MindWar

by Darrell Bain

Jeannie frantically searched her room, looking for something, anything, to use as a weapon. There was nothing, and already Casey was past the gate guards and driving up to the house. She knew exactly what he had on his mind. It was so frightening it made her feel sick. As he got out of his car, she went over the room again. No weapons, no blunt objects. Not even a lamp; the lighting was overhead. With nothing to fight with, she began thinking of how she might escape. The only thing she came up with was to turn off the lights and throw a pillow to throw at Casey when he came in. He wouldn't dare shoot her. He knew Brazos would kill him if he did. Maybe the pillow would distract him long enough for her to get past him and run. She was grateful the handcuffs had been removed, but with the dogs outside, it seemed likely that no matter how cleverly she escaped, she'd never make it to the edge of the property.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Casey looked down at the floor in front of Jeannie's room. There should have been a light showing from beneath the door. Little Bitch, he thought, she's turned off the light. She knows I'm here. He stood still while he took out the big automatic he favored and removed the clip. No way was he going to give her a chance at a loaded weapon. He reversed the pistol and held it by the barrel to use as a club in case she resisted. He wasn't worried. Not even mind readers could stand up to superior strength, not in a closed room. He pushed the door open just enough to reach inside and flick the lights back on. He kicked the door on open, using his body to block the entrance. He grinned when he saw Jeannie hurriedly retreating across the room. She got behind the bed, putting it between them. He closed the door behind him and slowly advanced. That wasn't going to help her, not for long.

  * * * *

  Bailey was watching Amber and Jimmy. He could see the knuckles of their hands that were clasped together steadily whiten as they continued to monitor Jeannie. From their expressions, he knew Casey must be very near Jeannie now, maybe even in the room with her.

  Amber gave out a small cry of despair and buried her face against Jimmy's chest. Jimmy held her close. His eyes were closed as he concentrated his attention on Casey. Amber joined him. They both held their breath and tried with all their might to mentally force Casey away from Jeannie.

  * * * *

  Casey felt the touch of another presence in his mind, but he treated it as no more of an annoyance than a pesky fly buzzing around his head. The fresh methacoke in his system allowed him to concentrate all his attention on the business at hand. He pushed the bed against the wall, trapping Jeannie then jumped across it to get at her.

  Jeannie flung the covers at him, but it didn't work. He deflected them and grabbed for her. The first couple of times she avoided his hand or the clubbed pistol by knowing his intentions. Frustrated, Casey began swinging with both arms in a flurry of motion impossible for Jeannie to detect in time to avoid all the blows. The butt of the pistol caught her on the temple with stunning force. Red dots exploded in front of her eyes as she felt the strength drain from her body.

  Casey grabbed with his other hand and at last had her in his grasp. He yanked at her arms and her body followed up onto the bed, which was just where he wanted her.

  * * * *

  "I can't watch!” Amber screamed.

  Jimmy held her tightly, sickened by Casey's actions. He could stand it only seconds at a time himself as Casey straddled Jeannie and began ripping at her clothing. She and her parents had been allowed to bring a few garments hastily thrown in bags. Each time she tried to resist, he hit her with his closed fist. Lust and the flood of narcotics in his body maddened him. He forgot all about Brazos and what he might do when he saw Jeannie's body. He got her completely stripped and secured her hands with plastic cuffs again. He fumbled at his belt buckle, breathing heavily form the struggle and anticipation.

  The only thing that kept Jimmy going back to Jeannie's mind was a feeble attempt to support her mentally by telling her help was on the way. It was all he could do.

  * * * *

  Jimmy and Amber were so wound up with Jeannie's appalling predicament that it was Bailey, not them, who first sensed danger. It came to him like a sudden intrusion in his mind, impulses of an impending assault on the family from very near.

  Jimmy's momentary cry of triumph was overridden by Bailey's sudden shout as he realized with a shock what was happening. “Amber, Jimmy, Run!", he shouted frantically. “Go the back way before they block it!"

