by LeAnn Mason
Devlin and Holden had already left the vehicle. They paused in their trek toward the steel door embedded in the concrete building, giving Dane inquiring glances over their shoulders. Dane didn't need them so they continued on.
I was really missing my earbuds right about now. My head still hurt from the illusionist striking me in the pizza place as well as the residual headache from the cacophony I had heard throughout this afternoon. I had pushed my discomfort to the rear as we faced off with the soldiers at the gate, but now that the adrenaline had worn off, I was really flagging.
It didn't help that I had to use energy in order to heal. I was on the highway to one hell of a headache as I trudged behind the rest of the team, pausing only to enter the security code on the keypad embedded to the right of the door, and entered our domain.
Cool air enveloped me the moment I stepped into the whitewashed hallway. The florescent lighting created odd shadows as I made my way down the short passage to the doors at the far end. Pressing my entrance code, the lights flashed green and the locks disengaged. I pushed into the heart of the information center for our team and headed directly to the large mirrored window along the wall to my left.
I wasn't the only one standing attentively at this location, in fact, most of the team stood like statues, glaring at the captured illusionist. We were all scuffed up and filthy at varying points on our bodies, but we stood enraptured as Commander James began his questions.
"Well, Mr.–" Commander James looked down at the table where both men sat and reached out to a smallish black rectangle which sat there. It wasn't until the commander slid it to himself and flipped it open that I realized the item was a wallet. "Cummings." He looked at our newly named subject and laced his fingers together, resting them on his flat belly, then leaned back in his chair and extended his legs—the picture of ease. "Why?"
Mr. Cummings rolled his eyes then also sat back, though his body was nowhere near relaxed. He was so stiff I figured whatever Commander James touched on his person would snap off as if it were plastic. Then again, if the commander wanted to break something on our suspect, it wouldn't matter how loose he was, it would splinter like a dry twig. This physically inferior man couldn't hope to withstand a Primal's strength, let alone compete with it, creating the basis for his lashing out at them with illusions. Or at least that was my theory on his motives from what he was thinking.
Wow, this mind reading thing was actually a handy dandy thing to have at my disposal when it came to the how and why of things in the enforcement world. Who knew?
I quickly refocused on the men in the adjacent room. Commander James was attempting to get information while Mr. Cummings was determined to give none. He didn't know our talents, wasn't aware of how we could manipulate him into telling us the information. I had gathered from my first few weeks’ training, that our methods and procedures were wildly different from those of the Non-Enhanced and the outside world.
Out there, a man was innocent until proven guilty. Here, and in all Enhanced communities, we were already deemed guilty—thus the isolation and containment—not to mention we had ways of knowing who was at fault. Our justice was swifter. I mean, out in the world, they don't have telepaths, so they couldn’t know for sure if a person was guilty without a confession and statement, not that they’d trust our word if they did have our talents available.
Here, if we can get him to think about it, then it becomes my job to write the statement and acknowledgement of guilt. I could be used as a human lie detector, as could Jade. Bonus points for a confession.
Commander James continued his questions in the smaller room, still in repose, though now he was angled forward with his arms draped over his bent and open legs. He looked entreating, like a friend coaxing another to talk about the stupid things they did when they drank the night before. That is, until you noticed the hard glint in his striking eyes or took in his sleek tactical apparel.
"Jerry," Commander James continued conversationally and reached out to grasp Jerry's leg above the knee in a decidedly friendly manner, then casually pulled it back. Odd…"Why, man?"
"I have nothing to say and you have no proof." Jerry huffed and sat back defiantly, roughly crossing his arms and tucking his hands under opposite armpits. He looked a mess, still covered in blood from kissing the truck bed, a dramatic purpling bruise swelled on his jaw from Devlin's punch. His clothes were stained with grass and dirt from the resulting meeting with the ground, making them look almost like camouflage. There was a bloodstained rag on the table in front of him, so apparently Commander James had allowed him to clean himself up before I entered. Geez, didn't think I was that far behind.
While Jerry Cummings's mouth said the right thing, his mind skipped back to moments embedded in his mind. Moments which added up to his having a hair trigger when it came to people not reacting to him the way he believed they should have. Like the girl in the restaurant. Like Jessica.
Yeah, they weren't the most respectful, but did they deserve to be maimed? The answer was a resounding no. His mind flashed to the Primal man who attacked his neighbor. The man had brushed Jerry aside at the gardens when meeting up with friends playing a Primal game of football.
At The Corner Bean, he'd been told to step aside when he did not have his order readily available. At work, he messed with a coworker's lab results because they had scoffed at his conclusions. Jessica had declined his advances, which confirmed what I had gleaned from her.
It went on. Some were smaller illusions which didn’t have far reaching implications, but it seemed as though the Sages didn't have any physical disparity from his attentions, now it was hard to say whether that was due to a subdued vision or the fact that Sages were much less reactive but it didn't matter. He had pictured his targets—his victims—and I had seen the catalyst event for each attack, and some we weren't aware of.
“Your actions today alone, resulted in multiple injuries.” Jerry scoffed at the commander’s words. “You also caused the deaths of two Minefield enforcers.”
The statement had all of us remembering the two overzealous men who lost their lives because they were not trained to deal with and thwart such mental attacks. A weighty knowledge settled across our shoulders as we realized we truly were responsible for the welfare of all those within our confines, and we had failed many today.
We all startled when Trent suddenly crowed in victory. Almost as one, we pivoted to face where he sat at the computer bank, each with a similar look of confusion, if not annoyance. We were all wrapped up in Commander James's questioning of our bad guy and wanted to get back to it. I turned back to the window. I was a primary source of assessing guilt in the non-talkative suspects, but I tried to divide my attention so I could also hear what had Trent riled up.
