by Kim Jewell
Liz, his registered nurse, was an asset to his clinic. Not only was she an excellent right hand, but she also had extensive background in counseling, so wore many hats for him as he talked these patients through the adoption process. And she stayed out of his business, at least where it counted. Privacy was his utmost concern.
“Good,” he said, flipping through the most recent notes in the chart. “I need to make one quick phone call and I’ll be right in. Go ahead and get her weight and measurements, please.”
“Yes sir,” she said and, knowing it was her cue to leave, turned and closed the office door.
He reached into his briefcase and grabbed his cell phone, dialed a number. “Hi, Sara. It’s me.”
Through the earpiece a female voice could clearly be heard on the other end, which was exactly why he hated these phones. He valued his privacy and never wanted anyone to overhear his conversations. He knew they were a necessary evil, though. “Hi, Carl! I’m glad you called. It’s been a couple days, why haven’t I heard from you?”
“I’ve been busy, out of town on business. You know I can’t talk about it. But I’m back now, and want to see you.” He needed to work off some frustration, and seeing Sara was just the way to get his mind off things. “Are you free tonight?”
“Sure! Do you want to go out?” she asked hopefully.
He never wanted to go out. Being seen in public was not a good idea, especially with Sara. He knew she sensed it, but stopped asking questions anymore. “No, why don’t I just pick up some dinner and bring it to your place. Chinese sound good?”
“Sure, Carl, whatever you want.” She sounded disappointed, but was always agreeable to him and his wishes. He knew she was holding out hope that one day they would have a life together, but he just didn’t see it happening.
After the disaster with Charlie, he had severed ties with everyone from his past life. Even Charlie didn’t know about the new identity he had created here, and the work he was completing at the clinic. But Charlie’s disloyalty taught him a valuable lesson about trusting people with secrets.
One by one, he got rid of any person with a connection to his past. Some were easy to simply “lose” in communications – new address, new phone number – you tend to lose track of people that way. Others proved to be more of a challenge, and had to be dealt with in a more severe manner.
But he kept no one from his past, with the exception of Sara. He had sort of a soft spot for her, even if the relationship was not going anywhere. She was kind to him at his lowest point, years ago during his time in prison, which counted for something. However, she knew nothing of his present, and he intended to keep it that way.
He hung up the phone, picked up the chart, and headed out to see his last patient of the day. Deciding to take the short cut through the front office to the exam room, he looked up and saw the acrylic stand of his business cards was turned over and spilled across the front counter.
Never wanting anything out of its place, he paused to gather the cards and right the display. “Hmm… That’s strange. Gail knows I don’t like clutter up here. I wonder who knocked these over.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Yep, Sam,” Clint said over his shoulder. “It looks like we can track his car now!”
Sam leaned over his shoulder to check out the computer screen. Sure enough, the car was in motion, headed north on the freeway. “Awesome. Our work today is paying off!”
“Did you say you saw him?” Leesha asked, appearing through the bathroom door. As soon as they got back, the group divided – the girls were in Lexi’s room, Sam and Clint went to his room to check the GPS.
“He’s right here,” Clint said, leaning back so she could see.
“Where do you think he’s going?”
Sam reached down to grab and unfold their map. “I’m not sure… But it looks like he could be headed –“
“He just stopped,” Clint said.
“Oh, darn. I hoped maybe he was going to the third location on our map, the one we thought might be a girlfriend’s house. That’s where it looked like he was headed.” Sam turned to Leesha. “What are you girls working on in there?”
“We’re trying to do some research on that loose end from the prison log – Sara Milligan.”
“Oh, good. I keep wondering about her. Have you found anything yet?”
“Here’s what I know so far… She’s a licensed nurse practitioner, and was working in the infirmary at the state penitentiary where Blevins was during his incarceration. I’m guessing that’s how they met. She left there shortly before he was released, which is why she showed up on the visitor’s log. I’m guessing they started a relationship, and when she quit working there, she had to officially log in to see him.”
Nice little dating service the prison was running there.
Sam chuckled and said, “Yeah, kind of like eHarmony, but more like eLockup match making?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Clint just said it was nice of the prison to offer a dating service.”
Leesha narrowed her eyes at both of them, then turned her temper on Clint. “Look. I know you’re a man of few words, but it’s getting on our nerves that you’re only communicating with Sam. You two have got to stop this! It’s driving all of us crazy, and Lexi’s beside herself being pissed off at both of you!”
“She’s mad at me?” Clint looked horrified.
“Of course she’s mad at you! I swear, men can be so thick. You don’t think we know what’s going on?”
Sam looked her straight in the eyes. “What exactly do you think is going on?”
Good question. Way to turn this around on her!
Sam smirked.
Leesha glared, knowing they were still doing it. “Let’s see if I can put this as clear as I can for you two imbeciles… Clint likes Lexi. Lexi likes Clint. Sam doesn’t like either one of you being sweet on the other. Jade thinks Clint is cute, so she gets him to sit next to her in the car today. Lexi gets ticked off. Sam and Clint fight about it in the car, making all of us twitchy! Sum it up pretty much?”
