Million Dollar Gift

by Ian Somers

  ‘I’m not so sure.’

  ‘Believe me, you are not my type.’

  ‘How did you get in here?’

  ‘It was quite simple. There was no security up here while the press conference was on. I walked straight in, the door wasn’t even locked. I sat right here and watched the press conference live on your TV.’

  ‘Good for you. I’m glad you made yourself at home.’ I sat on the side of the bed and sighed. ‘What do you want, Romand?’

  ‘I just wanted to say that you truly are an idiot! I felt the need to say this to your face.’

  ‘No, you came here to say I told you so … in your silly French accent.’

  ‘What do you mean? I do not have a silly accent.’

  ‘Sounds silly to me.’

  ‘You are the silly one. I told you to leave, but you have remained. You said you were in control and that you would go home and it would all be peachy! It has not quite worked out that way. You get yourself into more trouble every day. You need proper supervision.’

  ‘All right. I should have listened to you,’ I admitted. ‘How was I supposed to know you were right? You were just a stranger on the street with weird hair!’

  ‘I showed you that I also have the gift. That should have been enough for you to put your trust in me … and I don’t have weird hair.’

  ‘After today I will never trust another person who has this gift. I wish I never came to this place. Everyone has their hooks in me. Why won’t they leave me be, Romand?’

  ‘What did you expect? You are a powerful psychokinetic; you have one of the rarest gifts known to man. Did you think that they would admire it, give you some money and wish you farewell? There are people in this world who would do almost anything to control you and the powers you possess. And there are others who will kill you for having this gift.’

  ‘This other psychokinetic who wants to kill me, is it a girl with white hair?’

  ‘Yes, her name is Marianne Dolloway and she’s been working for Golding most of her life. I feared she would assassinate you because she might have thought you were intended to be her replacement. What she did today though was most unexpected.’ Romand raised a hand to his face and rubbed the stubble on his chin. ‘Or perhaps not, considering what transpired at the Laberinto.’

  ‘The gas explosion?’

  ‘The gas explosion was to cover up what really happened.’

  I left the bed and pulled a chair across the floor. I sat next to Romand and my mind was buzzing with excited curiosity. ‘What really happened there?’

  ‘Marianne happened. She has been doing work for Golding for years but she is out of control. That is why they set up that ridiculous contest; they wanted to find a replacement for her. She went to the Laberinto to force Golding into killing you.’

  ‘Obviously it didn’t go according to plan.’

  ‘Shaw must have set up a trap for her but it did not work. Those who died today were not office workers, they were Shaw’s best security operatives, and Marianne killed them.’

  ‘And Shaw?’

  ‘Dead.’

  ‘Jesus,’ I breathed. ‘I only spoke to him this morning.’

  ‘He got what he deserved. He lured Marianne there to kill her, but like most, he underestimated her. She is the most powerful psychokinetic that has ever lived and she is also a strong metallisir and an emotomagnet. All three gifts combine to make her virtually indestructible. Add to that a vicious temper and no inhibitions about killing people, even innocent people, and you’ve got a weapon of mass destruction. You see now what you are dealing with? And there are more threats against your life from religious nuts. You need to leave this place. Now that they have discredited you, they will most likely kill you.’

  ‘Back up, what’s a metallisir and emotomagnet?’

  ‘They are two of the true gifts. There are fifteen in all. Marianne has three. I have two, and from watching your test videos, I would say you also have three.’

  I was finding this hard to take in – I really wasn’t alone, there were lots of gifts and some people had more than one. Even I might have more than one …

  ‘Tell me more about these gifts.’

  ‘Now is not the time. We have to find a way out of here.’

  ‘We?’

  ‘I told you I would come back one more time. You won’t get this opportunity again. Once I leave, you will never see me again.’

  I barely hesitated. I could not let Romand leave and let my only chance at getting the answers I wanted evade me forever. I had to follow him.

  ‘How are we gonna get out of here?’ I asked.

