“The Catalyst” Series
Chapter 02: Random Roadway Encounters
Nicole was riding to work with her boyfriend. As always, he
insisted on when they left, what she could take, what she wore and even what
they listened to on the way into town. They both worked in St. Louis, although
they lived in Lebanon, Illinois, a town just about a half hour's drive from the
city. Nicole was sitting staring out the window as Stuart was talking about
some petty thing that was bothering him at work. At least he's not haranguing
me about something I forgot to do, she told herself.
She was merely glancing at the many passing cars when she
suddenly felt an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach and she sat up a
little straighter. For some reason she could tell there was someone important
in one of the cars ahead of her. She didn't know why, but she felt it was
important she at least see who it was. Like maybe it would improve her life
somehow, something she could definitely stand at this point.
Life with Stuart had become stifling lately. When they first
met it had been exciting. He'd arrived and swept her off her feet. He'd seemed
utterly devoted to her and was interested in everything she said or did.
However lately he seemed much less interested in her, except to get upset when
she didn't pay enough attention to him. He also didn't seem particularly
concerned with her views on anything anymore. Not that she could blame him, she
hardly had any views on any topics nowadays. She never saw any of her friends,
her family had grown distant, and she wasn't allowed to stay late at work lest Stuart get upset with her.
Her sister Sue had warned her about Stuart, telling her he
was trying to separate her from her family, but she'd believed Stuart when he told her she was the one trying to drive a wedge between them, and that she'd
actually made a pass at him. After hearing that, she stopped speaking to her
sister altogether. Sue tried to talk to her after that, but after being ignored
for several months Sue had eventually given up. Truth be known, she actually
missed her sister, even if she was a back-stabbing little bitch.
But now she somehow knew there was someone in the car ahead
of her that could improve her life. She knew that sounded stupid, and she was
sure Stuart would be more than glad to point that fact out to her, but somehow
she just felt seeing who it was would make a big difference somehow.
"Stuart, could you move over to the center lane? There's a
car I want to see," she cautiously mentioned to her boyfriend.
"Huh? What was that? You want me to move into a slower lane
so you can gawk at someone? What, you expect me to drive you around so you can
stare at guys you think are better looking than me?"
Nicole knew he'd overreact to it. He always seemed to turn
everything she brought up into a criticism of himself, but he always did it as
a personal attack. He never seemed hurt. Instead he always seemed angry she'd
have an interest besides him.
"It's nothing like that," she said, trying to placate him.
"It's just that I think I saw someone important in it." She was afraid to tell
him the real reason she was interested, but she thought he'd buy that
idea. He was fascinated with famous people.
Glancing across the lanes of traffic he scoffed. "I doubt
it. No one famous would be caught dead in any of the beat up old cars around
us, not to mention spending any time in a Podunk town like St. Louis. As soon
as I become famous I'm leaving this stupid town and going someplace important
like California or the Jersey Shore. Somewhere people are actually doing
something."
Nicole tried to control her tongue, knowing how he was
liable to react if she contradicted him, but she couldn't help herself. "No,
really, that little gray car. It must be someone traveling incognito."
"Nicks, you're dreaming. No one with any money would be
caught dead in a car like that. Look, if you want to stare at handsome guys,
just tell me and I'll drop you off on the corner and you can look all you want,
but you aren't going to find anyone any better looking or more fascinating than
I am. I'm not saying I'm the best looking guy in the world, but..." he said,
luckily not expressing the sentiment behind the thought.
Stuart had long treated Nicole like this. He wasn't
physically abusive, but practiced was a form of mental abuse
based on his own insecurities. He didn't have a great sense of himself, so he
always made himself feel better by bringing those around him down to his level.
And he'd do it in a very passive-aggressive manner. He'd never confront someone
directly, choosing instead to belittle their ideas, or offer up impossible options he
knew they'd clearly never take, just to emphasize a point. It was a long
standing pattern, one that had developed slowly, so Nicole had never known he
was so insidious, but after several years of living with him, she no longer had
the confidence to do much of anything anymore.
So Nicole simply glanced out the window as they slowly made
their way around the nondescript little car. Stuart already seemed to have
forgotten the topic of discussion, as he was going on about something she'd
forgotten again, but she had no desire to listen to it at the moment.
Amanda Beckett was running late. She'd tried, but she
couldn't talk her mother into babysitting again, so she was trying to drop her
son Tyler off at daycare before she was late for work again. It was just so
difficult to get ahead when everything worked to hold you back. There just had
to be something more to life than pushing a time clock and trying to keep your
head above water.
