I want to believe him. I should believe him. He didn’t have to tell me any of this, but he did. Why would he lie now?
“So you’ve never changed my thoughts? Or influenced me to do something?” I ask, willing them to answer honestly. This is a test question.
They look at each other and back to me nervously.
“I have,” Kyler admits. “But Halle hasn’t.”
“That’s not true, Kyler. I wasn’t sure if you would stay in Paris with me. I didn’t directly influence you. But I did make it seem more appealing a few times. And I did make you think you were given a study abroad scholarship,” Halle says, her eyes downcast, but darting up to look at me occasionally.
“What? You mean I didn’t?”
“No. I looked into it to see if I could get you picked. But it was so complicated, and you’d have to be registered for courses. So I just changed it up and gave you a credit card with the money on it.”
“No,” I disagree. “I got that from the foundation!”
Halle looks remorseful. “No, you didn’t. There is no foundation.”
Well I didn’t expect that. But that hardly mattered. Free money? I’m not even mad about that. I am relieved they were honest.
“What about you?” I turn to Kyler. He doesn’t flinch.
“We’re going to be here a while, if you want to know everything.” He raises his eyebrows, questioning. “Do you want to know everything? Or do you want to just walk away right now?”
“Walk away? Are you kidding me? You’ve been lying and manipulating me for months to keep this a secret, and you think I’d leave before you’ve told me everything?”
“If you’re going to leave, I’d rather you do it before I explain,” he says.
“Well I wouldn’t! How can I know if I’m going to leave you, if you haven’t explained?”
He heaves a heavy sigh. “Fine. But let me start by saying I haven’t made you do anything.”
My face burns with embarrassment as I think about the times he could have. I’d ask in detail, but Halle’s here. And while we’re close, we’re not that close. No kissing stories about her brother, that’s where we’ve drawn the line.
“Except for that first month, when I made you call your employer,” he adds, looking chagrined.
My mouth drops. “I remember that! That was so bizarre! I called her to report in and she was so annoyed at me when I just floundered to try to figure out what on earth I was doing!”
Weirdly, this memory makes me feel better. If he’d influenced me to do other things, I would be confused about what I was doing afterward for those as well.
“Okay.” I’m calmer. How can I be calm? Maybe it’s better. Things make sense again. “I believe you. But I want to hear every other time you’ve influenced me in other ways! Changed my perception, was it?”
He nods, giving me a relieved smile. Clearly, I have it bad. I want to make him happy, even if it means forgiving him of an enormous lie like this! I would be disgusted with myself, but his expression is just so pleased.
“Before you tell me anything else, I need a promise from both of you.”
They both look eager.
“Promise me you will never, ever, influence me again without my knowledge.”
“Done. I promise!” Halle says. She reaches across the table and squeezes my hand.
“Prior knowledge?” Kyler asks, his mouth upturned on one side. Halle smacks him, but I smile and shake my head in mock exasperation.
“Or promptly afterward,” I allow.” But only then in extreme circumstances!” I should know he wouldn’t be able to keep the promise without this caveat. He’s too cautious.
“Excellent. Then I agree! I promise I will never influence you again, unless I have to. In which case I will inform you of it as soon as possible.”
“I hope you appreciate just how forgiving I’m being.”
“Oh yes. You’ve forgiven Halle of secretly giving you thousands of dollars. You’re practically a saint!”
Halle smacks him again, but I can tell how happy he is. He’s been stressed for days now, but refused to tell me why. Hopefully this will be the last barrier between us.
“And what about you? That wasn’t an all-encompassing blanket of forgiveness, you know! What else is there?”
“Oh boy,” Halle says, getting comfortable.
Chapter 19: Set up
The sun shone brilliantly the next day. The stars and moon had been brighter than she was used to, as well. Cassie thought the sky seemed less thick here than in the east, with all the light that it let through. Though maybe that was just her mood. Her frustration and fear had completely dissipated. She believed them entirely now, and with this came a freedom of attitude that was new to her.
