Lunatic Fringe

by TL Schaefer

  Joe looked like he was about to erupt. I reached down and grabbed his hand, held it, sent soothing waves his way almost unconsciously. “She’s fine, Joe. But we need to get her out of here, just in case. The agents who’ve been guarding her are going to take her to the safe house Heath and Kavenaugh have set up and stay with her. The rest of us need to go to the Field Office. Now. We’ve had a significant development in the last few minutes.” I tried to make him understand that I didn’t want to say more in front of Tori, and after a moment he gave me the barest of nods.

  “Can you get Lawrence to meet us there?” I knew the request would raise yet more questions, but time was of the essence now, I could feel it in my bones.

  “All right,” he agreed, but his gaze told me he wanted answers, and he wanted them soon.

  We each gave Tori a hug and a kiss, and Kavenaugh introduced her to Agent Denise Nunez, who would be accompanying her and Agent Gunnar Anderson to the safe house. No one but Kavenaugh and Heath knew the location, and I was okay with that, at least for right now. No way would Heath endanger my child, any child, not knowingly. It just wasn’t in his makeup. And as much as Joe might be pissed at Heath, they’d been friends for a long time, knew each other inside and out. Joe knew how much Heath loved his kids, so we were all on the same page there, at least.

  We stepped from the room. Kavenaugh held up his hand. “Just wait until we’re in the conference room, okay?”

  We walked down the hall in charged silence. When we entered the room and Joe saw O’Donnell, the expression on his face was priceless. “Warren? What are you doing here?”

  Kavenaugh cut in again. This was his op and he wasn’t going to let it get derailed now. “Roney, Heath and I are going after Grace now. My agents will serve as backup, but given what we know,” he cut a look at O’Donnell, “and what we don’t, I don’t want to endanger anyone’s lives. We don’t know who’s with her, if anyone, or what danger they could pose.” He turned to face me and handed me a cloth bag. “Agent Nunez brought your weapon and holster from the hotel. There’s also a phone in there. She programmed what she could for you and Farrell.

  “I’d like you, Joe and O’Donnell to go straight to the field office. Wait for us there. Either this will all be over in a matter of hours or it won’t. I need to know we’re all accounted for.”

  I looked at O’Donnell, at Joe, both nodded. Then O’Donnell spoke again. “Covington and Summers should be here as well.”

  “No,” said Roney. “While I could see using Jonah’s Talent in a pinch, Sara can give us everything we need via Skype. They stay at CASI.” His tone brooked no argument, and it made sense. There was absolutely no reason to buttonhole all of us together in one place. It was actually pretty damned stupid.

  O’Donnell dipped his head in a resigned nod. “Very well. We’ll have them on Skype when you return from Pearce’s home.”

  I looked Roney and Heath in the eye, one by one. “Call me as soon as you know.”

  Roney nodded. Heath held my gaze with a laser focus that made me feel like I was the only person in the universe. “I will.” It was a promise, an oath. Maybe more than that. It sure as hell sounded like it.

  My heart thudded out of beat for just a second, and then I broke our connection.

  We peeled out of the conference room with no other words, no doubt looking a little like an invasion force, with our serious scowls and on-a-mission stride.

  Joe drove the SUV he’d commandeered when we arrived, O’Donnell ensconced in the front seat. I sat behind O’Donnell.

  “Is your daughter all right?”

  Joe started at the question. “She is, at least as far as we can tell.” He paused, then, “How are you involved in this, Warren? It was hard enough to really believe in all of this when she was taken, but now, having you here as well? It’s unreal.”

  O’Donnell turned in his seat just enough to see both of us. “I promise I’ll explain when everyone is there. And I’ll answer all of your questions then.” His tone was solid and true.

  Then I realized Joe didn’t know about any of the things he’d said before my ex-husband’s arrival. “He knows about me, about Covington and Summers and CASI as well.”

  Joe’s knuckles went white on the steering wheel and he cut his acquaintance a harsh look. “Well isn’t that convenient?”

  Then we were pulling into the Field Office parking garage. The desk knew we were coming and buzzed us into a conference room.

