by John O'Riley
“It will take time for her to get used to all those new abilities,” Dick said.
“I’ve got to go. Driscol said if anyone calls us, it’s okay to let them know how we’re doing but we have to keep conversations brief. Sorry.”
“That’s okay. It was good talking to you. I hope they catch those guys soon,” Dick said.
“Me, too. Bye.”
Dick disconnected the phone and smiled grimly. With Brian’s efforts focused on locating the researchers, it was highly unlikely that he’d have any dreams about Dick. Especially when he was in protective custody. Dick knew he’d have to kill Brian soon though.
Chapter 18
Ashley became aware of her surroundings with an abrupt jolt as though waking from a dream except she was still standing in her hotel room in front of the door. Her purse lay on the floor in front of her and her hotel key card rested beside it as they’d both slipped from her hands while she’d plunged into another precognitive vision. She was unable to prevent them from clutching her mind and dragging her consciousness under. Sometimes she ended up awakening from the ground in an unconscious heap. This time, she’d been lucky. With only a moment of warning, this ability had become quite dangerous. Ashley berated herself for not sitting down but she’d been impatient to leave. She’d finally decided there was no choice but to turn herself in to the authorities.
She stooped down to snatch both the key card and her purse. Her hotel door beeped and then opened to reveal Brandon. Adrenaline coursed through her body as she abruptly stood up and turned to flee. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to escape. She headed for the bathroom with the intention of locking herself in. If she could just buy herself a little time, maybe she could call the police. Ashley reached the door just as Brandon grabbed her arms from behind and held her in place. She screamed as pain flooded her body. Dissonant, destructive energy tore through her and her organs began to shut down. Blackness crept along the edges of her vision. She dropped to the floor as she lost control of her body and stared up at the ceiling and Brandon’s looming face as he stood over her and continued to relentlessly attack with his healing ability. Ashley had received this vision quite a few times but no matter how unpredictable she’d been in choosing places to stay, Brandon had still managed to find her. She lost consciousness and a moment later her body shut down completely.
Brian awakened from his vision with a jolt of terror. He’d seen everything through Ashley’s eyes and felt the horror and agony that she’d suffered. He drew a deep shaky breath and tried to calm his mind. He sat in a gray padded chair in Driscol’s office with her facing him behind her massive desk. His father was seated beside him with a shocked expression on his face.
“We had hoped she would turn herself in but it looks like that isn’t going to happen now,” Driscol said regretfully.
“He needs a break,” Paul said.
“Of course. We can take a walk to help clear your head for a bit before we continue,” Driscol said sympathetically.
“He just watched a young woman die. We can start again in the afternoon,” Paul said.
“I’m afraid that isn’t possible. We need to focus and track down these killers as quickly as possible,” Driscol said.
“You need our cooperation. If you don’t back off, we may just go home and fend for ourselves,” Paul said forcefully.
“Your son belongs to the U.S. government under the purview of the Psi Patriot Act because of his abilities,” Driscol said coolly. “His cooperation is mandatory.”
“Once someone’s declared a possession of the state, he’s conscripted indefinitely for future cases,” Paul said slowly.
“That’s correct.” Driscol’s lips twisted wryly. “Your son is as good as a member of the FBI. He will be relocating here in San Diego and will enroll in our training instead of high school as he’s become far too important to this country.”
“You mean he’s become valuable to YOU,” Paul said heatedly.
“This is out of your hands. I’ll give your son about fifteen minutes to recover and come back to continue this session,” Driscol said smoothly as she rose from behind her desk. “If you continue to hinder my investigation, I will have you barred from these premises and returned home.”
His jaw clenched with fury as he watched her exit the room. He turned to Brian and a mixture of regret and anger warred in his mind as he struggled to come up with something encouraging to say.
“It’s alright, Dad,” Brian said.
“I’m not going to let that woman take away your rights,” Paul said heatedly.
