Infected 8: Impulse: A Whole New Day (14 page)

Her dad didn't even try to spank her now, and hadn't for years. Since she was little she'd been too tough for anything normal to even be felt that way, and ramping up the power was
asking
for trouble. Besides, most of the time when she got in trouble it was actually a first mode issue and everyone, including her parents, cut her slack on it. If you had to fight constantly not to do whatever came into your head, and it was so strong a thing that it was best likened to a regular person trying to
not
pull their hand from a fire, then you could only ask so much.

That didn't mean Charlot wouldn't go after her at times. Her first mode was basically annoyance, and having a child that didn't perfectly do what she wanted, when she desired it done, was a problem for her. Bridget would have been one even if she was a regular girl, of course. That was a thing that had taken a long time for her to understand. Her mother wasn't
trying
to be mean or bad, she didn't have much of a choice. It affected their relationship, but they were family, as messed up as the situation was. They made it work. Mainly.

She cleared her throat, which got a glare from her mother.

"Seriously, mom... You don't have to propel me down the hallway. This place is bigger than I thought. Now, what gives? You're acting like I messed up, when I'm pretty sure that I nailed the whole thing today. Yes, it's a bit dangerous, for Doug, Mary and
Charity
, but, um... Well, it's kind of a war. Things are going to be like that at times.
I'm
not really at risk." She grinned, going for playful and charming, even if her mother hadn't let go of her arm yet, and was still frowning hard enough that it might just leave a new set of lines around her mouth if she didn't stop it soon. "I haven't been off going to concerts, or blowing soldiers for information either. Not yet. You don't think that would work, do you?" Her voice had gone honestly questioning on that part, since it was a real enough idea.

A lot of them would be young, and a bit ugly, which might mean they'd be willing to tell her a lot, for a little attention in return. Even better, she could get Charity to do it, which would probably be an easier sell to most of the men. Bridget knew that being as small as she was, most would think she was too young for that kind of thing, even if state law allowed it.

Her mother didn't seem to even hear her on that one. Instead she tugged at her arm, pulling in first one direction, and then pushing her back a step. Bridget was a lot stronger than her mother, by a factor that was measured in the hundreds of times, not just one or two. That didn't mean a person with more weight couldn't cause her to move a bit however, if they tried. The question there was,
why
would she bother doing that? She had to know that too much of that kind of thing would set her off. Or it would have, once upon a time. Now... Actually, she didn't even feel annoyed by it. Her control wasn't slipping at all, and Impulse was able to think, for once. Thought and a concentrated mind lead her directly to insight, which kind of shocked her.

"
Ooooh
! I get it. You're
trying
to get me to throw a fit, or do something violent, to prove how unreliable I am. Only, I'm not. Not that much, anymore at least. Plus, everyone knows it, so there's no real benefit to doing that. It won't change anything, anyway. I kind of
have
to be there in the morning, at Mary's when the soldiers come for us. Even if we just run away from them, they need to see it happening, or it will all look like a trick." She was about to clarify that one, but a familiar voice spoke from inside a room with an open door, off to the left.

"Which we can't allow to happen. For the time being, everyone truly needs to believe that we're dead." It was Kevin that spoke. Director Moore.

At least that used to be his title. Now he was pretty much just some old guy that she knew. Hopefully one that her mom was going to listen to still. So far his words had seemed like he was on her side, but that could change, if she wasn't careful. The man thought of her like a granddaughter, which meant he could err on the side of being protective of her too. A lot of people she knew were like that, really. They'd treat her not just like a little girl, but as if she were fragile and breakable. Even normal girls would be bristling under that, she bet. It was annoying, so she smiled a bit and relaxed.

Bridget felt herself pulled in that direction, and staggered a little again, nearly pulling back a lot harder than she was being moved around. That wouldn't have proved anything, so she held on and let her feet move off the ground as she was whipped unceremoniously into the room.

