MindWar

by Darrell Bain

  "Great,” he said. “Listen, you kids run to the street and huddle in the back of my car so you won't be seen. Take your guns and spare clips,” he added grimly. “I'll pull some tricks here and get Pat and Bailey on their way to the hospital."

  "What are you doing, Ray? They've been through enough already!” Pat exclaimed harshly, but she shut up as the determination of Amber and Jimmy to help rescue Jeannie suddenly got through to her.

  "I'll keep them away from the action, but if they've got eyes inside that damn fortress, we need them, Pat. Tarker sent me back to get them so everything doesn't have to be relayed from Jeannie to Jimmy to a phone before he can try taking the place. We need on the spot advice, and if Jeannie has a contact inside now that Casey's dead, it will help tremendously.” He didn't mention that Tarker had doubts about assaulting the guarded mansion with his thin crew.

  "I ... I put it out about mind ... mind reading,” Bailey said through teeth clamped tight against the pain of his arm.

  "I heard, but it doesn't matter right now. Tarker's spotters have relayed word that Rudo's gang is going to try for her, and also that Brazos is heading in that direction. The FBI is interested, too."

  Pat strained to touch Jeannie's mind but she was too new at the ability. It wouldn't have helped in any case. Amber or Jimmy could have told her that to find someone at a distance, you must first have had deep mental contact with them. Even close, if a person hadn't been known before, it took emotional turmoil on their part, such as the gunmen had just displayed, to be able to detect them.

  "Hurry up, go hide in the car!” Ray ordered, more urgently this time as the siren sounds grew louder.

  Amber and Jimmy still hesitated, not wanting to leave the wounded Bailey, but fearing for Jeannie's life if they didn't. For all her antagonism and misguided attempts to change their three-way relationship, she was still the only other mind reader they knew of, other than the sudden ability Bailey and Pat were unaccountably displaying, and Jeannie seemed to be truly remorseful now; they didn't intend to abandon her.

  "Go!” Ray ordered again and they hurried outside, reluctantly but swiftly. They had no sooner scrunched down behind the front seats when the emergency vehicles began arriving, and down the street, a curious neighbor peeked from a door.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Sharko had been put in charge of immediate defense of the big house until Brazos arrived. Jeannie and her parents were still hiding, but Sharko had men and women not on guard duty going through the place room by room looking for them.

  The long wait in the car in uncomfortable positions was an excruciatingly tense interval for Amber and Jimmy. They couldn't even tell Ray when Jeannie reported new developments to them.

  Both Amber and Jimmy got a sense of how uncomfortable Jeannie was, huddled in the laundry hamper beneath a bunch of smelly clothes, but didn't take time to commiserate. What she had learned was more important at the moment.

  Jeannie's thoughts were clear. “Sharko's the man I got away from. Now he's expecting Brazos, the big boss, to be here before long, and he thinks Brazos has a way to sneak me and the folks out safely."

  "Find out how he's going to do it,” Jimmy urged her.

  "I tried. I looked into him a deep as I could and he doesn't know; he just thinks Brazos can do it."

  In order to keep her overwrought mind in a semblance of order while they waited, Amber attracted a part of Jimmy's attention that wasn't locked with Jeannie's and exchanged thoughts with him.

  "Did you get all that about Pat and Bailey?” Jimmy asked silently.

  Amber squeezed his hand and answered him the same way. “I think so. They must have both swallowed a big dose of the nerve agent then took a lot of Benadryl on top of it. They're learning to be mind readers, just like us! Did you hear what Bailey said?"

  "What? Oh, something about releasing the stuff about mind reading? Uh huh, I heard it, but I didn't pay much attention at the moment. I wonder why he did it?"

  "I guess he figured if it worked on him and Mom, it would work on most everyone—and if the whole world learns how to read minds, we'll be normal again. He did it to protect us I think."

  "He would,” Jimmy thought to her. He moved his head into a position where they could touch lips. After they kissed, he continued “I don't think we'll ever be normal again, lovie. Not after all this, and it's not over yet. Jeannie's still in trouble, and we're still wanted by God knows how many people."

