Blind Instinct: A Tess Barrett Thriller

by Michael W. Sherer

  Travis looked around and saw the mounted cop and the two patrolmen pushing their way toward him. Two more mounted cops were headed his way from the opposite side of the mall. And a pair of Secret Service agents leaped from the stage across the street and the crowd magically parted like the Red Sea to allow them passage.

  When he turned back in Austin’s direction, his opening had vanished, filled by the milling crowd. He jumped up for a quick view over the top of the crowd. Austin was on the move. More determined than ever, Travis shouldered his way through the mass of bodies, quietly exclaiming, “Excuse me, coming through! Police emergency!”

  When anyone threw him a doubtful look, he threw his thumb over his shoulder at the mounted cops fifty yards behind him. He made slow progress, praying he wasn’t too late. When he looked up again an instant later, his pulse raced and his heart sank. Tess and Oliver had gotten there first.

  He was already too late.

  Chapter 40

  “I still don’t see how we’re going to find him,” I grumbled.

  Our roles reversed, Tess now guided me through an undulating tide of bodies that jostled and moved us here and there like so much flotsam and jetsam on the waves. She relayed instructions from Derek as our position changed and we grew ever closer to some magic spot where Austin’s phone, if not Austin himself, would appear. But the GPS could only get us so close.

  “He’ll try to blend in,” Tess said. “He’ll hang with a group his own age. But unless he finds some of his friends, he won’t be in the group. Know what I mean?”

  Travis’s voice came through my earpiece. “I think I’ve been made.”

  “Keep moving!” Tess said. “If they catch Travis, it’s up to us. We’ve got to find Austin!”

  “I’m moving, I’m moving!”

  Someone bumped into me hard, and I lost my grip on Tess’s hand. As if sucked into a vacuum, two people filled the sudden hole created between us and I got pushed farther away.

  “Oliver!” Tess cried, her voice quavering.

  I shouldered my way into an opening, shoved my hand through a gap of daylight, and grabbed her hand.

  “Got you!” I hooted. “Let’s go.”

  Tugging her between two pudgy middle-aged matrons who gave me the evil eye, I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

  “Told you I wouldn’t lose you,” I murmured into her ear.

  “Seemed awfully close,” she said, her mouth a grim line.

  Sometimes there’s no pleasing people. I gripped her hand tightly and fought my way through the throngs. The noise, with the amplified speech reverberating down the mall and the hum of the crowd, blanked out all thought.

  The next time someone jostled me, I turned with a smart comment on my lips. Before I could let loose, a short stocky man with thinning hair and buck teeth grabbed my arm in a vise-like grip. He took Tess’s in his other hand, fingers completely encircling her slender arm.

  “Well, well,” he said in a high, squeaky voice. “What have we here? Blind girl, young guy. You wouldn’t happen to be Tess and Oliver, now would you?”

  He laughed at his own joke. But came out more of a cackle. He wore a windbreaker zipped halfway over his voluminous belly, and even though it was large enough to serve as a kid’s tent, it wasn’t big enough to hide the bulge of a pistol under one arm.

  “Oliver?” Tess said, looking worried. “What’s going on?”

  “Pickpocket!” I shouted. “Thief!”

  Heads turned toward us, and the fat man’s smile faded. Tess stomped down hard, her shoe landing on his instep. He let go of us with a howl as he reached down and hopped on one foot.

  “He took my wallet!” I hollered. “Pickpocket!”

  A burly bearded guy in a short-sleeved plaid shirt stepped away from his wife and two small kids and pushed me aside to stand toe-to-toe with the fat guy.

  “He’s lying,” the fat man said.

  “Give it back!” our rescuer said.

  “I don’t have his wallet!” Fat Man insisted.

  Burly Guy thrust his bearded chin at Fat Man. “Why’d you grab them up like that?”

  “Hey, my watch is gone!” someone shouted.

  More people pressed past me to confront Fat Man. I took Tess’s hand and pulled her back into the crowd with me.

