Discovery (Science of Psionics Book #1)

by Dave Renol

  “So we’re screwed?”

  “Not if I have anything to say about it. We’ll have to play his game for a while, but sooner or later he’ll make a mistake. Once he does, I might even take him out myself. Nobody shoots at me and gets away with it.”

  “So what do we do in the mean time?” I asked.

  “We keep busy and don’t let him get under our skins. At a glance, I would say that y’all did a pretty decent job with your barricades, but it’s getting darker, and we’ll want to avoid casting shadows on a window. A shadow in front of a window is an open invitation to a sniper. Hang up any spare blankets that you have over each window and place a lamp or something right up next to it. That will help foul his placement of us. Just make sure that you stay out of the way while doing it.”

  “Right,” Mark and I said together.

  “You get blankets and sheets, I’ll gather up lamps and stuff,” Mark sent.

  I sent him my affirmation and got on with my part of the job. For once I was happy with my pack rat tendencies, as I had piles of old linens in storage. We were working on the last one when I heard a sudden sharp crack come from the living room.

  “Fire at the living room window,” Mark warned. “The shield held.”

  I heard several more cracks, then the sound of shattering glass.

  “More fire,” he reported. “Shield is down, rebuilding.”

  As we lay on the floor, I sent a probe out to the window and felt the beginning of his replacement field. Sending my mind out farther, I tried to pick up any sign of the shooter, but couldn’t find anything.

  “You ok?” I asked.

  “Yeah, the bullets busted up my shield, but that was minor compared to the one that put me out of action in the mountains. Just a quick stab of pain and that’s it.”

  Sara crawled out into the hallway, gun at the ready and asked “You guys ok out here?”

  “Just peachy,” I replied. “Nobody was hurt, but one shield went down. Mark’s rebuilding it as we speak.”

  Nodding, she crawled back to the office saying “I need to check the cam. You two stay down for a couple minutes until we know things are clear.”

  I crawled over to Mark and wrapped my arms around him, taking comfort in his presence.

  “I’m ok over here, thanks for asking,” Carl shouted at us.

  “Sorry bud,” Mark replied. “I did look over and see that you were fine, but up until now I was busy rebuilding the shield that they took out.”

  “Mark,” Sara shouted out from the office. “The phones are up! I just got another text message. Get on the horn and call the cops.”

  I quickly disengaged from Mark so he could get to his phone, but he thought faster than me and brought it to where he lay.

  Before he could dial he said “Crap, no signal again. Let’s go see what message Sara has from the bugger this time.”

  “Nothing good from the sound of things” I replied, inclining my head to indicate the swearing coming from the office.

  Sara was back at the laptop when we rounded the corner into the office. She kept changing the angle of the camera slightly every few seconds, trying to spot anyone.

  “What did he say this time?” I asked her.

  “See for yourself,” she replied shortly.

  Picking her phone up off of the floor, I held it up so Mark could see it too.

  BRING OUT A WHITE FLAG WHEN YOU SEE REASON

  “He’s insane,” I said in disbelief.

  “Welcome to my world,” Sara growled.

  Chapter 17

  Mark: Evening the Odds

  Linda and I hunkered down in the hallway so we could keep in contact with both Carl and Sara. About every four hours we had to endure another attack at a random window of the house. Sometimes the shield held up, but if the attack had too many shots then it usually resulted in another broken window. Linda was getting pissed off at both the danger as well as the damage.

  With the phone reception only going on long enough for Sid to send us his messages, it was obvious that he had at least one other person helping him. There was no way he could diddle with the cell tower and still take shots at the house. Based on the windows that were shot out, it was more likely that he had at least three or four.

  Sara suggested that we sleep in shifts in order to keep fresh, but all of us were too keyed up to try going to sleep. She didn’t try too hard to convince us though. She was in the same boat as the rest of us since she made no move toward the bedroom herself. The four hour alarm clock at our windows sure wasn’t helping things.