“There’s nothing you can do,” Brian said. “Dad, please, don’t do anything to give her an excuse to kick you out of here.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll control myself,” Paul said sardonically.
Brian flinched when someone telepathically “knocked” at his mind to gain his attention.
“What’s wrong?” Paul asked with concern.
“It’s Grandpa. Just a sec,” Brian said.
“Hey, grandpa,” Brian said telepathically. “I didn’t realize you could reach me this far.”
“Where are you?” Jason asked with puzzlement.
“I’m in protective custody in San Diego. Driscol invoked the Psi Patriot Act so I’m a possession of the state now,” Brian said.
“I can’t believe this has happened!” Jason exclaimed after a lengthy pause. “You’re very far away. That’s why it took me so long to make contact with you. I’m not going to be able to keep this up. It’s a strain.”
“Did you have news to tell me or were you just saying hi?” Brian asked.
“Something wonderful has happened to me. I wasn’t sure at first but now it’s obvious. I’ll tell you in person.”
“Why don’t you tell me now?” Brian said. “I need some good news.”
“We need to get you out of Driscol’s control. I’m going to figure out a way to free you,” Jason said.
“It isn’t possible,” Brian said.
“I’ve heard of lawsuits filed and exceptions made before. One thing you have going for you is that you’re still a minor although not for long,” Jason said.
“Tell me the good news!” Brian exclaimed.
“I’ll tell you later. I’ve got to go. I can’t keep the link. Love you, Brian.”
“Love you, too, Grandpa.”
Brian sensed his grandfather’s absence and sighed dismally. He wondered what had happened. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure when he’d ever be allowed to visit his grandfather now that he was in Driscol’s custody.
“Grandpa had good news but didn’t tell me,” Brian said. “He’s going to hire a lawyer to try and fight the claim Driscol has on me.”
“We’ll get you out of this mess,” Paul said fervently.
The door suddenly opened to reveal Driscol and a thin, frail-looking woman with long silky brown hair restrained in a pony tail and haunted brown eyes. She wore a pale blue business blouse and a dark blue suit jacket and pants. Driscol closed the door behind them and smiled reassuringly at Brian.
“I would like to introduce Dr. Freeland, one of our best psychologists,” Driscol said. She motioned to Brian. “This is Brian and his father, Paul.”
Paul shook hands with the psychologist then seated himself. Driscol took her seat behind her desk while Dr. Freeland took the third guest chair for herself and positioned it to the side so that it faced both Driscol, Paul, and Brian.
“I’m concerned that Brian’s lack of success with remote-viewing and his connectivity psi are due to some sort of psychological component that could be impeding our investigation. To expedite matters, I’ve brought Dr. Freeland to assess his mental health. She is a level ten telepath and empath,” Driscol said smoothly.
“What do you think is wrong with me exactly?” Brian asked with trepidation.
“I’m not exactly sure but it’s possible your mind was damaged due to your capture and unexpected new abilities,” Driscol said. “I’m going to start the h
ypnosis session. You will need to allow the doctor access to your mind. Put on your ear buds.”
“All right,” Brian said reluctantly.
Paul gazed at his son with concern but couldn’t risk an outburst at this point as it was likely Driscol was merely waiting for any possible excuse to dismiss him. A heavy silence permeated the room as the specially designed music played through Brian’s ear buds and quickly brought him into an altered state of mind. Brian sensed Freeland’s probing and instinctively pushed her away. She waited for him to overcome his instincts and slip back further into the altered state before she tried again. Brian felt her mind sifting through his thoughts and she pulsed healing empathic energy to him. After what seemed only several moments, the hypnosis session concluded and a perplexed frown twisted his lips when Driscol turned the lights back up to full illumination again.
“That was fast,” Brian said.
“Actually, we were waiting for almost an hour,” Driscol said and threw the doctor a puzzled frown. “What did you find?”
