was something else to be wary of.

  “One mistake. You don't ask questions. And you answer mine. First time. So?”

  Ethan puzzled over the fact that Griff hadn't answered his question, opened his mouth, closed it and then said, “Telekinesis.”

  I thought back to our near face-off in the hall, and wondered how that would have gone. That made three telekinetics. I felt a little less special.

  Under Griff’s direction each person proceeded to give their name and state their knack talents. When all of them had spoken Justine raised her hand again, and I felt a tremor of worry run down my back.

  “Yeah?” Griff responded.

  “What’s next?” she asked.

  Gritting his teeth Griff blew out a long breath. “Don’t press yer status.”

  I had no idea what he meant, but said a fervent prayer that Justine would keep her mouth shut.

  Rubbing his forehead, Griff stepped behind his crate podium.

  “We wait for a bit. The person who makes the final call on all of ya will be here soon. She’s gonna tell ya about what yer joinin’ and then there’s a drill we’re gonna put ya through.”

  I expected that we were all going to get an up close and personal visit from the redheaded Miss Weller. I could tell that Ethan wanted to ask what the drill was, but was too cowed to chance it.

  So, nino why did you come?

  The telepathic contact with Oso Surprised me. He was one of the few people I knew who could initiate mental communication with me. His ability to sense knacked individuals must have tipped him off to my presence.

  What are you doing here? I thought you wanted to be one of the good guys.

  I am doing something. You shouldn’t have come. I can’t protect you.

  I don’t need your protection. Just help me get Justine out of here.

  Watching him sitting on his barrel I saw his shadowed features harden. He wasn’t trying to locate me, but he frowned and let a small grunt escape his lips.

  I’m not keeping her here. She is here because she wants to be.

  How do you know her?

  Always questions with you.

  ???Why is she here???

  She came because she was asked to come, like me. But mostly because of you. She thinks she is helping you.

  Help me get her out of here.

  You are not listening. I can’t help you. I am not the boss. She is here because she wants to be.

  Guilt flooded through me and my chest constricted painfully.

  The boy with electricity, he knew you were coming. He told you about me. He told you someone knew you and could recognize you. He warned you. So did I.

  Yeah? Well I’m camouflaged so the two of you are still the only ones who know I’m here.

  Good, stay that way. I tried to warn you with the video. You were supposed to see it and know to stay away. Instead you came. If you didn’t come, the girl, she wouldn’t come. This is your fault.

  I didn’t respond. I knew it was my fault.

  A chill wind blew in from the alley and we all turned to look in that direction. A silhouette stood in the open doorway for a second and then the door slammed closed. The person approached slowly and the light revealed a feminine figure with flaming red hair.

  When she had walked completely into the light she smiled. As I’d suspected, she was the same woman who had escaped the rooftop with Sawyer and his sisters, Weller. Wearing a formal dress the color of ash, she looked as though she had just left a party or some event. Her eyes were the color of old dimes, flat and grey. Looking about the room she let her gaze rest briefly on each person. For a moment, when her eyes passed over my hiding place, she hesitated and I was afraid that she had detected me, perhaps in the same way Oso had. But she continued to survey the room.

  “My name is Irena Weller. I’m sorry it was necessary to ask you all to meet here. Vetting is important,” she said. “What I’m going to share with all of you is core to our plans. How you react to what you hear will decide whether you take the next step. Or not.”

  The obvious implication of the ‘or not’ wasn’t lost on me. Glancing at the others I picked up a lot of apprehension. Only Brin exuded unrestrained excitement. Reaching into my pocket I fumbled with my phone and tapped at what I hoped was Kenwoode’s number. With any luck the phone’s GPS would help them locate me.

  Meeting this woman again caused me to reconsider everything that had happened. Weller had not been an alias for Sonja. Silver had been working for this woman. He’d been strapping Justine down for her, not prepping her to be mind-sucked by Sonja. What had their plan been?

  And if Silver had been under contract with Weller, that explained why he had taken Justine away from Dell and Tank. Which begged another question: what exactly had happened to the two thugs?

  “You’re all going to get a little history lesson tonight,” said Weller. “The Melior and the Shades. Two names for the same thing: people who have evolved beyond homo-sapiens. The future of the human race. In the past we’ve stumbled in the dark, hiding from Normals. That’s coming to an end. We are banding together but we are faced with a problem. The Melior, or Naturals, arrogant power hungry elitists, have been killing off Shades for centuries. They’ve hidden behind causes and titles, pretending to be working for the greater good. All lies. They’ve been amassing wealth and control and recently they have begun aggressively hunting us down. All because they see individuals that aren’t part of their collective as a threat.”

  It was interesting to hear her side of the knack world narrative, and the fact that she was essentially describing what the Shades were trying to do, not the Naturals. Her playing to the group’s suspicions was built on creating fear and distrust.

