now that he was out of prison, but he was sure that was what Frank Brubaker wanted. The best plan would be to send Alice, like he had done when she had met Jessica in the shopping centre. It had worked well, so he’d have to come up with something similar that would keep the Homeland agents guessing where he was. Joe couldn’t wrap up his strategy until he paid another visit to Gerald Lomas. Meanwhile, he would pop over and visit Agent Burrows, despite his promise to her that he wouldn’t get into her mind again. He wanted to see if she had any new information on Frank Brubaker’s pursuit of the Magic Man.
I’m going to have a busy night tonight, Joe mused. I might have to skip my visit to Steve and Jean. He smiled at how gifted he had become, and that he was still improving. All in one night, he would be visiting the minds of Lomas in Los Angeles and Alice in Lancaster, both not far from him in Ventura. And, although he had entered Burrows’ mind in Lancaster when she was with Alice, he was now visiting her across the country in Quantico, Virginia. The distances he could travel kept getting further and further.
It was ironic, but Joe felt he had the FBI to thank for his gift. Looking back, he speculated his gift came on him when Dr. Morris had hypnotized him for the FBI to find out who Alex Kokorin was. It had started at the beach party when he had teased his Russian friend, Alex Kokorin. A few of the partygoers didn’t know Alex, so Joe told them that Alex was with the Russian Mafia and he was selling American guns to Afghanistan. Alex had played along with Joe, performing the part well, even including a fine Russian accent. The partygoers had believed them—probably because they were as intoxicated as Joe and Alex. That was the last Joe remembered about the party.
The next thing he knew, he woke up in a stupor in a hospital, and two cops were asking him questions about gunrunning. There had been a doctor in the room, as well, telling the cops that they were going too far, the young man needed rest. The next three days had been a blur to Joe. It was during that time Dr. Morris had hypnotized Joe for the FBI, to try to find out the truth about Alex and his alleged gunrunning.
The medical records showed that while Joe was under hypnosis, they had lost him briefly because of the reaction he had taken to the sedatives and painkillers the hospital had administered to him. They were able to revive him, but before Dr. Morris could bring him out of hypnosis, Joe had fallen into a coma. When he came out of the coma, he discovered he could read Dr. Morris’ thoughts. Joe remembered waking up and seeing a uniformed cop sitting in his room. He had tried to speak to him, but was too weak. The cop had called the nurse and Dr. Morris. Dr. Morris had said to leave Joe be, or they’d lose him again. Joe could hear the doctor’s thoughts, though—he was cursing the cop for making him push Joe too far.
At the time, Joe couldn’t grasp what was happening. When he tried to ask where his wife was, the doctor had avoided the question by telling Joe he should rest; he could have visitors when he got stronger. But Joe had read his thoughts––the doctor was thinking that it was not a good time to tell him his wife was dead.
Joe could only put that series of events down to having had a cocktail of drugs at the party, and then the Feds making the doctor give him even more drugs to sedate him. By a freakish coincidence, when he woke, he seemed able to read minds.
Once Joe could speak and explain the prank he and Alex had played on the party goers, the Feds sought out Alex Kokorin and confirmed the story––Alex being a gunrunner for the Russian Mafia had been nothing more than a drunken joke. The Feds pulled Dr. Morris off Joe’s case, and he was left alone. Two months later, Joe realized that not only could he still get into Dr. Morris’ mind without him knowing, but he had managed to get into the mind of the day nurse who had looked after him.
Joe’s first experience at hypnotizing someone had been a nurse in the hospital. She would smile at the doctor when he gave her orders, and say, “Yes doctor, I’ll do it straight away.” But Joe would hear her thoughts in his head as she cursed the doctor to hell and back. He had entered her mind as she went about her daily routine, and asked her, through his thoughts, for a glass of water. She’d stopped making the bed opposite him and had come over to ask if he wanted more water.
