Absolute (Discipline Book 1) Page 13

  Then, his power of whatever it really was, canceling out telepathy and psychic noise, had kind of done the trick for Lissa. If nothing else, maybe he could talk the woman into running off. It wasn't perfect, but it would give her a better chance of survival than prison. Even a few days being held in a psychiatric facility would probably do any of them in.

  A county jail lockup would do the trick just as well, most likely. All those angry and depressed people in one place, projecting every problem and worry they had to the world would not go over well. Not even with him, and his power was just starting to come into play.

  Glenda moved off, and Micha looked at Gene and Lissa, then stared at the woman in the chair.

  "You need to get out of here. When the others leave. If they start beating people you won't survive it right now. Ben..." She looked at him, her mind obviously working overtime behind her dark eyes. She looked serious, and was breathing faster than was strictly needed. "I... Don't know what to do. We might have to abandon Mags, but..."

  Carlos and Ali came out then, each of them clearly suspecting that something was going on other than a lover's quarrel. Interestingly enough Ali spoke first, looking directly at Ben.

  "Problem here?"

  Rather than try to be complicated, Ben nodded.

  "Incoming police attack force. It's a set up to try and get Kent a few arrests from this place for all his hard work. We might need to evacuate the people prone to fighting. Mags too, and Lissa, but no one can see how to get that all done. We have a bit of time, but can't take ten hours to work it all out. I think..." Then Ben stopped, since the guy that knew all about how to run an automated coffee bar probably wasn't the best person to listen to at the moment.

  Not unless they wanted lattes. In that case he was all over it.

  Carlos tilted his head, the muscles in his neck standing out above his gray collar, even in the dim light.

  "Ben and I will go and get Mags. Ali... Lis is going to have a hard time of this if her abilities kick back in, but we need Ben to do the same with Mags if possible. Ideas?"

  Micha spoke then, seeming incredibly tense. She didn't touch him however, since that would turn her powers off.

  "The outer range of what Ben can do is about a hundred feet. If Mags runs that won't work, but we can have people with Lissa, so she won't be attacked. At a distance? Not perfect, but other than drugging you Lis, I don't have an answer."

  There was a firm nod from the woman, who reached out and took Ben's hand again.

  "I'll be all right. I can take the stress, if I have to. For a little bit. I do like that idea of staying close however, if I get a choice?"

  Carlos gave a single nod then.

  "I need ten minutes. Then we meet on the North side, near the oak tree. From there we can move in on Mags." It sounded military and efficient, as well as a bit different than the thing Ben had in mind, which would involve knocking on a door.

  After all, if they went in attacking, then the woman would, most likely, fight. That was kind of what the police were counting on with their attack. Setting things in motion, so that they could punish people. Well, Kent was going for that. The others might just be part of his plan, not realizing it was a set up for them too.

  Because, from what Ben had heard, if they came in wearing full armor, and tried to take these people, they might well lose. As in a lot of the police would die. Of course, that ended any hope of doing anything about the federal government, if it took place.

  No, doing it like they were, the best they could hope for was that the police would come in with normal CERT teams, and not armored personnel, and that everyone being beaten and pushed to respond violently would just take it.

  That really didn't seem likely to Ben. A hint of rage crawled up inside him, as he thought about the whole thing. It was strong enough that Micha went wide eyed and took a step back, seeming scared. It was a near rage about the situation, after all. Possibly a bit past that.

  "Ben?"

  "Personal stuff. Let's... Let's go and see if Mags will just work with us? I've heard the rumors, but..."

  Carlos had taken off, doing so at a run that was a lot faster than anything Ben could have pulled off. He was still struggling to keep a steady jog up most days. Also, if it came down to it, there was nothing he could really do about the whole situation developing. Ben couldn't fight, and running was going to be out, unless he started right then. It was tempting, since the last thing he really wanted was to be locked up by the police. There was nearly no way that he wasn't going to end up lashing out at them, if he were confronted, either. Not after they helped to kill his father.