Commander James was getting nowhere verbally with Mr. Cummings, so he offered to get a water and pushed away from the table. When he entered our space, he growled. It was a sound I was quickly becoming accustomed to, seeing the Primals on the squad all seemed to do it. The commander was still a very formidable and intimidating sight when he was displeased. Looking at me in question, he mentally asked if I’d been successful.
"Yes. I got it. He pictured inciting events after you asked him why. I saw each of our victims, plus more."
Commander James pursed his lips and dipped his chin once, before resting a large hand on my shoulder. "Good job, Nathalee. With your report and hopefully some corroborating evidence," he looked over me at the rest of the team, still huddled around Trent, only now they were all equally as excited as him. "Trent, report!" The order reverberated through my body and off the walls of the room as the commander prowled toward the rest of the team. Commander James stopped as he came up behind Trent's rolling chair and stared at the screen. "Perfect."
Trent's damning information was video feeds. Our town was so heavily monitored, that it was pretty hard to find a place that didn't have some form of surveillance, especially around heavily frequented areas and businesses.
What I had seen in Jerry's mind matched what we found on the feed, and then some. We also found tapes of him at The Corner Bean and our altercations at both the restaurant as well as the containment barrier. Trent copied the evidence as Commander James called his contact within the ninny government with the news.
Within hours, a transport was at the door, ready to take the damaged illusionist off our hands. I wasn't sure how the prison facilities kept their long-term detainees, but I was assured there were measures taken so abilities were not used during the prisoner’s stay. The simple way was to sedate the prisoner, making it impossible for their mind, let alone their body, to function. I wasn’t thrilled with the means, but what could I do? I was barely eighteen.
It hadn't failed them yet, though Primals seemed to be less affected. I was a little fuzzier on how the Enhanced prisons worked, something about electromagnetic fields that distorted brain waves as well as delivering physical deterrents to inmates. I dunno. I'd make it a point to learn more about "the system" now that we didn't have the lingering threat of the illusionist hanging over our heads, dictating our moves.
To celebrate the success of our first major case, we picked up a ridiculous amount of food from the BBQ place, Smokey Joe's, and traveled by caravan to the farmhouse. With the van out of commission for a bit, this would most likely be how we got around.
I hoped for other drivers' sake that the team didn't have to respond as a whole very often or they would have to deal with each of us doing crazy maneuvers to get around them, especially when they didn't get out of the way. I kind of liked the idea.
We spread the food across the picnic table nestled beneath one of the huge trees that stood as sentry along the sides of the home, and dug in. Seating was crowded, both with food and bodies, but I loved it. This was how we were supposed to be. Laughing and poking fun at each other, but without malice, without bite.
As a team.
I put down my fork and rested my elbows on either side of my still full plate, watching and listening to all the mirth evident in my friends. Yes, friends. I considered all these dysfunctional peeps my friends, and while we may not like everything about one another or get along all the time, we had each other’s backs. We had demonstrated that earlier in the day.
It was that teamwork which had allowed us to capture a dangerous and slightly unhinged individual. We would ride the highs and lows of our cases together; the lows of this case would be felt from this day on. We would mourn as a unit and use this experience to keep our vigilance up, a grim reminder of the stakes.
This was the first step toward true cohesiveness, toward freedom. Not just for Minefield, but all Enhanced. We were on our way to proving we could handle our own. Yeah, not all of us were going to get along, abide by the rules or be a good person, but that didn't need to condemn us all. We were no more, or less, dangerous than any other human. We each had the same potential. It was just what we chose to do with it.
I smiled. This was the beginning, and tomorrow was a new day.
For everyone.
One step closer to freedom.
Holden’s deep voice reverberated inside my skull, courting my attention. I had a feeling that timbre would always give me a warm and tingly feeling all the way to my toes. His smiling eyes and smooth motions not alerting anyone to the fact he wanted to talk. All it took was a few words to make my mind blank and muscles stiffen. Once again, a deer in headlights.
Doesn’t have to be today, he began, never pausing from shoveling the delectable edibles into his mouth. But I want to know about how you healed so quickly.
Well, crap.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There are so many people who helped me along on my crazed journey to make this debut novel a reality. First and foremost to my family for standing with me even when I was completely glued to my computer, blind to the world apart from my stories. They all deserve better, but I thank them for putting up with me. They are my heart.
My first longstanding bookish buddy and all around Superwoman, Heather Renee, I am more than blessed to have you tolerate me. You are the best kind of friend a girl could have and I love you dearly. Don’t ever leave me!
Julie Hall is a huge inspiration, both as an author and overall human being. I wanna be like Julie… minus the energy drink addiction. I don’t need any more weird ticks. Thank you for always being there to help and making time for little ol’ me in the craziness you call life. Amanda is totally lumped in here too. Love you ladies.
C.R. Phoenix, you are a dear and allow me to keep my sanity during all things. You are my rock and sounding board and I’d drown without you.
Lastly, my Enforcers, you guys have been awesome cheerleaders for me and Illusionary and I am humbled by your praise and enthusiasm. I only hope I can continue to make you proud to be called Enforcers.
FOLLOW LINKS
LeAnn Mason is an author of YA/NA Urban Science Fantasy Crime. When she's not writing, she can be found out with her hubby and two munchkins around their Oklahoma home either herding chickens or racing ATVs.
Though currently horseless, she has been riding since her early teen years and adores the giant animals so much that she wrote them into her story. Music is another constant in her life, a literal muse to her writing, so it was no surprise to find it entrenched in the pages as well.
Just in case you like what you read and want to see what else I have brewing or think you may like being an Enforcer… check me out at the following places.
Website: https://www.leannmason.com
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