She woke up after only four hours of sleep, quickly showered and then called up some room service for breakfast. She had just finished arranging it on the table in their small front room when Kyler and Halle both came out of the room.
“There you are!” Halle said, relieved.
“I told you she didn’t go anywhere,” Kyler said, though he too looked slightly reassured. “Deserting me in the middle of the night is what got her here.” He smiled tentatively to see if the mood from the night before had lasted.
Cassie beamed back. “We’d better hurry. It’s 6:30. I ordered breakfast.” She gestured to the table and sat down.
Halle looked at Kyler, then back at Cassie. “I’ll go shower. You two eat,” she said as she disappeared back into the room she’d come from.
They chatted cheerfully while eating, and Halle noticed upon her return that they were holding hands while sitting around the table.
Shortly thereafter they were in the car again, speeding toward the base. Cassie kept jiggling her knee up and down. Kyler squeezed her hand while he drove.
“It’ll be fine. The worst that can happen is it doesn’t work. They can’t possibly catch us. The irony here is that this is exactly what the General wanted with his telepathic army. To be able to invade anywhere in the world,” he said. His smile was a little more open as well, Cassie noticed.
Halle, on the other hand, was more nervous than Cassie. She sat in the back-seat muttering to herself, and every once in a while Cassie’s view would change drastically for a split second. The first time this had happened, she had gasped loudly. But Halle had snapped that she needed to practice, and so Cassie didn’t complain.
They parked the car a few miles away in town, and then got a ride to the base by persuasion from a local. He dropped them off by the gate and drove away. Cassie waited for an alarm, or a guard to raise his gun, but nothing happened. The soldiers by the gate completely ignored them. And as Cassie quite clearly remembered, the blaring alarms alerting their presence went off when they used their abilities within a mile of the base, so it seemed probable the scanner was still down.
The trip over the gate was every bit as frightening as it had been last time, and Cassie only breathed after her feet touched ground. Following their plan carefully they went into the guard hut and found the log book noting who was to be on base that day and why. They also found the records for the week before, making their job much easier. Each felt relief when the logbook confirmed that three senators and two congressmen, along with several aides, would be arriving in two hours. They also saw that General Ramford was listed as being on base.
“Darn. They must have found him,” Cassie said.
Kyler quietly lifted three sets of keys to Humvees, giving one to each of them. It was only a precaution. They planned on using a soldier to drive them out, so that no evidence of their having been there would exist.
They moved quickly to the security room, waiting just outside of the closed door. Kyler grinned at Cassie, and a few moments later, a man’s voice exclaimed, “Oh, man! I have got to go!”
“You just checked in,” Another man said, mildly annoyed.
“Sorry man, I’ll hurry.” A guard came out, and they ignored him as he went to the
bathroom. He came back looking puzzled. Cassie suspected he didn’t actually need to use the restroom.
Kyler stepped in front of him as he was heading back in. “Hi!”
“Heya Cindy!” The guard said sleazily. Kyler looked like the pretty secretary from the first floor, and Cassie, who had been trying to hold the giggles in since he had changed his appearance, lost it at the soldier’s flirting. Nervousness makes laughter even more contagious and Halle giggled too, even while holding her finger to her lips to shush Cassie. Kyler studiously ignored them. He was holding a tray of three tall lattes that smelled delicious.
“Hey. We had a few extra downstairs. You guys interested?” He held them out.
“Sure we are! Thanks, Cindy!” He took them from her. Kyler turned to walk away and the guard slapped him in the butt. He turned around eyes blazing. Cassie and Halle roared with laughter, and the guard looked suddenly at the spot where they were standing. Fortunately, Kyler focused back on him, and sent him hurrying back into the guard room.
“Wow, Kyler! You’ve got quite the moves!” Cassie laughed.
“That’s the last time I’m playing the girl,” Kyler said, still annoyed.
