“Nah. My father will be here. Just forty hours late like he always is. And he'll throw a fit if I'm not here to hear his apology.”
Tina laughed. “That's weird.”
“Tell me about it. Thanks anyway.”
Tina put a hand on her friend's shoulder. “Are you gonna be okay?”
Kelly felt her eyes welling up with tears, but she somehow willed them away. She didn't have a love life or a family life. She could deal with it most days, but seeing her crush kiss a girl she couldn't compete with was almost more than she could take.
“Yeah, I'm fine, Tina. I'll see you tomorrow.”
Parents, teenagers, and teachers scattered in different directions. Some went straight to their cars. Others loitered about and socialized. Kelly walked around to the front of school, where she could sit and wait for her father. She would have called him, but she didn't have a cell phone.
Something else to add to the list of things she didn't have.
She sat on the front steps and waited.
And waited.
Kelly regretted not changing into regular clothes after the track meet. As night took over the wind sent goosebumps up and down her legs. She hugged herself as she looked at the few cars passing by, thinking each one might be her father.
She waited alone for over an hour. The school and parking lot were completely empty. She stood up and tried to rub her legs for warmth. The locker room would be locked. She didn't even have a place to change clothes for the walk ahead of her.
Just what she needed after a two mile run. A five mile walk home.
“Thanks, Dad. Thanks so much.”
Kelly started the long walk. At least her legs still didn't feel like rubber. It was a walk she had done many times before. She hated walking past the cars and houses. It always felt like someone was watching her.
It was a warm night, but the wind seemed a little stronger now that she was moving. She wanted to go home and maybe call Tina and make herself a quick dinner. She wanted to forget about Eric.
She wondered how many smiles she threw his way, not knowing he was looking over her the entire time. How could she face him again?
She made the turn onto Simmons Avenue, the halfway point to her house. Her legs ached, but she allowed herself a small smile.
“At least I'm in shape,” she whispered.
She never noticed the black van stalking her for the past ten minutes.
Chapter 4
Mason was in the middle of his first good dream in months. He was in the math class of the high school he visited a few days earlier. He was just a student, taking notes and answering questions. The pretty soccer player that sat in front of him was getting ready to ask him out on a date when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder.
“Mason! Wake up.”
He moaned in disgust and sat up in bed. He rubbed at his eyes and looked at the clock on the nightstand.
The man leaning over him was still a blur, but he didn't need vision to recognize who it was.
“Three in the morning, Doc?”
“I know, Mason. Hurry up and get dressed. You know how we like to keep challenging that brain of yours, keep it off-balanced.”
Mason put on a pair of white sweatpants and a white tee shirt. At least he didn't have to wear the ridiculous gown for a night experiment. The only people cruising the halls would be security.
“I hate night experiments.”
“The sooner we get going, the sooner it'll be over with.”
Doc gripped his arm tightly and led him out of his room. Mason struggled to keep up with the tall doctor, all while having his arm pulled above him.
“Uh, Doc, I know where the lab is. No reason to rip my arm off.”
Doc barely slowed down.
Mason's breath hitched as fear overwhelmed him. Doc was acting odd.
This was going to be a painful night experiment.
He tried to stay strong. He wondered what it would be this time. Submerged in freezing water? Stuck like a pincushion all over his body? Hung upside down?
“Look, Doc, is this about the fight the other day? I said I was sorry.”
Doc was quiet.
There was no security. They saved all the painful experiments for night. He tried to prepare mentally for whatever they had in mind for him.
He was surprised when Doc unlocked the lab with a key. That was unusual. Were the technicians and doctors locked inside?
There were only more questions as Doc opened the lab and turned all the lights on. There were no doctors, no technicians. Mason had never seen the lab so quiet. There were always people running around, taking notes, working on formula, pecking away at computers. Especially around experiment time.
Despite the emptiness of the place, Mason's eyes fell on the metal table in the middle of the lab. They tried to dress it up years ago with a pillow and a little sheet. At odds with the pathetic attempt at comfort were monitors and machines around the table, all designed to let Doc and his team get a glimpse of Mason's brain.
He hated that table.
“What's going on? Where is everyone?”
Doc turned on computers and monitors. Mason could see his hands shaking slightly. Something was very wrong.
“This is a low key experiment, Mason. Doctor Fuller is on his way in now. It'll be just us.”
“Bullshit.”
Doc ignored Mason's outburst and went to the refrigerator against the wall, pulling out vial after vial of the Cocktail. Mason felt nauseous as his nerves attacked him. The Cocktail did a decent job of keeping his nerves steady while mind sliding, but it left him confused and disoriented afterward, sometimes even sick.
Doctor Ronald Fuller walked into the lab, a cup of coffee in his hand. He wore jeans and a light sweater, much different than the lab coat Mason always saw him in.
“I swear, Albert,” he muttered under his breath. “You'd better have a good reason for pulling me off my wife-”
He stopped when he saw the lab. He took a casual sip of his coffee and raised an eyebrow.
“Morning, guys,” he said. He looked at Doc, who was still gathering Cocktail. “Did you fire the team? What is so important I drove all the way in to see an empty lab?”