That night, as he lay in bed, half asleep, thinking of what he could get the nurse to do for him tomorrow, he suddenly had a vision of her. She was looking in the mirror, taking her necklace off. Joe remembered how the reality of it had frightened him. He had opened his eyes and sat up in bed, thinking she was in his room, not sure if he had dropped off to sleep and dreamt it, or not. The vision disappeared. When he lay back down and thought about her again, he knew he was definitely in her mind, and she was in her bedroom, not his. Joe listened to her dreamy thoughts as she dropped off to sleep. For the next two months that Joe spent in the hospital, he often visited her thoughts, becoming markedly good at popping into her mind any time he wished. He began to visit other nurses’ minds, as well.
~
It was only after Joe was sentenced and sent to the California State Prison that he learned how to get into people’s dreams. He used his newfound gift to defend himself. The more he practiced his gift, the better it became. Joe could read the thoughts of all the inmates who wanted to screw him, or who wished him harm in other ways; he would get into their dreams and hypnotize them to think of him differently.
Joe was busy for months going from one inmate’s dreams to another’s, until he had them all thinking they were his friend. He did the same with the prison guards. This was how he had met Mrs. Saunders’ chauffeur, Carlos. Carlos was one of the prisoners in the same block as Joe, and Joe had gotten into his dreams and found out he had been framed for Mr. Saunders’ partner’s murder. On visiting day, Joe had gone into Carlos’ wife’s mind, telling her to pay Mrs. Saunders a visit. When she did, Joe had jumped into Mrs. Saunders’ mind and found out the truth. He made her go to the police and confess to killing her husband’s partner. All that carried out without him even leaving his cell.
Joe had helped justice be served for one of the other prisoners’ wives, as well. At first, he had entered the prisoner’s mind so he could pop into his wife’s mind on her next visit, and then take her on an erotic fantasy trip later that night. Instead, when he got into her mind, he found out some thug was blackmailing her into having sex with him. Joe had waited in the young woman’s mind until the thug visited her again. Then he went into the young man’s mind, hypnotized him, and made him apologize to the woman, and then go to the police and confess.
As fortune or fate decreed, this was also how Joe met Officer John Timberlake and found out his dirty little secret. Through him he had met Alice, just like he met and fantasized with most of the prison officers and their wives and daughters over the years. He had always erased the dreams from their minds, so as not to have anything come back on him. This time, though, Joe thought he’d punish John and he used John’s misuse of power as validation for playing with John’s mind. Joe made sure Officer John Timberlake remembered every detail of how he had gone willingly to the prisoners’ cell and allowed them to use him as a sex object—just like John had used an inmate all those years ago. Simultaneously, Joe fulfilled his own fantasies by making love to John’s charming wife, Alice, through her husband’s mind and body. When he finished, he erased her memory of the adventure he had taken her on. The sleepwalking and empty condom packets had just been part of Joe’s game.
Although there were three years between the two cases, and another four before the Timberlake’s, Joe had always feared the Feds would discover that all three men were linked to the prison where he was doing time. And they still might—Brubaker had already linked the Saunders’ case, and the blackmailing, to the Magic Man’s work.
Despite all he had learned about his gift during his seven years in prison, everything had changed when Alice started talking to him telepathically. When it first happened it had frightened Joe as much as he had frightened Alice. No one had ever spoken with such clarity to him in their dreams; and, no one had ever talked to him through
their mind while they were awake. His and Alice’s telepathy had allowed them to build a partnership with the FBI, and, to build a friendship. Alice was the first friend Joe had made in over seven years.
Before Joe’s release, he had tried to figure out what might be best for him to do when he got out. He could cut all communication with Alice and the Feds, and go into hiding and start a new life. Joe knew Agent Burrows wanted him on her team so he could hypnotize criminals and get information from them. That sounded fairly easy to do. He could carry on working with the FBI and hope they’d leave him in peace, which is what he wanted, but was it worth all the danger of getting caught? It would be a good way to start using his gift in a more positive way, but he also knew the only way to safeguard his safety would be to use Alice as a go-between. He still wanted his old job back, a place of his own, and perhaps a girlfriend. He wanted to live a normal life, but he knew, to do that, he’d have to keep his gift a secret from everyone.
