by Jack L Knapp
Veil of Time
A Paranormal Thriller
Book Four, The Wizards Series
By Jack L Knapp
COPYRIGHT
Veil of Time
A Paranormal-ESP Thriller
Book Four, The Wizards Series
Copyright © 2015 by Jack L Knapp
Photos by Photolia
Cover Art by Mia Darien
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Disclaimer: The persons and events depicted in this novel were created by the author’s imagination; no resemblance to actual persons or events is intended.
Product names, brands, and other trademarks referred to within this book are the property of the respective trademark holders. Unless otherwise specified, no association between the author and any trademark holder is expressed or implied. Nor does the use of such trademarks indicate an endorsement of the products, trademarks, or trademark holders unless so stated. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark, registered trademark, or service mark.
Table of Contents
Prologue 5
Chapter One 6
Chapter Two 12
Chapter Three 17
Chapter Four 21
Chapter Five 26
Chapter Six 31
Chapter Seven 36
Chapter Eight 41
Chapter Nine 46
Chapter Ten 50
Chapter Eleven 55
Chapter Twelve 59
Chapter Thirteen 65
Chapter Fourteen 70
Chapter Fifteen 75
Chapter Sixteen 81
Chapter Seventeen 87
Chapter Eighteen 90
Chapter Nineteen 95
Chapter Twenty 102
Chapter Twenty-One 107
Chapter Twenty-Two 113
Chapter Twenty-Three 117
Chapter Twenty-Four 122
Chapter Twenty-Five 126
Chapter Twenty-Six 131
Chapter Twenty-Seven 137
Books by the author: 140
About the Author: 141
Prologue
The Wizards series is adventure, but it also examines how psionic abilities affect individuals and society. Veil of Time, the fourth book in the Series, follows Combat Wizard, Wizard at Work, and Talent.
T is a graduate of an otherwise-unnamed School begun by an agency of the US Government. The School hoped to turn out telepathic communicators, but T is something of a failure; he has a number of weak abilities, including telepathy, but comparatively strong psychokinetics. The School’s officials wonder what to do with him, finally sending him to Afghanistan to see whether his PK ability is useful in combat. During pre-deployment training, T discovers a personal protective field he names the ‘bubble’. It seems to consist of one or two layers of air with a high electrical charge that he can form at will.
A fellow graduate finds a ‘wild talent’ telepathically that he assigns the code name of Shezzie. T meets her after finding his life is threatened by officials of the now-canceled School. He leaves Afghanistan to escape the threat, accompanied by Shezzie. They become a couple.
T, as a result of his combat experiences, has developed PTSD. One of the things he saw that continues to affect his personality was the death of a young girl, killed by Taliban machine gun bullets. This creates a desire to keep children, particularly girls, from harm.
He and Shezzie meet Ray in El Paso, accidentally awakening his latent abilities, meaning that the psi abilities can be awakened by proximity to someone with talent.
Practice, and rage caused by the death of Surfer, awaken psychokinetic strength T doesn’t know he has. T, Shezzie, and Ray use their abilities to help people in various ways while trying to avoid official notice.
T’s abilities enable him to locate a lost treasure in New Mexico. He can’t explain the money, and police suspect it came from drug dealing. Eventually, the group, now four in number, relocates to Nevada, hoping to escape further notice. They use the proceeds from the recovered treasure to buy a ranch that also has an abandoned mine.
T, Ray, and Shezzie awaken psi abilities in several handicapped veterans of WWII. One of the veterans T helps is Shorty; he’s partially crippled from a wound suffered in Europe during the waning days of WWII, so T, a fellow veteran, decides to help him and two other aged veterans by awakening their ability to levitate. By accident, a police officer and a number of criminals also develop psi talents through proximity.
Shorty has a teenaged granddaughter, Libby, who stays with him on his ranch just outside the village of Little Dry Creek, Nevada. Libby develops psi abilities through proximity to Shorty. During a kidnapping, she panics and uses her unsuspected pyrokinetic ability to kill a kidnapper. T arrives soon after and takes her to her parents, keeping her from police who would have wondered what killed the kidnapper.
Other side effects manifest themselves. Bobby, a veteran who lost a leg in Afghanistan, begins to regrow a new leg. These are some of the events in the series.
Libby is enjoying her new ability to communicate telepathically. This brings us to Veil of Time.
Chapter One
Ray lost the faraway look as Libby dropped the telepathic connection.
“Chatty little thing, isn’t she?” he said.
“Could be worse. She could be constantly texting people,” T replied.