  "Oh bums, yes, I'm not ramping my B cells.” Amber's mind stayed quiet a moment then she went on. “Jimmy, I hated that business. I'll have nightmares forever about the way those minds went dead when we shot them. It was even worse than last time.” She could tell Jimmy felt almost the same way but had been trying not to think about it.

  Amber sent her mind out to check on Bailey again. “Hey, the ambulance is leaving with Mom and Bailey. Maybe Mister Hetrick will be ready to go now,” she whispered.

  Ray was more than ready, but there was still fifteen more minutes of impatient waiting before he finally convinced the county sheriff and his deputies to let him go, which meant that a great number of ancillary phone calls had been required.

  Amber breathed a sigh of relief when Ray finally opened the driver's side door and slid inside.

  Ray started the car and drove away, keeping a careful watch behind and ahead. He didn't try to talk until he was well away from the area.

  Jimmy finally spoke up. He didn't think they should wait any longer to tell him what was happening with Jeannie.

  After that, Ray drove faster. He didn't speak of the circumstances that had the three of them traveling together, perhaps into another fight. It was still hard for him to imagine how children as young as they were had come through a gun battle where they had killed other persons and still be acting almost normal.

  Even if he had asked, Amber and Jimmy wouldn't have been able to tell him much. They didn't have words in the language to describe how they knew they had to fight and kill in order to survive or how they had known how ruthless and immoral their opponents had been. Neither could they describe how they comforted each other in a way far more intense and profound than mere words ever could have conveyed.

  * * * *

  Jeannie heard footsteps in the washroom. She tried to find the mind the footsteps belonged to but it was a stranger, one who apparently wasn't riled up enough for her to detect his thoughts. All she could do was listen and wait. She heard the big washer lid being pulled open then dropped shut. What she thought was the dryer door banged against something then the noise echoed again as it was closed. The footsteps made a circuit of the room quickly then stopped by the hamper.

  Jeannie held her breath, not daring to breathe as the top layer of dirty clothes were removed and tossed away. She could feel hands fumbling with more of them and she thought she was lost until she heard a disgusted male curse. She still held her breath, but now she had to try to keep from laughing. The man must have encountered the layer of soiled undergarments, some of them very dirty indeed. They had almost kept her from choosing this hiding place, but now she was glad she had. The man cursed again and went away. When she heard the door close, Jeannie gasped for air and bit her lip painfully to keep from braying with hysterical laughter. Well, the clothes were smelly, but she decided to stay exactly where she was while she sent her mind exploring again. She recognized Sharko's mental aura immediately, but something was different about him. He was much more relaxed. A second later, she knew why. He had her parents.

  There was nothing she could do for them at the moment. She could only follow their distressed thoughts as Sharko ordered them out from under the bed. She reached out for Jimmy and was surprised at the impression she got of he and Amber in a moving vehicle. They all merged minds. Jeannie bit her other lip to avoid crying out for happiness. They were coming on the rescue mission, too! It raised her spirits high enough that she didn't even mind the continuing pain from the battering Casey had given her.

  * * * *r />
  Tarker still held him crew back. He hadn't anticipated as many defenders as Jeannie reported and didn't think a direct assault on the mansion would work without generating a lot of noise and killing that would draw a huge amount of attention. He had already used up just about all the pull he and his superiors could manage to keep previous shootouts from the public eye. He didn't think he could do it again, not tonight. He was still trying to decide whether to intercept Brazos and capture or simply kill him. His death would certainly be no loss to society, but the man held a lot of useful information the authorities would like to have access to. He had almost decided to detain him when he received word from Ray, relayed from Jeannie to Jimmy and then to him. Brazos thought he would have no problem getting away with Jeannie and her parents, but he hadn't revealed how he would do it to Sharko. Tarker already had Brazos spotted and had an operative following behind him as he neared their area. That made the decision for him. Brazos had no way of knowing Jeannie would be able to follow his every move so long as he stayed relatively close to Sharko. If Brazos thought he could get them out safely, best to let him do it and then attempt the rescue. He allowed Brazos to pass and go on through the gate with his three bodyguards.

