by P. S. Power
That meant pretending there hadn't been a death and getting himself to the front area, as a small electric rental van drove up. It was empty, when the door opened, but before he got there the others were all loading up. The ones from the original plan.
Carlos, Ali, Lissa, Clark, Mags and himself.
"There's been an accident. Micha fell from the climbing tower and broke both her legs. She's in medical and will be fine, I think, but she won't be able to leave here for a few days." It was the truth, more or less. He hadn't touched anyone yet, so got the arrayed thoughts. The pain they were all in as well. Lissa was concerned and Mags a bit happy to hear that the traitor had been taken out of play. Even if she did like Micha, personally.
Carlos put together the whole story, and Clark honestly just figured that the girl's reckless ways had caught up to her. Again. There was no explanation for that. Ali... Now she had some very different things going on in her head.
It was her job to work out how to kill Micha, rather than letting her take information back to the feds. It would have to look real, and not come back on them. The government could suspect them all day long, as long as they didn't get caught. She turned to look at Ben, directly.
"That sounds painful. You're all right? I know that you have the full empathy work up. No one else here does. Do you need anything? A hug?" She pretended to put her arms out, but moved to face forward at nearly the same time, making it impossible for him to climb that direction and cuddle her. Probably because she was trying to be nice, but didn't think that much of him so far.
That was just because he was new. Not due to his looks. Really, no one else was all that concerned about him that way. Lissa tried to reach for his hand, which he nearly refused, but didn't.
"We should keep at least one person active all the time for the trip. Who wants to go first? It can't be me." Which they all knew, more or less.
Mags waved Clark forward.
"I can take the first bit. Lissa, you get the second? We should leave Clark as rested as possible." She glanced his way and smiled, her all black eye eerie looking in the dim morning light. "We get to stop for breakfast, right?"
Carlos looked back from the front seat, his face wry. It was kind of charming. A thing that Ben wasn't going to be managing any time soon.
"We have a stop every two hours. It will take ten, so no long breaks are planned. Mags and I will be on the first watch. Ali and Lissa on the second. Ben... Seriously, do you need anything?" There was too much emphasis from the good looking man. That got Lissa to hold his hand, as if he might really need to be comforted.
"I know that you and Micha are close..." Lissa seemed really to believe that, which was interesting.
After all, they hadn't actually been going around holding hands or spending the night with each other.
"Um, not really. No more so than you or Mags or Clark." Which was true enough.
Well, Clark hadn't blown him yet, but it was probably just a matter of time.
Lissa shook her head a little. Her voice wasn't loud, but the electric motor wasn't either, so everyone could hear her anyway.
"Oh? I saw her go with you into your cabin last night. We're you just talking then?" She sounded skeptical on the matter. Slightly jealous as well.
Not that Ben could see that one. Unless Lissa had wanted Micha for herself. It certainly wasn't her powerful feelings for him. Though, something occurred to him then. She could be jealous just because she thought that Micha, or even he, had someone to be close to. A thing she didn't have. Not that it would take her long to meet an interested person, now that she wasn't laying on her side in bed, moaning.
He had to keep himself from slipping back into that scene in his head.
If nothing else, Lissa was doing better now, thanks to him having been around.
Ben didn't know what to say, and was a bit shocked when Mags did it for him.
"She got him to sleep with her, and tried to take over his mind. It turns out that she's a government plant, and was going to tattle on us for getting our person out of trouble today. Kind of bitchy of her. However it is that Ben is built saved him, but it was close. Clyde went down already. Dead. He offed himself a few hours ago. Taken over the same way." There was a gasp, which came from Ali, who was pretending she didn't know all of that.
Except that she seemed not to.
"No fucking way! Clyde killed himself?"
Mags nodded.
"Under mind control. I've never even heard of anything like it. So Ben set her up and had the climbing wall drop her, so that she could be legally kept in medical all day. It isn't a secret. Well, not from us. We'll need to be careful not to mention it once we get closer to town. Everything is seen and listened too there. Any city." She looked around, and fixed her gaze on Carlos, who'd spun halfway to look at her.
"True. From this point out, don't mention it again. Don't talk about it. We have a plan, and a backup. I'd like to switch the order on those, if possible. Then I won't have to go in myself, making one less weak point. Are you up on that one Clark?"
The large man shook his head, and blinked.
"No? What are we doing?"
Ben smiled a bit, but didn't say anything, since it could be a different new plan. After a few seconds, Carlos went on.
"You and the new kid will head out, into the desert, about five miles from the site. Ben will contact our person on the ground and get them to come outside. When that happens we need you to do a controlled lift, at least two thousand feet high, and move them to your location. Put them down about four hundred feet from you. Easy, right?" From his tone it didn't sound like it, but Clark just took a big breath.
"Yeees. Not that hard, as long as I don't sneeze. Or get distracted. That wouldn't go well."
Ben nodded.
"You won't do that though. There's a life on the line, and you won't fail." He knew that for certain. It wasn't psychic or anything, or even a learned thing about the man that would be doing the work for them.
