20. CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 20
“ S he’s behind this door,” Matthew said as the three of them jumped out of the car in front of a storage unit isolated at the furthest end of the complex. “At least, her timer is anyway.”
“Lexi? Are you in there?” they all shouted to no response.
Lexi? Alexa, are you in—
But they were adjacent to the airport, and at that moment an approaching jet, a mere thousand feet above them as it came in for a landing, roared over their heads, cutting off Gideon’s thoughts.
It was a new sensation, this degree of hurt. Liquid fire that first ignited his ear drums, then flowed upward to fill his skull, and downward along his spine, melted him into a puddle of pain on the ground.
Matthew was already at the padlock, eyeing it helplessly. “Lexi? Are you in there?” He fiddled with the lock to no avail.
Gideon pulled himself up, putting one foot in front of the other, toward Matthew and the lock. He yanked it with both hands. It should have been easy, should have snapped off for him like a twig with the use of his telekinesis. It wasn’t easy, and it didn’t budge, even with his crystal bands lending an extra force. The deafening sound had rendered him far too weak.
This feeling of uselessness turned out to be the most agonizing of all his current sensations .
“It’s not a coincidence they put her next to the airport,” Matt said. “Whoever is doing this knew you’d be weakest here, in the most pain.”
Julian, who’d also collapsed when the jet flew overhead, was at his side now. “Try it again, cousin. You focus on the lock, and I’ll focus what I can on easing your pain, clearing your head. Try now.”
Gideon heard Julian humming softly, and felt the pain abate somewhat with that little bit of help. His tension eased back enough for him to focus and breathe… and the lock gave way, the metal clasp shearing in two. Matthew threw the roll top door up with a crash and the three of them burst in.
And saw her.
He felt weak again suddenly, but there was no jet causing pain this time. In fact, the only sound he heard in that moment was what he imagined to be his heart dropping the almost six feet to the ground and splattering on the floor.
Lexi sat in a chair at the back of the room, hands bound behind her, her mouth gagged with cloth. A dark bruise painted an awful story on her forehead. But she was awake, eyes huge with worry, her body shaking.
He was at her in a flash, ripping the gag out of her mouth and—
“Gideon, no, it’s a trap!”
The huge roll top door crashed down behind them, the unmistakable sound of shotguns being cocked on the other side of it. Along with laughter.
“Hot chicks as bait, works every damn time,” said one voice.
“Yeah, well, seems they’re not so different from us when it comes right down to it,” said another. “They still think with their dicks.”
“You got that right,” said the first. “This asshole is about to lose half the important people from his town and yet he chooses to play hero to his girlfriend. What a jackwad. ”
Julian dipped his chin, his eyes narrowing. “What the fuck did he just say? What the hell is going on?”
His cousin was officially losing his cool, something Gideon never witnessed before. Yet he spared no time to consider it. He untied Lexi and pulled her into his arms, nuzzling his face into her hair, its fresh floral scent covering the stale odor of the concrete room.
She held onto him, her tears dampening the front of his already sweat-soaked shirt. “You guys shouldn’t be here. It was a trap to get you out of their way, Gideon. It’s all my fault. If you’d never met me—”
“Stop. Don’t say that.” He held her away so he could examine her face. “Whatever is going on here, I’m sure it would’ve happened with or without you. If anything, they seem to have done this to you to get to me. If you hadn’t met me—”
He gently touched her bruised head and she flinched. “Who did this to you?” he said, his voice low and barely audible in his anger.
She shook her head. “It’s not important right now.”
“Agreed. Let’s focus on getting out,” Julian said.
“He’s right.” Matthew turned away from them toward the exit. “I’m guessing there are more than a few men with guns on the other side of that door, and with you two guys both so weak at the moment…”
“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Gideon asked of Lexi. “What they meant by losing people from our town ? And what do you know about Benjamin Smythe?”
“All I know is bits and pieces I overheard a couple of those… douche bags… talking about.” She flicked her hand towards the door. “Somebody, some group of people I suppose, built these tiny devices that pull people over from your world into mine. They plan on kidnapping a bunch of your citizens, but I don’t know who or why. ”
“And you? You must’ve had one of those things attached to you too. But when—”
“Right.” She moved one hand to her shirt collar. “Benjamin Smythe did it when he hugged me at the party. I found the device on my blouse. That’s how I figured out he was involved. They wanted you to come after me so they could get you out of the way and off their backs. Benjamin must be working with them. That’s all I know.”
