Legacy (18 page)

Whoa.
Isaiah needed even more than I did and I was a
major
rapid burner.

He might be hoarding the meds, but probably not
. Williamson tented his fingers.
It’s consistent with the amounts he smuggled out of Allexor. Based on these numbers, Isaiah might have enough of the drug to keep his abilities for another four or five weeks.

So he’ll be neutralized in about a month, one way or another,
I thought.

Williamson looked at me.
You know he’s not going to just sit back and let his abilities fade.

I nodded.
Yeah, I know.

Williamson frowned
. We’re also working on a deadline on our end. Rachel will only be able to track Isaiah for about two more weeks. She can’t risk additional drug exposure in her condition.

And she’s the best tracker we’ve got now.

By far,
he agreed. We’d lost nearly a dozen RVs in the attack, and Rachel’s Uncle Charlie had been killed at Eden Imaging. We didn’t have many left who were up to the task.
While many of the others can tell us WHERE he is fairly accurately, Rachel’s gift also allows us to see his actions over any distance.

The door opened and we all jumped. None of us had felt Zack’s approach.

“You’re late,”
said Williamson.

“Sorry.” He looked for a place to sit.

Huh? What was Zack doing at a minder meeting? Was he here because of his shielding? Or because he could shake off other charms’ commands?

Zack leaned against the far wall. He nodded to the rest of us, but his gaze seemed to linger on Ann. This might’ve been because she stared back, openly in shock.

“Have you met?” asked Williamson. “Zack Greyson, my niece, Ann.”

“How are you doing that?” She looked at the rest of us, seeking confirmation that she wasn’t the only one experiencing Zack’s invisible-mind effect.

Yeah
, I confirmed, projecting to everyone
. Zack’s a charm who can shield. Weird, huh?

“
You’re
calling
me
weird?” Zack raised an eyebrow at me.

I flushed pink, remembering how Zack had witnessed my losing it. Ah, hell. Surrounded by telepaths—think of something else.
I’m just saying. Not many people can sneak up on a minder. You just surprised a whole room full of them.

Zack gave me a smug smile.

Jagged yellow bursts of energy flashed through Trevor’s mind.

Oh!
I popped up a nearly-invisible spiderweb shield around the two of us.
Trevor, I love you. I adore you. You have nothing to be jealous about. And pretty much everyone in this room can hear your thoughts.

Sorry.
He flashed me a chagrinned smile.
Give me a second.

No problem.

Only Williamson seemed to notice that we’d cut off from the “hive-mind.” He glanced at us sideways and shook his head slightly at me.

How strange!
My mom had put a hand on Zack’s arm. She and Ann were doing the equivalent of poking him with a mental stick.

That’s wild!
Ann seemed to have recovered some of her color.

He was good. None of Zack’s thoughts came through his mental invisibility cloak.

“That’s kind of…amazing. I didn’t know that was possible for a non-telepath.” Ann’s thoughts jangled neon bright.

I turned back to Williamson.
Okay, Jon. So the dodecamine is all here at Ganzfield or down at the pharmaceutical plant in New Jersey. He’ll come after it here or there.

Or when it’s in transit
.

Trevor and I shared a flash of surprise. We hadn’t considered that. Cold washed through me. Could Isaiah fry the driver of a moving vehicle? After the crash, he’d kill any occupants who survived then take the drugs they were transporting.

I met Williamson’s eyes.
So Trevor and I are going to New Jersey?

“Why do
you
need to go?” Pearl-grey blossoms of concern flowered from my mom and flavored everyone’s thoughts.

Isaiah wants Trevor and me dead, Mom. If we’re splitting our forces, the two of us need to be at the location that looks more vulnerable.

Mom, it’s okay
—

“
IT’S NOT OKAY!”
Her words reverberated through both our ears and our thoughts. “That man almost killed you!”

Zack’s coming with us?
Trevor’s dismay splashed rust-red energy across my mind—and everyone else’s.

“We’ll also send some sparks and a healer.” Williamson intentionally ignored Trevor’s reaction. “Who do you want?”

“Drew.” Trevor recovered quickly. He looked at me. “How about Harrison, Ellen, Grant, and Melanie?”

Not Grant,
I thought back. He still felt weird around me.
Hannah should come, if she’s up for it.

“Dave?” Trevor asked.

He won’t want to come without Claire. Can the other RVs spare her?

Probably. Her talent’s local,
interjected Williamson.
She’d actually be more useful with you, since she sees images when her targets are in range. If Isaiah’s going there, she’ll be able to show you what he’s doing before he actually reaches you.

“Maddie, you are
not
going.” My mom’s emotions fluttered like a brightly-colored kaleidoscope. If she weren’t so upset, I’d appreciate how trippy it looked.

Mom, I’m going. They need me.

Her fists clenched helplessly.
My God! Maddie’s going into danger. She won’t listen to me. How do I get her to listen to me? What do I say? How do I stop her? How do I keep her safe?
She drew in a ragged breath.
I can’t—I can’t stop her! My baby’s going to be in danger and none of these people seem to care!

Mom…
The pain and wordless accusation in her eyes stopped me and I sighed.
I guess every parent has a moment when she realizes that her little girl is all grown up and wants to hunt killer telepaths.

Outside, Seth cracked up.

“Not funny.” My mom scowled at me.

A little funny?
I tried to get a smile out of her—and failed.

“So,” said Williamson, pushing ahead, “when Isaiah comes for Maddie and Trevor, Zack charms him so Maddie can move in close enough to blast him.”

“You can charm minders?” asked Ann, still staring at Zack. Pale pink tendrils flowed through her mind. Fascination. Wonder.

Wait—is Ann interested in Zack?

My thought pinged around the room and I winced.

Oops.

Ann flushed, and her feelings shaded deeper with embarrassment.

