[Ganzfield 2] Adversary (24 page)

“Why don’t you share with the rest of the class?” I halfheartedly attempted to get some of the sarcasm out of my voice.

Cecelia huffed as she considered it, but eventually her pride overcame her annoyance. “Okay, instead of going in with the Sons of Adam guys, I charm the people next door into letting us hop in from their side of the fence…here.” She pointed to the map at the property line closest to the little house that Rachel had indicated earlier. “Then we can go in without anyone seeing us.”

“How tall is the wall? Will we be able to get over it?” asked Sean.

“That’s not a problem.” Trevor smiled. Sean hadn’t been part of our training, but he immediately understood how Trevor could manage it easily enough.

“I’ll know for certain where they are when we’re closer,” said Rachel.

I looked at the map’s scale, guessing at the distances. “I think I’ll be able to hear people in that building from behind the wall. I’ll know if Matilda and Morris are there—as long as they’re conscious—and I’ll be able to tell if there are guards.” I spread my fingers across the map, frowning. With Isaiah’s large range and the fact that minders are louder to one another… ”It’s close enough to the main house, though, that I shouldn’t talk into your heads. Isaiah would probably hear that.”

“So your part is to shut up and listen.” Cecelia returned the fake smile I’d bestowed on her earlier. “What an important job!”

Again, I resisted zapping her Broca’s region.

Trevor caught the thought from me and choked on a mouthful of eggs.

“Both you and Rachel will be working from behind the wall, so who’s going in?”

“Trevor,” I turned to him as I spoke, “we’ll probably need locked doors opened, and Morris will have to be carried out if they don’t let Matilda fix up his legs today.” He nodded. “Ask Matilda to knock him out before you move him or I’ll overload when you bring him back. You should probably get her out first.”

“I can take care of Morris,” said Hannah.

I looked at her in surprise. Hannah had been reluctant to go in at Eden Imaging, but she was closer to Matilda and Morris than she’d been to Trevor. She wanted to go in—no, she felt she needed to go in.

I nodded. “Okay. Good idea.”

I turned back to the rest. “Drew can suppress any guns that guards might have, and fry the electronic surveillance equipment.”

“What about me?” asked Sean.

Sean hadn’t trained with us. How would he react in a stressful situation like this? How strong was his ability? I didn’t know how much we could ask of him—how much we could depend on him. “Keep the engine running,” I said, finally. “Make sure the way out stays open…and keep Rachel safe.”

Sean considered it for a few seconds, frowning.
I want to do more than that. I want a real job.
Then Rachel gave his hand a squeeze and he nodded.

Rachel looked at me with relief.
Thanks. I don’t want him in danger.

I nodded to her, despite the little flash of jealousy that went through me. I didn’t want Trevor going in without me, but it seemed the best way for this plan to succeed.

Cecelia let out yet another sigh of annoyance. “You want me to go in, don’t you?”

“You can charm the guards, so…
yes
.” I refrained from adding “duh!” although I couldn’t completely suppress the eye roll. “Rachel and I check it out first, and then you four go in, grab Matilda and Morris, and get back out. Simple.”

“I don’t like it.” Cecelia crossed her arms again.

Does she like anything?
Her negativity wore on Trevor, as well.

Maybe she’d like to be temporarily mute,
I thought back. This was going to be a long twenty-four hours.

But that would deprive the rest of us of all that sweetness and light!

I laughed silently. When had Trevor developed such a flair for sarcasm?

*   *   *

Since we didn’t need to seek out the Sons of Adam guys to get us into the party tomorrow, we found ourselves with a surplus of time. Drew popped in another movie; Hannah and Cecelia went online. But Rachel and Sean disappeared upstairs and the thoughts rolling down from them forced me to leave the house.

“It’s
my
house!” I stomped across to the far end of the backyard. Trevor watched me without comment. It was damp and cold out, which increased my resentment. “Have they
completely
forgotten that I can hear them?”

I just wonder if they’re being safe.

“The thing is, I actually know the answer to that! I don’t want this much information! This is a textbook example of too much information!”

Trevor let me pace myself out for a few more turns. “Hey, why don’t you hold still for a minute?” I forced myself to stop moving, crossing my arms tightly as I scowled at the back of the house. He stepped in front of me, and gentle, invisible hands began massaging my shoulders. I let out a deep breath and closed my eyes, letting my arms drop—letting everything drop.

You’re wonderful, you know. I don’t deserve you.
I leaned forward into his chest.

Well, you’re stuck with me now. You’ve ruined me for all other women.

“Good.” I wrapped my arms around his waist.

The sound of his laugh made me feel so much better.

*   *   *

Rachel and Sean came back downstairs and they joined Drew for another movie. Apparently, the sparks at Ganzfield used to have a big TV set up in one of the cinderblock buildings. But after four units were crisped in less than a year, Dr. Williamson had stopped replacing them. Now Drew and Sean were enjoying some of the movies they’d missed. I felt a quick shudder. Had Drew or Sean been responsible for the destruction of those televisions at Ganzfield? If so, I hoped that they’d learned better control by now.

Coleman called late in the afternoon with an update. “I was able to get in to see Jon. We didn’t know if we were being monitored, but thanks to ‘that language the two of you use,’ he’s up to speed on everything that’s happened.”

Was Coleman just being paranoid with this euphemistic code stuff or was there a real chance that government agents were recording this phone call? Maybe his precautions made sense. After all, the government already knew that Dr. Williamson had been a neurologist with Project Star Gate. Even some minor display of extrasensory ability could make them suspect his true gift.