“Hey, fine with me! You’re the one who wanted to do everything until we were sure the scanner was down,” Halle said, still giggling.
“Come on,” Kyler said, offering his hand to Cassie. She took it happily. They entered the room and the guards didn’t move at their entrance. They were talking and sipping their lattes. It was only a few minutes later that all three passed out.
They moved them one at a time to a corner in the room, taking out each of their earpieces. Once they had tested the little headphones and were sure they were working, Kyler searched the computer, downloading several files onto a drive. Then they sat down to refresh the plan. The log said that these three guards were on duty all day, and they could only hope that no one else came by.
“Okay, this is it,” Kyler said. “We should be fine to talk over these lines. I’ll be doing a blanket cover for our voices, so only the three of us should be able to hear each other. But if I’m doing too much else I won’t be able to do that. So keep the communication at a minimum. We’ll have to improvise as much as we can. Cassie, here’s your stun gun, and a real gun. Keep the door bolted, and let us know immediately if anyone comes to the door.”
“Right,” Cassie said. “And you’ll fix it so they can come in.”
“Yes. I’ll go influence our rat, Hal, you stay here with Cassie until I get back. I shouldn’t be more than an hour.” He turned to leave, but Cassie caught his hand.
“Careful,” She said simply, and kissed him. He smiled and left.
“Ooooo,” Halle said playfully.
“Oh, shut up. Not like you’re surprised. You were awake last night.”
“What! How do you know that?”
“Your breathing changed dramatically several times. You should work on pretending to be asleep,” Cassie teased.
“Why bother? I don’t need to worry about most people. Though I suppose Kyler can normally tell when I’m using influence on him, so maybe you’re right.” She grinned impishly, then became more serious. “Anyway, thanks.”
“Thanks? For what?”
“For forgiving him. You don’t know what he’s been like the past few years. It’s been kind of awful for both of us.”
Cassie nodded thoughtfully, “I suppose after so many years it was almost probable that I would have moved on.”
“I guess so,” Halle said doubtfully.
“What?”
“I don’t know, it just didn’t seem likely to me. You always were a player, but never really settled down until Kyler. You two were just, perfect.” She laughed ruefully. “I think you’ve damaged me, actually. I’m not interested in anyone. No one seems to fit me as perfectly as he fits you.”
“Which is ironic, because if my dreams are right, he and I weren’t so perfect in the beginning.”
“No, you were. You were exactly right. You were obnoxiously friendly and refused to be put off by him, which is precisely what he needed. And he was aloof and uninterested in your charms, which was exactly what you needed. He stayed distant long enough for you to really get to know and like each other. It was perfect. Better than even I had planned.” She grinned.
“You wanted to set us up?” Cassie asked.
“Of course. I would never have brought you to France, otherwise. I, uh, encouraged you to come,” Halle admitted. “It’s funny to have to admit this to you again.”
Cassie laughed.
“But it started before that. When I first saw you, I had an impression. It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s one of the abilities I gained with the serum. Things will just feel right or wrong to me. And you, you felt like a long-lost sister. You were in a couple of my classes, and you were fun. Then the more I got to know you, the better you seemed as a sister, I mean,” Halle suddenly seemed flustered, “You know, as a sister-figure. And you seemed good for Kyler,” She ended lamely.
“A sister?” Cassie mulled. “I didn’t have any sisters before, did I?”
“No. Like we said last night, you didn’t have anybody, actually. Not really. You had some distant family, but you weren’t close.”
“Good. It would be sad to be completely out of touch with family I had loved.” Cassie added, “But I’d like a sister.”
Halle smiled at her. Just then the door banged as someone tried to open it.
“Hey! Lieutenant! Open this door immediately!” Came the booming voice of none other than General Ramford.
Cassie turned white and looked at Halle in alarm. Halle was busy speaking into her earpiece.
“Kyler! Uncle George is here. Here! Right outside the door.”
“What? Okay, that could be good, actually. If you’ve got this. You do have this, don’t you, Halle?” His voice echoed in Cassie’s head, she was trying not to panic.
