by P. S. Power
Not that anyone had noticed them missing yet.
"Clark, do the hub first, then we'll get them to us."
Hang on! Another trip is coming. Just hunker down there.
He didn't know what to do, in order to get the hub shut down, but apparently Clark did. After doing something for less than a minute, he called out again.
"I'll try for the others now. I'm not going as high this time; can you do a map that shows the ground around them?"
That was doable, since the terrain was very open. It meant that the couple only had to walk about an eighth of a mile to reach them after that. They jogged it, coming out of the dark like professionally dressed insane people. Angel had pumps on, and Beau was in a white shirt that was soaked with sweat. They were good looking people really. The man was fit seeming, but only like he was in great shape, not a bodybuilder.
The woman was softer, but only seemed a bit out of breath from her short jog.
Ben smiled.
"This way. Get in the van, please? We need to do some stuff still." They didn't hesitate, running to do it like they were being followed directly. No one was yet. Ben checked on it, and got in touch with Carlos before walking back. They'd have to go null before they hit the city, so it made sense.
We have them. We'll be back at the store in... Twenty-five minutes. Stand by for pickup.
Understood. Standing by. Hurry though. I haven't lost my new friends yet.
"We have them Ali, coming in now."
There was no reply, other than a sigh of relief.
As they pulled out, Ben turned around, having taken the front seat.
"Hi! I'm Ben. If you two could get down? In the very back. We need to pick someone up. He has a tail, and they have cameras, so we need this thing to look empty." He glanced at Carlos and grinned. "Also like we've been out here getting it on." He took his tie off, and shoved it in his left hand jacket pocket then undid two of the buttons on his shirt. Clark did a bit of the same kind of thing, mussing his hair a little with his hand. They were both damp enough with sweat to sell it that way.
Beau tried to speak, his voice a bit shy sounding.
"Um... I know that this is irregular. The thing with Angel, but..." There was no great explanation however. He loved her, and she was at least as fond of him, but that wasn't a great excuse to bring someone in like that. It was almost like the man had never seen a virt in his life.
"No problem. We just have to make sure that everything is checked first." There was a plan for dealing with the man. Ben just didn't know it. It hadn't been his part in the whole thing.
Carlos was drinking an ice tea and waiting for them outside the quickie mart, the ladies in the blue car nowhere to be seen. Hopefully that meant that the man had lost them, and not just beaten them up to die in an alley.
He climbed in carefully, using the front side door, meaning that Ben had to move back.
"Have fun? You know, you could have just used the bed. I'm sure Lissa wouldn't mind." He smirked, and glanced back, not seeming concerned that he didn't see the other people.
Ben grinned.
"Not without Mags coming after me with sex toys. She's an interesting woman that way." It might not be true, but she talked a good game, which was interesting. Now that she wasn't that insane at least.
Carlos leaned toward the front, and spoke, his voice deep and smooth.
"Auto, destination number five." Then he touched his ear. "Ali? Incoming. Ready the transfer."
If she said anything it wasn't to Ben, who settled back, hoping that the federal government wasn't about to hit them with a tank, armored troops or a small nuke. He wasn't ready for any of them. Not yet. That tension wasn't going to just go away either. Not until they were back home and safe. Possibly not even then.
Though, technically, he hadn't done anything wrong. Not legally. Even Clark hadn't. It wasn't illegal to use your telekinetic abilities to take out the central hub, after all. That would be nearly impossible to prove in a court of law, so he couldn't be blamed. Not officially. No, if that were going to happen, the government would simply kill them all.
Eventually that would probably be what would happen.
It wasn't a prescient thought, but it felt right. That was the most likely outcome for anyone going up against them, after all. As they approached the city, the van making several new turns, Clark finally reached over and touched his arm, causing the pressure that had been building up to shut off.
Then they stopped in a parking lot, angling the vehicle so that they pulled up next to a cargo truck. It seemed to be designed to carry bread, but when the side door opened, the back of the other vehicle did as well. A man, who looked older, but like he could bench press small planets, hopped out lightly, and all but tossed the two in the back inside, locking them both in. With a load of plastic covered crusty goodness.
They didn't speak, and the van left first.
That was it then. His part, their part, was finished. Not that he'd done all that much.
Then without saying much at all, they got the van to take them back to the spa. They were on vacation after all.
Chapter twenty-one
The three days of relaxing and staying in the same room with the others constantly was harder than it should have been. Everyone was nice, and got along, but Ben kept feeling like they were about to be arrested at any moment. The others all seemed fine however. Happy even.