Gideon noticed Matthew getting more and more agitated as Lexi spoke. He paced the room, rubbing his forehead, practically talking to himself. “Matthew?”
“I don’t know, man,” he responded.
But he noticed Matthew’s eyes darted away as he spoke. He was still holding something back.
Julian spoke in hushed tones. “Folks, I hate to keep being the nagging nanny here, but Gideon and I are only going to get weaker and less useful the longer we stay here. If anyone has any ideas, now would be a good time to lay them out. And we might want to keep our voices down.”
For a moment, there was only silence as they all looked at each other, thinking. Then Gideon’s eyes landed again at the bruise on Lexi’s face and he straightened his fatigued frame, clenching his fists. “Why don’t we just fucking—” He raised his arms, ready to blow open the metal door and blast them all to hell.
Another jet passed low over their heads.
The door merely shook and rattled, as he and Julian went down again.
“What the hell’s going on in there?” one of the thugs shouted. “Take it easy.”
“They’re just rattling their cage,” another said. “They’re weak here with all these jets from what I understand. I’m guessing right about now the big guy couldn’t bend a spoon. ”
Gideon stomped to the back of the unit, picked up the chair Lexi had been in, and threw it into the concrete wall.
“Easy, cousin,” Julian said. “Save what little strength you have.”
“ Little is fucking right” he said, pacing the room.
Lexi went to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him close. He saw fear and doubt in her eyes, and he hated that look directed at him. He took a deep breath, needing to get control of himself or he’d be of no use to her.
“Lex, it would be really helpful if we knew exactly what was going on, either with this whole thing in general, or, even better for now, outside that door. Do you think you might be able to see?” He fought to keep his voice sounding calm, as well as inaudible to the men outside. “I mean, really see—using your sight .” He hated to ask it of her, with everything she’d just been through, but he was out of options.
She looked at him with her face blank, trying to understand. Then her eyes widened, her brow raised. “You know it doesn’t work like that. I don’t have any control as to when it comes on or what I see.”
“That’s just it, sweetheart. I think you could. We talked about you learning to control it, remember?”
“Of course, but... now? Here?”
“Now, here, would be my vote,” Julian said, picking up the pacing where Gideon had left off, while Matthew circled the room.
Gideon continued. “Remember how I taught you about the brick wall and you were surprised at how easy the idea was? This is rather like that, actually.”
“Gideon, I…” she paused. “How do you even know? I mean, you’re not a precog.”
“That’s true. But I’ve known other seers. I’ve seen it work.”
“Uh, not to add pressure when it is least needed but… tick-tock, tick-tock,” Julian added .
“Just try, that’s all we’re asking,” Gideon said. “Sit back down, breathe, and mentally ask for what you want to see. Be specific.”
“Just ask? Are you kidding?” she said, her voice rising in pitch.
Tension pulled at the muscles along Gideon’s spine. He hated pushing her like this, but it was the only thing he could think to try. His own power was fairly useless just now, unless… maybe his power right now was in teaching, encouraging. He could bring his knowledge to the table. His certainty.
He could bring his belief in Lexi.
He took her hand and guided her back to the chair, which he righted and gently pressed her down into.
“Please try for us, my sweet Heroine, okay?” he said. “Have you ever heard of a scrying pool? A reflective pool used by people seeking visions?” She nodded. “This is just like that. Only you’re a natural oracle, so you don’t need the pool. Just ask, love. Try.”
Her eyes glanced one by one at the faces of the three men. “Okay, I guess it couldn’t hurt to try. And if it works maybe I’ll use it to buy lottery tickets.”
He smiled and kissed her on the forehead, marveling that her sense of humor rarely failed her, even when she was clearly shaken in every way.
“You can never use it for personal gain, sweetheart,” he said. “It won’t work in that case. But if you get us out of this mess, I promise I’ll buy you all the lottery tickets you want.”
“Deal,” she said, and took a deep breath.
She asked for images, and they came. Easily, and without the jarring, disruptive quality she was used to. They flowed across her mind’s eye like a movie on a flat screen television hung behind her forehead .
For a second, she lost the visions, startled as she was by the ridiculous ease with which she had suddenly gained control of her ability.
