“The Catalyst” Series
Chapter 26: Daddy’s Girl
Alex still felt unsure about the concert that night. He
didn’t know what it was, but he couldn’t help feeling that something was off.
About all he could figure was that with the increased number of people they’d
have with a Saturday night concert, they’d likely have more things go wrong, so
he clearly expected to be embarrassed or find himself in some uncomfortable
situations tonight. But that was hardly unusual and he knew he had to get used
to it, because it was now a constant part of his life. People would always come
up to him at odd times and react in unexpected ways. He just had to deal with
it and get on with life. He couldn’t fret about what he could neither change
nor which was ever likely to change.
This was Alex’s forth concert. Well, his fourth major
concert. The feeling he felt walking into the Cotton Bowl Stadium was again one
of being overwhelmed. He knew the heavy concentration of people was good for
him. While he’d been trying to hit cities because of their heavier population
densities, these concerts notched that up yet another level, as there were more
people per square foot than he’d ever encounter anywhere else. Still, with that
many people mixed together added to the unexpected nature of how his followers
and their family, friends, boyfriends and husbands reacted to him, he knew he
was likely to run across even more problems than they typically had.
Despite the larger audience he was anticipating from a
weekend concert, the Cotton Bowl Stadium was smaller than the other arenas
they’d been in over the last week. Not only that, but the other major stadiums
in the area meant there would likely be even less people here than there could
have been. On top of that, Alex realized that an old rock star staple and a
relative newcomer weren’t going to draw the numbers that a more popular
attraction might, so he wasn’t really sure what the night would bring. As
always, there were simply too many unknowns tonight for him to guess just what
was likely to happen.
What’s more, it was hard taking the time required to get to
know each new follower he met in the madness of a live rock concert, but they
provided a way to get many more new followers, which made it more efficient.
Also, the sheer noise and confusion kept things from getting embarrassing. So
in the end the heavy crowds were actually more of a benefit than a hindrance.
He’d managed to handle things well enough the last couple of
nights, so he knew they had a decent system worked out, although it didn’t help
that they had to work with people even more unaccustomed to the process
than they were. But he felt that if they stuck to what had worked before, that
they should be fairly safe into the future. With that he put his discomfort out
of his mind and instead focused on what he had to do in the here and now.
Entering the Cotton Bowl via the backdoor, hurrying to
arrange themselves around the stadium as usual to interact with the most
people, someone ran out of a room and straight into Alex.
“What the shit are you doing here? Who the hell are you,
anyway? What is this, a damn party? Who are all these people?” a tall
shapely figure that Alex instantly recognized as Diane Kennedy demanded. She
was a beautiful woman, with shiny brunette hair that curled around her face. But
it had been a long time since she’d first hit it big, and time was beginning to
take its toll on her. She had some obvious wrinkles around her eyes and along
her neck, but the most noticeable thing was the deep frown lines along her face
and her heavy scowl.
She was clearly unhappy, not only with Alex having gotten in
her way, but the fact that a bunch of ‘underlings’ were congregating in the
halls instead of doing something more productive.
“Uh, I’m with—” Alex started to answer before he was cut
off.
“I don’t give a damn who you are, you aren’t important. What
is important is that I need to center myself, and I can’t do that if a
bunch of idiots keep running into me. Get away from me, I need to calm myself.
Where’s Kathy? I need a drink,” she continued to rant as she stormed off.
“Whew, I can see why she has such a bad reputation,” Cate
whispered.
“She’s just lucky I wasn’t close enough to jump her,” Gail
warned them. “I don’t like it when someone attacks Alex like that. It makes me
jumpy, and you don’t want to see me jumpy.”
“Look, don’t worry about it,” Alex told them. “We were in
the wrong here. We’re underlings and we’re not supposed to be wandering the
halls with nothing to do. Now let’s see if we can get out of here without any
more trouble. We’ve got enough to worry about.”