When Joe first discovered he had this gift, he had wondered if it was a gift from God, or a whimsical endowment from Mother Nature. Now, he knew however he had come by it, he had to put it to good use. If that meant working with the FBI to solve crimes, then so be it.
But Joe also knew, despite his good intentions, he would keep up with his nightly adventures. There was no way he could give them up—he was addicted to voyeurism. What man would give up such adventures if they had Joe’s gift? Any man that could see how adorable Jean Thornton was wouldn’t be able to resist getting into Steve’s mind and body as they made love. Joe knew, as soon as he had time, he would take Jean on a fantasy trip she would remember for the rest of her life. He told himself that dream walking could be his work and his pleasure.
Chapter42
The next morning Joe popped into Alice’s mind as she was clearing up the breakfast dishes. “Ding-dong, has your husband gone?”
“Hi Joe, have you come up with a plan?” Alice had been
expecting him.
“More or less. I visited Gerald Lomas last night and I’m
sure it’s the same Rodriguez; if there are two of them, then
they’re both golf mad. I also visited Burrows to see if she knew if
Frank Brubaker was still on my ass, but she knows nothing about
his plans; we can trust her. Nevertheless, we have to proceed
under the assumption Brubaker is still after me and hoping to
trap me somehow.”
“That would be best,” Alice nodded. “We’ll have to play
it safe.”
“For sure. Do you think John could accompany you up to
San Francisco on the weekend?”
“I’m sure he will! He’s just waiting for us to ask him.”
Alice sat down, her excitement building.
“Great! First, I want you to call Mike and ask for more
details of where and when Rodriguez plays golf. Ask him if he
can find out what time he’s going to be at the golf course this
weekend; you can hint that we’re going to meet him.” “But you’ll be miles away,” Alice said knowingly, “and
the Feds will be looking for the invisible man at the Golf Club,”
she chuckled softly.
“Yeah, but only me and you will know that. I want them to
think I’m going to be there to work my magic. But they will know
you’ll be there, and will watch you closely, hoping to find me, so
keep an eye out for them.”
Alice nodded. “You want me to meet this guy, Rodriguez,
then?”
“I haven’t worked that out yet, so I’ll get back to you
before John comes home. That should give Mike time to find out
when Rodriguez is playing golf.”
“Okay, Joe.”
Two hours after Agent Mike Jones passed on to his boss
the Magic Man’s request for more details on Rodriguez’s golfing
weekend, Frank Brubaker learned about it. He also had the
dossier from Special Agent Rosemary Burrows about forming a
task force with the Magic Man working under her supervision. Frank Brubaker smirked as he called his assistant into his
office. “It looks like the Magic Man is going after a Ronald
Rodriguez for Narcotics. Let’s get a team to San Francisco and
catch us a Magic Man.”
“I’m on it.”
The assistant was on his way out when Frank added,
“And, make an appointment for Agent Rosemary Burrows to
come and see me—make it Friday at 2:00 p.m.”
~
Agent Burrows received a phone call asking her to be in Homeland’s head office Friday at 2 p.m. All her colleagues had the same thought—she was going to get the job of securing the Magic Man to work for them at Quantico. Burrows knew Joe wouldn’t come in, but she didn’t tell them that. She couldn’t hide her excitement as she made her travel arrangements.
~
Friday morning, Alice had had her breakfast and tidied up before she opened her mail. An envelope caught her eye, and she opened it to find a check for $200,000, made out to Joe Mann and Partner, for services rendered. Alice stared at it in disbelief for a few seconds before she screamed and ran into the living room and jumped on the sofa. She read it once more and screamed again. “That’s $100,000 each! Joe, where are you?” She shouted out, waving the check in the air. “This must be for helping with the rape case; they’ve paid us out early! Joe, where are you?”
