Jake’s Dream Come True
By Billy_Ray77
Chapter 17
My plan was the epitome of KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Find Phillip and kill him.
Samantha had wanted to come with me. Adamantly so.
“No fucking chance in hell!” Had been my reserved reaction.
“But Jake, what if you can’t do this alone?”
“Then I am fucked. But only ‘I’ am fucked. Philip is the only person who knows I’m a talent. As far as he knows, you don’t know anything and are just a sexy girl I used my talent on to to get into bed. Either I make it and we are both safe, or I don’t make it and you’re safe. If I don’t go, and he decides to report my existence, we can never stop running.”
“That’s why I want to help.”
“Then stay here, and stay safe. If you come with me all you will do is give him a chance to distract me by getting into your head. I have to win this, and I have to do it by myself.”
She stood there, eyes flashing angrily and her body shook with rage.
“I... FUCKING... HATE IT when you’re right.” Then her body seemed to deflate. “But I feel so damned useless... helpless.”
“You’re not.” I said, wrapping my arms around her. “If it weren’t for you getting me out of my house, I’d be dead already. If you hadn’t gotten us out of the motel room when you did, we’d both be sitting in jail or dead. You’re the brains of this outfit – I’m just the muscle. And this particular job calls for muscle only.”
“I know.” She said, softly, into my chest. “but I don’t want to let you out of my sight. You know I won’t breath until you come back.”
“Then I’ll try to hurry,” I said, kissing her lightly, “blue isn’t a good color for you.”
As I shrugged on my backpack and walked out the door she said, “Jake.”
“Yes?” I said, turning to regard her heavenly visage. This was where she would plead for me to come back safely, or, knowing her, perhaps to implore me to come back with my shield or on it – one never can tell with Samantha.
“I’ll have you know I look very good in blue.”
I love that girl.
The Telekinetic in the lobby, Phillip’s driver and bodyguard, who was probably the only other person who knew of my existence, hadn’t had his armor up – which only made it easy. The receptionist was also easy to control.
“Mr. Anderson, Your eight o’clock, Mr. Gunther is here.” She said on the intercom.
“Thank you, Shelly, send him in.”
She really couldn’t send me in, being asleep at her desk, but I knew the way. I had been here before.
I paused briefly at Phillip’s door, took a deep breath and entered.
“I told you not to be tardy, Alek,” said Philip, not looking up from his papers. “It’s five minutes after eight.”
I called up my sight and identified his aura, the fucker was currently amused. That was when he looked up. I had my eyes closed, so I didn’t see him look up, but I saw his fiery outline shift and the amused aura shrank while his anger swelled.
Then the glowing outline elongated and I knew he was standing.
A tendril from his aura shot towards me and I was suddenly aware that he was a veteran Psychic fighter and I had only gone up against Alek, who really wasn’t at his best at the time. I had been lucky enough to get the jump on him and he was in a full blown panic after that – not the most effective way to fight.
Phillip could see what I was seeing, only he was doing it with his eyes open. I didn’t know if he was going for a gun, grabbing a knife or a bat... hell, I couldn’t even maneuver to fight unless I dropped my sight.
In a panic I sent my whole aura, the entire rainbow slamming against his, forming a massive multiple connection of every aura at once. The connection firm, I opened my eyes.
His eyes were wide, his body rigid. In his right hand was a gun he had been pulling from a drawer.
“How in the bloody hell?” he sputtered.
His thoughts came to me in a rush as every emotion in his aura was connected to mine.
Most telling was that he’d had no intention of bringing Alek into the fold. He was going to milk him for all the information he could, then kill him. Part of me wished I had let that happen, then Alek would have known some of the betrayal my mother had felt.
But there was no use crying over spilled milk, or hanged bastards.
With his entire aura in a forced pairing with mine, he had no tendrils loose to connect to my like emotions. I was in control of the connection. I wasn’t sure why he was motionless, but after a moment it came to me – I was not only in control of the connection, that connection was my entire aura connected to his entire aura – I had total physical control of him.
My initial panic squelched, I tried to put on a calm face as I approached him and removed the gun from his hand... That’s right cocksucker... I do this sort of shit all the fucking time – so there’s no need to fight or resist... I always win.
I was pretty sure my thoughts were not being relayed to him, that inner dialogue was solely for my benefit – So I could have the calm demeanor this situation called for, and, of course, so I could refrain from shitting my pants.
“Oh, please, Philip, have a seat.” I said with false cheerfulness as I forced him back into his chair.
“How are you doing this? You’re just a fucking TK!”
“That is your arrogance talking, and I’ve had about enough of your arrogance. Right now I have some questions for you.”
Because this sort of interrogation is old hat to me... no sense fighting it... resistance is futile... I am James Bond, Batman and the by-God-motherfucking-Shadow all rolled up into one!
