Lunatic Fringe

by TL Schaefer

  “I’ll cover her,” I told Heath, “while you do a threat assessment.”

  He popped up, bringing his own pistol to bear, then dropped back. “It’s O’Donnell and a passenger. Don’t recognize him.”

  Then we could hear the car doors opening and closing. “It’s O’Donnell,” the driver shouted, his tones just as well modulated as they’d been in the conference room. “I’m afraid we had to manhandle your rental a bit to get through the main gates, but time is of the essence, as you well know. I’m accompanied by Dr. Edwards, who will assist me.”

  Which was a lot of words for what he wasn’t saying... that they were going to dose Grace with Simple Simon. And then they were going to disappear with her forever.

  That wasn’t happening, not on my fucking watch. I had no clue what we were going to do with Grace, but it wasn’t just hand her over. At least not to these assholes. But I wasn’t going to argue with them taking away her very thin potential to control us. Because in hindsight, we only had O’Donnell’s word that Grace’s talent was weak.

  “We’re coming up the stairs,” O’Donnell said, and in two steps he and a bespectacled man appeared. O’Donnell was still wearing a power suit, but his companion was dressed in khakis and a polo and carried a small briefcase that could have held almost anything.

  I continued to cover Grace while the men approached under Heath’s watchful eye. O’Donnell stopped at the top of the stairs, wisely keeping his hands visible as the doctor approached Grace, withdrawing what looked like a pen from his pocket.

  “Warren, Paul, I’m glad you’re here. Let’s get this over with.”

  Dr. Edwards smiled and took the last step, brought the pen up and touched the side of her throat, right beneath her ear. She flinched back, then looked at him with betrayal in her eyes. “What was that?”

  “Just give it a second,” O’Donnell murmured, and then Dr. Edwards leaned forward and whispered in her ear. Her eyes dropped shut as she slipped into what looked like a peaceful sleep.

  Edwards stood, placed the pen back in his pocket and then turned toward me and spread his hands wide.

  “Now what?” Heath asked.

  I could almost see the gears turning in O’Donnell’s head. He thought Heath to be a Talentless bureaucrat. Dr. Edwards likely had another dose or two of Simple Simon rolling around in his pockets. How hard would it be to dose us and do as they wished?

  Except, of course, we were pointing guns at them. And the cavalry had to be getting close. But they didn’t know that either.

  O’Donnell finally spoke. “As we discussed yesterday, we’ll take Grace with us, detain her so she cannot cause any more harm. As well as any children she has acquired, specifically Benito Franklin.”

  The way he said it left an ashy taste in my mouth. How was he any fucking better than Grace? Dollars to doughnuts Benito was the kid I’d seen in the window. The kid that wasn’t Tori, but so easily could have been if things were different. Benito Franklin was now mine to protect, at least until this was all over.

  “No,” I said before Heath could utter a word. “Kids are off the table. We can chat about Grace.”

  “You seem to be misinformed, Ms. Foudy. Regardless of the firepower you’ve brought to bear, we’ll finish what we came here to do. You’ll never be bothered by Grace again. But Benito must come with us, it is imperative. Paul, if you would?”

  Dr. Edwards stepped toward us, pulling another pen out of his pocket. He came for me first, perhaps thinking I was the safer bet.

  He thought wrong. And even though the gun felt wrong in my hand, I still didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. I aimed center mass, issued a warning. “You know I was a military cop, a detective. Take one step further and I’ll ventilate your ass.”

  He smirked and I knew this was going to go sideways fast. I fired.

  The bullet seemed to slow as it left the barrel, seemed to just hang in the air as he stepped out of its path and sidled next to me.

  I swung the pistol itself, using it as a bludgeon, and felt the kiss of the pen’s surface on my arm. Jesus, had he actually slowed down the bullet? Or time?

  And then the pen was being knocked away by a whip-thin lash of crimson that smelled like salvation and brimstone. A towering wall of flame sprung to life at my feet, and what should have been scalding was merely warm to the touch, though Dr. Edwards cringed on the other side, his clothing beginning to smoke.

