Out of Touch

by Clara Ward

  “No,” came Dr. Yu’s voice from the far side of the room above. Reggie was frustrated by not being able to see, but he should still be sending any audio he could hear. “I don’t know the value of the boy in the entryway, but I’m guessing that if we hold Dr. Morton, they’ll choose to keep events private.”

  Reggie could see the man restraining James now and guessed Yu would soon be at the window with the gun. He hurried down the side yard calling, “If you let us all go peacefully, we have no need to increase fear.”

  “You’ve taken what you came for. Now leave.”

  “Go on,” James said, “I’ll see to Howard.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t waste this chance.”

  Reggie was around the corner of the side yard before he knew he’d agreed.

  Sarah squirmed in his arms and he realized how hastily he’d gathered her. He noticed that beneath the straight jacket was a hospital gown, and beneath that was absolutely nothing. The way he carried her, the outfit might raise eyebrows even in Bangkok.

  “Put me down.”

  Coming to the same conclusion himself, Reggie put Sarah down and started unfastening the straight jacket.

  “Thanks. Oh, Reggie, there’s so much I need to thank you for and talk with you about, but it’s going to have to wait. Now what?” Sarah asked.

  “There’s a cab waiting, and then a plane.”

  Sarah looked at him like he was a puppy bringing her slippers in the middle of the day. “Reggie, I love you. But what about James and Howard?”

  There was the distant sound of yelling from the PAD in Reggie’s pocket. He pulled it up and both Sarah and Reggie listened as Phil said, “Do you want me to transmit? Should I call the Thai authorities?”

  “Wait,” said Reggie. He’d finished untying the straight jacket, and Sarah was now draping it around her waist, making it look more like a normal jacket, and covering the opening in the back of her gown. “Let’s get to the cab and think.”

  Reggie took Sarah’s hand, holding the PAD in his other. Sarah looked bad, like she’d escaped a fire with half her skin and none of her hair. She didn’t look like she should be able to walk around, but her grip on his hand was not weak, and she was setting a brisk pace as they rounded the corner to meet their cab. It wasn’t there.

  “Some rescue,” said Reggie. “The cab didn’t even wait.”

  “We don’t need a cab; we need to get Howard and James out of that building. What good is it to rescue me if we gave them another teek and an additional hostage?”

  Reggie didn’t know what to say to that. “It doesn’t look like their experiment worked, anyway,” he offered. Sarah threw her hands to her head in exasperation, and he added, “I just mean them having another teek won’t matter.”

  “It did work. I only have the slightest bit of it back.” Sarah’s voice was so measured, Reggie almost missed the pain behind the words.

  “You blasted a window screen and a gun.”

  “Because I couldn’t cut the screen and jam the gun.” Sarah ran her hands over her bare scalp like fingers through invisible hair. From the set of her jaw, it must have hurt like passing her hands through fire. “A few hours ago I couldn’t do anything. Now I have force but no control, so I was waiting. Why did you risk anyone for me? They’ll try again on Howard, he might not recover completely, and it hurts like hell. And who knows what they’ll do to,” she paused and got quieter, “James.”

  Reggie was puzzled by the softening of her voice, but at least it was a tone he knew, not the steely forced calm that came before. He wanted to hold her, but that obviously wasn’t an option. “Do they know? Maybe they won’t try on Howard. You could blast Yu’s house apart bit by bit until they surrendered.”

  “They could hurt James or Howard in retaliation, we’d draw a crowd, and I might hurt someone through lack of control.”

  He nodded and swallowed, deciding he wasn’t very good at playing the hero, “What do you suggest?”

  “We could call the Johnsons.”

  “Just to confirm that we’re trouble makers?”

  “Isn’t this what diplomats are for?”

  Reggie stared at her a moment, then spoke into the phone, “Phil, I’m going to switch lines so Sarah can make a call. Just hold on to our transmission and hope we don’t need to use it.”