“There is definitely damage to his mind,” Freeland said slowly as she chose her words carefully. “The type of damage I discovered is consistent with that caused by brainwashing and psychic manipulation.”
“Brainwashing?” Brian said with horror.
“What would the researchers hope to gain? They’ve always killed all of their subjects,” Driscol said musingly.
“The type of damage I found suggests that this has been going on for many years,” Freeland said.
“Many years? How can that be? I’ve been taking Brian to a shielding specialist and he would have detected something like that,” Paul said.
“Not necessarily,” Freeland said. “Shielding specialists usually don’t receive training in helping those with this type of mental affliction.”
“I see,” Paul said thoughtfully.
“It’s possible the shielding specialist is the one responsible for this,” Driscol said speculatively.
“What would he have to gain?” Paul asked.
“If he was part of Project Onyx, he may have been monitoring and prepping Brian for the experimentation. We’re going to look into this right away,” Driscol said.
“Are you saying that Project Onyx goes farther than just the researchers?”
“I didn’t say that,” Driscol said guardedly.
“There are a number of research projects dubbed Project Onyx. This is the last one to be apprehended,” Brian said.
“How did you know that?” Driscol said sharply.
“It’s a dream I had sometime this week. A lot of dreams I can’t remember except for bits and pieces and they sometimes come up later,” Brian explained.
“Was it a dream about me?” Driscol asked.
Brian hesitated because his instincts told him it would be inadvisable to admit but he couldn’t think of a lie either.
“Yes, he dreamed about you,” Freeland said.
“Paul, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Now that Brian is dreaming about classified information, it’s too risky that you will learn sensitive, high clearance information,” Driscol said.
“He’s my son!” Paul protested.
“This is an unfortunate turn of events but Brian is going to have to be considered a top clearance agent,” Driscol said. “He will be advised that he can’t talk to civilians about certain information that he uncovers. And we can’t have you listening in when we have no way of knowing when he’ll witness something that you don’t have the clearance to hear.”
Driscol used her cell phone to call for an agent to escort him out of the building.
“I’ll see you at dinner,” Paul said to his son.
“Bye, Dad,” Brian said.
He watched his father reluctantly leave the room. A heavy, sinking feeling settled in the pit of Brian’s stomach as he waited for Driscol to speak.
“There’s no need to be anxious. We’re here to protect you and you’re in a very secure location,” Driscol said. She turned to gaze at the doctor. “Did you manage to heal up the brainwashing and discover what it was for?”
“Because it’s occurred for so many years, I wasn’t able to undo the damage in one session. It will probably take several weeks of daily treatments to heal. I wasn’t able to determine the psychic manipulation involved except to rule out telepathy. The next most probable form of brainwashing would be psychometry but it could also be caused by an exotic ability such as an HT psi.”
“How long until you can determine who is the culprit?” Driscol asked.
“I may never discover the one who caused this unless we can catch him or her in the act or find physical evidence,” Freeland said.
“Is this mental damage what is causing his inability to use remote-viewing and connectivity psi to track down the researchers?”
“Yes, it is the cause. I sense that it isn’t intentional but rather an unexpected reaction to the brainwashing,” Freeland explained. “The mind is extremely complex and manipulations often create unanticipated anomalies.”
“Interesting,” Driscol said grimly. “Do you think that you managed to heal him well enough that he could use remote-viewing effectively now?”
“It will probably take up to a week until we reach that point but it doesn’t hurt to practice the skill,” Freeland said.
“We’re going to begin another hypnosis session,” Driscol said grimly.
“I need to go,” Freeland said abruptly.
“Of course,” Driscol said smoothly.
Freeland left the room and Driscol began another hypnosis session. Instead of creating a dream right away, she had Brian try to locate Samantha with his remote-viewing. Brian suffered the same lack of results as his earlier attempts. Driscol began the routine for directed dreaming but before a vision could start, he snapped out of the altered state as uneasiness focused his awareness on his surroundings.
“Something’s happening,” Brian said.