  The fire curled around the doctor, and then O’Donnell, ending a foot over their heads. Like a containment field of fire.

  Heath moved next to me, dropped his head down next to mine while still staring at O’Donnell. “You okay, Moni?”

  “Yeah,” I breathed, stunned by the level of his control. It was exactly the opposite of what had happened with Trang. “You?”

  “I’m pissed, but not overly surprised,” he said. “The dodging-the-bullet thing was a twist, though.”

  I laughed at the look on O’Donnell’s face, as he realized they’d discounted Heath for far too long, and at their own peril.

  I also realized what Heath had done. For me.

  He’d shown O’Donnell and Edwards exactly what he could do. He’d outed himself and his considerable Talent to the very people who would use it for their own agenda.

  And he’d done it to save me.

  Something broke open inside. I’d thought, before, we’d approached a new level of intimacy. A place I’d never been before. This blew them all away.

  Before, I’d been the vulnerable one. Today, Heath had put himself in that position for us.

  “Here’s how it’s going to go, O’Donnell. In about thirty seconds my friends are going to pull in. They’re going to take Edwards here into custody for assaulting Monica. You’re going in as well, I’m thinking for something terrorist related, because that should sew you up long enough for the FBI to figure out what they want to do with you. You’ll probably get bailed out at the earliest possible second. And I’m fine with that. But you and your Board? You’re done.”

  “I second that,” said a familiar voice behind us. Kavenaugh stepped up behind us. Considered Heath’s fire cage with a cocked head. “Nice. Bet that surprised the shit out of them. You can drop it now, we can take it from here.”

  We warned them about Edwards’ potential talent, then Heath disengaged his power and we stepped back, let Kavenaugh, Arin and Roney take over. Kavenaugh detained them with a lot more authority than I would have suspected for a mid-level SAIC.

  Something was up with that.

  I shot Heath a questioning look and he shrugged in return. He was part of the team, and we had to trust in that. Kavenaugh had been in our corner from day one, and we would extend him the same support. But he definitely knew something we didn’t.

  As soon as O’Donnell and Edwards were in cuffs and dosed with Simple Simon, Kavenaugh and two agents I’d never seen before loaded the three Board members into the back of an armored SUV and drove away, leaving the rest of us standing on the stone steps of the lodge.

  Arin followed in her own car, headed back to where the CASI kids were hidden, her job here done for the time being.

  I breathed a sigh of relief as they disappeared around the bend in the driveway, and then stiffened as an RV and a Jeep pulled in and an older woman got out... accompanied by Spooky Dobbs. A few years older, but definitely Asa.

  The woman looked familiar, as if I should know who she was, then she and Asa were climbing the stairs.

  “Sir, Cam’s been working a lead ever since we found Penny six months ago,” Asa reported to Heath.

  Bells started going off in my head. Penny was the name of the girl I’d shared a balcony with at CASI just a few days ago. Asa had brought her in? To CASI? This just got weirder and weirder.

  “We were headed this way anyway after my vision this morning showed me a different building and a child, and about ten minutes ago her story and my vision converged.”

  “His name is Benito—” she started.

&n
bsp; “Franklin,” I finished. “He’s inside the lodge, but likely in hiding after what went down out here. Why do you need him?” There was no way in hell I was letting anyone touch a Talented kid for the foreseeable future. And even though Asa worked for Heath, I hadn’t known the kid for over a decade, and even then it had been around the base, not personally enough to render a decision that important.

  The woman studied me from eyes that looked just as jaded as mine. Then her lips tipped up in a small smile and she held out her hand. “Cam Ryder. You’re Monica Morgan, aren’t you? You probably don’t remember but I covered the story on the IED that went off in your compound.”

  I looked down at her hand. Thought about leaving it hanging there, but everyone was looking at us, so I gave her hand a brisk shake. “Yeah, I remember you.” I left it at that.

