Chapter 67

 

Donna parked her car almost a block away from Fred’s house. Her powers had started to exponentially develop. She recognized that they were significantly greater now than they had been, even prior to her incarceration. She could with ease, conduct a mental scan and pick up the cerebral footprints of anyone in within a 20 miles radius. And the closer they were, the stronger the signal. 

As she walked in the direction of Fred’s house, she mentally jumped forward, entering his home. There were three people in the living room; none of them seemed to present a threat of any kind to her. One by one, she mentally entered the rest of the rooms in the house. The house was clear, no evidence of cops anywhere. The only people in the house were seated in the living room area. 

She saw Fred seated in a green corduroy chair. Opposite him on a sofa was a handsome man dressed in casual jeans and a Minnesota Twins tee shirt; the final member of the threesome was an attractive blonde in tight blue jeans who sat on the same sofa. They all seemed to be engaged in an animated conversation, totally unaware of the fate that awaited them. 

Donna mentally peered around the living room; she detected no traps. She could not pick up the presence of any weapons either in the room or in the house, but she identified something strange and out of character. There was a large hypodermic needle resting on the table next to where Fred was sitting. What the hell is that? she thought. What purpose could it possibly serve? Maybe Fred has developed diabetes, she reasoned. 

After she was mentally finished casing the house, she physically entered it. The front door was unlocked. Foolish of him, she thought. She pulled her revolver from her handbag and walked into the house.

As she entered through the living room door, the two strangers on the couch saw her immediately. A look of shock replaced the calmness that had been on their faces a second ago. 

Fred did not turn around, but he knew the moment that Donna had arrived. Without turning he said, “You won’t need the revolver, Donna. None of us have any weapons.”

 Donna was confused. How did Fred know that she was holding a pistol? Had she been misinformed about Fred’s loss of powers? 

What Donna had failed to notice was that Fred had positioned a small mirror on the other side of the room that would reflect back a view of the entry to the living room. He hoped that she didn’t see it; and if he kept her occupied with conversation she might not look for it. He recalled an earlier conversation with Maureen when she diagnosed Donna as being highly literate. I’m counting on Maureen’s accurate diagnosis and the fact that Donna can’t perceive beyond that which is in front of her, Fred reflected. 

Fred turned toward her, his voice authoritarian and confident. “That weapon will do you no good, Donna; you should know that by now.” This was the most critical bluff that Fred had ever concocted; if it failed he was a dead man.

“What do you mean it will do me no good?” she asked, still confused. “You forget, Fred, that I hold all the advantages.”

“Really, Donna? But you haven’t realized that the good doctors in the CIA have provided me with what is a greatly enhanced paranormal device, one that is much superior to the flimsy prototype you carry in your head. Plus, I’m sure you must know that I had some fairly impressive powers even before I had the operation. So in tandem they are an unequaled force.” 

Donna recalled that when she worked in AU that Atwell had mentioned the impressive powers that Fred had, powers that Fred himself didn’t even know about at the time. 

“But you went back to the CIA hospital to have your device removed; you didn’t think I knew that, did you?”

“You mean because Sergeant Lewis told you that?” Fred laughed. “I had Captain Hebert put that seed in Lewis’ head. Actually I did return to the CIA, but just to have some fine-tuning done, as well as some additional sophisticated software added. Now, Donna, I’m more powerful than ever.” 

“You’re bluffing, you didn’t know about Lewis.”

“Of course I did. He left some careless clues when he killed big Don and Doctor Anderson.” 

“But you arrested Stewart for that killing; there’s no way you could have known.”

“That was for your exclusive benefit, Donna. If you and Lewis thought that he was no longer a suspect, we could use him as our bait. The trap worked better than I expected. He led us directly to your condo in Punta Gorda.

“And, by the way, Lewis is being arrested at this very moment. He’s no longer of any use to us in helping to get a fix on your location. If you like, you can call your landlady to verify my story.” 

For the first time Donna appeared concerned.

“Oh, yes, Donna, we do know where you’re residing and we’ve known for quite a while.”

“You’re bluffing, I know you are.”

“Call your landlady if you think so. In fact, I insist.”

Donna continued to hold her weapon on Fred as she picked up the living room phone. She dialed, and her landlady answered on the third ring. Donna asked for Lewis under the assumed name he had been using.

“I’m so sorry,” the landlady said, “but about fifteen minutes ago he was apprehended by the police. There were several police cars here. I asked one of the policemen why he was being arrested and they said for murder. They put him in handcuffs and took him away. I’m sure there was a mistake. I tried to tell the police that, but they ignored me. Honey, if you need me, you know that—”

Donna slammed the phone down.

“Donna,” said Fred, “you’ve been a problem for this city for a long time. Now I will give you a choice—I can eliminate you, to put it delicately, so we don’t have to worry about you ever again, or you can return to prison. Who knows, in prison you might even get the opportunity to escape again.”

“How can you eliminate me? You don’t even have a weapon,” Donna said bitterly.

“Donna, my weapon is my mind which is much stronger than anything you have ever witnessed in the past. But you didn’t let me finish. If you choose to surrender, I want you to put your weapon down. See this hypodermic needle?”

Donna said nothing. 

“I’m going to give you a strong sedative, Donna, which will give us time to have that goddamn device removed from your cerebrum.” 

“You’re nuts! You have no powers, you’re bluffing!”

“Your last chance, Donna. Watch this. And if you don’t surrender your weapon immediately, you’ll be next.”

Donna tried to transition into Fred’s brain to determine if he was telling the truth. She was blocked; he wouldn’t let her in. The fact that she encountered a mental firewall made her feel more ambivalent. Good God, maybe he does have all of his powers, she thought.

“Finished with that futile mental exercise, Donna? Now watch this.”

Fred concentrated and slowly pointed his fingers in the direction of the two sitting on the couch across from him. In an instant they were both gone.

Donna’s mouth fell open in surprise. Her fingers loosened on her weapon. “That’s not possible! Where did they go?”

“Oh, I just sent them a close distance away. However, when it’s your turn you will find yourself on some iceberg in Alaska or, in the Sahara desert miles away from civilization, or perhaps in the pit of a volcano. I wouldn’t have the heart to kill you directly; but I have no problem if the environment where I send you does that for me. What’s it going to be, Donna? You have two seconds.”

Donna dropped her weapon.

“That fucking Lewis, he told me you no longer had powers! Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

“I know Donna; he never was too smart, was he?”

Fred grabbed her arm and deeply inserted the needle. She became lightheaded immediately.

“Where are the two that were on the couch?” she asked weakly. 

Fred drew the window blinds and held her weakening body up as she looked across the street. Both the man and the woman, who had been on Fred’s couch a few seconds ago, were smiling and waving.

Donna said, “You know I’ll be back. You couldn’t hold me before, and you won’t be able to now.”

“Yes, Donna, now go to sleep.”

Fred called Debra Black. “We got her, make sure you get her to the CIA operating room right away. And for God’s sake, make sure she doesn’t wake up in the interim!” 

In a short time Donna was in a helicopter with medical and CIA personnel surrounding her, heading full speed toward the Washington D.C. area.