Mind Slide

by Glenn Bullion

  “You gotta be shittin' me.”

  He watched the shadows move to the back of the house as he slid back to his body.

  As soon as he felt the car seat under him he reached under the passenger's seat for his knife. He jumped out of the car and took two steps.

  He forgot about the post mind slide nausea.

  He bent over and grabbed his knees. His pizza from earlier came up, spraying across the sidewalk. He wiped sweat from his forehead and tried to jog, his legs still weak.

  He circled around the block and cut through backyards as he drew closer to the Lowdry home. He hopped a few fences, and almost got bit by a dog.

  There was movement in the Lowdry dining room as he landed in their backyard. A quick flash by the window. A man dragging a woman with his arm around her neck.

  “Bastards stole my idea.”

  He heard gunshots. The back door was cracked open. He stayed in a half crouch as he entered their kitchen.

  Brian Lowdry used the wall as cover. He leaned out and fired three times at a target Gabriel couldn't see. There was blood on his arm.

  The kitchen light was on, and cast Gabriel's shadow over Brian. The cop turned around, his gun aimed at Gabriel's head. His body hung out of cover slightly.

  Before the cop could fire, two shots rang out from the dining room. One found Brian's back.

  His face winced in pain before he fell to the floor. He was exposed, half his body falling into the dining room.

  Gabriel ran forward and pulled the gun from his hand.

  He stuck his arm around the corner and fired wildly. He heard glass break and wood splinter. There was silence, then he heard a van's tires screech in front of the house.

  He risked sticking his head around the wall. The dining room was in shambles. Chairs knocked over. Food scattered all over the table. A gun on the floor.

  A body lay motionless, face down on the living room floor.

  This wasn't a man in a suit, but in black pants and a shirt. He wore a cap over his head. A pool of blood formed under him.

  Gabriel could see the scene in his head. The men burst through the back door and caught the family off guard. Took the wife and daughter while the husband tried to fight them off, unsuccessfully.

  At least he took one down with him.

  “So much for my leverage.”

  He was almost out the back door when he heard a soft thump upstairs.

  He stepped over Suit's agent and crossed the living room. There was a sniffle as he walked up the stairs.

  He walked down the hall and turned into the first bedroom he came to. Obviously a little girl's room. Ponies, princesses, and pink all over the place. He peered under the bed to see a little girl laying on her stomach, tears streaming from her eyes.

  “Hello there,” Gabriel said. He rubbed the top of his scarred head. He could only imagine how he looked to a child. “What's your name?”

  She was quiet.

  “All the bad guys are gone. You can come out now.”

  “Where's my mom and dad?”

  “I don't know about your mom. Your dad is downstairs on the floor.”

  The little girl gasped. “Daddy!”

  “Let's go see him. Come on out of there. My name's Gabriel. What's yours?”

  “Dani.”

  “Let's go, Dani.”

  Gabriel tried to hide the gun behind his back as the little girl crawled out from under the bed. She followed him down the hall and down the stairs. She stopped when she saw the man in black in the living room.

  “It's okay, Dani. Just ignore him.”

  He grabbed the girl's hand and led her through the living room. She cried when she saw her father, not moving on the kitchen floor.

  “Is Daddy okay?”

  “I'm not sure. I'm not a doctor.” He checked for a pulse. “He's alive.”

  Dani touched her father's shoulder. “Daddy? Wake up. Are you okay?”

  Gabriel looked down at his perfect leverage. He knew Suit wouldn't care, but Mason and Kelly would jump through any hoop he put in front of them if he had Dani.

  He saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

  He dropped to his side on the floor and extended the gun outright. The agent in black crawled across the dining room floor and was almost under the table. He was going for the gun that dropped during Brian's firefight. His outstretched arm was only a foot from the weapon.

  “Stop!” Gabriel shouted.

  The agent froze, their eyes meeting.

  Five tense seconds passed. There was a table and chair leg in the way, but Gabriel couldn't miss.

  “Dani, I want you to go into the corner and face the wall. Put your fingers in your ears, okay? Can you do that for me?”

  The little girl did as she was told, taking one last glance at her father.

  “Now, listen to me,” Gabriel said. “You are a worker bee, a nobody. I know you're just following orders, and you probably don't have a clue what's going on. I don't want to kill you. You have a family?”

  The man hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

  “If you want to see them again, you'll crawl backwards. I'll take that gun, and be on my way. If you move another inch forward, I will kill you, and I won't lose a bit of sleep over it.”

  Gabriel watched the agent think it over. He didn't make a move one way or the other. Ten seconds passed. Gabriel kept his weapon pointed at the man's head.

  The agent lunged for the gun.

  Gabriel fired twice. The first shot caught the man in the neck. The second smacked his temple. He slumped to the floor, his lifeless eyes still on the gun.

  “Stupid son of a bitch.”

  He stood up and approached Dani. He grabbed the girl's hands and pulled her fingers out of her ears.

  “It's okay, Dani. It's all over.”

  “Can I talk to my Dad?”

  He sighed. “Yeah. Just stay behind the wall, okay?”

  He watched as the little girl knelt by her father and whispered in his ear.

