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“My name is Albert Nelson. I’m currently in charge of this operation.” Nelson stood in the middle of the room, facing the new hires.
Nami, Drew and I sat behind him, closer to the door.
“What is this place exactly?” Bree asked. She’d returned her tiny knife back to her belt where it pretended to be a buckle. She gestured at Nami. “And shouldn’t the girl leave before we get into this? Why is she even here?”
Nami deflated in her chair. Her love affair with Bree Manning had just crashed to a screaming halt.
“I’m not a goddamn little girl!” Nami crossed her arms over her chest. She mumbled, “Shit lords,” under her breath.
“Really?” Manning’s cheeks reddened. “Sorry.”
We sat there for nearly twenty minutes, listening to Nelson describe just how boned we all were. He went over Murdock’s rampage through D.C., the old mission and capabilities of the Psych Ward, and how Smith had caused the horror in Arthur’s Creek.
A laugh escaped me at one point as I listened to the entire story. I couldn’t help it. The narrative Nelson had weaved was preposterous. Sure, it was all true, but that didn’t make it any less absurd.
The whole thing sounded like the basis for a crappy thriller novel. But it was even worse than that because only an asshole would write an idiot like me in as the hero of a story. You’d have to be a real loser to conjure me up as the protagonist.
The four newbies gaped at him throughout most of it, their disbelief etched all over their faces. At the end, when they were obviously not buying what Nelson was selling, he told them about me.
That led to more incredulous questions, followed by me going through the whole mindreading rigmarole. Everyone always asked the same questions.
What am I thinking now?
That I’m full of shit.
What color is in my head?
Blue.
What number is going to win the lottery next week?
I’m a telepath, not a precog.
What the hell is a precog?
I need beer. Lots and lots of beer.
It was the same thing every single time someone learned what I could do. They asked the same questions with the same disbelief before finally pulling away from me in fear. Everyone was worried I would know all the fucked-up things that passed through their minds a million times a day.
And they were right to fear that.
I did hear those things.
Unfortunately for them, I’d already scanned all of their minds the moment they’d touched down on the roof of our building. Part of our screening of new recruits consisted of me verifying they hadn’t already been turned by Smith.
If Tate’s scowl deepened anymore, the corners of his mouth would have dragged on the floor. He stared me dead in the eyes, asked, “You actually think we’re going to buy this scam, asshole?”
“Actually, it’s Asher.”
“What?”
“You said asshole when you meant Asher.”
“You think you’re funny?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
Tate tensed, and I could tell he was about to lunge across the room at me. The man was wound so tight that a caravan of horses couldn’t have yanked a needle out of his ass. He’d seen too much during his time overseas, done too much, that had caused him to lose most of his ability to act like a civilized human being.
I held a hand up. “Calm down, tough guy. We’re on the same side here.”
“Not sure that we are.” Tate glared at me, but he stayed seated. “Your parlor tricks aren’t fooling me.”
Huxx sat quietly, watching and listening. The man was a calculated, intense thinker. He didn’t make rash decisions. I liked that about him. He stood in stark contrast to Tate. And myself. He finally said, “Why the four of us? I’ve been out of the game for almost a year.”
“We’re in a tough spot.” Nelson finally sat down, his shoulders sagging. Even though the morning was young, weariness permeated his every move. “We’ve discovered that Smith is blackmailing members of the government. So far, we’ve uncovered more than half a dozen FBI and DHS employees he’d coerced into doing something for him. Sometimes, they would pass him information. Other times, they would disable a surveillance system for several minutes. Because of that, we can’t just approach someone still in active duty for fear that he’ll learn about what we’re doing here.”
“So you grabbed a bunch of beat-down old war horses?” Huxx shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense.” He gestured at me. “You’ve got a man who could vet anyone.”
“We don’t know who he’s watching. If he found out we were recruiting for a new team, he could use that information against us. If he found out where we were located, things would get ugly.” Nelson glanced at Manning for a moment. “And we had other stipulations we had to consider. You were also selected because none of you has any immediate family—no kids, no spouses, no ties to the world.”
Manning’s features tensed, but she stayed quiet.
Nelson continued, “Make no mistake. This mission is more dangerous than anything you’ve tackled before. Not just for you, but also for everyone you know. Smith has unique resources at his disposal that he’ll use to manipulate you. If you love a dog, he’ll find out and have it killed. If you’re dating someone new, he’ll kidnap and torture them. After what he did to our country in Arthur’s Creek, it’s safe to assume that there is no line he won’t cross. We selected you because the only thing you have to lose is your life.”
Manning really bristled at Nelson’s explanation. Frustration and embarrassment radiated from her mind. She hated that her career choices had forced her to abandon the normalcy that she craved. She wanted to get married someday, to have kids. That she had to set those desires aside to pursue a career with SWAT ate at her every day.
Hearing that Nelson had chosen her because of those sacrifices angered her. That only made her even more conflicted because she realized that her hard work had paid off. She’d been chosen because of her qualifications and the hard lifestyle decisions she’d made. And yet, that bothered her. She ached to be at the top of her field and still be able to go on the occasional date, but she had yet to figure out how to rectify the two.
I focused on closing my mind off even more. Her thoughts had bled into mine, and I’d found myself wrapped up in her inner turmoil before I even recognized my mental drift. Digging around in her personal conflict made me feel dirty.
Peeping Toms had nothing on me.
“What exactly are we supposed to do here?” Briggs asked. “Every fed in the country is after this Smith guy after the hell he unleashed. What more can we do?”
“No one else knows about what we’re doing. Only President Thomas and the people in this room have any knowledge of the psy-ops our country has been running for years. That gives us an upper hand over other law-enforcement agencies. We have just been granted full autonomy to pursue Smith within our borders, and we have a limited amount of time to do it.” Nelson folded his hands in his lap. “We’re understaffed, underfunded, and the time constraints placed upon us are less than ideal. But we’ve put together a good team, and we’re going to do our best to bring the greatest terrorist this country has ever known to justice.”
Tate clapped slowly. “Great speech.”
Huxx interjected, “That sounds wonderful and all, but it doesn’t answer how we find a man the entire FBI can’t track down?”
“We’re under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security. The president has granted us unbridled access to any investigative details that other bureaus and agencies have dug up.” Nelson cocked a thumb over his shoulder at me. “And we have our very own telepath. If we can track down even one person who knows anything about Smith or his whereabouts, Lieutenant Benson will get everything we need from them.”
I didn’t bother correcting the lieutenant thing again. Damn, it got old though.
Drew’s phone chirped in his pocket.
He pulled it out, checked the screen. “Excuse me.” He slid out of the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
Nelson watched him leave, eyes narrowing. “As much as I understand your confusion and agitation, we don’t have time to deal with everyone’s concerns.”
“You don’t have time to answer all of our questions?” Bree asked. “But you want us to put our asses on the line?”
I stood up. “Smith used his madness signal in the subway of Washington, D.C. this morning. Fifty more people are dead. How long until he uses it over the P.A. system at a football game? You’re all here because you want to save lives. This is your chance.”