Nancy, lost for words, saw images of her own astral travel adventures spin through her mind. The documentary she had seen and discussed with Bill entered her consciousness again; she recalled a section where a psychic was looking at photos of a government installation in Russia. The commentator claimed they could project their mind to travel to the installation and write down descriptions of what they found. Mary must have seen her puzzled expression and in an attempt to put her at ease, she placed a hand on Nancy’s shoulder.
‘Now do you think we could help? Of course, it would mean you staying here. We’d need to give you an MRI scan on site and a full medical before testing your abilities.’
Beads of sweat formed on Nancy’s brow at the mention of an MRI scan. She began to think Bill had been right and she had stumbled onto a secret government project involving mind control experiments. She shuddered at thoughts of how far they could have advanced since the cold war days.
‘Err, I need time to think. How about I sleep on it tonight and phone you tomorrow?’
Mary’s persona changed at Nancy’s reply. Her feet shuffled and she looked agitated with furrowed brow and her lips tightened.
‘Maybe if we go back to the interview room we can talk about it over a coffee,’ Mary said.
‘Sure, a coffee would be fine. But tell me; are all your interns so young?’
‘No, but we usually only consider children. Experience has taught us that to develop gifts, we need to interject early in their development. In your case however, I have spoken to the project manager and he’s agreed for you to have preliminary tests.’
Nancy guessed the project manager must have been watching her through the two-way mirror when she first arrived. So far, they had only seen a tenth of the building area. With her sense of curiosity aroused, she asked the question.
‘What happens in the rest of the building?’
‘Top secret, I’m afraid. But no doubt, if you join us on the project, you’ll understand why.’
A glib smile curled Mary’s lips. Nancy felt manipulated in order to appeal to her inquisitive nature. She wondered if now would be the time to start asking relevant questions about the professor, before they returned to the interview room. They stepped out of the room and a woman pushing a food cart hurtled by and over to one of two doors in the circular area. Mary called out to her.
‘Bring two coffees and some cake to the interview room when you’ve finished there.’
Nancy noticed the woman tap in a code to the lock mechanism on the door. The woman spun a wheel fixed to the centre of door and after a loud clunk; it opened to a hissing sound, revealing a door at least a foot thick.
The woman called out. ‘Will do. Give me fifteen minutes.’
A figure came into view through the open door. The shape of his head made him unmistakable. It was the janitor’s son, David. She turned to glance at Mary who glared at her as the realization passed between them of what Nancy had witnessed. Nancy turned to look at the door as it closed with a suction sound. By the time she turned around, Mary was talking with Blondie, who sent Nancy a stare. His partner hurried away down the corridor. Blondie and Mary returned to Nancy. Her manner was abrupt.
‘Follow me,’ Mary said.
This was not the time to be asking questions and Nancy complied in silence. Blondie walked close behind her as they made their way to the interview room at reception. The hairs on her neck bristled as she considered her options. Somehow, walking out of the front door didn’t seem to be one of them.
Chapter 76
Mary stopped short of the interview room and signalled for Nancy to continue with Blondie. She watched him tap in a code to the lock and open the door. He reached out his fingers and touched her waist at her back to usher her through the door. Her skin crawled at his touch and he whispered close to her ear.
‘You’re going to be around here for some time, so get used to it, lady. It’s gonna be payback time for taking out my tyre.’
The lightness of his touch turned to a shove and launched her into the room. The door snapped shut behind her as she stumbled; only staying upright by grasping the chair, but not before banging her head on the edge of the desk.
Nancy sat and rubbed at the pain on the side of her head. Although dazed, she remained alert to her situation. His words could mean only one thing. Her seeing David had moved events forward and they did not intend to let her leave. Even worse, by his own admission, he was party to the ambush and the attempt on her life. With her life at risk and the decision made, she slipped her hand into her pocket. Pressing the GPS locator was a no-brainer, but just how Dad and the boys would get to her, defied reason.
All she could do now was to try to buy time and hope that Uncle Dave and Jim had devised a plan from their observation point on how to gain access without creating World War 3. Better still, she hoped her dad would have the sense to involve his contact at the FBI.
The lock buzzed and the door opened. Blondie and his sidekick entered, followed by Mary and a tall smartly dressed man.
‘Detective Roberts, good of you to visit us,’ said the man.
Nancy studied him without reply. As he walked by, the distinct fragrance of his deodorant followed him as he made his way to the desk and he pushed the desk to the wall. He sat on the edge of the desk, flanked by Mary and Blondie. Blondie folded his arms across his midriff with one hand inside his jacket. Nancy sensed his partner must have been covering her from behind. The man sent a smile at her.
Obviously, a man concerned with his appearance, he was wearing a tweed coat over a starched white shirt and wearing a tie. His pants were pressed with a crease that looked as though it could slice through butter and he was wearing highly polished shoes that any army recruit would have been proud of at inspection. Nancy guessed he was in his sixties. Tall and slim, with white hair parted to one side, he cut a dashing figure with an aura surrounding him that screamed an authoritative figure.
‘And you are?’
