by RB Stutz
I wasn’t the typical client who frequented either location. I didn’t dance, socialize, hit on girls, or even talk really, except when ordering more food or drink. I was the young looking oddball that sat in the corner and stared at everyone else doing what they came out to do.
Night after night, I looked for anything that might be a lead to finding the killer. After several nights of using my ability on so many people, it became a more natural process for me to do. The first few nights, I had the insane headaches I had to push through. I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be able to keep it up, but as I kept going for a few more days, the headaches faded. Also, I found myself able to reach others much easier and quicker. Now, I could go in to one’s mind, look around, and be out in a matter of fifteen seconds or so. That was really all the time I needed to be able to see what they were thinking about at that moment. Most people couldn’t process too much thought at once.
I’d touched the minds of thousands over those few weeks and found nothing to lead me in any direction of finding who was behind the murders. In fact, I hadn’t really found much of anything. I mean, everyone had their secrets and some of the things I’d seen were definitely things to keep to oneself, but I’d expected more darkness. I’d expected to find most people to be more sinister or corrupt, but in general my assumption was wrong. I guess it was short-sighted discrimination or just my general faithlessness in humanity seeping through, but I’d expected a lot of thoughts about dark deeds planned or done. I found none of that. At least nothing I felt I needed to act on. I guess I needed to give people more credit.
Were my actions ethical? Probably not, but the police were working the case the more ethical way, not prying into people’s thoughts, and had nothing. Not to say I was making any progress either, but I was able to work an angle they couldn’t. Sure, I was invading the privacy of everyone I read, but was the cost of that greater than the lives being lost? I’d already decided no. Maybe I didn’t have the right to decide that. It didn’t matter. I was going to do what was necessary to stop the murders, to save any more victims.
Of course, I wasn’t the only one looking for a suspect at either location. The police had people under cover at the club each night. Six of the youngest looking officers at the Seattle Police Department were assigned on a nightly rotating duty. Periodically I checked their thoughts to stay on top of any leads they had and to make sure they weren’t focusing on me as a suspect. Since I was there every night and probably looked creepy just sitting and staring at people, I expected it to happen eventually and it did.
Officer Felicia Raymond was in her late twenties and had been with the Seattle Police Department for approximately five years. She was of a medium build and height and what I usually saw her in was not the typical SPD uniform. That particular night she was wearing tight black pants with an equally tight black leather jacket and combat boots. Her hair was shoulder length and dyed jet black, even though the normal color was a sandy blonde. She appeared to have several piercings in her ears and one in her nose, but all were false except one in each ear. She’d been stuck on the club detail for about a month and was having issues with her current boyfriend because she was gone almost every other night. I knew all of this from my multiple reads of her.
I’d been a person of interest for about a week, due to my suspicious behavior. I couldn’t blame her. I would have been suspicious of me too. I wasn’t too worried about it though because; so far, all they were just going to do was continue to watch me, to see if I led them to anything. They could watch me all they wanted as far as I was concerned because all they would see was just more of the same thing, me sitting and watching the crowd.
I was reading a guy who was trying to decide whether or not to approach a blonde girl sitting by herself across the bar. His name was Walter Lloyd, but liked to be called Wally and was a less than ordinary looking man, in his mid-twenties. He wore black loose jeans and a black t-shirt featuring a band name I couldn’t make out. His dark, greasy, lanky hair fell in front of his eyes so you could barely make out his face. I understood Wally’s hesitancy in approaching the girl. She seemed a bit out of his league. On the other hand, she did seem to be looking at him and smiling.
She couldn’t have been any older than eighteen, if that, and was petite with platinum blonde hair. Her perfectly pale milky skin and beautifully formed face would enchant anyone who looked at her. She made me want to introduce myself.
She wore tight black leather pants with an equally tight white top under a black leather jacket. The ensemble was tough and classy at the same time. It seemed odd a girl like that would be trying to flirt with the less than average looking Wally.
“What are you waiting for?”
His self-confidence was not at its peak. He kept trying to convince himself she couldn’t be looking at him.
Well, he didn’t make a move, but she did. She moved over to where he was and started into a conversation with him. I guess everyone has a type. I decided to let him have his moment and moved on to look at others.
A thirty something CPA, at a large Seattle firm was out with his young assistant enjoying a night on the town. He looked uncomfortable at the Cross and hadn’t known what he was getting into when he agreed to let the assistant pick the place to meet. It was the first time he had done anything like that and hoped no one from the office would find out. His wife and kids of course thought he was out of town on business when he really planned to spend the evening at a hotel down the street. He kept telling himself it was just going to be this one time. Yeah, maybe only if he was caught. Asshole!
Carol Rogers was a twenty-two year old high school English teacher who had just had a rough break-up with her boyfriend of two years. He’d been another teacher at the school with her. A week before, she stayed after school to catch up on grading a stack of papers due back to the students the next day. It was late and she was finally ready to go home. On the way out, she remembered she’d left her sweater in the teacher’s lounge. It was a little cool out that night so she decided to go back for it. When she entered the lounge, she found her boyfriend half-dressed on the sofa with a student. The image of the scene was very vivid in her mind and I felt a little creepy watching it.