  “Come on,” I murmured in her ear. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

  I put my arm around her shoulder, ducked down and we weaved through several groups of people who had turned to see what the ruckus was behind us.

  “What was that all about?” Tess said breathlessly. “Did he really take your wallet?”

  “Somebody’s on to us. They know we’re here to find Austin.”

  “The wallet thing was a diversion?”

  “It worked, didn’t it?”

  When we were well away from the spot I took Tess’s hand again and straightened up to get my bearings as we walked.

  “That was close,” I said.

  “What?” Tess said loudly.

  “I said that was close!” I called over my shoulder. I caught a glimpse of her holding the phone to her ear.

  She leaned into me as I pulled her along. “Derek says Austin’s not far away!”

  I stopped and stood on tiptoe, scanning over the heads of those around me. Past a swath of empty grass at the edge of the mall, a group of kids horsed around under the trees. Near them, but not taking part, stood a kid in a bulky coat, looking miserable.

  “I think I see him!” I said. I hesitated.

  Tess stretched my arm as she strained forward. “Come on!”

  “Wait! Just wait a second.” I tried to put my thoughts in order. “I did a lot of thinking on the plane. Why would these people go to the trouble of developing an AI capability and sabotaging Derek’s game app with it just to try to discredit the vice president? I mean, Austin’s just a kid, right? If he misbehaves, his father’s campaign staff can spin it and contain the damage.”

  Tess opened her mouth to interrupt, but her expression turned thoughtful.

  I plowed ahead. “This is a beta test. They already did field experimentation—we saw an example of it with Matt. Think about it, Tess. Dunn is a sitting vice president challenging an incumbent president. These people want to make a point, and they want it to be dramatic.”

  “What are you thinking?” Tess said.

  “I think they want Austin to assassinate his father. Why else would they be so intent on stopping us?”

  She gulped and said, “All the more reason to get to him before anyone else does.”

  “But if I’m right, he’s not going to like it if we interfere. He probably has a gun.”

  “He won’t use it. I’m blind. He won’t shoot a blind person.”

  “Okay. It’s your funeral.”

  But I knew she was right. The kid wouldn’t shoot a blind girl. It was my funeral we were talking about, not hers. I took her hand and once again plowed through the endless multitude, aiming for the relatively vacant strip of grass near the tree line. When we finally reached it, Austin was no longer where he’d been. I quickly scanned the tree line in both directions. Another thirty yards east, Austin trudged slowly in the direction of the stage as if reluctantly accepting his fate. I changed direction, towing Tess behind me. She stumbled, and I turned to grab her other arm and lift her back onto her feet.

  “Take it easy!” she said.

  “He’s right over there!” I said. Like she could see. “Headed for the stage. Come on!”

  The barricade stood another hundred feet or so beyond Austin. He could get through security and we couldn’t. If he reached the barricade first, we’d fail. It made me wonder where his Secret Service detail was. He was supposed to have protection. I glanced around. Through the trees I finally spotted two agents taking a parallel path a discreet distance away on the sidewalk next to the street.

  Travis’s voice rang in my ear. “I have the target in sight! North side of the mall. Fifty yards this side of the barrica
de.”

  I glanced over my shoulder and could tell that Tess had heard it, too. We’d run out of time.

  “Austin!” I yelled.

  He looked around wildly, wondering who’d called his name.

  I waved at him. “Wait up!”

  He paused and peered at us suspiciously, but I could tell he was curious. The agents, paused, too, on alert, but Austin had given them no sign yet that he was in danger. Tess and I drew to within ten yards or so.

  “Who are you?” he said.

  “We’re friends,” Tess said. “We just want to talk to you.”

  “I don’t know you. Hey, you, over here. Wait, are you blind or something?”

  Tess gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, ‘or something.’”

  “What do you want?” The suspicion was back in his eyes. “I have to be somewhere.”

  “You don’t want to do this,” Tess said.

  “Do what? What are you talking about?”

  “We know what you’re planning to do. You’ve got a gun, right? And you want to use it to kill your father.”

  “What the hell?” His jaw dropped open and panic filled his eyes. He looked around as if expecting a horde of cops to rush out from among the trees and arrest him.

