The portrait must have been a school picture from junior high school. She had a complexion just slightly darker than her father and a mouthful of braces in an innocent smile. Her eyes seemed very alert and I got a sense of the intelligence that lay behind them.
Looking up from the picture, I said, “So what does this have to do with me?”
“I want you to find her, bring her back to me. Make her want to stay.”
Bad idea. “Let me get this straight. You want me to find and essentially brainwash your daughter. You sure about that? If she has strong feelings about not coming back, then my tampering could really mess her up. I’m not willing to take that chance.”
Usher pursed his lips. “You are going to do this, and you will make sure that she is NOT harmed. Treat it as the most important thing you ever did. Probably will be the only damn important thing you ever do. “
I sighed, “What do I receive in return? What’s in it for me?”
While Mr. Usher’s facial expression didn’t change, I could feel his sense of relief. Now I was speaking his language. Also, the more I spoke to him, his mental barrier began to soften ever so slightly. Wisps of concern, regret and even love became just barely detectable, but spoke of a rolling intensity underneath.
He answered, “You get $10,000 cash, and forgiveness for how you have wronged me, so long as you never gamble in my house again.”
Shaking my head, “Make it twenty, return my wallet to me, and you’ve got a deal.”
Usher let out a smirk. “I’ll make it 10,000 and one. And the wallet. All of which you get after my daughter is living in my house. Plus,” he added with a wicked smile, “I leave your friend in the loony bin undisturbed. Let him vegetate in peace. ‘Tranquility’. Isn’t that what the picture says?”
How stupid of me. Why did I not check to see if I was followed to the hospital? Now they know about Gus, and could hurt him any time they wanted. What made this so difficult is that I could kill this man thirty different ways without getting out of this very comfortable chair. If I were willing to hurt or kill anyone who got in my way, nothing in the world could stop me. It was a chilling thought. I do not want to be that person. Gus would not approve. Which makes this choice a no-brainer.
“Deal. But Mr. Usher…if anything happens to Gus, any unfortunate accidents, I will repay the favor a hundredfold. Do we understand each other?”
He stood towering over me and replied, “Yeah, now get the hell out of my chair. And my office. And my place of business.”
CHAPTER SIX
After willing the stupid mustache to fall off my face, which it did all at once and blew away in the wind, I hailed the first taxi in sight. The driver waited for almost half a minute for me to provide a destination, and then turned to me questioningly. I concentrated on the photo of Alicia and almost instantly could see her, right now, as she exists at this very moment. She was at a large gas station, finishing pumping gas into an 80s model Chevy Caprice. The driver of the car was a small, balding man in a cheap suit, and he gave her a dollar before driving away. After yelling at the man with some choice colorful insults, she stopped and breathed deeply. Alicia looked nothing like the photo. Although she was only 19, she appeared to be at least in her late twenties, wearing cheap clothing tight on her curvy frame. Even from here I could feel her pain and as I drifted away I realized something. I knew that gas station.
Since there really is nowhere to shop in Detroit, I would occasionally rent a car and drive north to decent suburbs like Troy or Birmingham to go shopping. On the way back I would sometimes notice a very brightly lit BP gas station right off the expressway around 7-mile. That was the one I saw in my vision. Had to be.
The drive didn’t take long, and as we approached the gas station I had the shocking realization that I had no idea of what to say to her. What was I thinking? The cab took the ramp on the right up, then turned left onto a bridge that crossed over the expressway. As the cab pulled into the gas station I gave him a twenty dollar bill.
“Stay here and wait for me,” I asked. He nodded his head, but I knew he would drive off as soon as I turned away. “Obey me,” I said quietly, and his pupils grew large and unfocused. This taxi was not going anywhere.
