Unknown Touch (2 page)

There was a shower in the far corner and Dominic did say to get freshened up. Maybe the hot water would warm me up and clear my head. My brain kept asking itself, should I be screaming for answers or running for my life? And yet, my curiosity level was piqued as if on some great adventure. I assumed this was the local hospital and some hero brought me here after saving my life. I ought to be grateful for the rescue but instead felt an unnerving twinge of doom. Wait! Dominic mentioned this place was underground. Hospitals are not normally built underground and I knew the local one definitely was not buried in the earth. That doom feeling was definitely calling my name loud and clear. Panic was setting in.

After I emerged from the restroom, Dominic was waiting faithfully and patiently at a nearby counter.

"Kara, come with me to a conference room and you'll get your explanations."

I followed him obediently. What else was I going to do? We walked down a long, dimly lit hallway. This was not a hospital by any means. I stifled the urge to take off running because I didn't know where I would go. My heart was racing and my head was pounding. I felt sure an anxiety attack was coming on since I was prone to have anxiety issues. I tried to breathe deeply and focus on my surroundings. We entered a large room with an oblong table at which three people were seated. They all abruptly stood up when we approached. They were complete and total strangers to me.

"Let me introduce ourselves to you, Miss Kara McBride." A rather tall, thin, pale man stepped forward. The mere fact he knew my name sent chills down my spine. Maybe they located my driver's license during the rescue and learned who I was. "I'll just keep with first names for now. Easier to remember. My name is Eli. And this is Zac and Tessa. You've already met Dominic, of course. We call ourselves The Liaison. I'm sure your mind is shooting off in a million directions wondering the purpose of all this. Well, I'm not going to sugar-coat this or baby you about anything. I think in order to gain your trust, it's best to be honest with you up-front. So, first, let's all sit down."

Eli jumped right in with the details at that point. "Kara, you have an ability - a special gift - that you may not be completely aware of yet. It is considered a type of mind reading plus a suggestive thought implanting process. If you think back in your life, you should recall incidences where this ability has come into play. Most of the time it occurs when you sleep. But, also, if you really want something to go your way in particular, or someone isn't reacting the way you want them to, you may be using your gift to influence their behavior even while awake. It's usually very subtle…so subtle that you may not have realized what you were doing to them."

"Oh...my...God!" Memories flashed through my head of those old boyfriends and how I had wished they could just change a few of their ridiculous habits which would then make them more suited to me. And then for a period of time it did seem like the relationship went along smoothly. Obviously it never lasted very long since here I was all alone again. Could Eli be telling me the truth? Had I been influencing their behavior?

I blurted out, "Yeah - I guess there have been some weird things going on with me now that you mention it. And I should point out that I've had a horrible time sleeping over the last couple of weeks. I keep dreaming of some man. I haven't a clue who he is. He's really ticked off or upset over something happening in his life."

Eli continued, "Well, I'll get to that soon. As I was saying, we have been monitoring you - shall I say, keeping an eye on you - for about six months. But you were still fairly young for this venture and we disliked the idea of disrupting your life too early until we absolutely had to. More recently, though, we had become aware that you were not happy with yourself and felt lost and depressed. We also knew your abilities had grown stronger. In the meantime, our "situation" had gotten much more serious. So, we all took a vote and agreed this would be the best time to introduce you to our group.

"I'm sorry, this sounds harsh, but you cannot go back to your old life. At least not right now. To all your family and friends, it will appear that you have run away. I know it seems like we're holding you captive, but we are desperate and greatly need the help we believe you could provide. Please listen with a totally open mind because you are in for quite a shock and more than likely won't want to believe us."

I sat there speechless; feeling completely helpless and all alone. Tears welled up in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. I really, truly was being held captive no matter how they worded it. There was a terrible foreboding feeling deep inside me that my entire life as I knew it was literally on the brink of being turned upside down. And what was Eli referring to every time he mentioned their "situation?" It didn't sound positive and yet here I was being forced to go along on this wild ride.

Eli readjusted his chair to find a more comfortable position. He was definitely tall, probably 6'4" if I had to guess. He obviously was the person in charge of this group by the way he took command of the conversation. He remained very calm while I undoubtedly looked as if I would burst at the seams in hysterics. Eli truly seemed concerned about my well-being by the look on his face. He was so much older than the rest of them, perhaps in his 60s whereas the rest looked to be anywhere from 23 to 35 years old. His eyes, his face radiated with the immense amount of knowledge I knew he possessed.

Dominic had been sitting right next to me during Eli's introduction and was now attempting to console me, hoping to prevent any nervous breakdowns. His warm hand reached out and gently touched my shaking arm for a few brief seconds. I wiped at my tears and somehow felt a slight connection to Dominic. I wasn't sure why at the time but his concern for me actually did relieve a tiny bit of my tension so I started to breathe a little easier. He had adorable wavy, brown hair, studious looking glasses, was of average build and carried a deep, serious look on his face. No malice in it, just a seemingly all knowing, penetrating gaze.

After a few moments of gathering his thoughts, Eli went on, "I am a physician and a scientist. I've had several successful inventions and the profits have provided me with a very comfortable lifestyle. I own this facility here. And, yes, you are still in the Highland area, just underground. It is part of an old military base built in the 1950's. There are tunnels going for miles in several directions connecting unused, vacant missile silos. If you can imagine, one of those silos is under Silver Lake. Very few people are even aware this base ever existed.

"Anyway," he continued, "getting back to who we are…Dominic has psychic abilities similar to yours along with some telekinetic skills that he has greatly developed over the years."

