by Marina Epley
“What happened?” Holtzmann asks.
“We’ve located them,” I answer.
Chapter 20
“I think I’ve seen this guy before,” Chase says, looking into the face of a dead Elimination officer. “He isn’t from our unit, but I remember meeting him once or twice before during an operation.”
He turns away as if the scene is too much for him to handle. I don’t say anything. It must be hurtful for Chase to see a fellow Elimination officer dead, even if he didn’t know him that well.
We’re inside a large courthouse with a jail occupying the bottom floor. I’ve never been here before, but I’ve seen this exact place in my mind. This time the name of the exact street it’s located on didn’t come to me, but I was able to describe the place well enough to determine the general area. Elimination provided a spacious aircraft to my team and sent along a dozen officers in support, including Wheeler.
Ascending on takeoff, I stole a glimpse of the prison. It looks like a military base from above, and is located in a sparsely populated area.
Our trip only took an hour, but we were still too late. The outlaw group of breakers had already attacked the municipal jail, freed five inmates and shot several Elimination officers. They had left right before our arrival. What a fiasco. Lena and I both had visions and tracked their location minutes before the actual attack. If I could only have located them half an hour earlier… I groan in frustration.
“Relax, breaker,” Chase says. “It’s not your fault. You did everything you could.”
If I’d received the vision a bit earlier, I could be reunited with Kitty right now. She would be safe. Now I can’t even determine whether she’s still alive. One of the downed officers could have shot her during the attack.
I look around. Frank stands motionless, studying the faces of the dead officers in the same manner Chase stared at them earlier. He may have worked with them before, I realize, but don’t ask. I’ve had enough of being around the dead and wounded. I don’t want to know about these people personally. Victor sits on the floor, smoking a cigarette and smiling. He must be happy he didn’t have to fight. Jessie seems as disappointed as I am. Many hypnotized cops with blank stares walk randomly around in the room. Newly arrived police and paramedics are trying to bring them back to reality. They don’t succeed. The hypnosis has to wear off on its own.
“Why don’t you help them?” Holtzmann asks.
“Can I?” I wonder.
“You have the ability,” he suggests, “to snap them out of the hypnosis.”
“Can I really do that?”
“At least you might try. It has never been attempted to my knowledge, but I suspect it might work.”
“What do I do?”
Holtzmann shrugs his shoulders, saying, “You are a level four breaker, not me. It should come naturally for you. Don’t think how you should do it, just do it.”
“Thanks for nothing,” I sigh. “Your instruction is very helpful as always.”
I approach a cop. He’s standing stone still as a statue, wearing a silly grin on his face. I concentrate, projecting my thoughts into his foggy mind. Wake up, I think. You’re under hypnosis. Shake it off.
I’m not wearing the blocking collar, so my thoughts reach his brain within seconds. The policeman steps back and looks around, disoriented.
“What happened?” he asks in surprise.
“Calm down,” I say softly. “You were hypnotized. You’re okay now.”
He doesn’t recognize me because of the ski mask I was ordered to wear as a precaution. With my face being shown on all newscast a few weeks ago, Elimination can’t afford to let a public learn my death was a farce.
Paramedics lead the disoriented cop away. Later he’ll have to deal with the fact that he shot an Elimination officer while under hypnosis. Fortunately, the terrorists couldn’t force every cop to execute their commands. Some happened to be strong minded and just fell into a deep paralyzing trance.
I approach another policeman, doing the same drill. I suggest for him to wake up and he heeds my command. Perhaps Holtzmann was right. The less I think about it, the better it works.
An hour later I stand outside the building, exhausted and experiencing a terrible headache. I helped at least a dozen hypnotized policemen.
“Are you all right?” Chase wonders.
“It could be worse,” I answer, wincing.
“Do all breakers get headaches?”
“Not that I know of. I’m the lucky one.”
“Thanks for helping with those officers,” Chase says.
