The phones also contained GPS and they were attempting to utilize that functionality to locate the pair. There was a chance that the GPS circuitry was still usable even if the phones themselves were unable to process voice and data communications. Unfortunately, the phones remained invisible. It was time. He needed to take action before something else happened.
Peter picked up the phone and dialed from memory. A familiar voice answered and he spoke without preamble. “We may have been compromised. I need to move immediately.”
“Should I be concerned?” the voice said.
Peter paused briefly. “I would be prepared sir. There are a number of unknown variables in this situation.”
“Understood. Proceed and keep me informed.” The line went dead. Peter dialed another number.
“Jackson.”
“Assemble the team Sergeant. We move in one hour.”
“Yes sir!”
Peter set the phone in the cradle and mumbled to himself. “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
~ ~ ~
Bodey glanced at Sven and Bob and then walked over to where Jake was sitting. Jake looked up expectantly and Bodey nodded. Jake stood and they both moved to the console area and spoke in low tones with Winslow and Maddy.
“I’ve got it,” Bodey said, a small grin on his face.
“Where?” Jake asked.
Bodey leaned over a keyboard and typed a few entries into the system. A satellite map came up on the screen and then it zoomed in to the north central part of the United States. It continued to zoom until a single house filled the screen with a view from above.
“A house?” Jake asked.
Bodey nodded.
“Are you sure? I would expect it to be like this facility.”
“I’m sure.”
“Who owns it?”
“Public records indicate it belongs to one Robert Smith.”
“Great,” Winslow said. “That could be anybody.”
“It’s probably the way they wanted it,” Bodey said. “These guys are good and they like their anonymity.”
“Any other information that might be helpful?” Jake asked.
“Nothing that would help us with our problem.”
“Problem?”
“Yeah. Keeping you from getting yourself killed.”
“Yes,” Maddy said. “Let’s talk about that.”
Jake and Maddy had been up half the night arguing about him not going on this crazy, suicidal venture into the Grand Tetons. Her words. He had been unable to convince her it was what he felt had to be done. And even though he was adamant he needed to go, she remained opposed. She had insisted on coming in this morning, probably to convince Bodey and Winslow to gang up on him.
He looked at them all and sighed. “I have to do this. I know you guys don’t understand, but I know it in my heart. It’s just something I feel. I can’t get it out of my head. It’s like a splinter in my mind; this little irritation that won’t let up. If I don’t go, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. I know it.”
“You can’t do this alone,” Bodey said.
“I won’t risk your life again, my friend. I can’t ask you to go.”
“You can’t stop me either.”
“Both of you need to listen to yourselves,” Maddy said. “This isn’t about who has the biggest balls.” Jake raised his eyebrows. Maddy usually wasn’t this vulgar. “This is about things bigger than either of you, and you getting yourselves in way above your heads.”
“There is something I need to do out there,” Jake said.
“What is it? What is this great task that you must risk your life over?”
“I don’t know.”
Maddy’s mouth fell open. “You don’t know? What the hell does that mean?” Maddy asked, exasperated.
Jake sighed. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
“Then why do you feel this great urge to go?”
“It’s like I said. I just have this feeling I’m supposed to be there. I expect to be shown the way, between now and then.”
“Jake, you sound like you’ve lost your mind. Are you really sure?”
He nodded slowly. “I am positive.”
“Then it’s decided,” Bodey said. “We’re both going.”
“No you’re not,” Jake said.
“I’m going,” Winslow chimed in.
“I can’t allow it,” Jake insisted.
“You can’t stop me,” she said.
“Me neither,” Bodey said and smiled. “Besides, you might need my expertise. How do you expect to get into this place? You know I have a background in burglary.”
Jake finally smiled at this, but grew serious again and turned to Winslow. “Why do you feel you must go? I can’t promise it won’t be dangerous.”
“I have this thing about threes. If things aren’t done in threes, they usually fail.”
“You sound as insane as my husband,” Maddy said.
“It’s all about statistics. Remember? That was my major. Statistically speaking, odds are much better if the activity is odd.” She smiled.
“You’re making that up,” Jake said.
Winslow shook her head.
“Then I’m going,” Maddy said, “and you’re staying here.”
Bodey, Winslow and Jake all spoke at once in protest and Winslow’s voice finally made the difference. “You can’t go,” she said. “You have the children to think about.”
This silenced Maddy and she slowly nodded. “I’ll worry about you the whole time.”
“I know. That’s why I’ll make sure I make it home,” Jake said.
“Promise.”
He crossed his heart. He hoped he could keep that promise.
Chapter 29
Benjamin stared at the woman in the chamber and turned to Bart. “She’s mine.”
“We’ll see, Benjamin,” Bart said. “We need some information from her first. Go sit over there and wait.” The man was like a child now. He even pouted when he didn’t get his way, just like he was doing now, shuffling over to the chair dejected.
Bart knew they had all changed but some of them had seemed to change for the worse. He wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to use Benjamin Tolaver and how he’d dispose of him when he was through. They were all immortal now as it was. He’d figure something out when the time came.
