Legacy (27 page)

“WHAT?” The blood drained from Trevor’s face.

Just a thought.
A creepy, horror-movie-inspired thought.
If it makes you feel better, I’m pretty sure that if he were that close, he’d just kill us rather than get into our dreams.

Trevor shook his head and frowned.
Strange, but that actually DOES make me feel better.

“He’d have to be asleep for it to work, too.” Ann leaned around Zack and shrugged. “Sorry. You thought my name so I’ve been eavesdropping. There’s no place here where Isaiah could hide.”

Zack stopped chewing. His eyes flashed to our faces in turn as he picked up the thread of the hushed conversation.

I chewed on my lip as I nodded.
You and I would sense him and the RVs would know where he was.

“He knows about RVs. Hell, he
is
one now.” Zack’s agitation came through for a moment before his shield swept it from our senses. “So, how could someone fool an RV?”

You can’t.

“So Isaiah could be watching us right now?”

Yup.

Zack scowled.

I inhaled sharply.
The plan didn’t count on him being able to RV everyone, did it?

Zack met my eyes and I could see the fear in his. “How do we fool an RV?” he repeated.

“Distract him,” said Trevor. “He won’t use his ability if he has to deal with something else.”

I nodded in agreement.
Or strong emotion. It’ll upset his concentration and interfere with his ability…probably
. What was Zack planning?

“Rachel’s not…is she watching us here? Has she told you—” He cut off as his gaze darted to Claire.

I’m not using the phone much these days.
Why did he care what Rachel saw?
Is there something I’m not supposed to know about?

“Actually, there’s some stuff you
do
need to see. Outside the compound.”

So, field trip after dinner?

You’ve been outside the compound?” Trevor frowned. “More than the time for the meds?”

“Yeah. Several times. I needed to make some…preparations.”

He has? Oh. I fought the urge to pout. I was still sidelined. I looked at Trevor.
Nobody tells me anything!

You’re telepathic. We never think we need to
.

“Actually, going out after dinner is a good idea. I can show you what Jon thinks we should do.”

Zack? How out of the loop am I?

He considered that for a moment. “There are a few things I’ve been told to shield around you. Logistical stuff that Isaiah shouldn’t know—stuff we don’t want him to pick from your mind. You’ve got the big picture stuff.”

Are you going to try to charm him?

Zack frowned. “I’m not sure I should answer that.”

I felt a sudden chill for Ann—for what she might lose if this went badly. I looked Zack in the eye.
If you do, keep your shield up. Isaiah’s the strongest I’ve ever seen. I was able to get past your shield when you charmed. He’ll be able to do the same. No matter what happens, keep your shield up.

“No problem.” His mind was invisible to me, just like it usually was, and I couldn’t read anything in his face.

He’s worried,
Trevor told me.

I met his eyes.
So am I.

After we finished eating, the four of us walked out the gate of the enclosure. I felt strangely vulnerable, as though the thin fence of metal chain-link and blue tarp had somehow been a magical ward, keeping us invisible and safe from our enemy.

But that was just silly. Superstitious.

I wondered if Rachel was watching us right now. I kind of hoped she was. Having an RV watching our backs gave me a guardian angel vibe. And she’d find envisioning us hanging out in New Jersey less stressful than RVing Isaiah. I’d gathered from her last few conversations with Trevor that her ability was fading—she hadn’t been able to read the computer screen to find out what Isaiah kept doing online. My brow furrowed. What was he up to? Maybe we should send a team out to Phoenix to get Isaiah. It’d be dangerous, but probably not much more so than sitting on top of the drug supply he was willing to kill for.

The thin road lay ruler-straight between the lines of blocky buildings. The last of the sunlight faded to our left, so we must be facing north. Somewhere in that direction, the people at Ganzfield were finishing their day, as well.

My thumb brushed against Trevor’s knuckles. He frowned as anxiety scraped across his mind.
Isaiah stopped at the security barricade in Detroit because he calculated his odds of success were too low. What will he do to increase his odds here?