“They’d be okay anyway,” I answer. “The hypnosis doesn’t last forever.”
“Holtzmann thinks the less time it lasts, the less side effects one suffers. So you did a great job helping them.” Chase pauses, looking at me. “Why are you helping non-breakers anyway?”
“You still don’t get it, Chase?” I ask. “You still think all breakers are the same and we’re all vicious killers and thieves?”
“I’ve never really thought that way,” he answers. “I realize that we often incarcerate breakers who have never committed a crime. It’s the least favorite part of my job.”
“What keeps you in Elimination then?”
“Money,” Chase sighs. “I only have a high school education, so my options are limited. I have to help my parents, they’re poor. When I signed up with Elimination, I didn’t know about some of the methods they use. In any case, every once in a while we do lock away some really nasty breakers. The killer and rapist variety.”
“I know,” I say.
Chase grins, “It’s kind of ironic, that I spend so much time inside the prison that sometimes it feels like I’m an inmate myself.”
I remember what Holtzmann told me earlier about being trapped inside the facility.
“Don’t they let you out?” I wonder.
“Sure,” Chase answers. “I can take a day off and visit my family if I want, but they don’t pay me for that. And my family doesn’t care whether I visit them or not. They don’t miss me. I have plenty of younger siblings still living with them. They don’t care where I am or what I am doing as long as I send them money.”
“Why help them then?”
“Why? I don’t want my brothers and sisters to starve.”
“I can understand that,” I say.
“And I don’t send all my salary anyway,” Chase says. “I’m also saving some for college. As soon as I save enough, I’ll be out of Elimination.”
“Really? What are you gonna study?”
“Journalism. What? Why are you laughing? I want to become a journalist. What’s so freaking funny about that?”
“Sorry, Chase, but I can’t imagine you being a journalist,” I explain, trying to stop smiling. “Do you want to work with Lola?”
“No Lola, no television. I’d prefer to write about breakers and tell people the truth.”
“Chase, you won’t be able to write whatever you want in this world. Everybody has their own agenda nowadays.”
“I’ll try to change that,” Chase answers. “I’ve never gone to college, but I’ve read some historical books. In times past, people had the freedom of speech. Maybe I can help bring it back.”
Good luck, I think. If he continues thinking this way, he’ll probably wind up in prison. I don’t say anything though. I’m surprised Chase opened up to me about his family and future plans. It actually felt like I’ve been talking to a human being, not an Elimination officer on duty.
“Chase! Stay away from this breaker,” Wheeler shouts, approaching us. Chase sighs, but follows his command. Wheeler glares at him, saying, “What’s wrong with you, boy? Why are you making friends with this pig? Don’t forget who you are or who he is. Don’t let him fool you.”
Chase turns away and walks off toward the aircraft.
Time to go back to prison.
“I’m displeased with your team’s performance today,” Browning says. “I think I may have to utilize ot
her methods to capture the terrorists.”
Holtzmann and I are sitting in Browning’s office, facing his desk. Browning is studying Wheeler’s report on our work and shakes his head, saying, “This project is failing. It’s obvious that your team is too slow to react and has no clue how to locate those terrorists before the damage is already done.”
“We located them,” I protest. “We were only a few minutes late. It isn’t our fault.”
“You haven’t helped capture them,” Browning says, “and that’s the bottom line. Perhaps, it’s time to begin a total scanning of the entire population to identify any unknown breakers. Elimination has to isolate them for the security of our Republic.”
“That’s ludicrous,” Holtzmann says. “Your directive will not lead to safety, but to war. A full blown conflict between humans and breakers. Breakers won’t permit you to arbitrarily imprison or kill them without putting up massive resistance.”
“Now Egbert, we don’t need all that drama,” Browning answers. “We must stop those terrorists and other breakers from killing innocent citizens at all cost.”
“Give my team more time,” I ask. “We’ll catch them.”
“More time? How can I give you more time while innocent people are being killed?”