Feeling someone approaching I turned to find Alicia right up in my personal space. Almost as tall as me, she had to stand at least 6’3”. Her skin tone and hair reminded me of cinnamon, with eyes a slightly lighter shade of brown. She wore copious amounts of cheap perfume with a vanilla sweetness to it, although there was an underlying odor of sweat. Her blouse was tied beneath her chest, revealing a thin waistline and slightly visible ribs. Combined with her curvy hips and chest this gave her an hourglass figure, like a pinup girl from the 1940s. As trashy as she appeared, shame on me, I still found her attractive. Wildly so.
Alicia looked at me up and down and said, “I don’t know who you are, with your long wavy hair and muscles and all, but this is my spot, sugar, and you’re gonna have to get on out of here and find somewhere else to peddle whatever it is you’re peddling. I got a good thing here and you ain’t gonna screw it up.” Her finger poked me in the chest. “Got it?”
Looking her in the eye, I smiled and replied, “Just like your father.”
Alicia drew back as if she had been slapped. “Who the hell are you and what do you know about me and my father? I ain’t nothing like my father.”
Opening myself to her mind, I realized that she was telling the truth. Alicia was nowhere near as controlled as her father, but when I tried to read her all I could experience were her senses, and a glimpse of her surface-most thoughts. Deep thoughts and emotions were well protected beneath the surface. This was not at all like Kate, who achieved her resistance through years of training and practice. This was innate, maybe even genetic.
It also made my job much more difficult. I tried to probe her psyche for a way in without her noticing.
Just as I almost gave up I noticed some damage to the smooth surface of her psyche. I followed the spider-web cracks to their source and found a terrible, gaping hole. How did I miss this before? Careful not to disturb anything I went through the hole and surveyed the state of her mind. It was nothing short of a disaster. A tumor-like presence short-circuited all of the normal connections, making itself the core of her psyche. Examining that tumor-like thing was not pleasant, but I had seen it before and knew what it was. Drug addiction. This is something I dealt with a lot at St. Jude’s. The problem is that everything in her mind was wired to the addiction. Rip out the addiction and her mind will collapse. Lucky for me, I had discovered a solution years ago.
Trying my best to appear calm and friendly, I brought her mind to a state of peace and tranquility, tricking the addiction temporarily to be satisfied, and continued, “Miss Usher, I’m sorry I upset you. My name is Adam and I am a sort of a hypnotist. A very good one. I promised your father, Mr. Usher, that I would bring you back to him.”
Her eyes half lidded, she lazily replied, “I don’t want to see him. I don’t want him to see me,” she hesitated, “Like this.” Tears brimmed at her eyes despite my calming influence.
I took a step forward and gently placed my hands on her shoulders, then said, “I can cure you, Alicia, right here, right now. I can make the addiction go away. Permanently.” I paused to let that sink in. I could make her believe me by sheer willpower, but it would be better for everyone if she went along willingly. “If you promise that you will go with me back to your father’s place and talk to him, I will cure you right here in this gas station.”
I could feel a drop of bitter cynicism in her, and underneath it a lake of fear. But rising to the top of that lake, rising slowly over the bitterness, was a tiny, battered emotion, but one of the strongest in my experience. Hope.
Her voice grew husky as she replied, “Do it.”
Taking a deep breath I put my forehead to hers and got to work.
Although it only took about a minute in real time, it felt like several hours of tedi
ous, difficult labor, rerouting the connections in her mind. This was very dangerous for her and there was no room for error. The first time I tried this was on a guy at St. Jude’s that we called Slim Jim. As you might have guessed, Jim was rail thin and addicted to pain pills. Finding his addiction was easy, and when I removed it I thought that the process was done. The poor guy never touched another pain pill, but when he left the hospital he weighed more than 300 pounds.
Trying not to think about slim Jim, I worked on re-routing the final connections. When I was finished, I could distantly feel her start to collapse under my hands. I caught her and opened my eyes. A small crowd of concerned looking people was starting to gather. Not good. I quickly carried Alicia to the cab that was still waiting for me and got us both in.
“Book Cadillac Hotel, please.”
As the taxi left the station, my mobile phone rang and I almost jumped out of my skin. Alicia didn’t seem to notice and was slumped in her seat, already asleep. I answered the phone. It was Kate.