  I let go of Tess’s hand and did imaginary push-ups in the air. “Whoa, settle down! It’s just the two of us. We just want to talk.”

  He edged a few feet away face pale with fright. “Don’t come any closer. How do you know me?”

  “It’s partly my fault,” Tess said. “Well, my family’s fault. Look, we don’t have time for this. My uncle and another commando type are right behind us, and they’re going to come in with guns blazing. You have to believe us! You don’t want to go through with this.”

  “How do you know?” Austin snarled. His lip curled in defiance now. “Maybe this is exactly what I want to do.”

  “He’s playing a character in the game!” another voice said, so faint it barely registered above the buzz of the crowd.

  Startled, Austin said in a more normal voice, “Who’s that?”

  Tess raised the hand with her phone in it. “Derek? I forgot you were still on the line.”

  “He’s slipping back and forth between himself and his avatar,” Derek said.

  “We want to talk to Austin,” Tess said. “Austin, let me explain. The guy on the phone, Derek, he’s the one who invented Never Bitten, the game you play on your smart phone. Only somebody changed it, made it brainwash people somehow.”

  “Oh, that’s a load,” Austin said. “Video games don’t brainwash kids. There’s tons of experts who say that’s a bunch of crap.”

  “This one does,” Derek shouted through the phone. “I know. I wrote the program. Whoever screwed with it is tracking you now with a GPS program. How do you think these guys found you?”

  “Tracking me?” Austin looked bewildered. “Why…?”

  “To make sure you finish the job,” Tess said. “They want to see you kill your father.”

  He looked more confused and frightened than ever. I took Tess’s hand and edged a few feet closer to him.

  “I don’t understand,” he said. “How’d you know…?”

  “It doesn’t matter how,” Tess said. “We just don’t want you to go through with it. It will ruin your life.”

  “My father’s already ruined my life!” Austin shouted. “Don’t you get it?”

  Tess pulled away from me, put her arms out and walked toward him. “Please, Austin, trust me. I lost my father—both my parents—a year ago. We had a fight right before they died. The last thing I told them was how much I hated them. Now I’d give anything to have them back. If you do this, he’ll be gone forever. And you’ll regret it. I know you will. You know it, too.”

  His hands clenched and balled into fists, and he fought back tears of frustration. “He just doesn’t understand how hard it is to be the kid of somebody famous. He doesn’t know what it’s like to be the biggest joke in school, to always get picked on and made fun of. This game? Never Bitten? This is the first time in, like, forever that I’ve felt strong, like I could take on anyone and win. Nobody messes with me in the game, or they die!”

  “But it’s just a game, Austin,” Tess said quietly. “It isn’t supposed too make you kill people in real life. We’ll help you. I promise. Just come with us.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut tight and a tear rolled down one cheek. He swiped at it with the back of his hand. He nodded, put his hand in a coat pocket and slowly pulled out a gun.

  Sudden movement in a corner of my vision caught my attention. The Secret Service agents had jerked to attention and now ran toward us at full tilt. Footsteps pounded on the grass behind me and hulking figures pulled up on either side of me.

  “Freeze!” Travis shouted, semi-automatic pistol in a two-handed grip at the end of his extended arms.

  Chapter 41

  “Drop the weapon, Austin!” Hanson yelled.

  Oliver shouted a warning. “Tess, watch out!”

  Tess stifled a scream as someone grabbed her roughly and pulled her into a chokehold. Cold steel pressed into her neck, freezing her with fear. No, not fear. Caution.

  “You promised!” Austin shouted, his voice in her ear almost deafening. “You said everything would be okay! I never should have listened to you! Wolfsbane would have just killed you and gone on with his mission! You ruined everything!”

  “It is okay, Austin,” Tess said calmly, trying not to let her voice catch. “We can help you.”

  “No, you can’t! Look what you’ve done!”

  Ignoring him, she called out, “Uncle Travis! You need to put down your weapons. Austin’s not going to hurt me.”

