by EJ McBride
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter 01
Chapter 02
Chapter 03
Chapter 04
Chapter 05
Chapter 06
Chapter 07
Chapter 08
Chapter 09
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
EJ's Other Books
Connect With EJ
FORESIGHT
EJ McBride
May you have the Foresight to know where you’re going, the Hindsight to know where you’ve been, and the Insight to know when you’ve gone too far…
No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2013 EJ McBride
All rights reserved.
Prologue
For the second time in less than 24 hours, Clara Phelps found herself in handcuffs.
And for the second time in less than 24 hours, Clara Phelps found herself praying for someone to spare her life.
She awoke feeling groggy, that initial sensation of waking up somewhere unfamiliar, only amplified, times a thousand. Her immediate response was to lift her head and scan the unknown room for some kind of clue, a tell-tale piece of furniture, a door or a window that might give her an idea of her whereabouts, but an overwhelming feeling of drug-induced double vision mixed with the darkness of the early morning hours made that almost impossible. She could barely see a few feet in front of her and what she could see, she couldn't see clearly at all. She yanked at her right hand, with the intention of using it to check her face for wounds, to be sure that she'd not been stabbed or burned, but found it being stopped short after only a few centimetres. Whatever she was cuffed to, she wasn't getting away from it that easily. She lifted her left hand, confirming that her left arm at least was free to move about, and delicately scanned the contours of her face, her fingers gliding quickly and efficiently over her nose, her eyes, her ears. Everything was OK, nothing too bad to report back.
Finding nothing more than a couple of small cuts, she began feeling her way around her surroundings, starting with the ground under her butt and slowly pinching and scraping around in a circle. She realised she was sat upright, leaning against whatever it was she had been handcuffed to. She curled her left arm back behind herself and felt large, vertical clumps of cold steel attached to a thick concrete wall. Surmising that what she was imprisoned against was in fact a large radiator, she reached her left arm across her chest and began feeling for a gap in the metal to slide her cuffs through. She felt slowly up and down a couple of times, pinching and grasping at the dirty metal joints and washers, the dust and gunk lodging itself unpleasantly underneath her finger nails and in the small cuts littered all over her hands. She slapped her hand back down on the floor, defeated at the realisation that her captor hadn't been that stupid.
She switched her focus to her sense of smell. Although this was never going to be her first choice as a means of identifying her location, she knew that a give-away smell like the odour of the seafront or the stench of a smelting plant nearby might make the job of rescuing her easier for the police. Of course, how she was going to alert the police was another matter altogether, but she figured it best to focus on one problem at a time. She inhaled deeply through her nostrils, paying particular attention, more attention than she'd ever paid before in fact, to what she could smell. And what she could smell was an overwhelming aroma of damp, the kind of damp that takes years of neglect to perfect, the kind of damp you simply can't buy or replicate. Wherever she was, she knew she was probably the first person to be there in some time. She could sense dust, realising that with every additional inhale, her nostrils felt dirtier, the particles building up in her lungs, tickling the back of her throat.
Is this a factory? She thought. It would certainly explain why the place wreaked of damp, and she immediately began compiling a list of abandoned warehouses in her head, even though she was almost certain that she wasn't in New York any more.
'The old smelting plant', she thought, 'or maybe the shipping docks', her mind utterly focused on finding a factory or warehouse that might fit the bill.
CLICK
The sound echoed through the room, giving the impression of enormous depth and emptiness. It was as clear as day, whoever had made the sound made no attempt to cover it or muffle it, and it appeared to be no more than 20 or 30 feet away from her. Clara jumped in shock, then sat as far forward as she possibly could, her mouth open slightly as she channelled every part of her concentration into the task of hearing a clue as to who, or what had made the mystery sound. Nothing, just absolute silence, deafening silence. Despite her instincts telling her not to, Clara eventually plucked up the courage to speak.
'Hello, is anyone there?'
Nothing. Total silence. Seconds passed, seconds of torturous quiet that somehow seemed to defy the laws of time and felt like minutes, hours to Clara, until a sudden burst of activity in the same direction as the first noise, the unmistakeable sound of footsteps walking slowly toward her. Clara felt her heart launch itself uncomfortably into her mouth, her stomach sink, the hairs on the back of her neck stand upright. She thought of a thousand different threats she could scream at her captor but settled on an involuntary whimper, a barely audible chirp that achieved nothing other than confirming her absolute paralysis of fear. She felt all of the muscles in her body clench as if bracing for a hit that she knew was coming, and as she strained her bloodshot eyes, she realised that her double vision had now cleared. A figure hovered in front of her, head bowed down toward her, then crouched to get closer to her, a face appearing in the dull light shining in through a window behind her.
She gasped as a tear streamed down her cheek.