  She’d been first on the scene and at the time she’d reminded me of a vulture circling the dead. My impression hadn’t changed much over the last fourteen years. The media would never have a place in my heart, no matter their good intentions.

  Asa broke in, oblivious to the tension between Cam and I. “My vision clarified, told me that if the woman made it into the building, the boy inside would be imprisoned, made to do unspeakable things. I could see his name on her lips, like it was written on the air. Benito. And when I said his name out loud, Cam and I started to put them together.”

  Cam picked up the story, since it was obvious I wasn’t going to let her into the lodge, and I wasn’t going to head in and get Benito while she was standing there, not unless I had a damned good reason to.

  “I’m semi-new to all of this, so forgive any mistakes. Benito Franklin was sold to Grace Pearce by his parents two weeks ago for twenty thousand dollars. His aunt, who is known around their town as an herb witch, contacted me because I’m her favorite journalist. Said Benito was nowhere to be found and her brother was throwing around money he shouldn’t have had. Said some things that made her really look into it.”

  She paused, looked at the lodge as if she could see the child through the walls. “She said Benito was destined for greatness, that he would change the world, depending on where his road forked, and that she feared him lost, and the world along with him.”

  A child who’d been fucking sold?

  I turned to Heath. “I’m going in alone. Like might call to like, and you probably scared the shit out of him when you contained those two,” I left everything I said deliberately vague.

  Asa may trust Cam Ryder, but she had absolutely no credibility with me. Probably never would.

  Heath nodded that he’d take care of the others, and I turned, walked up the long, lovely pathway, and pushed through the front doors of Northwood.

  The foyer was gorgeous, cool and cavernous after the bright sun.

  “Benito,” I called. “It’s okay. I’m Monica.” I took a deep breath. “I’m a healer. Not a doctor, but someone who can fix you by touching you. I know you’re scared, but please come out and at least talk to me.”

  “You’re a healer?” the voice that wafted down the hallway was scared, tiny and scared, so I sat down on a bench in the entryway, got comfortable.

  “I am. An empath too, but I’m pretty sure they’re linked. That means I feel what other people feel. And I can tell you’re frightened, but trying to be brave.” I didn’t need an empathic Talent to know that. He was just a kid and he was justifiably terrified.

  “I don’t feel anything when I touch people,” he said, his voice getting closer. “It’s like I can see the pieces in my head, and I just rearrange them until they’re right.”

  I blew out a breath. Holy shit. He was talking about cell manipulation at the molecular level. Maybe. I didn’t know squat about that kind of stuff, but it sure sounded like it.

  “Well, my Talent isn’t that fancy. When I was your age I healed animals and helped them cross the Rainbow Bridge with less pain when their time came. But I forgot all about what I could do and just recently remembered.”

  I could see his shadow now from where he was hiding around a corner but beneath a skylight.

  “I have a daughter about your age,” I continued. “We’re trying to find out if she has a Talent like you and me. We think she does. Did you know there’s a school to help you figure it out?”

  “That’s what she said,” he replied, his voice tiny again, and in that moment I fucking hated Grace Pearce.

  “This has nothing to do with her,” I said. “I wish I’d had this school when I was growing up, and I’m fairly sure my daughter will end up going there. One of my friends is a teacher. She can see the future sometimes, and can see what color aura you have. And the headmaster can freeze you with a touch. Which to me is totally creepy, but he’s a nice guy.”

  Now I could see him. He was maybe ten or eleven. Dark hair, olive skin, enormous brown eyes. For a brief second in time he reminded me of Yar. Of the boy I couldn’t save.

  But I held my place on the bench. Waited until he was a careful six feet away.

  “What do you want to do, Benito? Go home?” Over my dead body. “Or maybe someplace else? Another relative, maybe?”

  “Benny,” he said, his too-serious gaze locked with mine. “My name is Benny, and I’m never going home again.” Then his chin wobbled. “I want my abuela.”

  I reached out a hand even as my heart broke. “Well then, let’s go find your grandmother, okay?”

