Page 6

T revor and Reeni were in the back seat of one of Bullard’s vehicles, driving through town. Damon was at the wheel, with one of Bullard’s men in the passenger seat. Trevor smiled at Reeni and asked, “Are you okay? Have you recovered from expending all that energy?”

“Sure, just trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do with my life. I can’t go around knocking on people’s doors, telling them they’ve got a problem, then spending days trying to explain it to them,” she shared, with a groan. “It’s a complete waste of my time and energy.”

“It absolutely is,” he agreed. “So, the trick at this point is to figure out what you need to do in order to get the validity that you need.”

“And this is where you steer this conversation back to Terk, right?”

“Maybe. I can’t speak for what Terk would necessarily want.”

“Because he wouldn’t know what to do with me, right?” she asked, with a sigh.

In the front seat, Damon just laughed. “Don’t be so quick to judge him. Terk knows what to do with an awful lot of things that some of us have never even thought of. Unthinkable definitely describes this case and Reeni’s gifts. So, just because Terk’s never seen your talents before in anyone else, that doesn’t mean he can’t acknowledge that they exist or that they have value.”

“Do you think he would take anything at face value though?” she asked. “Just think about the things that I’m asking people to accept.”

“Terk has seen a lot in this world,” Damon stated. “We all have, and those who have seen less are the ones we left behind.”

“Except this one we brought along,” she snorted, with a side look at Ryland, one of the men nominated by Bullard to accompany them.

“I can’t say I’ve seen anything like what you guys are talking about,” Ryland admitted. “It’s pretty far out there, but I’ve always known something more was there. So I guess I’m a little more open to it than a lot of them.”

At that, Damon looked at him. “Any personal experience?”

“Not so much personal experience, just a knowledge, a knowing that something more is going on around us. I’ve always had very strong instincts, and I think most of us who work in this field would say that as well. We have solid instincts just because you need to. Otherwise shit happens.”

“Exactly,” Damon agreed. “Shit does happen, and it happens a little too often in our world. So, anytime we can do something to give us a home-field advantage, it’s definitely something we’ll try for.”

“Got it, and believe me that I am with you 100 percent. I’m just not sure what to do to make it workable though. Some of this stuff that you’re talking about is pretty far out there.”

She smiled and nodded. “It’s out there, but, once you’ve been touched by it, there’s really no going back.”

Ryland nodded. “I can see that. I’m not sure it’s as clear-cut as you might want to think it is, but I get it,” he shared. “I definitely see, feel things at various times. Even back there, I could sense the energy in the room just jump.”

“Okay, good.” She smiled. “The more sensitive to energy that you are, the easier it is to get the people around you on board.”

“And yet I’m not sure that I’m 100 percent on board myself.”

“Nobody’s 100 percent,” she declared, “especially me. Every time I approach someone, I feel like a complete weirdo. Yet, if I don’t tell people, then I’m in trouble because I haven’t followed through.” She shook her head, as if to ward off an unpleasant feeling. “I pay for it.”

“In what way?” Damon asked her curiously.

“I can get quite sick to my stomach. I see visions I don’t like and more. I feel this impending doom, and, if I don’t try to help, something bad will happen. I could do without that in my life quite happily,” she muttered. “No way can I deal with this on an ongoing basis. So, if I don’t approach people, that impending doom takes over, and it sucks.… It sucks big-time.”

Not a whole lot the men could say to that.

When she suddenly felt a surge of energy around them, she called out, “Stop.”

Damon pulled over and looked at her. “We’re very close to the address but not quite close enough to walk yet.”

“No, you’re plenty close enough,” she whispered, closing her eyes. “Can you feel it?”

“No,… I can’t. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to feel.”

She frowned and shifted in her seat. “We’re coming up against something very strong,” she whispered. “As in very , very strong, and I don’t like it. It’s wrong. It’s… if you go in that building, there’s a chance you won’t come out.”

All the men frowned at her.

She shrugged. “Wires and electrical energy is surging, looking for synapses to blow.”

The men stiffened around her. “Jesus,” Trevor muttered. “You know that’s guaranteed to freak out everybody, right?”

She looked at him sadly. “I know. I know that, and I’m sorry. It’s not what I would choose to tell people, but unfortunately something is definitely wrong out there.” Her tone rose, almost in a panic. “It feels very much like the word I want is blow . I don’t know if that means it’s connected to a bomb or connected to something else, but something is very wrong with that building. No one should go in there, not at all. In fact, we should stay as far away as possible.”

“But we can’t tell anybody in that building to evacuate based on a feeling ,” Ryland blurted out.

She nodded at him. “I get that. I do, but that’s what I’m getting. And that feeling is strong.… Something will blow.”