Dominic broke in at that point, "And I used to be a Special Agent with the FBI in a secret department best described as
The X-Files
- if you remember that TV show. I dealt with investigating the odd and unusual cases and many times was required to use my psychic skills. I also had to be involved with some of the cover-ups when they didn't want the general public knowing certain things. A few years ago, Dr. Henderson...uh...Eli as he prefers to be called, was brought in to help me with one of my investigations for a couple of weeks. Then about a year ago he contacted me on his own and requested I join him on a very private mission."

Dominic sensed that I was completely overwhelmed, shocked and wondering what in the world they wanted from me. What was this all about? He stated, "Kara, we really are trying to get to the point of all this as quickly as we can for you."

Tessa spoke up for the first time as if she had been waiting her turn. "We want you to know who we are and hopefully then we can better gain your trust. Please believe me, we mean you no harm whatsoever." I noted Tessa's natural beauty at that moment. She wore no makeup, not that she needed it with her perfect complexion and olive skin tone. She had dark eyes and medium length black hair pulled back in a low ponytail. She was definitely in top physical shape and looked ready to punch someone's lights out if threatened.

"I am an ex-CIA agent. I did a lot of undercover work out in the field. I'm excellent at tracking and hunting. I also happen to be a whiz on computers and am able to gain access to places I really shouldn't have access to anymore." Tessa gave me a sly grin after that statement.

Last but not least, Zac took his turn telling his super summarized personal story to me. "And like Tessa, I'm also known for my awesome tracking skills. I am an ex-Navy SEAL and have always been up to a challenge. I blend in to my surroundings and have superior hunting and survival skills." With that, Zac casually leaned back in his chair, crossed his muscular arms, and waited for someone else to take the lead. He was tall with very short dark brown hair and was undeniably good-looking. He obviously spent a great deal of time working out, training, and doing who knows what to create and maintain this perfect body. There was no doubt in my mind he would use his body as a deadly weapon should the need arise.

Now that everyone had their chance to speak directly to me and plead their case, I felt an opportunity to sneak in a few words. "Okay…nice, interesting group of people you've got here but what dire situation do you keep referring to? And more importantly how can you possibly think
I
can do anything to help?!"

Chapter 2

Situation

Eli cleared his throat, fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, and prepared himself to launch into the next segment of my induction into their secret world. "Kara, you and your family went on a vacation down in Kentucky about a month ago, correct?"

"How would you know about that?" I questioned.

"Well, I take that as a yes," he responded. "Remember, earlier I mentioned we had been watching you, so we do know quite a lot about you and your family. That trip down to the Kentucky Lake region was a pivotal point in what's happening here and why we brought you onboard right now. We couldn't believe the coincidence of you going directly to the very area where all the trouble is and where we'll be heading soon. We've tried to figure out how that was possible. Dominic and I came to the conclusion that because you both have psychic abilities and are within a few miles of each other, you were subconsciously or unconsciously homing in on or drawn to Dominic. Or he could have been picking up on your brain waves. Since he has been mentally checking in on you anyway, a connection had been established between you two, even if you were not aware of it."

I did not like the idea of Dominic keeping tabs on me and diving into the depths of my mind. I glared over at him as he looked sheepish and guilty. How much did he truly know about me? It made me sick to think about it. I chose to sit quietly and continued to listen.

"Either way," Eli spoke excitedly, "you must have unintentionally plucked that exact location from Dom's thoughts and then made that suggestion to your parents for a family trip. While you were in Kentucky, you appear to have made some kind of psychic or physical contact with our acquaintance, Daniel Taylor. Your mind was drawn to him, since he also has a type of psychic ability and has been very upset lately. He's emitting a type of energy that you naturally picked up on. This triggered your series of dreams about him. We were planning on your ability of mental persuasion to eventually assist us with his problems. But you have already made the contact and things are heating up. It is time to tell you what is really happening.

Dominic reeled me back in and explained, "This all relates to one of my assigned FBI investigations. The government is completely aware of the existence of werewolves (among other things we can chat about at another time) and tries carefully to cover it all up. Everything had been pretty calm for a period of time but Eli knew there was trouble brewing in Kentucky. So, he created this covert operation and handpicked each of us to work together and try to help Daniel resolve the disputes within the werewolf packs. If the wolves draw too much attention to themselves, the government will step in and things will get messy. Daniel's pack has had a lot of disagreements about how they should be allowed to live their lives. A small renegade group had decided to split off from Daniel's pack and have become rebellious, careless, and dangerous to animals and humans. He is at a loss on how to control the "big, bad wolves" - a little pun there if you will."

Dominic's breathing was very shallow as he tried to contain his anxiety when he spoke. "Everyone would like to find a resolution before it becomes a total killing spree. I suppose that sounds pretty bad, doesn't it? But Daniel is being threatened by Stephen (one of the bad wolves). He warns that if Daniel does not back off from interfering with the new pack's lifestyle, he can expect a war. Daniel only wants their race to coexist peacefully with humans and to keep their true identity under wraps. You can imagine the consequences if the general public knew about werewolves. They would be hunted, captured, killed, and who knows what? Daniel has been spending a lot of energy covering up the accidents that have occurred in Kentucky mainly stemming from Stephen. So, enter our little group here - The Liaison - to intervene and neutralize the situation. That's it in a nutshell."

I thought, "I don't suppose you're making this all up, huh? Or that it's some science fiction movie you want me to be a superstar in? Or maybe I'm under the influence of some drug you injected in me? Or perhaps this is all a nightmare and in ten minutes I'll wake up?" I wished with all my might that it was. Wouldn't that be awesome though if I was being interviewed for some fabulous movie part...What was I thinking?! Then reality hit me upside the head and I knew by their behavior and stares that this was for real. No joke. I stated, "This is crazy. So you're telling me I am actually dreaming about a werewolf named Daniel. And I'm supposed to miraculously get into his thoughts and convince everyone to be good little werewolves?"