  * * * *

  Brazos hurried past his inner guards who held back the dogs to let him pass. He kept his phone to his ear the whole time, listening to reports from his outside confederates. The situation was changing almost by the minute. He heard that Rudo was on the way to the mansion with a big gang, intending to either capture the mind reading girl or render her useless to anyone else. He was told the FBI would probably arrive as quickly as lines of authority were sorted out. An action team from military intelligence had reportedly landed at the airport in preparation for a possible assault, and aside from all those, another shadowy agency was apparently on the loose, giving succor to the perceptives and especially the mind readers. He didn't know who they were, only that the retired FBI agent Ray Hetrick was somehow associated with them.

  "Take me to the girl's parents,” Brazos told Sharko as soon as his assistant reported to him.

  Sharko led the way to an inner room on the first floor where they were imprisoned. He stepped inside with Brazos and confronted the Burgers. He wasted no time.

  "I know your daughter can read your minds. Tell her she has five minutes to surrender. If she doesn't, one of you dies. Five more minutes and the other will follow. Sharko, get ready."

  "I don't know how to contact her!” Mrs. Burger wailed. “Please, I swear! Don't kill us!"

  "Just think it; she'll get the message."

  "Those kids aren't mind readers, you fool,” Mister Burger said. “You're making a big mistake."

  "Sharko, chastise him."

  Sharko didn't hesitate. He slammed his gun barrel across Burger's cheek, splitting the skin open. He hit him a second time on his forehead, and he dropped to his knees, moaning.

  Mrs. Burger shrank away, expecting the same treatment any moment.

  Jeannie wanted to cry, to wail for forgiveness and share her father's pain. Her mother's fear and anxiety were making her mind feel funny, like it was about to break into pieces. When Jeannie saw Sharko checking the time she could stand it no longer. She heaved the dirty clothes off her and climbed out of the hamper. She ran down the hallway toward the area where she thought her parents were being held. She thought she had their location pinned down from Sharko's thoughts. She burst into another hallway, screaming “Don't shoot! Don't shoot!” Several guards came hurrying, but they weren't needed. All she wanted to do was save her father or mother from being shot. Brazos heard her cries and smiled thinly.

  "Sounds like your daughter can read minds after all, hmm?"

  Jeannie was taken into custody without a fight.

  Brazos immediately began herding them along, using Sharko and one other trusted assistant. They went back down a hallway, turned a corner, and Sharko opened a door. Steps led downward into a basement.

  There was a concealed doorway in a storage closet in a corner of the big basement game room. Sharko and Brazos looked around to make sure no one had followed then opened the door. It led to a dimly lighted underground tunnel, barely wide enough for one person.

  Sharko led the way, with the Burgers next and Brazos and his other assistant following.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Ray, Jimmy, and Amber had joined forces with Tarker by phone, who was in his car by himself some distance away from the action around the mansion. While waiting for Ray to give him more information about Jeannie, he was trying to coordinate two other small crews trying to rescue perceptive kids from Brazos’ gangsters as well as from those of Rudo, Brazos’ main competitor.

  "Where are they now?” he asked immediately when Ray called again.

  "Still underground, but neither of us can tell which direction the tunnel goes,” Jimmy said. “How can we find them unless they come out somewhere near a street sign?"

  "I think I know,” Tarker said. He visualized the city map and satellite download of the immediate area he had been using to plan the aborted assault. “The ground behind the place slopes down toward Sierra Street. Any other direction except in front, there's no good way to exit from their tunnel without attracting attention. Just by thinking like the sneaky bastard he is, I doubt he would have an escape hatch in front anyway; that's where most of the feds would be if they planned a raid."

  Ray immediately headed by a circuitous route toward Sierra Street, the only way to get there. Then his phone rang before he even had a chance to call his crew waiting near the mansion to join him. He gave a silent curse and thumbed it on, dreading what he was going to be told. He could hear gunshots behind them, even through the closed windows.

  It was Tarker's second in command, Roark Johannsen.

  "Tarker, we're pinned down and can't move your way."

  "Who is it?"

