[Ganzfield 2] Adversary (32 page)

So that was why Charlie Fontaine had left Ganzfield—the home of the Screaming Beacons.

Maybe that could be the name for our sports teams.

“I knew Isaiah. I knew he’d feel compelled to come after you. You’re a big threat to him.”

Next to me, indignation seemed to explode from Trevor. “You used Maddie as
bait
?” His arm tightened protectively around my shoulders.

On my other side, my mom’s thoughts filled with dismay.

Dr. Williamson stared back into Trevor’s anger. “We needed to get him out in the open and distract him enough so we could get our people close to him. He’d holed up on a farm out in Pennsylvania. We had no way of approaching without him sensing us.”

Rachel,
I thought.

“Rachel found him last Monday.”

“Not in Switzerland,” said my mom.
He lied to me.

“Not in Switzerland. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the truth, Nina. We couldn’t risk Maddie overhearing your thoughts and Isaiah overhearing hers before we sprang the trap.”

How did the sparks get so close?
I asked.

“We didn’t. Since the attack on Ganzfield, we’ve been up at the place in Connecticut, working on combining our abilities to spark things over long distances.” Dave’s frustration filled him again, making him wince. “If it hadn’t’ve been for the rain, we would have had him.”

You got him in the chest pretty well,
I told him.

“We did?”

“It hurt pretty bad,” Trevor added, wincing at the memory. “I think he’ll recover, though.”

“How do you know?” asked another spark. I think her name was Mary. “You’re not a telepath.”

Trevor and I both blushed as every eye in the room fell on us. “Maddie and I…share a special connection.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as the mental barrage of R-rated “special connection” images hit me. My cheeks got even hotter.

“That’s enough.” Dr. Williamson nearly growled in annoyance. His mind remained opaque to me as he looked closer at us. “Did he get close enough to attack?”

Isaiah…
An intense wave of nausea rolled through me with the memory.
Isaiah went after Trevor first.

Dr. Williamson frowned. “How did—”

I tossed up the mental shield around Trevor and me. It no longer felt quite as strong, since the connection between the two of us wasn’t as intense as it’d been just after soulmating, but it was enough to make Dr. Williamson take an actual step back. His mouth opened, although no words came out. He looked from Trevor to me. We were completely blank to him. He could sense the shield, but nothing of either of our thoughts.

“What did she just do?” asked one spark in the corner.

“She just showed me what a real ‘special connection’ is.” Dr. Williamson stared at us. There was something new in his voice. Was it respect? Was it concern? The core of his thoughts was still unreadable and I’d had enough of that.

I lowered the shield again so he could hear me.
Trevor could’ve been killed
. The thought made my stomach give another heave and tears pricked at my eyes.
You set us up as bait with no warning, no protection—

“Isaiah wasn’t supposed to get that close to you. It was a calculated risk.”

Dark-red anger geysered up within me and I suddenly wanted to blast Williamson’s mind. I felt…what?

Used.

I’d been used by this man I’d considered to be like a father to me. Betrayed.
Would you’ve used Elise as bait like that?

Williamson’s hand shot out, aiming a slap at my face. It stopped mid-air, an inch from my cheek.

“Don’t.” Trevor’s voice was low with cold anger as his unseen arm restrained Williamson’s hand.

How DARE you speak about her like that?
Williamson’s mental voice was blood-red and furious. I’d never seen him lose control like this.
You don’t know what it was like to lose her!

Thanks to you, today I almost found out.
I tried unsuccessfully to rein in the tears that escaped down my cheeks. I’d been a sacrificial pawn in the chess game of someone I’d respected and trusted.

Williamson staggered back as though I’d been the one to slap him. His eyes widened and his mental shield slipped away. In that horrible moment, he saw all of his own flaws and weaknesses—and his own willful blindness. He recognized that, since he’d learned Isaiah was alive, he’d been playing Ahab to Isaiah’s white whale. He looked at me, seeing me properly for the first time in months, realizing that his shield was gone and that all of these flaws and faults were exposed to me.

“You nearly died.” It finally registered with him, the awful realization that we’d almost been killed. He could’ve lost me—Maddie, the person, not just the G-positive telepath who might be able to stop Isaiah.

That’s sort of the point we’ve been trying to make
.

The edge of my anger evaporated with the intensity of his realization. Williamson was neither as good nor as strong as I’d hoped—as I’d needed him to be. But I understood him. He was trying, and that was a lot to ask of anyone who’d sustained the loss he had.

I’d been ready to raise the mental shield around our minds again.
I could shut him out—I could shut him out forever.
But now that impulse fell away. I remembered how terrible I’d felt back at the camp in Connecticut when I’d thought Williamson was dead. Despite my anger, I knew I didn’t want him out of my life.

You’re being pretty forgiving.
Trevor had caught enough of Williamson’s realization second-hand to understand why I felt that way, though. After the past week, Trevor could understand the dark places Williamson had gone to after Elise’s death. He knew how it could take a good man down the wrong track. He respected the strength it took to keep going through all of that pain. Despite his flaws, Williamson did care about me—about all of us at Ganzfield. He was doing the best he could.