They managed to find their places so they’d be ready for the
crowds to enter and for the concert to begin. Alex once again stationed himself
in the far stall in the men’s room to wait for the concert to begin and the
audience to settle down. He could hear the crowds moving about as people began
entering the stadium and not much longer men began coming and going in the
men’s room. Alex was trying to not look overly conspicuous when Gail alerted
him.
‘Alex, head’s up, you’ve got some company coming your way,’
she cautioned, but her warning had an odd lilt to it, though what that meant
wasn’t clear. But her warning was.
Alex sat up straighter, paying more attention. He remembered
the men who’d come to confront him in the men’s room in Houston, and he could
easily imagine the same thing happening with some guys who weren’t quite as
happy about their dates pining after another man. He listened carefully, and a
few seconds later he heard the door to the men’s room slam open.
“Hey, you can’t come in here!” someone shouted, which only
brought up a number of possible visions of the type of person who wouldn’t be
allowed into a public restroom. They must be one bad-assed—.
“Hey, fuck off buddy, we aren’t here for you,” the brash
voice of a pissed off woman rang out. “Just finish what you’re doing and we
won’t bother you.”
“Do you see him?” asked another woman’s voice.
“No, but I think he’s at the end of the room. You can’t
mistake his presence.”
Alex heard the rapid tap of heels on a tile floor, accompanied
by the complaints of men being pushed aside. He figured he’d better address
this before the disruption the women were making in a men’s room escalated. He
could imagine any one of the guys complaining to someone about this ‘abusive
treatment’ and then his quiet hideaway would be spoiled. Getting up quickly, he
opened the door and stepped out.
He saw three women walking rapidly towards him, though they
made an odd assortment. One was an angry looking young woman in her twenties
with short blond hair and an attitude, another was a dark haired older woman
who seemed to revel in the freedom her companion’s brazen attitude gave her,
while the last, a lightly freckled young woman with brunette hair with a
blondish tint to it, seemed to be meekly following the others. When he met
their eyes, two of them stopped suddenly, jerking back as if struck. The third,
the meeker brunette, continued on until she realized she’d lost her companions,
she was about to say something when she realized the person she was looking for
was standing before her.
“Holy mother!” the one in the short irregular haircut swore.
The other older woman looked so shocked Alex was afraid she might collapse. The
final girl, looking at Alex in confusion asked, “You’re him, aren’t you?”
“And who were you looking for?” Alex teased. He knew he was
being cruel, but he couldn’t help it, the expression on her face made it
worthwhile, even if it took him hours to talk her down from his response.
“You’re… you’re…,” she tried to say before she was
interrupted.
“Sweet Jesus, you’re …” the blonde said, also unsure just
how to finish the statement. The older woman, who Alex guessed was probably in
her mid to late thirties, looked like she might collapse and was too busy
crossing herself to answer. Alex glanced around and noticed a number of men
either watching them in fascination or hurrying to flee the scene.
“Follow me, we’re attracting too much attention here,” he
told them quietly and turned on his heels and crossed over to the other side of
the divided restroom, not bothering to see if anyone heard or was following
him. The side he’d been on consisted of toilet stalls while the other was
comprised of a long row of stark white urinals. There were several men glancing
in their direction when he entered, but when they saw the three women follow
him in they quickly zipped up and hurried out, seemingly in a hurry to get
away. One man didn’t seem to be so inclined, a small leer starting to spread
across his face. He started to turn towards them, his hand still holding
himself, apparently ready to expose himself when Gail walked up behind him.
“Freeze, buddy. I’m a cop, and if you don’t want to be
spending the night in jail I’d suggest you zip up and get the hell out of here.
I’ll take care of this.”
The man quickly turned and ran out, hurriedly trying to zip
up as he went. The younger blonde giggled behind Alex. Seeing as they were now
relatively alone, he turned to his three new followers.