  Chapter 31

  July 29, 2025 – Bangkok, Thailand

  James waited at Dr. Yu’s dining room table. He drummed his fingers like slow drips of water along the over varnished cherry, watching the fingerprints he left behind, repeating his drumming on just the same spots. Howard, a bit bandaged and bruised, sat beside him, completely still. The guy who had beat him up stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. A radio in the kitchen still rattled off the news, and there was a stench of old tea. Dr. Yu could just barely be heard above the radio. Since agreeing to meet with the Johnsons, he’d been making one call after another, all of them in Chinese. Lisa was presumably still with him in the office.

  “She doesn’t even speak Mandarin,” Howard said.

  “No talking,” said the thug.

  “How stupid,” Howard thought at James. “He knows we can talk this way. I think he’s watched too many movies.”

  “Maybe he’s listening elsewhere.”

  “Trust me, the part in Mandarin is even duller than the radio.”

  “I don’t think the radio’s dull.”

  “This afternoon, China offered expedited citizenship to all telepaths of Chinese descent,” the radio announcer said, as if to confirm the point. “Similar legislation has been introduced in the U.S., but—”

  The doorbell rang. Lisa could be heard greeting Samuel Johnson. Yu’s conversation ended, and the tough guy swung into the kitchen to turn off the news. Soon Samuel, Yu, and Lisa had joined James and Howard at the table.

  Samuel looked at Howard’s bandages, then spoke to James, “I trust you’ve both been treated well?”

  James nodded. Howard ignored the question, eyes fixed forward like a statue.

  Samuel turned to Yu, “And you must realize by now that PAD and the powers of the day are involved in this situation?”

  “What happened with Sarah was not planned,” Yu said calmly.

  “Your would-be assassin just couldn’t resist a second chance at her?” Howard said, scowling at the man in the doorway.

  Samuel showed no reaction but looked toward Yu, who didn’t respond.

  James pressed both hands against his legs to keep still. So that’s who shot Sarah on her way back from Chiang Mai. No wonder he’d feared being recognized.

  “You did warn her!” Lisa yelled. James startled at the sudden noise, then held very still.

  “She rescued us, and you tried to kill her,” Howard’s stillness broke as he leaned forward, his bruised hands forming fists on the elegant table.

  “She could destroy our telepathy.”

  “She destroyed some new zoots on accident. You tried to kill her. You kidnapped and tortured her, on purpose!”

  The cousins were leaning toward each other now across the table. James vaguely remembered telling Lisa about Sarah’s Chiang Mai plans. Was he responsible for Sarah being shot? Had Lisa been using him for information? Before or while seeing Alak? And he’d felt sorry for her? As his stomach began to twist, he felt his pulse pounding behind his eyes, but he swallowed hard and kept the nausea and panic back. He kept his hands balled together beneath the table.

  “They captured my father!” Lisa scowled.

  “Oh,” Howard paused, hands releasing from fists, face falling, then countered, “That’s still no excuse.”

  “What?” James asked, but the argument had switched to tight telepathy, and he was ignored. He’d thought Lisa and Robert’s father was dead, but hadn’t he died in China? Whatever group the Chinatown teeps were involved with must also have Mr. Chen. Had the rest of the family been recruited from the states or only once they reached Bangkok’s Chinatown?

  T
he potential assassin stepped back toward the doorway, and James realized he’d moved in as Howard and Lisa argued. Yu and Samuel glanced at each other then both looked away.

  James felt his heels tap: left, right, right, left. The rest of his body was already so controlled and rigid, he let the heals silently continue: right, left, left, right. It was all beginning to make sense.

  Samuel folded his hands on the table and announced, “There are many emotional issues here, but I don’t want them to distract from our goal. Dr. Yu, will you allow Howard and James to leave if PAD agrees to destroy the evidence of what happened here tonight?”

  “Many people would agree with our actions,” Yu said.

  “You want the video aired?”

  “No, but we want the patent rights for sequence two as well.”

  Samuel looked baffled, “What?”