“ Great ,” Ryland muttered.

They sat in the vehicle for a long moment, until Trevor broke the silence. “Look, you guys. I have a pretty decent radar for something like that,” he began, turning to her. “Let me go take a closer look.”

She immediately shook her head. “No, you can’t do that.”

“We have to do something,” he replied, staring at her. “You can’t tell us exactly what we’re looking at. We won’t get any help from the authorities if we can’t get at least something for them to go on. So I’ll just go take a quick look.”

She glared at him, and he smiled. “Remember that we all have jobs to do. I can do this one.”

“What if you’re in there, and that whole thing goes up?”

“What if forty-five families are in that building, and it blows?”

She sucked in her breath. “Jesus.” Pinching her eyes closed, she whispered, “Fine, but I may not be able to help you if you go in there.”

“Do you think you can help if he doesn’t?” Damon asked. “Because if you can do something from this distance, we need to know what that is.”

She frowned. “I’m not sure I can do anything—except disrupt energy. That’s what I do. I’m a disrupter. So, whatever is going on in there, maybe I can disengage it somehow or at least slow it down.”

“Then do it,” Damon ordered instantly. “Whatever it is, try your best to just disconnect it, and we’ll deal with the fallout afterward.”

“The fallout?” she repeated, with a harsh laugh. “It could be a permanent fallout.”

“But, as Trevor already pointed out, it could be a permanent fallout for a bunch of innocent people who don’t deserve any of this,” Damon noted.

She sucked in her breath, then nodded. “Fine, but I’m just warning you that it might not turn out the way we want it to.”

“What do you need?” Trevor asked.

She hesitated. “Some energy would be nice.”

He held out his hand. She placed hers in it and asked, “Damon?”

“Go for it. Take what you need from me.”

She looked at Ryland in the front seat. “So, if this gets a little weird…”

“Don’t worry about me. I can do weird. I don’t want to see anybody get hurt, and I really don’t want to see a building blow up in front of us or go into one that’s about to.” He was clearly unnerved by it but holding his ground. “I’m not at all sure what you’ve got going on, but go for it.” With that, he settled back.

“I might have to grab some of your energy too, Ryland,” she added hesitantly.

“Don’t know what that means either, but, hey, you do you.”

She snorted at that and quickly shifted her focus, following the energy. She definitely felt it, could tell something was off about it, but it was here. She just didn’t know how it was anchored here. As she closed her eyes, her energy raced up above their vehicle, higher and higher. She felt a stronger and stronger connection, until she came out at the other end and opened her eyes to see herself floating outside an apartment building. She frowned and muttered, “I’m outside the building. Trevor, can you see this?”

He just nodded.

“Can you see inside?” Damon asked her.

“Yes, all kinds of electrical wires are everywhere. I see the skeleton of the building, with all the electronics and wires. One area… is full of wires and canisters.”

“Can you send a picture?” Trevor asked.

She snorted. “Do what?”

“Send a picture,” he repeated. “Just send me a picture, an image of what you’re looking at. See it and just snap it. We’re one with the energy, so you can share that, and I should get it.”

Not exactly sure what that meant or how she was supposed to handle it, she did as he asked and sent him a picture of what she saw. A sharp white blip filled the vehicle itself.

Ryland jumped a bit in the front passenger seat. “Okay, this is getting very weird.”

“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” Damon noted, as he looked over at Trevor. “What’s the deal with the picture? How can she do that?”

“That would be more about me. I have a photographic memory,” he replied. “I’m hoping I can get an image off her energy as to what she’s looking at. I would normally go look myself, but she’s using my energy. With my energy mixed in with hers, and all of yours too, maybe we can get a sense of what is really there. I’m downloading the photo right now.”

Damon stared at him in shock but had no time to process what he’d just heard by the time Trevor confirmed his receipt. “Got it.”

She didn’t dare ask him about what they’d just done or she would lose focus.

“Okay, Reeni, get back here,” Trevor said. “Now we need to call the authorities and get that building evacuated. I’m not sure what kind of bomb it is, but definitely a bomb is in there.”

“The problem is, if we evacuate the building, we’ll risk triggering this guy,” Damon shared, “and that’s not cool either.”

“It might not be cool, but at least that way people will survive,” Trevor replied. “If we don’t do anything, and that thing goes off, it’ll be a one-way trip for everybody in there—and possibly for blocks all around. Now, I’m not sure it’s prepped to blow. I’m not sure it’s even a fully functioning bomb, but I don’t think we have a choice.” He looked around at all of them and added, “We need the authorities out here now.” He pulled out his phone and dialed the equivalent of the police in Africa.

