Forgotten

by Jessica Carbine

  “Kyler doesn’t have as high a respect for my intelligence as you do.” He chuckled softly. “Not that I’m surprised.”

  “What?” Cassie asked, still confused. Was he seeing her differently? She glanced at the soldier curiously, and her mouth dropped open. In front of her eyes the tall man shrank and grew long, curly hair. His skin and eyes paled to the same shade as Kyler’s—Or Halle’s….

  Cassie couldn’t believe her eyes. Standing in front of her was a dream.

  “Halle?” She said, too astonished to stop herself.

  “Yes, Halle.” The General was looking at her in concern. “Don’t you remember who you are, honey?”

  Halle came up behind him and with a sad little grimace put a small electronic device against his neck. Cassie heard a crackling noise, and then the General slumped forward.

  “Hi,” Halle said to Cassie, shyly.

  “Wha—” Cass stopped. “You. Where?”

  Cassie was too astonished to communicate properly.

  “Come on, we have to hurry. I don’t know how long their scanner will be down.” She moved to the door. Cassie didn’t budge. “Look, I can explain everything later.”

  “But, Halle—how do I know who you are?” Cassie worked to get a question out of her jumbled mind.

  “Don’t trust me? I just tazed the general, didn’t I?” She grinned.

  “No, Hal, you don’t understand. I recognize you.”

  “Oh,” She said pleasantly surprised. “You do? Ha, that’s gonna drive Kyler nuts!”

  “What? How?” Cassie said, still more incoherent than less.

  “Um… later? We have to figure out how to get out of here.”

  “The password’s ‘candied apple’,” Cassie told her.

  “Oh. How do you know?”

  Cassie pulled her earpiece out to show Halle, then put it back in.

  “It’s the same password to get Kyler out of his room,” Cassie told her.

  “Oh, Kyler’s not in there. He’s not on the base.” Halle took Cassie’s hand and pulled her up. “So, we can get out of this room, but not off the base. We have to hurry. Kyler can only wait for us so long without being discovered. I don’t know what’s wrong with their scanner, but we have to hurry before they realize where the brainwaves are actually coming from.”

  “They won’t. He was lying about seeing brainwaves coming from the Private,” Cassie said, smiling slightly. “The scanner is down.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I blew it up.” Cassie grinned now.

  “You what?”

  “Yeah. A couple of grenades seemed to do the trick.”

  “Wow. What does that mean? We don’t know that much about the scanner. Just what we learned during our reconnaissance during the last couple of weeks,” Halle told her.

  “They can pick up your brainwaves through satellites. And the scanner here isolates them and tells them where you are. These watches show them where they come from, both on a light and with slight pressure on the wrist,” Cassie showed her.

  “And it’s down for now? Leaving here will be easy then. Though I imagine it’s only a matter of time before they get it fixed.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I heard that money is an issue. It sounds like they may lose their funding for the satellites.” Cassie smiled hopefully.

  Halle looked at her in surprise. “But then… we’d be free.”

  “Yeah. And I think losing a captured prisoner, me, as well as what appeared to be his main targets, will make it a fiasco with Congress. I mean, you were here. On his base. And he still lost you. I imagine it’ll be a hard sell, even to his supporters.”

  “Oh my. We have to make sure he can’t get it fixed,” Halle said excitedly.

  “I agree. Before we leave, we need to ensure the message of your capture is relayed to his Senate committee. He’ll surely try to stop it from going through, if he can. Maybe we should move him to the front corner, where they won’t be able to see him when we leave… you know, once you can no longer change what’s in this room.”

  Halle gave her a questioning glance, then helped her pull the General out of his seat onto a corner in the floor.

  “Okay,” Halle said, thinking. “You’ll be the General, since you have the earpiece, and I’ll be invisible at first. Since there are so many, I think I need to do a blanket cover, which means that anyone who looks at me won’t see me, you included. Just until we get out of the building. Sorry, I can’t single one person out to not see the illusion like Kyler can.”