  James said, “Who’s we?”

  “In my name, for now.”

  “No. Those rights will be my parting gift to the Thai government. Or don’t you care about Thailand anymore?”

  “You want to leave the country?” Samuel asked calmly, turning to face James.

  “Yes.”

  “And these rights revert to Thailand how?”

  “They already oversee most of the rights by contract. But all my agreements with the government specify I’m free to leave so long as I let Thailand keep the patents.”

  “You can’t leave,” Yu said.

  “I’m leaving. So’s Howard.” James heard his own confidence, his feet now still. “The people who have evidence against you will have no reason to use it once we’re safe.”

  “Whose side are you on?” Lisa asked, suddenly back from her silent argument and focusing on James.

  “The side of science, but you don’t know how many sides there are.” James didn’t look at Lisa as he rose from his chair. “Come on Howard, Samuel. We’re going.”

  “I can’t let you do that,” Yu said.

  James sent directly to Yu, “You will, because if this is made public, both China and Thailand will realize you’re working with an organization of teeps powerful enough that you knew about Knockham and sent a plane to England to contact him. And I’ll bet you did it without either country’s help or knowledge.”

  Yu was silent, both mind and mouth, as James and the others walked out of his house. Mentally, James added a dot to this day on his calendar. Then he climbed into the car where Ida and Emma were waiting.

  Samuel made a couple of quick phone calls from the car, and the five of them were able to drive directly onto tarmac at the Bangkok airport. Sarah and Reggie stood waiting by a plane, holding hands like they were glued to each other.

  “You did it!” Sarah said to Samuel as they emerged from the car.

  “I hope I played a part, but I’d have to give most of the credit to James.”

  “Really?” said Sarah, turning to James with a broadening smile.

  James shrugged, “I don’t suppose one of you could place a call to Leonard Knockham for me?”

  “I can try,” Reggie said, eyebrows only slightly raised.

  “Give him my name, I think he’ll take it.”

  A few moments later Reggie handed James his PAD.

  “Are you there, James? This is Lenny.”

  “Congratulations, you seem to have changed the world,” James replied.

  “I had some help.”

  “Could you use more?”

  “Had you figured it out?”

  “Not enough, but I may have something new for you.”

  “There might be questions, security issues.”

  “I’m ready to lose the new zoots and be questioned.”

  “Really?”

  “I have several lines of research to pursue.”

  “Hmm, perhaps I can guess. If you want to go with Sarah and Reggie, I’ll make arrangements.”

  As he hung up the phone, Howard was saying, “Do you think it’s safe to travel with you?”

  Sarah seemed to blush at the joke, but it was hard to tell beneath her rash.

  “I think you’d best take your chances,” Samuel said. “As a teek, you might be happier away from here.”

  “Do you see that sort of reaction forming?” Reggie asked, “Against those with both heritages?”

  “Too early to tell. War might have united the outcasts, but if peace prevails, well, I don’t know if humanity’s ready for this, and Howard’s certainly in an awkward position here.”

  “It couldn’t have stayed secret much longer,” James said.

  “Youth. Whether reckless or brave, there’s no standing in its way.” The older man smiled at James, as if he and the others were all kids.

  “Then let me go with them,” Emma pleaded.

  Samuel glared icily, but Ida put an arm around her daughter and said, “Be nice to your father, and he might not ground you for keeping secrets last night.”

  Emma handed Sarah an overnight bag, moved as if to hug her, then pulled back. “I brought some clothes and things for you. Are you going to be all right?”

  Sarah hugged the girl, gently, and said, “It’s not so bad, just like scrapes from falling off a bike.”

  Emma kept looking at Sarah, head cocked like a bird. Sarah used her hands to lift a string of beads from around the girl’s neck, and held them at arm’s length in her palm. Then without moving she made them jump up about a foot and fall back down. Emma had tears in her eyes as Sarah replaced the beads around her neck in the normal way.