Damn. She’s good.
“Yeah, you nailed it,” Sam’s head hung. “Wait… Lexi likes Clint?”
“You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”
“I didn’t want to sit next to her in the car!” Clint protested. “Sam’s the one that let her come in the first place…”
“I didn’t want her to come! She talked me into it.”
“You must have wanted her to talk you into it. Wait… Jade thinks I’m cute? I thought she liked Sam.”
“I swear, it’s like talking to a couple of block heads,” Leesha said and turned around to head back to Lexi’s room, then turned back. “At least you two are fighting out loud.”
She stalked back to the other room and they heard her slam the bathroom door – the one connected to Lexi’s room. Then it opened back up again and she reappeared in the doorway once more.
“You didn’t want her to come with us today?”
Sam shook his head, no.
“But she talked you into it?”
“I guess…”
“And you didn’t want to sit next to her?”
“No! I was hoping to get in the back seat with Lexi.”
“But she talked you into it?”
“Well, yes.”
Leesha’s smile slowly grew on her face, wider and wider. “Well, there you go. Huh.” And she turned around and left again.
What just happened?
Sam looked at Clint and shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea.”
They listened for a long while, hoping to hear what was going on in the other room. With Sam’s super ears, the girls knew better than to even whisper. Though they were certainly curious, after the tongue lashing they had just gotten, neither one wanted to go over there to investigate.
“What are they doing? Can you tell what they’re talking about?”
“They’re not talking. Leesha’s scribb
ling notes onto a notebook.”
“Can you see it?”
“Not from here. It’s upside down and she must be writing super small so I can’t decipher it from here. Plus, her handwriting is horrible! Wait, here they come…”
All three girls filed in to Sam’s room with sneaky grins on their faces, looking like they had won the lottery.
Jade first turned to Sam. “Sam, I’m kind of hungry. Would you mind making me something to eat?”
“Uh, sure. What do you want?”
“Do you have any frozen pizzas?”
“I think so…”
“That’ll be great. Do you girls want any?”
“Sure!” They both said beaming.
“Oh, and Sam?”
“Yes?”
“Can you fix three Diet Cokes on ice for us, please?”
“Yeah. I’ll have it ready in a few,” he said and turned to head down to the kitchen.
The shock on Clint’s face was priceless. Since when does he cater to the women?
Jade then turned her attention on him. “Clint? Would you be a dear and take a look at my car?”
Knowing this was his specialty, he grinned. “Sure can. What’s wrong with it?”
“Well, it’s filthy inside. It really needs to be vacuumed, and while you’re at it, could you wash the outside too? Please?”
“I guess it wouldn’t be a problem. I’ll head down right now.”
Once he left the room, the girls bowled over in fits of laughter.
“You really think that’s it?” Jade turned to Leesha.
“It has to be!”
“Jade,” Lexi assured her. “I promise you on my life, Sam does not cook for anyone!”
“Let’s go down to check and see.” Leesha said, leading the pack of giggling girls.
Sure enough, Sam was in the kitchen, the oven was preheating. He had the pizza on the baking stone and three glasses of Diet Coke sitting at the counter. When they peered out the front window, Clint was stretching out the garden hose, preparing to wash Jade’s Range Rover.
“Oh, this is priceless!” Lexi squealed, giving the girls high fives.
“I sure wish you clued me in on this a couple of years ago,” Jade said to Leesha. “Think of all the work I could have had done for me!”
Sam swiveled around, looking puzzled. “What are you girls talking about? And what is Clint doing out there?”
Jade covered her mouth, laughing. “He’s washing my truck.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “He doesn’t have time to be washing your… Wait! We’ve all got work to do. Why do you have both of us doing your grunt work?!” He looked down at the pizza and drinks, feeling like he’d been suckered.
Leesha turned to Sam. “We figured out what Jade’s power is…”
“Hang on. Wait a minute,” Sam said. “Let me get Clint in here for this.”
A few seconds later, Clint came back in, his face clearly showing annoyance. “What?”
“We know Jade’s ability.”
“Yeah. Sam told me that much. So, what is it?”
“She’s got the power to influence the minds of others,” Leesha said, triumphantly. “I knew it had to be a brain power, as her flashes only affected her head.”
No wonder she’s been able to run us around like her stooges…
“So you don’t really need your car washed?”
“No, not really.”
“You tricked me into it?”
“Tricked?” Jade looked insulted at the accusation.
“For the sake of experimentation,” Leesha interjected, “I had Jade ask you to do something you most likely wouldn’t normally do, just to see if she could persuade you to do it.”
“Oh.”
“So you’re not even hungry?” Sam looked down at the counter, dumbstruck.
“Not particularly,” Jade said, picking up one of the glasses. “Especially for frozen pizza. Yuck! But thanks for the Coke!”
She flashed Sam a smile and his expression visibly softened. “Oh, you’re welcome.”
“You bought that?” Lexi leaned against the wall, laughing.