Williamson’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Zack like he was a cockroach—a
diseased
cockroach.

From outside, Seth’s exasperation came through.
Geez, Maddie! You aren’t one to talk! For eight months we’ve all had heads full of “Ooh, Trevor’s so amazing!” “Trevor’s so handsome!” “Trevor’s my perfect soulmate!”
His mental voice whined with falsetto parody.

Shut up, Seth!
My cheeks grew hot as a wave of pink embarrassment flowed through me—and then continued on through Trevor.

If a minder who overloads thinks a guy who shields without having to think about it is interesting, just let her think it, okay? Not all of us have pathetic little mental ranges like yours.

I felt something else behind his words, but now I was too pissed off with Seth to ignore it.
At least I can project thoughts, unlike SOME people. Since you can’t, want me to ask Zack if he has a sister?

“Can we get back to the subject at hand?” Williamson frowned in annoyance.

I wish I could shield.
Ann was still embarrassed.

I wish Seth could,
I thought sourly.

“I’d still be able to talk, Maddie!” came the thin sound of a shout from outside.

“ENOUGH!” Williamson didn’t raise his voice often and it got our attention. “Isaiah probably hasn’t figured out that we’ve cut off the supply yet. He’ll probably move quickly once he does, though. He won’t want to risk waiting until he begins to weaken.”

So, Trevor and I are the bait. Zack’s the hook. Claire gives us the heads up when he’s coming, and the sparks fry him from a distance if we mess up. Oh, and it’ll all happen in the next few weeks since Isaiah won’t wait until he’s out of dodecamine.

“That’s pretty much it,” said Williamson.

I met Trevor’s eyes.
Does this work for you?

He nodded.
We can stop him this way. He’s desperate enough to come after us, and he knows he needs dodecamine
.

I sighed. Maybe the world would be a safer place if none of us had the drug—if production just ground to a halt and we all reverted to nearly-normal people.

But that wasn’t going to happen. And, most of the time, I really didn’t want it to.

My mother brushed past me as she left the office, still simmering angry-red because the rest of us intended to put her only child into a dangerous, even lethal situation. What could I say? What she wanted—keeping me here behind the walls—wasn’t going to happen.

Ann?
I stopped her at the top of the stairs.
What you said before—have you ever been able to shield?

She shook her head.
I’ve tried.
Feelings of inadequacy bubbled up and fizzed across her mind.

Can you show me what you did?

She thought about shielding. Nothing happened.

Her thoughts reminded me of the first time I’d attempted to borrow Trevor’s telekinesis. I’d tried to think a soda can into motion rather than just using my mind’s natural programming to make the energy move the way I wanted it to. The shared memory made Trevor smile—a rare sight these days. I squeezed his hand and smiled back, and then borrowed his ability to brush the hair out of his eyes with invisible fingers, reminding him I had the hang of it now.

Could I help Ann? I focused on exactly what I did when I shielded—the way the energy seemed to well up, how I visualized it, and how it…just how it
felt
. Then I sent her the most detailed memory I could.

She concentrated intently, pulling the details out and running her mind across them, as though we were two old women comparing the patterns of our knitting.
Can you show me once more?

I centered on the memory again, focusing on the tiny impulses involved.

A single comment from Williamson’s office floated out through the now-quiet hall.
“Zack, do I need to remind you not to try to charm ANY of the minders?”
Williamson only had one person in mind. Ann flushed again and dropped her eyes.

I bit my lip as I tried not to laugh.
You should’ve seen what he put Trevor through.

Trevor wrapped a possessive arm around my waist.
Completely worth it.
The surge of silvery energy that passed between us gave me a delicious shiver.

I sent the shielding memories to Ann a second time, feeling her pull them in and attach them in her own head. Then I felt her mind go grey and foggy—
unreadable
.

You’re doing it!

A bright spark of excitement burned though the shield. It suddenly collapsed, revealing her thoughts again.

Ann, did you just shield?
We both heard the surprise in Williamson’s mental voice. He stuck his head out the door.

Ann nodded. The little zings of pale-green energy she emitted matched her excited smile.

Neither of us could tell if Williamson was proud of her, or of me, or of both of us—but we both saw the teal-colored emotion well up within him.

My jaw dropped.
Wait, you see colors?

“You can see them, too?”
Shock flared like sunlight within her.
I thought I was the only one! I don’t think Uncle Jon or Seth see them
.

I looked at Ann again, viewing her through new eyes. She’d been leaving Ganzfield the first time I’d met her so I’d never really thought of her as another minder. I’d had no idea that we had so much in common.
Keep practicing your shielding while I’m gone
.
Call—ah, hell.
We wouldn’t be able to talk by phone. Stupid brain damage!
Email me. We can discuss ways to improve it.

Ann shook her head. “I just shielded for the first time in four years as a minder. No one’s been able to teach it to me before. We’d assumed I just couldn’t do it. No way. I’m going with you.”

Jon?
I asked. We all turned to look at him, still standing in the doorway of his office.

It’ll be dangerous with Isaiah targeting the group there, but maybe learning to shield will give her a reason to stay this time. But I don’t think her interest in Zack is—

Ann gasped and pinked up.

Uh, Jon?
You know we can hear you, right?

His shield popped up, leaving us wondering where that last thought had been headed.

“Ann can go,” he said, finally.

Trevor and I sought out the team members immediately. If we were going to leave in the morning, we had less than a day to prepare. We found Drew and Harrison on opposite ends of the firing range, suited up in Kevlar as they pointed handguns at each other like old-fashioned, pistols-at-dawn duelers. Both radiated power, even at that distance, as they focused on suppressing the other’s weapon. Trevor pulled invisible arms around us as we held back, waiting for them to lower the guns before trying to get their attention.