But just as she thought that, she noticed something odd, or
rather, she felt something odd. It was hard to describe, but there was
something about the car ahead of her. She had no idea what it was, but there
was just something about it. The car wasn't very fancy, and the make and model
didn't mean anything to her, but she somehow knew there was someone important
riding in it. She had no idea how she could possibly know that, but somehow she
did. There were a couple of cars between her and the car in question, so she
put her blinker on and started edging over, essentially forcing the car behind
her to back off or be run off of the road.
She couldn't see much of the car ahead. It looked like a
nondescript little Japanese car. It had seen better days, but she knew outer
appearances often belied what lay underneath, and she felt the same about this
little car ahead of her. As she drew a little closer she could see several figures
inside. Even without seeing him, she could tell the figure in the passenger
seat was what was drawing her. As she changed lanes abruptly, accompanied by
the car behind her sounding its horn and what she could only assume was him
also flipping her off, the young woman in the back seat glanced back and seemed
to notice her. However the young lady looked down, paying her no particular
attention and seemed to be studiously looking for something. But soon she
looked up again and held something up.
Amanda couldn't see it very well, so she drew as close as
she dared, again moving closer to the car in question to the displeasure of the
intervening drivers. It seemed the girl was holding up some paper with some
writing on it. She tried to see what it was but it was too hard to make out.
Seeing her difficulty, the young girl, who Amanda now guessed must be college
aged, was trying to stick the sheets of paper she'd written on to the rear
window using nothing more than saliva. However it seemed to work, at least
partially. As she put the second sheet up Amanda could now make out the
message. It read, simply, "Follow Us". Nothing more, nothing less, but Amanda knew she'd follow that car to Oregon if she had to. She didn't know why, but for some
reason is was important for her to do so.
The car Nicole Mullins had been watching seemed to hold a
couple of people in it. Glancing at her boyfriend to be sure he wasn't watching
her too closely, she saw a young woman in the back seat, and that the driver
was a fairly tough but pretty young woman. She could only imagine what kind of
life she'd be likely to have. She also noticed there was another car that was
changing lanes to get closer to it, so she knew she wasn't crazy. If someone
else felt it, then she couldn't be imagining things, now could she?
Just then the car between them pulled forward and she got
her first glance at the person riding in the passenger seat. As he came into
view he glanced absentmindedly out the window in her direction, and suddenly
she knew that everything was going to be better. Somehow just that one look and
that brief glimpse of a smile, assured her that her life was going to be
better.
"Stuart," she told him in an ominous tone that caught him by
surprise. "You are going to change lanes. I want to see that car,
and frankly, I don't give a damn what you think about it."
"Wha...?" he started to argue with her, even though he
didn't quite know what point he was arguing yet. Was she still going on about
wanting to look at some stupid car?
"Listen, you little shithead," she said, speaking in a
barely audible whisper that made his blood run cold. Stuart knew she was more
serious than she ever had been before. "You've controlled my life, you have
controlled access to my friends, you've even ordered me around, but there comes
a time for a person to reclaim their own life. You certainly haven't done
anything to make my life any better. Right now I've got no friends, no family,
no outside interests and I'm barely hanging onto my job because you expect me
to not spend any time there. Well it ends right now. Now change lanes. I'll let
you know whether I've got any desire to go into work soon or not."
Man, Nicole was pissed. She had no idea where that had come
from, but when she started it just seemed to bubble up from somewhere deep
inside of her. Stuart glanced at her, looking nervous that he'd unknowingly
upset her so much. His longstanding control over her had been indirect, and he
wasn't comfortable with direct confrontations. Unable to understand how his
world had just changed so radically, Stuart finally did something wise... he
shut up and followed her instructions.
"I don't know what this is about, but..." he started to say.
"No, Stuart, like so many things, you have no idea what
you're talking about. You think you're so special, but all you've managed to
accomplish is to get a job making copies in an office downtown. Now shut the
fuck up and stay out of this. This is more important than either of us," Nicole assured him. He wisely decided to shut up and follow her instructions.
The car Alex was riding in was new, relatively speaking,
that is. No one had wanted him to use his old car to drive across the country.
He'd resisted their pressure to purchase a new car until they pointed out he
wouldn't like it if his car broke down in the middle of the Mojave desert and
he had to walk out of there on foot. However, once he agreed he might
need a new car, they insisted on a big SUV.
"Don't worry," Shani assured him, "the foundation can cover
the expenses. But the SUVs are the safest vehicles, both in terms of accidents
and in protecting you from other dangers as well. Especially if we get one of
the ones that Gail suggests, with the darkened windows and added body
protection."
Alex had simply sighed at this. "Look, Jesus didn't drive
into Jerusalem in a fancy new chariot. He traveled by donkey or on foot. It
hardly looks comforting for me to drive up in a fancy new SUV. I'm willing to
drive a newer car, after all, California is a hell of a long ways away, but I
want a small car that will fit in wherever we may end up. I don't want to worry
about someone stealing it, getting carjacked, or thinking I'm stealing money
from the foundation. The foundation is there to help the girls, not to treat me
like I'm a king. I'll spend a few bucks to get a reliable car, but it's going
to be appropriate for a kid of my stature."