  Cassie swallowed hard; it was still strange to hear. “Sure. What’s my story? Where am I headed?”

  “You don’t need to explain yourself to anyone here. You’re in charge. You just need to get on the com and tell them all to leave the prisoners alone in their cells until you give further orders.”

  “Won’t they recognize my voice? The ones on the other floors?” Cassie questioned.

  “Cripes. Yeah. I wish Kyler was here, he has a much bigger range than I do. Alright, you’ll tell one of the guards outside this room to make the announcement.”

  “Okay.”

  “Ready?” Halle asked, her hand on the door.

  Deep breaths. Cassie thought, watching Halle disappear. “Ready.”

  Everything went perfectly with Halle there, even if Cass couldn’t see her. Cassie gave the command and walked confidently to the elevator. She inserted her key and went to the ground level. She tried not to jump when she saw Halle, or rather, a tall male Searcher, materialize out of nothing in the elevator.

  “Anything on the com?” Halle asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Alright, I’m going to take the lead, since you don’t know where we’re going.” The elevator doors opened and Cassie let Halle leave first. “But keep up with me, so it looks like we’re just talking.”

  They walked through the building toward an exit.

  “Hey, wait!” A voice commanded from behind them. They froze.

  Cassie turned cautiously. A lieutenant stood behind her. She tried to stay confident, to boost their cover. “Yes?” She demanded in her best imitation of the General.

  “Sorry to stop you, General, but the Committee wants your okay to come by first thing Thursday morning,” He brusquely reported to his superior.

  “Oh.” Cassie looked at Halle; they exchanged a grin. “Perfect. Let them know we have it scheduled. But tonight, I’m going out to celebrate.”

  “Yes sir!”

  Halle and Cassie turned, quickly covered the distance to the exit and left the building. Cassie fought to keep her pace heavy like the General’s, instead of skipping. It was the first time she had been outdoors in almost two months. She couldn’t stop herself from grinning hugely and taking several deep breaths. The sun was invisible, behind a building, and sinking so low over the horizon that it would soon be gone altogether.

  “I’m guessing that really is Private Dwight Ganeiri in there,” Cassie said with a giggle. “How long do you think it will take them to figure it out?”

  Halle laughed, too. “I don’t know. Probably as long as it takes for them to remember we can’t fool long-distance cameras, and they check the security feeds. Then they’ll see you and me walking out as well.”

  “Do you think they’ll realize it’s the General in the other room before the Senators get here?” Cassie asked, laughing more.

  “I don’t know.” Halle had a sad smile. “Poor Uncle George. We tried to make him understand, but he wouldn’t listen.”

  “Uncle?”

  “Not really. That’s just what I called him.” Hal sighed. “He’s going to be humiliated.”

  Try as she might, Cassie couldn’t help but giggle again. “Sorry,” She said. Halle obviously cared. “It’s just, well, I don’t have any fond feelings for my jailor.”

  Halle smiled and then grimaced, “Sorry about that. It took a while for Kyler to get to me, and for us to get a plan together.”

  “It’s okay. I didn’t t
hink there was any way you could possibly stand up to a military base at first, and then I didn’t think there’d be any way that you’d risk it. I just hoped that he’d eventually let me go.”

  “Not likely. Uncle George gets a little narrow-minded and obsessed,” Halle said.

  “Yeah, I noticed. But you do know he really cares about you, right?” Cassie couldn’t help but tell her.

  “I know. It just wasn’t enough to outweigh his reputation and need for glory.”

  They continued walking. Fortunately, no one was around. All the troops had been concentrated around the prisoners. Cassie walked happily on the grass instead of the cement, enjoying its natural feel.

  Halle led Cassie along the same path she’d taken in her dream. They reached the fence. Cassie marveled at the beautiful landscape. It was very flat, with just an occasional clump of sagebrush, and she might normally not have liked it at all. But the sinking sun poured color into the sky, and combined with her newfound freedom, it took her breath away.

  Cassie reached under the boxes stacked neatly by the fence and was not surprised to find the thick blanket there that she had expected. She drew it back to throw it over the fence, but Halle touched her arm.

