“The Catalyst” Series
Chapter 41: Condolences and Schemes
I had some strange dreams, probably induced by the
anesthesia. I couldn’t remember much of it but I remembered one specific
segment where various women would crawl naked out of my neck, frightened and
bloody. Once free, they’d run away in terror, making way for the next one to
crawl out after them. Throughout the whole thing there was this ongoing
narration, all in the past tense, as if I’d died. But it was odd in that it was
only random phrases with no bearing on what was happening. A later segment
consisted of some black kids playing together. No context or anything, just a
couple of kids I didn’t recognize playing.
I gradually awakened and opened my eyes to look around. My
throat was killing me and my head still hurt, but the pain seemed manageable
and I assumed I’d been given some kind of pain killer. I remained groggy, and I
was in no hurry to sit up and start conversing about anything. I looked around
the room and it was filled. Someone noticed my eyelids flickering and called
everyone’s attention to the fact and suddenly I was surrounded. The room
consisted of my immediate family and Allison. Even with just those few people
the room seemed packed. I wondered where everyone else was, and my mind
immediately jumped to the thought that maybe someone else had been hurt,
causing my heart to jump. But I quickly calmed myself, remembering that Cate
had told me that no one else had been injured besides the shooter. They each
wanted a hug and their own reassurance that I was OK. However Cate pushed
everyone else aside and leaned in and kissed me gently on the lips as if she
was afraid I’d break. I smiled at her and her relieved smile filled me with
happiness. Tired, sore and achy happiness, but it was still better than worrying
about myself and everyone else. Finally Allison nudged her, and Cate made way
for her, although my sister never let go of my hand. Even though Allison still had no serious medical training, she was considered the resident medical
authority, more trusted for her unique abilities than the available nurses.
“You feeling OK, Alex?” she asked, while doing that annoying
finger tracking exercise. I tried croaking out a response, but she quickly
stopped me, insisting I remain silent so I blinked once.
‘You know you can simply answer me telepathically. Just
don’t try to talk. As long as we’re alone we can answer you, but if anyone we
don’t know is here, we won’t be able to,’ she advised me. Aloud she said, “Very
good, you’re remembering. Just remember that when the cops show up. Gail seems to think we shouldn’t tell them too much for some reason.” She finished her quick
review of me and finally gave me a big hug.
“You seem fine,” she informed me, apparently speaking aloud
because she wanted everyone to hear what she said. “The X-ray showed no damage
to your spine, and nothing was significantly injured. You are incredibly lucky.
There isn’t much in the neck region that isn’t vital, and you managed to miss
all the deadly areas.
She was right, that was incredibly fucking lucky! The
idea the shooter would have a major stroke in just the right part of the brain
just as he was pulling the trigger. The odds had to be astronomical. What,
something like one in 6.9 billion? Which brought it back to me again. Was it
possible I had done something to him? So far the limit of my powers had been my
ability to activate abilities in others, to communicate telepathically, and to
give or draw energy from someone. I certainly hadn’t been close enough to drain
any energy from him, and I wouldn’t even know how to drain energy in such a way
that it would trigger a stroke. Could I have done something to his brain? So
far I had only done that with potential seers. Could I also do it with others?
I had no conscious memory of doing anything to him, but I had no memory of ever
doing anything to any of my girls. It had always been an automatic response,
almost like breathing. I guess it was a possibility, but that’s like proving a
negative. There’s no way to know. This was just too much to consider at the
moment, I’d have to skip it until I could discuss it with Cate later.
Just who was that guy and why did he want to kill me? He
hadn’t asked about money. He wasn’t trying to steal anything. Shooting me
wouldn’t have gotten him anything. The only thing that made any sense was
either he had a personal grudge against me and I didn’t know it, or he was
trying to kill me for someone else. Who the hell hated me enough to pay someone
to kill me? And it wasn’t just anyone. The guy who shot me knew what he was
doing and had no compunction about doing it. Where would a high school kid from
our little country town know someone shady enough to attempt something like
this? We didn’t have any gangs or much of a criminal element locally. Like all
towns we had some no good troublemakers, but going from that to someone wanting
to shoot someone was a bit of a leap. I’d have to talk to Gail about it. She’d
likely have already thought about it.
But of course, there was one obvious answer that I really
didn’t want to think about. Rodger, my girlfriend’s father, had threatened to
kill me several times, in front of witnesses, no less. You wouldn’t think he
was so oblivious to do something that would immediately put the blame right on
him, and even if he did, how would someone like him know anyone with an
underworld connection? Man, Chalise and her mother were going to spit nails.
Again, if it was him, you’d think he’d be bright enough to assume they’d make
the basic connection. It just didn’t make much sense. But then I guess not
everything makes sense. Tony didn’t make any sense either. Sometimes people
just hate because they’re hateful, not because it makes sense. Still, I had
trouble wrapping my head around it.
“In case you haven’t noticed,” Allison continued,
interrupting my ruminations, “they would only allow immediate family in to see
you, although the rest are outside waiting for us. Brooke has already notified Ryan that you’re finally awake, so he’ll be in soon. Although no one would complain about you
having more than the authorized number of visitors, we didn’t want to cause any
trouble or to overwhelm you when you first woke up. As soon as everyone has
said hello we’ll switch with everyone out in the hall. You have a lot of people
concerned about you.” I just looked at her for a second as she choked back a
tear and gave me a tender hug. “God, why do you insist on scaring us all like
that,” she asked no one in particular. After that she moved to the side so
everyone else could get to me.