I sighed.
I still haven’t ruled out the tank.

The road turned in front of the yellow, manor-like administrative building, which looked even more Gone-With-The-Wind in the glowing light of early evening. A few lost-looking cars remained scattered throughout the parking areas, but nearly all of the Allexor employees had cleared out for the weekend.

The endless, excessively-groomed lawn sloped slightly down from the manor house to the fence, the gate, and the road beyond. The guardhouse sat between two striped, hinged barriers that blocked the ways in and out. Metal teeth pointed up from the roadbeds on both sides, ready to inflict severe tire damage on drivers who couldn’t resist driving the wrong way across them.

Trevor chuckled at my itch to test their efficacy.
You’re never one for doing things the easy way, are you?

I just don’t like being forced in a particular direction.

Forced. I looked back at the spikes. Isaiah would try to force us to give him the dodecamine. How would he do it? Would he kidnap people we knew, hold them hostage until we met his demands? What about innocent people? If he showed up with a gun to a stranger’s head, would we give in to his demands? What if he was holding a gun to a child? I drew a shaky breath. Isaiah didn’t need a gun. He could simply
think
a hostage dead. If he threatened an innocent person, or many innocent people, what would we do? What could we do? What should we do?

Ann looked back at me with concern.
Are you okay? You just turned stress-grey all over.
“You know, the gun thing is easy. The sparks can stop guns.”

I’m the only one who might be able to stop him when he’s using his mind, though.

Ah, hell. It was the same problem we’d faced in Peapack. How did I get close enough to blast him without him blasting me first?

Zack stopped walking. “Maddie, what’s your effective killing range?”

The question once would’ve left me feeling sick, but I’d habituated to its emotional punch. I was a killer. I’d killed five people.

Not huge. Maybe twenty feet—more if I have a good focus.
Like the lethal blast of energy that Isaiah’d probably be directing at one of us.

Trevor squeezed my hand.
It’s okay. You really are a good person.

I bit my lip.
What a terrible judge of character you are.

Trevor suppressed a laugh, but his wave of reassurance and love warmed me.

Another thought made my eyes widen.
Isaiah probably thinks my range is bigger than it is
.

“So…” Zack gestured at the scene in front of us, “if you wanted him to stop just inside that guard station, where would you stand?”

The sudden “a-ha!” lit me from within.
Where would I stand so that, say, someone hiding in the guard station, shielding his thoughts to invisibility, could pop up and charm him into not frying anyone with his mind?

“Exactly.” He gave me a lopsided grin.

I eyed the scene again.
Probably about sixty feet in from the guardhouse.

Zack pulled a tape measure and a piece of chalk out of his pocket. He made a long line across the pavement at the sixty foot mark. Trevor and I stood there, staring at the chalk-mark—
the battle line.
This was where we’d stand down Isaiah.

I looked at Zack.
When you’re up against him, you’ll need to keep the charming going so he doesn’t have time to shake it off. Say it over and over. I can shake off your charm commands, so count on Isaiah being able to. Use his name so you don’t accidentally whammy me. Otherwise, I won’t be able to fry him. I’ll need time to get in close enough.

He looked at each of us. “There’s only one way in. The other gates are blocked off. We know we can get him to this place when he comes.”

I felt the waves of concern flowing off of Ann.
I don’t want Zack to be in danger. But it’s so SEXY how cool and in-charge he is.

I rolled my eyes skyward for a moment, and then looked back to Zack.
It’s a good plan. Just keep your shield up, no matter what.
As usual, the empty shell he presented was mentally invisible to me. I still felt that nagging twinge that we were missing something. Was it simply because I couldn’t read Zack?

Trevor tingled with nervous orange splashes—but he was on-board.
It’s going to work.

It has to.

The next few days passed, slow and hot. Drew arranged a Fireball tournament, but the other sparks quit after the metal building got furnacelike by mid-morning. I wrote more emails to Rachel. Her spirits had faded with the last of her RV abilities and the pregnancy had stolen her energy.