  The only thing that might work would be in getting Mags to go with them, and getting away from the compound as soon as possible. Where they were supposed to go, Ben had no clue. Even just sitting along the road all night would be better however. Hiding in the woods, seemed like a solid plan to him. Not that he'd ever been in the woods before.

  Going to Clark's cabin had been the closest that he'd ever come to doing that. Still, if the choice was cuddling with bears, or being murdered by the police, there was only one thing to do. Shower first, so the bear wasn't offended by his body odor.

  It was clear that Micha was picking up a little of what he was thinking, since she smiled and looked away from him. It was telling. Lissa just seemed determined not to be a burden, or more of one than a person that was just out of what amounted to a coma could be expected to be. Gene was huge, and stoic, but for all Ben knew he was one of those hyper-reflex having fighters. He had the size, muscle wise, after all.

  Luckily it seemed everyone else had at least some clue which tree they were supposed to meet at. An Oak. Ben wouldn't have known what kind of thing that was, if he'd had pictures and a written description to work from. It was easy enough to tell where the right place was when they got there, since a giant man was standing under it, holding something in the dim light. It was a gun.

  A big one too, like what people used for hunting. Before he could point out that simply murdering the woman might be a bit unneeded, he smiled and held the thing up across his body.

  "Tranquilizer gun. I set the dose, so that one hit with this will put her out pretty well. It isn't certain, but we don't have time for three days of hunt the psychic. Let's go."

  Ben moved, though Gene didn't, meaning Lissa was staying by the tree. Micha started too, but Ben waved at her. It wasn't him being the big hero or anything however. No, it was that from what he'd heard, most of the others didn't really love being around each other when their powers were working. It could hurt, and no one enjoyed that. At the moment it was working out pretty well, since only Micha was active, but starting a conversation with a person that was running and screaming might not be a wonderful plan.

  For that matter, having a giant that was described as one of the best fighters in the world come to your door, holding a rifle, might just set some people off too.

  "I'll go and knock, then try to explain things. Carlos, stay back here please? Micha, you should get back a bit." Not Lissa, who was kind of a dead zone as far as that kind of thing went. For the time being.

  Then, feeling more nervous than he could remember ever having been in his life, Ben walked to the the door of the dark cabin, and knocked. Gently.

  There was a rustling from inside, and a scent that reminded him a bit of a feral animal. Or, he had to admit, his own room when he was about twelve. David had always accused the place of having that kind of smell anyway. Taking a deep breath, he knocked louder and after a bit called out.

  "Mags? Um... Hi? I'm Ben. I'm new here?" The unsteady words would have had most VR women walking away from him he bet. They were friendly, but you still have to do a little bit of work to get their interest. At least if you weren't just running a sex simulation. Then it was easier, but Ben had enjoyed interacting with people, even if they weren't real. He still did, for the most part.

  "Go away!"

  The words weren't nearly as fearful or angry as
he'd feared. Really, they sounded like a tired person that simply wanted to sleep for a while longer.

  "I'd love to. Trust me on that. But... There's a police raid coming in a few hours. I don't know if you picked up on that? We need to move you and some of the others out of here first. None of the psychics would do well in prison, right? So... We have two ways of doing it for you to pick from." He didn't know if giving unbalanced people a choice was good or not, but Ben literally had no clue what else to do at the moment.

  He waited a bit, and surprisingly, there was a soft answer then.

  "What... What are they?"

  "Well, Carlos has a tranquillizer for you, if you want. We can knock you out, and carry you away, so that no one has a chance to do anything bad to you. Or, if you want, you can open the door and try holding my hand? I know it sounds weird, but I guess one of the changes they made to me kind of shuts off telepathy in others? It's temporary, but if you stay close to me it stays-" The door opened, and a form that seemed bedraggled and thin stood in the shadow, her left hand out.

  In the right, from the glint of the thing, she had a knife.

