Insight
Chapter Four
By: Rogue Knave
I leaped to my feet, adrenaline rushing through my veins, and groped around for the light switch on the wall. The lights blazed on, but I was just as blinded by the piercing brightness as I had been by the deep darkness a few seconds before.
“Calm down son,” the voice said, “I’m not here to do you any harm. Quite the contrary, in fact; I am here to warn you.” My eyesight was beginning to adjust to the light, and through squinted, watering eyes, I could now make out a well-dressed, older gentleman, sitting in an armchair in the corner.
“Who the hell are you?!” I demanded, belatedly wondering how he had managed to get into a room that remained locked.
“Never mind that,” answered the man. “You managed to piss off a lot of powerful people tonight. I was sent to find you, and to take “Emerald” back to her rightful owners.” As he said those last words his upper lip curled, as though he had bitten into something very bitter.
“When I found you, I fully intended to do as I had been instructed. But when I saw your arm draped around Jess in such a protective fashion, I decided to scan your mind first.” Said the man. “Oh don’t look so surprised. When you pulled the girl into your mind you shattered the shield that you had created. But I had already found you, by then, anyways. By the way, that was a type of shield I have never seen, or even considered, before.”
The man hesitated before continuing. “You are in more trouble than you can possibly imagine. If you care for this girl, leave her here, get your wife, and disappear. They don’t know who you are yet, but it won’t be long before they figure it out. Stay off the grid and learn how to shield your mind at all times, or they will find you.”
“What did I do? Who did I piss off?” I asked, struggling to understand what the man was telling me. “I won’t leave Jess if she is in danger.” I said fiercely.
The man shrugged his shoulders. “The name of who you upset doesn’t matter. Suffice it to say that you took something that some very powerful, very evil people, want for themselves.” He glanced meaningfully at Jess. “There is little time; if I don’t tell them where you are soon, they will suspect that I am hiding something from them.”
“Why are you working for them if they’re so evil?” I asked in a challenging tone.
The man sighed, “Son, things aren’t always as they appear. In this, I am not my own master. I have never seen anyone with your telepathic potential. You must hone and develop it; it may one day mean the difference between life and death for you. I have long sought a way to break free from my masters’ powerful grip. You may be the means to fulfilling this dream. But you are not ready; you have much to learn yet. Run, hide, and develop your powers. I have a cabin where you can stay for a while. It was intended for my own safety when the time comes; but helping you will also help me.” I jumped slightly as the knowledge of how to get to the cabin was suddenly “downloaded” into my mind.
The man’s eyes grew distant, and then sharpened and re-focused. “We are out of time,” he said. “I am not the only telepath that they have set on your trail. You are lucky that I was the first to find you.” He pointed his right index finger at a ring on his left hand. “You must learn the secret of…” He cut off sharply, a startled expression on his face, and then simply vanished as though he had never been there.
I stood still, stunned. It took me a few seconds realized that his image had never really been there. It must have been projected into my still unshielded mind; after all, he had said that he was a telepath.
Then the reality of the situation came crashing down on me. What did he mean when he said, “we are out of time?” The net must be closing in on us. I turned and looked at Jess. Rather than shake her awake and try to explain things to her, I simply placed a command in her mind to wake up, supplementing it with a sense of urgency to get her moving quickly. That must have been how the mysterious man had woken me as well.
The only things we had taken into the room with us were our clothes, so we quickly dressed and ran to my car. Glancing at my watch, I saw that it was about 3 am. The man in my vision had also said that they, whoever “they” were, didn’t know who I was yet.
A stab of fear pierced my heart, as I thought of Cindy at home, asleep. I had to get to her before “they” did. Thankfully, out of fear of being found out by my wife, I had not used a credit card when I checked into the hotel, and I had filled in a false name and number on the registration form. I doubted that there were any security cameras in a place this run down. Then I realized that a club like Abandon would have top-notch security. They probably already knew the model, color and license plate of my car. I was fairly sure that we had several hours before they would be able to get my address from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
After about fifteen minutes of driving I noticed that Jess was looking at me with a worried expression. “You haven’t said anything since we fled the hotel,” she said. “And I still don’t know what is going on.”
Rather than try to explain it to her I projected the memory of my conversation with “the man” directly into her mind. It took her a few minutes since she had to actually experience the memory unfolded. I watched her shrink in on herself and her eyes widen in fear. “What are we going to do?” she asked in a weak voice. Then her eyes grew watery and she said, “thank you, Brian, thank you for not leaving me as the man suggested.”
“I will never leave you,” I rasped around a lump in my throat. “You belong to me now.” A wonderful smile lit her face, and she threw her arms around my neck, causing our car to swerve out of its lane. “Oh, I’m sorry!” she gasped, but I just smiled at her in joy.
I sobered quickly when she asked, “What are we going to do now?”
“Jess,” I said, “you know that I’m married, right?”
“Yes,” she said, “I noticed your ring before we left the club. It’s one of the first things people in my profession look for.”
“Well, I can’t leave my wife alone with those people looking for me. They will probably find our house shortly after the DMV office opens. I want to go get her, and some basic supplies, before we head to that cabin the man mentioned,” I said.
“How are you going to explain me?” she persisted.
“I… uh… I’m… not sure yet.” I replied.
