Outview (23 page)

33

During the car ride with Mom, I tried to
keep the conversation light. I didn’t want her to change her mind. “Josh
offered to help with Dustin once we get him home,” she began. “They were so
close. Dustin used to hang around the Station every day after school, helping him
and your dad.”

“I remember. I was there, too.”

“Just younger.”

“Yeah, I’ve always been younger than
Dustin. That’s why he’s my older brother.”

She broke the tension with a quick laugh.

The woman at the desk said, “Good morning,
Mrs. Ryder.”

“Hi Kristy, I’d like to sign Dustin out for
a family visit.”

“What do you mean? I thought you knew,”
Kristy looked very concerned.

“Knew what?’

“Dustin’s no longer here. They transferred
him.”

“Transferred? Where? Who?”

“It was some government thing.”

Her words nauseated me. “When?” I demanded.

“Just a few hours ago.”

“Kristy, what is going on here?” Mom was
losing it.

“Let me get the administrator.”

“You better get someone. I want to know
what the hell you’ve done with my son!”

Moments later a man in a white coat was
there. “Mrs. Ryder. I’m sorry, I was planning to call you this afternoon.”

“Dr. Crane, you had better tell me where
Dustin is right now.”

“He’s been transferred to St. Elizabeth’s.”

“Where is that?”

“Washington.”

“You let someone take my son out of state?
Where is he, Seattle? I’ll drive there right now.”

“Not Washington state, Mrs. Ryder. St.
Elizabeth’s is in Washington, D.C.”

“What? You’ve moved him to the other side
of the country? Under whose authority? Why wasn’t I called?”

“The Department of Homeland Security.”

“Are you kidding?” she asked. I found a
chair and fell into it.

“Mrs. Ryder, their paperwork was all in
order.”

“What are you talking about? How do you
know their paperwork was in order? Does Homeland Security come in here
regularly
and take your patients? Is this common?” Mom was angry but clearly thought this
was some classic government snafu. All I could think was the faceless man who
killed my dad now had my brother. I didn’t know what to do. He might not even
be alive anymore.

“I did call Washington and verify.”

“Let me see the paperwork, I want to know
who to call to fix this mess.” He handed her a clipboard. “Look right here,”
she pointed to the form. “This is obviously a mistake. It says here he is being
moved because of national security reasons. And the box next to “threat” is
checked. Dustin has been locked up here for more than two years, before that he
was playing high school baseball and Little League, before that he was in
goddamn diapers. He’s no threat to national security.” She actually laughed.
“You people are the crazy ones around here. Make me copies of these and get
Homeland Security on the phone,” she demanded, as she pushed the clipboard back
to the doctor. “Don’t worry, Nate, we’ll get this straightened out.” She looked
at me. “Nate, are you okay?”

“No,” I said, too upset to cry.

Before she could respond, the doctor handed
Mom a phone. More than half an hour later Mom slammed it down. “I’ve never been
so frustrated in my life. They slid my call around to six different people and
finally told me this case is classified. I’m his mother, and they tell me it’s
classified. They’re sending me forms to fill out. They’ve got my boy and
they’re sending me flippin’ forms. Dr. Crane, you better lawyer up because I’m
going to close you people down.” She scooped up the papers Kristy had copied.
“Come on, Nate, we’re going to hire the meanest son of a bitch lawyer we can
find.”

“Can you believe this?” she said once we
were in the car. “And don’t start with me because I know you’re going to tell
me this is all my fault.”

“It’s not
your
fault, it’s mine. They’re
using Dustin to get to me.”

“Who is? What are you saying?” she shrieked.

“Mom, we need to talk.”

“I’m right here. Start talking. Are you
somehow in trouble with the federal government? What on earth is going on?”

“I can only do this if you promise me that
you won’t say anything until I’m done and that you’ll keep an open mind.”

“Okay. I’ll try.”

“Dad was murdered.”

“Oh, come on, Nate. Did you get that trash
from Aunt Rose?”

“Mom, you promised.”

“There was an autopsy for God’s sake? Who’d
want to kill your father? He was the kindest man on earth. You’re making me
very upset.”

“Jesus, Mom, the autopsy was faked. Do you
believe everything they tell you? Dad was killed by someone in the CIA because
he knew too much.”

“You’ve been watching too many stupid spy
movies with Sam. What would he have known? How to design a menu? What inventory
to have on hand for Super Bowl weekend? The only thing your father knew about
the CIA was the time he spent at the Culinary Institute of America! This is
ridiculous.”

“He knew some serious secret stuff. He was
psychic. That’s where Dustin and I got it, and Grandma had it, too. Are you
going to tell me you
really
didn’t know about his powers, our powers?
Why do you have such a hard time believing your sons?”

She started to cry.

I took the papers and held them in my
hands. A minute later I knew every thing they said. The only part that mattered
was they had been signed by Agent Sanford Fitts. My enemy now had a name.

“I don’t know, Nate, I don’t know. I’m not
completely blind. Your dad tried to tell me some things around the time I was
pregnant with Dustin. I never wanted to hear it. I loved your dad, but all this
witchcraft stuff, it isn’t natural.”

“It’s not witchcraft, and there’s nothing
more natural than connecting to our soul. It’s the human world that’s not
natural.”

“I grew up a good Catholic, and it’s hard
for me to not think of ESP, reincarnation, and talking to the dead as wicked
and sinful or plain silly.”

“What if I told you the Catholic Church
taught reincarnation for its first five hundred years? It was a Jesuit priest,
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
,
who said, ‘We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are
spiritual beings having a human experience.’ Dustin and I have special
abilities. You can’t deny what is true, Mom.”

