****
Barb’s father and her sister met Grayson at the airport that evening. Stacy was with her grandmother at her aunt’s home. He’d known before he caught his flight that the responding officers reported they had not found his wife’s body in the street, where Stacy and Carl saw it lying. There was only a small puddle of blood, and Mr. Vardeman, their elderly neighbor, claimed he saw her helped into her minivan, which was then driven away by her assailant. That implied she was only wounded. Stiles was also wounded, based on blood he left on the seat of the car he abandoned.
He greeted Barb’s father and sister. “Hello, Dad, Jan. Anything new from the police?” He knew the LMPD was trying to locate the minivan, and they had been warned to stay at least a hundred fifty feet away if the driver was present. There wasn’t anything new to tell.
A man accompanying Grayson stood back as the family members talked and shared their worry and exchanged personal news. Grayson soon turned to introduce his companion.
“Dad, Jan, I’d like you to meet Mike Gorka. He’s the BII agent that Barb and Stacy met when Superintendent Brogan came with me to E-Town. Mike, this is Bill Sanders, Barb’s father, and her sister, Jan Mickelson.” They shook hands but didn’t ask why a coworker came with Dan.
Before they left the airport, Mike asked them to excuse him while he picked up a rental car he’d reserved. He had the GPS address of Jan’s house in case he was unable to follow them. Dan stayed with the family as Mike walked away.
Bill made an offer to Dan, “In case you didn’t know, the police held your car for the investigation. It has bullet holes in it and needs repairs anyway. You can borrow my car if you need one. I have Jan’s car to use if I have to run an errand.”
“Thanks, I knew they would hold my car. Mike and I will work part of our time here, looking for the shooter, who is a federal fugitive. Our agency is paying for a rental car. We’ll stay paired since we make a good team. I’m going to tell you something that will remain officially secret for two more days until a national announcement is made. You and Jan need to keep it to yourselves and immediate family until then, and I’ll tell Stacy. It’s for your safety.
“An official government announcement is coming to explain what Mike and I do for the BII. Not only us, but all of the BII agents, and it will reveal what happened in an incident in South Korea that was in the news. Because the full South Korean news story will be coming out in two days, the President will reveal what our government is doing to protect the United States from what happened in Korea.
“It may be hard to believe, but some very rare people can insert their thoughts into other people’s minds, and those people will act on those thoughts as if they reflected their beliefs. The sender of those thoughts can control people, particularly if the thought sender is strong enough. A powerful sender can make nearly anyone do what they want them to do.
“The man that came after Barb and Stacy is named Stiles, and he’s the most powerful thought controller in the US, if not the world. He’s a criminal and a very dangerous man. He was responsible for the murder of my three friends last month, and an untold number of other killings. I think he was trying to get to me and needed people I care about to use as leverage.”
“My God. Why you?”
“Because I have a double copy of a variation of a rare gene that also makes Stiles a Controller, as we call him, and it makes me immune to his ability. Some other rare people with single copies of the two types of gene are less powerful thought transmitters and are called Compellers. Those that have immunity from a single gene don’t have the same degree of ability that I do. That’s why I’m allowed to work on a shooting case that involves my wife. I have the greatest ability to find the man.
“I’m the strongest Immune of the dozen of us that became BII agents. We are resistant to any mental control and know when such control is used on other people. I’m the reason the BII identified Stiles. I helped expose his criminal empire, which the BII disrupted, and confiscated his money and property. That ability is the reason the BII recruited me so strongly and rushed me off to Washington. I can sense the thoughts that a Controller or Compeller sends to others, and unlike Immunes with a single gene copy, I can tell who and where the sender is.
“Stiles is the only known Controller, with a double dose of that gene variation. Most of the people with that gene have a single copy and are less powerful than he is, and are called Compellers. There are twenty-six identified Compellers in the US, and one criminal Controller, with nineteen of the Compellers now agents for the BII.
“The primary task of the BII is to protect our government’s leaders from being controlled by foreign Compellers that may have infiltrated our country. I suspect we may have some of our Compellers posted inside hostile nations.”
Bill asked, “Stacy told us she realized that man was there as soon as she reached the driveway, and that he intended to kidnap her and her mother. She didn’t explain how she knew that. ”
“Stacy inherited the same ability I have. She detected Stiles thoughts when he tried to control her, and when he did control her mother. Barb had been under his control and must have told him that Stacy would be home for dinner.
“Stacy is as immune to mind control as I am, but Barb was completely defenseless. Stiles sent her outside with a gun to kill Carl, who he didn’t need. He assumed he could also control Stacy. However, she saved herself and Carl by knowing what he was doing and where he was. She backed my car into his driver's door, causing him to lose his Control of Barb for a few moments. Barb reacted and shot at Stiles, but ran out of ammunition after wounding him. Stacy tried to rescue her mother, but Stiles regained control, shot Barb and fired at Stacy and Carl. I’m proud of that girl because she lingered, and nearly saved her mother. After he shot Barb, Stacy had to get away before Stiles took control of Carl or shot her.”
