by Dale Mayer
“See what you’re really up against.”
And he walked out.
*
Dean stood in the middle of the conference room he’d been in earlier. A team was at the hotel room and the video cameras were currently being checked. So far nothing had led them to finding Tia or the lab she was likely being held in. Stefan had brought his painting to the station, then had walked out.
So far Stefan’s painting was the best clue they had to go on. The first time he’d seen it, his stomach had fallen to his toes in fear. How the hell had Stefan managed to make a hand look so lifelike and be so easily identifiable? Then again it was the scars. And he’d spent a lot of time kissing those exact scars.
He couldn’t imagine the other images Stefan could paint and he didn’t want to. This was painful enough.
“Are you sure there’s nothing there to identify her location,” he’d asked Stefan before he left. “Surely a window scene, something that would say anything.”
“No,” had been his only answer.
“Here are the morgue pictures on the other kids who died.” Jones walked in and dropped the file on the table. “At least for the seven we could confirm.”
“And the others?” Dean asked.
“No reports or no pictures on the reports.”
And Dean had to be content with that. It sucked, but there it was.
He’d also called the department shrink. It wasn’t that the shrink would believe any of this, but he could have valuable insights to this case.
He strode over to the table and sat down, pulling the images toward him. Dead men, children really, looked back at him. He turned off his emotional reaction and sucked in his breath. He had to find something in these images. There was nothing here to help.
The first image was cold and clear. The boy’s throat had been cut. There was no mistaking cause of death there. Except the slash also bisected a half dozen other scars. More attempts on his life? Had the boy tried to commit suicide? He looked for the coroner’s reports but they weren’t here.
The captain walked in. “Well…” he roared. “Who’s got something for me?”
Dean shook his head and didn’t lift his gaze off the second photo. There was something about that one that got to him. For all the similarities to the first one, it was still…different. Of course, different boy. Different age. Different scars. But also similar scars. How the hell did anyone get cuts like that on the neck and not die?
The one boy had obviously died. This second image was another dead child but older, skinnier. A huge Adam’s apple. The picture was a profile and that big bob in his throat stood out strongly. And of course there were scars along the temple, weird ones almost like burn marks and there were similar ones at the hair line. This boy had gone through hell.
He lifted his gaze, trying to remember if he’d noticed similar scars on Tia. In a way yes, but also no. Hers were different. Tia’s had healed better. This kid had bumpy scars. Something akin to keloidal scarring. It made his injuries look worse.
His heart aching for what he’d gone through, Dean quickly went through the other images, looking for similarities and looking for differences.
There were some of both. Most had scars of some kind but no visible injury that caused deaths. The drugs likely were the cause. Also autopsies hadn’t been done in most cases. Well documented medical illness had explained some. Did they have a serial killer in the midst, a budding one? Trying out his thing? Learning a style? Checking out different techniques? Was such a thing possible? Was it one of the doctors? One of the staff? One of the patients? Lord knew he was rooting for it to be one of the patients. At least someone was trying to fight back.
Most likely the damn doctor had killed those kids with his damn experiments.
He tossed the pictures down. The captain grabbed them up.
And if it wasn’t the doctor, the problem with the killer being a patient was he was killing other patients.
Dean’s mind worried on the problem.
What kind of mind would do that?
The answer was easy. A broken one.
Shit.
Tia was in big trouble.
Chapter 39
Tia lay back down and worked on settling her senses. She should be able to go invisible here, but it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference if she couldn’t get free. She’d use up her energy at an alarming rate.
That she couldn’t have. She needed to conserve as much as she could.
There’d been no other visitors since Billy and Torrence, her guard. And Tia was still trying to figure out how that worked. In that image Billy had looked dead. Of course, she could have been faking it. Actually, she could have been close to death when the picture was taken, then recovered.
They’d all been there at one time or another.
How they could have believed Tia had received different treatment she had no idea. She’d met them all at one time or another, and they’d all been friendly, or as friendly as anyone could be in those circumstances. Had the doctor and staff pitted the patients against each other?
For what reason? To see them fight each other? She pondered the mental reasoning for such a thing. Or they might have used her as a prize or the prime being and pitted the others against each other to get them to try harder. Maybe they offered a better location, better treatment to the winners. What was the punishment for the losers? She hated to think about it.
There were distant noises in the background. Like shots fired. She froze. Guns?
Voices raised and shouts could be heard. She sat up. A rescue? Or was she once again going to be left behind. No one knew she was here. Damn.
She’d have to get out on her own again. She’d been so scared the last time…it had been hard to stay calm enough to function.
But this time was different.
Could she even get free?
And if so, how? She stared down at the handcuff. Except it wasn’t quite a handcuff. It was like a chain with a loop over it. She studied it carefully then tried to open it. But it wouldn’t budge. She tried to make her hand as small as possible so she could slip out of it, but that wasn’t happening either. It was old but maybe that’s why it was holding. The old stuff seemed stronger. She got off the bed and took a look at the way it was attached to the old metal bed frame. It appeared to be looped through a leg. So how did the legs come off? Several frustrating minutes later, and she realized that the damn frame was bolted together.