  Romand stood and towered over me. He lifted one hand and clicked his fingers. A spot of white light appeared above his hand and it grew and grew until it was an orb of piercing light that was about the size of an orange.

  ‘What the hell is that?’ I wondered. ‘It looks dangerous.’

  ‘Stand up and touch it.’

  ‘No way!’

  ‘I promise you will be unharmed.’

  I got to my feet and reached out tentatively at the white object. My fingers were only centimetres from the orb but there was no heat radiating from it. I took a leap of faith and plunged my hand inside the white sphere. It passed harmlessly through.

  ‘It is only light,’ Romand said. ‘A simple trick really.’

  ‘How did you create it?’

  ‘With gift of light-tuning. You see, I am not only a psychokinetic, I am also a light-tuner.’

  ‘A light-tuner?’

  The orb blinked a few times then disintegrated. ‘A light-tuner has the ability to manipulate light in certain ways. My powers are limited though and I cannot maintain my control over light for very long. But perhaps long enough to get us out of here.’

  ‘How can you get us out of here by creating balls of light?’

  ‘A light-tuner can do more than that. I can refract light around both of us, so that we will be practically invisible to the guards outside.’

  ‘We’re not prisoners. Can’t we just tell them we’re leaving?’

  ‘They will think of a reason to keep you here, Ross, and they will shoot me on sight.’

  ‘Why would they do that?’

  ‘They view me as an enemy, but there is no time to explain. I will make us invisible but I can only do it for perhaps a minute. That gives us sixty seconds to get past the guards, down the corridor and to the elevator. We must be swift.’

  ‘The lifts aren’t working, they shut them down. We’ll have to use the stairs.’

  ‘No. They have armed men on the stairs and I would like to avoid a shootout. We must use the elevator.’

  ‘I just told you the lift won’t be working!’

  ‘We will make it work! We can control it with our minds. Start using your head for a change.’ He leaned forward and tapped my temple with his finger. ‘Are you ready?’

  ‘I need to get my stuff.’

  ‘No. We must be invisible, that means we must also be silent. If you bring your stuff they will hear us.’

  ‘Okay. How do we get through the door?’

  ‘We open it like anyone else would, or did you have some special door opening technique in mind?’

  ‘You’re a real funny guy, Romand.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘I was being sarcastic.’

  ‘Be silent.’ Romand grabbed hold of me, threw his arms around my chest and held me close to his body.

  ‘You sure you’re not a pervert?’

  ‘Shut up!’

  We stood next to the door and Romand tapped his knuckles on it. A strange haze surrounded us and I looked at my hands – they were rippling like a mirage. The door opened and two security men walked into the room, straight past us as if we weren’t there.

  ‘Where is he?’ one asked.

  ‘Must be in the bathroom.’

  Romand dragged me from the room and into the corridor where more security men were standing. One of them seemed to be staring right
at me, but I realised he was just day dreaming. None of them noticed us quietly treading along the hallway. Romand forced me to walk faster and faster until we turned a corner into another hallway.

  He fell to his knees and we were visible again. He was out of breath and looked in physical pain. I reached down and tried to get him on his feet.

  ‘Romand, are you all right?’

  ‘Yes. It takes a lot out of me to do something like that.’ He struggled to his feet and used the wall to push himself forward. ‘Quickly, they will soon realise you are not in the bathroom.’

  We hurried through the corridors until we reached the elevator doors.

  ‘Open them,’ Romand ordered.

  I used my gift to part the metal doors and I looked down into the dark emptiness of the shaft. Romand took a few deep breaths and stood next to me.

  ‘Put your hand onto my shoulder,’ he said.

  I eyed him with suspicion. ‘Why?’

  ‘Just do it! When two psychokinetics make a physical connection they can combine their gifts. Concentrate on raising the elevator.’

  Once we made a physical connection, I found that I could read some of Romand’s thoughts.

  ‘I can feel—’

  ‘Yes, we also make a psychological connection when we join our gifts.’

