Mind Slide (4 page)

She wondered how many smiles she threw his way, not knowing he was looking over her the entire time. How could she face him again?

She made the turn onto Simmons Avenue, the halfway point to her house. Her legs ached, but she allowed herself a small smile.

“At least I'm in shape,” she whispered.

She never noticed the black van stalking her for the past ten minutes.

Mason was in the middle of his first good dream in months. He was in the math class of the high school he visited a few days earlier. He was just a student, taking notes and answering questions. The pretty soccer player that sat in front of him was getting ready to ask him out on a date when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder.

“Mason! Wake up.”

He moaned in disgust and sat up in bed. He rubbed at his eyes and looked at the clock on the nightstand.

The man leaning over him was still a blur, but he didn't need vision to recognize who it was.

“Three in the morning, Doc?”

“I know, Mason. Hurry up and get dressed. You know how we like to keep challenging that brain of yours, keep it off-balanced.”

Mason put on a pair of white sweatpants and a white tee shirt. At least he didn't have to wear the ridiculous gown for a night experiment. The only people cruising the halls would be security.

“I hate night experiments.”

“The sooner we get going, the sooner it'll be over with.”

Doc gripped his arm tightly and led him out of his room. Mason struggled to keep up with the tall doctor, all while having his arm pulled above him.

“Uh, Doc, I know where the lab is. No reason to rip my arm off.”

Doc barely slowed down.

Mason's breath hitched as fear overwhelmed him. Doc was acting odd.

This was going to be a
painful
night experiment.

He tried to stay strong. He wondered what it would be this time. Submerged in freezing water? Stuck like a pincushion all over his body? Hung upside down?

“Look, Doc, is this about the fight the other day? I said I was sorry.”

Doc was quiet.

There was no security. They saved all the painful experiments for night. He tried to prepare mentally for whatever they had in mind for him.

He was surprised when Doc unlocked the lab with a key. That was unusual. Were the technicians and doctors locked inside?

There were only more questions as Doc opened the lab and turned all the lights on. There were no doctors, no technicians. Mason had never seen the lab so quiet. There were always people running around, taking notes, working on formula, pecking away at computers. Especially around experiment time.

Despite the emptiness of the place, Mason's eyes fell on the metal table in the middle of the lab. They tried to dress it up years ago with a pillow and a little sheet. At odds with the pathetic attempt at comfort were monitors and machines around the table, all designed to let Doc and his team get a glimpse of Mason's brain.

He hated that table.

“What's going on? Where is everyone?”

Doc turned on computers and monitors. Mason could see his hands shaking slightly. Something was very wrong.

“This is a low key experiment, Mason. Doctor Fuller is on his way in now. It'll be just us.”

“Bullshit.”

Doc ignored Mason's outburst and went to the refrigerator against the wall, pulling out vial after vial of the Cocktail. Mason felt nauseous as his nerves attacked him. The Cocktail did a decent job of keeping his nerves steady while mind sliding, but it left him confused and disoriented afterward, sometimes even sick.

Doctor Ronald Fuller walked into the lab, a cup of coffee in his hand. He wore jeans and a light sweater, much different than the lab coat Mason always saw him in.

“I swear, Albert,” he muttered under his breath. “You'd better have a good reason for pulling me off my wife-”

He stopped when he saw the lab. He took a casual sip of his coffee and raised an eyebrow.

“Morning, guys,” he said. He looked at Doc, who was still gathering Cocktail. “Did you fire the team? What is so important I drove all the way in to see an empty lab?”

“Just give me a minute,” Doc said, gathering some syringes. “I'll explain everything.”

A voice came through the phone on the corner desk that also doubled as an intercom.

“Doctor Rierson?”

It was Rhonda, one of the nurses who worked the night shift.

“Yeah, I'm here.”

“There's a police officer here to see you.”

“Thank you, Rhonda. Could you show him to the lab, please?”

There was a pause. “I'm not sure I can do that.”

“You don't have to come in the lab. Just show him to the door.”

“Fine.”

Her voice went silent. Ronald gave the man he'd known for nearly twenty years a hard stare.

“You
invited
someone to the lab? A
cop
? Are you out of your mind?”

Mason smiled. “Maybe that child abuse call I put in five years ago is finally gonna go through.”

Doc gave Mason a glare.

The police officer pushed the lab doors open. He looked down the hall, still talking to Rhonda. She stayed far down the end of the hallway.

“This is it here? Thank you, ma'am.” He took a step inside. “I'm Officer Brian Lowdry-”

Ronald was already moving toward him. “Yes, hello, Officer. This is all just a big mistake. You can't really be in here. This is a highly classified area.”

He grabbed the officer's arm. Brian didn't budge. Anger flashed across the cop's face.

“You want to let go of my arm there, Alfalfa?”

Ronald lowered his eyes and removed his hand. He sheepishly took a few steps back.

Mason liked Brian already.

Brian Lowdry was a muscular man, barely squeezing into his police uniform. Mason wouldn't want to get on his bad side. His blond hair was cut very short, almost to the scalp. His radio squawked with chatter as he glanced around the lab. He turned the volume down and pulled out a notepad.

“We don't normally make house calls, but someone here knows my captain,” he said. “I was told to ask for Doctor Albert Rierson.”

Doc carefully placed the syringes and Cocktail on a tiny cart next to the center table. He raised his hand. “That's me.”

He locked eyes with the doctor. “So? What am I doing here?”

Doc slumped his shoulders and stood next to Mason. “My daughter's been missing for two days.”