"Wheee!" She stuck the landing since it hadn't been that big of a deal, and smiled, opening her arms for the old man in his charcoal gray suit. He really was practically her granddad, after all. She'd known him her entire life and he'd gone out of his way to always be there for her. That rated a hug.

Next to him, at a rather plain wooden table, was Lancaster, who seemed more than a bit ticked off, and her dad, Scott. He got up and walked around the table to collect his own embrace, as soon as Kevin let go.

"There she is! I hear you had a bit of a day?" He looked normal for him, or nearly so. His clothing was plain, compared to what he used to wear. His hair was shorter too. Not as perfectly brushed, but tidy looking. His golden skin and lavender eyes looked like always, but his face was more relaxed.

He'd been like that ever since he'd gotten sick, a few weeks before. He'd nearly died, but came back to them... Changed. Happier, she thought. Less impressed with himself, too.

She was still being pulled about by the arm, since her mother was still clinging to the idea that she might be
shaken
into misbehaving. Daryl pointed at the hold, and gave Charlot a cold stare that had her mother turning away a bit. She knew what she was doing, and had already been called on it once. Two people doing it would piss her
right
the hell off.

Bridget cleared her throat, and winked at her father.

"Not
too
bad. A bit of a change in plans, at a couple of spots, but I think it will actually work better. I'm still alive, as far as the government is concerned, which I think means that Doug and I are the IPB for now. Do you think they'll give me a raise? I bet they put Tibs in as the new Director. I'm too young. Hardly fair, given that I have all that time in grade over him. Seniority rules. Or it should." She wasn't really upset about it, but that line of thinking did get her mother to let go of her arm, and turn on Kevin, as if it were his fault that things had gone even the tiniest bit sideways.

"We can't let that happen. Can we?" She moved from dark and angry to actually questioning in a few words.

The Director let his face go blank and shrugged.

"You know, that might not be the worst case scenario. If they actually think we're gone, or most of us are, there may be a push to keep the rest of the organization intact. There are the other Agents and Operatives left, since not all of them will have fled in time. How is that being received?"

That let her inform them about her clever idea.
She
liked it, and thought it seemed about right.

"Protocol. Everyone was
supposed
to run, if we were hit like that. To protect themselves and possibly the public. I need to add that last bit, when I talk to them in the morning. It sounds about like what that old codger that used to be in charge of the IPB would have said, don'cha think, Kevin?" She was being sassy, but the man just nodded a bit, his silver hair not moving much.

"Really, that does. It will explain why everyone went to ground and won't let themselves be found. An unknown attack protocol... It isn't like they can check the base records for it. Then, the others can be collected by you and Mr. Tibs. It won't just sell the story, but probably protect you from most of the troubles that were headed our way. Then the biggest threat will be from Devorah and Tess. Trivia as well, of course. You can't underestimate her. In a way she is the most competent being in the world." He said that a bit roughly, as if he'd nearly forgotten that the woman was supposed to
not
be on their side. It was the kind of breech that could have her caught, if they weren't careful.

Braid
didn't
read minds, but if anyone slipped up and spoke about it openly, it was just possible that she could have a spy in place. Anyone could be her tool, after all. It was part of how her ability worked, Bridget figured. She could use her knowledge of what the correct future needed to come to pass in order to bribe, or corrupt, almost anyone. If there was a way to do it, then she could find it and probably make it happen. Not that Bridget knew for certain. It was complex, and normally too hard to beat, for regular little brained people like her. Or geniuses, for that matter.

When your adversary was able to literally look into the future and see what you were doing, it was hard to beat them. Really, there only seemed to be a couple of ways. You either had your own super predictor, and played a game of "I know that you know that we know that you're going to do X" or you found blind spots in the other person's abilities.

Blinking, the idea actually clicked in place suddenly. She'd been told that before, that they had to work from blind spots, come at the woman from unexpected directions, but it had never really occurred to her that they could
make
their own. For instance, her friend Becky was apparently invisible to anything that Braid could see or understand. Brian was too, if for other reasons, and if that was the case, then Christian, the uber telepath who was pushing Dharma into everyone's minds for them, wasn't traceable on that level either. If she was then Braid would be able to see Becky too.