“What do you mean?” Driscol frowned with displeasure. “You aren’t concentrating. It’s important to learn discipline so you can tap into your full potential.”
Abruptly, her eyes widened and she screamed. Her hands clutched her temples as her head fell forward and waves of agony coursed through her body. Brian’s second sight snapped into focus just as her body crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap. Inky blackness filled with energy spheres replaced his normal vision. Instantly, he saw the problem with Driscol. Her blue energy pulsed erratically as her link to Global Net was blocked by a sickly green blockage. A tendril of sickly green energy hovered over her and its source disappeared in the wall. Somehow, Brian knew the attacker was Samantha. The tendril lashed out at him but he blocked it with a tendril of his own silvery blue energy.
“If you give up, I’ll make your death swift but if you keep struggling, I’ll make you suffer,” Samantha said coldly.
“I didn’t realize you had connectivity psi,” Brian said. “How many abilities do you have now?”
“I have more than you know. They keep coming. I’ve received years of technical training on variant abilities and how to use them. You don’t stand a chance against me,” Samantha said authoritatively.
“I have connectivity psi as well so I can block your attack,” Brian said.
“Can you really?” Samantha said icily.
Brian realized he was weakening and it was taking more effort to hold her back. In addition to the tendril he was staving off, there was a barely visible wave of sickly green energy intersecting him and passing directly through his psionic shielding. He focused on blocking it but his efforts made no impact. Brian shivered as his core temperature continued to drop.
“You don’t have pyrokinesis so you aren’t able to block that ability. It won’t take much time before you’re too weak to stop me from cutting your link to Global Net. But if you don’t just give up, I’m going to make sure you’re conscious and in agony before your connection is completely cut off,” Samantha said. “
There are no connectivity psi in the area so no one can patch up your connection in time to save you.”
Brian swallowed as terror began to seize his mind and distract him. He almost lost his grip on Samantha’s sickly green tendril that struggled to rip into him. He focused on her as he struggled to think of a way to save himself. It took almost all of his strength now just to keep her away. He lost feeling in his fingers and toes as his body struggled to keep its core temperature up. Brian focused on Samantha’s energy and an image of her materialized in his mind’s eye. She currently sat on a marble bench facing a water fountain about two blocks away. Brandon was seated beside her and idly watching the water splash in the fountain. Brian abruptly focused all his strength on shooting a dissonant wave of empathic energy at her. Her eyes snapped open and she screamed as he continued to pour waves of terror into her. Her attack on him ceased and he continued to direct the disruptive empathic energy for several more seconds until he lost his strength from the backwash. The reason why empaths didn’t become soldiers was the backwash of the negative emotions of others prevented them from ever becoming effective fighters – especially when they utilized their abilities.
Brian weakly sat up from the floor as the door crashed open and two FBI agents burst into the room. He wasn’t concerned about Brandon attacking him because he wasn’t a remote-viewer so he could only target someone who was in his visual range. Brian quickly informed the agents as to Samantha’s and Brandon’s current whereabouts and they quickly dispatched a team to intercept them. Hopefully, they would reach the fountain in time. Brian closed his eyes and slipped into his connectivity sight to make sure there was no partial blockage on his link. He was relieved to find nothing although there was the beginning of an energy transference psi link. It took only a couple moments to dissolve the loathsome energy from him. He walked over to Driscol who was still lying unconscious on the floor and removed the block that prevented her from linking to the Global Net.
Chapter 19
Samantha and Brandon walked briskly down the sidewalk and turned into an alleyway where they wouldn’t be spotted by the FBI. Samantha still reeled from the empathic attack. Terror swirled madly in her mind as she realized it was time to act now before the opportunity passed. She pulled out her revolver, pointed it at Brandon, and fired twice in his gut. She gazed coolly at him as he clutched his stomach and leaned back against the wall for support. Blood oozed from between his fingers. He eyed her with incredulous disbelief.