  O’Donnell walked to one of the whiteboards littering the room, picked up a pen and began to write.

  Joe and I grabbed coffee and I realized how very tired I was. And hungry. Jesus, I was starving. Then again, I hadn’t eaten since...when?

  “Joe,” I asked under my breath, “What day is it?” I had no idea how long we’d been held captive, how long it’d been since I’d eaten. And I’d expended a great deal of energy healing Trang. Soothing Tori had taken the rest of it out of me. If O’Donnell hadn’t shown up, I’d probably have eaten my body weight and be asleep right now.

  He gave me an odd look. “Wednesday. Why?”

  I sighed in relief. It was early afternoon now, so Heath and I had only been held overnight. “Just wanted to make sure. I’m starving, anyone up for a pizza?” When both men nodded, I approached the desk agent to make sure it was okay, then ordered an even dozen pies. We’d invaded the Field Office. The least we could do was buy them some lunch.

  And then I returned to the conference room and began to pace. I almost ignored the information O’Donnell was laying out on the whiteboards. Almost. What he was providing us was astonishing.

  When my phone rang half an hour later, I answered it with a sense of anticipation. But I should have known Grace would be smarter than your average bear. She’d orchestrated this whole thing, after all.

  “Grace is gone, Monica.” Heath’s voice was flat with disappointment and more than a little anger. “Left me a parting “fuck you” note as well.”

  “I’m sorry Heath,” I said, noting O’Donnell’ crestfallen expression as I uttered the words. “We’ve got some food on the way, and O’Donnell has filled up a few white boards-worth of intel. You need to see this.”

  LAWRENCE SHOWED UP fifteen minutes later, gave Joe a fatherly back pat, glared at me, and then turned to greet his old friend O’Donnell. Guess our détente was over. I wasn’t overly surprised.

  Whatever the two men discussed left Lawrence pale and solemn.

  Then the pizza arrived and I didn’t much care about what the two men were thinking or doing. I needed fuel, and I needed it now.

  Kavenaugh, Heath and Roney showed up about twenty minutes later, looking pissed. Whatever Grace had written in her farewell note must have been a doozy. But their attention was riveted to the whiteboards as soon as they walked in.

  Kavenaugh had one of the junior agents set up a video teleconference with Sara, Jonah and Arin in Colorado Springs.

  “Gentlemen, please have a seat and grab a slice. We’ve got a lot to talk about."

  Heath pulled out the chair next to me, grabbed what remained of a works pizza and began to devour it. Shit. He’d expended just as much energy as I had, maybe more. I stood, grabbed him a soda, and was settling back in when O’Donnell began to speak.

  “When this all began twenty years ago, it was a brave new frontier. After the fuckery that went on with Task Force Delta, Hugh had the right idea with CASI. Help children cultivate their Talent but ensure they weren’t exploited. Grace was beginning to show signs of Talent, but she was unstable even as a child, both in her behaviors and in her Talent. Unstable but brilliant, undoubtedly the smartest person in the room, almost any room. And when Hugh died, she decided it should all be hers.”

  “Heath has already read us in on most of this,” Kavenaugh said. “What I’d like to know is where she is now.”

  “We’ll get to that, Agent Kavenaugh, I promise. When Heath inherited the Meece Foundation and CASI, she was furious, and began meddling even the
n.”

  “Dr. Green,” Roney interjected, looking grim, referring to the initial headmaster of CASI. The man who had tortured Sara. Tried to kill her.

  “Dr. Green.” O’Donnell confirmed. “The bastard was already a sadist, but Grace helped him temper that enough to get by, and then to begin to enact her plan to make CASI hers.”

  “Why?” I asked. “I don’t get it. She’s Talented and has a shit ton of money. Why doesn’t she just start up her own CASI? It’s what we were all thinking at one point. Why we think she kidnapped Tori, and then Heath and I.”

  “You wouldn’t be that far off,” he admitted. “But until about a year ago, Grace was one of us. We brought her in after CASI folded the first time. Mostly to keep an eye on her, but also because she’s brilliant. None of us could ever prove that she was affiliated with Green, but we all knew.”