Mom was the next one to give me a hesitant hug. I could tell
she’d been crying and my heart went out to her. I still felt bad that due to
the number of women around me we hardly got much personal time together
anymore. I wanted to say something to her, but knew I was unable to.
“He says he’s sorry he hasn’t been spending much time with
you and Dad lately,” Allison told her. “He promises he’ll try to do it more in
the future.”
“Yeah, right,” my mother scoffed. “When are you going to
manage to do that? Even if you had the time, you’d only fill it with more
beautiful women that needed your help. But I’ll take whatever I can get. You’ve
become someone a mother can be proud of, and that means more to me than you can
know. So I’ll be quiet, although I’ll continue to push for you to give me plenty
of magical telepathic grandbabies,” she told me, resurrecting her old private
joke. “Although you’ve managed to give me one, I could stand a few dozen more,”
she teased. At least I think she was teasing.
Becky was next, not saying anything, too choked up for
words. She simply hugged me and nuzzled my cheek before making way for Melinda. Melinda hugged me tighter than anyone else had, as if she was afraid that I’d slip
away. She also held me for a while. So long, in fact, that I began to worry
about what Cate would say. But ever since she and Becky had sprung the idea of
the sorority on us Cate seems to have forgotten about her disagreement with
her, so I guess she was free to show me as much affection as she wanted.
Finally dad came up and just looked at me with a quiet
heartache in his eyes. I simply raised my hand and he shook it, the two of us
never being overly affectionate with each other. I guess he was afraid that if
he showed any emotion, it would all flow out of him and he’d turn into a quivering
weeping mass on the floor. However, as he stood there a single tear slowly
rolled down his cheek, which spoke volumes about his feelings to me.
“You really need to work on your people skills,” he told me.
“Angry guys count as people, too. Maybe I should get Darrell to move in, just
so you’ll have somebody big to pal around with when you want your own private
space. I’m sure he could relate to going skateboarding late at night on your
own.
“Remember, we’ve got high hopes about you accomplishing important
things in the future, but you’re going to have trouble doing that if you keep
pissing off people with chairs and guns.” I just grinned weakly at him.
“He says he’ll ask him, as soon as he’s able to speak again,
that is,” Allison told him for me. “Besides, he made Gail a job offer to watch
over him, so maybe she can talk some sense into him.”
Everyone told me how worried they’d been and how I couldn’t
continue to endanger myself, as I was much too important to risk myself. My
mother was particularly, well, mothering as she hovered around me. It was nice
seeing Cate without my bloodstains scattered all over her face.
‘Alex, Ryan’s here. I’m letting him in,’ Gail alerted me, letting me know she was guarding my door to prevent everyone from overwhelming
me.
‘Yeah, it’s OK,’ I told her.
The door opened and Ryan entered, along with Rebecca and Dr. Padilla.
“How are you feeling, Alex? Any problems? Any symptoms we
missed?” I simply shook my head, which wasn’t a very good idea, as it caused
the pain to shoot through my neck like new. I winced, which got me some
additional sympathy from Cate.
“Yeah, that’s not a good move,” Ryan unhelpfully told me.
“Just let Allison answer for you. If you need to respond directly, just use
hand motions. We’ll leave you a notepad so you can communicate when anyone that
doesn’t know you is here.”
“He wants to know when he let the secret about his telepathy
slip out,” Allison told him.
I was interested that he seemed so confident that I could
communicate freely with Allison, since we’d never actually told him that much,
although he’d see us communicating before, but I guess Allison had had a talk
with him while I was recovering from my surgery.
“Alex, it’s clear you’ve been talking to your girls whenever
you’d stand there looking at a patient before you did something to them,” Ryan explained. “About the only thing that could explain that is telepathy. I hate to tell you
this, but each of us, Edgar, Avers and I have been talking about what abilities
you may or may not have. Actually, we’ve got a bit of a betting pool going.
You’ll have to come down and settle a few bets for us one day,” he teased.
I smiled tiredly and held my arm up and tapped my wrist,
trying to ask a silent question.
“Oh, it’s early morning, about 8:45. We let you sleep after
the surgery last night.”
“Alex, as much as you try to control how much information
you reveal, you always manage to let little pieces slip out. All it takes is
enough time, and a little trust, and one can figure out quite a bit about you.
Now lie back while I examine you.” Ryan then ran through all the standard
tests, as well as pulling back the bandages to check the sutures.
“It looks pretty good. I’m assuming you’re going to do your
usual trick of healing extra fast, so I’ll plan on having the bed available for
a paying customer soon,” he joked before turning serious.
“Why do you keep jerking and looking around like that? Are
you in pain? Is it some sort of reaction to the medication or something?” I of
course couldn’t respond, so I turned and looked at Allison. Her face grew
concerned.
“He says he keeps hearing random comments, and keeps
checking to see where it’s coming from,” she explained. Ryan considered that.