“What are you doing, Adam? Who is that girl with you? She looks like a prostitute.” She paused, “Wait, don’t tell me, I do not want to know.”
Understanding that Kate was seeing me in her mind’s eye, I began to appreciate just how skilled she was at remote viewing. I was about to answer when Kate cut me off.
“Adam, there is no time to explain fully, but another one of my friends was attacked.”
“Oh no,” I said, “I am so sorry. Who…which friend?”
Kate held back tears, “Oh Adam, it was Justine. She was hit by a bus. They said she died instantly. It seems like coincidence, but I just know that it was only made to look like an accident. She was pushed.”
Trying to take this all in, I replied, “Kate, with all of you scattered, the killer is just picking you off one by one. We need to consolidate everyone somewhere that’s well protected.”
“I was thinking the same thing. That’s why I booked us for the first flights to Chicago. You had better go straight to the airport. There is no time to pack.”
Looking over at the sleeping form of Alicia, I replied, “I think we need to get one more ticket. I’ll explain later.”
“Uh, okay,” she hesitated, “Under what name?”
“Alicia Usher.”
After asking the driver to change direction and go straight to the airport, I closed my eyes and tried to rest, but I couldn’t. Things were spinning out of control and people were in real danger. There was no way that I could bring Alicia home in her current state, even if there were time to do it. She needed to get cleaned up before seeing her father again. However, to bring a girl he hardly knew to another city without her consent, that must break any number of laws. Plus, just having her near Kate puts her life at risk. However, I could not just drop her off somewhere like this. She needed support for the cleansing of her addiction to truly work. It was dangerous, but she had to go with me.
As the signs for the Detroit airport came into view, Alicia inhaled sharply and opened her eyes. She looked at me, disoriented, and said, “What is going on? Where are we going? “ Without waiting for an answer she added, “I am so thirsty. Do you have any water?”
I attempted to calm her but the hole in her psyche was already healed, so I no longer had direct access to her feelings. Shaking my head in reply, I tried to assure her, “We will get water at the airport, where we will be in just a few minutes.”
Alarmed, she shouted, “Airport? What! That’s it, get me out of this cab. Right now! You are some crazy person, I knew it! Too cute to be for real. Cabbie! Stop this cab and let me out!”
My stomach tightened at the “C” word. Crazy. Not a thing you want to call someone who spent almost half his life in an institution.
My words reverberated with a deep buzzing resonance that vibrated the steel frame of the taxi. “Driver, ignore her.” I turned to her and said, “Alicia Usher, I can promise you two things. One is that I’m trying to help you and have already, in fact, helped you. Notice your desperate thirst? That’s all that’s left of your drug addiction. You are now addicted to nothing more than fresh water. Can you feel it? Can you?”
Alicia looked down for a few moments, “Yes, but how? You can do that with hypnosis?”
“Uh, well, sort of more than hypnosis.”
Fear flashed in her eyes, mixed with hope. “Is it…you know… permanent?”
I responded, “It should be. You will always have an unnaturally strong thirst but you will never want to do drugs again.”
We sat in silence for a while, and when I looked back at Alicia, I was surprised to see tears streaming down Alicia’s face.
Barely audible, she whispered, “Thank you.” Then she looked at me, “You said you promise two things. What is the second promise?
Meeting her eyes, but not smiling, I replied, “I promise you…that I’m not crazy.”
She did not look convinced.
As we pulled up to the entrance to the airport, I quickly went over the situation. “Okay, My friend Kate is meeting us here with three tickets to Chicago. We have some things to take care of out there. As soon as we get back, I will take you to see your father again.”
“Just great,” Alicia replied flatly, “So what do I do in Chicago while you and your friend handle your business?”
Shrugging, I smiled, “Rest, clean up. Go shopping, buy some new clothes.”
She froze, “I’m not a hooker. You know that, right? I’m not a prostitute and am not easy and can’t be bought with fancy new clothes. You need to understand that.”