  “I thought you might recover quickly,” James said. “The samples I ran this morning contained a surprising number of old zoots. Perhaps that will discourage such attempts in the future.”

  “And new zoots?” Sarah asked.

  “Absolutely none. But given their susceptibility to pressure and their limited biological niche, they may be less resilient.”

  Mrs. Johnson wrinkled her nose and shook her head, “I’m still not used to the idea of zoots. But however it works, I’m glad to know you’re recovering, Sarah. And I’m sorry if we seemed a bit harsh in asking you to leave our home.”

  “You’ve all done more for me than I could ask. I’m hoping to stay well away from trouble now, and maybe once things have calmed down, you could let Emma come visit.”

  Ida smiled but kept a protective arm around her daughter. They said their goodbyes, and all but the Johnsons boarded the plane.

  Thailand was well out of sight by the time they reached altitude and the noise of engines faded enough to allow conversation. Reggie and Sarah were in the front row, on the right hand side of the aisle and were the only ones to break the silence. They had been huddled together talking in low voices throughout take off. Now Reggie sat up straighter, smiling, his forehead and eyebrows becoming visible over the seat. Howard was seated directly behind the couple, clearly visible from James’ place, across the aisle and back a row. As Reggie filled Sarah in on recent events at PAD, James stared and listened. He missed about every fourth word, but tried to fit what he heard with what he’d learned at Yu’s and guessed from conversations with Alak.

  “There’s some…organization behind Knockham, players…finance and politics.”

  “I sort of guessed,” Sarah said, her higher voice carrying. “The Druids handled the travel papers for me and Dr. Knockham, but then I had to take his place, like he was sneaking away from someone.”

  “Cass still…they owe you. She promised to get us all E.U. passports, and the E.U.’s…privacy and free travel, probably a good place to be right now.”

  “Well, I’d like some time off. And you’ll probably be busy, working with PAD, building a brave new world. But if you asked very nicely, I might be willing to recuperate at PAD Island, instead.”

  There was a stretch of silence, or rather the steady roar from the plane. James tried to read something from the top of Reggie’s face, but all he saw was stillness.

  “Is that what you want?” Reggie asked, at once louder, so that James could hear easil
y, and more tender, so James wished he wasn’t listening. He tried to focus on clouds outside his window.

  “I was on my way back to you when, well, you know,” Sarah squeaked, also oblivious to their audience.

  “Funny, I was thinking I might ditch PAD, take a long vacation, wander by Eurorail, maybe make it a honeymoon.”

  James couldn’t help glancing at the couple. He could see Sarah’s profile, frozen, staring intently at the seat in front of her. He noticed Howard watching, became mindful of his own gaze, and looked away.

  “Are you saying…? What about your work? Did the world change that much?” Sarah asked

  There was a scuffling sound and a tearing, then a click as Reggie unfastened his seat belt, and went down on one knee in a narrow wedge visible between their seats. He pulled out a ring from what looked like a tiny paper pouch and said, “Sarah, I am fully determined to stay with you through whatever life you choose to live. Now, will you marry me?”

  Chapter 32

  July 30 – August 20, 2025 – County Kerry, Ireland

  Sarah stepped out of the plane first. The metal staircase the airport provided echoed slightly with her steps. The rail felt cool under her palm, though the sun was bright. Even here on the tarmac, the air wafted wet and green. She filled herself with that air, wanting to be part of this place again.

  Standing fifteen feet from the plane, positioned almost exactly as the Johnsons had been in Thailand, was a small welcoming committee. There were two men Sarah didn’t know and barely noticed. But Aliana was there in a snug golden blouse and a long silk skirt that whipped about her calves in the airport wind. Sarah wanted to scamper down and hug her, but immediately reconsidered, both for Aliana’s frame of mind and for her own sore skin.

  Nonetheless, Sarah’s eyes were on her friend as her foot jarred against solid ground and hope bubbled through her center. Aliana stepped forward and gently took Sarah’s hands, guiding her a few steps away from the others.