“That’s not a typical response. I suppose you might have
suffered a minor concussion again, and you may be having a neurological
response. Edward can give you more assistance on that,” he said, preparing to
turn the discussion over to Dr. Padilla, the neurologist. However Allison shook her head.
“That’s not it,” she informed them. “He doesn’t have any
bruising in his brain. He hit the back of his head, but that’s already mostly
healed. I think this is something else.”
“Hmm,” Edward said, looking into my eyes and measuring my
responses. “Are you hearing anything now?” I figured since my neck was OK I
could quit with the damned blinking and simply nodded my head.
“Are you sure it’s not some telepathic message or
something?” Cate asked. I stopped and considered it and simply shrugged.
“Is it something specific you keep hearing?” Edward asked. I shook my head. “Are they coherent sentences?” I thought about how to respond,
since they sometimes were and sometimes weren’t. Again I shrugged. “I’ll just
assume that’s a maybe. Are you getting any visual hallucinations?” I paused
then nodded again. “Hmm,” he pondered, “that might imply some sort of dementia.”
“Uh, our telepathy frequently involves both verbal and
visual elements, as well as occasional emotions and physical sensations,” Allison explained to him.
“Fascinating. I’d love to study it, but I understand why you
aren’t overly fond of the idea. That makes pinpointing it a bit more difficult.
You say there are no apparent problems in the brain, yet he has these
extraneous inputs which could be either dementia or unexpected telepathic
communications. I’ll tell you what, since you just woke up, why don’t we just
let you recover a little more. You may just be tired and reporting relatively
minor but new sensations. We’ll see if they ease on their own. If not, or if
they get worse, have someone contact me immediately. I’m interested in what it
could be, but I’m hesitant to just suggest any conclusions before we have
anything specific to address,” he said.
“You’ve also got to consider permutations on his talents,”
Cate suggested. “Each time he has a significant event, which includes whenever
he’s been attacked in the past, his abilities ramp up a notch, giving him some
new abilities. He may be getting telepathic messages from someone he’s not
aware of, or it may be a wholly new ability.”
Both Ryan and Edward looked fascinated by that. I again
shrugged.
“Well, that’s probably another thing we shouldn’t be
aware of,” Ryan replied. “But other than that, you look fine. We’ll be back to
check on you in a little while, just to be sure your neck is healing properly,
but Rebecca or one of the other nurses can do that. You’ve got a whole ward
full of nurses who’d just love to assist you in any way they could,” he
said. I just groaned, which was another bad idea with a gunshot to the
throat.
Cate looked at me while asking, “Does it feel telepathic, Alex? Can you place the source of the sound if it’s auditory?” I shook my head, but they had no
idea which message I was responding to.
“You’re not used to communicating with a nonspeaking
patient,” Ryan informed her. “Remember to only ask single questions so he has
time to respond, and keep it to things that he can easily answer yes or no to.”
“Thank you, doctor, the patient tells you he has his own
ideas of how to handle such exigent circumstances,” Allison told him, giggling
as she did. With that Ryan and Edward bid me goodbye as they headed off on
their assigned rounds.
With that done everyone stopped by for another quick hug,
then filed out leaving only Cate and Allison behind. I told Gail to hold everyone for a moment.
‘Michelle is waiting for you, boss. She’s leading
the investigation and has already investigated the site and has interviewed the
shooter. She’d like to talk to you to try to figure out the connections between
you.’
‘OK, I’ll talk to her in a second. I’ll let you know when
to let her in.’ I turned to Allison.
‘Allison, this is what I’m hearing. See if you or
maybe Shani can make heads or tails of it. I don’t know what they might be. It
almost seems like random utterances and haphazard pictures.’
“We’ll see what we can figure out,” she responded. Cate
looked on inquisitively, but didn’t ask either of us what we were doing. She’s
pretty bright, I figured she had a good idea of what was going on. Allison walked to the door and mentioned something to Gail, then returned to my side. She
handed me the notepad. A few seconds later Michelle entered.
“Hello, Alex, Cate. It’s nice to see you again, although I
wish it was under better circumstances. I managed to catch the investigation,
since I was called immediately by Gail. Pretty handy how that worked out. Seems
your parents had the presence of mind to make a phone call to your godmother
while someone was pointing a gun at your head.”
I started writing, which was difficult since I was trying
not to move very much. I held it up to her.
“My point is that you’re an enigma, Alex, one that’s
fascinating to observe, but I’m still not sure what to make of you. However,
we’ve got an investigation to conduct here. How are you feeling by the way?”
“He’s feeling pretty good at the moment,” Allison informed her. “He’s sore, tired and still feeling the effects of the medications he’s
been given all night, though.”
“Yeah, I heard he managed to miss anything vital,” the
detective said. “That was some bit of luck. Just as he’s ready to shoot you he
suffers a stroke. Then just as he pulls the trigger, he drops his arm. Then,
when he shoots you in the neck, he misses all of your vital organs. I’d say
you’re running on borrowed luck there, since you seem to have used up a lot
more than your allotted share of it. But if you have any lucky numbers you’d
like to share, I’ve got a dollar or two I wouldn’t mind investing in the
lottery.”
I couldn’t laugh, because it hurt too much, but I smiled in
response and she got the message. She continued regardless.