I felt cold fingers run along my spine. What would the government do with G-positives if they knew about us? Involuntary conscription into special ops? Medical experimentation? Forced sterilization? Concentration camps?

I wasn’t naïve enough to believe they’d just leave us alone.

“The judge was in closed sessions all day,” said Coleman. “I can’t get in to see him until Monday. I’m trying to set up a meeting with the special prosecutor. If I can have a few words with her ahead of time, everything should run smoothly when we all meet in chambers on Monday. I hope I can get Jon released then.”

I understood that the “few words” would carry charm resonance. If Coleman could speak privately with the right people, everything would be all right. I slumped into a chair with a tired smile. “Thanks.”

My mom came home late from work. Her car overflowed with groceries. She shooed us away from the stove and started chopping and stirring with a Disney song in her head that made me picture a singing teapot.

The mood at dinner was subdued. Our thoughts focused on tomorrow—and on Isaiah. My mom sensed our anxiety but she didn’t say anything.
Are they all so tense because the new blonde girl is here?
Since Cecelia’s presence was a perfectly plausible reason for everyone to be stressed, I didn’t enlighten her. I knew if my mom understood what we planned to do, she’d try to stop us. That was what mothers did—a big chunk of their job description involved keeping their kids from doing dangerous things. Breaking into walled compounds filled with murderous fanatics and their sociopathic leader definitely fell into that category.

I helped her clear the table then gave her a hug in the kitchen. “Thanks, Mom.”

“What was that for?” she asked, surprised. I’d never been much of a hugger with her.

“For dinner. For the past seventeen years. For everything. I love you, Mom.” I wanted to make sure she knew that
…just in case.
I still got a frigid twinge when I recalled Isaiah’s mental touch. Our plan should work, but if something went wrong…

Trevor and I headed out to the back yard as soon as my mom went up to her room. We crawled into my tiny tent together; the nylon fabric whished around us as we kissed and clung to each other with tender desperation.

We drew together as pure energy almost immediately. It pulled up from our cores and twined in a pulsing, sinuous flow as we merged together. The power grew from deep within each of us, pulling us again and again into a blissful singularity that expanded until it gently shattered into a twinkling wash that closed over us.

I love you.
The silent words came from both of us. We were thinking together, perfectly synched. My head rested on Trevor’s chest and his heart beat against my cheek as we slowly drifted back to the physical world. The sound of our mingled breathing filled the tiny space and a warm contentment filled our minds. I’d nearly drifted to sleep when Trevor kissed me softly and reluctantly left the tent. 

CHAPTER 11

“That’s the one. He lives here,” I said quietly to Cecelia. The red brick mansion at the end of the long, sweeping driveway wouldn’t have looked out of place in a movie about Tudor nobility. Isaiah’s next-door neighbor kept a showplace.

I concentrated on keeping my spiderweb shield up. Mentally invisible.
Nothing to see here. Please move along
. I wasn’t sending thoughts to anyone in the group, not even to Trevor. Right now, we were too close to Isaiah to risk it. I wiped my palms against the legs of my jeans again.

“Excuse me!” Cecilia waved at the paunchy, slightly balding, middle-aged man on the other side of the gate. Cecilia’s inner world remained as jaded and negative as I’d come to expect, but to this guy, she conveyed the bubbly, innocuous energy of a high-school cheerleader.

From out of sight behind the thick hedges facing the road, the nervous anticipation of the others waiting in the van trickled into me. Could Isaiah feel it, too? Had his range gotten larger over the years? If he came for us, would I be able to give them enough warning to escape? My heart thudded against my ribs. Dammit, I needed to focus!

The thoughts of the approaching man—
oh,
ick
. I forced myself not to visibly cringe.
What a letch. He’s old enough to be her father!
The sun in Cecilia’s blonde hair drew him like a fish to a shiny lure. I pasted on a smile and tried to look like a perky teenage girl. Why were we acting like bait again? Oh yeah, we needed to get the man face to face since Cecelia’s charming wouldn’t work properly through the intercom system.

“Can I help you, ladies?” He imagined ripping Cecilia’s clothes off with his teeth then—
ugh
. I suppressed my shudder. People like him were the reason my mother told me not to talk to strangers.

“Please let us in.” Charm resonance heavily laced her words.

“Sure.” He would’ve anyway, even without Cecelia’s ability. The gate rolled aside with a sound like a peddling bicycle.

“Our friends are coming in, too.”

“Okay.” In his imagination, our “friends” were the cast of a porn movie shot in a sorority house. I could feel my molars grind as I forced the smile to remain on my face. Sean slowly followed in the van as we walked up the driveway. The gate closed behind us.

“You’re happy that we’re here,” Cecilia said to the letch. His name was Bob, but I didn’t care.

“I sure am.” His “happy thoughts” made my stomach heave. Why did Jersey seem to have more than its share of skanky men? I couldn’t wait to get back to New Hampshire where the creepy men just wanted to kill us.
No—focus.
I couldn’t let strong emotion upset my shielding.

“Now, you’re going to go into the house and leave us outside. Once we’re gone, you’re going to forget we were ever here.”

“Sure will.” Bob leered at her.

“Is anyone else here?”

“Nope, just me.” Bob’s thoughts confirmed it. His wife and daughter had gone shopping in the City and the housekeeper had the day off.

“Any dogs?” I added. Cecilia gave off a slight shiver as she pictured two Dobermans coming for her at full speed.

“Just Mitzy.”

“Tell him to keep Mitzy inside.” I said to Cecilia. “Mitzy” was a German Shepard—a really big one.