  Two minutes ago Gabriel had planned to take the little girl back to his motel. Maybe feed her a slice of pizza and call Mason, demand a trade for the flash drive.

  He couldn't do it. He couldn't take her away from her father.

  “I'm such a softie.”

  As always, plans would have to change. He tried to keep his mind focused on the goal. Getting the flash drive and a few more kills would seal the deal. He had to avoid getting sidetracked. First, it was stalking Donnie in Florida long enough to get his phone number, to tell him his wife was cheating on him.

  Now, it would be trying to save Dani's father.

  He grabbed the phone from the kitchen wall and dialed 911.

  “Hi, how you are tonight? Listen, I've got a police officer shot in his home. You'd better get over here.”

  He set the phone on the counter, not bothering to hang up, and knelt in front of Dani.

  “Okay, people are on the way to take care of your dad. You stay right here with him.”

  “What about Mommy?”

  “I don't know where...She's fine. She'll be home soon. It was nice meeting you, Dani.”

  Gabriel was surprised when Dani reached out and hugged him around the neck.

  “Thank you, Mister Gabriel.”

  He had no idea what she was thanking him for.

  But it felt good.

  “You're welcome, Dani. I have to run now.”

  He gave her a final wave as he ran through the back door.

  Chapter 26

  Mason slowly opened his eyes and moaned. He felt like he'd been asleep for days. He couldn't make out any shapes, but could make out the color green and smelled pine in the air. There was a big white circle over his head. His vision finally cleared up enough to recognize the moon.

  “Mason?”

  He looked over the steering wheel to see Kelly. She wore different clothes, and was gathering the wet clothes she hung earlier from a tree branch.

  She ran across th
e dirt path and embraced him from the side of the Jeep. He wrapped an arm around her. Everything was still hazy, but her scent comforted him. He hugged her and buried his head against her shoulder.

  “I thought you'd never wake up.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Almost eleven. You've been out of it all night.”

  He winced as he rubbed the sore spot on his arm. His last memory was a stinging pain.

  “What the hell did they shoot me with?”

  “With that.” She pointed next to him, at the large dart she retrieved from the back of his seat.

  “Are we safe?”

  She nodded. “I think so. I took over driving, got us to the woods. I found a trail and followed it for a while.”

  He opened the door and climbed out, almost falling to the ground. She caught him by the arms to help steady him. He hugged her, leaning his weight on her slightly. She kept a hand on his chest.

  His clothes were stiff from the chlorinated pool water. He glanced at her and noticed her new shorts and sleeveless shirt.

  “Our clothes from shopping earlier,” she said. “We left them in the Jeep. I, uh, wasn't sure if you'd mind me stripping you naked and changing your clothes.”

  He didn't know what she had to go through to get them to the woods, but it only reminded him of how amazing she was.

  He kissed her. The gesture caught her by surprise. She circled her arms around his waist. She was almost in her own little world before he pulled away. She caught her breath and felt her face turning red. The man could kiss.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “Uh, for not stripping you? Or-”

  He laughed. “For watching out for me. And saving our lives.”

  She smiled and placed both hands on his chest. “Yeah, sure. Anytime.”

  He started to pull his shirt over his head, then stopped to look at Kelly. “Do you mind if I change clothes?”

  He wanted her to turn around. She reluctantly did so, listening to him strip behind her.

  “I know you're still waking up, but considering we were chased all over town, I think there's more to your story?”

  He smirked. He circled around to the other side of the Jeep and stripped naked. He reached into the back and grabbed his shopping bag of clothes.

  “Yeah, that's one way of putting it.”

  He filled Kelly in on what he knew. He told her about Gabriel, Mister Suit, the men following her at the mall. Unfortunately, learning all the details only raised more questions.

  “Can I turn around now?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  She turned to see him wearing khaki shorts and a button-down shirt. He folded his old clothes and stuffed them in the bag.

  “Okay, I still have a ton of questions,” she said.

  “Me and you both.”

  “Who stole my guest book? And why?”

  Mason leaned against the Jeep. He was a smart person, but didn't have all the facts. He had to fill in the holes with guesses, but the results were logical.

  “I think both Gabriel and Suit are after this.” He held up the flash drive. “Maybe they thought Doc left it with someone in your guest book, someone he used to work with. Turns out he left it to us.”

  “What do they want with it?”

  Mason shrugged. “Maybe Gabriel wants to sell it to the Nazis. I don't know. But I know Suit wouldn't want this floating around.”

  “Maybe Gabriel's on our side? He did call to warn you, didn't he?”

  “I don't know. I don't know who to trust.”

  She walked around the front and put a hand on his arm. “You can trust me.”

  He touched her shoulder. “I do. I'm sorry I got you involved in all this.”

  “You didn't. My father left you the key to that locker, but he knew I was the only one who knew where it was.”

  “I vote we turn this flash drive in to the police. I'll give it to Brian myself.”

  Kelly thought about the videos she watched. “That might make life hard for you. You'd be exposed to the entire world.”

  “So would Suit. I don't know how far up this goes, but he'd be arrested. They'd leave us alone then.”

  “What about Gabriel?”