The woman was strapped into the chair and struggling a bit, but she seemed to be settling down. Elise and John Miller were in the chamber with her and he called for them to leave her in and seal the door. They joined him at the console.
“She’s a little feisty,” Elise said and looked at a broken fingernail.
“Yes,” Bart said. “I think she’ll give us more problems than the other one. He seemed ready to offer up the farm when he knew it was futile. That’s why I wanted to start with her. She’ll be more of a challenge.”
“You should just kill them both and be done with it,” John said. “We’re wasting time.”
“No, John.” Bart spoke to him like a child too. “We need some information first. You need to think beyond your urges my friend.”
“I’m not your friend.”
“Now, John, that hurt. Of course I’m your friend. Look what I’ve given you.”
John snorted, but said nothing. He looked like a coiled spring now. Any second he would lose control and unleash hell on whoever was around him. Bart was glad that he would ultimately survive whatever John Miller would dish out, and he was certain he would be serving up something to him and Elise as soon as he figured out some way to hurt them. Bart would have to worry about that at another time. He needed to concentrate on the girl right now.
“Martha Jennifer Sanderson. Can you hear me?”
She stopped struggling and looked into the camera above her eyes. “Yes—and I hate being called Martha.”
Bart chuckled and said, “Then what shall we call you?”
“Ginny.”
“All right Ginny, thi
s will all be very simple. We’re going to turn this machine on and you’ll tell us what we need to know.”
Fear sprung up in her eyes, but she said, “What if I won’t?”
“You won’t have any choice, my dear.” Bart activated the system and the screens lit up with a vision of what was in her mind. She was terrified and they could see it. Fear rippled along her visions like an oily snake and her imagination had gone wild with thoughts of what was going to happen to her in the machine. A vision of her body arched in the chair as electrical currents caused all her muscles to contract at once. Flash. John Miller approached her with a knife in his hand and a horrendous grin on his face. Flash. Bart injected her arm with an amber fluid and she screamed. Flash.
“She’s got an imagination, doesn’t she?” Elise said with a grin. “Maybe we should fulfill some of her fantasies.”
“All in good time, my love. All in good time.” Bart was amazed at how much the machine could show in just a matter of seconds. Everything they had seen passed on the monitors in the blink of an eye but they saw glimpses of each vision. “Ginny,” he said with sarcasm in his voice, “we’re not going to electrocute you, or John’s not going to stab you and we’re definitely not going to inject you with any drugs.” He watched her face wrinkle in puzzlement. “We just want to know what you know.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Who is coming for us and when?”
Flash. A vision of a man in a uniform filled the screen and then was gone.
“Who is he Ginny?”
“Who is who?”
“The man in the uniform.”
Her face showed shock and then she pushed it away. “I don’t know what man you’re talking about.”
“Come now, Ginny. It must be obvious to you what this machine does. Who is the man in the Uniform?”
Flash. The man appeared again and Bart could see the insignia of an Air Force General and the words Smith on his coat. He had steely blue eyes and carried himself with an air of arrogance and toughness. Typical military type.
“General Smith,” Bart said. “Is this your boss?”
“How are you people doing this?” Ginny said.
“Do you want the technical aspects of the equipment, or do you want the short story?” Bart said and Elise laughed. Miller actually grinned slightly. He seemed to be enjoying this.
“Short story.”
“This machine can read your mind.”
“Bullshit,” she said.
“You’ve just witnessed it for yourself. How else would we know you’re thinking of a general named Smith?”
“You pulled it from my records just like you found out who we are. I’m sure that would be possible with the right software. And you seem to be able to hack into anything.”
“You need proof? Okay, think of something only you would know and I’ll tell you what it is.”
A few brief scenes flashed past as she thought of something that would fool them and then a scene of her as a child with a man that must be her father. He knelt in front of her and handed her a book. “This was your great grandfather’s bible, Gin. I want you to have it.” Flash. A funeral where people mourned the loss of a loved one. Flash. A scene looking down on the face of her father as he lay in the casket. His skin looked plastic. Flash. Her throwing the bible across the room in a fit of anger and her sobbing into her pillow. Flash. A woman telling Ginny that her father fought bravely but the cancer was just too far advanced. Flash.
“Very touching, Ginny,” Bart said. “You must have loved your father very much. Do you still have the bible?” Bart chuckled and watched as the shock on her face gave way to tears.
“You’re a bastard,” Ginny whispered.
“Oh—I’m so much more than that. You have yet to see my bad side.”
“Somehow I don’t doubt that,” she said as she got herself back under control. “I don’t understand something though.”
“What my dear.”
“If you can read my mind, why do you even need to ask me questions? Surely this system is sophisticated enough to extract whatever you need.”
“It doesn’t quite work like that.”
“Then how does it work?”
“It reads the thoughts and memories using multiple technologies and the computer draws the visual representation.” Bart spoke with pride, as if he were the inventor.
“So, it can only read what I’m thinking?”
“Basically. Now, since you realize that it is futile to try and hide things from this device, let’s get down to business. When is the General coming and does he know where we are?”