"Alex, your stature is... never mind. As always, we'll
follow your decisions," Shani had acquiesced. "We may not like it, but you
probably know best."
So Alex had ended up with a ten year old Toyota Corolla he
got from one of Maria Flores's cousins. She assured him it was in good
condition and that her cousin knew how to take care of cars. He accepted that
and took it on her word alone. Michelle had recommended a reputable mechanic
for Gail to have it inspected by afterwards, and he confirmed it was in
excellent shape. He even updated the few worn parts to prevent their having
potential breakdown problems. The foundation bought it and assigned it to Alex to conduct foundation business in.
Thus they were traveling in a little car just a little less
uncomfortable than Alex's previous car.
"I can just imagine what this car will feel like after a
couple of thousand miles," Gail complained. "And it's hardly a secure car."
"No car is secure if someone is after you, and every car is
safe until something happens," Alex answered simply. He'd made his decision and
knew Gail would accept it. She may not appreciate riding in it, but she
wouldn't second guess him. She continued to grumble, but neither Alex nor his
sister paid her much heed.
Alex had allowed Gail to drive after she'd argued she was
both more familiar with city driving and with the city itself than he was.
Besides, he wasn't terribly impressed with the traffic at this hour, so having
her drive allowed him to simply lean back and close his eyes. The trip to St. Louis took them a little more than three hours. They'd caught the end of the morning
commute, but missed most of it since they'd arrived so late. However they
learned what they were in for on their journey when Cate noticed a woman
changing lanes to get behind them. Previously they'd always driven to St. Louis at night, so they hadn't had to deal with many drivers. Cate, always full of
ideas, grabbed some notebook paper and wrote "Follow Us" on it. Since no one
had thought to bring tape she tried to attach it with saliva, which wasn't
great, but it lasted long enough for the car following them to see. Alex instructed Gail to take the next exit just as they entered East St. Louis and she offered
no objection, simply knowing that when he told her to do something, there
always seemed to be a reason for it, even if none of them knew it at the moment.
Pulling into the parking lot of an abandoned business, Gail put the car in idle but didn't turn it off yet. Despite trusting Alex, she still remained
cautious, and if anything untoward might unfold she wanted to be sure she had
an escape plan. However Alex was already unbuckling his seat belt.
"I think there's another car following us as well," Cate
told them both. "It just pulled in behind the other one."
Alex glanced back as he opened the door. Since he was
already getting out Gail quickly shut the car off and put her arm across his
chest, silently telling him to wait until she could prepare herself. She
unbuckled herself, checked her Taser and can of mace in her breast pocket,
that's the reason why she always preferred men's shirts, they contained handy
pockets for putting things in just like her old police uniforms had. She also
had a conceal carry permit for both Illinois and Missouri. In fact, she'd made
arrangements with most of the states they planned to travel to, but she didn't
want to risk revealing a gun to someone they'd effectively asked to speak to.
Thus she kept the gun hidden.
When she was ready she got out, quickly stepping aside so
both Alex and Cate could get out and she could watch over them.
Gail took in the two cars parked in the abandoned lot with
them. The first held a young woman dressed in a business suit that didn't look
very good on her. She fretted with something in the seat beside her before
getting out of the car. Gail didn't have as clear a view of the car behind that
one, but it appeared to have two figures arguing in it. She quietly took up a
position to the side where she could observe and react to anyone approaching Alex. She signaled to him that he should let whoever might want to see him approach him
themselves. Cate walked around the car to stand slightly behind her brother.
Amanda was ecstatic that the car had waited patiently for
her. She'd wanted to ensure that little Tyler wouldn't fret too much while she
was gone. She felt terrible about leaving him in a car all alone, but she'd be
nearby and she knew this was definitely an extenuating circumstance if there
ever was one. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she climbed out of the
car.
She observed three people waiting for her, but she hardly
noticed the other two, the only one she had any eyes for was the central
figure, a young man that looked just like a young kid, but that Amanda could tell was wise beyond his meager years. She quickly approached them, then hesitated
before reaching them and did a quick curtsy, something she'd learned as a young
girl when she pretended to be a princess. She didn't know what the proper
protocol for a meeting like this was, but she felt they deserved some
sort of formal meeting protocol. The young man before her simply motioned for
her to come closer.
"Uh, excuse me, you don't know me from Eve but..."
"Don't worry about it. We're used to being approached by
now. We were expecting you, even though we never know quite when someone will
show up. I'm Alex, by the way, these people with me are Gail, my personal
watchdog, and my sister Cate. Now, you are...?" he asked her.