  “Each of you has at least one gift. Gift! Not a mutation, not an aberration. A gift. Normal society would cage you and study you. Naturals would like to eliminate you because they see you as a competitor. We can give you the opportunity to thrive. To find other gifted people. Form alliances, leverage your gifts and procreate with others who have the same goals.”

  Wow. Sounded a lot like Nazi Germany. Brin beamed and kept sneaking looks at Oso, who was focused on the bat-crap-crazy lady spewing master race lunacy. Griff was silent but I could read a disturbing sense of pleasure emanating from him. When I glanced at Justine she looked pale and uncertain.

  Weller droned on with several variations on the same theme. I wondered whether she was going to give a demonstration of the freezing knack she’d used the last time I’d seen her. Her whole presence seemed at odds with the group. They looked like a rag tag collection of average people. She looked wealthy.

  The impact her speechifying was having was not hard to read. Oso was probably reading everyone’s thoughts trying to see where the cards would fall. It was painfully obvious that Brin hadn’t just drunk the Kool-Aid, she was ready to help make a batch for everyone else. Ethan fidgeted and looked scared. The rest of the group was quiet.

  Where was all this going? Get on board or walk the me
taphorical plank? It occurred to me that we were in an abandoned area of Underground Seattle, out of sight and earshot of anyone who might offer help if we needed it. The vampire girl had been allowed to leave, but that didn’t mean that someone or something hadn’t been outside waiting for anyone who didn’t make the cut.

  Turning to Griff, and offering him a smile, Weller turned back to her audience, clasping her hands.

  “There’s an individual living in Seattle. We used to call him the Mad Dwarf back in the day. We know where he is and we now know the names of some of his associates. They’re dedicated to wiping out competition. That would be me and all of you,” she said.

  She looked at each of us one at a time. “I need to know which of you can be counted on to help us fight them.”

  Several thoughts ripped through my mind, all of them related to unhappy endings for this Shade witch, none of them nice. I prayed that my attempt at speed dialing had worked. How could anyone subscribe to what she was selling?

  “I’m in,” said Brin.

  Imagine my surprise.

  “Well, thank you for that,” Weller chuckled. “I don’t need verbal pledges. There will be a test. We have a plan for anyone who doesn’t make the grade,” she said, as she stepped to one side and pulled a cell phone from a small purse hanging from her shoulder.

  Sounded a little ugly, I thought.

  Griff made a rude noise and a frown passed over his face for a second.

  “Here’s how this is going to go,” he said. “First I split ya into two teams. I give each team a map and a task. The first team to acquire the objective and meet back here is the winner and moves to the next step in vettin’. The second group doesn’t move forward. They’re done. No passing ‘go’, no collectin’ two hundred dollars.”

  Sounded like some cable TV reality show, and I could tell others in the room thought so too, but for obvious reasons chose not to voice their opinion.

  A smug smile stretched Griff’s mouth wide and he grunted. “Good, yer all learning. I got no preference as to who gets which map but I’m gonna do the splittin’.” He started pointing at people around the room. “You, you, and you are in one group and the rest of ya are in the other.” His quick selection had split off Oso, Justine and Brin, leaving Sawyer, Ethan, Talia and the big guy for the other team. Oso and the two girls being selected as a team of three felt contrived. It worried me.

  “Four against three? That doesn’t seem fair,” said Justine. I shook my head. She was going to create an unmanageable problem if she kept mouthing off.

  Glaring, Griff pointed a blunt finger at her. “Ya wanna leave missy?”

  Justine started to say something, until Oso cut her off.

  “Three’s good. We’re good,” he said. He didn’t look at Justine but she swiveled her head to glance at him, raising an eyebrow.

  “At least someone’s got some sense,” grumbled Griff. Reaching into a back pocket he produced two sheets of folded paper and handed one to Oso and the other to the big bearded goon. Seemed a little sexist to me.

  Ethan raised his hand. Rolling his eyes Griff snarled, “What?”

  “So we go on this...scavenger hunt...one team moves forward the other’s out,” Ethan said, his words coming out in a hoarse cracking voice.

  Shaking his head Griff offered Ethan a lopsided smile. “Yeah, so?”

  “And like the other group, the one that’s out, they’re just done? What happens to them? I mean what if they show up like ten seconds after the first group?”

  Between this guy and Justine I worried about Griff’s losing his patience. In fact the vibe I was getting from Griff was worse than that: he was looking for a reason to go off.

  Griff’s half smile morphed into an ugly grin. “Don’t come in second and you won’t have to find out.” He reached under his shirt and pulled out a large ugly looking gun.

  “We don’t usually use guns,” said Isaac.

  “Yeah? Well I ain’t picky,” snarled Griff.

  Ethan’s mouth froze, half open with another unasked question dying there.

  Banging his hands together with a loud pop that made most of us jump, Griff barked, “Well get going!” He pointed at the alley doorway. Weller was on her phone, ignoring us.