“Yeah. Except she’s chatting with you or me almost as often as the others send texts. Shorty too, now that he’s figured out how to use telepathy.”
“I get the idea it’s you or me mostly, Ray. Shezzy hasn’t mentioned it and Shorty’s still not that good at communicating through mind-to-mind contact.”
“Yeah, she comms him to make sure he’s doing all right, but mostly when she feels like she wants to chat it’s with us. Doesn’t sound like she’s comfortable being around her friends at school, now that she can control her abilities. She might be afraid she’ll let something slip. We might have created a monster!”
The two friends grinned at each other. They’d been companionably leaning on the corral fence, enjoying the morning sunshine. It would get hotter later, much hotter, as full summer arrived in central-western Nevada.
“I noticed that reserve too; she hasn’t been the same since Shezzie melded minds with her.”
“She grew up quick after the kidnapping, T. She likely found out during the meld what we already knew, that she’d burned that guy using pyrokinetics. I guess knowing you killed a man, even a kidnapper...she’s got good reason to be afraid she’ll let something slip out.”
“That might be it. It could also be that she’s afraid of what she might do. It could happen again, you know. At least, next time it won’t be by accident. Before, that was her subconscious acting. She was afraid, so even though she didn’t know she had that ability, it happened. You hear about people using strength they didn’t know they had to rescue someone after a crash. I
understand, because that’s how I discovered the bubble. One minute I was falling, my main and reserve parachutes had both streamered, and the next thing I knew I was bouncing across the ground!”
“Yeah, fear can make you do funny things, T. Anyway, Captain Jay’s the only other one who knows what happened to that kidnapper and he’ll keep quiet about it.”
“He’s got as much to lose now as we do. Being a cop has to be better than being a lab rat, and that’s what the government would turn him into if they knew he had psi abilities.”
“Yeah, he’s happy right where he is. He was a lieutenant facing retirement, next thing he’s a captain in charge of a new division. His supervisors know he’s got expertise of some kind, although they don’t know he has psi abilities himself. If nothing unusual is happening in Las Vegas, the department lets him consult with other agencies. Homeland Security also uses him as a consultant, although I don’t know how much they know about paranormal crimes or how much he’s been involved with solving them. They don’t like to share credit.”
“He’s official, not like us, so they call him in when they need help. They aren’t talking to us, and I like it that way. Jay calls on us when he needs help and that works for me.
“I’ve been avoiding the feds. That statistician, the one that interviewed us? He’s pretty sharp. I get the idea he knows more than he’s saying. I tried to pick up something from his mind but couldn’t get anything usable.”
“Yeah, best to stay as far away from him as possible. Let Captain Jay deal with Homeland Security and the rest. If that agent develops telepathy from being around a Talent, let him get it from Jay, not us. We’ve got too much to hide.”
“Speaking of that, how’s the pyrokinetics going?”
“It’s going. I can light a fire now whenever I want. Whether my ability is enough to light someone up the way Libby did, I don’t know. But I thought if you want to give it a try this summer, we could help out the firefighters next time a forest fire breaks out.”
“Set a backfire this time instead of ripping out trees ahead of the flames?”
“Right. I know those firefighter guys had to be puzzled about that line of trees we took down. If we can get Jay to clear people away, we could just levitate in, set the backfires, and fly out. That would keep the firemen from asking questions. We could set the backfires behind a firebreak, let them burn their way up to the break, then watch the main fire fizzle out when it reaches the burned-over area.”
“Sounds easy enough. Sure, we could do that if Jay can coordinate with the firefighters.”
#
Shorty felt better after his nap. Wearing his usual battered hat, cowboy shirt, boots, and jeans, he walked over to Max’s Cafe.
It wasn’t the same at Max’s, now that his old friends were gone. Still, Max was someone he could talk to without worrying about revealing his abilities. He could even practice his new communication skills if Max wasn’t busy. Shorty felt better when he could see the person he was comming with.
“Cup of coffee and a piece of pie, Max. What’s good today?”
“The apple pie is fresh out of the oven, Mister Shorty. Want a scoop of ice cream with that?”
“Sure do. You staying out of trouble, Max?”
“Trying to. Cream and sugar in the coffee?”
“One and one, Max, just like always.”
“I know, but you never know. People change. First time I do it without asking, you’re gonna make me take it back!”
Shorty grinned. “Naw, I probably wouldn’t do that, Max. But you’re right, it don’t hurt to ask.”