“We have the gentleman your family managed to capture for
us. Let me explain to you just how dangerous such activity is. Let me also
explain how dangerous it is to stand in front of a gun to protect someone
else.” I pantomimed a gun several inches from my forehead and she nodded.
“I get the idea. The girls had no idea how far away he was
at the time. This doesn’t sound like a random shooting. Someone doesn’t just
walk up and point a gun at your forehead unless he’s serious about hurting
you,” she informed me, watching me to see my reaction to her statement.
“Do you know who the shooter is?” I shook my head.
“Have you ever seen him before?” I again shook my head.
“Have you ever been to Chicago before, or do have any connections to any kind
of criminal activity I should know about. I’m not here to give you a hard time
about it, but we need to identify any commonalities between you two.” Again I
merely shook my head.
“OK, that would imply it wasn’t personal. Did he seem angry
with you at all?” Again I responded negatively. “Did he say anything to you at
all?”
I started to write something but she shook her head.
“OK, scratch that. We’ll get to that. Let’s go through this
an item at a time. According to your family, they ‘heard’ something outside
after you went out to ‘think’ for awhile. They say when they looked out the
window they saw a man dressed all in black holding a pistol to your forehead.
They saw you talk briefly to him. Your sisters immediately opened the front
door to help, a decidedly stupid move if you ask me, but when they did they say
it appeared the suspect had already suffered a stroke.
“They then say he turned, pointing the gun towards them, at
which point you moved between them. Is that right?” I merely nodded my head.
“So I take it stupidity runs in the family?” she asked,
lifting an inquisitive eyebrow. I just shrugged.
“All right, now, what did he say to you?”
At this point Gail warned me not to say anything specific.
When pressed, she couldn’t give me any reason for doing so, and I thought it
silly to try hiding information from a cop. They’re so used to people lying to
them they could catch you in a simple lie, which could lead you into bigger
lies you wished to keep hidden, so I let Gail know I’d tell Michelle whatever I
had to.
I motioned that there was too much to write it all, clearly
a falsehood, but I was taking Gail’s warning to heed, and proceeded to write
his comments to me, as well as my own response, and showed it to her.
“It’s not always wise to antagonize someone when they have a
gun at your head,” she informed me, as if I needed a police lecture to know
that. I shrugged and rolled my eyes so she didn’t press the issue any further.
“That’s an odd comment: ‘You should know your place’. It
seems to imply you’d done something you should be aware of to piss someone off.
It doesn’t sound like he knew you, but it does sound like he was acting
for someone else. When I asked your family and friends, they all appeared to be
holding something back. But when I pressed them, they all said they wanted to
wait to see what you said first. Is it OK if they tell me what’s going on?”
I mentally asked Gail if she could fill in for me, and she
told me that this was all on me. She was here to observe only.
“We suspect Chalise’s father, Rodger Jones,” Cate informed
her, taking her cues from me. “He’s threatened Alex’s life several times, in
front of several witnesses. He was angry at Alex, blaming him for destroying
his son’s football career after he was injured attacking Alex in our home.
That’s our best guess and probably what they were all thinking, but they didn’t
want to say anything unless Alex felt secure he was a likely candidate.”
“Don’t you think that would be the kind of thing for the
police to determine?” she asked, more inquiringly than accusingly. I merely
shrugged.
“Well, that was our thinking as well,” Michelle told us. “We’ve
already brought him in and we’ve spoken to him. Needless to say, everyone is
denying everything. Is there anything specific you can tell me about the
trouble between you?” she asked. I again pointed at my throat and stretched my
hands out to signify it was much too complicated to tell her quickly and she
nodded.
“It’s always difficult getting information under these types
of circumstances,” she conceded. “Chalise mentioned she thought things had been
improving between the two of you.” I wrote “Wanted us to think so. Didn’t
believe it.” She nodded her understanding.
“And why would you think that?” I wrote “Because he thought
of an easy out.” She again nodded, not wanting to reveal too much.
“What made you think he wasn’t sincere?” she pressed, hoping
for some details. “Eyes, attitude, demeanor” was my response.
“I’m sure you’re also aware that Chalise’s oldest brother, James, plays pro ball for the Chicago Cubs, and his younger brother, Brandon, attends college at
Northern Illinois in Chicago as well,” Allison informed her, after some
prompting by me.
“Yeah, we’re aware of that, and we’re watching both of them.
I’m really not allowed to say, but your attacker is a racketeer out of Chicago by the name of Rakeem Peters. He’s mostly associated with illegal sports gambling.
Again, we aren’t sure of the connection between them, but we suspect it’s
through Rodger’s sons’ sports involvements, but that’s purely conjecture.
There’s no specific connection or link between them that anyone can find. If
either you or your girlfriends know of any connection between them, we really
need to know about it.” Again I merely shrugged.
“Why were you outside at that particular time?” she asked,
changing the direction of the questions.
“To be alone, to think,” I wrote. She considered that.
“Should I ask what it was you were thinking about?” I simply
shook my head and wrote “personal stuff.” She nodded.
“I can image the kinds of things that come up with two
girlfriends and a whole flock of followers,” but she didn’t press. “Do you
think he would have expected you to be there at that time? Was this a common
activity of yours, to go out walking at that time of day?”
