––––––––
Sammy had been in the bathroom of this crummy hotel room for what seemed like an eternity.
Smith and his merry band of action star wannabes left an hour ago with the promise that they would need me soon. They knew that the drug they injected me with was wearing off, and Smith didn't want to be around when it did. Nami stayed behind to assist me in preparing for our upcoming 'mission', though it was far more likely that she was supposed to keep an eye on us.
Preparation didn't really appear to be a concern for her because she was playing Doom on her laptop.
"Isn't that game twenty years old?" I asked.
"Yeah, so is your face."
"Wow. That really hit me where it hurts."
I couldn't get over the fact that she looked all of twelve years old. She wasn't even close to approaching ninety pounds.
"How tall are you? It looks like you shop in the toddler section."
"Tall enough to kick your dumb ass."
Her foul mouth and diminutive size made for a hilarious combination. I could tell that working with her would be interesting.
Now that all of my faculties had returned, I decided to probe for some information. Images from her thoughts filled my mind, flashing by like the pages of a flip book. The feeling of it is hard to describe, but the effect is similar to copying information from one computer to the next. Within a few seconds I knew that she had told the truth about being new to the operation. Her knowledge of what was happening didn't differ from what had just been explained to me. She knew nothing about Smith.
That explains why the three stooges left her here. They knew she couldn't reveal anything they wanted kept secret.
"So, Nokia, you've been working for the NSA for two years as a tech analyst – how did you rate this crazy job?"
"Nokia? My name is Nami. And did you just mind rape me?"
"Sorry, Nancy. And yes, I did. I needed to make sure we were on the same team. Don't worry though, I only checked out your professional memories. All that weird stuff of you dressed like Japanese cartoon characters I left alone."
"Hey! Comic-Con rocks. Suck my balls. My name is Nami! I might shoot you when this is over."
That was officially the first time a woman has ever threatened me with that.
The door to the bathroom opened behind me. Sammy took a tentative step out.
"Are they gone?" she asked.
"Yes, but they should be calling for me before too long. They left Short Round here to babysit us," I said.
"Going to shoot you until you die from it," Nami whispered.
"Ash, please tell me why they were saying those crazy things to you. Why do they think you're a psychic? What do they want from us?"
Putting my hands on her shoulders, I led her over to sit on one of the beds. As crazy as this day had been for me, I had to remember that she must have felt like she had a bad acid trip
"This is going to sound bonkers to you, but the information they had on me was right. I can do the things they said."
"Stop it! Just tell me the truth!"
"Think of a random number, right now. I'll tell you exactly what it is."
"Oh please, any stupid magician can do that trick."
"Then make it a huge number that no one could guess."
"Fine."
She tried to trick me – she didn't visualize any number at all.
"Blue. You're thinking of the color blue, the same shade as my eyes."
"That's impossible! No one could—"
"It's true," I interrupted. "I've been able to do this since my brain injury."
She pushed my hands away from her shoulders and stared at me with large round eyes.
"What am I thinking now?"
"Your first dog, a German Shepherd named Max—"
"Oh my God!" she yelled as she punched me in the face.
Getting hit is something I've become accustomed to from my boxing training, but being punched right in the nose is terrible. It always makes my sinuses stuff up and my eyes water.
She was in good shape too; she hit me damn hard.
"Ash, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that! You startled me so bad – it was a reflex," Sammy blurted out as she bent over me, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"That's a hell of a reflex."
Nami sat in the corner, laughing at me.
"Are those tears? Is the huge baby crying because a girl hit him? What a pussy."
"At least I can ride everything at the amusement park, Nadia." Letting go of my nose and not seeing any blood, I turned back to Samantha. "Don't worry about it. I deserve more than that for getting you into this mess."
Sitting back on the bed, she looked at me with distrust on her face. "How is this possible?"
That was a question I had often asked myself. Years of drowning the voices in alcohol and wallowing in depression never gave me an answer either.
"I wish I knew. It started after I was hurt. The impact must have jarred something loose in my head."
"That's why you've kept to yourself for so long?" she asked.
"It was the only way to keep myself sane."
Sharing this with someone made me feel completely exposed. All of a sudden the entire world seemed to know too much about me.
The sympathy on Samantha’s face changed to worry. The poor girl had gone through the entire gamut of emotions in the past two minutes.
"Do you always know what I'm thinking?"
"No, I'm in control of it now. You can feel safe around me – I'm not a monster."
Her body language indicated that she was dropping her guard a little bit at a time.
"Ash, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry. This is all so... far-fetched. I don't even believe in palm reading."
"We can discuss all of this later. First, we need to get you as far away from here as possible."
"You don't think I'm safe here?"
"I don't trust this Smith guy at all. He was way too forthcoming with information. Something isn't sitting right with me."
"Then why are you helping them? We should both get out of here!"
"What if he's telling the truth? I couldn't live with myself if something terrible happened and I could have helped stop it. That's the only reason I'm playing along for now."
"When you girls are done kissing, you need to see this," Nami said.
She moved over to the bistro table and positioned the laptop so we could see the screen as we huddled around it.
"The local news station is saying that your apartment blew from a gas leak."
"Hundreds of people must have seen those armed men. How can that be the story?"
"It gets worse; they're calling it arson. You and your little girlfriend here are the primary suspects. There are warrants out for your arrest."
This didn't make any sense. How could some guys shoot a bazooka into my house? And now I was being sought for arson? Why would Sammy be a suspect too?
"The police are after me?" Sammy asked.
"You guys are having a shitty day," Nami said.
"Is there any mention of the men who stormed the building at all?" I asked.
"They're saying that the police raided the building, but you escaped. That's it."
Murdock must have known he hadn't killed me. He was trying to stack the deck in his favor by getting the cops after us.
"I've never done anything illegal in my life," Sammy said as she slumped into a chair.
"The news story, is it based on a police report?" I asked Nami.
"Yeah, looks like a Detective Johnson issued a statement explaining everything." I could see her trying to put the pieces to together. "You think this Murdock dude got to him?"
"I can't even bring myself to pirate a song off the internet," Sammy said.
"It's the only thing that makes sense. He changed tactics when he found out I escaped. Why chase us around the city when he can have the police do it for him? That's what I would do."
Sammy bolted up. "Why don't we just turn ourselves in and tell them what really happened?"
"Jesus, you're a real rocket scientist, aren't you?" Nami said.
"He wants the police to arrest us. If we're locked in a cell we're as good as dead. Killing us would be like shooting fish in a barrel at that point," I said. "It looks like staying here might be the best thing for you after all. If you leave and the cops find you, it's game over."
Nami clicked away at her computer. "Looks like CNN just picked up on the story. You guys are in deep shit."
"CNN? My mom is going to kill me!"
Murdock was trying to take me out of the equation. Smith seemed to be right about that. But why was he after Sammy? Did he hope she would be captured so he could use her as bait? He had me backed into a corner. I had to help Smith take him out.