  It was so strange. I could sense some of my companion’s thoughts and could also grasp his motives and character. There was nothing malicious in him and he was genuinely concerned for my safety. There was a great deal of fear behind his wall of strength and courage though; it was almost as if I had touched a new world that was much more dangerous than the one I was used to. Now I understood his urgency.

  ‘Concentrate, Ross. We have little time.’

  We both gazed into the shadows below and transmitted our powers together. Metal clanked and the thick wires began to move. Within seconds the elevator was in front of us and we stepped in then used our gifts to make it move down, towards the basement of the hotel.

  ‘I’m sensing danger, Romand. Something’s going to happen when the doors open … a gun … they will fire on us …’

  ‘You are using your precog gift. How many guns are you sensing?’

  ‘Two. Right outside these doors.’

  ‘You must deal with this, Ross. Use your gifts together.’

  The elevator bumped as it reached the basement levels and the doors parted. I reached out and two guns flew into my hands. Romand stepped outside and punched a guard who had been waiting for us, knocking him unconscious. The owner of the other gun was Tsuyoshi who was slowly backing away from us.

  ‘Hello, Tsuyoshi,’ Romand said with a short nod. ‘I’m sure you remember how dangerous I am when I need to be. Don’t make me kill you. Bring us to a car and get us out of here.’

  Tsuyoshi didn’t respond. He didn’t even flinch.

  ‘Tsuyoshi,’ Romand demanded. ‘Don’t make me hurt you!’

  I knew we were running out of time so I took matters into my hands. I walked up to Tsuyoshi and directed both guns at his face. ‘Maybe this will get you moving?’

  The BMW rolled up the ramp to the metal barrier that was manned by two security guards. Tsuyoshi brought the car to a halt and pulled the handbrake.

  ‘Remember that there’s a gun pointed at you,’ Romand whispered.

  One of the guards indicated for the driver to pull down his window. He stooped and looked at Tsuyoshi then in the back. He couldn’t see Romand and I, sitting in the back seat pointing guns at him, we were masked by Romand’s strange gift of light-tuning. It was faltering though; he could not hold it for very long once it was extended beyond his own body.

  ‘Lift the barrier,’ the guard said. ‘The car’s clean.’

  Romand’s powers collapsed as the car passed out of the building and through a crowd of people who were being held back by police. Luckily for us, the car had tinted windows and no one noticed us. We were finally free of the Golding Plaza Hotel.

  Once we got a few blocks from the hotel we switched from the BMW, with Tsuyoshi tied up in the boot, to Romand’s more cramped, and very old, Citroen. We then took to the road leading us to the city limits.

  ‘Where we headed, Romand?’

  ‘It is best if you do not know.’

  ‘You don’t trust me?’

  ‘I trust you, but not your age and inexperience. You may give our location away and not even realise.’

  I didn’t argue. I knew Romand didn’t mean me any harm and I sank into the passenger seat and rested my cheek against the cold window. I was about to drift off when the car skidded to a halt.

  ‘What’s going on?’ I asked, straightening up in my seat.

  ‘Did you leave your mobile phone in the hotel?’

  ‘No. I have it here.’ I took the phone from my jeans pocket and showed it to Romand. ‘Why? You need to make a call? I don’t have much credit.’

  ‘Give it to me.’ Romand snatched it from my grasp and left the car. I watched him through the window as he walked to the side of the road where he dropped it on the ground. He raised his boot and was about to smash it into the tarmac.

  ‘Hey, be careful with that!’ I shouted as I pounced from the car.

  ‘It’s more than likely bugged or got some hi-tech tracer installed on it. They could use it to track us.’

  ‘I need that phone to stay in contact with my dad. He has no other way to get in touch with me.’

  ‘You’ll be putting him at risk by being in contact with him.’

  ‘I can’t simply disappear, Romand. I’m not that type of person and I won’t do that to the old man.’

  ‘You must do it. Simple as that.’

  ‘You smash that phone and I’m walking back to the Golding Plaza.’