"Oh, my name is Amanda Beckett. I'm delighted to meet you. I
had this amazing feeling when I first saw you in the car ahead of me and..."
"Believe me, Amanda, he knows all about those feelings you
had," the young girl with him said. "Let me explain a little about what's
happening and about yourself while Alex says hello to our other guests."
Amanda did as the young girl told her, but she couldn't take
her eyes off of Alex, even as he casually strolled away accompanied by the
woman with him. Cate, the girl who had spoken to her, started to reveal an
amazing amount of information to her.
"I don't know what you think..." complained a somewhat
stocky figure with short hair, slightly older than his companion, standing
beside a larger car as both Alex and Gail approached it.
"I don't care what you think you know, or what you
feel. This is important, so shut the fuck up!" When the woman turned to
face them, she saw the language she'd used with her boyfriend had been
overheard so she blushed fiercely.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that," she started to apologize,
but Alex cut her off.
"Never mind. These meetings are never planned, so we never
have any expectations for how they should occur. My name is Alex, this is Gail. If you don't mind, she'll stay here with your, I'm guessing it's a
boyfriend?"
"Yeah, Stuart is my boyfriend. For the moment at least,
though I have a feeling that's going to change pretty quickly. My name is Nicole Mullins."
"Don't worry about appearances, everyone is surprised by
these encounters," he told her as he took in her appearance. She was pretty, if
a bit mousey, with almost shoulder length hair and little makeup. She was
dressed appropriately for work, but her dress didn't look especially nice. Alex
didn't judge her on that, though; after all, he'd just explained how these
meetings always seemed to occur at odd occasions. He thought there would be an
interesting story behind it, especially since the man she was with was dressed
fairly well in a nice new suit.
"You'll understand once we start to explain it. Though you
might want to consider just what you may want to tell Stuart as my sister Cate
explains to you just what is going on." With that Alex steered Nicole back to his car, where Cate was busy telling Amanda what she'd now need to know about
her new life.
Amanda was a young thing with pretty brown curls and brown
eyes. And she wasn't one of these stick figures you frequently see either. She
looked more natural than other girls somehow, and as always she smiled at Alex.
She was dressed in a nice outfit that looked like she'd fit in an office
environment.
Amanda was on her way to a job interview, so Alex made sure they kept the discussions to a minimum, having Cate give them just as much
information as she needed to, with a warning for them to get in contact with
the Angel Vision Foundation in Carbondale for more information. When they found
out that Amanda had left her son, Tyler, sitting alone in his car seat they
insisted on checking on him. Amanda was pleased that Tyler seemed to take to Alex so easily, although she wasn't surprised to see that he could relate so easily to her son.
She hoped he'd grow up to be just a little like Alex seemed.
Stuart seemed to grow a bit agitated seeing everyone
congregating around Amanda's car.
"Don't mind my soon to be ex," Nicole told them. "Somehow
you opened my eyes to what he's been doing, and more importantly what I've
become... now I know what I need to do about it. And you did it without
speaking a word to me."
"That's exactly what the Angel Vision Foundation is about,"
Alex explained to her, "getting women to listen to their inner voices. You have
access to a lot more information to guide you than you ever suspected. What's
more, it's likely that your family members also have the same abilities as you
do."
"Oh, geez, I guess you're right. I need to contact my sister
and mother and nieces about this."
"Just try not to shock them. This is a lot of information to
take in at once," Alex cautioned her.
"Look, I don't mean to intrude, Amanda," Nicole said,
intruding into their conversation, "but I heard you're running late for a job
interview. I think I've just decided to take the day off to take care of some
unpleasant personal business. I'd be glad to watch your son for you while you check
out that job. Then maybe we can both take some time off and visit Carbondale. I've never been there, but something tells me we may find a few things there
very interesting."
Alex, Cate and Gail soon said farewell to the new girls,
letting them figure out how to tell everyone whatever they wanted about the
encounter. Alex was sure he'd hear more about each of them soon.
The same sort of thing happened to them several times after
that. It seemed that the Watchers were hardly the shrinking violets they'd long
assumed they were. Now it appeared they felt strongly about their feelings
concerning Alex, but he'd never approached any of them like this before. Apparently
traveling during the early morning commute really made a significant difference,
since they were encountering so many more people now. However Cate simply gave
them a business card for the Angel Vision Foundation and a pamphlet, before Alex
told them to hurry in to work and to read the material at their leisure later.
The women didn't seem to be convinced, but the last thing that Alex wanted was to cost any of them their jobs. Alex could just imagine what the next month or
two were going to be like if they'd be running across this many people just in
a single early morning drive.