It was just that they had a job to do, and these weren't people that would let themselves be lazy. They may fail, but it wouldn't be due to them giving up, or not trying hard enough.
Ali had maps, which Clark and he had to memorize, and then they had to decide who was going to be stuck being Ben's date. Ali was actually with Carlos, so them doing that made sense. Interestingly there were three different thoughts on the issue. Mags and Lissa were both fine with the other doing that part, and Carlos thought that they should claim that Ben and Clark were a couple. It was a joke, but got a nod from Ben.
"That... Makes sense. If we're sneaking off together we can claim it's just for the normal reasons. Yeah. We should do that one. Just... I'm not actually going to do you on this trip. That would be unprofessional, for one thing. I know, it's disappointing, but we have to save something for later, or what fun will it all be?" His voice had life to it, and seemed nearly serious. That was what he was going for, but it shocked him. He'd never been a great actor before.
Clark grinned.
"I get it. Right. We're going all in on this, so might as well do what will work best."
Lissa smiled at him from the side, and squeezed his hand. For all she hadn't wanted to be his girlfriend for the day, that hadn't stopped her from being clingy. There was truth to the idea however. He might score with Clark, if they were both into men. The man was better looking than him, and seemed like a bearded bodybuilder, to his wad of soft, pale dough, but it might actually happen. The pool for men that wanted a male partner was much smaller than it was for women.
Neither Lissa or Mags would have been seen in public with him in the normal course of things. Not unless he became rich. Even at that, it would have to be that intense and unrealistic kind of wealthy to rate Lissa. Now that the pain lines on her face were gone she was lovely, as in a rare beauty. Unique and special. Not someone that would be dating him.
Mags was a bit more average, but toned and fit, with gene-modded eyes. That was enough to get her som
eone that was VR ready, most likely, or at least a lot closer to that than Ben was going to ever be. Though, ending up a six wasn't that bad, if it worked out that way. Most women wouldn't give him the time of day, but they never had, and it was still better.
They stopped to replenish the electrical capacitors, which took less time for the car to set up than it did for them to all go use the restroom and pick up snacks. He had fruit, even if it was a road trip. Discipline had to be total, if you wanted to reach the highest levels you were capable of. So he had to do everything right, and pray for luck in his life. So far he hadn't really been seeing that kind of thing, but it could be changing.
After all, his mind hadn't been stripped from him the very first time he'd had sex. It would have been nice if he could have finished first, before being beaten. That wasn't what had happened though, so he'd have to try it later. If he ever got the chance. If not, then he'd live.
"I'm going to meditate. Or try to."
The others didn't all join him, but Clark did, nodding first, then going through about half of the regular morning routine. What they could in a moving vehicle that wasn't big enough to stand up in. They probably seemed like freaks, but the others didn't say anything about it. When there were done, after two more stops, Carlos went over the plans again.
"We have the van for the week. The rental company will have a record of where we go though. The further we keep the van from things, the better. Outside the seven-mile limit, they won't look at us as being part of this for a long time. As long as we prevent that data from just being handed over. Keep an eye out for ideas on how to do that. If you get anything, let me know?"
As soon as they hit Salt Lake, a break was planned for a rest stop along the freeway. That was so they could change into the clothing in the back. It was all very nice, though Ben wasn't allowed to pick what he was wearing. Not due to the plan, but thanks to Lissa, who grabbed his things and picked for him. It was just a black suit, with a dark red shirt and a black tie. It would look ridiculous on him. Like a fat kid trying to pretend he had taste. There was no mirror in the changing area, but when he came out, walking with Clark, who was in far sportier clothing, Ali smiled at him.
"Well, you do clean up nice enough, don't you?" She was in a simple light cream dress. It was really too chilly for that kind of thing, but she didn't seem cold. Ben was a bit and he was wearing much more.
Lissa was in a pale green and seemed ready to be in a holoplay. Mags was in a black sweater though, and had her hair back, with tight slacks in a dark color that seemed very normal. Like they were all supposed to be. None of them actually looked like they were part of a rebellion or even a cult though, so the basic job was done well enough.
Loading back up they had a twenty-minute trip to the spa, which was twenty kilometers away from the base they needed to rescue their agent from. The very thought got him to shake his head.
The idea that he was actually part of anything was hard to imagine for him. Outside of a coffee shop that was. Here he was though, getting ready to be a secret super spy, or whatever they called what he was doing. Once they got there, they were going to be on the plan, and that meant schooling his mind totally. He didn't feel afraid, which was strange.
Personally, Ben decided to blame the meditation.
Then, holding Clark's hand, lovingly, they all went inside.
Chapter nineteen
The spa was nice enough, and had rooms for them to sleep and relax in between the expensive treatments that they were supposed to be partaking in. There was even a swimming pool, which was in a covered structure that was made of thick foamed glass. That let in some light during the day, but no one could see in or out. The big deal was how much higher the insulation value was than with regular glass.
To Ben's shock and surprise there was a swimming suit in his small black canvas bag. It was red and baggy, being just shorts. Naturally everyone else had that too, and wanted to go into the water before getting their massages. That and hot stone treatments. None of that actually sounded fun to Ben, who was kind of worried about looking bad, being half naked in public.