  “Who is ‘us’?” Heath’s demeanor appeared relaxed, but next to me he was taut as a drawn bow. If I had to guess, I’d say fury drove him now. Pure fury.

  “I’m not at liberty to divulge names besides myself and Grace, and the only reason I was chosen is because of my connection with Lawrence and Joe. But the basics are this. We are eleven. Well, ten now with Grace’s departure. We hold positions of reasonable power and wealth throughout the United States. While we don’t necessarily report to any governing body, we do hold ourselves to a strict set of rules and contact appropriate law enforcement when it’s necessary to intervene. For example, it was one of us who contacted Agent Thomas and put her on Gordon’s path. If need be, it’ll be one of us who goes to the director of the FBI to explain who and what we are. But only if you and I, as a team, are unable to stop Grace now.”

  We mulled over his words. From the look on Arin’s face via the teleconference, his words had struck a chord. She looked pissed, but almost more like she was happy something had been resolved. Couldn’t blame her on that end. Nagging doubts were enough to derail anyone.

  Finally, Lawrence spoke, his voice icy and lawyerly. “We’ve known each other a long time, Warren. I’ll need proof that what you’re telling us is the truth.”

  O’Donnell answered, just as seriously. “I’ll get you what I can.”

  Arin asked the question none of us had even thought of. “Simple Simon,” she asked, referring to the drug Heath and I had been dosed with, and likely Tori as well. “Is it part of your mysterious cadre? Because when we investigated it earlier this year, we met brick wall after brick wall. A consortium like you’re describing would be a perfect place to develop, and then hide, something like it.”

  He sighed, as if pained, but answered. “Yes, Simple Simon was created by us after CASI closed the first time. We needed a way to restrain the Talented who were out of control. Later it became a judicial tool of sorts. If you’re judged guilty by our group of committing crimes against humanity, then Simple Simon can be used to suggest away that person’s impulses, be they involuntary or calculated.”

  Holy shit. On the television screen Sara’s face had taken on a peculiar expression. Heath wore a matching one. “Is that what happened to Pardo?” she asked. Her words made me remember where the first bit of this adventure had ended, on the cliffs of Royal Gorge, just a handful of miles south, in Canon City. And the man who could control others by touch, just like Jonah.

  “Yes. Pardo is an excellent example of appropriate use for Simple Simon. When medicated, he’s a valuable contributor to society. Yes, he was manipulated by his blind loyalty to Burke. Regardless, his actions needed to be punished. We have a small cadre of enforcers who ensure the Talented do not misuse their power, and if they do, that they’re punished.”

  Heath grunted in response. I could sympathize. All this time he’d thought himself to be a mover and a shaker when in reality he’d been dancing to this consortium’s tune. “And now Grace has broken the rules you made up, the rules none of us know, and you want her head.” I stiffened next to him. Surely he couldn’t be defending his half-sister?

  He continued. “Grace is dangerous and should face repercussions for what she’s done to us all. Enabling Burke and Gordon to wreak havoc is inexcusable. But from where I sit, you’re not any better. I don’t like you, nor your organization. You’re not God, you don’t get to hand down judgement.”

  O’Donnell shook his head. “And yet you, yourself, put yourself in a similar position by re-creating CASI, did you not? By putting field agents like Asa Dobbs out in the wild, looking for more Talented children.” He paused, took in the tight expression on Heath’s face. “Mr. Farrell, we’re well aware of everything you do, and everyone working within the organization you’ve put together to run CASI. We support you one hundred percent. Right now, your interests run in parallel to ours, and we’ll do anything we can to assist you.”

  I could see Heath metaphorically biting his tongue. Oh, he wanted to say more, to brace this guy who walked in like he owned the place. Even I wanted to smack the guy. But while he said he knew everything, he was dead wrong.

  Because he clearly had no idea Heath was Talented.

  Which meant that right now Heath Farrell was our secret weapon.

  Chapter Twelve

  WHAT CAME BEFORE...

  Join the military, they said. You’ll see the world, they said.

  Right now all I saw was snow. Lots and lots of fucking snow.