Are you freaking kidding me? I’m only now discovering this?
Her eyes flew open, a shot of adrenalin sped through her, and she gaped at Gideon who returned her look with a furrowed, concerned brow. She shook her head and closed her eyes again. She could freak out later, after she got them out of this mess. If she got them out.
She took a deep breath and the images were back. Though they still came in snippets, random starts and stops, as if someone had chopped up a movie filmstrip, then plucked random segments off the floor and played them for her.
And if she could have, she would have left the theater and demanded her money back.
Helplessly she watched as people faded off the streets of Gideon’s world, surprised and reaching out for their loved ones in confusion as they blinked away. She saw other people locked in laboratories in her own universe, struggling with pain, hands held to their heads and tears streaming as they were hooked up to various machines—EEGs, EKGs, MRIs, all the letters of the alphabet. She saw them being interrogated, drilled with questions as to their abilities. She saw them tranquilized to keep from fighting. She saw someone die.
These events hadn’t happened yet, she was sure of it. But she felt they were imminent. They would start happening soon unless they could somehow change the future… change it now.
“Gideon,” she spoke through tears, “they’re going to take your people, study them, force them to try and stay in our world. They want the secrets of your abilities. They don’t care how many people suffer or even die in the process as long as they learn something from each one first.” She paused to take a breath. “They’ll take as many people as they need, and they won’t stop until they’ve learned all there is to know. ”
She looked back and forth between the faces of Gideon and Julian. She’d never seen such huge, powerful men looking so utterly immobilized. They looked at each other, the two cousins, with equal horror in their eyes.
“Right about now a simple rebellion is sounding pretty damned good,” Julian leaned his back to a concrete wall, sliding down into a squat, head bent forward.
“No!” Gideon roared, racing to the door, fists lifted in rage.
Matthew pulled him back. “Stop,” he said, his voice low. “If they even think you’re going to attempt to move that door again, they’ll fire against it.”
The four were silent as Gideon returned to pacing. His taut muscles rippled beneath the tight leather breeches. His restless movement around the confined space reminded her of a caged predator.
“We can’t wait any longer. We’ve got to get out of here, now,” he said, forcing himself to whisper. He stopped his restless movement and stepped in front her. “Lexi, please, tell me exactly what’s on the other side of this godforsaken door.”
“But that’s not precognition, that’s…”
“Clairvoyance, remote viewing, yes. I know you’ve been doing that too, lately. It’s the same process, Lex. Try.”
She closed her eyes, asked, and saw. This time she was seeing the present, seeing what was happening right at that moment, as she had when she’d seen Gideon and Benjamin on the Philly streets. She noticed the difference in sensation again, between the present and future images, the clairvoyance having a soupy, dreamy feeling. She was rapidly catching on to the subtleties of her gift. “Four men, the two who took me, plus two others. They each have guns pointed at the door.”
“Gideon, if we can move fast enough, you can raise that door and blow all four of them away before they can fire,” Julian said in hushed tones. “It’s no more than what you did to the trees in the meadow earlier, cousin, and you weren’t even trying then.”
“And assuming my car is still right there, and they haven’t damaged it, all we need to do is hop in and go before they come around,” Matthew whispered.
Lexi searched for the images. “The car looks to be fine. The key is still in the ignition, Matthew.” She couldn’t believe how easily, and how precisely the images were coming to her now. It was quickly becoming as natural as breathing, and scared as she was, she was also excited, proud. I’m doing it—I’m really helping them.
“You are, love, I’m so proud of you,” he responded to her telepathically, “ but—”
“I don’t know if I’m strong enough right now to—” Gideon said out loud.
As if on cue another jet passed overhead, bringing the two cousins back to their knees, hands clapped over their ears. This time Lexi felt Gideon’s agony. All of the strength rushed out of her body like a vacuum had taken it, and in its place was a white-hot misery.
On her knees she crawled over to him and wrapped her arms around his back. She wasn’t sure if she was comforting him or herself, but as she did so a sensation of cool water washed over them, calming them both. She could feel his relief in her mind.
Together, they were stronger.
Slowly standing back up, Julian spoke through gritted teeth, his eyes bloodshot and angry. “We can do this together. Lexi can help you fight the pain, and with what little I have left I will too. My words will calm both you, and them,” he gestured toward to the door, “long enough to do it. Take. Them. Down. Cousin. Now.”