  "Is that real, or a trick? I can't read you very well..."

  Ben put his own left hand out, hoping he wasn't going to be cut up for his trouble.

  "My power gets dampened when that ability is working. Right now I'm shutting off Lissa. Do you know her?"

  There was a long pause, and a furtive look around.

  "Lis? I heard she was nearly dead. Couldn't take it any longer." The woman hedged closer to him, but didn't make contact. That was, he could tell, so that stabbing could be done more efficiently. She might be crazy, driven that way by too many voices in her head, but she wasn't stupid.

  "Nope. She's over by that tree? In a wheel chair, since she hasn't been out of bed much until earlier today, but she's sane, and here. I don't know if I can help you the same way, but you might as well try it, before you cut me up? We're on a time schedule though, so if we have to do both things, we might want to hurry." He felt scared, but sounded calm, even to his own ears. Placating, but not condescending. Hopefully.

  There was a careful look as shining black eyes looked up into his, and finally a rather unclean hand took the one he was holding out. Ben waited then, hoping that it worked for this woman too. That, or perhaps they could find someone with medical experience to help him out.

  After he was stabbed for lying.

  The knife wasn't dropped, but didn't move in or anything. In fact, Mags closed her eyes, and just shook for a bit. Shuddering, like a person might do in pleasure.

  "Ahhhhh." She nodded then, and opened her eyes. She still sounded a bit rough, and a little insane, but again, there was no magical pokey moment of him being eviscerated, so Ben was willing to take it. "That's... Nice."

  Then, of course, she just stood there, holding his hand. After a minute, she let him go however, slowly.

  "It still works? This dead field around my head?"

  "Right. You can get up to a hundred feet away or so. We don't have that one exactly measured. I think it's a little over that. If you go past that it all turns back on. Then you'd have to come back and touch me again to shut it off. We... Should probably figure out what's up? What the plan is? Do you need anything?" Ben didn't really have anything in particular that he had to take with him, but others might. They'd been there longer and might have collected things.

  "Nah. I'm... Good, I guess. This is strange. I can't hear anything." The wild look didn't leave her eyes however. The shining silver blade stayed out. Then, he'd told her that bad people were coming, or at least police that might do bad things to her, which was their plan.

  It seemed pretty likely to him that woman wasn't going to simply be instantly better though. It was strange, how things had been effecting people differently however. Lissa had ended up pretty much catatonic, and Mags was just acting like her mind had shattered a bit and then been glued back together. Clark was nearly normal, except that he didn't want to be around people. Micha...

  She was halfway friendly, but hadn't had to deal with things for as long as the others. There was an edge to her under that however. That thing she was hiding. It was probably that she was secretly a spy, or way more insane that she was willing to let on.

  Waving to Mags, he started to walk away, hoping that he wasn't about to get a shiv in the back. She did start to follow him, after pulling the door to her cabin, which was actually smaller than his own by about half. The door clicked, but a regular lock wouldn't prevent it from being searched he didn't doubt.

  Carlos stood near the tree, having changed positions several times. He still had the rifle, but it was held casually, like he'd never intended to use it. Mags noticed it, and gripped her little blade tighter. Ben could tell that by how her body language shifted. For his part he just ignored that interplay.

  "So, we need to get with Glenda?" That was his mentor, so it made sense to him. Carlos even nodded at the idea.

  "That's about right. She's second in command here, so we should go and see what she wants done. This way. She'll have headed to the command bunker."

  It took a long while to get to the right place, and the name wasn't a lie. It was underground, and to get there they had to go around to the far entrance, which was down a long tunnel with a smooth floor.

  Carlos explained that one, smiling at Lissa.

  "You might have trouble with the ladder on the other side right now. Once we deal with this, I expect to see you back in training, understood? Ali is working up a new program for Ben. A lot of running in it. That gives you... What do you think, two weeks for Ben to get up to speed?"

  That was for Ali, who was walking behind them, looking around herself constantly. That included turning to look behind her every ten steps or so.

