38

Caleb entered Hamlin Turner’s outer office with an intense certainty that he was surrounded by friends. On the face of things, that was beyond absurd. Zeke and Hester and their one ally among the student population had vanished. He was trusting his life and the Catawba enclave’s future to a complete stranger. His recent assurance had come in the middle of a massive thunderstorm, when he was blasted by images he did not fully understand. Yet as Caleb seated himself by the side wall, he felt as though a whole company of trusted allies joined him. They might be invisible. He might not even know their names. But they were there with him. Now.

Of course, it could all just be the result of having lost a night’s sleep. But Caleb was certain there was more to his unseen companions than mere exhaustion.

What was more, despite his fatigue and his grainy eyes and his aching muscles, Caleb felt something he could not name. The sensation was so odd, he needed a long moment to even give it a name.

He felt ready.

He was still coming to terms with the prospect of taking another unseen step when the next event happened.

It was only then, as he was blasted by Maddie’s message, that he named the experience. Event. It was by far the strongest such experience he had ever known. And it carried an underlying sense of Maddie having waited days and days and days. Through dark hours filled with hopeless fear, Maddie had clung to the certainty that he would come for her. That she could trust him. With her life.

“Caleb?”

When Caleb opened his eyes and managed to refocus, he discovered Hamlin Turner bending over him, peering down in concern. “Are you all right?”

Kevin’s team contained seven mentats of one persuasion or another. Mentat was their term for adepts with the ability to register some form of mental connection with others. One-third of their total was a considerable amount. It probably meant something significant. But just then Kevin could not take time to figure it out. He was far too worried about what was about to take place.

The team’s mentats came in all shapes, sizes, and levels of ability. None of them had ever attempted what he proposed. And yet all seemed more than willing to try. Even Pablo showed nothing save a calm confidence that Kevin’s untested idea might work.

This group’s trust in his judgment was very frightening indeed.

The rain remained their friend as they drove east, toward the city’s boundary fence. As they rode, Kevin tried to gain a clearer understanding of what had happened when Irene made the connection. Bonded was how she described it. She had bonded with a woman she had never met, and in that instant they had been granted a compass heading. Something to point toward beyond the Atlanta border. How they were to achieve it, Kevin had no idea. But listening to Irene describe the experience was settling. Her words gave him strength to hope they would receive the next piece of the puzzle once they entered the city.

Of course, that was assuming he could get them inside.

“She was waiting for me,” Irene told him. “She had been waiting for days.” It was the second time she had told of her experience, and she was much calmer now. She sipped from a canteen and held her gaze steady on Kevin. He had never seen eyes like hers before. They were like a dawn mist, crystal grey and yet harboring faint hints of other colors, sky blue and meadow green. He felt like he could fall into those eyes and be happy.

The entire truck focused on Irene. Doris poked her head through the cab’s rear window. Now and then she retreated and passed on Irene’s words to the others seated up front.

Kevin asked, “Maddie wasn’t troubled by how she didn’t know you?”

Irene shook her head. “She saw the connection we had made with Caleb.”

“You didn’t mention that before.”

“Because she didn’t tell me. You asked me what she said, and I told you. This was different.” Irene paused for another sip from the canteen. “I don’t know how Maddie did it. I don’t know how I saw it either. One thing I do know. That woman is strong.”

“What other impressions did you get?”

Irene thought a long moment. The truck trundled forward, the rain drumming upon the roof. Finally she said, “I think she had been expecting all along that Caleb would bring someone to her. A real mentat.”

“So she could pass on the message.”

“No.” Irene was definite. “She could always communicate with Caleb, you said that yourself. What she needed was knowing that Caleb had brought others.”

Kevin nodded. That made sense. “A team who could free her.”

“Right. Exactly. So as soon as I connected, she sent me this . . .”

“Burst, you called it,” Kevin said. He was crouched in the central space, squatting on a pack, not quite touching Irene. It was the most he had ever heard her speak. He liked her voice. It carried the soft lilt of a woman born to sing.

“I’ve never felt anything like that. The message was layer upon layer.”

“Break it down for me.”

“I already have.”

“Do it again. Sometimes repetition helps new things to surface.”

The look she gave him made him feel as though they were alone. In that moment, the others who watched and listened did not touch them. “I bet you are a great policeman.”

“Deputy sheriff,” he corrected. “Tell me.”

“The top layer was a map. She showed me one portion of the university campus.”

“Three buildings,” Kevin said. “In the northeast corner.”

“One is a barracks for adepts, with cafeteria and classroom.”

“A big building, you said, with a lot more room than they need.”

She nodded. “The middle building was a militia barracks, with another cafeteria. The third building was dark and scary. The only thing she showed clearly about that place was how part of the ground floor was sectioned off. It held families of those who were in the first building. Her father was in there.”

Hostages, Kevin knew. “Was there a fence or anything around the three buildings?”

“They’re building one. It’s almost finished.” She smiled with her eyes only. “I didn’t say that before, did I?”

“See? Tell me about the fence.”

“The city’s boundary wall forms one side. When it’s finished, the fence will hold all three buildings and have towers at the corners.”

“Dogs?”

“I didn’t . . . No.” She straightened. “I just thought of something. There are suits in the dark place. Six of them. And they have a name. Specialists.”

“Good, this is good.” Though Kevin could not see any advantage to adding Washington specialists to the list of enemies. “You said there were layers to the message.”

“Underneath the map there was a message. We have to come now. The adepts are beginning to give up hope. She’s part of a group that has tried to hide their abilities. But a breakaway group wants to protect their families and reveal what they can do.”

Hiding away was why Caleb had not heard from her, Kevin knew. His respect for this woman he’d never met grew steadily. “Anything else?”

“There was a third layer under the other two.” Tears formed in the edges of Irene’s eyes. “She loves Caleb very, very much.”

Caleb allowed himself to be guided by Hamlin Turner and his secretary through the broad double doors and into Hamlin’s office. He nodded at their offer of coffee, though he doubted he could drink anything. Mostly he wanted to be left alone. He needed time to absorb what had just happened. Yet time was the one thing he did not have.

There were multiple layers to Maddie’s mental blast. That was precisely what she had sent to him—an explosion of energy. Carried within this force was a series of images. Just like all her previous communications, but far stronger than anything they had shared before.

Binding all the images together was an emotion so intense he still resonated with its impact.

Love. Desperate, hungry, needful love. And a confidence he would come to her rescue.