The question triggered my memory and I remembered a car I
had seen on the street the other night. It was unusual because most of the
people on the street either parked in their garages or in their driveways. We’d
been worried that the homeowners association would file a complaint about all
the cars around our property, but so far no one parked on the street. I wrote
‘strange car on Friday’ for her.
“He’s been under a lot of stress lately,” Cate offered. “He
sometimes goes out on his own, but we’ve been trying to break him of the habit,
since he has so many people depending on him. However, he never did it often
enough for anyone to expect him to show up.”
“Hmm, then it was likely his attacker was just observing the
house, waiting for an opportunity. That would mean whoever he was doing this
for wouldn’t know your habits very well.”
“Rodger doesn’t know where we live,” Cate told her. “Alex only met him for the first time when he took him out for dinner the other night.”
“Well, apparently someone knew, because his son attacked Alex in his own home. It wouldn’t take much for his son to have mentioned it to him,” Michelle countered.
“There is that,” Cate conceded.
“So how did the dinner go?” Michelle asked.
“Not well. He ended threatening Alex again, although he did
it obliquely instead of directly. He phrased it as a general warning along the
lines of ‘You’re going to see where this kind of behavior gets you’ and ‘it’s
only a matter of time before you have to face reality’. The meaning was
pretty clear to everyone present.” Cate gave her the name of the restaurant and
the date and time I was there, which Michelle jotted down. Cate also explained
how unusual it was to have cars parked on the street in our neighborhood.
“And were you at the restaurant at the time this unfolded?” Michelle asked Cate.
“Uh, no,” Cate replied, blushing slightly. “The dinner
consisted of Alex, Kitty, Chalise, Rodger, his wife Caroline and his son Darrell. Each one, except for Rodger, will testify to what they heard. Alex told us all about
it when he got home, though.”
“I’ll check with the neighbors and see if they observed the
car waiting there previously,” Michelle replied, bypassing the latest
information. “It’d help if it was the same car we found on the scene.” I
agreed, even though I’d been a little busy to observe any nearby during the
incident.
“OK, let’s go through the specific events. You walked out of
your house. We’ve seen where the blood spatters were. What were your motions?
Where did you encounter him and where did you both move after that.” I once
again got busy writing and drawing. I sketched a quick map of our front yard,
drawing in each of us and writing notes about what happened. I thought it was
pretty concise. She looked at it and nodded.
“That’s informative. At what point did you become aware that
he suffered a stroke?” I jotted another note and held it up for her.
“Yeah, it was a stroke. They did an immediate CAT, or CT
scan, on him. The doctor said something about the MRI not functioning
properly.”
Now that got my curiosity up. I knew very well that the MRI
was working. I had too many people working in the hospital with an interest in
it. If it was misbehaving someone would have known about it. Just to be sure I
quickly queried Allison and Shani, as well as asking Shani to ask Rebecca about it. They all confirmed my theories on the subject. All this happened nearly
instantly, so hopefully I didn’t give anything away with my expressions. I’d
have to ask Ryan about it.
I jotted another note, but as I handed it to her I squeezed
my eyes shut and bit my lip, acting out what happened. Slowly I opened one eye
and looked out curiously. She got the general idea.
“OK, what happened to the gun?”
I turned and positioned Cate about the proper distance from
me, then pointed my finger at her imitating Rakeem’s handling of his gun. I
pointed it at her forehead, waiting several second, looked at Michelle to denote that’s when I noticed him. I then imitated his facial expression, then
slowly let my hands drift in the same motion his hands took. Then I jerked my
head, as if seeing something in the distance, and slowly brought the finger gun
up and pointed it at the door. When it reached the correct height, I drew it
back like it was recoiling.
“Very good. I’m sure you do quite well at charades. That
gives me a good idea of what happened. Is there anything else you can tell me?”
I simply nodded my head and spread my hands.
“OK, I guess that’s it then. It gives us somewhere to begin.
I’ll be in touch as the investigation continues, but right now the suspect
isn’t talking, and we have no direct links between anyone. You also know that
what you did was incredibly stupid. Of course, I’m not sure you could have done
anything to avoid being shot, but moving into his line of sight was simply
idiotic. But I suspect you already know that. Still, I’m proud of your actions
and your inclinations. I understand the importance of family and how strongly
it can affect one’s behaviors.”
After that she borrowed my notepad, thanked me for my help,
then told me she’d re-question everyone now that she had my authorization for
them to speak to her. When she said that, she gave me a little look like she
was amazed that all these people would follow my lead so completely.
After she left Cate turned to me. “Alex, if what you
described is accurate, and I’m sure it is, then there’s absolutely no way what
happened to him was accidental. He was ready to shoot you in the head at the
very moment he suffered his stroke. You must have done that to him
somehow. What exactly happened? Perhaps some more details about it will help us
piece together what happened?”
“He says that he closed his eyes in panic, trying to think
of some sort of alternative,” Allison said, answering for me. “When he opened
his eyes the guy was already slack jawed. Alex had slipped into the slow motion
frame of reference, and the guy had his finger on the trigger pointing it at
his head before that, so it all occurred nearly instantaneously.”
“OK, aside from a miracle occurring, a non-Alex related
miracle that is, we’re going to have to assume that you somehow did
this. It’s the only thing that could explain what happened,” Cate concluded. “Becky and I will have to think about how you could have done it. Maybe we can come up with a
reasonable theory about it.”