And she wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it.
She was stuck. Shit.
With no window and the door too far away for her to reach, she was limited to the length of the damn chain. Anger built. She’d sworn she’d never get back into this situation again and yet here she was.
She glared down at the chains. If only she could slide her hand through the damn thing. What was the point of being invisible if she wasn’t really invisible? Because of course she wasn’t invisible, she was just wrapped up in the same energy around her. She pretended to be invisible. She was more of a camouflage system.
Being a hundred percent invisible had been one of the things Wilhelm had tried to force her to achieve. Her thoughts turned inward remembering the pain, the beatings, the horrific punishments until he’d finally realized she couldn’t do that. He’d always believed she was holding back on him, and she had been. But now it was a different story.
What were her limits?
She stared at her arm, trying to decipher exactly what she did. She took on the energy of the material behind and around her. Cloaking or cloning the energy beside her so she blended in. Literally blended in. She could almost feel the bed beneath her. The single sheet beneath her. The material of her pants through her skin. As if they were one. Really one in heart and soul. But it wasn’t like she could become invisible. She’d always been as solid as could be. Even when she didn’t appear to be there. She was there. And if someone hit her, they would still feel her. That’s why she’d never really u
nderstood anything good about what she could do. It would be better if she could really disappear. Then she could blend with the walls. Become the walls and actually walk through the walls. But that was fiction.
Then she stopped. Was it? Stefan did some crazy ass stuff, and according to the rumors, his closest friends could do some wild things as well. Billy’s issue might be physical, a genetic deformity, but at least it was special. Unique. And maybe it was something she could change but chose not to. Maybe she’d never wanted to grow up. The doctor might not have understood the true nature of what she did, because after all, she really didn’t either, but it was surely something that she could change and adapt.
Hadn’t Stefan said something similar? Now that she’d opened up the pathways, there were going to be changes to her own skills. She’d grow in ways they wouldn’t be able to predict. Well this would be a good time for some accelerated growth.
She stood up and glared at the door. She’d love to walk right through the damn thing. She took a few steps forward, feeling empowered in a way she hadn’t felt before. She kept on walking. The damn chain would stop her soon but in the meantime this – whatever this was – made her feel good. Powerful.
She loved it.
At the door she peered through the small window but couldn’t see anything. She wished she could see through to the hallway. And instantly she was there. She was in the hallway.
The chain hadn’t stopped her. She flattened against the closest wall in shock. Her breath locked into her chest. What the hell just happened? She sensed the panic shaking her control and one thing she knew was that control was everything. Without it, nothing worked. With it, everything was possible. She didn’t understand how or why, but she knew it was true.
She managed a shallow breath, her gaze darting from one side to the other.
She was now out in the hallway with no one the wiser. And how that could be, she had no idea. Or had she left her body behind?
Needing to know, she glanced back into the window and peered at her bed. It was empty.
For some reason she wondered if she’d left her body and was walking around without it – as she had on Dr. Maddy’s Floor. Instead, it seemed like she was really here. In person.
Jesus.
Taking a deep breath she walked down the hall, not completely convinced that she’d escaped intact, but she was willing to take the gift and run with it. There were stairs up ahead. She ran over to them, hoping for a window.
She stretched out a hand to open the door and her hand went right through it.
Instantly she pulled back. And took several gasping breaths for air. Oh Jesus. Sweet Jesus. Had she just done what she’d done? How?
By willing it? Because she needed it? Had someone helped her? Had someone shown her the way? No, there was no one here. She almost laughed. Then wanted to cry. She was losing it. Afraid it wouldn’t happen the next time and afraid it would, she reached out a shaky hand again.
It went straight through.
Oh Lord.
Noises sounded around the corner, saying she wasn’t going to be alone for long. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and stepped forward. Hoping it was safe, she opened her eyes and gasped. She was partly inside and partly outside of the wall. She turned to look behind her. Her butt was sticking out of the wall. Inside her body stood tall and strong but as she leaned forward, her body stretched forward out of the wall. With her heart pounding, she stepped through to the other side.
Just as someone walked down the hall. She really wanted to see who it was and where they were going, but she had no idea if they could see her or not. And seeing her was one thing, but seeing her half in and half out of the wall – now that was something else again.
Crazy.
She waited until the voices moved past her then she took a big risk and stuck her head through the wall, feeling the different sensation as the solid wall changed in density as if the molecules shifted and made room for her. There was no force involved. No caring that she was in their space. No, it was as if all the energy around was ready and happy to share. She’d never seen or heard of anything like it.
Turning her head, she watched two men walk the hallway. Dressed in jeans and wearing dreadlocks, they actually didn’t look to be more than a couple of harmless guys. That they were here changed that impression completely. She couldn’t see their faces as they walked away from her, but it was easy to see that they walked easily, talking casually, not worried about her in the least.
