MindWar

by Darrell Bain

  * * * *

  "I'm going to tell Mom and Bailey that Casey's hanging around here again,” Amber said to Jimmy as they stood on the sidewalk in front of their homes, reluctant to part. With concentration or moderately intense emotion, they could each touch the other's mind while each was at home. They were getting better with practice, but being near each other was still a far superior way to communicate. Speech was also still better than a mind touch for conveying specifics and detail.

  "I don't know whether I need to tell my folks or not,” Jimmy said, his arm still around Amber's waist in a protective hold. They had walked like that since encountering Casey. “It's you he wants to ... well, you know. He ought to be shot or drowned or something. If he ever tries bothering you, I'll do it myself. I swear I will.” He held her waist more tightly as he spoke.

  Amber leaned against him. “Why don't you just wait and let Bailey see your mom after I talk to him and Mom? Your mom likes Bailey, you know."

  "Uh huh. So do most of the kids. Okay, I'll wait.” Jimmy didn't comment on her not mentioning Joe Gomez, his father. Mister Gomez was home less and less these days. Jimmy had reluctantly told Amber that his father was probably having an affair somewhere on his sales route.

  Amber turned to face him and tilted her lips up for their parting kiss. She wanted to linger in his embrace with his lips on hers and their tongues playing gentle games. It felt so wonderful, like the delicious taste of good food when you're ravenous or the sensation of sudden warmth from sunlight after being chilled to the bone. It was an emotion she didn't think she would ever tire of.

  As they stepped back, Amber said, “I wonder if this is what twins feel like?"

  "Couldn't be,” Jimmy replied. “They couldn't possibly feel as good as we do, no matter how close or how well they know each other. This is special."

  "Mmmm. I agree,” Amber said as she kissed him once more for good measure and ran up the sidewalk to home.

  * * * *

  "You've got a look on your face like the cat that that stole the cream,” Bailey said as Amber come inside. “You must have just been with Jimmy.” He grinned at her and winked to show he still approved of them being together.

  "I was. Bailey, I wish you and Mom could know what it's like being so close to another person. Jimmy was just wondering whether it was like having a twin, but we agreed that twins couldn't possibly feel like we do. Bailey, it's so good that I bet there wouldn't be any wars or stuff like that if everyone could do it.” She gave him a hug, as she always did when arriving home.

  Bailey loved his stepdaughter as much as he thought he would have if she were his own. He stepped back and frowned. He kept his hand on her shoulder. “Now you look like the other cat, the one who didn't get any cream. Problems, huh?"

  "Uh huh. That's the bad part. Me and Jimmy can see how horrible some people are. Bailey, you're almost as perceptive as the kids in the group,” Amber said, feeling a sudden rush of affection for her stepfather. “Let me run change, and I'll tell you what happened."

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  After listening to Amber and talking to Pat with Amber present, Bailey decided they had to do something about Casey.

  "I can arrange to take a few days off. I think I'll make a trip up to Little Rock to talk to Casey's former supervisor and tell him Casey's hanging around school kids now."

  "There's nothing illegal about it, per se,” Pat said.

  "Uh huh, but getting information from school authorities on a closed FBI investigation might stir them up. Amber, did you notice whether he's still using his real name or not?"

  "I didn't think of it. I just wanted to get away from him. He's dirty."

  "Bailey, should you go off and leave us alone right now? With that pervert hanging around?” Pat looked pointedly in Amber's direction.

  "I'm going to notify the police and tell them to watch for him. The kids can give us a description of what he looks like now. But maybe I'd better wait a while at that. I'll see if I can set up a telephone conference."

  * * * *

  Bailey tried doing exactly that after dinner, but found that Ray Hetrick was in the process of retiring and was “unavailable.” He didn't want to talk to anyone else, knowing they wouldn't believe him. He spent some computer time and finally tracked down the agent's home phone number.

  "Mister Hetrick, I'm Doctor Bailey Jones. I'm calling in regard to that terrorist case from four or five years ago that you were in charge of. I have..."

  Hetrick cut him off. “I'm sorry, Doctor Jones, I'm retiring. You'll have to talk to someone else."

  "I know you're retiring Mister Hetrick, but we still need to talk. There have been some developments involving a former agent of yours, Sean Casey."

  "Casey, you say? What about him?"

  "I'd rather not say on the phone, but believe me, it's important. He's hanging around the school in Mountain Grove, watching the kids and soliciting information from the teachers."

  Hetrick thought for a moment. Sean Casey had been a bit odd. He wouldn't mind knowing what he was up to, and he certainly didn't have anything on his agenda now. His wife had died a year ago, and he was alone in the world. “Are you still practicing in Mountain Grove, Doctor Jones?"

  "Yes, but I'm in private practice now, and, please, call me Bailey."

  "Well, as it turns out, I have a trip planned as soon as I finish all my retirement business, and it'll take me down your way in a couple of weeks. How about if we meet then?"

  "That would be even better, and, Mister Hetrick, please don't talk about this, at least until after we've met. Okay?"

  "I can do that much. Give me your phone number and email address."