  "One of the drug cartel gangs, I think. I lost Marin and Beverly is wounded. We're going to have to try to back out of here if we can."

  "Yonny, do what you can to get away. I'll be back in touch. Rescuing that girl without a lot of casualties was going to be kind of dicey, anyway.” He hung up and was silent until he turned onto Sierra Street. Now it was just him and Ray—when he got here—and the kids. Damn, damn. He dialed Ray's phone.

  "They're coming out of the tunnel now,” Jimmy said.

  Ray relayed the information to Tarker. “Okay, from now on tell me every step they take,” Tarker ordered for Jimmy. “Ray, tell me exactly where you are, and we'll meet. I'm on Sierra Street, down the hill from the mansion. The rescue gang I had standing by tangled with a bunch of cartel thugs, and they're out of play."

  Ray gave him their location then told the children the news.

  "I hope your men kill them all,” Amber said, surprising herself with the venom she felt toward the people causing so much agony and despair.

  Jimmy remained silent a moment before adding some extra information from Jeannie. “They're in a house now. Jeannie's scared. She says Brazos’ mind is like a block of ice. He's cold blooded and doesn't have emotions like normal people."

  "A psychopathic personality,” Ray explained. “That would scare me too, but it's all the more reason to try to get Jeannie and her folks away from him. Are you still with her?"

  "Yes, sir. They're in the garage of the house now. There's a car there. Now they're arguing. Brazos wants to leave. Sharko is telling him it's safer to stay hidden for a while longer. Now they're going back inside. They're sitting down. Jeannie says it's the living room."

  "Keep tuned.” He dialed Tarker and gave him their location and asked, “Tarker, how much farther now?"

  "You're almost there. Next street should be Winding Way. Turn right and go two blocks; you'll be on Sierra.

  A few minutes later, Ray was parked along the curb on Sierra Street. As soon as he spotted them, Tarker jumped out of his car, ran over, and slid into the front seat beside Ray.

  Jimmy shrugged helplessl
y when asked if he knew which house the captives were in. “I can't tell unless Jeannie tells me. I guess they aren't thinking about an address."

  "Would it help is she asked some leading questions?"

  "I'll see—no, wait, they just got back up. Sharko is taking Jeannie to a bedroom. The other man is taking her parents to another one. Brazos is going to ... he's in a sort of office."

  "Tell Jeannie to see if she can get the number if he uses the phone there, quick, or if she can't, get any number he dials and tell me immediately.” Tarker dialed a number on his phone and was quickly switched to a contact with the phone company servicing that area.

  "Take this down,” Jimmy said suddenly. He voiced a telephone number slowly to be sure someone recorded it.

  The first time Brazos wasn't on the phone long enough to produce results. The second time he dialed, they got lucky and got a trace back from the number he dialed to his phone to the exact address.

  "Three blocks down, Ray,” Tarker said and hung up on his contact. “Park a few houses away; they're separated pretty good in this area. We'll walk from there.

  As Ray put the car in motion, he said. “We need to do something quickly. Jimmy says Jeannie will try distracting her guard."

  "We will,” Tarker said. He opened a panel under the dash and pulled out another handgun to add to the one he was already carrying. “Jimmy, are you sure there's only three of them?"

  "Jeannie's sure."

  * * * *

  Jeannie had been allowed to bring a change of clothing with her. She washed and dressed while Sharko drug Casey's body to another room. He was already back inside when she came out of the bedroom.

  Jeannie felt much better now. She was on the bed, sitting and leaning against the headboard, ignoring Sharko. Now that she had met Brazos, she could concentrate on his mind and find out what he was doing. A few minutes later, she felt the sudden alertness of his mind. He was listening to various tiny microphones in turn, each connected to the wires that led from the huge house where they had been held. They led through the tunnel and back to the room he was in. Apparently, he had just heard something he didn't like. Jeannie couldn't tell for certain what it was. Before she could try further, Jimmy's thoughts intruded. She paid rapt attention and relayed her increasing concern over Brazos’ state of mind and his half-formed intentions. She urged them to hurry with whatever they intended to do.