  “Can’t do that, Tess,” Travis said. “Not while he’s got a gun to your head.”

  In a softer voice she said, “You’re not going to hurt me, are you, Austin? You don’t want to kill me. It’s the game that’s done this. The same thing happened to a friend of mine.”

  “I don’t believe you!”

  “It did,” Oliver called. “I was there. He shot up a school lunchroom.”

  A bit of an exaggeration, but if it helped make the point that was okay with Tess.

  Shouting erupted on two sides of her, and Austin’s grip on her tightened, making it difficult to breathe.

  “Police!” a new voice said. “ Lay down your weapons! Now! ”

  “Get back!” Austin screamed, dragging her backwards.

  She grabbed onto his forearm to keep from being choked to the point of blacking out. She heard a voice close by barking commands.

  “…I repeat, we have a hostage situation! Secure Lone Eagle! Secure Lone Eagle!”

  “I swear I’ll kill her!” Austin screamed. “Get back!”

  “Uncle Travis!” Tess shouted. With Austin’s forearm still wrapped around her throat it came out a strangled cry. “Get them to back off! See, I’m trying to help you, Austin. You have to believe me.”

  “They’re not listening to you!” he yowled. “I’m not telling you again, people! Get back, all of you! Take one step closer and I will kill her!”

  “Take it easy son,” someone called out. “No one has to get hurt here.”

  Austin sobbed, and Tess knew he was close to losing it. He was wiry and strong, but Tess could tell that under the bulky coat he was a skinny kid who didn’t weigh much. She heard Yoshi’s calm voice in her mind and felt her confidence grow. Obviously, the police and Secret Service had joined the party and they’d reached a stalemate. If she didn’t take command of this situation quickly, Austin might spiral out of control and bullets would start flying. She shivered then took as deep a breath as she could manage and centered herself.

  “Of course someone has to get hurt,” Austin cried. “Someone always gets hurt! None of you get it! You don’t know what it’s like.”

  “Austin,” Travis called, “listen to Tess. She’s my niece, and she does know what it’s like. She’s been through hell, but she’s still t
he smartest, bravest person I know. Trust her, Austin. She won’t steer you wrong.”

  Tess was so startled by her uncle’s words that for a moment she forgot where she was, forgot the danger. Austin pressed the gun’s cold steel harder into her neck, bringing her back to the present. Again, she focused inward and found her center.

  “I don’t know who you are, sir,” the other voice said, “but you need to put down your weapon, now! Let us handle this.”

  “I’m Travis Barrett, president of MondoHard. Josiah Dunn’s a personal friend. I have security clearance! Check it out!”

  Tess felt Austin tense and get agitated again. She steeled herself for what she needed to do.

  “I! Said! Get! Back!” Austin screamed, his voice deafening her.

  Suddenly, the barrel of the gun no longer dug into her flesh. Now! She gripped his forearm even more tightly, stepped to one side and flipped Austin over her shoulder. She heard the big huff of breath as the air left his lungs when he hit the ground. She pounced on him, knees landing on his chest and forcing the rest of the air out of his lungs. She straddled him, hands quickly feeling for his arm and traveling up to the hand holding the gun. Finding his thumb, she wrenched his hand back, heard a small snap, and the gun fell to the ground. His chest heaved as he sucked in a breath and screamed with pain then went limp beneath her, sobbing.

  Shouts and footsteps converged on her, a heavy shoe kicked the gun away from her, and strong hands grabbed her arms and tried to pull her off Austin.

  “Back off!” she snarled.

  “Stop!” Travis shouted, “Leave her alone!”

  “Tess, are you okay?” Oliver said breathlessly from a few feet away. His voice held a note of something other than just friendly concern. Did he…? She couldn’t think about it now.

  “I’m fine! Everybody, just back off and give us room! It’s all over! Austin’s okay now!”

  She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she was certain of it. He was going to be okay.

  As if reading her thoughts Austin whimpered, “What did you do that for? That really hurts.”

  She could tell he was crying. “Sorry, Austin. I didn’t mean to break your wrist. I just wanted you to let go of the gun.”