“Yep.” Halle’s voice was confident, and she put her hand on Cassie’s shoulder as she stood up. Then she said, louder, “Yes sir!”
She, or rather one of the young soldiers now piled in a heap in the corner, opened the door to the General’s towering figure.
“Sorry, sir. An extra precaution given….” She trailed off.
“Yes, of course. That’s actually a very good idea.” He seemed fond of whoever Halle was pretending to be. “But Donaldson, it won’t help much unless we have a preconceived password. That’s actually why I came up here. To give you a password to let you know it’s me.
“This room, and these cameras are going to be our only defense should they turn up today. Now, I don’t actually think they will, but who knows what the girl will have told them. It’s possible they know we’re down for the time being. If they do, it’ll be up to all of you to spot any discrepancies, any unusual behavior at all and you immediately let me know. Anyone around them will probably be confused. But you guys in here should be able to catch them. Is that understood?”
“Yes sir!” Halle said.
“Yes sir!” Shouted a voice next to Cassie, almost making her jump. Another figure that she hadn’t noticed was sitting in the chair next to her. Halle looked at her.
“Yes sir!” Cassie said, if a little late, still with enthusiasm.
“Good. Bolt this door behind me and don’t let anyone in. The new password is ‘M-16.’ Stay sharp.” He turned abruptly and left, clearly in a hurry to attend to other matters.
“Good work, girls,” Kyler said into the ear piece. “That’s exactly what we needed; no one allowed access to the security rooms. And Ramford is acting exactly as we want. Cassie, do you mind if Halle comes and meets me now? You should be safe in there until we find Jessop.”
“No, that’s fine,” Cassie assured him. She felt much safer locked in this room where no one was allowed than walking around feeling like everyone knew exactly who she was and what she was doing. “Did you locate the guy?”
“No, I’m having trouble finding
where he’s supposed to be. And we need to move quickly. Hal, could you go to building six and check the commissary and gym?” Kyler asked. “I’m going to look in the rooming barracks. I’m turning my microphone off until I need it again, Halle you’d better do the same. But Cassie, you leave yours on. I don’t want anyone to surprise you.”
“No problem,” Halle said. She rose and left the room with a parting “Good luck” to Cassie.
Cassie promptly bolted the door behind her and then turned to watch the screens. She watched as the soldier Halle was impersonating left the building. The cameras were very good and Cassie could see all of the important thoroughfares. The day before she had memorized the fictitious soldier-figures Halle and Kyler were to use until they could be invisible, and she quickly found Kyler’s as well.
It took about a half hour, but eventually they found the man they were looking for. One Lieutenant Colonel Ian Jessop. Cassie watched in fascination as Halle and Kyler descended on him. They were far enough away from her now that she saw them as Halle and Kyler. Their blanket cover was only for a hundred yards or so, since they didn’t have to worry about the cameras. The Colonel stopped suddenly, looking thoughtful. Then he abruptly turned and hurried in the other direction. Cassie saw all three enter a lab with double security and then there was nothing for a while.
After a time, Cassie saw a procession of cars arrive at the front gate.
“Uh, guys? You’d better hurry. They’re here,” Cassie said.
There was no answer over the earpiece, but the door to the lab opened and the Colonel ran out quickly looking very alarmed. Then Halle and Kyler followed less quickly, but still hurried. Kyler looked deliberately at the camera and nodded with a smile on his face as they jogged toward the front gate. Kyler’s voice said quietly, “He’s headed your way, Cass. Don’t worry, we’ve got you. Just give him what he wants.”
“Will do.”
Cassie watched them as they entered a wide-open space and disappeared from her view; Kyler expanded the cover to avoid anyone looking out windows.
It was only a few seconds later that Cassie heard a knock at the door. She slid the bolt open and listened to Colonel Jessop’s request, pretended to poke around on the computer and then handed him the drive Kyler had downloaded files onto earlier.
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