  “Keep alert everyone,” Sara called out. “If he keeps to schedule, then we can expect another attack soon. We need to spot their fire locations if we’re to have any chance of stopping them.”

  “Even if we spot him, what exactly did you have in mind?” I asked. “I’m pretty sure that he’s out of range of both your pistol and our abilities.”

  “We can’t make any plan unless we know the details, and spotting their location is the first detail we need. Once we know that, we can consider options. Maybe we run, maybe we fight. Maybe we wait him out, maybe we give in. All I know right now is that he has the advantage, and I am going to keep looking until there’s something else I can do.”

  Figuring out something else that I could do was easy. I made more coffee. Nobody had much of an appetite, but everyone greedily welcomed the hot mugs that I periodically distributed. I had just finished doling out the latest round of java when I saw Linda stiffen up and heard the tinkle of broken glass coming from the back bedroom.

  “There goes another window,” Linda reported. “That was your bedroom Sara; I’ll need to rebuild the shield. Your lunatic hubby owes me for a lot of bloody damage now.”

  “Don’t even think of going there,” Sara said hotly. “The next time that bastard is within my reach, he’s a dead man. This attack pisses me off on so many levels; I hardly know where to begin. First, there’s the fact that he’s actually shooting at ME. He also shot and hit Carl, he’s tearing up your house, and he’s trying to wear us down with these continuous barrages. I think the thing that offends me most is that he’s using my own sniper rifle to shoot at me. I don’t think I could ever forgive that.”

  “How do you know he’s using your rifle?” I asked.

  “When he went back home to take care of business, I gave him a list of things to bring back for me and it wasn’t just clothes that I wanted. It included several weapons from my personal collection, my basic Ranger’s kit, and my prize Dragunov sniper rifle.”

  “I took it home as a trophy from Afghanistan. Our platoon was ordered to secure a section of the city street by street. We had barely started the sweep when we were halted by enemy sniper fire. The squads moving through the streets on either side of us were in the same boat and couldn’t assist. We were basically stuck, held at bay by a mere handful of enemy riflemen. I wound up laying on a pile of sharp debris and broken glass for nine and a half hours waiting for a clean shot. When I finally plugged him, it allowed my squad to advance and flank the other enemy snipers. I took his weapon as a souvenir.”

  “That’s pretty wild,” I said. “I’ve never heard many war stories from you.”

  “Most of them don’t make for good dinner conversation unless you have a strong stomach.”

  “Dragunov sounds Russian. Is it any good?”

  “Yes,” she replied fervently. “It has eight hundred and thirty meters per second muzzle velocity, ten round magazine, and the scope range is adjustable up to thirteen hundred meters. I can castrate a fly at a thousand yards with it, and would give my right arm to have it with me right now.”

  “What was it packed in?” Linda asked.

  “It was in my sand-camo duffle, why?”

  “Well,” Linda said with a smirk, “I don’t want your right arm, but if that’s the bag you need, then it’s inside your bedroom closet.”

  “What? I thought that was in the truck still with the rest of the stuff he brought from
home.”

  “Nope, when Sid was unloading your suitcase from the truck, he mentioned that the camouflage duffel was yours. I put it in your closet later so you would have it handy.”

  “Hot damn,” she said enthusiastically. “Be right back.”

  I had to grin as I saw her scamper into the bedroom like a little kid on Christmas morning rushing for presents under the tree. A shout of victory, and she emerged carrying her duffle.

  “It’s all here! Now it’s time for a little payback. That little shit-eater won’t know what hit him.”

  As she began pulling stuff out of the bag, she paused and handed me her hand gun.

  “Give this to Carl. He should have some way of defending himself other than his ugly face.”

  She picked another hand gun for herself, several spare clips, and a Bowie knife that made the one from the Rambo movie look like a toothpick. Fondly stroking a case that she half pulled out from the bag, she threw us an evil grin and hauled her gear into the office. If looks could kill, then I would hate to be in Sid’s shoes right now.