“I’m listening.”

“Are you?” I stared. “Good. Then hear this.
The CIA has psychic spies, and the corrupt man in charge of them is using ESP
to get money and power for a small group. Dad had a friend who was working for
them, but once he discovered the truth, he was about to go to the media with
the whole story. They killed him, but not before he told Dad. Only they didn’t
know which Montgomery Ryder he told, so they killed all eleven of them.”

“Oh my God! How do you know this?” She was
pale, but I repeated it again so she could not miss how horrific it was.

“They killed eleven innocent people just to
be sure they silenced one. Four years later, Kyle, Linh, and I searched the
Internet with the code name of the agency along with Dad’s friend’s name. And
suddenly they’re after me. They couldn’t get me easily, so they took Dustin.”

“Is it true?” she asked through tears.

“I’m afraid so. And at the same time this is
going on, I’m fighting for my sanity. I’ve seen visions of hundreds of deaths
from past lives. Spiritual guides whisper in my ear, and I can see images and
things you couldn’t believe.”

“Like Dustin.”

I nodded.

“Oh God, what have I done to Dustin? To
both of you?” She sobbed uncontrollably now. I held her.

“Mom, get it together. We need to go.”

“Can you ever forgive me?”

“I’m working on it. You really need to ask
that question of Dustin.” This set off another round of crying. But relief
surged. She finally believed. More than Sam or Spencer or anyone else, that
made me know for sure I wasn’t crazy--
my mom
believed me.

Any joy from the resolution between us was
quickly replaced by awful thoughts of what was happening to Dustin. We had to
find him. “Mom, we need to see Aunt Rose. It’s not safe for me in Ashland, and
Rose can help us.” She was in no condition to argue. I explained how Rose had
visited Dustin regularly to try and keep him sane.

“We’ll fix this, Nate,” my mother repeated
every time there was a lull in our conversation. But she, like me, was in over
her head. I told her more about the people after me and could see her struggle to
concentrate on driving. Mom’s face showed emotions ranging from confusion to real
fear. Would she have a breakdown once it had all sunk in? We needed her strong.
She had to have hope, or the weight of her mistakes and the potential loss of
her sons could engulf her.

“Mom, pull off at the next exit. There’s
something I want to show you.”

“There’s more?” she asked wearily. We
pulled into a rest stop and started to walk. Once in the trees I used Gogen to
move a rock the size of a basketball and let it float slowly up to her face.

“How?” She looked in disbelief.  I made it
float around her twice. It landed far from its original location. “That’s the
most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!” She laughed and laughed.

“I want you to know we are not powerless
against these people,” I told her. “We’re going to find Dustin and bring him
home.”

She wrapped her arms around me. “Promise
you’ll be careful. I can’t lose you, too.”

34

Without knocking on the front door, I burst
into the reading room, finding Rose with a client. “They took Dustin,” I
shouted.

Rose stood up. “I’m sorry, Tina, we’ll have
to finish another time. Forgive me, it’s a family emergency.”

“The government grabbed him. Some garbage
about a national security threat,” I continued.

The startled woman collected her purse and left
quickly with a slight bow. Mom pushed past her at the door.

“Jenny! Hello . . .  uh . . . ” Rose stammered.
They hadn’t seen each other in four years.

“Homeland Security took Dustin out of Mountain
View this morning. You’re supposed to be the great neon psychic, so why couldn’t
you see this coming?”

“Mom, stop it. Aunt Rose, look into your
crystal ball and tell me where they have him. Is he okay?”

I sat across from her. Mom paced behind me.

“The ball is for prophecy, seeing images of
the future and sensing things. In order to find him, I’ll need to go on the
astral.”

“What does that mean?” Mom asked
impatiently.

I silenced her with a look.

“He’s alive,” she said, after a few
minutes. “He’s clearer; maybe they haven’t given him meds today.”

“Thank God!” Mom said.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“A house. A green brick house in trees.”

“He’s not on a plane? Or in a big
hospital?” Mom asked.

“No. It’s a lovely sage green residence,
and that’s a very healing color.”

“They said he was being transferred to a
mental hospital in Washington D.C.,” Mom said.

“Well, they haven’t done it yet. I think
he’s still in Oregon.”

“Then, we can get to him,” I said. “Can you
teach me how to see where he is?”

“Concentrate,” she told me. “Just think
about Dustin. Picture his face. Hear his laugh. Look for him.”

“I don’t see anything.”

“You’re too upset. If you can meditate for
a while, we can try it later when you’re calmer.”

“Rose, can’t
you
see where he is, I
mean exactly where is this green house?” Mom demanded.

“I’m not getting anything beyond a house in
the trees. My talents are a little cloudy these days, but even at my best, it’s
hard to get perfect details. It’s not like watching TV, Jenny.”

“I need Nate to stay with you if that’s
okay,” Mom said. “Someone is trying to hurt my boys.” Her voice broke, and the
sobs began again.

“Of course, Jenny, as long as he wants.
You’re welcome too.”

“Thank you, Rose. But I’m going to find a
lawyer and start looking for Dustin in the physical world. No offense, but I
can’t leave his fate to what you all see or don’t see in that silly ball.” Mom
left a short time later, promising to get a prepaid cell phone on the way home.
She said she would bring me some clothes, my computer, and other stuff in a few
days. I told her about Sam’s sister, the lawyer, and she said she’d go by and
see him.

I called Kyle and Amber. They were stunned
and shaken by how close we came to being picked up the night before. They would
come to Rose’s on Saturday, as planned, if I was still there and still free.