by I. T. Lucas
Marisol smirked. “I believe that you call it tethering.”
5
Jin
Butterflies in her stomach, Jin looked out the jet’s window at the narrow runway it was aiming for and prayed the pilot wasn’t going to miss it.
Given that she was flying in a military transport, the fear was illogical. The pilot probably had thousands of flight hours under his or her belt. Except, she’d never flown on a small plane, and it was much scarier than flying commercial.
Next to her, Marisol closed her laptop and buckled her seatbelt. Smiling, she glanced at Jin. “We are almost there. Are you excited?”
Jin nodded.
Marisol hadn’t talked much during the flight, working the entire time on her laptop or pretending to do so. Jin had a feeling that the woman had a problem connecting with people, and that she liked her solitude. Still, it was nice of her to offer Jin a free ride to her new place of employment.
Then again, it was likely that the agent had done it to ensure that Jin actually got to where she was supposed to and didn’t pick up and run the other way. Marisol had even come to collect Jin from the dorms, driving her to the military airport and then joining her on the flight.
It made Jin feel important, but it hadn’t been necessary.
She’d had no intention of running.
Now that she knew the real reason behind the government's willingness to pay her the obscene amount of over two million dollars over five years, she actually felt better about taking the job offer.
She might not like spying on people, but at least she was going to earn her pay. No one else could do what she could, which made her extremely valuable to her employer.
Hopefully.
She hadn’t tested her ability on anyone in years, and never on complete strangers. It might not work.
“What if I can’t do it? I mean tether to strangers. I’ve never done it before.”
Marisol cast her an amused glance. “Don’t worry. With our help, you will learn to hone your special talent and use it at will. Most of the people we get have a very loose grasp on their abilities and little control over them. That’s what the training is for.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting the other people in the program.”
That was the most exciting part of her new job. After a lifetime of believing that she and Mey were freaks of nature, Jin was going to be among others like herself. Other than the money, helping her country was a significant bonus as well. Marisol hadn’t had to work hard to evoke Jin’s patriotic feelings. She loved both of her adoptive countries.
Both had been kind to her.
Except, thinking about the type of work that would be required of her, Jin felt conflicted. Because of her looks, she would most likely have to spy on Chinese officials, and she was not looking forward to that. After all, China was her birthplace, and perhaps her and Mey’s biological parents still lived there.
As the jet touched down, Jin released a shaky breath. “Thank God. I was afraid the pilot was going to miss the runway. It’s so narrow and short.”
Marisol unbuckled and got up. “Military pilots are the best. There was no reason for worry.”
Outside, a car was waiting for them, and the driver helped load their suitcases into the trunk.
“Thank you.” Jin smiled at the young soldier.
The guy was cute and looked to be around the same age as her. Since she’d broken up with Mitch before leaving, Jin was a free agent, so why not?
“You’re welcome.” He smiled back, but that was it.
Marisol’s stern scowl probably scared him off.
Less than half an hour later, they reached their destination, and Jin’s jaw dropped. “Are we going inside the mountain?”
Marisol nodded. “It’s incredible. There is a whole city built inside. For the next six months, you will be living underground. By the way, if you want to send your sister a text that you’ve arrived safely, this is the time to do it. You’ll have to leave the phone with the guards.”
It had been one of the provisions in the contract, but Jin had forgotten about it. Now that it was time to part with her phone, she felt like she was leaving part of herself at the gate.
She wrote the text, which Marisol checked before she could send it, and then handed it to the soldier who checked the driver’s and Marisol’s credentials.
“There is no reception inside anyway,” Marisol said. “You can use only landlines, but you won’t get the code for an outside line until your training is done.”
“Yeah, I know. I actually read the contract.”
Other than not getting to spend time with Mey, this was the hardest part. Worse, she hadn’t told Mey about it either. The prohibition on revealing any details included the communications restriction.
As the enormous gate started lifting with hardly any sound, Jin swallowed. She wasn’t claustrophobic, but the thought of not seeing sunshine for six months was disturbing.
Once the gate was open, they entered a well-lit tunnel that was four lanes wide. If necessary, tanks and even small planes could make it through.
“How many people live here?”
“Several thousand. Your program is just one of many. As I said, it’s a city, with buildings and shops and cafeterias, except you don’t have to pay for anything.” She chuckled. “It’s an all-inclusive resort.”
“What about sunlight? Doesn’t it get depressing to be underground?”
“The simulated light is incredible. After a day or two, you’ll forget that it’s not real.”
6
Jin
“I get my own place?” Jin turned in a circle.
The studio apartment was simply furnished, but it was about ten steps above her dorm room. First of all, there was only one queen-sized bed, so it looked like she wasn’t sharing it with anyone. There was a sitting area with flat-screen television and even a kitchenette with all the necessities.
Many New Yorkers paid a fortune to live in a place like this. There was even a window. It was looking out into the underground street and the building across from hers, but still, it was an actual window, and the simulated light outside did a damn good job of making it look like early evening.
