Brain Storm (A Taylor Morrison Novel Book 1)

by Cat Gilbert

  “So what’s the plan?” Candice demanded to know, just as I took my first bite of pizza. She waited impatiently as I grabbed the cheese that was stringing back to my plate and pulled it loose, popping it in my mouth.

  “What makes you think I have a plan?” I asked, back on my way for a second bite.

  “Well, that would be Mac, the human barometer,” Bryan said, slapping Mac on the back hard enough to stagger him. “You may keep your emotions bottled up inside, but they slide right across his face like film on a screen. It’s pretty easy, now that we know what to look for.”

  I kept chewing, cocking a brow in Mac’s direction. Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected had no problem keeping his own emotions in check, but apparently, mine were an entirely different matter. Thinking of my reaction to being invaded with Brown’s emotions the other night, I couldn’t blame him, but it was good to know. Something we’d definitely need to work on in the future.

  “That’s right, Samantha.” I leaned over to look around Bryan, who was efficiently blocking Mama D from view. They’d set her up at the desk and she was happily munching away. “We knew when you woke up from the way Mac kept shaking his head.”

  “I have kind of a constant background buzz in my head when you’re awake,” he explained, twirling his finger around in a circle above his ear. “Takes a few minutes for me to get used to it.”

  I finished off the rest of my slice and started picking apart the second piece while I let that one rattle around in my head. If what he was saying was true, he was pretty much always aware of me. Bummer for him.

  “Is there a limit as to how far away you can pick me up?” I asked, pulling off a chunk of sausage and popping it in my mouth.

  “I don’t know. It didn’t used to work this way before you became active. Now that you are, we’ve been in pretty close proximity for the most part.” He flipped open a box and grabbed a handful of slices.

  “You feel it with anyone else? Any of these guys?” I bobbed my head in the general direction of the room, while playing with a mushroom that was hanging half off the crust.

  “No. Just with you.”

  “Hughes or Brown, maybe?”

  “Noo...”’ He drew it out, pausing in his eating to look at me.

  “Hmm. Interesting.” I decided to quit playing with the pizza and picked it up to finish it off.

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake! Quit it, you two. Sam, do you have a new plan or not?”

  The others had been watching the back and forth between me and Mac, bouncing their attention between us like they were watching a tennis match. Candice had reached the end of her limited amount of patience, which was practically non-existent in the first place.

  “No. The plan is still the same. The goal is to find Brown.” I dropped my plate onto the side table and dusted off my hands. “We just have to go about it differently now. Try and avoid Hughes, if at all possible.”

  “And just how do you propose to do that? Hughes is the only one who knows where Brown is.”

  “Wrong. There is one other person who might be able to tell us,” Bryan said. He got up to throw his plate in the garbage, and threw me a knowing smile over his shoulder. He was catching on fast.

  IT TOOK SOME doing, but we managed to convince Candice to stay behind with Mama D at the hotel. In the end, Bryan had had to promise to phone in on a regular basis and that we wouldn’t do anything without her.

  Now, with me ensconced in the back seat of the Mustang and Bryan outfitted with detailed maps of the area, we were headed back to the section of the highway where I had picked up on what I assumed to be Brown, hoping I could do it again. I was doing my best to try to relax, but I’d be lying if I said it was easy. I wanted to find Brown, but I didn’t want to go through what I’d felt the other night a second time. On the other hand, if this didn’t work, we’d have to resort to our last option and there was a really good reason it was our last option. Turning myself over to Hughes and hoping he’d take me to Brown had so many risks involved, I tried not to think about it.

  I flopped over onto the back seat, such as it was, and closed my eyes, not wanting our surroundings to influence me. Mac had told me to try to keep my mind clear and see if I felt anything.

  As I laid there listening to the sound of the road passing under the tires, I did feel something. Stupid. A lot like when I was sitting at my dining room table trying to move Grandma’s spoons. What a debacle that had been. Almost as bad as when Candice had shown up with her test kit that night. When she’d opened that bag and pulled out tha...