  Amber was momentarily confused by Jimmy's exuberant yell and Bailey's frantic warning, coming to her both by voice and as a mental signal. Bailey! He did it! she realized before Jimmy grabbed her arm and pulled roughly. She came to her senses, and they ran, not toward the back entrance, but toward their bedroom. Neither of them had seen a need to carry their guns while Bailey and the other adults were armed. Their minds worked in perfect unison. They had no intention of leaving Pat and Bailey alone.

  Amber heard Bailey's mental cursing almost with amusement as he saw where they were headed, but then there was no time to tarry and examine the new phenomena of him becoming a mind reader. She and Jimmy sensed the nearby danger themselves, even more powerfully than Bailey now that they weren't being distracted. At the same time, Amber caught a quick thought from Jimmy that the assault on Jeannie had stopped but there was no time to ask for details. Neither was there time to get out the back way, even if they had intended to run. There never had been.

  * * * *

  Jeannie reached the depths of despair when she caught a momentary glimpse of another man entering the room. Oh, God, not two of them! she thought miserably, but then she sensed the man's intentions. She tensed and held very still. A puzzled look appeared on Casey's face as she stopped struggling. Then he grinned as he thought she was relaxing to the inevitable. He'd have her crying in a moment though. He liked it much better that way.

  Those were Casey's last thoughts. He was so intent on Jeannie that he neither heard nor sensed the man as he came up behind him and extended his arm. He held a gun in his hand and fired a bullet into Casey's brain from two feet away.

  Casey collapsed on top of Jeannie, saturating the sheet beside her with his blood. Casey's heart kept pumping for a few more moments. Blood spurted against Jeannie's chest from a major artery in his head that had been ruptured. Disgusted and relieved at the same time, she shoved him off her and sat up. The gunman stared at her nakedness as she slid off the bed and stood upright. Jeannie probed his mind. He was called Sharko and he had been sent specifically to kill Casey and dispose of the body.

  Jeannie held out her hands. “Casey put these on me. Please take them off so I can wash and dress myself."

  Still staring, Sharko reached into his pocket and took out a penknife. He returned his weapon to his chest holster while he opened the little pocketknife.

  Jeannie could tell that he had no idea at all she was a mind reader nor that she could be a threat. She kept her mind focused on his thoughts. As soon as the plastic cuffs were severed, she also saw that he didn't have an inkling about her physical capabilities, either. He simply intended to leave her in the room as instructed should he find Casey there. While his attention was diverted by closing his knife and returning it to his pocket, Jeannie suddenly lunged violently forward, trying for an escape now even though she was still dizzy from Casey's blows. Small as she was, her unexpected assault knocked Sharko off his feet. Jeannie darted for the door, narrowly escaping an attempt to grab her leg as she passed. She was out of the room in a second and locked it behind her, just as her captors had done to keep her confined.

  Jeannie knew the locked door wouldn't contain the man for long. He would decide to shoot off the lock if he couldn't get out any other way. She ran along the halls in the route she remembered from when she and her parents were first brought into this horrid place. When she reached her parents’ room, she didn't knock but simply unlocked it and flung it wide.

  "Mom! Dad! Get out of here and run! Help is coming! Hide somewhere else! Under a bed, any place they won't find you for a while!"


  With that, Jeannie raced on, bare feet slapping the floor. She used her mind to scan in front of her, hoping she could detect the presence of others before she saw them or they saw her. She knew it would take an intense emotion from an unknown mind before she would sense the person. She would barge unexpectedly into someone unless she found a place to hide until help arrived.

  * * * *

  It had taken a major effort, but Brazos had finally tracked the other two mind readers to their safe house by using contacts and tracking devices for phones combined with hackers and computers attuned to key words. As soon as he was certain, he sent five men and a woman to take them into custody. He didn't tell the crew that they could read minds; he still wanted that kept secret. He waited impatiently for them to report back before doing anything else. Too many law enforcement agencies were now getting involved, and too many competitors, legal and illegal, since that damned doctor and his friends had given away the secret of the perceptive kids. He didn't know which way to jump. Then he got the report of Casey's death, which he had ordered, but also received the unwelcome news that the Burger girl and her parents were loose. He headed to the mansion himself to get the situation there under control. He had to; his own powerful bosses were demanding results, and they wanted them soon.