“He says we’ll talk with Ryan again when he gets here and
try to figure out what happened to Rakeem,” Allison said, again speaking for me.
“That should tell us more about it.”
“What is it he’s hearing?” Cate asked Allison.
“It’s a curious mix,” she explained to my sister. “It’s a
combination of things. Nothings odd enough to imply it’s neurological, but it
doesn’t make much sense in either case. It seems to just be random thoughts, phrases,
emotions and images. I can’t make much sense of it either.”
Cate merely nodded, acknowledging what she said but making
no further comment. At that point Gail opened the door, allowing several people
into the room.
Kitty and Chalise ran up to my side, but paused to gauge
Cate’s reaction. When she nodded they surrounded me and tenderly hugged me. I
smiled at them and gave them both kisses, though I couldn’t stretch over to do
it due to my neck being so tender, so I had to wait for them to initiate the
kisses. I noticed that Caroline and Martha walked in behind them and stood by the
door, waiting for us to finish. Darrell also stood beside them, waiting for us as
well. I motioned them forward.
“I must say, Alex, you certainly know how to spice up a
girl’s life,” Martha observed with a laugh. I tried to groan, but it was a lost
cause. They both came forward and gave me a hug as well.
“Fredrick sends his love. He wanted you to know that he’s
away on business this weekend, otherwise he’d be here himself. That’s why he
agreed to let Kitty go with you this weekend. I’m afraid that Kitty and I told
him quite a bit about you. Perhaps more than we should have. I still don’t
understand a lot of what’s going on, but I think we managed to convince him
that what you are doing is important and is something that’s worth being a part
of, even if it is somewhat dangerous.”
“Needless to say, neither Chalise nor I have said a word to
Rodger,” Caroline calmly told me, her eyes cold as she said it. “I plan on
having my attorney file my divorce papers first thing tomorrow morning. I’ve
also withdrawn all the funds in our shared bank account that I can access,
figuring he’d be likely to try to hide it once he gets hit with the papers. If
he thinks he can get us back by doing something like this, then he’s sadly
mistaken. Although we don’t have any evidence he did this, we aren’t taking
this lightly. We’ll both testify about anything we know to the police, but we
just wanted to clear it with you first.”
Once again I just nodded.
“We have no idea who might have shot you,” Chalise told me
excitedly. “We also have no idea how my father could have had any association
with anyone with any criminal ties. He’s about as tight laced as they come, and
he’s about as far from the streets as you can imagine. He spends all his time
thinking about how to spin the system, but he’s definitely a cog in the system
himself. He’s never associated with anyone not holding down an honest job.”
“The current theory is that the connection was through one
of your sons,” Allison explained to them. “The shooter was a bookie from Chicago. Chances are they either knew him because he’s been gambling, or he’s been fixing
games. Hopefully Michelle can figure it out.”
Chalise swore at the revelation and Caroline gasped. Darrell didn’t say anything, still standing behind everyone else, but I could see him muttering
under his breath. “Damn, just when I thought things were finally starting to work
themselves out,” Chalise responded. She’d been so proud when her father had
finally relaxed his antagonism towards me. “OK, he’s the most likely suspect,
but we won’t know until the police check everything out,” she responded after
considering the consequences. “I support my mother in divorcing him, even if we
can’t prove he’s behind this, after all, he alluded to having arranged
something against you. I’ll avoid taking any actions against him until the
police find the evidence linking him to this, I guess. But if I found out he’s
responsible, I may just do something about it myself.” I had little doubt she’d
do just that. Darrell nodded behind her, letting me know she’d have help if it
ever came to that.
I didn’t need to warn her off taking any actions in that
regard, as Cate and Kitty were trying to calm her down before she could do like
her father had and say anything that could implicate herself.
I’m sure this was hard information to hear about those you
loved. I’m also sure they both had hoped their brothers would eventually come
to their senses. But knowing they’re already committed to a series of criminal
enterprises is pretty hard to take, because it signals they’re probably already
too entwined in it to easily escape from it.
Darrell finally stepped forward and started to shake my
hand, then smiled and gave me a hug instead.
“Hey man, you really know how to get into trouble. If I knew
how bulletproof you were, I never would have threatened you initially. But I’ll
tell you, if you go and die on my sister and Kitty, I’ll come after you and
drag you back amongst the living, kicking and screaming the whole way,” he
replied with a smile. It was nice hearing him, as we’d come through quite a
bit. He’d really turned out to be quite a loyal friend, going so far as to move
out of his home and take up with my sisters because of his defense of me.
Cate and Allison had to describe everything I’d just
explained about the attack, and the girls and their mothers were fascinated by
it all. But they agreed that I was an idiot to try to protect my sisters.
“Alex, don’t you know that you can’t be spared,” Martha sternly told me, surprising me at her vehemence. “Any military leader must learn that
sacrifices must be made. The easiest way to end a movement is to eliminate its
leader. You can’t let your involvement with others blind you to what you
represent. I’m sure each of your sisters and each of your women would gladly
sacrifice themselves to ensure you could continue your mission, or whatever it
is you’re leading. Don’t let that faith in you be in vain. Acting in self
defense isn’t cowardice, it’s intelligence. You are central to everything else.