“Not exactly the best timing in the world, but I’ve had
worse first meetings.” When his response didn’t get a single smile he decided
to change his approach. “OK, we’ve got to hurry. Quickly now, what are your
names?”
“I’m Jamie Stone,” the blonde answered without hesitating.
She was interesting looking, to say the least. She was pretty, but she seemed
to have turned ‘pretty’ on its head, as if she was tired of how people
responded to her based on her looks. Her hair was erratically cut in a short
bowl type of cut, but you could tell she’d paid some real money to have it done
to her. She’d had a sharp look to her eyes, but right now they were looking at
Alex in pure awe, her gray eyes wide and attentive, even though she, like the
other one, had trouble meeting his gaze.
“I’m Stephanie Dolson,” mentioned the taller woman with the
dark hair. She had a wide big smile that showed a lot of white teeth. She
looked like a lot of fun, but Alex guessed she normally felt a bit intimidated,
so she’d relished following Jamie’s lead when she brazenly led them into the
men’s room. “Everyone calls me Steph, though,” she added.
“I’m Brittany MacFarlane,” answered the still hesitant
younger girl, the lone Watcher of the trio. She had flowing two toned hair that
framed her face and covered some of the many light colored freckles which
covered her nose and cheeks. She seemed to have recovered more than the others,
as she was now smiling widely, apparently pleased as punch to have found Alex
in a public men’s room.
“All right, I’m not going to say who I am, because I’m
afraid we may have too many people listening still, but you’ll learn it soon
enough. The woman guarding the door, the one you stormed past a few moments
ago, will accompany you outside and explain a little about me. As for myself, I
think I’ll try to lose myself so we don’t continue to attract so much
attention.”
Once again Alex turned and marched towards Gail. She was
currently staring down a couple of guys who were trying to get a peek at what
was going on. She seemed to be successful because she stood aside as Alex
reached her and waited for her new charges to catch up. Alex could tell from
the hurried click-click-click of a couple sets of heels that they were each
hurrying to do as he’d instructed. Only two of the girls were wearing heels.
As he exited the restroom Alex saw several people nervously
watching him, both men and women. Apparently the men who’d fled the bathroom
had already informed their wives and girlfriends what had taken place, so Alex
was anxious to get away, hoping they’d focus on him and not on the girls who
were following him out. Striding purposefully, Alex walked briskly into the
crowded auditorium.
Several people were watching him intently, but he didn’t
slow down and he certainly didn’t try to establish eye contact with anyone. He entered
the stadium arena, where the audience was waiting for the show to begin. Alex was
hoping to loop around, exiting through the next corridor, but the crowd of
idling people was a bit thick, so he had to stop several times waiting for
people to move aside. However, each time he did, one or two people seemed to
fall in behind him. As he was waiting for another couple to step aside the
lights dimmed, notifying people that the show was about to begin. It was almost
like someone was watching him, and decided to help him out. As a result, most
people turned and moved closer to the stage, moving out of Alex’s way. But the
damage was done, while some were watching to see what was happening on stage,
the others, aware the show wouldn’t be starting for several minutes yet,
watched this strange young man with the several curious people scurrying along
behind him. Rather than lose himself in the crowd to avoid attention, he’d done
the opposite, making a spectacle of himself before the hundreds of people near
enough to be watching.
‘Well, I’ll give you this, you certainly know how to make
an impression,’ Gail teased. ‘I’m trying to head the girls away from
here because everyone is watching us like a hawk watches a field mouse free for
all.’
‘You haven’t seen anything yet,’ Alex warned her. ‘I
was trying to get away, but instead I’m leading some more mice your way, just
like Pied Piper. I just walk in and they all follow me out.’
She laughed at that. ‘You should know by now that you
really can’t predict how people are going to respond to you. No matter how carefully
you plan, someone always manages to surprise you.’
‘OK, try to meet me at the next arena entrance,’ Alex
told her. ‘I’m contacting that other Seer we met earlier to alert the other
girls that we’re changing our location. Hopefully this won’t mess everyone up
too much.’