‘I’m the project manager here, Scott Blake. Now tell me, what really brings you here? It can’t be official business, seeing as how you’re suspended.’
It didn’t surprise her that he knew her circumstances. There was no point lying. All the connections to the remains found at the apartment, the other deaths and the answer to her own troubles was sitting in front of her. It was the motives for the events that were lacking. This wasn’t some street felon punk that she could twist her words to get a confession, as much as she wanted the truth of events. She searched inwardly for a reason for them to not want to put an end to her life.
Nancy sucked in a lungful of air and feigned a cough, bending over, placing her hands on her chest and activating Dad’s pen spy camera. She hoped that her coughing had masked the click.
‘Could I have a glass of water, please?’
Blake nodded at Mary and she left the room. The respite left her more time to think. Mary returned and handed her a glass of water. Nancy stared at the glass and then looked at the mirror, before setting her eyes on Blake. She decided to go for all or nothing and to push all the chips onto the table.
‘Sorry, listen, I wasn’t quite truthful with Mary. I am having experiences of astral travel; that much is true. However, what I didn’t tell her was I could break glass as if I’m able to project some kind of magnetic force that scrambles the molecules of the glass. The problem is, I can’t do it at will.’
Blake and Mary exchanged glances.
‘She does have a strong aura,’ Mary said.
‘We already know you have the ability of astral travel,’ Blake said.
‘How?’
‘David and his brother enlightened us from information gleaned at debriefs. Unfortunately, David’s been going AWOL of late on his travels in more ways than one.’
‘His brother? So you have them both on the program?’
‘Yes, ever since their dad signed them over to us.’
Nancy, stunned by his openness, felt palpitations at the idea
that his frank admission led to her cementing the notion that she would not be leaving voluntarily. Her mind worked overtime and started to place pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of events into place.
Nancy dug deep and continued
‘I wouldn’t want to insult your intelligence by saying I didn’t have an interest in how or why the professor died; or, why you would consider me a threat to the extent that you would want to have me framed. Also, and even worse, it escapes me, why the ape next to you would want to have me killed. But just what did Kelly do that you saw your way to have him killed?’
Blake shuffled his backside on the desk and crossed his legs.
‘Yes, that is all unfortunate. And now we are all in a predicament, but maybe there is a way forward, if you’ll cooperate. The way I see it there are two ways out of this mess.’
He’d stopped short of an outright confession, but the inference was there that they were involved in Kelly’s death. Blondie drew his arm from his jacket and raised his sleeve to mouth.
‘Hold them at the second barrier and I’ll get back to you.’ He stepped forward to Blake and whispered, but not low enough that she couldn’t hear what he was saying. ‘Logan and a couple of his detectives are here at the barrier to see you.’
‘Escort them to room fifteen and I’ll see them shortly.’
Blondie relayed Blake’s instruction to security and then left the room with his partner in tow. Blake turned to Nancy. His facial expression gave nothing away as to how he felt about the arrival of Logan.
‘Sorry for the distraction. Now where were we? Ah yes, the way forward.’
As much as she wanted to know what plans he had for her, she already guessed that one of them was for her to finish six foot under. Logan arriving had her head in a spin. If the two other detectives were Bill and Kyle, then she felt sick that they were all in the conspiracy together.
‘What do you have in mind for me?’ Nancy asked.
Chapter 77
A strong headache from banging her head on the corner of the desk, made it difficult for Nancy to think straight. Despite this, everything was falling into place regarding events, except for motive. Blake tapped his fingers on his knees in his first display of nerves. Nancy sensed an opportunity to appeal to his inner-self before he had time to answer her question as to what he had in mind for her. Besides, she had already worked out the answer.
‘Mr. Blake, you and I know I’m not leaving here. Thanks to you and your cohorts, I no longer have a future with LAPD. I have no family to worry about, so I may as well go with the program. So why don’t you tell me why I’m considered a threat to you and the program?’
A knock on the door interrupted proceedings. Mary opened the door.
‘Coffee and cakes?’ Mary asked.
‘I really don’t want anything,’ Nancy replied.
Blake jumped off the desk, walked over to the door, and spoke to the woman with the cart.
‘Go to room fifteen and see if our visitors want coffee,’ Blake said and turned to Mary. ‘Go to my office and work out a schedule for Miss Roberts to start her tests tomorrow.’
Mary closed the door behind her and Blake turned to face her, taking a sip of coffee from a plastic cup. Nancy pulled over the other chair and beckoned Blake to sit facing her. She hoped the psychology of him sitting at her level would be lost on him.
‘Listen to me. I can tell you’re a good man and you want to do what’s right. I’m not asking you to confess anything, but trust me; you’ll feel better just to talk about what’s happened. It’s not as if I’m going to have the opportunity to tell anyone. Besides, I need closure in order to concentrate on what you have planned for me.’
He bowed his head and looked at the floor. He shuffled in his chair and threw his head up to look at the ceiling.
‘You said you wouldn’t insult my intelligence. I know what you’re doing.’
‘Trust me, I’m not insulting your intelligence, but you and I know that you can’t move forward with guilt nagging away at your mind.’