“What?” Ronald yelled. “Kelly's missing? And you're just noticing
now
?”

Doc paced. “I missed her track meet. I thought she was simply mad at me, staying with a friend. But I called, and she's not there.” He looked at Ronald, then Mason. “My little girl is missing.”

Mason heard Kelly's name many times over the years, but had never actually seen her. He didn't know much about Doc's life, but picked up enough clues to put some pieces together.

Doc was a single father, and wasn't very close with his daughter. He spent more time at work than with her. He loved her, of course, and always talked about how she did in school. But it seemed there was always tension between them.

“Okay.” Brian started scribbling notes. “Are you sure there is nowhere else she can be? You've called all her friends? Any other family?”

“I'm her only family. I don't know all her friends, but she hasn't been in school the last two days. That's not like her.”

Ronald stood next to his friend. Mason took the opportunity to back away from everyone.

“Look, Officer,” Ronald said. “If Albert says his daughter is missing, then his daughter is missing.”

Brian was silent for a moment. Mason watched the officer studying everything around him. He looked exhausted and irritated.

“Okay. I'll have to ask you some questions. If you've got a picture of her, a last known location, that would be helpful. We'll put out an APB, do what we can.”

“That's not good enough,” Doc snapped. “We can find out where she is in just a few minutes, and you can go get her.”

Mason's jaw dropped. He looked at all the Cocktail Doc had gathered. Enough for a very long and lucid mind slide.

“Wait, come on now, Doc-”

Doc held up a finger to Brian. “Could you excuse us? Just one minute?”

Brian shrugged, anger written all over his face. “Oh, sure. I was only on my way home to see my pregnant wife. I've got nowhere to be.”

Doc and Ronald approached Mason. Ronald spoke first, never taking an eye off Doc.

“Albert, do you realize how much trouble we'll get in? Shit, how much trouble we're
already
in? Just that cop being here-”

“She's my daughter, Ronald.” He looked at Mason. “Please-”

“Doc, I don't want to be responsible for finding your daughter. I'm sorry, but that's a lot of pressure to put on me. What if I mind slide to her, and she's...”

Doc shut his eyes and held up his hand, not wanting Mason to finish that thought.

“Mason,
please
,” he begged. His eyes welled up with tears. “I know...I know you hate us. I know it makes no difference, but
I
hate us too. And you have no reason to want to help me. But Kelly, she's a good girl. I
know
something is wrong.”

Mason looked at the pain, the fear in his eyes. He had never seen Doc so torn up.

He thought back to what Doc said the other day, after his fight, to the man in the suit.

I'm proud of Mason.

He took a deep breath.

“I'll help, but only if we do it my way.”

Doc nodded. Out of habit, Ronald started placing sensors all over Mason's body. The teenager almost protested, but decided he'd let that slide.

Brian shook his head and put his notepad away. “Look, I don't care what game you're playing, what little science fiction thing you got going on here. I need to get home.”

“No!” Doc shouted. “I assure you, this is very real.”

Brian was almost out the door.

“Sir,” Mason said.

He spun around to look at the teenager.

“In just a few minutes I'll know where Kelly is. Please stay.”

Brian hesitated for a moment, staring at Mason. He finally turned around and took a seat at a nearby desk.

“You've got five minutes.”

Mason nodded.

Ronald finished applying the last of the sensors. Doc reached for a syringe of Cocktail.

“No,” Mason said. “None of that crap.”

Doc frowned. “Mason, I'm sorry, but you
need
this. We're gonna need a strong, solid projection.”

“I don't need the Cocktail, Doc.” That drew Ronald's attention as well. The two doctors stared at Mason. “I haven't needed it in years.”

Doc gently placed the syringe on the cart. “What else haven't you told me?”

The corner of Mason's mouth lifted slightly. “I just need music. Classical music.”

Doc's brow furrowed. “What?”

“Classical music.” He looked at Ronald, making the request of him. “Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, anything. It relaxes me.”

Mason was surprised when Ronald actually went to a radio on someone's desk and started browsing through stations. The doctor paused when he found a soothing orchestra.

“That's good.” He felt empowered. They were listening to
him
, for a change. He climbed up on the table and took a deep breath, trying to relax. He pointed to the corner office, on the opposite side from Doc's, made completely of glass windows. They used it to monitor him in private during mind slides. “Don't go in there. I want to hear everything you're saying.”

“You got it,” Doc said. He moved to sit at a desk to watch sensor readouts.

Mason clutched his arm. “Doc, there's just one more thing.”

“Name it.”

His features softened. “Please, find my picture. My parents.” He closed his eyes and envisioned it perfectly in his head. “Eight-by-ten, wooden frame. They're in a park, standing in front of a swing set. Mom is holding me, Dad right behind her. I'm just a little baby-”

“Mason, I'll find it.”

He opened his eyes and gave Doc a smile. He was going to do something he didn't think he'd ever do.

Mind slide in the lab because he wanted to, not because he had to.

He took another breath and looked at the lab one last time. Ronald was studying a monitor. Doc stayed by Mason's side. Brian leaned back in a chair with his feet up on a desk, but paid attention to everything that was happening.

“And here we go,” Mason said.

He laid back on the table and rested his head on the pillow. Doc opened his wallet and handed Mason a picture of Kelly, taken just two months ago on her track field.

It was the first time he'd ever seen Kelly. Straight red hair down to her shoulders, piercing green eyes, skin like cream. She rested on one knee with a lovely smile, wearing a uniform that was probably a touch too small.