  * * * *

  Jimmy got to his gun just as he heard the front door crash inward. He felt the desperate intensity of Bailey's mind as he blazed away at the intruders. The reverberating sound of the gunshots kept him and Amber from hearing the back door open, but there was no need. Both of them could sense the presence of the three men and a woman by the boiling excitement of their emotions as they came prepared to kill anyone who got in the way of taking the two children prisoner.

  Bailey had been hit in the first exchange of gunfire. Pat detected the mental pulse from the numbing pain of the bullet that broke his upper arm. She had been a few seconds behind Bailey in finding her gun in the dark and rushing out to defend her family. She ran into an immediate quandary of who to help first; should she head directly to Bailey or to Amber and Jimmy? It was solved for her by the mental despair she felt from Bailey as he stared at the second of the two men who had come in the front way. He had killed one of them, but he was helpless now. Only the fact that the impact of the shot that shattered his upper arm and knocked him to the floor saved him from immediate death. The intended murderer took a few seconds to locate his body in the darkened room; his partner was supposed to have turned on the lights, but he died too quickly. Bailey stared helplessly as the barrel of the pistol lowered and aimed at him.

  Pat made it just in time to save Bailey's life. She fired as quickly as the gunman came into sight. Her first shot missed, but it startled him enough so that he also missed Bailey with his shot. He never got off another; Pat killed him with three rapid rounds directly into his chest. He crumpled. She started to run to Bailey when she sensed how badly he was wounded then stopped. Amber!

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Jeannie finally concealed herself in a large laundry hamper when she stumbled across the wash room. She pulled dirty clothes in on top of her and sent her thoughts in search of her parents. They were safe for the moment in another room somewhere hiding under a bed. After that, she explored with her mind until she found Sharko, the one who had killed Casey. Even though she had met him only briefly, his proximity allowed her to enter his mind. She learned the name he was called by and began to observe his surroundings through his eyes and thoughts.

  It wasn't too bad. Sharko was a killer, a gun for hire, but the rest of his personality was no more deviant than the general population. She could stay in prolonged contact with him and not feel the sickening disgust Casey's mind caused her.

  Sharko reported to his immediate boss, Brazos, by phone.

  "Stay where you are and wait for orders,” Brazos told Sharko. The news Bailey had released on his own was causing a media field day and now Brazos fully expected an assault on the mansion by any number of antagonists. I should have taken care of Rudo already, he thought. That bastard would be one of the first coming after his prize, but others of his ilk wouldn't be far behind. The military and the intelligence services were getting nosy, too. He knew the street gossip already had her location pinpointed. He needed to get her away from there and to a safer place as soon as possible.

  "How long do I stay here, boss?"

  "Until I tell you to leave. You protect that little girl once you locate her, goddamn it. I don't care what the news is saying; it's all hypothetical, and she's a fact! Round up everyone there and get them prepared for a war. Then find the little girl. She's still inside somewhere, otherwise the dogs would have made a fuss.

  Sharko had no idea what Brazos was talking about other than “the little girl,” but he didn't think was so little now.

  "What about her parents? She turned them loose and they're hiding, too."

  "Capture them. We can use them as hostages to control the girl. Now get moving. No more fuckups, or you'll wind up like Casey. Comprende, amigo?"

  "Yes, sir,” Sharko said quickly. He got busy.

  * * * *

  Amber wasn't in trouble. Pat had simply detected the furious mental energy she and Jimmy were using to locate their intended kidnappers and their irresistible rage at what they had intended to do to them all. Their mental powers made it easy for them to wait in ambush and begin shooting at the optimal time and location. The only thing that marred their actions was Jimmy's hesitance.

