Absolute (Discipline Book 1) Page 28

  It was nearly funny, what happened after that. They got in the electric van, and got onto the road, verbally setting up what they wanted. Including stopping at not one, but three fast food places on the way, so they could get their alibi together. There was no law against eating in the desert. Not as far as Ben had ever heard.

  They even had ice cream. Not that Ben was going to let himself indulge in any of the food they'd gotten. Clark did, eating some fries from a small paper sack.

  "These aren't half bad. Um..." Looking behind them got Ben to do it as well, and then Carlos.

  Ben nodded.

  "That blue car... It's our stalker friends. From earlier?" He felt silly saying it that way.

  The large man in the front nodded once he saw them back there.

  "Auto... Pull over and stop at the next available parking lot."

  It wasn't hard to see that the women, getting vid of them the whole time, weren't just casually out driving. They pulled into the parking lot outside the small convenience store, and waited. Just watching them the whole time. Worse, the one in the front, who Ben decided to call delusional rude bitch, if only in his head, smirked at them. Like they'd been caught doing something wrong. Which they hadn't. Not yet.

  The camera was held on them the entire time, as if trying to let them know that doing anything about it would be used against them.

  Because that wasn't inconvenient.

  Not in the slightest.

  Chapter twenty

  "It's almost impossible to get one car to lose another anymore. Back even twenty years ago it was possible, but now the computer systems are too good. We don't even have human co-driving on this thing." Carlos muttered the words almost under his breath. There was frustration in them, instead of anger or anything darker than annoyance.

  That didn't get them out of the job they had to do. Their plump and attentive psycho friends were simply getting in the way. Possibly slowing them down enough that someone might be arrested over it. They had a time schedule after all. If that happened, then at least one person was going to die. The feds were only going to wait for so long, dangling the bait like they were. Ben nodded, mainly to himself. He was in the second row of seats this time, the white electric looking streamlined and sleek, even compared to the smaller blue vehicle in the spot three cars away.

  They just sat there for a second, no one certain about what to do. They had to get the ladies off their back, since video of them helping a person escape from a secured compound wasn't going to be conducive to future freedom. Several things passed through his mind, but it was the orange display in his head that really did it for him. The one that showed that their friend, Grumpy-Rude Woman, was focused only on Carlos.

  That meant they had a potential distraction.

  "Okay. We need to keep them busy. Carlos, they're focused on you, so we're going to dump you out here. Try to keep them following you. Well, or have sex with them all, but I can't recommend that. I'm betting that their leader would be really demanding. Clark and I will go and try to find the hidden Cymed. This isn't perfect, since you're the one that can do the actual identification, but short of killing these women, I can't see another way." That would take too long and probably get them in trouble, all on its own.

  Not that Ben really wanted them to be hurt. The women were just trying to have fun, most likely. Playing at being adventurous. In a psychotic and probably illegal manner. One which wouldn't really come back on them, because women didn't get in trouble for stalking like men did. Not until they stabbed someone at least.

  "We'll meet you back here in two hours. If possible. If we don't make it, then run and get the others away. The other way around as well. If you can't lose our friends and meet us here, we'll expect you to find the spa on your own."

  For some reason, even if it wasn't a perfect plan, the large men both nodded. Carlos even smiled. It was a grim, dark thing that spoke of things no one should have to think about. Like entertaining crazy women that couldn't be shaken otherwise.

  It was enough to nearly make Ben glad he wasn't the good looking one in the group. Not that the heavy ladies were awful really. They were average looking, and a bit large, but not terrible that way. No, it was the whole thing Ben couldn't be certain what was going on in their heads. Not that close to the city at any rate.

  "We change plans then. You two get our person out. Can you get in touch with me for the identification portion, Ben?" The man relaxed and turned a bit. The face was bland, but his shoulders remained a bit tense, giving the lie to the rest of the picture. The calmness that was being presented was far from real.

  "Most likely. We have the radio things too. We should go. Try to keep them focused on you while we escape. If they follow us... Then we'll double back immediately. Like you said, one car can't really lose another. Good luck."

  The van was already programmed to take them to where they needed to go for the first part of things. It would look fishy, them leaving like that, however. Scrambling mentally, Ben smiled, and moved to kiss Clark on the cheek, placing an arm over his shoulders.

  It made him feel uneasy, inside, but the job had to be done, and the move did get the camera pointed at them. Briefly. If Clark was shocked by the gesture, it didn't show, since the man hugged him a little, then let Ben move to the front just as Carlos climbed out, and slowly walked into the store. The main stalker, who was, to her credit, in a better outfit now, climbed out of the smaller car and moved in. Like she was hunting something. Hopefully just for her own delusional pleasure, not the government.

  "Auto, please resume trip." Ben spoke out loud, his voice firm enough for the computer to recognize it as a command.

  "Resuming trip. Destination will be reached in; twenty-three minutes." Then, almost without a sound being made, they started to back up, and were pulling out of the fairly small and tight parking lot about half a minute later. Self-driving cars didn't do things like that fast. They did them safely.

