Winters Family Psi Chronicles 2: Project Onyx

by John O'Riley

  “That just sounds odd,” Dick said disdainfully.

  “I might just join them too or I’ll end up working in the military,” Amy said.

  “I’m not going to work for them,” Dick said emphatically.

  “No one’s asking you to,” Brian said.

  “I think they sound like a cult and I don’t want to have anything to do with them,” Dick said scornfully.

  “Teresa suspects the same thing but is still thinking about joining them,” Paul said.

  Amy took her turn and her score pushed her in the lead with Dick in third place due to his lapse in performance earlier. Their scores were written on the small white eraser board pinned to the other wall. When Dick took his turn, he performed flawlessly with a bull’s eye with every toss. He excused himself to go to the bathroom. When Brian’s turn came, he took his time but was still last place. His head began to throb as his mind whirled with scattered events through his life and the vague sense he was in danger. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on what the ultimate outcome should be as he realized this was his aggregate intuition at work. Unfortunately, his empathic and telepathic senses were adding to the mix and he couldn’t make any sense out of anything. He finally shored up his psionic defenses as best as possible and tried to make everything dormant. It wasn’t working very well. Dick returned just before his turn came up and they continued with the game until Brian announced he was going to lie down for awhile and possibly go to bed early.

  Brian brushed his teeth and performed his usual shielding reinforcement as he listened to the subliminal programming music but fell asleep before he finished. He dreamed with jumbled scenes of Amy, Derek, Brandon, Samantha, and Ashley. Everything changed too rapidly for him to make any sense of it until the dreams shifted once again to Samantha. She paced the living room and had just answered her cell phone. Her face was pale with dark shadows etched under her eyes.

  “Was your mission successful?” Samantha asked.

  “No, Brian managed to block my attack somehow. My abilities were destabilized and weakened temporarily,” Brandon said.

  “We can’t let him live knowing that he’ll eventually discover our identities with his connectivity psi. I have some disturbing news to report as well,” Samantha said tightly.

  “What is it?”

  “Norman is dead. It looks like his electrokinesis somehow turned back on his own body. He was lying in the middle of the floor in his kitchen and he was electrocuted. His body looked like it had been cooked,” Samantha said. “That’s the reason that he hadn’t reported in for so long.”

  “We have two really big problems to deal with: Ashley and Brian,” Brandon said crisply. “I don’t think I’ll be able to get close to Brian again now that I tried and failed once. They’ll increase the number of guards. I was lucky that he only had one before.”

  “I might be able to take care of Brian. If I can just get within a block of him, I can remain hidden and use my remote-viewing to lock onto him while I use my pyrokinesis to set fire on him or his surroundings,” Samantha said.

  “You have pyrokinesis now? That’s four secondary abilities!” Brandon exclaimed.

  “I know! It’s fantastic!” Samantha said.

  “It must be a lot of strain on your body. Are you sure you can handle that? I’ve only got one secondary ability at the moment,” Brandon said.

  “I’m fine,” Samantha said crisply. She scowled and rolled her eyes with annoyance at his impertinence of questioning her leadership. “I’ll take care of Brian. You try to track down that bitch, Ashley.”

  “All right. I’ll call you when I have more news,” Brandon said after a short pause.

  Samantha disconnected the phone and dropped it on the couch before rushing to the bathroom to pop a few more pain killers into her mouth. She swallowed them down with a glassful of water and frowned at her pallid reflection in the mirror. A trickle of blood oozed from her left nostril. She swiped it away impatiently and fear slammed into her. Her aggregate intuition warned her about the genetics pattern she’d been studying for countless hours. There was a problem. The genetic codes that the retrograde virus had added weren’t the complete answer to the multipathic abilities. Something else was missing. Otherwise, Brandon would have developed more than one ability. Samantha shook her head and reminded herself that Brian was an unacceptable security risk.