Little Dry Creek had returned to normal. The tiny settlement saw few strangers now, and the old-time residents liked it that way. Such visitors as there were came from the surrounding ranches, except for the old Indian silversmith. No one knew where he and his wife lived and he didn’t encourage questions. They had a place back in the canyons and didn’t seek company. She was quiet, rarely speaking, and while he was friendly, he never opened up.
Spring had come to central Nevada. Flowers bloomed in the hills. The elk and deer had moved back into the cool mountains. Their young would be born there and might live six months before sighting a human. They’d learn to avoid the strange two-legged creatures when they left the summer pastures in the mountains next fall.
“You all right, Shorty? You’re looking a little pale.”
“Aw, I wuz indoors most of the winter. No sheep to take care of, so I spent my time working on that computer thing. I think I’ve about got it licked.”
“Well, maybe that’s it. You’re not sick or anything, are you?”
“Naw, not really. I’ve just had indigestion a couple of times. I keep the antacid tablets in my pocket now and I’m staying away from that green chile on your cheeseburgers!”
“The chiles are hot, but that’s the way the cowboys like them.”
“I know. I like the taste myself, it just don’t like me nowadays.”
“You’re getting old, Shorty.”
“Ain’t it the truth? All my old friends are gone now. Mona’s off someplace on a cruise, ain’t got time to even comm with me. She ain’t much better at it than I am anyway. Mike and Denny are gone too. I think about them two old coots whenever I go by the barbershop. I stay in Mike’s place most of the time now.”
“It’s your place now, Shorty, Denny’s too. They left them to you in their will. Are you going to sell the barbershop?”
“I reckon so, Max. Maybe, if we get a barber that wants it, I’ll just give it to him. I don’t need the money. I still had a little bit left over after I paid off Joe’s mortgage. Doc Shezzie does m’ doctoring, but I ain’t had leg problems since...well, you know. That melding thing Mister T done for me.”
“I know. Still, you should stop by and see Doc Shezzie.”
“Max, you get to be my age, you stop worrying about that stuff. There’s really only me, now. My friends are gone, most of my family’s gone too. The rest don’t really need me. Joe’s doing okay, now that he’s back together with his wife. Libby comms with me pretty regular, even though I ain’t quite got the hang of it yet. I can hear her, most of the time anyway, but sometimes she says she can’t hear me. I reckon it’ll come to me if I keep on tryin’.”
“Don’t get depressed, Shorty. You’ve still got friends as well as family. Me, Bobby, Ray and T, Doc...”
“Wal, I know. That internet thing is a plumb marvel, too. I don’t know how they do it. I wuz chattin’ with a feller on Facebook this mornin’...you ever try that? Said he was from Australia! Ain’t that somethin’?”
“Be careful, Shorty. Not everybody on the Internet is telling the truth. Don’t go sending somebody money just because they claim to need it.”
“I won’t, Max. First time that happened, gettin’ a message askin’ for money, I commed Mister Ray. He wuz a big help.”
“It’s like I said, Shorty. No need to be depressed, you’ve got friends.”
#
Ray and T had been busy. They’d been linked with Shezzie when she melded with Libby, in the process learning what the young girl had felt during the kidnapping; anxiety, uncertainty, fear, then finally terror when the kidnapper drew his pistol to make sure she couldn’t testify against them.
Ray and T had picked up much from the exchange, but by not being direct participants they’d kept their own secrets hidden. Still, even though their link was tenuous, Libby might have realized just how much the two had done during the kidnapping.
They’d been closing in on the kidnappers, not certain of the precise location where they were holding Libby, but nearby. Ray had disabled one of the kidnappers, leaving him to the paramedics and the police, while T’s psi abilities had kept Libby away from the police. They were left to wonder what had happened to the burned kidnapper.
As a result, only Captain Jay Byrd, of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, knew that she was a Talent. He’d found that out only after he developed psi abilities himself. He
r secret was safe, for the moment.
The first time she’d commed with the two men, she felt something of their personality. T was a dark presence, a figure of muted violence and awe-inspiring ability, but at the same time she felt a warmth during the connection that not even Grandfather Shorty had. Somehow, she understood that T would do whatever he could to keep her from harm. As for Ray, he seemed more like a father, prepared to protect but also to teach. He had taught her to use the bubble, then kept her safe while she practiced her newly-discovered levitation Talent.
#
Libby glanced down; the ground lay more than fifty feet below her, far enough to be frightening. Ray stood watching, smiling. Suddenly, he released his psychokinetic grip and she tumbled forward, facing the ground as it rushed toward her. She screamed...
And found herself floating, only a few inches above the ground.