Bill put his hand to his forehead and seemed close to tears. Jan put an arm around his shoulder, and said, “If it weren't you telling us this, Dan, I’d think it was pure bull shit. But after all your years on the force, I’ve heard many of your matter-of-fact descriptions of some bizarre yet true police stories. You told this one like those stories, but it sounds like science fiction.”
“It does to me too, Jan. But the number of people with that knowledge is about to go global. There are very few people with Compeller ability, and fewer still with Control ability like Stiles has. Their range was always limited to what their natural organic ability could accomplish, which is a bit over a hundred feet for a Controller like Stiles, and about seventy feet for a Compeller with less power.
“Something that happened in South Korea this past week has blown the lid off the international secrecy that has hidden the knowledge of this ancient and rare genetic ability, which was only recently recognized by scientists. There was an enemy Compeller in Seoul with an electronic amplifier device that allowed him to transmit his controlling thoughts to tens of thousands people within a larger radius. Other countries will replicate that device for use by their Compellers, and increase their range and control power greatly.
“The average person would fall under the control of a Compeller and more easily of a Controller with such a device. With the power of that signal, millions of people might lose their free will, becoming puppets of the person controlling them. Not like a slave, who might revolt or try to escape, but a puppet, who wouldn’t even consider such options. They can be made loyal to their Controller by embedded thoughts that if repeated, can last for days, and can be reinforced as often as needed.”
Jan asked, “If only a dozen like you exist and were sent to Washington to protect our government, who’ll protect us? Even if you know who’s doing it, you can’t stop them from making people obey until you find and stop them, right?”
“True, but I participated in a prototype program for protecting more people earlier today. It’s why I was out of touch when Bob Preston called me looking for Barb, and then he called Stacy. Mike and I have experienc
e in a technique I accidentally discovered, which has the potential to protect people from being controlled. That’s why he came along on a personal matter for me because this is an important idea. We can continue our experimenting while I’m here. We discovered that I could confer my Immune ability on a Compeller, like Mike, for a short time, and we want to see if I can do that for ordinary people. Don’t feel belittled, but we’re calling normal people Susceptibles because a Compeller or Controller can affect your thinking.”
Bill looked up as Mike walked towards them with a rental contract in his free hand, pulling his carry-on bag with the other. Speaking low he asked, “He’s someone that can control Jan and me?” He sounded apprehensive.
Grayson called out to his friend, “Mike, I just told them you’re a Compeller, after explaining what that means. I think they’re worried about you.”
He smiled. “Hell, Dan and I are both armed, but we don’t plan on shooting you. Our weapons made the flight crew relax and feel safer when our IDs revealed we were federal agents and had TSA approval to carry our weapons onboard. I’d hope you folks would feel safe with me since I’m a nice guy. President Obama once said people like me are national treasures.
“Hopefully, the current President feels that way about us too, although he seems to avoid Compellers, and he always wants an Immune nearby. He might not be as eager if he knew some Immunes better. The President never met Dan here, for example, an Immune who fractured my foot and busted my lip and nose just last week. Makes me wonder why I’m so comfortable with him, to tell the truth, even if he was saving my life.”
Grayson smiled. “There you go, guys. A rousing endorsement us if I ever heard one.”
Gorka grinned back. “Dan, I have the address you gave me on my phone for GPS use. I’ll pick up the rental, and I’ll meet you at Jan’s house, OK?”
“See you there.”
****
“Damn it.” Stiles had to shift position as he drove. Even after he had the flattened bullet removed from his left butt cheek, it was difficult to sit behind the wheel for hours. The Goddamned donut shaped cushion the doctor gave him was for hemorrhoid sufferers, and he couldn’t sit comfortably with only his left buttock over the central hole.
Doctor Fallon, or “Doc” Fallon, was someone Stiles had used for years, to treat his most useful Shields and Tools, who sometimes got hurt in furthering Stiles early criminal enterprises. Some of those were Tools that occasionally received knife or gunshot wounds that would raise questions if treated in an emergency room. Some of Stiles’ referrals to Doc Fallon were disreputable people who couldn’t find a doctor that would do a fake examination and testify on their behalf for an insurance fraud.
Today was the first time Stiles had personally needed Fallon’s services, but he’d funded his walk-in clinic and once had used mind control to save the physician’s license to practice at a medical board hearing.
Stiles ensured confidentiality via a fresh infusion of cash and a reinforced embedded mental compulsion. The good doctor was eager to comply anyway, having direct knowledge of what happened to people that had displeased Stiles when he was younger. He was willing to render nearly any favor to a man he knew to have no conscience or limits, but paid well for what he wanted.
Arriving in what for Stiles was a bland appearing beige minivan, another man drove in behind him. The second man was someone Fallon recognized as one of the people Stiles had paid to generate bogus automobile insurance claims in the past, sometimes described as “swoop and squat” car wrecks. Fallon would certify the “victims” to have suffered back or neck injuries when someone rear-ended a car the con artist drove. It was an accident manufactured when the con man suddenly pulled in front of the “mark,” jamming on the brakes, causing the accident.
Stiles, as a teen, had engineered this scam many times, and he mind-controlled uninvolved eyewitnesses to testify on behalf of the con men and used the doctor’s phony reports to support the insurance claims.