  “Stop!” I yelled, jerking up. Pain radiated through my head, blinding me, and I felt my stomach begin to pitch and roll. “Let me out! Let me out!”

  Mac slid to a stop and Bryan barely got the door open before I was past him, running to the shoulder, violently ill. Mac was there in an instant, supporting me and dragging me back to the car when I regained some control.

  He was talking, but I couldn’t hear him, the noise and pain in my head drowning out everything else. I grabbed my head and slid down the side of the car into the dirt, trying desperately to escape the pain.

  “Sam!” Mac grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. “Talk to him. Talk to him! Tell him to stop it. Tell him to back off!”

  I understood finally what he wanted me to do, but I couldn’t do it. Thoughts wouldn’t form. My head was about to explode, my vision growing dark at the edges, when suddenly it stopped.

  I collapsed against Mac, who was there, holding me tight. Bryan next to us, blocking us from the view of passing traffic.

  “We need to get her back in the car,” he said to Mac, keeping an eye on the passing traffic. “Sam, can you stand up?”

  I didn’t even bother to answer, concentrating instead on trying to gain my feet. Mac helped lift me up enough for me to collapse partway into the back of the car. Then he ran around to the driver’s side, flipping the seat up, to reach in and pull me the rest of the way over, as Bryan folded my legs in and then flung himself into the front seat, slamming the door.

  “Oh man,” he rasped out when Mac got back in behind the wheel. “I thought she was going to die. Was that him? Was that Brown?”

  Mac shrugged, visibly shaken and leaned over to look back at me. “You okay?”

  “No,” I said, relieved to find I could still form words. I laid there, crammed into the small back seat, trying to gather my wits and get my shakes under control. Bryan passed me a bottle of water. It was still cool and I held it to my face, hoping to get the nausea under control. After a few minutes, the dizziness and nausea passed, leaving me feeling weak and exhausted, but steady enough to sit up.

  Bryan rolled down the window and cool fresh air filled the interior, helping considerably to clear my head.

  “Was this what is was like the other night?” Bryan asked, looking at Mac.

  “Different.” Mac met my eyes in the rear view mirror as he answered. “This was pain. The other night was terror. Fear. But it was as strong.”

  “He’s dialed it back. Low buzz like a fly?” I asked Mac, who quietly nodded confirmation. “Okay then. Let’s take the next exit. And let’s go slow. I don’t want a repeat of that.”

  Mac did take the next exit and immediately pulled into a McDonald’s. He got in line while I washed up. I beat him back to the car and Bryan got out to help me back in. I was still a little shaky, but feeling better by the minute and able to think again.

  Before long, I was settled in the back, armed with a huge Diet Coke and a large bag of fries. Mac had gotten some for himself and Bryan as well and we sat there in car, silently munching away. I reminded myself that the incident had been nearly as traumatic for them, as it had been for me. We all needed to recoup a little.

  “You still getting him?” Mac asked finally, picking up that I was feeling well enough to be getting antsy.

  I nodded at him, making a funny face while I was at it. The sound of Brown in my head was weird to say the least, like having a fly trapped in your b
rain. I seriously didn’t know how Mac stood it all the time.

  He pulled out and drove around to an isolated spot, where he parked the car and turned off the key.

  “Try talking to him like you did to me in the bank. If he can’t talk back, maybe he can signal you somehow, but tell him to take it easy, not like last time.”

  “Yes, by all means tell him to keep it under control. I can’t take that again. Nearly gave me a heart attack,” Bryan added, winking at me.

  “Yeah, I’ll be sure to add that.” I felt like three kinds of an idiot, sitting there in the car, trying to communicate with Brown. Mac and Bryan were turned around watching me like a pair of hawks and I closed my eyes, shutting them out.

  Can you hear me?

  I put it out there and waited, getting nothing but the constant buzz sounding in my head. Frustrated, I opened my eyes, only to find Mac giving me a look.

  “Sam, we’re desperate here. You’re not even trying,” he snapped at me.

  Bryan looked at him for a second and then turned on me too.