“Just give me a minute,” Doc said, gathering some syringes. “I'll explain everything.”
A voice came through the phone on the corner desk that also doubled as an intercom.
“Doctor Rierson?”
It was Rhonda, one of the nurses who worked the night shift.
“Yeah, I'm here.”
“There's a police officer here to see you.”
“Thank you, Rhonda. Could you show him to the lab, please?”
There was a pause. “I'm not sure I can do that.”
“You don't have to come in the lab. Just show him to the door.”
“Fine.”
Her voice went silent. Ronald gave the man he'd known for nearly twenty years a hard stare.
“You invited someone to the lab? A cop? Are you out of your mind?”
Mason smiled. “Maybe that child abuse call I put in five years ago is finally gonna go through.”
Doc gave Mason a glare.
The police officer pushed the lab doors open. He looked down the hall, still talking to Rhonda. She stayed far down the end of the hallway.
“This is it here? Thank you, ma'am.” He took a step inside. “I'm Officer Brian Lowdry-”
Ronald was already moving toward him. “Yes, hello, Officer. This is all just a big mistake. You can't really be in here. This is a highly classified area.”
He grabbed the officer's arm. Brian didn't budge. Anger flashed across the cop's face.
“You want to let go of my arm there, Alfalfa?”
Ronald lowered his eyes and removed his hand. He sheepishly took a few steps back.
Mason liked Brian already.
Brian Lowdry was a muscular man, barely squeezing into his police uniform. Mason wouldn't want to get on his bad side. His blo
nd hair was cut very short, almost to the scalp. His radio squawked with chatter as he glanced around the lab. He turned the volume down and pulled out a notepad.
“We don't normally make house calls, but someone here knows my captain,” he said. “I was told to ask for Doctor Albert Rierson.”
Doc carefully placed the syringes and Cocktail on a tiny cart next to the center table. He raised his hand. “That's me.”
He locked eyes with the doctor. “So? What am I doing here?”
Doc slumped his shoulders and stood next to Mason. “My daughter's been missing for two days.”
“What?” Ronald yelled. “Kelly's missing? And you're just noticing now?”
Doc paced. “I missed her track meet. I thought she was simply mad at me, staying with a friend. But I called, and she's not there.” He looked at Ronald, then Mason. “My little girl is missing.”
Mason heard Kelly's name many times over the years, but had never actually seen her. He didn't know much about Doc's life, but picked up enough clues to put some pieces together.
Doc was a single father, and wasn't very close with his daughter. He spent more time at work than with her. He loved her, of course, and always talked about how she did in school. But it seemed there was always tension between them.
“Okay.” Brian started scribbling notes. “Are you sure there is nowhere else she can be? You've called all her friends? Any other family?”
“I'm her only family. I don't know all her friends, but she hasn't been in school the last two days. That's not like her.”
Ronald stood next to his friend. Mason took the opportunity to back away from everyone.
“Look, Officer,” Ronald said. “If Albert says his daughter is missing, then his daughter is missing.”
Brian was silent for a moment. Mason watched the officer studying everything around him. He looked exhausted and irritated.
“Okay. I'll have to ask you some questions. If you've got a picture of her, a last known location, that would be helpful. We'll put out an APB, do what we can.”
“That's not good enough,” Doc snapped. “We can find out where she is in just a few minutes, and you can go get her.”
Mason's jaw dropped. He looked at all the Cocktail Doc had gathered. Enough for a very long and lucid mind slide.
“Wait, come on now, Doc-”
Doc held up a finger to Brian. “Could you excuse us? Just one minute?”
Brian shrugged, anger written all over his face. “Oh, sure. I was only on my way home to see my pregnant wife. I've got nowhere to be.”
Doc and Ronald approached Mason. Ronald spoke first, never taking an eye off Doc.
“Albert, do you realize how much trouble we'll get in? Shit, how much trouble we're already in? Just that cop being here-”
“She's my daughter, Ronald.” He looked at Mason. “Please-”
“Doc, I don't want to be responsible for finding your daughter. I'm sorry, but that's a lot of pressure to put on me. What if I mind slide to her, and she's...”
Doc shut his eyes and held up his hand, not wanting Mason to finish that thought.
“Mason, please,” he begged. His eyes welled up with tears. “I know...I know you hate us. I know it makes no difference, but I hate us too. And you have no reason to want to help me. But Kelly, she's a good girl. I know something is wrong.”
Mason looked at the pain, the fear in his eyes. He had never seen Doc so torn up.
He thought back to what Doc said the other day, after his fight, to the man in the suit.
I'm proud of Mason.
He took a deep breath.
“I'll help, but only if we do it my way.”
Doc nodded. Out of habit, Ronald started placing sensors all over Mason's body. The teenager almost protested, but decided he'd let that slide.
Brian shook his head and put his notepad away. “Look, I don't care what game you're playing, what little science fiction thing you got going on here. I need to get home.”
“No!” Doc shouted. “I assure you, this is very real.”
Brian was almost out the door.