I tried for a surreptitious deep breath to calm my calm and continued.
“Who else knows about me? Don’t try lying because I’ll know. And you don’t want to find out what I do to scum who lie to me!”
Although I admit that I was a bit curious about what I do to scum who lie to me.
NO!... no curiosity... no doubts... I am “Da Man”... you do not want to lie... if someone lies to me it is a horrible thing to behold... the rending of clothes... the gnashing of teeth...
Well, I’d read those phrases in bible... they had to be something bad.
“N... No one.” Philip said, trying not to. “I’ve kept you a secret, to use you to lure out some of your father’s old connections. I could kill them and report I had found them on my own. When your usefulness had run it’s course, I was going to kill you and add your mother to my harem – until I found out she was a fucking talent.”
“Then you put a bullet through her brain.”
“No! That must have been Alek... I... I didn’t even know she was dead until this morning.”
Shit... now I had figure out what I do to scum who lie to me.
“Then why didn’t you know Alek was dead as well?” I said as I pulled off his neck tie. “Now you are going to find out what I do to scum who lie to me.” Him and me, both.
I pulled his arms to the back of the chair and tied them tightly with his necktie. His primary weapon was his mind, which I had currently rendered impotent. But his gun had shown he wasn’t adverse to a physical attack. I wanted him immobile in case he got physical control again.
Fuck that... he will never be in control again... I have done this a hundred times and I always win... don’t even try to fight it... resistance is, as I said before, futile!
Kneeling, I pulled off his shoes and used his socks to bind his feet – I thought about using them for a gag, but he had to be able to talk.
His eyes showed fear.
That’s right, Skippy... fear me...
“Who else is within earshot of this office?” I asked, checking the lobby to make sure the bodyguard and his secretary were still out.
«Obey me... Bitch...»
That one I did send down the link.
He tried not answering, but couldn’t help himself.
“It’s... it’s been... soundproofed.”
“Good.”
I walked up to his helpless form and placed the side my index finger right below his nose. Jamming it into the right angle where his nose met his upper lip, I pushed as hard as I could, in and up.
Don’t laugh – that fucking hurts.
Try it. Now imagine someone else doing it to you... no... harder than that.
He screamed. I started to stop, then remembered my mother lying on the cheap carpet of a cheap motel room having met her end feeling terrified and betrayed.
I pushed harder until his screaming had nearly caused him to hyperventilate.
“Are you going to lie to me again?”
“No.”
“Good – now I will ask again. Did you shoot my mother?”
I don’t know – I just wanted to hear him admit to it. I wanted him to know, when he died, that I knew. And I wanted him to know that I knew, because I had made him tell me... that I had beaten him.
Well... and because I am Jake the interrogator... no one can lie to me... this is my forte... incapacitating my enemies... I do this all the time and no one escapes...
Or something.
“Yes! Yes, I did. But I didn’t have a choice. She knew Alek had betrayed her and was going to kill both of us.”
Something didn’t seem right so I checked his bonds, they were tight.
“You know, every time you try to tell a lie to make things go easier for you, it will just make them go harder.”
“What do you mean? That’s what happened.”
I waggled my index finger in front of his face. I wasn’t sure I could break him, but I wasn’t ready to quit trying.
“I swear!”
Why wouldn’t he just admit it? I jammed my finger under his nose again and let him scream for several minutes.
“Okay, okay... I shot her because she was a talent and you just can’t reliably control a talent against their will.”
Which was exactly what I was doing to him. Something wasn’t right. I checked the bonds again, and closed my eyes to recheck our connection. It was good.
What was I missing?
“You won’t get away with this.” He suddenly said.
“Of course I will, I do this sort of thing all the time.”
“What the hell are you talking about? You’ve had the ability less than a year.”
“Oh, well I mean that I will do... hold on... I’m asking the questions here.”
“Regardless, do you really think my people will let my death pass without retribution?”
“But who will they retribute against? No one, but you, knows that I exist.”
“So far, but what records do you think they may come across?”
Oh Shit... he had written something down. I looked at the file cabinets in his office, wooden and polished to a high gleam, they would take hours to search through – even then, he may have a file somewhere else.
All my bravado slunk away to hide in the corner.
“If you don’t kill me, then they won’t be likely to go to too many lengths to bring you in. Why, I believe the head start you get while I attempt to free myself would most likely buy you all the time you need. With your talent you should have no problem staying under the radar.”
He was right. There was no way I was going to find any file on me before the bodyguard and secretary woke up. As soon as that happened I’d be toast.
“Where’s the file, you son of a bitch?”
I was still in control, I could make him tell me.
“I’ll never tell you. And I’ve hidden any memory of its location where you’ll never get to it. Not in time. Those two out there won’t sleep forever.”
I rummaged his thoughts – the memory of the file itself was there, but nowhere could I find its location. It was as though it didn’t exist, but I had seen the memories that proved it did.