So he did what they decided, and swam in the hot water, got massages and even had his nails done once, because Mags thought it would be funny. Those were just buffed out, and his cuticles were taken care of. Those were, according to everyone, a mess.
Then, on the fifth day, they got to go back to the compound. The idea had been that if they were guilty, they would have vanished along with Beau and Angel. Where they were now, Ben didn't know. Hopefully still alive. Probably being hidden, outside the country, or being given new identities. Some kind of spy type of thing.
When the van pulled into place, Ben got a bit of a shock. Glenda and Kyle were out front to greet them, but so was Micha. She was in an unpowered wheeled chair, which apparently Glenda was helping to push.
From what she'd said, he should have been out from under her thrall by then anyway. No one else acted surprised to see her there. The weird thing though was that she smiled. It was a little sad seeming.
"Hey, everyone. Things went well?"
Ben let himself nod, and tried to act normal.
"Not bad. Spas are actually sort of boring, to be honest. There was a blackout on the second day too, which meant getting massages by candle light." It really did, since something about taking the hub down had effected the electricity for a few hours. About twelve. That was almost certainly a management issue, rather than sharing direct lines.
Ben nearly blurted out that Micha was a government spy, but Glenda just stared at him, from behind the girl. Her eyes locking with his own. It was telling. Hopefully it meant that they had a plan in regards to the girl, rather than her having enslaved them all chemically.
Thankfully she was still not up to walking, since that should keep the beatings to a minimum for a while. He really needed to find out what was going on, however.
Micha smiled, and looked at him, holding out her arms for a hug.
"I missed you. All of you, but Ben especially. Not even just for your power. Mainly that, but it really wasn't the only thing."
It took work to move to her. Ben did it however, because he had to. There was no choice, until he learned the plan. To Micha it was clear that was all about making certain he was still her slave, since he was left with his chest burning. Fighting off whatever it was she did. It wasn't as strong as the first time, but that could mean a lot of different things. She'd claimed that it would take sex for it to work, before. That she didn't want to do that with him was probably a good indicator that what had just happened wasn't really strong enough to hold even a normal person for long.
Kyle nodded at them, his face givin
g away almost nothing. Not indicating he even knew what was happening at all. Micha held his hand, her own callused fingers a bit damp.
"Wall... Something happened to him. He died. No one can tell why. Do you have any ideas? He was... Well, a friend of mine, I guess."
Ben didn't have to fake being surprised. It made sense now, that the AI would have had to do something drastic to hurt the girl like that, but he really hadn't worked it all out.
Glenda made a sad face herself, her square jaw trembling a little.
"Wall, and Clyde. He... Killed himself. At almost the same time. There was no note." Everyone acted appropriate to that news. It was sad, after all. Regardless of anything else.
Waving to him, a bit, Glenda left Micha in her chair, and started to walk away. It was kind of clear that he was supposed to follow along. She stopped about seventy feet away, and touched his arm.
"You get the idea? We need you to keep acting like Micha is in control of you. We have a plan in the works, but it could take a while. In the mean time you need to start your real training. Good job by the way. I heard the reports. It sounds like you all did a great job." Her face was still sad, and tense, as she watched him. Probably wondering what he'd do.
That was to nod.
"I get the idea. This... It's dangerous. One wrong step and she's going to know that I'm not under her power. I don't know, I guess I figured she'd be gone when we got back. Taken care of, or just having run off to try and report us." He really had thought that. Then, he'd hadn't even considered that Wall would be gone. They hadn't known each other well, but when things had gone down, the system had simply done what was needed.
Even though it had meant his own death to make the plan work.
Ben couldn't do any less. Not after that much had been invested.
"So, we meet in the morning, after meditations?"
Glenda smiled, and gave him a nod.
"Right. Green seven. We don't have a lot of time to get you up to speed. See you then." The woman, not looking back, walked away then, her body a lot more tense than he'd seen it before.
Probably because things had just gotten very dangerous. For him, and everyone else.
Because they were trying to trick a real spy, and the person that had to do it was just him.
Heading back, he tried to smile, since that would be what he'd normally do, he thought. He didn't feel like it at all.
No, what he felt like doing was running. Only that wasn't an option any longer.
Now there was only doing what he had to. Holding to the discipline and hope that it was enough to get them all through the night.
It had to be enough.
Since it was all he had left to try.