I’m a bad friend
. She needed someone and I wasn’t there.

From my mom’s emails, I understood that this breathless, anxious waiting also gripped Ganzfield. I realized that I hadn’t communicated with Williamson since our arrival, although Ann updated him daily by phone. Again, I felt the tinge of marginalization from my disability.

We’d been here nearly two weeks and the waiting wore on us. So, in a strange way, it was almost a relief when we got the call after lunch on Tuesday from one of the RVs at Ganzfield.

“Isaiah’s in the air and he’s flying east.”

CHAPTER 12

Electric excitement raced through our group, tinged with fear and anxiety. We still had several more hours of waiting, but things were finally happening. Rick, the RV, filled in the details. “He’s moving at several hundred miles an hour toward you guys. He’ll land in late afternoon.”

That meant that most of the Allexor employees would be gone before he landed.

Good.

We intended to chase out any late-night stragglers with something like a radon scare. It’d frighten people to think there was carcinogenic gas in the building’s air, but it wouldn’t be enough of an emergency to get the police or firefighters onto the property.

I speed-dialed Coleman then handed my cell phone to Trevor.
I promised we’d give him a heads-up when Isaiah was on the move toward us.

After a simple, “Isaiah’s coming,” Trevor hung up. I put the phone in my pocket, wondering yet again why I was the one carrying it.

Zack came up to us, his face set and serious. “Maddie. Trevor. Do you two trust me?” His voice was low and his gaze darted back and forth between us, as though he didn’t know what the answer would be.

Trevor met my eyes.
Do we trust him?

I bit my lip, hesitant.
I’d rather know how the plan worked.

Trevor emotions swirled around one question.
How can I keep Maddie safe?

I gave his hand a squeeze.
We’ll keep each other safe. Williamson trusts Zack. Ann trusts Zack. I think we can, too.

We nodded to Zack.

“I have to do some things now that you can’t see. You’ll have to stay away from the compound for a few hours. You also need to stay away from the front gate.”

This is the “logistical stuff” you mentioned before, isn’t it?

“Yeah.”

Trevor’s jaw worked as he processed that. “Okay. Where do you want us to go?”

“There’s a place on the other side of the administrative building. Building Four. Half the offices in there are empty right now. If you go there to wait, Ann can get you when…when it’s time.”

Ann
would find us—the only other person who could shield. Zack certainly seemed to know a lot about the layout of the Allexor campus.
How do you know all of this?

Zack shrugged. “I scouted it all out in the first few days we were here.” I suddenly realized that I’d had no way of knowing when he’d left the compound—his shielding made him mentally invisible.
Out of sight, out of mind.
It made me queasy, realizing that I had no idea what he’d been doing.

Anxiety crackled through the people staying behind as we headed to the gate.

Where are Trevor and Maddie going? Are they bugging out now that Isaiah’s on his way?

Are they leading him away from us? That’s either really brave or really stupid.

Is Zack in charge now that he’s banging Williamson’s niece?

Hell, what’s Zack going to do to us after Maddie’s gone? Isn’t she the only one who can keep him in line?

Ann followed us.

I gave her a nervous smile.
Testing to see when we’re out of range?

“Exactly.”

You don’t know—

“Zack’ll tell me the plan when you can’t overhear. I’ll shield when I come get you.”

The afternoon sun was too hot on our heads and shoulders. We passed the yellow manor house, and then counted to Building Four.
You really think we can trust Zack on this?
Trevor’s steps slowed as his doubts increased.

He’s not going to put anyone else in unnecessary danger
.
Isaiah’s going to focus on us.
I felt something tighten in my chest as I flashed back to how Isaiah had stabbed through my shield—and seen images of Trevor.
If we know what Zack’s planning, we might put others at risk.
I hated being out of the loop, but being responsible for putting the others on Isaiah’s radar would be worse.