  Curious, I poked my head around the corner of the office. She had her precious case open on the floor next to her and was rapidly inspecting and setting up her gun. Once satisfied, she set it aside and pulled out what looked like a Buck Rogers ray gun.

  “Soviet NSPU night vision scope,” she explained before I could ask. She hunkered down next to the window and began slowly scanning the area. “I think that I know the general area where the shots came from, but it’s a lot of forest out there. I’ll have to get lucky in order to spot ‘em. Since you’re here, keep an eye on the webcam screen and make sure they don’t sneak up on us.”

  Making myself comfortable on Sara’s abandoned pile of blankets I sent to Linda, “I’ll be staying here. Sara delegated the laptop watch to me while she plays with her toys.”

  “Be nice, she can be a lot of help here.”

  Sara looked up from her scope, “All the light around here is messing me up. I’m going to try the garage.”

  “Ok, but be careful,” I cautioned.

  She just grinned at me, grabbed her gear, and headed for the garage door. “Little Miss Lyudmila Pavlichenko is going to try setting up in the garage,” I sent. “See if she needs anything.”

  “Ok.”

  As I settled in for my watch, I tried again to see if I could detect anyone in the area. I cast my awareness out, slowly spreading away from me and covering the house. I mentally felt everything in the area, just like I did on the very first trial when I tried to locate the beer in the fridge. I found it a little harder, trying to ‘watch’ a larger area, but it seemed that once an area was recognized, I could keep it straight with minimal effort.

  People were a lot easier to see than objects. They almost glowed to my internal sight. I could easily see Carl at his post scratching his ass, Linda at the garage side door, and Sara by the overhead door. Hmm, there’s a nest of mice in the crawlspace. I would have to let Linda know.

  Like a bubble forming on the end of a child’s wand, I stretched my awareness out and away. There’s a rabbit at the side of the driveway having a late night snack, and a squirrel on the fencepost munching on a pine nut. I had the yard mostly covered now, so I paused to let that settle in.

  Pushing out was the difficult part and getting harder as I went farther afield, but once I stopped, I could watch anything inside my bubble with ease. I would glance down at the computer screen once in a while, but with the crappy light outside, I felt that my new ‘mental cam’ would be far more effective.

  I concentrated and expanded my awareness bubble again. There’s the road. That’s the fencepost on the far side of the lot. I managed to get the whole yard covered, and part of the forest where it was closest to the house before I had to stop again. I had gotten my bubble out to about a hundred yards, and had to really strain to hold it. After a moment or two when I thought it would collapse, it began settling in to where I could control it without effort.

  I mopped my brow and relaxed muscles that had gone tense without my noticing. I had hoped that I could have pushed farther, but was still happy with how far I had gotten. A hundred yard perimeter was nothing to sneeze at. I was pleased to discover that not only did the bubble become easier to monitor, but the details also became clearer as it settled in more.

  I chuckled as I realized a more mundane application for this new ability. I would never again have to worry about stubbing my toe if I got up in the middle of the night.

  I saw that Sara had lain down in the garage and Linda was making her way back toward me. “Everything all set in there?” I sent.

  “She seems satisfied. I made some holes in the overhead door for her, moved some junk next to it for cover, and built her a shield.”

  “I’ve gotten a surveillance field set up around the house. It took a bit of work, but I think it’ll be much more effective than the cameras. Carl can get some sleep if he wants. His watch is a bit redundant now.”

  “Interesting,” she replied after I finished my explanation. “I never thought to use it passive like that. Let me try it. If this siege goes on for long, then we’ll have to watch in shifts.”

  While Linda experimented with a bubble of her own, I turned my attention back to mine and gave things a quick scan. I could sort of watch everything at once, but if I concentrated on a certain area, the details became far clearer. With surveillance like this, there was no longer a need to sit in the office.