Gail finally got them to her house, where Melissa met them
and Gail gave her the keys and all the information she needed. Since Melissa's
apartment was smaller, she was officially moving in, in anticipation of Gail's
returning home after their little road trip. It was a little strange for a new
relationship, but their relationship was hardly typical, and that was the deal
they had worked out. Gail got her apartment and plants looked after while she
was gone, and Melissa got a nicer apartment and a chance to 'customize' Gail's apartment to her own desires.
Melissa gave them all big hugs, telling Alex to be careful and to try to have some fun. Cate just had to tell her what had already
happened that morning.
"Well, try to have some fun in between all the crazy
followers," she corrected herself. After that they hit the road again. After
all, it was at least another five hours until they reached Memphis, their stop
for the night.
Alex took over driving this time, since they were officially
past the rush-hour traffic surge. Cate took the passenger seat so she could
operate the GPS on her iPad, while Gail kept watch from the back seat. Gail insisted she'd take over driving before they entered Memphis.
Alex glanced at his sister. Between taking their finals, Cate's
preparing for college and handling graduation, she'd been busy the past couple
of weeks. Knowing they only had a little time she'd stepped up her experiments.
Aside from her regular experiments where she tested the mice's reactions to
having been exposed to Alex's energy, she also had him try to repeat on them
what he'd done to Rakeem.
When Alex had met the gangster, dressed all in black when
he'd pulled a gun and pointed it at his forehead, Alex hadn't known what to do,
so he simply sent a mental image of his face to his girls and closed his eyes,
expecting death at any moment. But it never came, and when he eventually opened
his eyes he'd discovered Rakeem had suffered a sudden stroke.
It later turned out that it was hardly a random event.
Somehow, in a moment of panic, Alex had done to Rakeem what he did to the
potential Seers. He'd activated a non-susceptible person. He'd essentially
created a small empty place in his brain, causing the stroke like response, and
in that space he'd created a communication link to himself. However, since
Rakeem was neither female nor had any of the required genes, he never acquired
any of the abilities the others had. However Alex had begun to receive random
thoughts from him over the next week. And in the following weeks, Cate had been
anxious to see if he could duplicate that action, and if they could learn how
he could control it.
The results were poor, to say the least. The majority of the
time nothing happened as Alex had no clue what he'd done. Their best results
ended with a dead mouse, though. A necropsy showed that Alex had in fact
created the same changes to its brain, however it wasn't as well controlled, as
this one replaced the majority of the left side of the mouse's brain, killing
it instantly.
Cate had him repeat the experiment, again with little
success, although Alex managed to kill yet another mouse, though with a little
less of its brain destroyed. He wasn't sure if that could be considered
success, though.
When Cate had examined the little animal's brain she was
nervous, not knowing what to expect when she opened the newly created cavity.
She theorized that Alex had created an inter-dimensional portal that allowed
instant transmission of thoughts, electrical impulses, matter and energy. They'd
never tried to expose one of these to the air before. However opening it was
fairly disappointing, as it simply appeared to be a hole in the mouse's brain.
Apparently whatever had been there had disappeared when it died.
Thus they hadn't learned much, aside from that it was a
fairly dangerous thing they were essentially playing with. Alex didn't feel
comfortable with it, but he felt even more uncomfortable with the underlying
abilities being uncontrolled and occurring at random. He was afraid of being
surprised by someone and accidentally frying their brains. However all they had
now were more questions and no more control than they'd had before. Still, it
was amazing the amount of effort that Cate put into trying to figure out how
her brother's abilities worked.
She'd also experimented with his 'illness'. They knew that
if he overexerted himself he became weak to the point of collapse. When Ryan
had scheduled a stress test to see if they could duplicate it they'd been
disappointed, since his body's ability to heal itself seemed to counteract the
induced stress. That's when Becky had suggested continually increasing the stress.
Thus Alex had run hard up an ever increasing plane for a very long time.
But they'd gotten their reaction; Alex had collapsed gasping onto the floor.
Ryan had pronounced it a severe heart arrhythmia, though it
had disappeared almost as soon as Alex had collapsed. But the other symptoms
remained. Alex's thighs, calves and chest all bore bruises, some significant.
Those too healed faster than normal, but it still took days to occur. They had
no more real evidence of what was happening, but they knew that when his system
started to fail, it produced a multisystem failure. Thus they were hesitant to
try repeating the experiment.
They were just exiting the 255 loop around the city when
they were surprised by a police car, which had quietly pulled up behind them
and briefly turned on its siren. Alex didn't know what he could have done, but
was preparing to pull over when the police car pulled out into the other lane.
Alex figured it must have gotten a call and was just letting everyone know it
needed to pass, so Alex eased over to give it room to get around him.
However the police car pulled up alongside their car and the
overweight policeman in the passenger seat motioned for Alex to lower his
window. Somewhat confused, Alex did so.
