**
CJ and Hugo’s first assignment occurred a week after they started. They were in a black sedan with Christian and Dr. McFadden to recruit a man named Patrick Smith. He was a shape shifter and mind reader. Hugo was terrified. They pulled into the diner (were all of these meetings at diners?) in McMinnville, Oregon and they all got out; Hugo more reluctantly than the other three occupants. Logistically their involvement made sense. Hugo, CJ and the doctor were all new to the company; they shouldn’t have had time to form particularly negative opinions of Gideon Enterprises yet, regardless of validity, which should be safest if Patrick was going to be reading their minds during the meeting. And Christian was loyal. There was no doubt about that. They were a good selection to speak to a mind reader. The problem was Hugo. He did have preconceived notions about the company that were less than flattering, and he still couldn’t work out if he should encourage this new guy to join the company or not. What if Patrick was someone he could trust? The ability to read minds would be very helpful in figuring out what Mr. Gideon wanted.
The doctor stayed in the parking lot, she was just along in case someone was injured, so Hugo followed everyone else into the diner. Patrick was sitting alone, waiting for them; at least he’d had the forethought to sit at a table and not in a booth. Christian shook Patrick’s hand and sat directly across from him, Hugo and CJ filled the empty seats on either side. Christian introduced all of them and began his speech. CJ didn’t pay attention. Her eyes were wandering around the restaurant, catching on people and things, but never lingering. Hugo tried to think of music. Hard.
“So, what are we thinking about now?” Christian asked, an almost playful tone in his voice. No one had any firsthand experience of Mr. Smith’s abilities, so the small test had been added to the script.
Patrick grinned wide and stared at Christian, “Weeeelllll, you are concentrating on the number six thousand seven hundred and fifty two. CJ over there is wondering when we’re going to eat and if she’ll get pie. Hugo is, well, confusing. He’s all over the map, but his primary focus seems to be music.”
“Sweet! You’re right about me!” CJ exclaimed, for the first time actually engaged in what was going on.
“Me too,” Christian said, but his tone was a little flat. He probably didn’t like the idea of having his mind read either.
“I’m, all over the map?”
Patrick shrugged, “I can only read prominent thoughts, but for some reason you got more going on in there than I normally hear.”
Christian tossed him a side-long glance and Hugo sunk down in his chair. Great, he was too scatterbrained to be properly read. Patrick laughed. Hugo picked at his pants and tried to think about music even harder. Christian pulled the contract out of his coat pocket and laid it out in front of Patrick. Patrick gave it a cursory flip through, skimming it. But he wasn’t reading it, he really didn’t care. Instead he glanced up from the paper at Christian.
“Mmm, so do I get the same deal they did? Hugo thinks it’s pretty good.”
Christian smiled and nodded, “Same contract.”
“Great! Where do I sign?”
The Sound of Wind Page 15