She didn’t stay long enough for him to say a word. She ran out of the school and hadn’t been back since. She was just about out of sick days and needed to go back to work. What she wanted was to do something to stop making her feel like a victim and to get even with her ex-boyfriend. What she lacked though, was the nerve to do something risky and out of character, so she just sat at the bar in a place she wouldn’t normally be at and kept the drinks coming.
I noticed officer Raymond looking at me again. Knowing I was a person of interest to her, I tried to ignore it. I thought I’d read her later.
Glancing back at the bar, I saw my odd couple again. Now the blonde woman appeared to be whispering in Wally’s ear. He nodded in response to what she was saying with a big dumb grin. It seemed like it was going to be Wally’s lucky night because they both rose to leave together. For some reason, I just couldn’t shake how odd the forwardness of this girl was. Surely there had to be an ulterior motive.
I debated reading her for a second but decided to go ahead. Why not? I had to know what she was up to. It was none of my business, but I hadn’t read the girl yet and I needed to be thorough in my investigation.
It took just seconds to enter the blonde girl’s mind. By the time I was done they were walking through a door towards the back of the bar.
“Oh crap,” I blurted out as I threw down my drink and followed.
CHAPTER 14
In the week following our first perfect night together, Sara and I managed to get away each evening to our little corner retreat. Each subsequent night was even more perfect and passionate than the one before. She was so perfect. It felt so right with her. We fit together so perfectly, not only in the physical sense, but in mind and spirit as well. Neither of us was getting much sleep, but
it wasn’t wearing on me, in fact I felt more energized, in a constant state of euphoria. All of the skepticism and feelings of uncertainty took a back burner. I was all about Sara and her presence left no room for other thoughts.
Each night when I came to take Sara away, I was met with Emily’s disapproval and the severity of it seemed to increase each time. Initially Sara and Emily had really clicked and become close. Lately though, that relationship was strained and the deterioration was obvious. I didn’t exactly understand why. I would have thought she’d be happy for Sara to be happy. I understood the hesitation of not following the rules, but come on, all we were doing was meeting in another part of the building. It wasn’t like we were trying to leave. Sara didn’t fully understand Emily’s attitude towards this either, but gave her the benefit of the doubt and chalked it up to not wanting us to get into trouble.
Rachael on the other hand seemed like she couldn’t have cared less. “It’s none of my business what you two do,” was her comment to Emily’s disapproval one evening.
She actually seemed to enjoy Alex’s company that first night. He’d gone over a few other evenings since. Of course Rachael liked to tease us when we were all together at meal times, which was all very mature of her.
James pretty much ignored the whole thing. He never brought it up again after that first night. I never really brought it up in front of him either. James and I were civil to each other, but not close. As each day passed, he became more and more focused on the training and only the training, causing the distance between him and the rest of us to continue to grow. At meal times, it seemed he had less and less to say. It was like he was trying to keep emotional space with the rest of us. Maybe the feelings he had for Sara were stronger than I’d considered and the relationship Sara and I had was hard for him to see.
Brian never said much about the whole thing, not that he ever said much to begin with. I liked Brian, he seemed like a good guy, but he didn’t seem quite comfortable with being there, which was understandable. To differing degrees, none of us were. For some, it was easier. For the last week it had been easier for me. I had a distraction from the strangeness of it in the form of Sara, but he didn’t have someone he felt completely comfortable with.
Alex was like a brother to me and, like a brother, gave me a hard time about my time alone with Sara. His comments didn’t bother me.
The PTD training went well, with no serious accidents. We all picked up on it rather quickly; there really was nothing that complicated to the controls. The key advantage with the PTD, besides the coolness factor of being able to teleport, was the ability to get the jump on your target. With no approach there was no time for a target to react. The most difficult part using it, at first, was learning how to accurately estimate the distance you wanted to jump. Unfortunately, this was a task where our abilities didn’t give any kind of advantage. It took repeated practice until our normal non-super powered brains got it.
It took me a while to master. After a week, Rachael still tended to over-estimate her distances and of course Alex always found a way to work distances into conversations, giving her a hard time about it. It was good someone wasn’t afraid to dish it out to Rachael. She did her fair share of dishing too.
Sara seemed almost to be a natural in estimating. Most of the time, James was the quickest to learn new things, but in that case Sara was first. She nailed it on her first attempt.
“So how much longer are we going to be stuck in this building?” Rachael whined at the group during dinner.
We were seated at one of the long tables in our small plain eating area. The table was fully stocked with baked chicken, roasted potatoes, warm bread and buttered corn. We were each on at least our second helping. Alex and I were on our third. At least the food the HUB provided was good.
I fixed a fake annoyed look at her. “Didn’t you bring this up just yesterday?”
The truth was she’d brought it up every other day for the previous two weeks.