“Don’t test me. I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve than a finger under the nose. Do you have anything here I can shove under you finger nails?”
I couldn’t believe it had gotten so out of control. I hadn’t thought it through, damnit! I should have known he would have a contingency plan.
“Torture me all you like. You can’t kill me until you’ve found the file. Which you won’t... not in time”
Fuck. He was right. I had fucked this up ten ways from Sunday. At least Samantha would be safe – I could kill him and go on the run by myself. There couldn’t be anything in his ‘file’ about Samantha, could there? I mean, other than she was my ‘project’.
“If you’re thinking about killing me and trying to disappear, just know that my people will stop at nothing to find you. Even if that means they have shred and subjugate every person you know.”
Shit! Fuck!! Damn!!!
“You will tell me where that fucking file is if I have wring out your fucking brain one synapse at a time.”
“Go to hell.” he said with a smile.
Suddenly I was thrown sideways, my armored body hammered against the file cabinets and I fell in a heap. My training had stuck, however and I hadn’t lost the connection to Philip. I froze it in place, locking him down while I looked to see who had attacked me.
It was the bodyguard from the lobby. Various things from the office began to rain down upon my armor. I was unhurt and, up against the file cabinet I was in a steady place. My mind pulled a few billiard balls from my pack and I spun them around the room, dashing them in to hit him.
It didn’t occur to me at the time that I was doing something that had escaped me in training.
To no avail however. They never even got close. He was using a shield too, but it was obviously further from his body than mine was. It acted as a shock absorber, mitigating the mass and momentum thing.
I closed my eyes and called up the sight. His shield was a shimmering blue field hanging down like a ghost costume made out of a sheet. There was a tiny opening, right at the floor, I could snake my telekinesis under it.
“Get the gun” croaked Philip and the guard’s aura started to move towards the desk. He didn’t have a gun on him – I’d seen to that – and there were no other weapons I could use. Until I realized he was dressed and I could accelerate things with telekinesis very, very quickly.
I opened my eyes just as the gun on the desk flew to his hand. I couldn’t get any weapons through his shield, but he had weapons inside his shield. No not the gun, his telekinesis was stronger than mine. But there were other things, things I could control without wrestling with him first.
Suddenly, every button on his shirt tore from its bindings and shot straight up at nearly the speed of sound. They ripped easily into the soft skin under his chin, tearing through his tongue and soft palate and not stopping until they hit the top of his skull. Of course they technically didn’t stop then either, they just shattered and bounced around a bit until they ran out of momentum – but I wasn’t controlling them by then, I wasn’t even looking at him any more. He dropped to the floor, motionless – if I had cared to watch.
I was looking at Samantha, who had just appeared in the door of the office holding a large paperweight in her hand.
“That lady was trying to call someone,” She glanced back over her shoulder, “she isn’t now.”
I quickly closed my eyes and called the site back up. Sure enough, Philip had found a loose tendril of aura and was trying to connect to my Samantha.
At that point it was child’s play to swat it away.
“Help me up, Sam.” I said with my eyes closed and my hand held out, “I have to keep my eyes closed so he doesn’t try anything with you.”
I felt her hand in mine and stood.
“Take me over to the desk, right in front of him.”
“Okay, step up and over, unless you want to stomp on the asshole who just tried to kill you. In that case just step down hard.”
“Maybe later, just get me in front of Philip. I’ve just realized he was playing on my fears.”
“Wouldn’t that be normal? He was desperate and no doubt been around the block a few times.”
“No, the timing and the specific concerns were too precise. The connection is mine, he shouldn’t be able to get anything from me unless I want him too.”
I examined the connection. That tendril he sent towards Samantha was my first clue. How had he gotten a tendril loose? I couldn’t see anything, and my mind probes were only finding the same stuff I had rummaged through before. Then I noticed my anxiety aura was free as well. I broke another unlike pair and jammed everything together. There was no way he could sneak into my mind now. I forced energy down my aura until he was completely subjugated by it.
“Holy shit,” said Samantha, “I don’t know what you’re doing, but you should see the look on his face.”
At that point I owned him entirely, body and mind. I reached into his mind and began shredding memories. I found how he had been manipulating me. He had seen my auras coming for him. My anxiety was leading and he had capitalized on it. He had never seen an aura act as mine had and he knew he was in trouble. He used his own fear to his advantage too, connecting his to mine and while I worked on everything else, he had worked on my anxiety until I simply knew my actions were a lost cause. When Samantha showed up, he had released my aura and used the tendril to go after her – it was the only one he had available. I realized that if he had fought me with brute force I doubt I could have beat him. But by diverting his energies and trying to be sneaky he had given me the time I needed while wasting his own power reserves.