  I moved behind Justine, determined to protect her if nothing else. It took some quick footwork to avoid getting bumped into. We all spilled out into a dark alley that smelled musty and dank.

  The other group walked off out of earshot and huddled over their map. Justine and Brin looked at Oso, obviously waiting for him to offer some direction.

  “Okay,” he said, waving them toward him and bending his head to look at the sheet of paper. “We go in that direction,” he pointed down the cobbled street in the direction Sawyer, Brin and I had come from.

  “What’re we after?” asked Brin, leaning close to Oso.

  Oso tapped the paper with a long index finger. “A bank.”

  “We’re going to rob a bank?” asked Justine.

  “No,” said Oso. “We get something from there.” He squinted at the paper and then offered it to Justine and Brin.

  Brin looked down at the sheet and giggled. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  FIFTY-SIX: SCAVENGER HUNT

  “THAT’S THE MOST ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” said Justine, as she read what was written on the map.

  “You want to quit?” asked Oso.

  “No.”

  “What about you amiga?” he asked Brin.

  “No,” said Brin, touching Oso’s arm lightly and smiling at him. There was a strong connection between the two of them, more than getting teamed up. It dawned on me that her brainwashing was more likely infatuation with the muscular gangster.

  Justine frowned and looked over her shoulder at the other group, possibly wondering where I was and why I hadn’t come. I’d tried to keep her out of all of it and shield her, but it looked like I’d failed.

  I tried to man up to the mess I’d walked into. I needed an edge, to turn things in a direction where I could get Justine away.

  Oso walked up the street with Brin and Justine following behind him. I slunk along a few paces further back, my camouflage hiding me.

  We’d traveled for ten or fifteen minutes when there was a loud noise behind us. Oso forced the girls to bunch up.

  “Keep watching in front,” he said, pushing Justine in front of him.

  I hoped the noise was Kenwoode and Brock but there was no guarantee. It could be any of a number of things. Most of them bad. Nervous, we all continued back toward the street-side bolt hole without further distractions. After the last of us had climbed out of the hole and made it to the street, Oso consulted the map. He pointed across the street at a bank, Seattle Pioneer Trust.

  “Benjamin, you going to help?” he asked, blowing my cover.

  Why I had thought he would play along and not disclose my presence I couldn’t say. Maybe it was a hangover of my believing that his loyalty toward me extended to helping me remain hidden. Whatever, it was gone.

  I dropped my camo and the girls both drew in a sharp breath. Justine narrowed her eyes and then her expression went neutral again. Our last conversation hadn’t ended on a good note. It looked like she was still pissed at me.

  “Who’s he and what’s he doing here Miguel?” asked Brin. So Oso was actually Miguel. I decided I liked ‘Oso’ better, Spanish for ‘bear’. It fit him.

  “This is Benjamin. Our fourth team person,” he said. “You’re bigger nino. More macho.”

  I’d put on some weight and several inches since we’d last seen each other. At least when we were both conscious. I wasn’t over six foot like him but I was a lot closer to it than before.

  “Yeah? Well you speak English a lot better too,” I said.

  Smiling, showing lots of teeth he nodded. “Yeah. So, dog you going to help or not?”

  Ignoring him I turned to Justine. “Will you come with me? You made your point.”

  She just stared
at me.

  “Justine, come on. Let’s go,” I pleaded.

  “I want to see this through,” she said.

  Stymied and not willing to hash out our problems in front of the others, I turned and glared at Oso. “What are we supposed to do here anyway?”

  “We steal the name plate off the loan officer’s desk in that bank. Some guy named Frank Pancetta,” said Brin.

  Ridiculous I thought. Breaking and entering with the goal being petty theft? Why? And then I answered it myself. It was a test, nothing more. They wanted to know if we were willing to break the law and whether we could execute the theft without getting caught. I thought back to my earlier concerns about not having homework to turn in and shook my head. Perspective.

  Oso raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, I’ll help. How hard can it be?” I said.

  “You’re a cocky little jerk,” sneered Brin.

  “I don’t even need any of you to get involved,” I said. “You can all just wait here and I’ll do it.”

  “What makes you so special? That invisibility thing?” asked Brin,.

  “Shut up. He knows what he’s talking about,” said Justine.

  Brin swore at her and jabbed a finger at Justine. “Yeah? And who put you in charge bitch?”

  Oso moved between them. “Easy, Brin.” He looked at me. “Okay we’ll wait for you.”

  I turned to Justine. “I can’t convince you to just take off with me?”

  In answer she turned her back on me.

  Nice.

  Without wasting any more time I focused my knack on the two security cameras and twisted them so they were pointing skyward, then I invoked my camo and walked across the street to the front doors. Inside there were a least a dozen cameras. With my camouflage in place they wouldn’t matter. The locks on the entry door were amazingly simple, a keyed door lock and small security posts that were dropped into the door frame top and bottom. I did the posts first, raising them out of their track and then knacked the door lock.