  The voice was female, though it reminded him of Wall anyway. As they pulled out onto the nearly empty street, Clark ate a few more fries.

  "So, we're off to a wonderful start. Are you sure you can find the right person? How am I supposed to know who to grab, anyway?"

  Ben had no clue, but smiled, and took a deep breath.

  "I'll have to get away from you, and then find our agent. Hopefully that part will work. Then I'll get in touch with them and make certain I have the right name. I'll check that with Carlos, if possible. After that I pass the data to you, and you do your thing." Not that it couldn't fail at every single point. It really could. In which case they had no choice but to make sure the agent on the ground couldn't be captured and interrogated.

  How he was supposed to get that done, Ben couldn't understand. It probably wasn't his problem, thankfully. Taking a few deep breaths, he closed his eyes, and tried to meditate as best he could. That wasn't easy at the moment, his brain trying to race in every direction on its own. Everything could go wrong here. All of it.

  That there was simply no way for him to make certain it would work. That it was all out of his hands, was daunting. Not that it got them out of trying. Even if they failed, they had to do what they could.

  That kind of got chanted in his head, for most of the time they drove. Right until they stopped in an open area. There weren't even lights off in the distance. Just a glow in the sky, since a hill covered the central hub from that direction.

  Ben attempted to stay centered and took a deep breath.

  "All right. Hopefully this won't take too long. Ready?"

  Clark's breathing was at least as shaky as his own, but the man nodded.

  "As I'll ever be. Let's do this."

  The front door on the passenger's side opened with a touch, making a soft click as the lock disengaged. Without waiting, just a hint of soreness still holding onto his legs, Ben climbed out and started walking. His shiny black dress shoes weren't really what he needed for that, and they rubbed in places. Especially on the rig
ht heel. Hopefully he didn't end up having to run for too long in them. The dirt was dry, and there were rocks to stumble on in the dark. On the good side, after the requisite hundred feet and change, the whole landscape lit up, glowing blue. Like it had in the isolation room. Only far more intensely this time. It was nearly like he was using night vision equipment, even though he didn't think it was really about his eyes.

  The effect was inside his head, and from the way it had kicked in, at least partially psychic in nature.

  Ben stopped, since what abilities he had were back in play now. Going two hundred feet further away wasn't going to help him more. The world pressed at him a bit, but it wasn't much worse than at the Cymed compound. That place was further away from a large city, but this location wasn't all that bad. In front of him he could feel the Central Processing Hub. Or, if he were going to be accurate, he could feel the people working there. That was over a hundred, even that late at night. The thing had to be up and running all the time, after all. If it wasn't, then a big chunk of the web would be going down. For about twenty minutes. Then the backup systems would kick into play. Things would start to be re-routed and all that.

  Ben had no real clue how to start the whole thing. It would have been easier if he knew who to touch, mentally. Even a face or a name would work. Instead he cleared his mind, focused, and thought a single word. The only one he had that would resonate with the one person he needed.

  Cymed.

  Then he cast it out in the basic direction of the facility. A picture of it formed in his head, like a map drawn in blue lines of light.

  Cymed.

  For a while nothing happened, but on the third try, the word echoed back at him, the tone of it delicate and female.

  Cymed.

  A dot, in red, appeared on the map in his head then, showing the person, who was a woman, at least inside their head, as being inside one of the buildings. It wasn't building nine however, like they'd been told. From his count, this was building eleven.

  "Hello! Can you hear me?" He spoke out loud, even if there was no reason for it. After a second his ear made a sound, the bud in it clicking.

  "Ben? Carlos got in touch. The plan is a go. What's the situation?" Ali seemed fairly tense, and Ben had to resist touching her mind. His focus was needed in front of him, after all.

  "I'm attempting to get with the agent now. One bit."

  Then he had to concentrate harder, connecting with the woman behind the fence. Probably locked up in a building.

  Hello? I'm Ben. Can you understand me? If so, just think back at me.

  There was a pause, but just when he was about to try again, words came back at him.

  What the fuck? Great, I'm hearing voices now. I should have known I was losing it. Bowdaies spinning that story about revolution. Well, on the good side I can commit myself in the morning.

  There was an overtone to the words. They were both playful, and serious at the same time. It was clear that the woman actually thought she was losing it. Also that she wasn't the Cymed. She just knew who that was.

  Because that's how you ran an operation like that, telling people all about the secret plans. They probably put the whole thing up on the bulletin board in the break room, just to make sure it was spread around to everyone.

  Ben groaned, but connected with her anyway. After all, he had a name now, so there was someone to check on.

  You aren't going crazy; this is just a different way to communicate. Um, who are you? I think I'm supposed to be getting with Bowdaies...

  Again there was a pause, and a feeling that the woman was having trouble instantly adapting to the idea that the strange voice in her head might be a good thing. Ben really couldn't imagine why that would be. He was such a friendly and helpful delusion, after all.

  Beau? I... He said he was being watched, earlier.

  The woman sounded worried about it, so at least there was that.

  Okay. Let me see if I can connect with him. Hang tight.