Memory by memory I quickly found and tore up anything I didn’t need. I found out the guys sent to my house were normal hired thugs, they hadn’t known who I was or why they were to kill me, just to expect an unusual and difficult fight. They weren’t to take any chances, they were to kill me as quickly as possible. Apparently Alek hadn’t gotten around to telling him about my unique ability.
I found the memory of the day I had saved Samantha at the mall, he had mind fucked Thad and his crew and sent them after her. It was him who had made me feel that she was in trouble and had directed me where to go. That was all so I would lose some of my reluctance to use my ability for violence. He had sent in Thad and then gone looking for me with no thought or concern about how far they would go before I intervened. If it had taken him longer to find me, she could have easily been raped by the whole crew and that never gave him a moments pause. In his mind, the further they got before I found them the better, as had I walked into the rape taking place, I might have killed one or more of them and then I would have no doubt called him to help me out the mess.
By now, Phillip was a being of pure anguish. He saw every memory as I found it – our minds were linked. He knew every cherished memory I made disappear. If I wasn’t controlling him physically, he would screaming bloody murder.
“My God, Jake. I don’t even want to know what you’re doing this time.”
I was searching for the file and any memory of it I tossed aside without destroying.
There was still no indication of where the fucking thing was.
Until I examined the few memories of the file I had set aside. They didn’t seem right. I had seen the subtle difference before and then it came to me.
The false personas I had created in my friends were the same way.
The file was in his mind. That’s the only place it existed.
There was no physical file for anyone to find, and I knew with certainty he had never told anyone else about me – I knew that because I found, examined and ripped apart almost every memory he had.
When I opened my eyes, there sat before me a man who knew who he was, knew he was someone powerful and important but not where, why or how he was important. The only memory he had, the only thing he could remember doing throughout the entirety of a life that had led to his lofty heights, was the time he had pulled a trigger and murdered my mother.
And he knew I was here to kill him for it.
The confusion, the fear and the utter helplessness that was written in every line of his face and reflected in his pleading eyes, actually made me feel sorry for him.
Samantha stepped around the desk and brought the heavy paperweight down across his temple. He sprawled across the desk. She hit him again, blood trickled from his ear and nose. I was pretty sure he was dead. I had never seen a head shaped like that on a living person, I can tell you that.
“I know that look, Jake. I’ve told you before that you’re too soft to handle your own vengeance.”
“I was gonna do it – he killed my mom.”
“Maybe... besides, you got to kill Alek, I loved her too, I wanted to kill someone.”
Have I mentioned I loved that girl. I think part of me was becoming afraid not to.
“Lets get out of here.”
“Oh, Kirsten’s outside, she drove me.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That you you were going after the guy who killed your mom – she thinks I’m here to try and stop you.”
“What is she going to think when all these bodies show up on the news?”
“We cross one bridge at a time... we cross it very well... then find the next bridge.”
“What bridge are you thinking about now?”
“Getting the hell out of here, for one. We should also get Mr. Everson’s Jag back. They could be back from Florida any day now.”
“Good point. I said you were brains of this outfit.”
I checked the unconscious secretary on the way out. She would be fine but would be sporting one hell of a headache – that, and she wouldn’t remember anything after the front door opened.
Samantha went over to Kirsten’s Camaro and spoke to her for a few seconds. Then climbed into the Jag.
“She’ll follow us, then take us wherever we want to go.”
I drove carefully. I had gotten away with stealing a forty thousand dollar Jaguar, narrowly missed totalling it once and I didn’t want to fuck it up now.
After secreting the car back in the garage, we climbed into the back seat of Kirsten’s car.
“Where do you guys want to go? Don’t you both live right around here?”
“Why don’t you take us to my place, just follow the block around.” said Samantha, “My mother must be worried sick and we have to talk to you.”
She turned to me as the car started moving and spoke in a low voice that Kirsten wouldn’t hear with the radio on, “Two bridges in one place. I still don’t know what we will tell Kirsten. She was with us all last night and within a day or two she’s gonna know we killed those people – she was right outside. Can you make her forget, or something like that.”
“I know I could, but it’s an awful long time period and judging by what happened with Phillip, I think it would be very unpleasant, even with just a memory or two. I’m not sure I would want to put her through that. I know my mother said she never liked fucking with memories.”
Funny, I hadn’t given it a second thought when deleting the memories of Phillip’s secretary.
We were silent for a few moments, then I laid my head against her shoulder. Concerns of vengeance and survival gone, I was suddenly very tired, more tired than I had ever been in my life.
“She’s really gone, isn’t she?”
“Yes, Jake. She is.” said Samantha wrapping me up in her warm, loving embrace.
Suddenly, right there in back seat of a Chevy Camaro, all wrapped up in my girlfriend’s arms, I cried.
That is the understatement of understatements.
I bawled like a baby.
Samantha held me tightly the whole time.