Flash. A picture of the general appeared briefly and then was replaced with letters popping up onto the screens one by one.
“A B C D E F G,” Ginny sang. “H I J K L M N O P…” The alphabet raced by as she sang the familiar nursery school song set to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Bart was surprised. He underestimated this one. “Ginny.” She ignored him and continued to sing the alphabet. “Ginny. Oh Martha Jennifer Sanderson…Ginny!”
John stepped forward and said, “Well that was unpredictable. Now what?”
“Yes, this does seem to be a bit of a problem. I knew she would be a challenge but I didn’t expect her to do this.”
“Should I help her remember? You know…the old fashioned way. Torture and all that good stuff?”
“No. Not yet. Let’s bring him in and see if he’s a little more susceptible.”
John turned to go.
“Remember,” Bart said. “Don’t touch him with your bare hands. We don’t need him like us.” Bart turned to Benjamin. “Take her to your room and strap her in your bed. But do not harm her.” Benjamin jumped up and eagerly went to perform his assigned task. Bart wondered if she would survive despite his instructions.
~ ~ ~
Peter’s cell phone rang and he answered it quickly. “Smith.”
“General. Sven. We may have a problem.”
“Talk to me.”
“Townsend and his little group are up to something. We think they are planning a trip, but we have not been able to determine where. Were you expecting them to depart the city of Orange Park?”
“No. I was not. I need you to stay on top of this and keep track of them wherever they go. It’s vital we do not lose track of Townsend. We may need him very shortly.”
“Are we authorized to detain them if need be?”
Peter thought about this for a second. “No. I don’t want you to interrupt whatever they are up to. Just keep track of them and report to me. They may have figured something out and are reluctant to let us in on it. Townsend operates on his own sometimes and I know he has a history of keeping things to himself.”
“If they leave the state we may have a hard time tracking them.”
“I leave it in your hands to do whatever it takes to keep them in your sights. Do not lose them.”
“Yes sir.” And the line went dead.
“Now what?” Peter said to himself and then pushed it out of his head. He had other things to tend to at the moment.
~ ~ ~
Lucky was worried. He hadn’t heard a sound in the last thirty minutes and he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if anything happened to Ginny. He had been frantically attempting to loosen the bindings but was having little luck. He could breathe a little easier, and that was a good sign, but the straps still bore him to the bed.
The scream he heard coming from Ginny’s mouth as Scarface carried her off kept replaying over and over in his mind and the anger at being unable to stop them fueled the adrenalin in his body. He bucked and jerked and pulled and strained, but the straps continued to hold. A cut on his arm from the efforts was bleeding and he could feel it trickle down the inside of his forearm, but he didn’t care. He had to get out. With one last monumental effort he bent his knees, planted his feet on the mattress, pushed his whole body upward and outward, expanding his chest with a full breath of air and strained a
gainst the straps with everything he had. A loud pop caused him to stop and he looked down and saw the strap across his chest torn in two. He quickly wriggled upward and worked an arm out. His free arm found the other strap’s clasp underneath the cot and worked it loose. He sat up and undid the last strap. He was free.
Standing, he looked around the room and found the door. He started toward it and heard footsteps approaching. Quickly he jumped behind one of the shelves and crouched down, trying to remain hidden. He really only had one shot and he hoped he could surprise whoever was approaching and that they were alone. He heard no voices, so he prayed he’d get his chance.
The door opened, and he watched Scarface approach the cots. Just as the freak saw the empty bed and was turning to search the room, Lucky sprang from behind the shelf and delivered what he felt for sure would be a debilitating blow to the back of his neck with a metal pipe. The man barely flinched. This may have been a mistake.
The man Bart called John Miller roared in anger and lunged at Lucky with both hands. Lucky jumped to the side barely missing his grasp only to find himself directly in front of him in the next second. There was no way the man could move that fast, but apparently he possessed some super human speed that Lucky had never seen. John brought his fist into Lucky’s stomach and the air rushed from his lungs as the blow bent him over double. He dropped the pipe. Lucky thought he was going to pass out.
For some reason John stepped back and watched to see the effect the blow had on Lucky because he did not strike him again. Lucky took advantage of the break, knelt slowly as if he were collapsing, and then sprang up with all the force behind his legs, driving his knee into the man’s groin as he stepped toward Lucky to finish him. This time the blow caused some damage and he watched John’s face flush in pain as he fell to his knees. Quickly, Lucky grabbed a piece of metal from the shelf behind him and swung it at John’s head, driving for the outfield. The blow rocked John’s head back hard as blood sprayed across the wall behind him. His eyes rolled up into his head as he fell to the floor unconscious. Lucky stood over him with the piece of metal held high, ready to finish him, but the man was down for the count. He knelt next to him and watched his chest. He didn’t seem to be breathing. No time for remorse now, Lucky thought, I’ve got to find Ginny and get us out of here.
Near Sighted (A Jake Townsend Science Fiction, Action and Adventure, Thriller Series Book 2) Page 16