Isaiah knows where we are
.
He knows where my mom lives because of this. What are you going to do about it?

Williamson realized that he’d lost a big chunk of my trust in him today. It hurt him more than he’d imagined it would. I really was like family to him, and he’d put me in danger. He’d let me down.
I’ll never do something like this to her again
. With his shield still down, I felt his sincerity.

“I’m going back to Ganzfield. I hope you and Trevor will come. Nina, as well.”

Next to me, Trevor radiated discontent.
Will we be safe there? Does Williamson really have Maddie’s best interests at heart? Can I still respect him after this? Does this mean that I’m no longer bound to the promise I made him?

I heard that,
I whispered into his mind, realizing what that meant for our relationship.
Sounds like a silver lining to me.
Red energy began to tingle along my skin.

Trevor flicked his eyes across me.
Isn’t your mom right here?

Curses! Foiled again!

Trevor smiled.
Better than a cold shower.

I sent him a mental splash of cold water and he gasped.

What do you think?
I said, turning serious.
Should we go back?

We can’t stay here.

A stray, loud thought from one of the sparks interrupted us.
Geez, minders are creepy!
Apparently, from his point of view, we’d just been staring at each other, giving random emotional responses from time to time.

I think they need us
.
And there’s safety in numbers.

Across from me, I felt Williamson’s flickering hope flare up, white and clean, out of the twisting regrets in his thoughts.

If he ever puts you in danger again…
Trevor’s protective anger swelled.

I turned to Williamson, knowing he’d followed the silent conversation.
Fix the weaknesses in the security. No more using unsuspecting people as bait. No shielding important things from me.

He nodded.

Trevor still felt wary, but he trusted my judgment. He nodded.
It’s home. If you go, I go.

Mom, I think there’s a bunch of people up at Ganzfield with a lot of posttraumatic stress. They could use your help. How about a sabbatical, away from the house where the psychotic killer knows you live?

“I don’t know…”

C’mon, Mom. Your choice—psychotic killer or time with your daughter?

“Well, if you put it that way…” She smiled. She already knew a colleague who’d cover her patients, since she’d considered taking a leave of absence over the past week.

*   *   *

We all hit the road a half hour later, heading up to the camp in Connecticut for the night. My mom drove her car in the middle of the caravan. The van followed, while Greg took the lead with the town car. Williamson mentally scanned the area until we took the on-ramp onto Route 287. This road would take us around the city and avoid the worst of the mental congestion. It was a relief not to be on-duty, listening for the thoughts of people who wanted to kill us. I could just go along for the ride.

From the town car, Williamson’s thoughts turned to me. He knew he hadn’t been forgiven, but I was willing to give him another chance. He was determined not to blow it.
I’m glad you’re coming back.

I sat between the suitcases in the back seat of my mom’s car, a tiny sedan where legroom went to die. Trevor was in the front passenger seat. He startled at the secondhand connection and I reached a hand over the top of the seat to take his.
I’ve never spoken mind-to-mind between two moving cars. It’s a little weird.

Think of it as using cell phones,
thought Williamson. Something sparked in his mind at the mention of phones.
That reminds me—what exactly did you do with Locus Two Systems? I got a call from Nick Coleman a few days ago.

A rock of trepidation lodged in my gut.
Did I do something wrong?

The SEC seemed to think so. They were in his office asking about you last week.

Oh, my God in Heaven.

Nick took care of it,
Williamson quickly reassured me.
He deals with that sort of thing from time to time for me, as well. They’ve already closed the inquiry. But seriously Maddie—six million dollars?

What?
Cold splashed through my heart and my jaw dropped.

Trevor startled. “What?” 

My mom jumped and the car swerved slightly before she corrected. “What’s wrong?”

Six million? Really?
I thought it would be about sixty thousand dollars. I felt sick. Where had this six million figure come from? And, most importantly, had I made that much or lost it?

Nick said the value of your trust was over six-point-two million on Friday, with the new price on the options. Where’d you get the tip?

Elevator. On the way to Nick Coleman’s office
.
Six MILLION? Really?
What the heck had happened?

I felt Williamson’s laughter as he figured out why I was so shocked.
Contracts are for a hundred shares each, Maddie.

I’d optioned a hundred times as much as I’d planned. I was now worth millions of dollars after my very first stock trade. No wonder the SEC was looking into me. The highway sped along outside the window. I felt dizzy.

Oops.

In the front seat, Trevor started to laugh.
By accident? Let me get this straight. You’re worth millions of dollars right now, and it’s because you made a mistake?

It took a lot of the fun out of being rich—the fact that I’d screwed up and it wasn’t done on purpose. I’d be reminded that I’d done something wrong every time I thought about the money—money that would re-build my mom’s house, install a fairly indestructible bed frame in the church for Trevor, fix up Ganzfield…

That’s it,
my mom thought from the driver’s seat.
I’m going to try that dodecamine stuff. I’m tired of not being part of the conversation.

Mom,
I began,
I don’t think you need to worry anymore about whether your homeowner’s insurance will cover repairing the bullet-holes…