Alice couldn’t do much all morning, other than hope Joe would contact her soon. She kept staring at the check with disbelief; she couldn’t have been more excited if she had won millions on the lottery. It was 11:50 a.m. when Joe finally called on her.
“Knock, knock.”
“Joe––look at what we got this morning!” Alice was too excited to say hi. She grabbed the check and held it out in front of her. “We’re rich!”
“Wow! It looks like we’re doing all right.” Joe was just as pleased as Alice. “Keep this up and you’ll be a millionaire before you’re 30.”
“I was just about to phone Burrows to tell her about it, and find out if it’s for the rape case, or for the information you got for Narcotics.”
“I would say the rape case, but go ahead and let’s hear what she says.”
~
Burrows was in a hotel getting ready for her interview with Frank Brubaker when Alice phoned. Excitedly, Alice told her about the check. Agent Burrows picked up on Alice’s mood and said that she assumed it was for the help in the rape case. She went on to tell Alice that she was going to meet Frank Brubaker, and, with a bit of luck, he’d put her in charge of getting the Magic Man to join her team. They’d be rolling in money in no time; Alice and Joe’s bonuses would be getting bigger, and Burrows hoped to have a raise in her salary, as well.
After she hung up the phone, Agent Burrows put all those thoughts aside and concentrated on what she was going to say to Frank Brubaker to convince him she was the one to lead the task force. She was five minutes early for the interview, and when she told Brubaker’s secretary who she was, the secretary said to go straight in––he was expecting her.
“Special Agent Burrows,” Frank stood from behind his desk and leaned over, offering his hand. “It’s good to finally meet you.”
As Burrows walked into the room, she noticed another man sitting in front of Brubaker, with his back to her. She smiled and went to shake Brubaker’s hand just as the other man stood up. “It’s nice to meet you, too, sir.” She shook Brubaker’s hand firmly.
“I believe you two know each other.” Brubaker motioned for her to sit down.
“Yes.” Rosemary Burrows’ heart sank when she saw who it was. “Special Agent Campbell, how are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you.” He didn’t bother to ask how she was.
“Okay, let’s get down to why I asked you both here today.” H
e tapped Agent Burrows’ dossier, which was on his desk in front of him. “I put your recommendation of having the Magic Man on a task force, and how it would help solve crimes and save time and money, directly to the Secretary of Defense.” He looked from Burrows to Campbell and saw them both raise an eyebrow. “Yes, and he’s had a meeting with the big boys in the Pentagon. Although some still see the Magic Man as potentially the biggest threat the U.S. has ever had, the facts are that he’s aided in the capture of four rapists. And, at the moment, he is helping the DEA to bust a drug ring. He’s given names and bank transactions that will keep our boys busy for months to come. So, the Pentagon is willing to let the Magic Man carry on as he is for now, but they want to keep him at a distance. Not one of you is to have contact with him. He could still be a threat to this country’s security.” Brubaker leaned forward and gave them both a stern look. “If he gets into either of your minds, I will expect you to resign your posts immediately––understand?”
They both nodded.
“Good. Now, I want Agent Campbell to lead this special task force; his team has already worked with Mrs. Timberlake at the university. Agent Burrows, I want you to join that team as their profiler. That will be your official job and you’ll have an increase in your wages.” He knew she would be disappointed, but hoped the increase in pay would help ease her pain. “I’m sure you’ll be the most successful profiler this country has had so far.” Frank saw the change on Burrows’ face as what he’d said sank in––her smile had faded to a frown. “The cases you’ll be working on will take you to just about all the police stations in the U.S., and there will be no more talk by any of your team members about the Magic Man to anyone––especially the media.” Frank smiled slightly. “Your team will take all the credit here; and, just to let you know, I’ve had to put the same pressure on Agent Jones’ team, who are working with the Magic Man in California. We are to forget the Magic Man. From now on, he’s officially known as Joe Mann.”
Get Out Of My Dreams (Joe the Magic Man Series Book 1) Page 28