Without you, there’s nothing to this whole thing.”
When Martha, Caroline and Darrell rotated out a short while
later, leaving Kitty and Chalise, my girls managed to rotate in, only a few at
a time. We had a repeat of the previous scenes as each woman wanted to give me
a big hug, tell me how worried they were, and how their lives would be
miserable without me in it. It was hard resisting the impulse to roll my eyes,
but it’s hard to take such adoration seriously without starting to internalize
it. I still didn’t like the idea of being responsible for so many people who
had all begun to rely on me so completely, but it was a hard task to avoid. I
also realized that I didn’t dare reveal such reservations, or do something as
stupid as acting on them. They each looked at me to lead them, and they needed
my strength now, not my doubts.
Anh was stoic, telling me that the ‘ancient spirits’ were
looking out for me, and that they’d finally revealed to me what I needed to
survive. She then warned me that they couldn’t prevent me from getting myself
killed, as that’s how they likely became spirits in the first place.
“Timing is everything,” she told me. “It only takes split
second one way or the other to undo the efforts of many great spirits.”
Jennifer was quietly sympathetic, telling me she’d give me
her own energy if she could, and that she’d gotten quite used to sleeping with
me and wasn’t looking forward to doing without me. She also told me the new
cast and the treatments I’d been giving her arm had made a world of difference.
She didn’t think it cut much off of the overall healing time, but she was sure
the bone would heal much stronger than it would have otherwise.
Nikki told me she’d waited long enough to find me and that I
owed her make-up time, and that I couldn’t possibly leave her yet, as she
planned on experiencing everything she’d missed over these many weeks she’d
been wandering around looking for me. Finally it was Gail’s turn.
“All right, bub, enough of this tough guy shit. I’m
officially resigning as an officer of the law and taking over the role of
bodyguard. No, no, I’m not going to be dissuaded. You obviously need one.
Especially once you start traveling after school finishes in a couple of weeks.
I have no idea what kind of remuneration you were thinking of, but frankly it
doesn’t matter. What matters is that you need some very personal protection.
You especially need enough sense to not stand in front of a bullet meant for
someone else.”
I didn’t bother trying to argue with her. She needed this
speech as much as I did. This was a significant change in the course of her
life, and I hoped it wouldn’t hurt her in the long run. I guess she saw my
expression because she went on.
“It’s not that sudden of a decision. The idea that a member
of the TV news was asking questions about my personal behavior, and that I may
be associated with some kind of private action, has my bosses in a tizzy. They
were about to let me go as it is, so I saved them the trouble by telling them I
could voluntarily resign as long as I had positive reviews and recommendations
from them. They happily agreed, as it would head off any potential
embarrassments they may have faced. There were no questions of my worth as a
policeman, or about my guilt or innocence either. It was purely face saving.”
Once again I merely nodded, acknowledging all she told me.
Then I held my arms open and she came to me, giving me her own big hug.
“You’ve also got to stop worrying about everyone around you
so much. The main focus of each of us is to assist you in any way we
can. You’re the central cog in the puzzle we each have to deal with. You’re
much more vital to the whole endeavor than any of us, so stop trying to protect
us from our own decisions. Cate told us how you tried to block them from the
gunman, and that it may have resulted in your being shot. Yes, I know he was
planning on shooting you all along, but that’s not the point. The point is
you’ve got to learn how to duck and cover, and not keep trying to protect
everyone around you. Understood?” When I nodded she continued.
“Good. Now on to other topics. I assume that Michelle briefed you on your attacker? Yeah, I thought so. They’ve been talking to your
attacker but he’s lawyered up. Apparently he’s a small time hood from up in
Chicago, which means someone must have paid him to do this, as there’s no
reason for anyone up there to have ever heard of you. They’re a little confused,
because normally he’s into racketeering and gambling. He does have a history of
violence, usually regarding nonpayment of debts. Everyone suspects Rodger, but no
one has any link between them.”
I let her tell me this, even though I already knew most of
it, simply because I wanted Kitty and Chalise to hear it from an authoritative
source. They needed to know how deeply Rodger was involved.
“No,” she said, following a wordless inquiry from me, “no
one followed me here. In fact, there wasn’t anyone outside of the apartment
when I left. The neighbors kind of drove them away. I identified one of them,
so maybe we can try to reach out to them. I figure if they got that involved
with the situation, they might already feel a connection to you. But I can’t
imagine little Lisa Woodall could justify the expense of a news crew to track
an unlikely and unsubstantiated story as this would be. I’m assuming she’ll
drop it since they live by the news cycle, and they’d never get away with
reporting it anyway.”
It was fun watching the girls. Kitty, Chalise and Cate’s
head were batting back and forth, trying to follow the discussion, but they
finally grasped the idea.
“Yes, it could be a major story, but they have no way of
knowing just how big,” Gail continued, answering my specific questions. “As far
as they’re concerned it’s just one wacko with a strange story, and no
supporting evidence besides a few lucky guesses about public information. It’ll
all blow over if it hasn’t already,” she assured me.
“Anyway, I should be watching the door. I just wanted to
make sure you were apprised of everything. There are still a lot of people
interested in visiting with you. You’ve got various former patients, you’ve got
the girls from the sorority, and you’ve got several of the kids from school.