  Romand sighed then picked up the phone. He threw it at me then told me to ring Dad and to tell him I wouldn’t be available for a few weeks.

  ‘He won’t buy into that, Romand.’

  ‘You need to sort this out before we leave London. We are running out of time, Ross. They’re probably already looking for us.’

  ‘Okay.’ I punched my dad’s mobile number into the phone. ‘You’re going to help me though.’

  ‘No,’ Romand hissed. ‘I am no good on the phone.’

  ‘You must do it. Simple as that.’ Romand didn’t like me using his lines and his face went very red. I was starting to find it all very amusing though. I put the phone on speaker when I heard the dial tone.

  ‘Ross! Where have you been?’ Dad sounded well ticked off. ‘I’ll kill you when you get home!’

  ‘Calm down, calm down,’ I replied. ‘Listen, you won’t be able to contact me on this phone for a while. The press got hold of my number and I’ve been swamped with calls and texts. I have get rid of it and I’ll be lying low for a few weeks. If I return now the house will be surrounded by thousands of reporters and screaming girls who are madly in love with me. Do you really want that?’

  ‘Can’t say it sounds too appealing.’

  ‘No, it’s not. Can you do without me for a few weeks? When I get back we can head off on a nice holiday somewhere in the Mediterranean.’ Dad was a real sun worshipper. We’d always gone on annual holidays to Spain or Portugal when I was younger, back when we had money.

  ‘A holiday…’

  ‘Yes. You know, since I’m now a millionaire I was thinking I might even buy you a villa in the south of Spain. Somewhere you can retire and enjoy the good weather.’

  Romand gave me a thumbs up for creativity.

  ‘That sounds nice…’

  ‘You deserve it, Dad.’

  ‘I do. After all, I have been looking after you all your life. You do owe me.’

  ‘You’re right, Dad. You are so right.’

  ‘But why don’t you just get another number, rather than all this messing around?’

  ‘The press are a pretty crafty bunch. They’ll find out my new number and they could be recording our conversations. I’m sure you don’t want that!’r />
  ‘Of course I don’t. How do I know you’re not lying to me though? You could be going off on that European tour you always dreamed about. The one where you free style in every capitol city of Europe.’

  ‘It’s called free-running.’

  ‘I don’t care what it’s called. How do I know you’re not lying to me?’

  ‘You can talk to Mr Romand if you like. He’s the er … head of … publicity at Golding hotel group…’

  Romand furiously waved his fists at me.

  ‘Mr Romand?’ I said, trying not to laugh. ‘My father wishes to speak to you.’

  ‘Hello, Mr Bentley,’ Romand said after a couple of deep breaths. ‘I can confirm Ross is perfectly safe and that we are doing everything we can to keep him away from the press. He will be well looked after and should be home with you after the media hype has calmed down a little.’

  ‘I think I should just come over there,’ Dad replied.

  ‘Unwise,’ Romand replied instantly. ‘The reporters would follow you and locate Ross and neither of you would have any peace. We are deeply sorry for this inconvenience and would also like to reward you for your patience regarding this matter … by compensating you with … fifty thousand pounds. How does that sound?’

  ‘Fifty thousand pounds for my patience?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Does that amount increase the longer my … wonderful son is kept from me?’

  ‘It will of course.’

  ‘Keep him as long you like, Mr Romand. Sorry, I meant: keep him safe and I will look forward to talking to you again.’

  ‘Right, Dad,’ I butted in. ‘I’m going to call it a day. I’m real tired. I’ll speak to you in a few weeks.’

  ‘Look after yourself, son.’

  ‘I will.’

  Romand snatched the phone from my grasp before I had a chance to hang up and threw it on the ground. He stomped violently on it until it was shattered into a thousand pieces.

  ‘Crap!’ I shouted. ‘I needed to make one more call. I told Gemma I’d get in touch.’

  ‘Your sweetheart?’

  ‘What business is it of yours?’

  ‘Is she the love of your life?’

  ‘What are you on about, Romand?’