  It wasn't that hard to find the man, who was deep inside the large warehouse that was building nine. Like he was supposed to be. His red dot was a bit more subdued, and the sense coming off of him was one of intelligence and focus. Meditative nearly. Even though he was pretty certain he was about to be arrested. No one had been in touch with him so far, which meant he had to get himself out. Angel too.

  That part burnt across the world. He had to get the woman out, since he loved her.

  Ben rolled his eyes, and tried to get in touch with the man. The brilliant idiot, who'd gone and let his emotions get in the way of his job.

  Beau? This is Ben Epson. Can you hear me? Just think back if you can.

  This time the response was a lot faster than before, almost instant, in fact.

  I don't know that name. May I help you?

  He had to think fast, but nodded, not certain if the idea would carry back to the fellow.

  One second? I need to verify something. What's your full name?

  Bowdaies Bryant. Why?

  There was no need to answer, so Ben didn't bother, just finding Carlos, who was trying to shake the women in the car off, walking around. Not that he was doing it very hard.

  Carlos? Bowdaies Bryant. Does that sound right?

  Beau? Yeah. That's solid. Can he get out? We were told that the plan was to pick him up when he went home for the day. They have surveillance on him, so we'll need to take down the hub too, as a distraction.

  Got it. Stand ready.

  He was starting to get a headache, just from touching the few minds that he had, but that couldn't be allowed to stop him. Thankfully it wasn't that bad, yet.

  Blinking, he tried to work out what needed to be done. Beau wanted his friend to come with him, and from her thoughts she had enough information to be dangerous if she were picked up, after he vanished. That meant the only safe thing to do would be to get both of them. Which was going to be harder. As far as Ben knew, Clark might not be able to lift that much. Not at one time.

  Shifting focus once again, Ben tried to pass the map over, which got Clark to simply call out to him. His voice was raised, but there was no shouting. It was only about a hundred feet of open space.

  "Hey... Is this glowing map of the hub you? Otherwise I think something in my head just broke..." There was a weak sounding chuckle to go along with the words.

  "Yep! The red dots are the targets. Our man and... Um, the informant that he has helping him. That's a woman. Can... You get them both?"

  After a few seconds, there was a grunt.

  "Not if they're separate like that. Can they move together? They need to be outside. This has both of them being inside. That isn't going to work, unless they want to be pulled out through a solid wall. I'm not certain I can do that from here though. Not fast enough."

  Beau? We need you and Angel to get outside. We have an extraction plan, but it would be best if you were close together. Hugging wouldn't be a bad plan? Can you do that? I can talk to her, like this, so we can coordinate.

  There was a pause, and a sense of caution, but also assent.

  The set up didn't take too long, since they weren't actually prisoners inside the facility. If they needed to get inside the buildings, it would have been really hard, unless they had clearance. Walking out, after being let in was just a matter of being checked for thumb drives and electrical equipment that could make copies of things. Not that Beau wasn't smuggling some things out. The man carefully didn't mention how he planned to do that, but needed to go to the bathroom first, to make that happen.

  It took a bit of extra time.

  Ben nodded to himself, and called out what was happening to Clark, and then reported in to Ali over the ear bud.

  "We're going to do the pickup in a few minutes. We have two people coming. Can we get any data on an Angel Rivenbark? That name sounds fake to me. If she's a government agent... Well, in that case, I'll leave it to the rest of you. So far she doesn't seem like that, but I... Missed Micha. So it's possibl
e."

  "I'll send that name along. Rivenbark? We can't run the links from here. Keep me apprised."

  The two people moved on the map, which he passed to Clark again. After a while they were able to move together, standing between two of the buildings. A third dot, this one being blue, was approaching their position. They had about a minute before being caught was the main option.

  "Clark! Get ready! As soon as they come together, lift... One... Two..."

  Hug already! Someone is coming. You might also want to shut your eyes.

  He didn't mention why, but could feel the two hanging on to each other. "Three! Go, now!"

  That made the map alter totally. He was following the man and woman, who both were being careful not to scream, even as they both felt ready to pass out from the sudden change. On the good side it didn't seem to hurt. Not them.

  Slowly, discomfort built in Clark however. His brain hurt from the exertion after a minute, and at about three he was gasping loud enough that Ben could hear him doing it in the distance. The dots were only about halfway to them however.

  "God!" The pain spiked, but the large man tried to hang on, his willpower about to fail him. Which would mean dropping the people several thousand feet. That probably wouldn't go over well.

  "Keep going. If you drop them, they die. Just a little further. Another few minutes."

  That wasn't going to work of course. What Clark could manage however, was getting them closer and setting them down safely. Ben was certain of this, since the scene flashed in front of him. It was precognitive, and pretty clear to him as to what needed to happen.

  "Settle them, Clark. Carefully. We can do this in more than one part." That was the plan anyway. As the couple were set down the pain receded a lot. It was a sudden relief, that shook Clark a bit. Ben too, since he was touching his mind as it happened. The map had changed to show them all. The others were about a mile away, which wasn't too far to walk, but would take them too long.