Damn. She’d like them to be worried. In fact, she’d like them to be terrified. She was tired of everyone seeing her as a princess figure with no skills or abilities worth honing and no skills to defend herself. She’d learned a lot more than just cooking at Land’s Edge. In fact, two cooks had taken great interest in her self-defense education.
She hurried to the stairwell side of the hallway, then she raced down the next flight of stairs. And stopped. Was there a faster way? Could she? She closed her eyes and willed herself through the floor to the level below. Was that possible? She opened her eyes, watching as her body morphed into the bright glowing energy of the floor below, her body accepting the energy as some of her own. She slowly slid down. Slid into the floor and down to the one below.
Holy Christ. The prayer slid through her mind as she watched her feet land and her hands high above her head slid the last bit out. She was on the landing below. She’d missed a complete set of stairs. Not quickly, but it was…so cool. Who knew?
No one. That was the thing. No one knew what she could do. She’d spent all those years trying to deny Wilhelm any and all of her abilities and hadn’t even thought she had much in terms of those. She’d gone out of her way to make sure she didn’t develop more abilities just so he wouldn’t know. And now look at her. She was here with at least one more – hell, now this was way more than one. First she was invisible and second she could walk through walls.
Ha.
Take that Wilhelm. And just because she could, she dropped down to the floor below the same way. And the floor below that. She had no idea where the hell she was, but it had to be the main floor soon.
A door opened in front of her and two men raced toward her.
Shit. There was nowhere to hide. She closed her eyes, praying they couldn’t see her.
A gust of wind spun her around.
She opened her eyes to see the men had blasted through her, not even knowing she was there.
They’d walked right though and hadn’t known.
She laughed silently.
Damn this was good.
Now to get the hell out.
She walked through the main floor and tried to sort out where the closest exit would be. She knew her energy levels couldn’t keep this up. She felt energized right now but could sense the short-term nature of it.
She raced down the hallway, trying to look in the windows of the various rooms as she passed. But it was hard to see anything. She couldn’t hear much either.
Why was that?
As she wondered there was an odd click in her head. There was a rumble as if a big wall of wax was shifting inside and suddenly there was sound and lots of it. She winced as noise screamed through her mind. Bending over to catch her breath against the pain, she mentally turned the volume in her mind down to a reasonable level and let the noises filter in. The largest sound was her own heartbeat. Well that could tone down. It wasn’t like she needed to know she was alive. A few minutes ago she might have wondered, but not now.
Other sounds filtered in. Conversations.
“She’s gone.”
“Like hell.”
“She’s playing possum. Remember she always did that until someone went into the room. Then she snuck out. Make sure no one goes in there.”
“Too late.”
Shit.
Racing footsteps, screaming and more yelling. She shuddered. It was all too much to take in. With the tones muted again, it was easier to hear the other sounds going on around her. S
omething shuffled in the wall. Oh no. Spiders. She so didn’t want to hear spiders walking or mice snuffling through the space around her. And as much as she loved animals, there was something icky about spiders.
Another sound caught her attention.
It was a series of long clicks and dashes. She couldn’t make it out. Then it clicked. Someone was dialing a cell phone. She strained to hear who.
“They’ve lost her.”
A big mumble on the other side said there was someone on the other end of the phone but it wasn’t clear enough for her to make out who.
“Right.” More silence. “Will do.”
A louder click.
He’d closed off the phone. So someone was reporting on the others. Interesting and so typical. One playing off the other. Someone always looking to move up in life and preferably on someone else’s ladder.
She just wanted to get the hell out.
“Lock down the doors. She’s not getting out of here.”
Instantly there was a series of loud clicks and clangs. Shit, she’d waited too long. She raced forward to the large metal front doors, but they were slamming shut. She could make it…she could…and…they closed in front of her.
Unable to stop in time, she slammed into them…and came to a nose jarring stop.
She couldn’t pass.
Why couldn’t she pass through them?
Panicked, freedom so close, she tried to walk through the wall beside the door and realized that wasn’t going to work either. Shit. She raced back out to the hallway. There had to be an exterior wall here that wasn’t reinforced steel. Please she cried, let me out.
And with that she could sense her energy draining. Once it drained, she’d become visible.
Tears of panic and exhaustion slammed into her, draining her energy levels faster and faster.
She didn’t know where to go. What to do.
Dean, she screamed as loud as she could in her head, where are you?
*
Dean sat at the table, command central now as several laptops lined up on either side of him. Everyone was searching the home company’s land assets. If they’d owned the one lab, they were hoping they’d also owned the second. They needed addresses. Places to search for Tia. Phone calls weren’t being returned. And no one was at the office at this hour. The captain was trying to get someone from the company’s Board of Directors to talk to him. Someone else was working on getting a warrant. Dean had no idea how that was going.