“I get it,” I replied, “completely. It must be the hardest thing in the world for you to trust me, but that’s exactly what I’m asking you to do. Please.”
We got out of the cab and entered the airport. It was not very busy and it appeared that we would not have to wait in line at security. Suddenly Alicia froze and said, “Adam, wait, there’s a problem.”
I raised an eyebrow in response.
“I got no I.D.,” she said. “Don’t I need a driver’s license or something?”
Amusement played across my features as I replied, “What a coincidence. I also have no I.D. because my wallet is in your father’s office. Don’t worry, when we get to security, just follow my lead.”
Ahead of us, a tall, gorgeous redhead with sultry eyes and a fitted white linen dress regarded us with her hands on her hips. Kate looked us over and said, “Adam, I must say, you’re full of surprises. Miss Usher here plays an important part in all of our futures, but I never foresaw that you were the one to get her involved.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. Turning to Alicia, I explained, “Kate is a bit like me, only she sees the future. Or possible futures anyway.”
Rolling her eyes, Alicia muttered, “Yeah, right, whatever you say.” Looking Kate over, she asked, “Are you Adam’s girlfriend or something?”
Color rose to Kate’s cheeks and she looked at me for a moment, then replied, “Well, no, we never…”
Fighting hard to suppress a chuckle, I took my ticket from Kate and headed for the security line. The uniformed guard was checking the tickets against each traveler’s driver’s license. Ignoring the stares she was receiving from other people in line, Alicia nervously followed me so closely I could smell her cheap candy-scented perfume. With a bored grin I handed the guard my ticket, then held my forefinger and thumb toward him, as if holding an invisible card. All the while I projected the illusion of my driver’s license, and planted the suggestion in his mind that he had already reviewed it. Returning my ticket with little more than a cursory glance, he sent me on my way toward the metal detectors. There would be no more I.D. checks for me. Alicia handed the guard her ticket.
He looked it over, then turned to Alicia and said, “I need to see an I.D. please.” She froze, mouth gaping, but didn’t hold her hand up as I did. That would make it more difficult.
His eyes narrowing, the guard continued, “Ma’am, I need to see your identification now.” His
hand reached for his radio, and I knew that Alicia was about to find herself interrogated. For her part, she looked like she could flee at any minute, which would only make things worse.
Closing my eyes, I swept into the guards mind and pulled him into a dreamlike state. In his dream I made the fantasy version of Alicia find her license and present it with an embarrassed smile. Opening one eye while maintaining the dream, I saw Alicia still standing before the guard, who now sat with his eyes glazed over and mouth open. With a thought I tried to make all the people around not notice what was happening, then focused on Alicia.
Her feet lifted ever so slightly off the ground as I imagined invisible hands lifting her and gently guiding her levitating body towards me. Once I set her down gently, Alicia looked at me with an expression of fear and said, “What are you?”
I have no answer to that question so I said nothing. At the first store I bought her a huge bottle of cold, delicious water.
CHAPTER SEVEN
We arrived at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago without incident. During the flight, Alicia slept and Kate typed away on her laptop, which left me with nothing to do but think. I had never used my powers so blatantly before, the way I did at the airport. Manipulating the mind of the guard so boldly, in front of other people no less, was exhilarating. That kind of complete power over someone else must be wrong in some way, but it felt so incredibly satisfying. At the casino I mostly read the thoughts of the dealers and made decisions based on what I discovered. This is something else entirely. I owned him, and it felt good. It felt like the old days at St. Jude’s. The trouble is that I had no right to own him. If he was truly my enemy and trying to kill me or something, then I could argue that it was justified, but he was just a guy. Doing a job. My stomach rolled at the thought of it.
What was I doing here anyway, with two very different women, both of whom I had just met? Alicia was my responsibility until I could safely hand her off to Deon Usher. I owed her that at the very least. I didn’t owe Kate anything…except for the fact that I gave her my word. I could change my mind. I really could.
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