"My partner wants to know if you need an escort," the cop
shouted to him over the noises of the highway. Alex almost broke out laughing
over the continuing strange situations he found himself in.
"That's OK, but if you could show us the nearest coffee
shop, I need to discuss something with your partner," Alex shouted back, unsure
how much of his message would be understood. The two cops talked for a few
moments while Alex and company waited to hear their response. Alex tried to catch a glimpse of the cop driving, but he was afraid to make eye contact with
her for fear of what would happen if he activated her while they were both
driving at 70 mph.
"She's trying not to stare, but I think it's pretty obvious
she's not a Seer," Cate advised her brother, knowing him well enough to
know his fears. "If she was, she wouldn't be driving patiently beside you for
so long."
The male cop leaned back out the window. "OK, follow us," he
shouted before they pulled in front of them and turned their lights on and took
off. Alex tried his best to keep up, doing 95 as they both exited the highway.
The police stopped at a Denny's, the driver luckily turning
off their lights and siren beforehand.
"Gail, you..."
"Yeah, I'll keep her partner occupied," she said,
anticipating his request.
"Good, hopefully we can do this easily. By the way, do you
recognize them?"
"Honestly, no, but then they're State Police, so we'd only
have a few opportunities to meet before," Gail informed him. "Give me a chance
to distract the passenger before you get out, just in case."
So Gail climbed out and started talking cop talk to the
passenger of the cop car. Once they started talking, Alex and Cate climbed out
of the car. The driver came over to them, having apparently been waiting
specifically for Alex.
"Sorry, but I'm..."
"Hey, don't mention it. My name is Alex, this is my sister
Cate, and our pal is Gail. Let's get inside so we can avoid attracting any more
attention. We've got a lot to discuss. Your life is about to change. I just
hope you can separate your cop life from your private life."
"Hmm, that sounds ominous. My name is Anna, Annabelle LeForge. My partner is Toby Sorensen. I see your partner is purposely distracting him,
so I gather what you're about to tell me is of a slightly questionable nature."
"Well, it's not illegal, but it is a bit unusual, and
we'd prefer it not become common knowledge, especially not to an
organization like the police or the military, if you get my drift."
"Well, I don't get it yet, but hopefully you'll explain it
to me," Anna said as Alex led her inside, trailed by Cate who glanced back to
make sure Gail and Toby were following at a far enough distance they wouldn't
overhear anything. Toby was heavy set with a bit of a belly and with a receding
hairline, but he seemed fit anyway and he was large, so Alex thought he'd
rather not have him angry at him if he could help it. Anna seemed nice, but she
looked like a lot of cops, pale from being inside much of the day and not
getting outside socially a lot. Alex guessed she probably hung out at the local
cop bar rather than socializing with other friends. Once inside they sat at the
counter so Gail could isolate Toby, while Alex and Cate surrounded Anna.
Alex and Cate quickly outlined what being a Watcher was about,
which Anna seemed to soak up. Alex was watching her carefully, anxious that she
may take the information the wrong way. If she thought Alex represented a risk
to the public safety she could definitely make life very difficult for
them. However she seemed to handle everything pretty well, even though they had
to keep their voices very low the entire time.
Once they covered the basic info, Cate slipped her their
pamphlet and told her to contact the Angel Vision Foundation, and then they
turned their attention on Toby to ensure he didn't feel ignored.
"So I take it you finished telling Anna whatever you needed
to?" he asked. Alex couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah, we did. Go ahead and ask her about it. She'll give
you a nice little recap of it, but we asked her not to reveal it all to you.
It's a bit of a sensitive topic with public officials, you understand?"
"Look, as long as she doesn't show up for work unable to
perform, and she isn't involved in anything illegal, I won't stick my nose in
it. But just be aware if you get her into anything weird, or she gets hurt in
any way, I'm not going to be pleased and I'll make it a personal mission to
help her get away from you," he warned them. However he quickly broke into a
grin. "However I doubt you'd ever do anything like that."
Alex looked at him curiously. "And why would you say
something like that. You don't know me from Adam. I could be a serial rapist
con-man."
Toby just looked at him seriously. "You're a young kid,
traveling with his sister and an ex member of the St. Louis police force.
That's about as clean cut as you can get. What's more, you're driving an old
compact car, you don't have any expensive jewelry or clothes, and I can tell
from your teeth that you aren't out to win anyone over." When Alex cocked his head questioningly at him he explained himself.
"People who are out to influence people, and who think
they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, always invest in their teeth,
thinking a shiny smile will win them more loyal fans. It's clear that you're
used to women walking up to you who are willing to do anything for you. Anna had no idea who you were, but she was willing to go out of her way to offer you
professional services most politicians don't get. Yet you don't appear to take
that sort of adoration personally. You seem like a good kid, so whatever you
have going on between you and my partner, I'm sure it's kosher."