  “Let’s all move to the hallway by the garage door,” I sent. “It’ll be safer there and we can all be close enough to talk without shouting.”

  “Ok,” I heard with an odd echo.

  We gathered up our nesting material and hauled it over to the side door. As we rounded the corner, I saw that Carl was already gathering up his own pile.

  “Convenient,” I told him. “We’re moving to the hallway by the garage where it’ll be safer from random bullets.”

  “I heard ya, gimme a minute. I can’t move as fast as normal right now.”

  Linda and I exchanged a puzzled glance. “What do you mean you heard me? I didn’t say it out loud.”

  “Of course you did. You said that my watch was redundant, I could sleep if I wanted to, and then you decided that we should gather closer to Sara near the garage.”

  “You heard that?” I said incredulously. “What about this? Can you still hear me?”

  “Of course I can still hear you, I’m not deaf you blithering …” He paused, startled. “Holy shit, you never said that out loud!”

  “I’m not sure why you can suddenly hear me now, but I’m glad. Every little thing helps to even the odds for us. Welcome to the club, eh!”

  Chapter 18

  Linda: Gathering Intelligence

  The boys were enthusiastic in their discussion of Carl’s newfound ability as we set up our stuff in the hallway. Sara seemed very envious of Carl and looked like she wanted to join us, but was reluctant to leave her post. They kept the conversation verbal since Carl hadn’t figured out how to send yet and also to keep Sara from feeling left out.

  It was easy to tell when Carl was attempting to send, since that was the only time he would shut up. I could understand his enthusiasm and excitement, but that didn’t mean that I enjoyed his incessant babbling. I decided that I needed a little break from him before it turned me cross, so I fixed up some ham sandwiches for everyone. I left the boys with their share and took mine into the garage with Sara’s.

  “Thanks,” Sara said before taking a big bite. “We needed something in our guts other than the battery acid that Mark calls coffee.”

  “Any luck spotting them yet?” I asked, taking a bite from my own sandwich.

  “Not yet. It’s like a needle in a haystack right now.”

  “Is there anything that we can do to help?”

  She thought for a long moment before replying. “Maybe there is. Look for a small beige box inside my duffle. Inside are a compass and a protractor. Find some stri
ng and make a line from the bullet hole in a window to the impact point on the floor. Use the compass and protractor to get the direction and angle of elevation of each shot. If you can match up the right holes and get me a good measurement, then that’ll be a big help narrowing down my search area.”

  “I think I can manage that. Is there anything else I can do?”

  “Yeah, don’t get shot. You can also bring me another sandwich.”

  “Here, you can have my second one. I would rather keep busy than choke it down.”

  Accepting my offering absently, she turned back to her scope and resumed scanning the hillside in between bites. I grabbed the beige box from her duffel and a ball of binder twine from the garage shelf. I made my way past the boys in the hallway where they were still going at it, and decided that the living room might be the best place to start.

  I hung one end of the string at the first bullet hole and unrolled it through the air back toward me. There were several bullet holes in my nice hardwood floor and it wasn’t very easy matching them up. I struggled with it for a while and finally just had to guess. I moved on to the office, hoping that there might be an easier match in there.

  I was a little bit more confident with my pairings in there, but decided to check my bedroom in order to be thorough. Once finished, I stood in the doorway and looked out at the string lines in the living room. There was definitely a pattern, and I could see where the most dangerous places were.

  Taking my notes back to Sara I almost laughed out loud at Carl, sitting in the hall and straining to use his telepathy. It looked like he was constipated.

  “Here ya go,” I said to Sara, waving my notes as I entered the garage.

  “That was quick.”

  “Well, you might say that I’ve got a bit of an advantage. I should tell you though, that I’m not quite sure on the pairings from the living room.”

  Sara studied my notes for several long minutes before replying, “I think you’re right, some of these look a little strange. Let’s go check it out.”