It was simply amazing.
Marisol smiled. “You’re an adult with an important job. Of course, you don’t have to share an apartment. You can invite people over, and if you meet someone you like, he can spend the night. What you do in your free time is nobody’s business.”
Jin felt like hugging her recruiter, but Marisol had made it clear that she didn’t want to be touched. At first, Jin had thought that it was a personal preference, but after learning that her recruiter knew about her secret, the reason for the no touching had become apparent.
Marisol feared Jin’s tether.
“You still didn’t tell me how you knew about my ability.”
“I’ll leave it to the director to explain. Come on. He’s waiting for you.”
Jin looked down at her jeans and T-shirt. “Shouldn’t I change first?”
“No time, and no need. Let’s go.”
As Jin followed Marisol out, the door closed behind them with a click, the mechanism locking it a couple of seconds later. She’d gotten the code to open it, but since her phone had been taken away, she had to memorize it. Living without that device was certainly an adjustment. Jin was used to storing all important information in the various applications that organized it neatly. Her own brain’s memory functioning was out of practice.
As they walked outside, Jin looked around, but the street was deserted, which meant that most of the underground city’s inhabitants were still working. Occasionally, an electric golf cart would pass by, and Jin noticed that some of the people riding them wore uniforms while others had civilian clothes on.
“Am I going to wear a uniform?” She climbed into Marisol’s vehicle.
“Your department works with the military, but it is not part of it. So, no.”
That made sense. If the
paranormal department’s job was to train special spies, uniforms were counterproductive to that. “By the way, am I allowed to talk about it with the people living and working here?”
Marisol shook her head. “As I said before, you can talk with everyone in the paranormal program about what you are doing but not to outsiders, and that includes any of the people working here that are not part of the program. And just to close any possible loopholes, you are not allowed to use any form of paranormal communication to connect with anyone in the outside world or anyone not in the program. So, if in addition to your hooking and tethering you also happen to have telepathic ability, you can only use it with others in the program. All of your communication with people outside this underground must get screened first.” She pinned Jin with a hard stare. “Repeat what I’ve said.”
Jin rolled her eyes. “I’m not allowed to communicate with anyone outside of this underground in any way without it getting screened first. And with those living here, I can’t talk about the program unless they are part of it.”
Marisol nodded. “You got it.”
“So, what do I tell people when they ask me what I’m doing here?”
“Since everyone here is working on one secret project or another, no one is going to ask you that. But if someone does, you can say that it’s confidential, and that will be the end of it.”
Jin tilted her head. “Do you know what the others are working on?”
“No clue. I’m only affiliated with the paranormal department, and I don’t ask questions that I know I’ll get no answers to.”
“Am I going to get my own golf cart?”
Marisol laughed. “No, my dear. You are going to walk. The distances are not that great, and it’s not like the weather can get inclement here. It’s always a pleasant seventy degrees.”
“I figured as much.”
Once they cleared the residential area, the structures became squat, and the numbering changed to lettering.
As they reached the building marked with the letter H, Marisol parked the cart next to several others.
Inside, a receptionist greeted them with a smile. “The director is expecting you. Go right ahead.”
Jin lifted the identification card Marisol had given her. “With all the secrecy, I assumed that I’d have to put my card through scanners before being allowed to get in.”
“It was scanned.”
“How?”
Marisol shrugged. “I’m not a tech person, but the card in your pocket got scanned as soon as we approached the door. It wouldn’t have opened otherwise.”
Impressive. This was even more advanced than the imagined futuristic technology in Star Trek. Had it been developed right there in this underground city by one of the teams who were working on space-age security measures?
As they walked down the corridor, Jin noticed that there were no names on the doors, and they were distinguished from one another only by numbers.
Marisol knocked on the one marked with the number five.
The lock clicked, and the door opened on its own.
Inside, they were greeted by a distinguished-looking gentleman in his late sixties or early seventies. With his full head of gray hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and frameless glasses, the guy reminded Jin of her economics professor. They were about the same age and had the same intelligent and cunning eyes.
“Hello, Jin. Welcome to the program.” He got up from behind his desk and walked around it to offer her his hand.
She looked down at it. “Aren’t you afraid to touch me?”
His laugh was good-natured. “I am not. My special talent is immunity to all the supernatural tricks paranormals can pull. Many have tried, but none have succeeded.” He took her hand and covered it with his other. “But you are welcome to try it as well.”
As kind and as grandfatherly as the director appeared, Jin knew in her gut that it would be a huge mistake to try and succeed.
“I haven’t tethered anyone in ages. My first try should be on someone easier.”
He nodded. “You’ll get your chance soon.” He motioned to a chair. “Please, take a seat.”
“Do you need me to stay, sir?” Marisol asked.
“You can leave. And thank you for delivering Jin to me.”
“You are welcome, sir.”