"Wow, I can see you must be good at your job, because you've
managed to categorize me pretty quickly. But I'm glad you feel so protective of
your partner, even if you didn't think it was necessary in my case. If you
didn't feel that way, I'd question just how much of a friend you are. However,
I feel sure you'll find her even more productive and comfortable with herself
than she was before. I'm no threat to her, but I just can't tell you what this
is about yet. Maybe sometime in the future, but this information takes time to percolate
through your psyche, so it's better if you learn about it slowly."
"OK, I can live with that," Toby replied. "I won't push, but
I'll wait for her to eventually give me something to work with. You may feel
it's necessary for her to keep secrets, but keeping secrets generally isn't
good for said psyche."
"I understand that, and again I appreciate it, but I don't
think you have to worry. She'll find quite a few new friends she can share her
secret with, and I tend to emphasize keeping old friends, even if they have to
work to incorporate them into their new lives."
"Well, I appreciate your attitude as well. Now, if you are
done, I think it's about time we got back on duty. After all, we're supposed to
be working here, not sitting around eating donuts and drinking coffee."
They split up after that, everyone shaking hands, Anna
telling them she'd get in contact with the Foundation as soon as she could. Alex had to ask them not to accompany them out of town. He also promised them he'd catch them
when he was next in town.
Those encounters set the scene for the rest of the trip.
Before, when they simply focused exclusively on the Seers who approached them,
they'd never noticed just how many people they disrupted on a simple drive. Alex wondered just how many people he'd left behind on his previous trip to New Orleans and
back. Now they were stopping nearly every exit, and they even had to pull over
on the breakdown lane when they couldn't get the people following them to
understand they wanted them to follow them to the nearest exit. If you think it
is difficult giving people the same information over and over again, then try
doing it on the side of a busy highway with cars whizzing past at breakneck
speeds. But what amazed Alex the most was that they all trusted him enough to
stop as soon as he pulled over. They trusted that he wouldn't pull out a knife
and steal their cars, which said a lot about their unrecognized abilities.
That's why he was working so hard to get women of all sorts to recognize their
inner voices. If his girls could assist other women to avoid trouble, then that
was another benefit to this whole movement.
About an hour outside of Memphis, Alex was driving again,
when they approached a small family car. There was a young boy playing with
something facing him so he waved, but the child never noticed him. He also
noticed another young kid, but he or she seemed to be facing the front of the
car. But as Alex drew near he noticed the child, a small girl with curly blond
hair, turn abruptly and crawl to the back of the car.
Even before it happened Alex knew what was about to happen
when she looked back directly at him, her blue eyes shining brightly across the
distance. She jerked back which, timed with a slight bump in the road, tossed
her on her tiny little ass. Her brother seemed to notice and said something to
his parents about it, but as far as Alex could tell they didn't do anything
about it. Kids fall down, parents get used to it.
Although the initial contact was extremely brief, Alex had made a conscious effort to try to form whatever connection was necessary to establish
contact with her in case it was needed, but he waited until she recovered so he
wouldn't panic her any more than she already was. She soon climbed back up and
peered out the back window.
'Are you OK?' Alex asked her.
'Yeah, I am. Who are you and how are you talking to me?
And what's wrong with my eyes?'
She was a cute kid with blond hair, blue eyes and a missing
tooth. Alex smiled at her as he spoke to her.
'There is nothing wrong with your eyes, you'll get used
to it soon. I need to talk to you about your vision and yourself. What happened
to you is big, and we need to talk about it. What are your parents' names?'
'Uh, Mom and Dad,' she answered with the simplicity
of a child.
'Do you know their proper names?' Alex asked, pushing her a little.
'Uh, Michael and Sarah Grant,' she answered.
'And you are?' he continued to prompt.
'My name is Debbie. Why are you so bright? I can hardly
see out the back of the car you're so bright.'
'I'll explain all that, but I need to speak to your
parents. Could you ask them what their mobile phone number is?'
She moved to the front of the car and he could see her
speaking to them for a moment.
"Something going on?" Cate asked him.
"Yeah, I just activated the little girl in the car ahead of
us."
"Wow, you really should lie down in the backseat
while we drive. This sounds a lot like when you lost Nikki the last time we
passed this way. How are you going to get the parents to stop?"
Just then Debbie slowly repeated a string of numbers, which Alex relayed to his sister. She quickly jotted them down.
"Now, I want you to call the parents, Michael and Sarah Grant, and tell them we need to talk to them about their daughter."
She just turned and looked at her brother. "Yeah, right. And
why should they listen to me?"
"If you have a better idea I'm all ears," he suggested. She
continued to stare for a few moments, but eventually shrugged and started
dialing.