  The scene abruptly vanished and Brian found himself behind the wheel of his car pulling into the driveway of his house. Night was rapidly descending as he left his vehicle and headed for the house. The door was slightly ajar and Brian halted in front of it. Adrenaline rushed through him as he recognized this scene. The door opened fully to reveal a man silhouetted in shadows even though the fading sun was shining directly on him. A switchblade glinted in his right hand. Brian stood his ground instead of retreating and the man didn’t immediately attack.

  “Who are you?” Brian demanded.

  “I’m the one who is going to kill you,” the man said in a disturbing, distorted voice. “You can’t escape me. You’re living on borrowed time.”

  “Who are you?” Brian demanded again.

  “You can’t escape the psychic burnouts. They will kill you soon. You’ve only bought yourself some time and it’s running out.” The man took a threatening step forward.

  “Leave me alone,” Brian said shakily.

  The man thrust out the knife and Brian hastily leapt back out of range. The man continued forward and Brian swiftly retreated down the street, pumping his legs as hard and fast as possible. The killer laughed with amusement from directly behind him. Brian abruptly awakened and stared up at the ceiling in his dark room. He turned to read the digital display on his alarm clock which told him it was a little after three in the morning. A deep, exhausting fatigue had settled into his body and mind. Brian realized he hadn’t finished his nightly routine before going to sleep. He sat up and awakened his second sight. He instantly saw a large, muddy link attached to him. It was the same energy transference psi who kept persistently reestablishing a connection with him. It took Brian several moments of deep concentration to dissolve it. Afterwards, he spent an hour shoring up his psionic defenses. He felt a lot better now but still extremely tired. He belatedly remembered that he should record the dream while he remembered because if he drifted off to sleep, he’d probably forget many of the details.

  Brian’s hands ached as he reached out and grabbed the DPU on the nightstand. He set it down beside him on the bed as he clenched his hands into fists to warm them a bit. He shivered uncontrollably and suddenly became aware of a form of psychic energy focused on him. He pushed himself out of bed and the oppressing cold eased a bit before taking hold again. Brian shivered as unimaginable cold seeped into his body. He rushed across the room to turn on the lights. His numbing fingers brushed clumsily across the wall before he managed to find the touch panel to activate the illumination. Lights flooded the room and he blinked for a moment to allow his eyes to adjust. The cold became worse and he realized that his life was threatened if he didn’t manage to break the hold.

  His door burst open and Amy rushed into the room. Her eyes glittered with anxiety as she focused on his pallid skin and blue lips.

  “What’s going on?” she asked sharply.

  “Some sort of psychic weapon,” he said. “It’s so cold.”

  “Dad! Come quick! Brandon is attacking Jeff somehow!” Amy shouted.

  Brian stumbled backwards and perched on the edge of his bed as the energy and heat leached out of his body. Uncontrollable shivers wracked his body. He closed his eyes and brought up his second sight. Psychic energy shimmered around him. A strange sickly red luminescence pulsed over his matrix. The general direction of the source of the energy was discernable only with careful concentration as a fluctuating wave that pulsed in and out of his visual spectrum of detection. It was a long distance attack but he was probably within a two block radius. Brian reached out towards the source of the attack but lost
his hold on the second sight. His body was shutting down and he was losing consciousness. Paul burst into the room.

  “Dad! He’s dying!” Amy shouted frantically.

  “It helps when I’m moving but I can’t walk on my own,” Brian said weakly.

  “Amy, bring him to the car,” Paul said swiftly.

  Brian’s body lifted into the air and floated after Paul toward his car.

  “Keep him moving until I get ready to pull out,” Paul said.

  Amy nodded as she kept her intent gaze focused on her brother. Brian’s body floated around in an unpredictable pattern that kept him in the vicinity of the car. Paul started the engine and Amy hopped into the back seat.

  “Okay, now,” Paul instructed.