He interlocked his fingers and rubbed his palms together. His head swayed and his eyes closed as if trying to fight an inner turmoil. Finally, his vocal chords opened up like a release valve letting off steam.
‘Look, it was all a mistake that got out of hand. You have to understand we’re doing secret government work here and well… well, we do things differently to protect the secrecy and integrity of our country. I’ve put all my life to this project, to the exclusion of all else. Not that I started it, but we, as a nation, can’t afford for the project to stop.’ He stood from his chair with such force, the chair fell over and he paced around the room. His tone turned venomous as he spat out the words, displaying a temper that took her by surprise. ‘All you and that damned CSI woman had to do, was to accept the damn death as a freak accident the way Mary explained, but no, you had to keep digging and you both had to be stopped.’
‘So you framed me by using the Piru Street Gang and arranged the fire at the CSI lab.’
‘Yes, yes, but it was taken out of my hands by security. I left them to the detail.’
‘You mean your two CIA agents who just left the room?’
‘Yes, I didn’t expect them to kill the young man, or Kelly.’
‘Why Kelly?’
‘Because David escaped the program with the help of someone from the facility, that’s why. We were losing our control of him and his dad tried to keep him from returning despite all the money we’d paid him over the years.’
‘And the fire at the cabin, I take it that was your doing?’
‘Security persuaded me to give it to David’s brother as a mission. Not a successful one as it turned out.’
‘Mission?’
He stood in front of her and gripped her by the shoulders. His eyes were glazed over, as if he were on drugs. He spat out his next words through gritted teeth.
‘Don’t act dumb. You know from your travels that he can create plasma energy.’
He released his grip. Any lingering doubts about her ability of astral travel were dispelled by the veracity of his words.
‘What about the attempt on my life with the car chase?’
‘Security decided. You just wouldn’t let things lie.’
Nancy could see the full picture of what started the events, if her hunch was right, the victim at the apartment was murdered and the fire was merely to get rid of the body of evidence. The reasoning for all the events was now clear. She just needed to face Blake with two last questions to get to the motive for the fire and death at the apartment and to discover who was responsible.
‘I…’
Blake signalled her to wait and took out his cell phone. He read a text message and closed the phone.
‘I’ll be back.’
‘Please, just one last question.’
‘Later.’
The door closed, leaving the room in silence, except for the pounding in her chest. His temper had alarmed her. From first sight, he had looked like any Jane Doe’s friendly grandfather. However, behind the facade, lay a dark side she wouldn’t want to cross. She had seen that type of anger displayed before by her dad, but this was different. Her dad always maintained a level of control without his eyes glazing over. Although her dad demanded obedience, she never imagined he would lose sanity, unlike Blake. Nancy took hold of his empty coffee cup, wrapped it in her clean handkerchief, and squashed it into her pocket.
Nancy moved the chairs to the wall and sat on the floor assuming the Lotus position. She faced the two-way mirror and closed her eyes. She took steady breaths in a search for the serenity of mind she sought, not certain if what she hoped to achieve would work.
With a headache and the questions surrounding the professor’s death, she tried to empty her mind.
Chapter 78
Frustration surged through Nancy’s mind. Emotions vied for her attention as she sought peace of mind and a clear focus for the task she had set. With slow deliberate breaths and a still
ness of body, the agony of picturing traumatic events that led to her becoming a captive slowly dissipated. Calmness descended at hearing the voice of her mother telling her she was looking out for her, and gave her peace of mind that she had a guardian Angel at her shoulder.
Through a misty haze, her inner mind envisioned a blurred outline of the Google satellite picture of the Astral’s facility.
Gradually, the vision focused, as if she had pressed zoom on her computer and she hurtled towards the roof of the ACI building. She felt no sense of forces acting on her body, but tumbled from the heavens like a skydiver without a parachute. There was no time for fear, just an instance of shock as she lost consciousness to streaks of white light flashing by in her vision.
She came to a halt, hovering, as if caught between the two magnetic poles. There was no sense of self, only the vision before her of her body still in the Lotus position, sitting in the centre of the interview room. Bewilderment changed to a sense of purpose as she recalled the nature of her task. A glimpse at the mirror and she could see an outline of her translucent body as if formed into a silicone-like substance, hovering in the room. The entire form had contours similar to gradients depicting hills on a map. They seemed to emanate from the position of the heart as if her body where held together by a magnetic field.
She reached out to touch the door handle, only for her hand to slip through the door. The rest of her body followed and she was floating along the corridor. Stopping at the sign ‘Room I5,’ the woman with the coffee cart walked straight through her, pausing briefly and shrugged her shoulders as if sensing a cold blast of air, before the woman carried on walking toward where Nancy had seen David.
Nancy slipped into the room. Logan, Bill and Kyle faced Blondie and Blake. They were all laughing as if they were long-lost friends, except for Kyle, who sipped at his coffee. He looked as though he had not slept. Nancy hoped he would choke on his drink. There wasn’t time to wait to find out what they were discussing, nor did she have the inclination to be in the same room as her former colleagues, whom she now considered traitors.
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