  “He’s right. You’re just playing at this. This is the only chance we’ve got. If you don’t care enough to do this for yourself or us, think about Candice. You supposedly care about her, so start acting like it.”

  I stared at them in absolute disbelief. Did they think this was easy? I’d just been through hell and now here, questioning me? Anger rose up lightening fast, radiating through the car.

  “Do it now,” Mac ordered.

  Can you hear me? I snapped out the words in my mind, thinking of Brown, but glaring at Mac as I did it.

  The surge inside my head was immediate and I looked at Mac in shock as it died back to its former level.

  “You were right, Mac,” Bryan said, realizing instantly what had happened. “It’s linked to emotion for her.”

  I watched as Mac nodded agreement, watching me in the rear view mirror. He’d told me this thing was linked to emotion, but I’d thought he meant when it went haywire and I threw things around. My mind instantly skipped back over the past, searching for the common thread. I’d been frantic about the keys, wet and cold when I dropped them. Absolutely desperate for that coffee, I remembered, bringing a smile to my lips. Scared to death when the gun was pointed at Bryan. Terrified when we were attacked. No wonder the experiments hadn’t worked.

  I couldn’t just talk to Brown in my mind. I had to put some force, some intensity, behind it and push it out there. Excitement rose inside me, as things began to click inside my head. This was how it worked. If I could get a handle on it, if I could talk to Brown, we could find him and get him away from Hughes. The thought of Hughes instantly sobered me, fear replacing the growing excitement. What if Brown wasn’t the only one who heard me?

  I fixed my mind on mind on Mac - Can you hear me?

  “Say it again,” he ordered from the front seat and I all but screamed it in my head.

  “Yes. I can,” he assured me, feeling the fear running through me. Bryan looked at him in confusion, not understanding what was happening. “I think maybe you can direct it.”

  He had heard me and I’d gotten no response from Brown. In fact, the buzzing had quieted some, more like background noise now.

  “Is she talking to you? What do you mean you think she can direct it? Oh, that’s just great.” Bryan moaned, finally catching on. “You think Hughes can hear her?”

  “Only if she talks to him,” Mac answered. “And maybe not even then.

  “Well, don’t risk it! Don’t talk to him,” Bryan ordered. “In fact, ask Brown if Hughes is there now.”

  Yeah, good idea. But I needed to clear up a couple of other things first.

  Caleb? Getting nothing in response, I closed my eyes, remembering his photo and what he looked like. Focus on him, I told myself. Reach out and find him.

  Caleb! I heard a quick spike in the buzz and knew I had reached him. Caleb Brown? Another fast surge, like the blip on a radar screen.

  “It’s him. It’s Brown,” I told them. ”I can’t hear him talk to me, but there’s a surge from him, sort of like a ping when I ask him questions, Mac,did you pick up on any of that?” He shook his head and encouraged I went back to work.

  One ping, yes. Two means no. Got it? Ping. I smiled. Finally we were getting somewhere.

  Hughes bad? I got a single ping. Hughes there? Three pings. What was that supposed to mean? Would have been nice if he could talk to me. I just had to assume at this point what he was trying to tell me.

  “Okay, he says Hughes is our guy, but I don’t think he knows if Hughes is there or not.” I said, catching the guys up.

  “Does he know where they’re holding him?” asked Bryan.

  I checked. Brown had no idea where he was at.

  “Great. How are we supposed to find him?” Bryan asked, not expecting an answer. “Maybe we should drive around, scope things out. Obviously he’s in the area since this is where Sam picked him up before.”

  It seemed as good a plan as any. Mac pulled out from the parking lot and headed down the road in the direction of the airport, while Bryan called in to Candice to let her know everything was okay.

  It was thirty minutes later that the buzzing stopped. I had lost Brown. I had Mac turn around and within minutes, I had him back. At the next intersection, Mac took a right and within minutes, I lost Brown again. Having Mac go back the other way, I picked him up again a few minutes after we passed the intersection where we had turned right. Incredible as it seemed, a pattern was emerging.

  Hot or Cold? I asked. All I got in reply was a single ping.