It’s ridiculous to hear such words from Browning. Many innocent breakers and even their relatives are being tortured and killed under his command.
“It will take months, if not years to scan every person,” I say, keeping my voice calm. “And it will take only a few weeks at the max for my team to locate those terrorists. Your career depends on how quickly and efficiently you can destroy them. If you shut down the project now, you’ll most likely lose your job. Think about it.”
After a long pause Browning finally agrees, “One week. If you don’t bring them to me in one week, I’m ordering my officers to begin a total scanning of the population.”
Holtzmann and I leave. One week to find the outlaw breaker group or our project will be shut down. I can’t know whether I’ll have visions or not. How can I locate them again?
“What are we gonna do?” I ask Holtzmann.
“Work diligently,” he answers.
“One week probably isn’t enough,” I say.
“It has to be enough,” he sighs. “We have to locate them. We can’t let Browning approve total scanning. If we can’t stop the scanning, thousands will die.”
I remember his prophecy about the war. Somehow it doesn’t seem so crazy now.
The next few days I spend hours concentrating on Kitty’s image, but the visions just aren’t happening. My mind is empty.
Lena helps out as best she can, lying in her chair and connecting to my mind. Holtzmann says she can’t track Kitty on her own. Lena and Kitty don’t have an emotional link. Lena is usually able to locate a person if she has a picture, but there’s no picture of Kitty. And even if I had one, I wouldn’t give it to Elimination. That’s why I have to guide Lena in my mind, triggering her visions. She’s a more experienced telepath than I am, and can get clearer images, but I have to feed them to her.
On the other hand, as soon as Lena sees something, I can easily access her mind and see the same visions. Together we combine our effort, working and thinking as one. Holtzmann explained that during telepathic connection our heart rate synchronizes and body temperatures regulate to become the same. Our brains show identical activity. We actually go through the same experience. If I’m angry, then Lena feels my anger. If she’s sad, I become sad too. We even see the world through each other’s eyes. Holtzmann seems to fully understand how it works, but for me it’s too complicated.
No visions. I sit up in my chair. Lena opens her eyes instantly. She’s still wearing bandages after having surgery. Holtzmann had doctors remove the electrodes from her head a few days ago. I wonder if this may be a factor in why we can’t locate the terrorists. Lena is still hurting and maybe can’t concentrate well enough due to the pain. I know it is affecting her, because I’ve had a headache since her surgery as well.
“How many days are left?” she asks.
“Two,” I answer.
“What if we can’t locate them?” Lena asks. “Will I have to go back to Carrel?”
“No, we won’t let Carrel take you.”
“Carrel always gave orders for the officers to beat me, when I couldn’t get visions.”
“Why didn’t you hypnotize them?” I wonder. “You’re level four, right? You can hypnotize the resistant.”
“I can’t. I don’t know why. I’m only good at telepathy. I tried to hypnotize Carrel and the officers, but always failed.”
Just like me. I still have trouble with hypnotizing resistant people. Lena may be too young to be able to use all her abilities. Maybe the long months of abuse and fear at the hands of Carrel broke her mentally.
“Anyway, if even I knew how to hypnotize the resistant, I wouldn’t dare escape,” she says. “Elimination has my mom. They keep her around here somewhere and say they’ll kill her if I try anything wrong. I know she’s still alive. I feel it. I can see her sometimes.”
“Is she a breaker?
Lena nods.
I keep silent for a few minutes, trying to imagine what this child has gone through. I ask carefully, “How long have you been here?”
“Three years.”
It means Lena was five, when she was first imprisoned by Elimination. Three years, I think, Lena has spent the past three years among killers and sadists. Three years of pain and humiliation. It’s hard for me to remain calm.
Lena feels it, saying, “Don’t worry. I’m okay now. I’m really happy to be part of your team and away from Carrel.” She smiles.
“We’ll escape,” I say. “And then rescue your mother.”