‘Yeah, we’ll see if that’s far enough away. Frankly, from
the interest of the people around here, we may have to go to the far side of
the stadium to escape any unwanted attention.’
Alex figured it would be best if they split up, especially
since there were so many people for him to interact with. He debated contacting
the new girls telepathically and telling them to seek out Cate on the upper
floor, just so they’d draw the curious away from him, but he knew if he did
that without a warning he’d freak them out. He usually only did that when he
was facing someone directly, or they’d been briefed ahead of time. So he
continued with his original plan.
He figured he wasn’t going to be any less conspicuous, and
already the people around were growing bored with watching him, so he turned
and motioned for the girls behind him to follow as he headed to the outer
hallway where they’d have a little more privacy.
Alex was growing tired of trying to escape who he was. If he
drew too much attention they’d find a way to deal with it. People were
attracted to him, and his ‘presence’ surprised them so much they often reacted
oddly, attracting attention. They could minimize it, but wishing it wasn’t so
wasn’t going to change anything, and continually pretending he wasn’t who he
was also wasn’t going to change anything. It was time he finally took the bull
by the horns and accepted the role he had been given.
There were now four women following him, each looking
sheepish about it. But they were clearly drawn to him and this time they
weren’t as easily dissuaded. They scampered to catch up to him as he reentered
the outer vestibule. There they met Gail and the other three girls.
“I’ve already given them the general overview,” Gail
explained. “They still have a lot of questions, but you don’t have to give your
traditional ‘I’m not an angel’ speech.”
“Are you an angel?” one of the new Watchers asked him, her
eyes seemingly growing even larger.
“I’m the person the press has labeled ‘the Angel of New
Orleans’,” Alex explained. “As Gail intimated, I’m not an actual angel, but I
project a certain kind of energy that draws people to me. What’s more, I
trigger a reaction in some people, who we call ‘Seers’, who can see this
energy,” he described, indicating the three women standing beside Gail. “Their
typical reaction is to call me an angel. There’s an open discussion amongst my
followers whether that’s true or not, but I’ve never had any indication of it,
and you’d think God would think to mention something about it to you if you
were, so I’m still doubtful.”
Instead of wasting time giving them an overview, Alex
instead sent the first three girls to talk to Cate, so he could communicate
through them with her while sending the other four Watchers to talk to their
only other Seer. They’d cover the basics with them while freeing Alex to do
what he needed to. Getting these people up to speed quickly would free up more
people, allowing Cate to join him. That would help prevent him from getting
overwhelmed too quickly. As everyone split up heading in different directions,
Patricia come on stage by the time Alex and Gail reentered the arena floor.
Things slowed down after that, which gave everyone time to
get organized and Cate eventually joined Alex and Gail, having assigned the new
girls her previous tasks. The place was packed and it was difficult to talk.
Alex had several girls he’d recently met around him. The two talking to him at
the moment were Haley Hewitt, a young girl with a bright red stripped t-shirt
and blue jeans who’d turned out to be a Watcher and Kayla Odell, who was a
quiet young thing with short black hair and heavy glasses that gave her a
serious but quirky look. Alex was trying to tell them what they needed to know
when Gail alerted him to someone else.
‘Someone headed your way in a hurry, Alex,’ she
warned him. Turning, Alex saw a tall woman with somewhat wild brunette hair and
freckles heading toward him in a rapid march, like she wasn’t just seeking him
out, but wanted to have a serious conversation with him. As soon as Alex looked
at her, her head jerked back and she took a misstep, hesitating briefly. But
she quickly set out again, stumbling slightly on her way since she was unused
to her new vision.
“Alex?” she asked once she’d reached him, shocking Alex that
she knew him. Her eyes were still glazed from her recent activation, but she
seemed intent on telling him something, and seeing she already knew who he was,
Alex immediately forgot about everyone else around him and focused his
attention on her.