For a long time she'd just been assuming that everyone was being seen all the time, but they did a lot of things that weren't actually
visible
, didn't they? True, that still meant a lot of things would be known, but...

She smiled, and looked at the people in the room with her. She loved them all, as family, and she might just be willing to jump into bed with Daryl if he'd let her, which so far hadn't gone too well. A few years before, when she'd been being a bit bad and trying to sneak into bed with guys, she'd done that to him. Rather than get him hard and ready, she'd been shot. In the head.
Three
times, which was excellent aim, for a pitch black room. It hadn't
hurt
, but was shocking enough that she hadn't done more with him than some close cuddling since.

Really, her night vision was pretty good, but in an underground room with no lights on, all she could see was the glow of heat signatures. So until the weapon had fired, there had been nothing for her to notice as it was brought around. So, it had been invisible, right until it was too late. At least it would have been, if she couldn't shrug off things like that with no more than ringing ears and a bit of dizziness.

Was Devorah Timberland the same way? Could they hide a trap from her and spring it on her in a fashion that was just too fast for her to deal with?

If she honestly needed to see things, then even hiding from her in a pitch black room might be enough to throw her off.

Which was probably just her being silly. Wouldn't someone smarter than her have figured that out already if it were the case? Then, who was to say it hadn't been? People didn't know to tell her about that kind of thing yet. Even if they should. Bridget was thought of as a weak link, and that wasn't totally wrong, even now. She was getting better, but would she have trusted her with the deepest plans, if she were in charge? Probably not.

She could do it, however. Bridget knew that, now. It would be hard, but she had the discipline she needed to get it done.

Sobering she considered all of that, and looked at Kevin, holding his gaze after a moment with her own. Her eyes were nearly red, with just enough brown to make them seem human, and not like she were an alien. Like her grandmother, Rachel. The Director had known
her
the longest, being that they'd built the IPB together, and had been around Bridget her entire life. He'd think of her like she used to be, she didn't doubt. Impulsive, dangerous and flighty.
Not
a good risk for that kind of info dump.

He'd be right not to trust her too. It was still pretty difficult, sitting there, knowing what she thought she might, not to call out what she was thinking. That was a sign that someone like him would have to consider a bad thing, if he knew. If there were ways to make blind spots however, they could
win
. It would be hard, and be pretty dangerous, since messing up was a one way ticket to dead, but she could, possibly, get it done.

No one in the whole world would expect her to. Well, except possibly Trivia, and maybe Christian Pours, if she was paying attention at the time. Trivia simply knew everything that anyone else did, and would also know if it was true or not. So she wasn't influenced by dramatic and self-important teen girls
too
much. Smiling, again, Bridget blinked slowly, which was a Lancaster move. He did it when he was about to start fighting. She wasn't, but he stared at her, his face suddenly going wary. The man started reaching for his sidearm, too. Since she wasn't going to be hurt by bullets and he wouldn't miss at this range, she just winked at him, trying to reassure him that she wasn't throwing down with the Director or him.

"Braid and Tesseract already paid a visit. They claimed to be there to trade information, and provided some that sounds real. We're dealing with that, and in a way I bet will get around her, too. I nearly killed Tesseract. So did Tibs. He was saved by a couple of future versions of himself, which was totally cheating. By the way, he also called me 'his love' which was
really
creepy. I mean, he's cute enough, but really, he could have brought flowers and given me dinner first, you know? I don't know if that was just to throw me off or not. Braid ended up with two broken legs, and Charity got a full soda can to the back of the head. Coconut water, actually. From
them
, it wasn't me doing that part. I ended up having to trade for the information, with Devorah Timberland getting to tell me something that I didn't know about myself, which is supposed to help her plan. I
guess
that's true info, anyway. I don't see it, but that may be the point." She took a breath, and went on, covering what the info about the Elcampayns was.