  Twenty minutes later, we had it narrowed down to three buildings. Warehouses filled with cargo and services companies, close to the main terminals. As Mac drove slowly up and down the rows between them, Bryan pulled his gun out and laid it softly in his lap, ready for action in case we blundered into something. Five minutes more and we were there.

  “That’s it,” I told them. “He’s in there.” I pointed to an end unit on the third building of the complex. “That has to be it, but it looks deserted.”

  “They probably have the cars inside, behind the bay door,” Bryan said. “It’s a good set-up. They can come and go and not be seen out in the open.”

  “You’re sure this is it?” Mac asked, as we circled around the back of the building.

  I nodded. Brown had been so enthusiastic in his pinging, I’d had to tell him to back off several times, but he’d reached a new pitch each time we’d come close to the unit. The effort of communicating with him was taking its toll on me. My head was pounding and I was physically exhausted.

  “Tell him to sit tight. We’ll be back for him.” Bryan looked over at Mac. “She’s wiped and we need time to plan how to get him and what to do after we have him.”

  I could almost feel Brown’s disappointment when I told him we were leaving, but I was too tired to care. He was safe and we knew where he was. It would have to do for now. Unable to keep my eyes open any longer, I laid my head against the seat back and let sleep take me.

  I WOKE UP with blurry vision and a knifing pain behind my eyes. I stayed still until things came somewhat back into focus, hoping the pain would recede as well, but that wasn’t to be the case. Groggy, I sat up and swung my feet over the side of the bed.

  “Welcome back.” Squinting, I saw Candice sitting in the corner of the room, nearly hidden in the shadows.

  “What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes, willing the pain away without success.

  “Ten in the morning,” she replied, switching on a lamp, which actually caused me to tear up. “You’ve been out nearly 18 hours. Mac and Bryan had to carry you in.”

  Blinking, I let my brain try to process the fact that I’d lost nearly a day, but it wasn’t up to the task. I felt like I’d been drugged, and I was having a heck of a time not rolling back into bed and pulling the covers up over my head.

  “Take these.” She thrust a glass of water into my free hand, and shook a bottle of aspir
in at me. I eyed the bottle with it’s child proof cap in disbelief. I’d never be able to get that off. I held out my other hand instead, palm up, waiting.

  “Baby,” Candice said, sounding amazingly put upon, as she twisted off the lid and threw the pills into my outstretched hand. I closed one eye and watched her through the other one as she wretched the lid back on the bottle. Someone was in a bad mood.

  “Are you getting up or are you just going to sit there?” Lucky for her I couldn’t stand up yet, or I would have punched her a good one. I felt like I’d been run over by a truck and Candice was standing here giving me grief.

  “Where is everyone?” I asked instead, choosing to ignore her.

  “Mac and Bryan are out. Working,” she snapped it out, obviously displeased. “Grams is getting some rest. We’ve all been taking turns watching you.” She flopped back down into her chair. “I thought you were dead when they drug you back in here and then you wouldn’t wake up. Mac wouldn’t let us take you to the hospital, so we all just sat here, watching you, waiting to see what happened next.”

  She was scared, I realized, as she reached over and picked up the phone. Bad enough to want to risk a hospital and Mac had overridden her. I was sure that hadn’t gone over well.

  “She’s awake,” she said into the phone. She listened in silence for a beat and slammed it back into the receiver. “They’re on their way back. Mac said to get some food into you.”

  My stomach recoiled at the thought, but it had been a long time since my last meal, which if I recalled had been french fries. I needed to eat. And I needed to move.

  I nodded agreement, and getting to my feet, shuffled to the bathroom and closed the door.

  Hot showers and pain killers were wonderful things. Thirty minutes later, the pain behind my eyes was down to a dull ache and my brain, while still not 100%, was at least functioning.

  I opened the door to find Mac and Bryan had joined Candice in the room. Room service had arrived and a covered tray sat on the table. Now that my head felt better, my stomach was thrilled to see food had arrived. I gave a nod to the guys and headed straight to the tray, happy to discover a steak with the all the trimmings hidden under the cover.