“Sir,” Mason said.
He spun around to look at the teenager.
“In just a few minutes I'll know where Kelly is. Please stay.”
Brian hesitated for a moment, staring at Mason. He finally turned around and took a seat at a nearby desk.
“You've got five minutes.”
Mason nodded.
Ronald finished applying the last of the sensors. Doc reached for a syringe of Cocktail.
“No,” Mason said. “None of that crap.”
Doc frowned. “Mason, I'm sorry, but you need this. We're gonna need a strong, solid projection.”
“I don't need the Cocktail, Doc.” That drew Ronald's attention as well. The two doctors stared at Mason. “I haven't needed it in years.”
Doc gently placed the syringe on the cart. “What else haven't you told me?”
The corner of Mason's mouth lifted slightly. “I just need music. Classical music.”
Doc's brow furrowed. “What?”
“Classical music.” He looked at Ronald, making the request of him. “Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, anything. It relaxes me.”
Mason was surprised when Ronald actually went to a radio on someone's desk and started browsing through stations. The doctor paused when he found a soothing orchestra.
“That's good.” He felt empowered. They were listening to him, for a change. He climbed up on the table and took a deep breath, trying to relax. He pointed to the corner office, on the opposite side from Doc's, made completely of glass windows. They used it to monitor him in private during mind slides. “Don't go in there. I want to hear everything you're saying.”
“You got it,” Doc said. He moved to sit at a desk to watch sensor readouts.
Mason clutched his arm. “Doc, there's just one more thing.”
“Name it.”
His features softened. “Please, find my picture. My parents.” He closed his eyes and envisioned it perfectly in his head. “Eight-by-ten, wooden frame. They're in a park, standing in front of a swing set. Mom is holding me, Dad right behind her. I'm just a little baby-”
“Mason, I'll find it.”
He opened his eyes and gave Doc a smile. He was going to do something he didn't think he'd ever do.
Mind slide in the lab because he wanted to, not because he had to.
He took another breath and looked at the lab one last time. Ronald was studying a monitor. Doc stayed by Mason's side. Brian leaned back in a chair with his feet up on a desk, but paid attention to everything that was happening.
“And here we go,” Mason said.
He laid back on the table and rested his head on the pillow. Doc opened his wallet and handed Mason a picture of Kelly, taken just two months ago on her track field.
It was the first time he'd ever seen Kelly. Straight red hair down to her shoulders, piercing green eyes, skin like cream. She rested on one knee with a lovely smile, wearing a uniform that was probably a touch too small.
Beautiful.
“Kelly Ann Rierson,” Doc said.
Mason memorized every inch of her. He wasn't sure how mind sliding worked himself, but the picture wasn't necessary. Kelly Ann Rierson was a strong name, with a strong tie to the person giving him the name. He'd have no trouble finding her. Although the picture would come in handy if she was in a crowd.
He closed his eyes and took strong, steady breaths. He repeated her name over and over to himself, while keeping her track picture up on the screen in his mind.
He felt the bed fall away from under him.
Chapter 5
Mason slowly opened his eyes, although he still couldn't see much. His senses of hearing and smell slowly caught up with the rest of him. He could make out a faint outline of a tree in front of him. He heard crickets and leaves rustling all around him. There was a slight breeze at his back. The scent of nature touched his nose.
He w
as in the woods.
“Mason, are you okay?” Doc asked.
The voice was right next to him, like Doc was in the woods with him.
He nodded, and immediately felt silly. His body was still in the lab. It was only his mind that had taken a trip.
He looked at his hands and could barely see them in the darkness. It was a habit he developed a long time ago. He always thought it was strange that during a mind slide he actually thought he had a body.
“Yeah, Doc, I'm here.”
He heard Ronald. He could hear everything in the lab as well as the woods around him. It took many mind slides to get used to that.
“This is amazing. His vitals are all steady. Not a single spike.”
“That's not important now, Ronald. Mason, what do you see? Be aware.”
He winced. Be aware. He hated when they said that. It always felt like they were trying to program a robot.
But they did succeed over the years. He had the use of all five of his senses and a memory that defied explanation. He was very good at being aware.
“Give me a second,” he said.
He described the woods around him as the relaxing music danced in his ears. He could never get a good feel for temperature, but there was a persistent breeze. The trees were thick and dense. He didn't hear traffic of any kind. The moon peeked from behind the clouds every so often, providing some light. It was very peaceful, very lonely.
“Do you see Kelly?”
Brian interrupted. “Wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me the kid is psychic? He can bend spoons and crap like that?”
“Hush!”
Mason looked all around him. His heart sank. He had the feeling Kelly's dead body wasn't too far away, and he would drag his foot right through her. He wasn't sure if he could handle that.
“I don't see Kelly anywhere. But, wait-”
There was a break in the woods up ahead. He walked forward, not even bothering to move around the trees. He walked through them, feeling the bark and sap as he passed through each one. He stopped when the trees came to an end.
There was a dirt path, large enough for a vehicle.
One direction led deeper into the woods. The other led to a house.
Mind Slide Page 3