  “Cass, there’s really no need for that now. Not with the scanner down,” Halle said it, shyly. She knew Cassie was aware of her power, but she did not want to frighten her.

  “But what about the cameras?” Cassie asked.

  “There aren’t any behind here. That’s why we chose this spot,” Halle explained.

  “So the dream was you.”

  “No. Like I said, Kyler has a longer reach. And he’s much better at projecting his thoughts and will on others. He sent it to you after we spent several days getting information out of one of the Searchers on vacation in Los Angeles. That’s how we knew what to have you do. And I was reasonably sure it would end well. As long as I remained close. Now I see why. I never see why until it’s happening,” Halle said, answering several of Cassie’s unspoken questions and reminding her of the one she was most confused about.

  “Halle, how do I know who you are?”

  “We’ll talk later. Kyler’s waiting out there; we’ll be able to see him once he’s sure it’s us.”

  “Kyler’s here?”

  “Of course, but we need to get going. Are you ready?” Halle looked concerned.

  “Oh. Um, sure. What do I need to do?” Cassie felt very awkward, but she tried to exude confidence for Halle’s benefit. She failed.

  Halle half smiled. “Nothing at all. Just—just don’t freak out, okay?”

  “I won’t. At least you warned me….” Cassie thought of Kyler briefly, but her thoughts quickly dropped behind her as she suddenly rose in the air, Halle next to her. They floated effortlessly over the fence and onto the ground on the other side.

  “Whoa.” She breathed.

  “You okay?” Halle’s hand was on her arm again, steadying her.

  “Yeah. That’s just… unreal.”

  Halle nodded in understanding. “Let’s go.”

  Legs shaking, Cassie tried to keep up with Halle as she hurried away from the fence. She was proud of herself for not screaming. No wonder Kyler was worried about her being afraid of heights.

  “There he is!” Halle said.

  It was hard for Cassie to tell where the black SUV came from. Maybe over a hill? Or maybe the light was dim enough that it’d been hiding in shadow. At least, that’s what her common sense told her.

  The car pulled up to them and Halle jumped in the backseat. Cassie, feeling nervous, joined her back there. Halle raised her eyebrows at her but Cassie just shrugged. Kyler immediately roared off, pulling the car through a U-turn and speeding off toward the sun.

  Kyler looked at Cassie in concern from the rearview mirror. “Cassie! You’re alright!” No one said anything for a moment. Then Kyler spoke furiously to Halle, ignoring Cassie. “They found you immediately! How the heck did you get out of there?”

  “It’s okay, Kyler. I told you it would work out.”

  “You also told me the dream would work. What happened? Why didn’t it work?” He only looked at her through the rearview mirror, which relieved Cassie since he was still livid.

  “I don’t know, actually. Why didn’t you come out like you were supposed to, Cass?” Halle asked her.

  Cassie felt foolish. She looked at her hands, not up where she might catch Kyler’s eyes.

  “I followed the wrong group. I followed everyone else in black instead of the regular troops. And by the time I realized it they were saying such interesting things that I didn’t want to leave.” She continued on before they could ask. “And then by the time I wanted to leave we were all gathered in the room with the BES and the General certainly would have noticed me just trotting out the door.”

  “The ‘Bess’?” Hal asked.

  “I actually don’t know what it stands for. I think it’s the Brain Something Scanner, but it’s the device connected to satellites he uses to trace your brainwaves,” Cassie informed them.

  Kyler looked alarmed, but avoided Cassie’s eyes. “Our contact told us about the satellites and the watches, but he didn’t mention a device between the two. Makes sense, though. What happened with you, Halle?”

  “I’m sorry, Ky. They caught me.” Halle smirked slightly.

  “I know that, but how’d you get out?” He demanded. Cassie could see he was still angry, but it seemed to fade as his worry and tension released.

  “As you said, they caught me right away. There was nothing I could do at first, but keep trying to convince them of who I was. I looked like one of the soldiers, and then I had one of them think I looked like his brother. Just to try to confuse everyone.” She giggled slightly and nudged Cassie like she was in on the joke.