  When his fingers closed over mine, I poured every bit of healing love I could into him, and he looked up with a gasp, then his eyes overflowed and he was in my arms, sobbing like the little boy he was.

  Chapter Seventeen

  WHAT CAME BEFORE...

  The ringing in my ears won’t go away even though it’s been two days.

  The doc says it’s normal, that sometimes it takes a while to fade.

  We all had to see the shrink this morning, talk about what happened, about how while we didn’t lose any of our own, we lost Yar. The camp mascot. The kid we’d all taken under our wing. Cared too much about.

  I forced a sob down.

  That wouldn’t do, it wouldn’t do at all. No one got to see me cry. Not ever.

  Even more so today. If I start I don’t think I’ll ever stop.

  Because Yar wasn’t just some Afghan kid who sold us black market shit. He’d become part of us. Of our collective personality. He’d become the child I would never have.

  And now he was gone. Blown into a million pieces. Because he’d had the gall to want to hang out with the Americans. Because he’d had the bad luck to step on an IED that’d been planted in the middle of the night. In the middle of our compound. Because he’d stepped on something that’d been intended for one of us.

  I can’t do this anymore. When my enlistment is up, I’m done.

  If I live that long.

  Now... Denver

  I walked past everyone holding Benny’s hand and buckled him into the back seat of my car. Heath followed a few paces behind, a questioning expression on his face.

  “Tori’s room at the safe house for now,” I said. “Until we find his grandmother. He’ll need to get checked out by a doctor, but he seems fine physically. He doesn’t want to go home.” I choked on the words. What had his parents done? Besides sell him like a side of beef, that is.

  Heath stepped into my space, curved his arms around me. “We’ve got your back, Moni. Go ahead and I’ll clean up here, see if there are any more kids secreted away.”

  I melted into his embrace, inhaled the snow-and-pines scent that told me his Talent was buried deep again. Knew tonight we’d share a bed, even if not in the carnal way, not with another kid in the house. But we had plenty of time for sex. Later.

  When we separated, I looked over his shoulder at Roney, who was not even bothering to pretend not to stare as he and Kavenaugh began cordoning off the entryway of the lodge. He winked and I responded with an eye roll, then got into the car.

  Heath would follow when he could. After they checked for m
ore kids.

  I didn’t think they’d find any—my empathy had only latched onto Benny—but we had to be sure.

  Benny and I grabbed his favorite fast food tacos on the way back to the safe house, then I settled him in to Tori’s room.

  “This was my daughter’s room, before she went to CASI,” I said. “You’ll be safe here, just like she was.”

  He nodded, his face solemn, his eyelids already starting to droop as the food in his stomach began to hit his system. He was going to be out for hours, as his body and his mind began to catch up to his new reality.

  I couldn’t believe it was already late afternoon, but it’d been an eventful day, to say the least.

  I brewed a cup of tea, settled into an armchair in the living room and just sat in silence. Not even thinking about everything that had happened over the last week. Instead, I just let my brain rest, much like Benny.

  It was much easier to do when someone wasn’t kidnapping you. Or shooting at you.

  When Heath and Roney rolled in a bit after eight with two pizzas and a six pack of beer, I was refreshed, both in body and soul.

  We sat around the kitchen table, keeping the noise level at a minimum so as not to disturb Benny, and Heath gave us the scoop.

  Kavenaugh had been heading up the mother of all investigations and today, he’d finally been able to divulge some of it to Heath.

  He’d been on the CASI case for a little over a year, right after the school started back up and Heath and his kids had been attacked by Wes Burke. While the FBI had written Burke’s death off as an accident to the media, in reality they’d assigned a secondary, in-house investigation to Kavenaugh, to find out what had really happened.

  Burke’s actions before his death had led Kavenaugh to CASI, but he’d been stymied by Trang’s security measures. He knew something was strange about the school, and that the kids there were different, but he’d thought them geniuses or some such thing.

  When Arin brought him in while they were dodging Russians and Gordon, it had seemed like divine intervention and kicked the door wide open when it came to access.