'Hello Clara'
Chapter 01
It was a colder than usual April morning at the waterfront in Brighton Beach, New York. Clara sat on a park bench, arms down by her side, her hands hidden away inside the pockets of her warm coat, her breath dancing in front of her face with every exhale. This wasn't the first time Clara had stared out at the water from here, and it was one of the few parts of the city where trivial things like rapidly declining temperatures didn't seem to bother her.
'Now?' quizzed Mckenzie, the scruffy thirty-something year old sat next to her, equally cold, and growing impatient with her desire to sit and do nothing.
'Not yet' she replied, not breaking her gaze for even a second. 'A few more minutes.'
She had come here as long as she could remember, sitting in the exact same spot on the boardwalk with her father and her older brother year after year. He'd buy his kids Syrniki, a sweet Russian fritter, his with jam and their's with honey, and they'd all sit on the bench and watch the ocean. It was one of the few activities where Clara felt she could relax growing up; the space, the relative quiet compared with the hustle and bustle of the rest of the island, the constant drama and upset of the rest of her life. They were cherished memories, and whenever she felt as though things were really gett
ing on top of her, Clara would enjoy the natural therapy of starting her day with a trip to the water. She took one final glance out over the gleaming white railings, took her hands out of her pockets and blew them for warmth.
'OK, now' she said, and without uttering another word, the pair stood up and began walking along 6th street and toward Brighton Beach Avenue.
Clara was slight in build, with auburn-tinted brown hair that rested delicately just below her shoulder blades. Despite her self-admitted tomboy tendencies, she still managed to dress in a way that highlighted her feminine side, combining her coat with skinny pink jeans, a pair of Vans and a wooly hat. She was beautiful in that 'girl next door' kind of way that so many men would find appealing, if only she had the 'girl next door' personality to complement it. Mackenzie on the other hand was tall, about 6ft 1, but skinny in build. Wearing a long dark coat, his hair in a side parting and thick rimmed glasses sitting on his unshaven face, he could easily pass for 'geek chic' if only he had the good looks to pull it off. The pair made an unusual couple, but in this part of New York, few people cared what kind of couple you made, so long as you kept yourself to yourself, something they were both more than comfortable with.
They walked with purpose, not slouching or slowing down even for a second, moving quickly past the rows of houses, their destination the busier streets of Brighton Beach, the parts of town where you could easily spot a potential target without getting yourself into too much trouble. The pair knew exactly what they were looking for without even acknowledging it. They'd worked together for a few years now and every day they would spot someone that they knew would be easy pickings. They generally targeted the older crowd. Brighton Beach was full of old Russian women, often going about their daily errands completely on their own, often without anyone at home keeping tabs on where they were. Not that Clara or Mckenzie would do anything particularly awful to them. They took a certain amount of pride in the fact that in all the years they'd been working together, not once had they physically hurt anyone. Of course, the psychological pain they inflicted was always much worse, but the pair both had an unwritten rule that they would never discuss that.
The pair continued up 6th street at a pace. On their left they passed a newly completed block of condominiums, red brick with tall arching windows and promises of year-round water views. For Manhattan, they weren't that spectacular, but Clara tilted her head as she walked past, glancing up toward the top floors and wondering what kind of life the people up there must live. Despite everything, she'd never given up completely on the idea that one day she might live in a place like that. Sure, she may not have the steady employment and credit history of a college graduate with a high-flying career, but she knew how to make fast money, and she wasn't stupid about tucking a few dollars under a mattress whenever she got the chance. She knew she'd be living in the penthouse suite one day, she just had to figure out the finer points in the meantime. The entire building had been part of the renovation project of this part of New York, a project spearheaded mainly by tax breaks that James Friedman, the wunderkind Mayor of New York and hot candidate for the next Presidency had implemented. Friedman's time in office had so far been nothing but a major success, and whilst Clara didn't consider herself especially politically minded, she liked Friedman, she felt as though he was doing good things for the city, and especially liked his handling of the murder of Helen Berghaus, a political opponent running for mayor a few years before, killed in a botched robbery attempt. She figured that a lesser man could have used the situation for political gain, and whilst his gains had been significant, she admired the class with which he responded to the news. In her experience, it was a character trait that few men in general had, never mind politicians.
After about ten minutes walking, the pair arrived on Neptune Avenue, and stopped to take in their surroundings, leaning casually against the old railings of a dirty apartment building. Mckenzie pulled a cigarette out of his coat pocket, placed one in his mouth and lit, inhaling as he did. Without breaking his forward-facing glance, he closed the packet and slipped it back into his pocket, exhaling and dropping the cigarette in his hand down to his right-hand side. He stared ahead of him, before sensing a pair of piercing eyes looking right through him from his left. He turned and made eye contact with Clara, who was giving him the kind of look that could turn men to stone, could turn milk sour.
'Yes you dick, I know I quit. You could still offer me one. I like being able to say 'no'.
'Jesus Christ', responded Mckenzie, not sure whether he was more pissed off at her tone or the fact that she knew exactly what he was thinking, as usual, without him having to utter a word.