Today, after everything in the minivan was unloaded into the back entrance of the clinic, the other man drove off in the bloodstained minivan, leaving his car and keys with Stiles. Fallon made certain that Stiles treatment was as painless as possible, perfectly aware of how unforgiving the older version of the ruthless former teen might be.
Before Stiles departed the clinic, he left careful instruction with Fallon, with more cash, and a promise of considerably more money later. He drove away in the “clean” but average looking car with valid registration.
The night before, Stiles had made arrangements with his underworld contacts in Chicago. He’d offered his unique services for several projects of their choice for more reasonable fees than for the contract award he’d produced. However, he asked them to conduct some unusual research for him, at least unusual for organized crime bosses. There were many high tech industries around the Windy City, and he knew there would be someone there he could find to work on his “humanitarian” project.
He’d asked them to find an Electronics Engineer with experience in Biomedical Technology or who had ever worked on a brain-computer interface (BCI). It was about a three hundred mile drive from Jeffersonville to Chicago, and he was eager to arrive, to begin work on the next phase of his evolution as a world-class Controller.
****
As the week wore on and the LMPD and FBI found no trace of Barbara Grayson, her minivan, or of Parker Stiles, they reassigned resources to more productive and pressing investigations. That step wasn’t a surprise to Grayson, although it didn’t ease the pain he and the family felt. His years of experience on the force knew this would happen if they found no new leads after the first forty-eight hours, and the trail went cold.
It didn’t mean no one was looking or asking questions at all or had stopped checking out the occasional phone tips, but it was no longer the high priority it was in the first forty-eight hours after the disappearance. The unspoken official belief was that Stiles shot her, and she was likely dead. He’d taken her body to confuse the matter, and his past behavior didn’t suggest the slightest trace of altruism in the casual murders he’d previously committed.
There was a reward of twenty thousand dollars put up by the BII for productive tips, although with Stiles ability, anyone with direct knowledge was unlikely to remember anything, or they knew what their risk was if they crossed the man.
Grayson and Gorka didn’t spend their time waiting for information to arrive. They did what their abilities allowed that other investigators couldn’t match. For the most part, it was Gorka’s ability, but he needed Grayson’s knowledge of the local area, and an Immune to back him if Stiles suddenly appeared. Grayson believed that Stiles when wounded, fled to his well-known stomping grounds in and around Jeffersonville. They had a decade of old police files of people previously suspected of having worked for him as Shields or had committed crimes as his Tools.
The pair used Gorka’s Compeller ability to obtain information from those former suspects, to learn if they’d had recent contact with Stiles. Grayson would protect Gorka, as he had in Seoul. If Stiles had controlled Dalia, he could do the same to Mike, and Dan would know it instantly.
A secondary goal was to evaluate Grayson’s ability to project his Immune ability into the minds of Susceptibles when Gorka was compelling them in various fashions, either directly, or as a group. The former Tools were useful test subjects. They were people Stiles had manipulated for years and certainly had no psych capability. They also were not predisposed to be cooperative with government agents, making them a good test of their resistance to Compulsion.
The concept proved to be highly effective, but not as successful as with Gorka in Seoul. Grayson could induce Immunity to anyone, but not as well as Gorka experienced. Having the gene helped him with transferred Immunity. Susceptibles didn’t acquire directionality or range ability as he did. They simply remained unresponsive to him, aware he had tried to control them.
A Susceptible directly targeted by Grayson to ignore e
xternal thoughts continued to be immune to Gorka for at least ten minutes and resisted a weaker group broadcast for nearly double that time.
It was promising that an Immune, equipped with a transmitter might be able to counter the control of a sizable group of people. It would need repeating, but only if the Compeller sent fresh commands.
After twelve days, Brogan, in his daily briefing by Grayson and Gorka on their hunt for Stiles, and listening to their progress reports in establishing parameters for an Immune to protect ordinary people from being compelled, had to make a difficult decision. He wasn’t certain Grayson would comply.
“Dan, I think you and Mike have done all you can do there. Stiles seems to have left the area again. We have CIA reports of progress by other countries that are nearly as far along as we are in building working psych transmitters. Our newest versions function reliably, and they have up to several miles range using a ground-based portable version that someone can easily carry. We’re working on a signal repeater, or relay system, that we can mount on a small drone to gain altitude and extend the range to wherever we fly the drone.
“Before a foreign adversary can deploy someone to Washington with a device like ours, to produce a Seoul-like chaotic event for the entire area, I’d like to have our most powerful Immune here to operate our device to counter that potential threat. A single gene Immune is not as effective as you seem to be at blocking a strong control signal. No other Immune can impart your directionality and range capability to others. I know, because I’ve tried with my ability, with the signal at high power. We can’t amplify and broadcast an ability only you have.”
“Sir, Mike and I have discussed this subject between us. I appreciate your indulging me as long as you have. My family is important to me, and I want them protected, but my duty to serve and protect the country is also important. I have a proposal that can accomplish both.
Controller: Controller Trilogy, Book 1 Page 30