“Unfortunately things seem to be getting worse all around these days.”
“Your team too?”
“The cases are getting more complex. Some of the calls we get are from governments, almost panicked because they’re in the middle of a coup and people are getting shot with absolutely no regard for innocent lives lost.” He shook his head. “It seems like things have just gone to shit in a handbag.”
“Sorry, I know that’s hard enough to handle right now, but, when it’s everywhere and when it feels like it’s a losing battle, it becomes almost impossible.” He saw a flash of light sweeping over Merk’s face as Merk noticed it too and smiled. “One thing at a time,” Damon said, “and right now we need to find what the hell is going on up ahead. Let’s follow where that light came from.”
Merk said, “I’ll do a reconnaissance visit to the left.”
“Okay,” Damon agreed, “I’ll check out the right.”
And, with that, Merk disappeared into the shadows.
Damon contacted Terk. You brother has gone left. I’m heading to the right.
Good enough, Terk replied, I’ll step outside away from the concrete and see if I can get a clear link.
I hate to even have you do that, Damon replied. That leaves her alone in there.
She’s working on the keyboard, he murmured, and we each have to take chances.
I wish to God you could see into the future with this shit to see if we’ll make it.
And sometimes, Terk noted, those kinds of answers aren’t helpful.
I know. We’ve seen that before too. But right now I could really use the vote of confidence suggesting that we’ll make it.
Come on. It’s who we are and what we do, Terk replied, with a bravado and a self-confidence that Damon didn’t feel at the moment. You’ll be fine.
I’ll be fine if I’m dead or alive. I know that already, he said in exasperation, but that doesn’t tell me if she’ll make it through this.
And none of us can see that right now, and I haven’t been invited to see it either.
Terk used wording like that sometimes, and it was frustrating. None of them could directly see the information that they wanted to see; it always came in dribs and drabs. Bits and pieces more often than not, frequently not very helpful. I get it, Damon admitted, but watch your back, and please don’t take any unnecessary chances. And, with that, he signed off and crept forward into the darkness. It didn’t take long for him to come up against something that made his fingertips buzz. He sent Terk a message, saying, We’re up against something energetic.
Terk sent a message back. Yeah. I think it’s similar to barriers you see all the time—or what you do yourself.
Seriously? Damon tentatively opened up his own senses and pressed forward ever-so-slightly. It was exactly that. Somebody, a receiver and a transmitter, was sending the same signal around in a big loop, keeping whatever was inside well guarded.
The question was, what was inside?
Do we know what’s in there? Damon sent back to Terk.
No, he paused, but it feels … familiar.
At that, his heart froze. Jesus, like what kind of familiar?
I don’t know. Terk’s voice was harsh. Proceed with caution.
I don’t even know how I’m supposed to get through this. Damon sighed. Even he heard the lack of confidence he felt now, what with his special gifts at half power.
The same way you get through your own, Terk sent, humor in his words. You join it.
And, with that, Damon studied it and realized that was exactly what he would have to do. But he would have to hook in at the right time. He sent out his own energy, brought it up to the same vibration, then slowly let it blend in, pulling his energy around and around and around. He tried to see through to the other side, but he wasn’t getting anywhere. Finally, when it was up to the same level, he stepped in, letting it go through and around him.
And, in his next step, he went to the other side. There he stopped at a door, but he didn’t know what was on the other side of it, and he had no way of finding out. He hoped nobody had had any early warning of his arrival, but Damon had no way to know that either. He’d learned a lot working with Terk, but Damon had also come to gain a few of his own skills that he didn’t know if Terk even knew about. And Damon would need everything he had to offer right now.
He shifted forward to the door, quickly unlocking it and stepping inside. He had a handgun in one hand, but he was armed with a fist in the other. He’d been a boxer a long time ago, and, at times, guns just didn’t do the job.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness inside, nobody was here, just a room with a couch and a desk and a laptop, but it was closed, as if nobody was even here. But then he spied another door off to the side. He crept forward and slid up, so he had his ear against the nearby wall. Then he sent out transmitted energy to see if he could hook on to whatever was happening on the other side.
When he was in the right position and with his energy working at full capacity, which was not the situation now, he could often hear what was happening on the other side of a closed door. Not like a remote viewing, which was a completely different thing, but almost as if he could pull that energy toward him, so he could decipher what was happening. On the other side, he heard a voice, like in the middle of a phone call.
“I know. I know.” Then silence. “No, we got this,” the man said. “I promise we’ve got it. They won’t find us, and they sure as hell won’t find this asshole I’ve got here.”
At that, Damon’s heart froze.
“He’s in a coma. Why can’t we just kill him? I swear to God, it’s just easier to shoot these guys. One bullet and he’s gone. What do they call him? Wade or something?”
Damon’s throat closed, as he thought about Wade, completely innocent and lying unprotected at the hand of another gunman. Damon sent out an urgent message, Wade. Wade, can you hear me?
What? came his groggy voice.
Any chance you can wake up?
I don’t know, he replied. Why?
I’m hiding on the other side of a door, near somebody who I think has you captive. I’m not sure how that happened because I thought you were being protected, but no time to argue about that right now. The guy is on the phone now, trying to convince someone to let him just shoot you.
There was silence as Wade tried to gather up the energy to talk to Damon. I don’t know, he whispered. That’d be a shitty way to go.
I’ll go in, Damon told him.
Yeah, guns blazing again, Wade replied in a wry tone. Make sure you don’t have random bullets flying around, okay? I’m already a sitting duck.
You have no idea. If there is anything you can do to assist right now, it would be helpful.
Outside of the fact that the energy is familiar again, Wade noted, I can’t say much.
Familiar? Familiar how? Damon asked.
I don’t know, man. I really don’t know.
Damon stopped and froze at an ugly thought. Wade, do you have any family?
What kind of a question is that to ask? You know I do. I have a brother.
Yeah, and where was your brother working?
In Europe. Why?
Is this energy that kind of familiar?
After a moment of shocked silence, Wade asked, Are you accusing my brother of holding me hostage and possibly wanting to kill me?