  Bailey did so, thanked the man, and replaced the handset. He got up and went out into the den where Pat and Amber were watching a movie. Though it wasn't apparent, Amber was following the movie with part of her mind and using the other part to practice mind touching with Jimmy while he did homework in his room next door.

  Pat touched the pause button when Bailey came into the den and sat down beside her.

  "Casey's old supervisor, Ray Hetrick, is retiring, but he said he'll come by here and talk to us in a couple of weeks. That might be even better than trying to convince someone on active duty of the danger, at least right now."

  "Good. You've done what you can. Now sit down and enjoy the movie with us."

  * * * *

  Amber tried approaching Jeannie several times over the next week with only partial success. She wouldn't talk much and kept portions of her mind tightly closed.

  Finally, Amber came right out and asked, approaching Jeannie during morning recess. “Jeannie, please tell me what's bothering you. Jimmy and I are your friends, you know."

  Jeannie avoided eye contact, and more importantly, mind contact. “You can't help anything, Amber, unless you want to share Jimmy with me."

  Amber couldn't answer in words, but her mind said it all.

  "See?” Jeannie said. “That's the problem. I don't have anyone to share it with like you and Jimmy. Besides, we're probably going to be moving."

  That was the first Amber had heard of it. “Moving? Where to? When?"

  "Oh, I don't know. Maybe soon, maybe after school's out. Listen, I've gotta go. Jordy's waiting for me, and we only have a few more minutes before class.” She turned and walked away, a finality in the stance of her body motions that saddened Amber unimaginably.

  Amber followed Jeannie with her gaze until the bell rang and she disappeared into the building amidst the throng of hurrying students.

  * * * *

  Bailey answered the door bell when it rang almost a month later, shortly after their evening meal. Ray Hetrick had called earlier in the day and said he was in the area and could talk. Bailey had immediately invited him to their home.

  "Bailey? Ray Hetrick."

  "Hi. Thanks for coming by.” They shook hands and he let the retired agent into the living room where Pat, Amber, and Jimmy were waiting. He had wanted J
immy there when they talked. Melissa wouldn't be home from her job until late, and he doubted she would be much help anyway.

  "This is my wife, Pat, and two of the kids who were involved. Amber is ours. Jimmy lives next door."

  "Glad to meet you all,” Ray said. He shook hands with each, displaying an affable friendliness. His grayish blue eyes set beneath fading and thinning blond hair had a permanent tired look to them, but his gaze was penetrating and attentive for all that.

  Amber and Jimmy had cause to be suspicious of FBI agents. Together, they gently scanned his mind then retreated as soon as they found his surface thoughts were concerned only with questions about Casey and the old terrorist event. Both had found that mostly it didn't pay to try going too deeply into another person's mind. There was too much unwholesome baggage even in the best of individuals. They relaxed and simply waited on Bailey's next cue.

  "Drink, Mister Hetrick?"

  "Sure. It's been a long day. Whatever you're having. Call me Ray,” he said with a grin. “I'm retired now."

  "I've mixed a concoction we like. If you don't care for it, we have other choices,” Pat said.

  "I'll try it, thanks."

  Pat left and returned a moment later with a pitcher and glasses on a tray along with iced tea for the youngsters.

  Once relaxed with a drink and small talk, Bailey leaned forward in his easy chair, foot rest down.

  "All right, Ray, let me tell you a story, and you can tell me what you think."

  Bailey proceeded to relate what they had discovered about Sean Casey's private life and how he had used it to make him back off, not neglecting to tell how he had obtained the data. He was interrupted when he said Wanda had been murdered.

  "Hold on a minute, Bailey. Murdered you say? Casey a child molester? Do you have proof of all this?"

  "I did once, but our home was broken into by a professional and it was taken. That was about the same time I found out about Wanda's murder by a so-called burglar and that all the information on Casey disappeared from the Internet sites where he was active. Now he's back in Mountain Grove, and we're scared."

  "You think he's after young girls here? Why here, where he's known? That would be stupid, and whatever else he may be, Casey was never stupid."

  "No, he isn't, and he isn't after young girls now, not for purposes he used them before at any rate. No, we think he's trying to recruit the kids who were in the terror attack."

  Bailey paused, waiting to see Ray's reaction.

  "But why? Wait a minute! You think there's some basis to what he tried to convince me of? That there's something special about those kids?” He looked over at Amber and Jimmy and saw nothing unusual except two young people who were being exceptionally attentive in the presence of adults.

  "That's right; there is. The ones who were in first through third grade at the time have developed unusual perceptive abilities. Some of the teachers—and Casey—think they're actual mind readers."

  "Whoa. This is a bit much to take in all at once. Let's stop a moment and regroup, shall we?” Hetrick glanced at Amber and Jimmy again, silently calculating their ages and concluded they fell in the group Bailey had mentioned.

  Amber smiled at Hetrick and nodded her head, indicating she knew what he was doing. It wasn't even mind reading, just the perceptive ability.

  It took Hetrick a moment to comprehend it all, and he felt his muscles tensing as if he were preparing for an assault on a fugitive holed up somewhere. “You two are perceptive? More so than ordinary people?"

  "Yes, sir,” Amber said, speaking for both of them.

  "Can you tell me more about it?"