  Brian’s body swiftly flew into the front passenger seat and the door slammed shut on its own. FBI agents came running but Paul didn’t stop to explain. The car lurched out of the driveway then turned abruptly and raced out of the neighborhood and toward the freeway. Heat blasted from the vents as Paul cranked up the temperature to maximum. After several moments, Brian was no longer in danger of passing out and felt a lot better. His mind cleared and he realized the psychic attack had stopped. They must be out of range.

  “I’m getting better now. I think she lost her hold on me,” Brian said.

  “She? I thought Brandon was the one attacking you?” Paul asked.

  Paul pulled onto the freeway as he didn’t want to take any chances that the psychic attack would continue.

  “No, I had a dream about Samantha. She was going to kill me with pyrokinesis,” Brian said.

  “That makes sense,” Paul said grimly.

  Pyrokinesis came in two distinct variations; either they could create intense heat or intense cold. Obviously, Samantha’s talent lied in the latter ability.

  “How can she attack you without seeing you though?” Amy asked.

  “If she’s a multipath with remote-viewing, she can attack from a short distance without needing direct sight,” Paul explained.

  “That means we’re not going to be safe at home anymore,” Amy said anxiously.

  “We’re going to have to go into hiding like Driscol wanted,” Paul said grimly.

  His cell phone rang and he tapped the activation button on his steering wheel to answer the call.

  “Yes, Driscol,” he said.

  “What in the hell is going on?” Driscol said forcefully.

  “Samantha attacked Brian with pyrokinesis. The only way to escape was to keep him moving. She has the ability to cool down her targets,” Paul said.

  “You have no choice but to go into hiding,” Driscol said.

  “I know,” Paul said grimly.

  “Meet me at the Seattle Airport,” Driscol said after a brief hesitation. “I’ll arrange to have you flown out of state on the way over. Call me when you’re parked so we can meet up.”

  “Will do,” Paul said.

  Chapter 17

  Dick stepped into the crowded grocery store and pretended to shop. His connections to the three empaths that Lorraine had supplied him with had become permanent and more power flowed into him than ever before. It more than made up for the link he’d lost with Jason, Brian, and Amy. However, he’d sensed something crucial was still missing. After a shocking discovery this morning, he now had a sneaking suspicion of what that lacking element might be and it horrified him. Dick shoved aside this concern and focused on the energy radiating from the shoppers that milled around him. Now that he’d successfully added three more empaths to his list of donors, he felt pretty great but wanted more power. He figured the best way to find more empaths was to spend time around large quantities of people. His questing tentacle floated amongst the various individuals until he’d tested everyone and failed to find an empath. This was the second night he’d tried this method without achieving any results.

  Dick wondered if he should alter his strategy. He went back to his white sedan and glanced at the rearview mirror reflexively even though he dreaded the sight. His eyes honed in on the two strands of gray hair. As a self-regeneration psi, his growth had been permanently halted in his early twenties but now it had apparently jumpstarted. Dick swallowed nervously as his thoughts raced over the implications once again. It had to be Jason. Somehow, Dick had stolen the self-regeneration energy from Jason all these years with the link he’d established as a teenager. Now that Jason had joined the Zen Network, this restorative energy was cut off from him. Dick had reestablished the link unconsciously several times but one of the connectivity psi at the compound must monitor the network because the link would immediately sever before it could strengthen enough to draw anything.

  Dick’s strategy was to add as many empaths to his network as possible. His desperate theory stemmed from the hope that if he acquired enough power then his body’s aging would halt. If he failed, he may die very soon. Dick had always believed he would live forever. His eyes locked onto the gray hairs and a despair washed over him.

  “It isn’t fair,” he whispered brokenly.

  After several more moments of self-pity, he shoved aside his doubts and fears so he could focus on the task at hand. He drove to another grocery store and pretended to shop inside as his tendril of energy quested for an empath. He went giddy with excitement when he located one. It was a young woman in her early thirties. She had curly red hair and blue eyes and a shopping cart filled with groceries. A little girl walked beside her and a baby boy was seated in the cart. Dick stared at her hungrily and scarcely believed his luck. He focused on her and began shoving past her psionic shield which was extremely weak indicating she was probably a level ten empath and an extremely weak telepath. The woman reached for a box of cereal and turned to look around her with a frown of bewilderment. Dick turned away and pretended to contemplate the boxes of cereal in front of him. He felt her gaze rest on him and he reached out and selected a box at random.