"Hello, you don't know me, but we're in the car behind you
and we need to speak to you about..." Cate hesitated long enough for Alex to
supply her with the proper name to use, "about Debbie."
"No, this isn't a joke. If you look behind you you'll notice
we're flashing our lights at you as we speak. We know your names are Michael and Sarah. I can't tell you why we need to speak with you, just that it's necessary for
your little girls' future."
Cate didn't seem to be making much progress.
"Tell them to think of a number between 1 and 10, and to
show her daughter that many fingers without saying anything or showing us," Alex told her.
"Tell her the answer is seven, that Debbie's birthday is
October 7th, and that Kevin stole a candy from the last store they
stopped at." Alex waited patiently while the information was conveyed. It still
took a little while for them to feel comfortable opening up to some strangers
following them.
"They're not sure they want to stop to talk to us. They want
to know what we want with their daughter," Cate relayed.
"Tell her to ask Debbie what she looks like." He waited for
the response.
"She doesn't understand what's happening," Cate told him.
'Debbie, tell your mother that what you see is the
life force of people around you. You see how healthy people are, but you need
training to use it. Tell her we are the only ones that can train you."
Alex heard more talking over Cate's phone, to which Cate
would occasionally say a few words. Finally he grew frustrated.
"Put the phone on speaker," he told his sister.
"...swoop in and tell us what's wrong with our child. We
have no idea who you are. We never asked for any assistance. How the hell are
we supposed to know who you are?"
"Hello, Sarah? This is Alex. This wasn't planned, we just
happened to be passing when we encountered you. We aren't trying to sell you
anything, and we don't want to convert you to anything. We just want to tell
you a few things you are going to need to know about your daughter for the next
several years."
"And why should we believe you? What kind of medical degree
do you have? You just sound like some kid yourself."
"Sarah. Try to calm down a little bit. We were just trying
to help, but it looks like you aren't receptive to it at the moment. You can
only turn water into wine so many times, or feed so many people with a couple
Ritz crackers, before you have to assume they simply aren't going to
believe you. We'll leave you alone to cope with this however you want. Just be
aware that we'll be staying in Memphis tonight in case you decide to come see
us. If you ever need to speak to us, just ask your daughter and she can give
you our phone number. Just be warned that you can't put it off for too long,
because if anything happens to me you won't be able to contact anyone after
that."
"That's OK. I can't see any reason to talk to you in the
future. You come along and pull a little trick with our daughter, telling us
things you probably picked up from the web, and expect us to do whatever you
want. No, thank you. Now we'd appreciate it if you'd leave us alone." And at
that point she hung up on them.
'Debbie?' Alex asked, reaching out to the little
girl.
'Yeah, Alex?'
'Look, given your parents' mood, I don't think you should
tell them anything about your vision or that you can talk to me. Don't lie to
them. If they ask, answer honestly, but don't force the issue. If you need to
discuss your visions, what they mean, or any other issues with your new
abilities, do it with us. OK?'
'Yeah, I think I can do that, Alex,' she replied.
'Good. Now don't bother your parents for a bit, since
they need to calm down. And don't mention it to your brother or friends either,
since none of them will believe you. Just remember if you ever need to talk,
just talk to me like we're doing now.'
She agreed, so Alex finally said goodbye and wished her luck
as he watched her parents pull away and leave them behind. They eventually
turned off at the next exit, turning onto another highway intersection. Alex wondered whether he'd ever see the little girl again.
"I guess there's more than one kind of lost girl, huh?" Cate
asked her brother.
"She's not lost. Her parents are just confused and
defensive. They may or may not get over it, but Debbie will always have me."
"Until she doesn't anymore," Gail commented from the back
seat. "At which point she'll be lost, just like Nikki and Clara were."
"Hopefully she'll be old enough I can give her a phone
number to call, and she can keep in contact through other means. I certainly
don't mean to abandon her to overly cautious parents," Alex assured them both.
The whole encounter left them all feeling a bit down, so
they simply stopped talking much after that.
They managed to pull into Memphis fairly late, crossing the Hernando de Sota Bridge while it was still light enough for them to find their hotel. It was a
fairly nice place in the downtown district, just a short distance from the AutoZone Baseball Park where the Memphis Redbirds played. Not that any of them were fans of
that particular team, nor had any great desire to see an empty stadium at that
time of night, but it put them at a convenient place amongst a lot of people,
so hopefully they could draw whoever might be nearby the hotel while they were
staying there. The hotel was situated partway between the baseball stadium and
the Emporium shopping mall, so they figured they could go there in the morning,
then possibly a few other sites tomorrow to make sure they'd covered the area
fairly well. They'd leave for New Orleans the following day. But for now, each
of them was tired and ready for some food and possibly a little rest.