*

Back at Bullard’s compound, Reeni sat down with a hard thump at the long formal dining room table. A group of people waited, some looking at her curiously, as if wanting an explanation, but she was not prepared to give them anything. She looked over at Damon and shrugged. “This is your deal.”

He snorted. “No, this is your deal.”

“Not really,” she argued. “I’m just the idiot who walked into this place with a warning.” She shook her head. “I have to wonder where my brain was at.”

“Clearly it was right on your shoulders and doing the correct thing,” Leia stated, sitting down at her side. “And, no matter how they may feel, we all appreciate it.”

Reeni looked over at her and nodded. “I don’t think the city appreciates it right now.”

“Did you really have to evacuate the entire apartment complex?” asked one of the women across the table.

“I didn’t,” Reeni clarified, “but the police did, and even they weren’t very happy with the request.”

“How do they feel now though?”

“Angry, upset, looking at me suspiciously. That’s what happens when you’re the bearer of bad news. Everybody looks at you to see if they can pin it all on you somehow,” Reeni shared, trying hard to keep the bitterness out of her tone, but it wasn’t easy. She did feel as if the cops were looking at her with suspicion, and it definitely felt as if they were trying to pin it all on her, even now.

“That’s all right,” Leia assured Reeni, with a determined but soft tone, so as not to wake the sleeping child in her arms. “Bullard will handle it.”

Reeni smiled at her. “It’s nice to have such faith in your partner.”

Leia nodded. “I do have faith in him, absolute faith ,” she declared. “If he can do anything to fix it, he will.”

“There shouldn’t be anything to fix,” Eton stated, among all the other people at this dining room table, everyone studying Reeni’s face. “You put out a bomb warning. Surely that’s worth something.”

“What it’s worth,” she clarified, facing him, “is a second look, at least according to the police.”

“Right, but they won’t find anything, so that is an issue,” Trevor added. “The police need evidence to keep them off our backs, and we don’t have anything physical to give them. It’s the age-old problem that nobody wants to listen to psychics. Nobody wants to see or to deal with energy and things that they can’t process with their five senses. Thus, that puts us energy workers in the position of not being able to explain what’s going on because we’re faced with that doubt all the time.”

“That has to be hard,” Leia muttered, with a nod. “It’s one thing to be doubted some of the time but to know that, the minute you have to bring in the authorities, you’ll always face that backlash? It makes you wonder about even going forward in the first place.”

“Which is the problem,” Reeni agreed. “I don’t look like somebody who would have any credible information for people in charge,” she noted, with a headshake, her huge halo of orange curls wafting around her head. “I really don’t feel that I should have to cut my hair, or color it, or anything else to make me more acceptable to them,” she shared, “any more than I feel I should change my sex just to satisfy the world’s requirements either.”

At that, some of the women laughed, and others nodded with a knowing look.

Leia agreed. “It’s frustrating, isn’t it? No matter how good you are at what you do, you’re still judged because of the body that you’re in. We understand that.”

Reeni smiled. “The only reason you understand is because you have some experience with Terk and his team, and that experience is incredibly valuable.”

“He helped us to find Bullard, after he went missing,” said somebody off to Reeni’s side.

So many people were at the table now that she’d lost track of them long ago. When Trevor walked over and sat down beside her, she felt an immediate sense of grounding, and it calmed her frazzled nerves. She sighed as she looked over at him. “You don’t have to rescue me all the time, you know?”

He smiled, picked up her fingers, and laced them with his. “How about just some of the time?”

“Yeah, some of the time works,” she muttered. She noted the looks everybody else gave them. Curiosity was bubbling from all corners. She shrugged. “No, we’re not in a relationship. We did know each other beforehand though,” she added, with a yawn. “There really isn’t any explanation that I can give outside of the fact that we do the same work. He sees what it does to me sometimes. I should be happy he understands,” she shared, with a smile at him. “God knows my family has no faith in me.”

“Sometimes families are the worst,” Leia said in understanding, “and can even be toxic. Sometimes they’re the best thing ever. Sometimes it happens to be whatever you choose to make it.” She held out the infant she carried to Reeni.

“Maybe,” Reeni murmured, holding the baby gingerly, looking down at the little cherub, and whispered, “Now this baby is precious.”

“Yes, indeed,” Leia agreed. “Children help ground you. They help remind you of the reason why you’re doing what you’re doing. When they’re not yours, it’s harder to find a way to connect,” she noted, “but, when they are, you’ll do anything you can to keep them alive.”

“Oh, it’s not about not wanting to help out,” Reeni clarified. “It’s just so frustrating when the police are now investigating me.” She turned and glared at Trevor. “Yet not him.”