Not that he got a choice. He had to stay with the girls and Clark as long as possible, now that they were in town. Just to survive they had to be turned off telepathically. That meant precognition was down as well. It wasn't comforting, but that was, more or less, the whole reason that he'd been sent in to begin with. To make certain Clark wasn't going to be curled up in a ball when the time for him to get some work done took place.
The one saving grace was that they had the pool almost to themselves. There were three older women in it already when they got there. All of them were heavy set, and had on horrible floral print things to try and hide their bodies. Each of them stared as Ben and his friends came in, mainly being focused on Clark and Carlos, but with Lissa and Mags getting some attention as well. Ali, not being needed for the moment like Ben was, had opted to stay in the room and make certain she had her communications gear set up properly.
Looking down at the folds of skin over his middle left him feeling embarrassed, but Ben tried to focus his mind and let that part of things go. Sure the others were incredible that way, but most people seeing him really would understand that he'd had some sudden weight loss going on. They probably wouldn't think less of him for it either. No, like the older ladies that were drooling over the other guys, they would hardly notice him at all.
Ben decided he could live with that.
They all knew how to swim, which wasn't that hard to imagine. Most people did. He'd learned how when he was a boy. David had taught him, just to make certain he didn't drown in a puddle or something. That was what he'd always told him anyway. They'd gone almost every day for years, before his dad had become kind of a shut in.
He'd always thought that it was about David just not wanting to be around other people. Agoraphobia or that kind of thing. As he moved smoothly through the water, heading toward the other side without thinking, it occurred to him that his father might have been hiding from the psychic pressure of the world.
True, it wouldn't have been what any of the Cymed psychics had to face, but they'd told Ben that part of why they picked him for that kind of modification was that he already had some of it inside of him. David, his clone father, would have had the same thing. The rest of it was about him not freaking out that easily in the dark.
That had been hard, but the hunger had been the worst part, and only at first. Then he'd felt sick and weak, but that wasn't the kind of thing to make him quit.
He felt a gentle pop, as the world suddenly rushed in on him. The force of millions of minds trying to enter him all at once, and across the pool, a little over a hundred feet away, Lissa gasped. In pain. That got him to turn and swim toward her, trying to move quickly, but without panicked splashing. Mags had moved away from the silver haired woman, and Clark had held his ground, standing there with the water just being past his waist. Looking like he was in agony. Ben touched his arm first, then did Lissa. Mags came back over by herself, and grabbed his arm.
Glaring at him.
Carlos smiled, like they were just playing around, not having a group meltdown. Hiding what they were, as well as he could without speaking and making up lies.
Ben couldn't think of one either.
"I know, you all missed me, way over there. Talk about a clingy group of friends. I'll stay with you now." He pretended he was annoyed with them, which got Lissa, who was clearly doing better, to look away. Almost like she was really hurt. That wasn't her expression however.
She was slightly annoyed as well. With him. Probably for not doing his job as her drug of choice as well as he was supposed to.
The spa, being there for supposed health benefits, rather than fun, kept their filtered water way too warm to stay in for more than about half an hour. It wasn't like a bath, or hot tub, but it was closer to that than the cool water found in a real swimming pool, even if the thing was huge. That wasn't a mistake, since it was fed by
a hot spring. Ben knew that one, since there was a sign on the far wall. The one that wasn't made of opaque glass.
The rest of the time he tried to smile, not fall asleep and stayed with the group. Lissa and to a lesser extent, Mags, kept touching him. It was wrong though, since he was faking a relationship with Clark. The older women, who weren't ancient or anything, finally worked up the nerve to come and chat with them, moving over as a group. Trying to act casual.
That probably meant they were government spies.
Which was ridiculous, but Ben honestly couldn't help but wonder if that was the case. Everyone around him seemed to be, after all. It wasn't the truth, but even reading minds, at times, Ben felt insecure. Watched too, since one of the women that was trying to make a move on Carlos turned to talk to him. She actually made a face as she looked at his body. Disgust covered her features for a bit.
Which was a little over the top. He really wasn't doing that bad, and she probably had more stretch marks under her suit than he did loose skin. Plus, she was at least as heavy as he used to have been. Also, he was in a neat looking pair of swim trunks compared to her hideous green and blue floral print thing.
Self awareness and tact didn't seem to be her strong suits however.
"What are you doing here? With these people, I mean?" She looked at Clark, and then Lissa, even if she was clearly trying to get to Carlos. Her entire body was oriented that way, making a direct line that showed in the air. It was blue, but not the electric color he was used to. This time it was darker, and held sinister overtones.
It was so obvious that Ben smiled at her, not knowing what to say. They were at a spa. It didn't take a genius to figure out why he was there. Spa-ing, or at least trying to do health promoting things and relax.
So he nodded and winked at her.
"They work for me. Well, except Clark here. He's my boyfriend." That got nods from Clark and Lissa, who moved over to them bobbing in the water, since she was shorter than Ben was. He was holding on to the edge of the pool, trying not to let his head go under. That meant both women were kind of swimming in place.