But a new image came to Lexi on its own. “Another car just drove up,” she whispered. “Benjamin Smythe is here now, along with two men dressed in business suits. We’re outnumbered. ”
The door to the storage unit slammed up and she saw that she was right. Four men, including the two who had taken her from the zoo, stood like soldiers, two with shotguns, two with pistols, all pointed at the four of them. Benjamin Smythe stepped out of a car, leaving two men inside behind tinted windows. He strolled into the unit, looking as out of place in her world as he did in his own.
“Hello, gentlemen, and lady,” he bowed formally, that disgusting grin sliming his face.
Gideon made a lunge toward him, but Matthew and Julian held him back. The click of a hammer being pulled back on one of the handguns seemed to remind him why, and instead he reached an arm to pull Lexi partly behind him.
“Benjamin, what the hell are you doing?” Gideon asked. “And why? Why are you doing it?”
She felt the mixture of hate and utter bewilderment whipping into a confused frenzy within Gideon. She ran her hand along his arm trying to keep him from losing his last shred of control.
“Well, I could give you the long answer, Gideon, and tell you it’s because after one hundred and fifty years, give or take a decade, I’m tired of our world. I want life to be a little easier. For example, that fantastic automobile I rode in just now,” he said. “Do you know it only took the driver fifteen minutes to travel the eight or so miles to get here? I find that marvelous. I’ll think I’ll choose a red sports car for myself.”
Benjamin picked a speck of non-existent dust off his shirt, then looked back up at Gideon, the smile now utterly absent from his face. “Or I could give you the short answer,” he said. “Which is simply, that I hate you.”
“Are you crazy?” Gideon was shaking now, and Lexi had both of her hands in a strong grip on his arm. “Do you know what they plan to do to our people? ”
“I do know, and frankly I don’t care,” he said, though a ghost of doubt flashed across his face.
“What about yourself?” Julian asked, his suntanned skin now turned ashen. “Apparently you plan on staying in this world. How will you survive the pain and deterioration?”
“The Prometheus Group has promised their best medical technology will be used to help heal me so I can live easily in this world. I’ve been assured that neither I nor our people will suffer any pain.”
Lexi popped her head out from behind Gideon. “That’s not true. There will be pain. They’ve lied to you. I just saw it in a vision.”
For a moment, Benjamin paused, his face paling and his eyes darting to and fro. Then he straightened, his expression confident again. “I don’t believe you. They have all sorts of handy medical gadgets, you know. Shiny things that blink and buzz and beep and save lives.” He paused, lifting his chin, his eyes going steel cold. “You know, things that could have saved Mary.”
Lexi felt as much as saw Gideon’s shoulders drop, the air leave his lungs. “This is about Mary?” he asked.
“Of course, it’s about Mary!” Benjamin began to move, one fist grinding into the palm of the other hand. “It’s always been about Mary. She might be alive today if not for you and your righteous rules.”
Gideon took a step toward him, but the goon squad lifted their guns higher and he halted. “Benjamin, I’m s—”
“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry, Gideon.” He gestured toward Lexi. “Can you now at least begin to imagine what it felt like to have the Council, my friends , tell me no? Can you begin to understand the pain I’ve lived with since discovering how much more important traditions and philosophies are to our world than its actual people?”
Gideon glanced at her, then back to Benjamin, turning his palms forward in supplication. “Yes, I am beginning to understand you. I see that things aren’t always so black and white. But we do have to weigh our choices carefully. We have to figure out what seems best for—”
Benjamin stopped, whipping his head toward Gideon. “Weigh our choices carefully? Figure out what seems best?” His voice wavered. “Could you really be so damn stoic and fair-minded if your woman were… were…”
He dropped to his knees, covering his face with his hands, shoulders shaking.
“Enough.” All heads turned to a man in a suit now exiting the car Benjamin had arrived in, sunglasses covering his eyes. “Enough of this, Mr. Smythe. You wanted to see your handiwork and now you have. Get back in the car. We’ve indulged your little revenge party long enough and we need to go.”
The man in the oh-please-get-over-yourself sunglasses pulled Benjamin up and out of the way as he gestured to the men with the guns. “It’s time.”
“No, wait.” Gideon pushed Lexi solidly behind himself, raising a hand to stop them.