“Thank you,” Lena says, giving me a hug. I’m not sure if it’s right to make such promises.
Lena returns to her chair and suggests we try once again to locate the terrorists. I close my eyes, trying to relax. I have to clear my mind, forget who and where I am. I have to envision Kitty, connecting with her mind and seeing the world through her eyes. Where are you, I think, what are you doing right at this moment? Are you still alive?
Nothing.
Holtzmann interrupts our idle attempts around midnight, suggesting we get some sleep. Perhaps he’s right, I’m just too tired. I decide we should return to our rooms and get some rest so we can start fresh in the morning.
“Rex! Wake up!” Chase says, shaking me. “C’mon, breaker!”
I sit up in bed and stare at him. My head is foggy. I’m tired and want to go back to sleep. “What time is it?” I ask.
“4 am. C’mon, get up. There’s been a terrorist attack at a hospital.”
“What? The prison infirmary?”
“No. A regular hospital an hour’s drive to the north.”
Slowly, I begin to understand what he’s talking about. I dress quickly and follow Chase. He leads me toward Holtzmann’s lab.
“When did it happen?” I wonder.
“Just an hour ago. Relax, we don’t have to go. It’s too late. All the terrorists are already gone.”
I didn’t see it coming. No visions yesterday. Why?
We enter the lab. Holtzmann sits at his desk, watching the news unfold on his laptop. Rebecca stands behind him, looking over his shoulder.
“Rex, they’ve killed everybody,” Rebecca exclaims. “They’ve burned an entire floor at the hospital. Patients and doctors alike couldn’t do anything to save themselves, being under hypnosis. More than eighty people are dead.”
My mouth gets dry. I approach Holtzmann’s desk and stare at the monitor. I see the large building enfolded in flames, firefighters, people frozen in shock and body bags, rows and rows of black plastic bags spread across the concrete. Something churns inside me. I smell the nauseating reek of burnt flesh. A journalist reports about a group of breakers who broke into the building and set it on fire. Nobody on that floor could react in time. Victims were r
endered completely helpless, paralyzed by hypnosis.
“They didn’t bother to leave their slogan this time,” Holtzmann says thoughtfully. “And didn’t bother to leave your image as they’ve done previously.”
“They’re now fully aware that I’m alive and not some kind of martyr for their cause,” I remind him.
Holtzmann thinks for a moment, then asks, “You didn’t receive visions concerning this act of terror, did you?”
“For God’s sake, Holtzmann! Of course not!” I exclaim. “You think I would let this happen?”
“I’m just verifying the facts,” Holtzmann answers. “Strange. Why didn’t you see this? I’d expect you to have very vivid visions, considering it’s such a devastating event.”
“How the heck can I know why I didn’t see this coming?”
Holtzmann turns back to the monitor. We watch news for a long time in silence. I wonder how many people are watching the same broadcast in horror right now. They must hate breakers, associating every one of us with terrorism and believing we’re all monsters.
Freaking psychotic terrorists, I think disgustedly.
I begin to realize that I’m somehow guilty for everything that’s happened this night. I should have stopped it. I could have located them and prevented all this. But I didn’t.
“This is a catastrophe,” Holtzmann says. “Browning will certainly request a total scanning of the population now. He’s going to want to shut down our project.”
“Chase, wake Lena,” I suggest. “We’re gonna try to locate them.”
“Right now?” Chase hesitates.
“We don’t have time, Chase!” I shout.
“Okay, calm down, breaker,” Chase says, leaving.
Rebecca takes my hand and says, “I’m so sorry, Rex.”
“It’s not your fault, Rebecca.”
She gives me a long sympathetic look. I realize that Rebecca is genuinely worried and that she’s no longer associating me with other bad breakers.
“We’re gonna find these dudes and stop them,” I say. “It’s gonna be all right.”
“It may be too late,” Holtzmann says slowly. “I’m not sure that Browning will allow us to continue working on our project.”