  Cassie shook her head slightly. Are you trying to goad him? Because you totally are. Cassie didn’t say it aloud, despite her instinct to do so. She had to keep reminding herself that she didn’t actually know this woman.

  “Halle, this isn’t a game!” Kyler told her, still alternating between looking intently at Halle or out the windshield.

  “Oh, would you relax! I told you it would work out, and it did, right? I have her, don’t I?” Halle said, unable to keep the happy smirk off her face. She looked at Cassie, linked arms with her and said, “Everything’s great now!”

  Kyler smiled back at her reluctantly and asked again. “How’d you get out?”

  “When they were distracted I physically switched places with a private, became a lieutenant and made the lieutenant disappear. I think he was starting to get annoyed at being ignored.” She giggled again. “I wasn’t sure it would work, since they’d found me when I was invisible, but it did.”

  “Distracted, how were they distracted?” He asked, ignoring her flippancy.

  Halle turned her head to look at Cassie. “Oh, I don’t know. But I think there was a series of explosions from within Uncle George’s ‘Command Center’. Do you know anything about that Cass?”

  Cassie elbowed her, hesitant to join in her light-hearted manner with Kyler still angry. “Probably. They were just all going on about this BES thing. The General referred to it quite lovingly. Combine that with a few rumors I heard about the thing, I decided to take a little detour on my way out. I blew it up.”

  “You blew it up?” Kyler asked, finally looking at her through the mirror. Cassie felt her color rising. She wasn’t sure whether it was because it was her first real interaction in weeks or not, but she was very nervous and unsure of herself. He looked just as handsome as ever.

  “Yeah. I found a couple grenades, and I figured they wouldn’t mind if I borrowed them. And since he loved that machine so much... it was a little parting gift for the General.” Cassie smiled wickedly, then added. “I’m not particularly fond of your Uncle George.”

  Kyler smiled sardonically. “Me neither, Cass.”

  “Anyway,” Cassie went on, feeling her stomach flip a little at his smile.
“Like I said, it’s a brain scanner. It’s connected to a satellite network and it’s how they find you. Your brain waves give out specific frequencies when you alter another person’s perception. They’ve been scanning the world for you. And that’s how they knew where Halle was. Only, everyone assumed it was you, Kyler. I was trying to help.” She ended somewhat defensively.

  She looked down at her hands, and then over at Halle. Halle looked at her briefly and then flashed a significant glance at Kyler. He shook his head minutely. Then something seemed to register with him.

  “Wait. You blew it up? The tracking system they’ve been using?”

  Halle and Cassie both nodded happily, watching his reaction.

  “And that’s how you got out. But… what does that mean?”

  “Unfortunately, it’s not down permanently. That’s what I wanted, but they have a backup,” Cassie told him.

  “How long before they get it up and running again?”

  “Four days,” Halle said.

  Kyler’s shoulders slumped slightly. “Oh. That’s soon.”

  “Yes, but Kyler, don’t you realize? We can finally finish what we had planned six years ago! This could be it. This could be the end of everything,” Halle said earnestly.

  Kyler shook his head again, very slightly, and changed the subject.

  “What happened after… the explosion?” He asked.

  “I left the private in my place and went to find Cassie. She was in another interrogation room. Uncle George thought she was me, which doesn’t make any sense to me, but I rolled with it and gave her the look to go with his expectation. We left him in the room and came out as him. But Cass, why did they think you were me?” Halle asked her.

  “Just bad luck I guess,” Cassie teased Halle. Even knowing it was the dreams, she still felt very natural around Halle. She continued ruefully, “I think they assumed you were Kyler because you were a boy. So, when the soldiers found a strange girl coming down, trying to use their commander’s name to get through, they were suspicious. They locked me up, too. It really was just bad luck. I tried to use one of the names I’d heard. It would be their superior.”

  “You came to find me?” Halle puzzled. “How did you intend to get me out?”