  He walked down the aisle and turned the corner so she could no longer see him and resumed burrowing into her psionic shielding. He pretended to look over the display of chips at the end so no one would wonder why he was standing and staring into space. He followed the empath through the store at a discreet distance and remained out of her line of sight. Finally, he managed to penetrate her protection but instead of drawing energy, worked on establishing a temporary link. He would need to stay near her for quite awhile before the link could sustain itself. The woman stepped into a line with her shopping cart and Dick knew his time was up. He would have to follow her home. This could be tricky as it required a great deal of concentration to maintain the link which would make driving difficult.

  He waited for her in the parking lot near the front of the store and watched her push her shopping cart to her blue sedan. She glanced around a couple of times as if she could sense him. Maybe her empathic senses warned her that she was being stalked. Dick slid behind the wheel of his own car and followed her on the streets. After several moments, terror seized his mind. His grip tightened on the steering wheel and he almost lost awareness of his surroundings. He quickly realized this was an empathic attack but it didn’t help the sharp pain that stabbed his mind and made his heart hammer with fear. Dick narrowed his eyes and focused on the blue sedan which had sped faster. He sent a burst of telekinetic energy, shoving her head hard against the steering wheel. Immediately, the terror eased up but didn’t vanish completely. She must have already misaligned his energy a little. It would take time for it to heal on its own.

  Dick abruptly realized he’d almost lost his link with her. Without warning, more terror slammed into him and he gasped as it overwhelmed his senses. He trailed farther behind his target until he realized she was getting away. The light turned red and she raced past the cross street. Dick was too far behind to follow. He slammed on his brakes and cursed savagely. The terror subsided as he waited and left him shaken and off-center. He’d lost the link to his target and had suffered an empathic attack which would take the rest of the day to recover. Di
ck fumed as he waited for the light to change green. He drove to another grocery store and continued searching for empaths. He decided next time he would just identify his target and follow him or her home before linking. Dick wasn’t sure why this hadn’t occurred to him before but he was in a hurry to gather as many energy sources as possible before people started to notice him aging.

  It took him several hours before he found a candidate. He followed him home and didn’t have any problems creating a temporary link with him from the safety of his car parked a couple of houses away. When Dick finished his work, he returned to his house and called Amy. It was too risky to contact Brian directly as he wanted to avoid showing up in his dreams.

  “Hi, Dick,” Amy said guardedly.

  “What’s wrong?” Dick asked with concern and renewed fear hammered at him.

  He wondered if Brian had dreamed about him and figured out he was an energy transference psi.

  “Brian was attacked last night,” Amy said.

  “That’s awful! What happened?” Dick’s shoulders slumped with relief now that he realized he hadn’t been discovered.

  “One of the researchers, Samantha, developed pyrokinesis and can cool temperatures. She was using it to drop Brian’s body temperature and kill him. She got pretty close to succeeding. It was very scary. We’re staying in protective custody and I’m not allowed to tell anyone where we are since she has remote-viewing and could possibly be watching us and listening to our conversation,” Amy said.

  “Couldn’t Brian do the same thing? Can’t he see her as well?” Dick asked.

  “Driscol is hypnotizing him right now and that’s one of the things she’s trying to do,” Amy said. “She thinks since Samantha can lock onto Brian with her remote-viewing that she must be a connectivity psi because she hasn’t known him long enough that she should be able to do that with just remote-viewing alone.”

  “How many abilities does she have?” Dick asked.

  “She has at least six abilities now,” Amy said. “Her condition seems to be getting worse. The psychic abilities are taking a toll on her body.”