The man in the suit shook his head. “Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as all that. We’re not going to kill anyone as long as you cooperate. In fact, you’ll have the pleasure of being the first of your world introduced to the Prometheus Group’s shiny new lab facilities.”
Lexi peaked around Gideon’s shoulder again. “Who are you?”
The man smirked with a shrug. “My partner in the car over there and I are vice presidents of the Prometheus Group, in charge of the Pennsylvania facility. We’re not really important as far as you’re concerned. You’ll soon have much more interaction with our scientists.” The man spun on his heel back toward his car, nodding at his gun squad. “Go ahead and round them up.” Then he paused a step, looking back over his shoulder. “We don’t need Mr. Hard Rock for anything, though. Do something with him. I don’t want to know what. ”
As the man stepped again toward his car, something shifted in the atmosphere. Time began to move in the way Lexi had heard people describe when they’re in car accidents. Their vehicles rolling over and over, yet the drivers able to discern every moment as if it were an eternity—every bit of damage assessed as it occurred, every detail noticed, emblazoned on the mind with perfect clarity.
It was probably only a single second of time that passed before anyone spoke or moved, yet in that brief instant she noticed a multitude of things. Matthew, eyes cast to the side as if lost in thought, dropped his shoulders on an exhale. Strangely, he looked almost… relieved, but it must have been resignation.
Benjamin stood up, watching her group, frozen to his spot, a million emotions swirling in his eyes like a kaleidoscope. A kaleidoscope of mostly pain.
And a calm had settled over Gideon as he ceased to question anything or anyone, no longer caring for understanding or explanation. He became all action, all purpose, his body taking complete control as he once again became a soldier, his every muscle coiled for the strike. Whatever he was going to do was already a fait accompli.
Lexi herself was numb; aware that she was in one piece and whole, yet fragmented so thoroughly that she felt her solidity was an illusion, a joke. She’d unintentionally played a part in this horror. Having finally found a man, and a world, she cared so greatly for, she’d nevertheless become an agent of their destruction, even if only as bait.
Then time rushed back up to itself, as if a starting gun had gone off in her mind, and everybody moved again, racing out of the gate.
“Cuff the big guys and the bitch. And give them a shot of tranqs. I’ll deal with frat boy here,” the man in the Phillies pitcher shirt said.
“Stay behind me and with me, Lex, we’re going to try ,” Gideon spoke silently, and Lexi did as she was told, thankful he was taking control .
“When I move, get behind me and ready to run,” Gideon whispered to Matt.
The two baseball jerseys, and the two other hired rottweilers, guns raised and pointed, stepped into the unit toward them, and at that moment Lexi knew that a fleet of B1 bombers could pass overhead and it wouldn’t stop Gideon. She knew the thought of those men touching her again gave him all the power he needed. She could literally hear the white noise of fury in his head.
He looked at Julian and nodded, though his cousin had already started humming, the sound loud and low in his chest, and Lexi could feel the energy pouring from him. With the sound, the four thugs lowered their guns slightly, appearing confused and hesitant.
At the same moment, Gideon pushed the palms of his hands forward, chest lifted and chin raised, and she pressed against him, lending him as much of her strength and energy as she could give. With a scream of rage so loud it shook the metal walls, yet was nearly muted a moment later by the sonic explosion that followed, Gideon let loose his power.
The four thugs and the man in the suit flew backwards, guns going airborne, bodies slamming hard into the row of storage units behind them, metal doors dented, bodies landing in geometric shapes normally foreign to the human body. She noticed both of her two baseball-loving kidnappers crumpled on the ground and wondered if they were dead or merely knocked out. She didn’t care. Either way, they’d been benched.
As they raced toward Matthew’s car, Gideon and Julian passed the other three vehicles belonging to their adversaries and one by one reached under the fenders and flipped them onto their sides, one of the cars still with the driver inside. What little strength the two men had left was now powered solely by adrenalin and anger.
“Where’s Benjamin?” Julian asked as he got into the front passenger seat of Matthew’s car, Gideon and Lexi climbing into the back .
Matthew floored it, racing down the concrete row. Lexi crumpled against the back seat, her head falling against Gideon’s shoulder, her body shivering from fear, confusion, and relief.
“He took off running just before Gideon let loose,” Matthew said. “God only knows where he thinks he’s going now.”