Mckenzie had always known that something wasn't quite right with Clara. They'd met when the pair of them were sleeping rough a couple of years back, and whilst he'd always felt safe, 'comfortable' even in her presence, he knew that there was far more to her than most. She had the uncanny knack of knowing every thought that passed through his head, whether he uttered a word or not, whether it was good or bad. It wasn't one of those, 'between friends' coincidences either. Clara could read him like a book. He'd tried to convince her to prove his theory once, to play the 'what number am I thinking of' game. When she refused, his angry, innermost private thoughts about her bad attitude reduced her to floods of tears. They hadn't spoken about it since, but Mckenzie had learnt that with Clara, it was best to assume that whatever you were thinking, she already knew about it. The safest thing to do was to try and keep your thoughts positive.
The pair glanced around them. Behind them stood a tall, 7-storey apartment building, the kind you could see in any street of any borough of New York, with fire escapes and air conditioning units climbing in formation up the walls. On the opposite side of the street, smaller 3-storey buildings with the bottom floors dedicated to small shops and family-run takeout restaurants. This was essentially Russia town, but even here you couldn't escape New York's multi-cultural attitude, with a Chinese deli, a mexican restaurant and a Starbucks all sharing a strip of retail space no longer than 75ft. The pair knew that this would be the place to spot a sucker, someone they could relieve of some money with minimal fuss or collateral damage. They played the waiting game.
'You know the problem with stopping smoking?', quizzed Clara, not expecting Mckenzie to offer up any kind of response. 'It makes you want to do everything else that's bad for your body. Shit you didn't even do that often when you smoked. I swear to God I've had to change my route back to my apartment to avoid the Dunkin' Donuts.'
'The one on 18th?'
Clara glared at the side of Mckenzies' face, unamused at his fairly useless response. 'Yes, that would be the one Sherlock', she snapped. 'Honestly, I'd be the size of an SUV if I went in there as often as I want to. And coffee, my God the coffee. Five minutes off of the nicotine and my body is craving any kind of drug, I swear I'm drinking coffee like it contains an elixir for ever-lasting youth or something.'
Mckenzie glanced across the 4 lanes of traffic at the Starbucks opposite, and by the time his eyes met with Clara she'd already responded to the question he hadn't even asked, at least not verbally.
'Yes please, I'd love one', she ordered, a wide smile across her face.
Mckenzie sighed, and used his elbows to lift himself off of the railings he'd been slouched on, his hands not coming out of his pockets even for a second. He paused as he waited for a couple of cars to pass him, then lifted his right foot to step out into the road, stopping dead in his tracks as a hand grabbed his left arm. Clara pulled him back on to the sidewalk.
'The bakery', she said, her eyes transfixed.
'Alright, on my way back', replied McKenzie.
'No asshole', she snapped, nodding vigorously away from her.
On the opposite side of the street stood a small bakery, one single door leading into a sales room no bigger than the average person's kitchen. There were two counters, each one half full of bread and cakes; it had clearly been a good morning of business for the
place. Outside stood an old lady, clearly of Russian descent, her face aged in a way that made it tough to pinpoint exactly how old she was. She wore a long, nondescript beige coat and ushanka hat, although minus the ear covers. Despite her age, she appeared to be pretty mobile, but was clearly struggling with too many bags of groceries. She was gripping one in her right hand, whilst another balanced between her chest and her left arm, while a third was tearing away, the contents slowly tipping down toward the ground, a morning's food shopping about to smack into the pavement. Without speaking, the pair quickly bolted across the street in the direction of the old lady.
'Here', bellowed Mckenzie at the woman, 'let me get that for you'. He grabbed hold of the paper bag, just seconds before the contents would have emptied out onto the sidewalk. He cradled her groceries in his arms like a young child, almost hugging them, and looked at Clara. Clara turned to face the old woman, holding eye contact with her for a couple of silent seconds. 'Where to?', she asked?
'Oh bless you both', replied the lady. 'I was sure I'd be able to carry them but they were just too much. Are you sure you wouldn't mind?'
'Of course not', replied Clara. 'This way?' She pointed up the street in front of the woman. 'Of course it was this way', thought McKenzie.
'Just a couple of blocks, I promise it's not far', insisted the lady. 'Bless you both.'
The trio walked, Clara and Mckenzie being sure to keep the lady engrossed in conversation the entire time. They talked about how they weren't from around here, that they were in town on their honeymoon and had gotten married in Chicago the weekend before. They told her that they'd always wanted to see New York, and that he had family who lived out here so it just made perfect sense for them to visit before his career took off and she would focus on raising their family. It was all nonsense of course, but they needed a good cover story, something that painted them as the sweet and thoughtful couple long enough for Clara to be able to slip her hand inside the woman's bag and remove the $87 she had in her purse, which she did with startling efficiency. When they arrived at her building, even walking up to her apartment and dropping the groceries off on her kitchen counter for her, the old lady couldn't have been more grateful.