  "Something like that. He's still recovering from his isolation testing." She spoke the words like the rest of them would get it, but Lissa turned to look at the other woman, or tried to. She was near the front and Ali was in the back, so it didn't work, but Ali got the idea.

  Lissa spoke, her voice fairly smooth.

  "Mental breakdown from the sensory deprivation?" She sounded concerned too, and glanced over at Ben.

  Ali actually snorted, her feet making almost no noise on the smooth concrete floor. None of them were loud, but Ben realized he was the one making most of the noise that way.

  "Not even. He lasted Forty-two days in the dark. With no food. It was the food part that did it. We had to get him out. He didn't break."

  "Oh."

  Lissa turned back around and didn't speak as her helper pushed her fairly rapidly down the ramp. It was long, so they had time to think while it happened. It was cool inside, and the tunnel was built of corrugated metal, which gave it a bland sameness. Gray the entire way. Filled with gray Cymeds. The chair was a nice silver and black at least, but they simply weren't a colorful bunch, Ben noted.

  The brightest part was Gene's red hair.

  When they got to the heavy metal door at the bottom, Lissa went on.

  "That's a long time to go without eating."

  It really was, but Ben just smiled. He was still kind of chubby, after all. Less so, but it was there, and real. Mainly on his middle. Which was part of why he hadn't whined about having to eat only fruit so far. Carlos was the one that opened the door, calling out as he did it.

  "Carlos, Gene, Lissa, Micha, Ben and Mags! Coming in!"

  Ben expected to be met on the other side by armed guards, but it was just an empty room. A huge one, actually. There was carpet on the floor, rather than bare concrete. It was a mustard yellow color, and had a very tight weave to it.

  They moved across the space and from there went into a smaller hallway. It was blue, and cool inside, but there was noise up ahead, and after a minute or so of walking, they came to an open office door. Inside were five people, three of whom were on the phone talking to others. Glenda was one of those, as was Kyle, the other people were new to Ben.

 
They all stopped however, and stared.

  At Mags.

  She looked away, clutching her knife, but not fleeing or anything. Her breathing was starting to get a little hard though, so Ben waved at the others.

  "What's the plan? Do we evacuate?"

  Kyle caught on to the idea first, and nodded.

  "Yes, Mr. Epson. In fact, I'd like to get Clark, and the ladies out in the first wave." His face was a bit annoyed, and dark, but he explained what was going on, rather bluntly.

  "It seems that the police have a warrant. A real one, more or less. For your arrest."

  That was news to him, since Ben was almost certain that he'd never so much as jaywalked in his life. If it was for the crime of joining a terrorist organization, well, then he wouldn't have been alone in having a warrant. Then, he didn't truly know that he was.

  "Really? What's it for?"

  Glenda cleared her throat and then rolled her eyes playfully.

  "For being a clone. There's more to it, but that's pretty much the answer."

  Ben thought for a moment and then nodded.

  "I... Guess that makes sense."

  Chapter ten

  That got about half the people there to look at him like he was insane and the others, the ones that had heard the arguments from their sources already, to nod.

  Ben shrugged and explained, looking at Micha and Lissa mainly. Too much eye contact with Mags might just set the woman off. It was interesting, seeing her in the light now. She wasn't clean or tidy, having dark stringy and matted hair and torn, well stained clothing, but her face wasn't bad really. A bit long, and she had a big nose, but she seemed young, and her pale skin was pretty much blemish free.

  He ignored that though and spoke, trying not to get angry over things.

  "It's the DNA. My dad was arrested, and died in custody. Murdered. He hadn't committed the crime, and the police knew that, but they want to be pains in the ass they pull this kind of thing. They'll claim that I'm him, in order to arrest me, until I can get the documents around to show that I'm not." Which could take weeks. It shouldn't since everything was on the computer, but once you were arrested like that, the system didn't go out of its way to help you show that they were wrong, for some reason.