As Marisol left without sparing her a second glance, Jin’s chest squeezed with apprehension. Up until now, the woman was her liaison, her instructor, the only person she knew in this strange new world, and now she was gone.
“Don’t worry.” The director smiled. “She’ll be back tomorrow. By then, you will have met all of your teammates and made plenty of new friends.”
“I hope so. I’m eager to meet other people like me.” She hesitated for about ten seconds before asking. “How did you find out about my talent? No one other than my sister knows about my talent.”
“Does your sister share it? Talents usually run in families.”
If he didn’t know about it, Jin wasn’t going to tell him. Until she found out what all this was about, she was going to keep Mey’s talent secret.
“No, she doesn’t.” And that wasn’t a lie. Mey couldn’t do what Jin could.
“That’s a shame. Two are always better than one, right?” He smiled his kindly smile, but Jin wasn’t sure she was buying it.
“You still didn’t tell me how I got discovered. I’ve been very careful not to mention it to anyone. Even my parents don’t know about it.”
Leaning forward, he looked at her with an indulgent expression on his face. “An intelligent girl like you should have been even more careful. Everything you say over a cellular or internet connection, every text, every email, they all leave a trail. With computing power growing exponentially, it’s become easy to search this endless stream of information for trigger words. Mostly, it is used to find out about terrorist activity and all kinds of plots against our country, but it is also useful in identifying special talents.”
Jin felt the blood drain from her face.
Marisol had contacted her shortly after the phone call in which she’d offered Mey to attach a tether to that cheating scumbag Oliver.
Luckily, Mey hadn’t mentioned anything about her own talent. But surely there had been other phone conversations and texts in which they had talked about it.
Her only hope was that the search for paranormal talent had started only recently, and that the bots were not going to screen past communications.
Crap, how was she going to warn her sister if she couldn’t communicate with her?
More importantly, why did she feel the need to shield Mey?
So far, everything looked great, and Jin was excited to meet the other talents. Except, she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that things were not as they seemed.
7
Jin
“Team, say hello to your newest member, Jin Levine.” The director put his hand on the small of her back, urging her forward.
It was a small classroom, but there were no desks, and the twelve people she’d counted were sitting in a semi-circle as if they were a support group for recovering substance abusers or trauma victims.
In a way, they were.
After all, life hadn’t been easy for any of them. Feeling like freaks was not conducive to well-being, and hiding their paranormal talents made getting close to people nearly impossible.
What surprised Jin, though perhaps it shouldn’t have, was the wide age spread. There was a guy who looked to be in his late fifties, and a boy who couldn’t be older than twelve.
Now that was totally wrong.
Taking a kid out of his home and putting him inside a bunker with a bunch of adults bordered on child abuse.
Several people said hello, others waved, and one guy gave her an appreciative look-over. He was mildly attractive and looked to be in his mid-thirties, which she was okay with if he passed the height test. Given her statuesque appearance, Jin couldn’t date short men. Well, couldn’t wasn’t the ri
ght word. It just made her uncomfortable.
“Hello. I’m so glad to meet others with paranormal abilities.”
“Welcome to the freak show,” the older guy said.
“Now, James” The director scowled at him. “You know that I don’t like that word. You are all gifted individuals, the next step in human evolution, not freaks.”
“Yay, us,” someone murmured.
“That’s the spirit.” The director grinned as if the comment was genuine. “Let’s introduce ourselves, shall we? James, you start.”
The guy nodded. “Hi, I’m James, I’m fifty-five years old, and I am a remote viewer.”
Next was the kid. “Hi, I’m Andy, I’m fourteen, and I am a telepath.”
So, he was a little older than he looked, but he was still too young to be there.
The girl sitting next to him raised her hand. “I’m Jacklin, but everyone calls me Jacki, and I am twenty-two years old. I’m clairvoyant, which means I can sometimes see the future.”
The thirty-something guy was next. “I’m Richard, and I am thirty-four years old. I’m a sensory telepath. Which means that I need to touch you to create a mental link.”
“Cool. That’s similar to what I can do.”
Behind her, the director chuckled. “Richard can sense what the person is feeling only while touching them. Your talent is on a whole different level.”
Richard didn’t seem happy to hear that, while the others looked curious.
“Jin has the most unique talent.” The director turned to her. “Why don’t you tell the group about it? I’m sure you can explain it better than I can. We can continue the introductions after that.”
Feeling extremely uneasy about telling the group what she could do, Jin reluctantly nodded. “I also need to touch a person to create a link. But once I put my mental hook into their psyche, I can tie a string of my consciousness to them, and from that moment on, I can see and hear what they hear and see. But not all of the time. I need to focus and follow the tether to the person, and then I can only see and hear what is going on at that moment. I have no access to their past experiences.” She chuckled nervously. “Which can be really embarrassing. I can follow the tether while they are sitting on the toilet, or taking a bath, or being intimate with someone. That’s why I haven’t done it in years. I’m not even sure if I can do it to people I don’t know. I’ve never tried.”