Trevor pointed out, “Terk has an awful lot more pull.”

“So again, because you are part of Terk’s team, you get a free pass?” she asked.

“Even if I’m not part of Terk’s team,” he stated. “In this case, I’m working with Terk, and that’ll have the same desired result.”

“Of course”—she sighed—“whereas I am a nobody.”

He smiled. “Oh, you’re definitely somebody, but you’re an unknown. That’s just how it is for now, but no need to stress about it.”

She nodded glumly. “Fine, whatever. I haven’t done anything in my sorry life. I’ll just have a cup of coffee, and then I’ll head out.”

“Head out where?” Dave asked in concern.

She smiled at him. “I’m fine.”

“Maybe you’re fine,” he conceded, “but you’re doing all this to help us, and it’s not as if you’ve been overwhelmed with hospitality.”

She stared at him. “It’s not as if I’ve been treated badly,” she corrected. “I understand that I’m an outsider, and that’s just the way it is.” Looking around, she sighed. “After all, who wants a stranger like me, walking in your door, telling you all kinds of crazy people out there are after you? It’s not as if you guys wanted to hear that today.”

“If it’s true, we absolutely do want to hear that.” Dave’s tone was clear, and the others chimed in their agreement.

“Sure, but when I told you—”

“But now we know that you’re not a fraud. You’re not here to blackmail anybody or for personal gain. We’re still trying to figure out why you would even come here and put yourself through that in the first place.”

She stared at him and sighed. “See? That’s what I mean. People are always looking for that ulterior motive. Why would you even help? What’s in it for you? Whereas there isn’t anything in it for me.”

“And that’s why people struggle,” Damon said, looking at her. “It’s not about you. However, the world out there is so full of people focused on taking and stealing that nobody can understand someone who is focused on giving.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, but it did help to relieve some of her depression. As she looked down at her fingers linked with Trevor’s, she realized that helped her depression too. She finished her coffee, while the conversation wrapped up around her, and then she took her hand back and stood up. “I’ll head back to my hotel. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, maybe.”

Without giving anybody a chance to argue, she made her escape to the front door. When she got there, Bullard walked in. He glared at her, and she glared right back. “Where are you going?” he asked in that booming voice of his.

“I’m going back to my hotel to get some rest,” she said. “Damon and Trevor know how to contact me, if you need to.” And, with that, she headed out to her car. She needed to escape, to destress alone. The day’s events were catching up to her, and her gut instincts said, Run!

“Wait,” Bullard called out.

She lifted a hand. “No thanks, not really into it. I need to take a load off, so I’ll talk to you later, maybe.” And she got into her vehicle and started to drive away. She only got as far as the gate, and it wouldn’t open. She got out, looked at the gate, then back at the compound. Bullard walked toward her. Angry, tired, and frustrated, she bellowed, “Open the damn gate.”

“And if I don’t?” he asked.

“I’ll open it myself,” she snapped. “I won’t be anybody’s prisoner.”

“What? Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he called out. “You’re not a prisoner.”

“But, as I’ve gathered, I’m not that welcome either,” she noted. “Believe me that I’ve gotten that message loud and clear,… a couple times already. I’m tired. I’m fed up. I want some peace and quiet, and I want to be alone.”

“Peace and quiet, yes, alone, no,” Bullard stated. “Not as long as this craziness is going on out there, you can’t be alone. You can have some peace and quiet here tonight.”

She looked at him in surprise. “Who was it who told you about the crazies?” she asked, her temper spiking. “Me. I told you. Yet it’s not as if it mattered then.”

“You’re right, and I owe you an apology. I didn’t take you seriously, and I should have, but again I didn’t know if you had any valid information, not until I checked in with Terk would I know that. You can’t get angry at people for taking time to confirm the information when you’re completely unknown to me. We live in a world of betrayal, with murderers and terrorist groups,” he explained. “So having you walk in wasn’t something I was expecting or was prepared for.”

“I understand that,” she said, staring at him, “but I need to go get some rest.”

His gaze narrowed, and he shook his head. “You’re already exhausted and about to collapse.”

“I would have gotten out of here just fine up until a few minutes ago,” she pointed out, “but now you’re trying to stop me, and that’s starting to piss me right off.”

“Just out of curiosity, what will you do if I don’t open that gate?”

Maybe it was the snark in his tone, but more likely it was the challenge in his words that did it.

Furious, she turned and reached out a hand, aimed at the electronic gates. Immediately a series of snaps and crackles sounded, as if lightning had hit the gate, and it popped open. She glared at him and nodded. “That.” She drove out, leaving him standing there, completely astonished.

*