  He sighed. Neither one of them could hide from someone that could mind slide.

  “I don't know. Haven't worked that part out yet.”

  A few rain droplets fell from the sky. Mason held out his hand.

  He shut his eyes tight.

  “It's just rain,” she said. She pointed to the Jeep. “Let's get the top up.”

  They worked together quickly on the soft-top, then moved to the rear windows and doors. He could feel his heart beating harder. It was only rain. He'd been caught in the rain before. Rain couldn't hurt him.

  As he zipped up the back window, lightning stretched across the sky.

  Lightning was a different story.

  He climbed behind the wheel, Kelly already inside. She looked at him with concern.

  “Mason, are you okay?”

  He gripped the wheel and leaned his head against it. He jumped as the thunder shook the sky.

  “I used to tell myself I didn't belong in that mental institution. If I had a family, I wouldn't have been there. But maybe I'm crazy after all.”

  “I didn't mean what I said. Back at the hotel.”

  He flipped through his memory and replayed the conversation in his mind.

  I'm in love with a crazy man.

  “Which part?”

  She smiled. “The crazy part. You're not crazy.”

  “Oh. So that means-”

  She leaned across the seat and kissed him. He parted his lips and grabbed her shoulders. She sighed slightly and touched his face.

  He pulled away when the sky raged again.

  Kelly took a deep breath. “Okay, we're gonna get through this.”

  She leaned over and pulled the lever to lower his seat. She gently helped him lean back, and kissed him on the cheek before leaning back herself. She turned toward him and held his hand.

  She needed to get his mind off the storm.

  “Would grabbing my ass help?” she asked, hoping to make him laugh.

  It worked. He opened his eyes and turned toward her. “It just might.”

  She smiled and grabbed his hand, placing it on her hip. “This is as close as we can get for now. Your Jeep sucks.”

  He gripped her tighter as more thunder and lightning struck.

  “You're dealing with all of this well,” he said.

  She shrugged. “I was almost boiled in a basement. This is nothing. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet. Things never seem so bad when I'm with you.”

  He smiled and tried to breathe deeply.

  “So, what's our next move?” she asked.

  “Well, I thought we were doing pretty good earlier, at the hotel. I'll start by kissing your neck, then move down do your shoulders. Then-”

  “No,” she said, blushing. “I mean with this stupid flash drive.”

  “Ah.” He tried to think as lightning struck again. “We'll avoid our houses, and drive right to Brian. He's the cop. He'll know what to do.”

  “Do you think...my father was killed by the men chasing us?”

  “I don't know. I asked Brian to look into it. Maybe he's got something for us. I do have my doubts now he was killed in a car accident.”

  Thunder rolled again. He reached out and took her free hand with his own, his hand still on her hip.

  “Don't worry,” she said. “I'll take care of you. I promise.”

  Mason smiled. He had only received a few promises in his life. There was the promise that he would get a beat-down from security if he didn't behave at Yingling. There was also the promise from Doc that what he called the fire experiment wouldn't be as bad as it sounded, which he was wrong about.

  No one had ever promised to take care of him before.

  He didn't have much experience with love, except for his adopted family.


  She was in love with him. She had told him so.

  He was quite certain he was heading in that direction with Kelly, if he wasn't already there.

  She stroked his hair gently as the storm raged on. After twenty minutes the clouds parted to reveal the night sky. His nerves started to unwind. He opened his eyes to see Kelly still watching him. She smiled and ran a finger down his cheek.

  “I'm still here.”

  He gave her a kiss, an act that was getting easier for both of them.

  “You ready to go?”

  She sat up straight in her seat. “Yes. We'll split the drive this time. I can drive this thing better than you'd think.”

  *****

  Mason was relieved to be near home again, even if he couldn't go home. He called his neighbor, Miss Freeley, during the drive to ask her to feed Lucy. She didn't like her phone ringing close to midnight, but she agreed to the favor.

  His sense of relief turned to panic as Kelly turned down Brian's street.

  There were four squad cars outside Brian's house. Cops walked in and out of Brian's front door. Neighbors stood on their porches and in the middle of the street, watching the scene.

  “Oh God, no,” he said.

  Kelly parked as close as she could to Brian's house. They got out together and ran up the sidewalk. An older cop stopped them.

  “Whoa, folks. I'm sorry, but you'll have to...Mason? Is that you?”

  Mason nodded at Finley. He had known the man for two years. He was one of the first to congratulate Mason whenever he found a missing child.

  “Yeah, Finley. What's going on?”

  Finley looked around to make sure no one was listening. Mason was a friend to the department, but rules were rules, and Finley was getting ready to break a few.

  “Brian was shot. He went to Augustine Hospital an hour ago. He lost a lot of blood, but they think he'll pull through.”

  Mason almost felt sick.

  “What about Lisa? Dani?”

  “Dani's fine. She's at the station. Lisa...she's missing.”

  Kelly put a hand on Mason's shoulder.

  “We pulled a dead body out of there. No ID. His fingerprints were actually burned away, maybe with an acid. I don't like this, Mason.”

  “Me neither. I'm gonna go start digging. Call me if you find something?”