And no, I’m not sure how they know about you, but I’m guessing someone has a
connection to someone at the hospital. All it would take would be someone mentioning
your name and someone else making a connection.”
Yeah, I thought, that’s just what I was afraid of if Ms. Woodall broadcast something about me. So I entertained guests for the next hour or two, all
the while unable to say a thing. I talked to a few cancer patients, several
nurses, and also Ricky Atkins, the schizophrenic I’d treated the previous week.
Speaking of psych patients, Kimberly, the artist that we were supposed to meet
today, came in as well. She made sure to get a big hug that went on for a long
time. Neither Kitty nor Chalise complained this time, though. She sat and drew
sketches of me and the girls which were actually quite good. It seemed each of
the psychiatric patients had benefitted for quite a while from my treatments,
so they were all more than happy to get a refresher.
Most of our lunch mates had also stopped by. It seems that
Pepper’s cousin worked in admissions and had heard her commenting about me.
Once Pepper found out about my attack she’d called everyone else, and they each
told me how sorry they were to hear about it. And it wasn’t just me. The
conversations spilled out into the hallways and the lobby and waiting room.
People kept bringing flowers, cards, and coffees for everyone. Finally Ryan, Edward and Dr. Avers stopped by, and Gail chased everyone out again so we could discuss
my condition.
“Before we get started,” Allison told them, “we’re
particularly interested in what you’ve learned about Rakeem.”
“Ah yes, somehow I figured you would. It was very smart of
your policewoman friend to insist that he be brought here along with you.
Suspecting you may have done something to him, we rushed him to radiology and
ran a full fMRI. However I also did a basic Cat scan on him, which is what I
showed the police. The CT scan doesn’t show as much detail about what’s
actually in the brain. I didn't want to reveal what you'd done to him if I could avoid it. Both Edward and I examined the fMRI closely. As I’m
sure you’ve guessed, you managed to create a similar occurrence as you’ve created
in each of your girls, only it wasn’t created in an empty fissure. Instead it appeared
right smack in the middle of his parietal lobes. Apparently you must have had
some clue what you were doing, since the parietal lobes are near the back of
the head, but it seems the location was pretty random. I’m guessing you either
just did something to him completely at random, or maybe you somehow sense the
energy activity in the brain and thus know what’s happening in the brain when
you do whatever it is that you do. I actually envy your sisters, because it
would be fascinating to study these abilities of yours in detail.
“Anyway, the CT scan shows a fuzzy section of damaged
tissue, whereas the fMRI clearly shows a visible hole in the middle of an
active portion of his brain. Somehow I didn’t think you’d want to have to
explain how that occurred. What’s more, you didn’t create as much new brain
tissue in his brain, you only created that particular round hole in the middle
of his brain, so I’m guessing he didn’t gain any new abilities. Mr. Peters is stable, but he’d have trouble saying much to the police even if he was so
inclined. His motions, speech and concentration were all affected, though he’s
likely to have some recovery. You certainly didn’t disable him, but you
seriously hurt him. You’re one dude I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of
a fight with. Somehow everyone that attacks you comes in here hurt worse than
you are.”
“Geez, Alex, what the hell are the limits of your
abilities?” Kitty gasped when Ryan finished.
Allison giggled. “He says, and I quote, ‘Frankly, my dear, I
don’t have a damn clue,’” she said in her best Clark Gable impersonation. No
one else seemed to think it was quite so funny.
“Alex, do you think that may be the source of the sounds
you’re hearing?” Cate asked me. “Maybe you’re picking up random memories and
thoughts? You may have established a telepathic connection in the brain of
someone who doesn’t have the capacity to control it. Thus it’s running on
automatic, picking up random static.”
“He says that several of the images he’s seen are of small
black children, so you may be on to something,” Allison told them, conveying my
ideas for me.
“BECKY, get your ass in here, pronto,” Cate yelled through
the door. It took a little bit, but she soon rushed through the door.
“Yeah, what is it? Man, you scare the hell out of everyone
yelling like that in a hospital.”
“It was necessary,” Cate told her, and she proceeded to
disclose what we’d just discovered.
“If that were the case, he’d be able to communicate with him
now. Have you tried that, Alex?” Becky asked.
There was a short pause before Allison replied. “He hadn’t.
He just tried and didn’t get anything. He also isn’t as fond of that particular
theory, since it would mean that he’s tied into someone who tried to kill him.”
They commiserated with me about that, but both Becky and Cate were on a roll and weren’t about to be stopped. They were fascinating to observe
as the rest of us watched them discuss the possible reasons for this occurrence.
The three doctors were also intrigued, and listened in rapt attention. My
sisters proceeded to theorize about the possible ways it could work, helped by
suggestions by the various medical personnel. It was amazing watching these
clever minds work together, coming up with new ideas.
Eventually the three doctors had other items to attend to,
although each promised to return for updates and asked to be kept abreast of
the discussion. Personally, after listening to it for a while, I was starting
to feel a bit worn out. I guess I was feeling both the exhaustion of the day,
plus I hadn’t recovered much, but soon the discussion moved outside. I wasn’t
even sure who was left to watch over me as I succumbed to my tiredness. My last
thought, as I drifted off, was despite being a few days early, getting shot in
the neck is quite the birthday present