  "Bailey can tell you,” Jimmy said, feeling Amber's hand creeping into his.

  Hetrick turned his attention to the doctor. He raised his brows just enough to indicate he was prepared to listen but not necessarily to believe.

  Bailey related how Amber and some of the other kids had fingered Casey as a child molester almost immediately when he began the second investigation.

  "So the, uh, talent didn't develop right after the attack? Is that what you're saying?"

  "Apparently not, or at least it wasn't a conscious ability at first. But six months later, it certainly was. And here's how it works. It's the mirror neurons.” Bailey related how the nerve agent the terrorists had thought would kill the kids simply made some of them ill and stimulated the mirror neurons in the younger ones, as shown by PET scans. “Actually, it stimulated the mirror neurons in all of them, but apparently only in the younger ones did it cause them to multiply past the normal point and become hyperactive."

  "I'll be damned. Can you explain the mirror neuron thing to me a little more and tell me places to look up information?"

  Bailey did so. He had very carefully not said anything about the three who had imbibed the nerve agent on top of the Benedryl they had been given for poison ivy nor what that had apparently led to.

  "Seems like I've read something about mirror neurons in the popular literature, but I was an English major. Most science passes me by. Regardless, would Amber and Jimmy be willing to demonstrate some of their, uh ... perceptive ability?"

  Bailey and Pat exchanged glances. Here was the crucial point. He had to get someone involved with the problem who would be on their side. Just the perceptive ability alone was already causing problems, but knowledge of the three who had gone on to develop mind reading ability was potentially so earth-shaking he had doubts about revealing it. And there was only one way to be sure.

  "Amber, Jimmy? Can he be trusted with everything?"

  Amber touched Bailey's mind briefly to be sure of what he wanted. She nodded to Jimmy and they both entered Hetrick's mind. He felt nothing at all, but a frown crept over his face as the two teenaged children stared silently at him for a long moment.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  The strange silence ended when Amber finally spoke. “He's okay, Bailey. We can trust him with just about anything. He may be able to help, too."

  Ray stared, frown still in place. “You two determined that just by looking at me?"

  Bailey remembered the burglary and how camcorders and listening devices could be hidden so effectively because of their small size now. “Let's go outside to talk,” he said.

  It took only a few minutes for Amber and Jeannie to demonstrate that they could indeed read Hetrick's mind without him feeling their presence.

  "Incredible,” he finally said, realizing just how inadequate the word was. Images of mind reading agents stealing secrets from governments, financial institutions, and individuals raced through his mind. Even those with the perceptive ability would be useful, and yet, the two children seated across from him didn't look the least bit dangerous. He found himself hoping they had developed a very good sense of ethical behavior to go with their ability.

  "Yeah,” Bailey agreed with a wry smile. He lit one of his rationed cigarettes. Hetrick looked at it longingly then pushed the craving aside. He had quit several years ago, finally succeeding after several attempts, and he knew from bitter experience that all it took was one slip to re-establish the habit.

  "So you want me to help. How?"

  "We think Casey is a shill for some other organization that's going to try suborning the kids into working for them, particularly Jeannie Burger, the other of the trio who can read minds, and before you ask, I'm not going to reveal why it happened to them and not the others, not just yet. Anyway, whoever Casey is working for will be after any of the really perceptive kids. They'll want to use them to check on the honesty of employees at a corporation somewhere or use them to root out spies in their midst. Something like that, I think."

  "Those are rather innocuous uses for them, and not illegal so far as I know."

  "Uh huh, but knowing Casey, we suspect he's fronting for dishonest organizations."

  "Couldn't the kids—Amber and Jimmy, I mean, find that out from Casey?"

  "They weren't looking for it at the time, and he hasn't been seen since they found
out he was back in the area in disguise."

  Jimmy spoke up. “Mister Hetrick, it's not nice to go into someone else's mind without their permission, and it's bad sometimes. Scary, even. We learned fairly quickly to keep the talent mostly to ourselves. It's better that way."

  Ray Hetrick found himself warming to the two teenagers. They were quiet, attentive, and well mannered. Besides that, they didn't appear to be enamored with themselves because of their remarkable talent.

  "They're good kids,” Pat said, “but they're really not so much kids like you're probably thinking. They're mature young adults now. The perceptive ability pushed all the young kids to mature quickly. Amber and Jimmy have gone even farther. In a different context, they could be considered as adults."

  Hetrick rubbed his temple. He had finally gotten the long-delayed eye surgery that corrected his need for glasses, but he still had the habit of trying to adjust them by grasping the frame there. “Why don't we go in the house and talk some more,” Hetrick said. “I don't know about you folks, but I could use another drink."

  * * * *

  Several houses down the street, an observer put down the telescopic camcorder and shotgun microphone he had quickly gotten into action when the group from Bailey's home came outside. It was problematical about being able to record all of the conversation from the microphone, but supplemented by lip reading from the enlarged camcorder images, he thought he had a good chance of getting most of it for his boss. Inducing the family to move out had taken quite a lot of money, but it had been done just in time. He would like to have chanced an intrusion and planted a recorder in the Jones’ house, but his request had been vetoed.