  My first base and I got Minot, North Dakota. AKA “Why not Minot?”

  There were about a thousand good answers to that question.

  I’d just finished my first twelve-hour shift manning the front gate. Look at the sticker on the car. Make sure it’s current. Salute officers, wave everyone else through.

  My weapon sat heavy on my hip.

  I qualified as an expert marksman in technical school, but the gun still feels unfamiliar, awkward in its holster. Like I’m not supposed to be carrying it.

  But this is my life now.

  There aren’t very many female cops here, most of the women seem to work in personnel and medical. They’re nice enough, but none of them understood why or how I became a cop, the wishes of the Air Force notwithstanding.

  I miss Texas. I miss Carrie-Sue. But most of all I miss Mama.

  Now... Denver

  We broke for the night, heading to the safe house where Tori had been hidden. O’Donnell assured us it was, indeed, safe. Which eased my mind about Tori but did nothing to quell the low-level anxiety I felt about O’Donnell and his peers acting like puppet masters. And knowing exactly which house we’d been talking about without batting an eyelash.

  It seemed we had enemies on two fronts—Grace and O’Donnell. We knew Grace was a baddie, but not knowing about O’Donnell made me cranky, made all of us edgy.

  O’Donnell had his dudes out combing the weeds for Grace, and the FBI was looking for her, as well as local law enforcement. Our group had little to add to that hunt, not once Sara had chimed in and said she didn’t see anything for us in the near term.

  And honestly, we were wiped out, especially Heath and me. We’d rolled through the pizza and adrenaline spike about an hour ago and were now running on fumes.

  So we called it a day. I couldn’t say I wasn’t a little bit relieved. I needed to see my daughter and I needed sleep. In that order. Desperately.

  I should have known better.

  Joe and I tucked Tori in, and even though she insisted she was much too old for that sort of thing, the relief in her eyes was unmistakable.

  We would have huddled, as a collective group, but O’Donnell was there with us. Considering about ninety-nine percent of our conversation would have been about him, we decided to wait until he was otherwise engaged.

  It was only after a carb-filled meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy that I felt normal. Sort of. But still exhausted. And I wasn’t the only one.

  Everyone peeled off to their respective rooms—luckily, there were enough—with O’Donnell heading for his own digs. I was in the middle of pulling my scrubs off when Heath knock
ed on my door. I knew, with a certainly deep in my gut, that it was him.

  “Just a minute,” I called, sliding into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top and pulling my hair into a stubby ponytail. I knew where this was likely to be going, and I was going to be comfortable for it, dammit.

  When I opened the door it was Heath, no surprise, but the bottle he held in his hand was. Top shelf tequila. I hadn’t had any in ages, and right now it sounded fantastic, not that I’d actually drink any of it. My stomach was full, but my thoughts were a mess.

  I ushered him in. The room itself was tiny, a typical tract home bedroom, which made it feel cramped, almost uncomfortable with both of us in it. Just this morning we’d been in a room like this, held hostage, and allowed ourselves to cross a boundary we probably shouldn’t have.

  That’s what Heath was here to tell me, and the tequila was a good buffer.

  He sat on the rickety little chair in the corner of the room, waited until I perched on the edge of the bed.

  “I didn’t want to have this conversation in front of other people,” he explained. His mouth was tight, almost as if he was in pain.

  “Are you all right?” I asked, rising to my feet. I’d refueled enough to heal him again, if need be.

  “I’m fine.” He waved me to sit back down. “We need to talk about what happened in that room.”

  I had been right on the mark. “We were under duress, literally wondering if our lives were over...” I began, and he finished the sentence for me when I faltered.

  “Which is when truths are spoken.”

  I did a double take. What? That was not what I’d been expecting to hear. At all.

  He must have read the expression on my face, and the pain around his mouth turned into a tiny grin. Not something I’d seen on his face often. If ever. “Monica, we’re at each other’s throat all the time, have been for years. But you were my friend’s wife. And then a mother trying to figure out how to keep herself sane for her daughter. It was never a good time for us to have this conversation. Until tonight.”