“Why don’t you just change her thoughts with your telepathy?” Jess asked.
“I would, but she has wears hematite constantly, even at night.” I answered.
“Too bad we don’t have any chloroform,” Jess joked. She was still wearing very little clothing and she shivered in the cool night air. I loved the way her nipples strained at the fabric of her tiny top.
Chloroform! I really didn’t like that idea, but I couldn’t think of any other way to keep us all alive. The medics at the airport used to have chloroform as part of their emergency medical kits. I wondered if they still used it. “Jess, that’s a great idea!” I said, turning the wheel, and heading towards the airport.
Getting the knockout gas was really quite simple. With my security pass I was able to easily gain access to the infirmary. However, there were a couple of young medics hanging out there, so I had Jess get their attention. She put on a very believable ditzy blond impression, that quickly had both men oblivious to everything else in the room.
I slipped in a door behind them, knowing that the computer would record my security card, but not really caring anymore. I probably wouldn’t be back here ever again. I grabbed one of the four bottles of chloroform, hesitated, and then took them all. Taking off my jacket I also swept all of the antibiotics into it. We probably wouldn’t be able to visit a doctor or fill a prescription while we were living off the grid.
I snuck back out the door and mentally notified Jess that I was clear. She met me a moment later by the check-in counters for American Airlines. As we walked toward the sliding glass doors that lead to the parking lot, something gently caressed my mental shield, not trying to break through, but almost like a tap on the shoulder, intended to subtly get my attention.
Glancing around and down the corridor, I saw the man who had appeared to me in the hotel room. Three other men accompanied him; all wore dark suits and had a hard and capable look about them. His eyes met mine and he nodded his head ever so slightly towards the door. I grabbed Jess by the elbow, quickly leading her through and out of sight, as the man and his party strode past, heading towards the infirmary.
Whoever that man was, I owed him my life, several times over. But how had they found us so quickly? I couldn’t think about that now. We had to get some distance between those men and us. There was no time to lose. I began hustling Jess in the direction that we had parked. As we drew near, we stopped behind a pillar; I scanned the area with both my eyes and my mind. My eyes saw nothing out of the ordinary, and I was about to continue on to the car, when my mind sensed the dull hum of a mind shielded by hematite. This, in and of itself, was nothing out of the ordinary, since everyone protected themselves in this way. What alarmed me was that I couldn’t see anyone with my eyes. That meant that they were going out of the way to remain unseen, hiding behind a pillar as I was, or maybe hunched down between some cars. I extended my senses a bit more and discovered a second, and then a third, person, also hiding near my car. They must have been waiting in ambush, in case we returned while the others sought us out in the building.
I backed up slowly, sending a mental note to Jess, explaining what I had sensed. Her breathing and pulse quickly sped up, but I calmed her with my mind and led her back towards the terminal.
Renting a car would take too long. But if I could get us out onto the tarmac I could snag one of the service vehicles. The people there knew me and wouldn’t ask any questions. Walking as quickly as we could without drawing attention to ourselves, we entered the secure area of the airport. I suspected that the men would have more difficulty following us in these secure areas. I flashed my card at several checkpoints and we soon found ourselves standing by the service vehicles. At this time of the night there was a self-serve check out system. I didn’t bother signing it out, but simply jumped into a cube van, started it up and drove away.
It was nearly 4 am now. We had to hurry, time was running out.
As we headed towards my house, Jess asked a question that had been nagging me ever since that gentle touch on my shield. “How did they find us so quickly?” she asked. I was worried about that also.
Would they follow us to my house just as quickly? I was fairly certain that they still didn’t know who I was. But now they knew that I had a high-level security pass at the airport. That could speed up their search. The only way that they could have found us so quickly was by tracking us somehow… most likely with telepathy. What had the man said to me again? “…I had already found you by then…” Somehow he had tracked, and found me, even before I had shattered my shield by pulling Jess into my mind.
It hit me like a ton of bricks. They weren’t tracking me… they were tracking Jess! Without her hematite bracelet, her mind was wide open to them. The problem was, we left that bracelet on the table where Jess had taken it off at the club. Cindy had many pieces of hematite jewelry that she could lend, or give to Jess, but these people seemed to be mere steps behind us. They would probably track us down before we could leave the house. I needed to set a false trail for them to follow.
We headed off into the suburbs several miles north of where I lived. After driving around randomly for ten minutes, I pulled over to the curb and turned to Jess. Taking her head in my hands, I imagined a shield just like mine around her own mind. It immediately sprang into place. I examined it carefully. It was different from the hematite-based shields that created a sort of dead spot that I could easily sense with my ability, but couldn’t break through. This shield made her mind completely disappear. My eyes could see her, but my talent couldn’t sense her at all. Like a mirror, it reflected everything, but hid what was behind it. As the creator of the shield, I could raise and lower it at will. I wondered if I could enter her mind without lowering the shield, but there was no time for experimentation now. I was still relatively inexperienced at this, and I didn’t know what other telepaths were capable of. But the man had told me that he had never seen a shield like this before.
Hoping that it was enough, we headed straight to my house. I shuddered as I thought about what would have happened, if I had gone straight home, instead of passing by the airport first. It was about quarter to five in the morning when we pulled into the driveway.