“One month down, two to go,” Alex said.
Rachael vented once more. “I think we need to stage a break out. I need fresh air or at least a change of scenery. I’m going crazy in here. I don’t know why it is so damn important we stay locked up this whole time.”
Alex put his arm around her. “I’ll break out with you, as long as the food is still this good on the outside. You promise me that and I’m golden.”
Surprisingly James joined the conversation. “They have reasons for keeping us isolated. They want to make sure we get all we can in these three months without any distractions. I’m sure we’ll have more freedom once ready for missions.”
Rachael scoffed. “Come on. They’re just worried about the flight risk. They want to make sure we’re fully brainwashed before giving us a taste of freedom.”
“We all agreed to be here,” James responded smartly “If you think they’re somehow just brainwashing us, why did you agree to stay?
“James, can I just vent some steam without you sticking up for your buddy Batton,” Rachael spat back.
James didn’t say anymore. I think Rachael intimidated him. It was a little harsh. James definitely had his faults and he wasn’t my favorite person, but it was obvious he was having a hard time and something was causing him to withdraw inside himself. I told myself I’d man up and try to talk with him later.
“Speaking of Batton, that guy is getting unbearable. Caldwell and Masters are both decent enough, but Batton just can’t help but be an ass. The only upside is Matthew is here to balance him out some,” Alex complained.
Sara laughed. “Masters? She’s as bad as Batton. I don’t think I’ve seen her smile once since the first day. It’s doubtful she even owns a personality. You just think she’s hot.”
“I think there’s something a little wild behind that stone cold demeanor of hers and I am going to be the one to gets her to let down her hair,” Alex admitted putting his hands behind his head and leaning back with a wide grin.
“You’re a pig,” Sara said laughing and threw a roll at his face.
He caught it in his teeth. “Oink, oink,” The pig sounds were funny in his deep voice.
“They’re career military and take this stuff seriously. I guess they just don’t find the humor in it. They’re trying to get us ready as soon as they can. I can’t blame them for that,” Emily piped in.
I snapped back. “We all know the seriousness of the situation. Hell, we’re a direct result of it.” I hadn’t meant to sound so angry, but I guess it was Emily’s attitude lately getting to me.
“I know. I’m just saying I can see their perspective.”
I sensed a little irritation in her voice. She sure had changed over the last week. At first, she was carefree and light spirited. Now she was always so serious. It seemed Sara and I was to blame for that.
“…. these …. stup …man ….,” I heard short jumbled nonsense accompanied by a short sharp pain in my temple as I was listening to Emily.
I could make out only a few sounds and at first, I dismissed what I thought I’d heard. It had sounded like Emily’s voice, but was in addition to the words she was actually saying.
The pain began to fade and though I certainly thought what had just happened was strange, I was about to dismiss it when I felt the sharp jab and heard it again.
“… jus …. job … ould … on ….,” I heard the voice; Emily’s broken voice, say again. This time, Emily’s lips hadn’t been moving.
“What was that?” I asked without thinking.
Emily looked irritated. “I was just saying I can see their perspective and we just need to be patient with the training process and continue to focus on getting ready for active missions.”
I’d heard that.
“Ok. We’re stuck here for two more months. We’ll make it. We may drive each other crazy but at least we’ll be highly trained crazy people. On second thought, crazy people trained to kill probably isn’t the end product they’re wanting. Oh well,” Alex said
with a shrug.
Everyone laughed. I was a little distracted, but laughed as well. There was even an effort of a smile from James.
I wasn’t sure what had just happened or if anything had just happened. It was really weird though. I swore I’d heard Emily’s voice.
I was sitting next to Sara and I glanced over and saw she was looking at me, questioning with some concern on her face. I guess I probably showed some on mine. Trying to wipe away any indication of concern, I smiled warmly at her and gave her hand a soft reassuring squeeze under the table to let her know nothing was wrong.
That night when Sara and I met, she wasn’t acting as she had been. She seemed a little withdrawn and distracted. Her usual display of warmth and brightness was dimmed by something. Deciding to avoid the growing drama that was Emily, we’d met each other this time. When I arrived she was already there and I sat down next to her.
“So, is the sleep deprivation starting to get to you yet?” I asked, trying break past whatever was on her mind.
She smiled and leaned into me. The warmth of her body was a comfort. “I actually haven’t even noticed. I think whatever’s lacking in sleep has been more than offset by how happy I’ve been over the last week. I wouldn’t give up our nights together for anything.”
“Maybe these new and improved bodies don’t need as much sleep as we think they do,” I suggested.
Sara looked thoughtful. “Maybe. I think there’s a lot we don’t know about these new and improved bodies. Was everything okay at dinner tonight? You seemed a little distracted or I don’t know… something seemed to be bothering you.”
I hadn’t wanted to bring that up because I didn’t even know what had happened, if anything. I didn’t really know how I would explain it. I’d promised Sara I’d be completely open and honest about everything though, so I gave it a try.