“What?” Then realizing Jade persuaded him to forgive her, his face hardened. “You did it again, didn’t you?”
“I guess so. I’m not really sure what I’m doing, exactly.”
“So you’ve never known you were changing someone’s mind?” Sam asked incredulously. “You’ve not done it on purpose?”
“No. I just figured I was persuasive. I really didn’t think much about it, honestly…”
Hmpf.
“So,” Lexi turned to Leesha, “we need to spend some time figuring out how she’s accessing her power and work on stretching it as far as possible, right?”
“Exactly what I was thinking Lexi.” Leesha smiled, then turned to Clint. “We haven’t spent much time with yours either, Clint. Are yours still with you?”
“Yep. For now, anyway.”
“Then let’s get to work. Lexi, you and Sam team up with Jade. I want you to do a log of everything Jade can think of where she has influenced people in the past. Sam, can you do a web search, see if you can reference any documentation relating to the influence of minds?”
“Sure!”
“Clint…” Leesha smiled wickedly.
“Yes?”
“You’re mine. Are you up for a game of tug of war?”
“Absolutely!”
Chapter Nineteen
“So, Sam, your school is close, right?”
“Yep. Just a few blocks away,” Sam answered Leesha. “Why?”
“I want to test Clint’s strength. Do you think we could use the weight room there?”
“Sure. They keep it open until seven. We can all go – Lex and I will work with Jade there. That way I can keep an eye out for visitors.”
“Good idea. Let’s go.” The five piled back in the truck to head down to Sam and Lexi’s high school.
Sam, Lexi and Jade sat down at a long table by the door and started spreading out notebooks, research documents and Sam’s laptop.
Leesha and Clint took the opposite end of the room, which was filled with an array of sports and exercise equipment.
“Okay Clint, we need to assess the limits of your strength, but I want to try and do it without destroying anything here! First thing’s first, do you lift weights?”
“Yes.”
“Lately?”
“Not in the past couple of months. We’ve been a little busy with other stuff.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“I’m not complaining.”
“Well, let’s get a baseline at least. How much are you able to bench press?”
“A hundred and seventy-five.”
Leesha started writing notes in her steno. “Okay. There you go,” she pointed to the free weight set along the wall. “Set it up.”
Clint made some minor changes to the weights on either side and sat down on the bench.
Crud. Lexi’s right across the room. This could be totally embarrassing! I haven’t done this in weeks.
He laid back and wrapped his long fingers around the etched silver bar. Here we go…
He expected to feel the familiar push against his chest and arm muscles, burning as they struggled to lift the mass into the air. Instead, the weights were surprisingly easy to push towards the ceiling.
Light as a feather! Holy cow. Why haven’t I tried this earlier?
He sat up and flashed Leesha a triumphant smile. “Easy!”
“Wanna try some more?”
“You bet!” Clint added a 25-pound weight to each end of the bar. He looked nervously up at Leesha. “You got me?”
“Yep. You couldn’t have a better spotter! I’m here if something goes wrong. Go ahead.”
He laid back down and secured his grip. Three deep breaths and he lifted the bar once more.
This is a cinch! Let’s try ten reps and see if it makes a difference…
Nope. No burn at all!
“A little. I could tell there was more weight there, but there really wasn’t much strain at all.”
“More?”
“I’m up for it. Can you?”
“Clint, I’ve lifted a car. I think I can handle a little barbell.”
“Show off.”
She laughed as he began to rearrange the weights again and logged his latest weight into the notebook.
This went on and on for almost an hour. He finally broke a sweat around 450 pounds, but he was easily able to finish three sets of ten.
At 575 pounds, his muscles were finally starting to burn like normal, but he wasn’t ready to quit yet. Leesha quietly stood over him each time he went to lift, each of them concentrating on their own task – Clint’s was simply lifting, Leesha’s was safety control, should something go wrong.
Finally after the last rep – 725 pounds – Leesha started to get concerned. “Clint, your face is really red, and the bar is bowing. I don’t want it to snap. I think we should take a break.”
“Okay. So what next?”
“Well, it’s obvious your strength has been largely amplified. I’d like to see if it affects other areas of your physical activity too.”
“Like what?”
“Well, for instance, can you run faster? Jump higher? I have to believe this change in your body is giving you more than just brute strength.”
Brute strength… I like the sound of that. Makes me sound tough.
He looked up at the ceiling. It was low, especially at his towering height. “You want me to try?”
“I’m not sure putting your head through a ceiling tile is the best idea. Let’s take a breather for now. We can always get into a gym and test your vertical and speed in an environment more suited for that type of activity.”
“But what if I lose them?”
“We’ve got time. Be patient. We’ll get it all figured out.”
“Well, okay,” he nodded reluctantly.
I want answers now!
“We’ve learned a lot about your strength today,” she said encouragingly. “We’ll find out more, I promise. But for now, let’s go see how the others are faring.”
The three were still huddled at their table, oblivious to anything else. Sam was pecking away at his laptop, Lexi questioning Jade and taking notes.