  Amber didn't necessarily intend to kill the two men she and Jimmy had agreed she would target as they ran toward their bedroom, but neither did she try to only wound them. They must have had information on the floor plan of the house because they never hesitated, but now she would never know for sure. She stepped from the concealment of an alcove in the hallway holding a decorative table, her gun leveled in just the fashion she had been taught. She fired four times. Both the ones she shot at were dying as they crumpled to the floor.

  Jimmy killed the other man just as easily, but the woman was a different story. He hesitated the barest moment in shooting the woman as he caught a mental image of momentary fear and regret from her that disguised her determination for a second or two. It allowed her to get a shot off that sent wooden splinters from the side paneling flying when the bullet struck an inch from his head. One of the splinters hit his eye, nearly blinding him and causing an incredibly sharp needle of pain to arrow into the nerves around his eye. His pain distracted Amber. She felt it almost as much as he did and it caused her to miss when she got off a round.

  The woman whirled and was gone from sight around the corner.

  "Mom!” Amber screamed, frightened almost to panic as she realized where her mother was.

  Pat had come running when she thought her daughter was in trouble. She was nearly deafened by the noise of all the gunfire, but she heard Amber's warning cry in her mind. She stopped, crouched, and shot several times as the woman came zooming around the corner. She careened forward head first and slid a few feet, coming to rest almost in front of Pat. Blood pumped from exit wounds on the woman's back for a second and finally stopped.

  Amber and Jimmy knew that no one else was after them, but, in the same instant, realized Bailey was in trouble. The whole unbelievable episode had taken only moments, but it seemed to have gone on in slow motion. There appeared to be no end to the crisis. Amber stepped over the dead woman and said, “Come on, Mom! Bailey's bleeding, bad!"

  Pat's mind was still whirling with adrenalin-laced reaction, but she caught the urgency in Amber's voice and felt the distress in Bailey's mind. It was like a nightmare that wouldn't end. She raced after Amber, with Jimmy right behind her.

  Bailey was bleeding profusely and trying to hold his hand around his arm above where the bullet had hit. It was so high up his arm he hadn't been able to stop it. Already he was feeling weak from blood loss and was unable to make any further effort. He simply stared at the blood flowing from beneath his weakening fingers
.

  "Turn on the lights!” Pat commanded as she knelt down by Bailey and added the strength of her hand to his, making a living tourniquet. The room brightened. Her stomach rebelled at the sight of the carnage the large caliber bullet had done when it hit. The right humerus of Bailey's arm was broken and splintered, and a big chunk of flesh had been chewed out of his bicep muscle.

  "Get me a belt, the bullet hit an artery,” Pat said, her voice shaky, but remembering her teachers’ emergency first aid training. “No, first make sure no one else is here."

  "There isn't, not anyone trying to hurt us,” Amber said while Jimmy removed the belt from his jeans. Between the three of them, they got it adjusted and the bleeding stopped, but, by then, Bailey was barely conscious.

  "He needs to get to a hospital quickly,” Pat said. “Bailey, sweetheart, hang on. Jimmy, call 911, we don't have a way to take him ourselves. Tarker hid our car."

  Jimmy called, but while he was doing that, Ray drove up. He saw the shattered doorjamb and came in cautiously, gun drawn. He stopped, mouth agape when he saw Bailey still lying in a pool of blood.

  "Good God, what happened here?"

  "Never mind, it's over with,” Pat said shortly. “I had to call an ambulance because we didn't have a car. It's on the way, but there are four bodies back by the bedrooms. If you have any influence, get moving and keep us away from the police and the feds."

  Ray acted quickly, not stopping to ask any more questions. He got busy on the phone, telling Tarker and his own contacts to start building a brick wall of denial even while Tarker was still heavily involved with planning the impending rescue attempt of Jeannie. He was still talking on his phone when they heard approaching sirens. Apparently, their nearest neighbors had heard the gun battle.

  "Jeannie's still in trouble,” Amber said, “But now we can help. She's loose and had a contact with one of the men there, so she can tell us what they're up to all the time."