“You know who I am?” he asked.
“Yeah, I just came from New Orleans. They told me I was a
likely Seer and that I should seek you out. My name is Linda Evens, by the
way.”
“Well it’s nice to meet you, Linda. I take it they explained
what you needed to know about being a Seer?”
“Yes, they did, although they told me they couldn’t explain
much about the visions because I couldn’t really understand it until I’d
experienced it. They were right. But I need to tell you something before we
discuss anything else.”
This certainly got Alex’s attention.
‘Do you need me?’ Gail asked.
‘Maybe, I don’t know yet. I’ll let you know as soon as
she explains what she’s here for,’ Alex told her.
“And what would that be?” Alex cautiously asked.
“I work for…,” she said before hesitating, taking a moment
to figure out how to explain her relationship, “my boyfriend is a Private
Investigator in the eastern end of the state. He was hired by someone who was
anxious to dig up dirt on you. He was very insistent, so I figured it would be
important that you know about it.”
“I see,” Alex said, not quite sure he really did yet. “And
how did you come to be here then?”
“My boyfriend, Harry, went to New Orleans to see what he
could discover about you,” she said. “He basically ran into a brick wall, and
figured he’d have more luck if he had a woman try to get some information. So
he flew me in and sent me into your community there. They were cautious about
me, protective of their community, until we talked and they got to know me.
After they asked me a few seemingly general questions, they announced that I
was one of them, and that I needed to contact you because it would change my
life. I quickly went from seeking information for Harry, to seeking it for
myself. They didn’t hesitate to tell me everything once they knew I was one of
them. They told me they knew they could trust me.
“I went back to Harry and informed him I couldn’t help him
anymore, because I was going to join your movement, and if he cared anything
for me, he’d stop trying to damage you. Without listening to his decision, I
told him I was going to follow you here. Your girls told me you’d be here
tonight. Once Harry heard that he called up his client and told him he could no
longer represent him due to a conflict of interest. However I don’t think the
man’s likely to change his mind. He seemed pretty obsessed with causing you
trouble.”
“You wouldn’t know this man’s name, would you?”
“No, Harry’s real adamant about his client’s privacy, it’s a
central tenant of the PI Industry. He described what the case was about when he
brought me in. Normally I do his bookkeeping and act as his personal assistant,
so he doesn’t usually brief me.”
“Well, it’s not much to go on but thanks for warning me,”
Alex told her, his mind dancing, trying to figure out how to respond to this
news. “I at least know that someone has it out for me. I’ll tell you what, why
don’t you talk to Gail over there. She’s my bodyguard and as such has more
expertise in this kind of thing. She’ll have a better idea of how to deal with
it than I do. She’s got contacts with the police force in Illinois, so she may
be able to use that as leverage with your boyfriend.”
Linda set off to speak to Gail and they had to move a little
further away to make themselves understood over the noise, Gail not wanting to
overwhelm her by speaking telepathically until Alex had introduced her to the
idea first. Alex returned to his previous conversation with Kayla and Haley.
They didn’t ask him about what he’d been talking to Linda about, figuring it
wasn’t any of their business, so Alex resumed telling them about the
communities in New Orleans and Carbondale when they both looked over his
shoulder. They were surrounded by people since Cate was talking to another two
girls as well, but they were set off a little from anyone else. Seeing the
girl’s attention shift Alex turned to see what they were looking at, and he saw
an older man with thin graying hair conspicuously wearing a business suit to a
rock concert. Alex thought it odd, but didn’t think much of it until he saw the
man’s eyes. He was staring intently at Alex. His eyes seemed to have an
unbalanced look to them, and there seemed to be a cold burning hatred to them
that alerted Alex that this was likely serious. When he saw Alex glancing at
him he responded.
Anthony Barlow had waited outside until he’d spotted Linda
Evens coming into the stadium. He knew he’d have no way of finding the supposed
‘Angel’, Alex, on his own. There were just too many people here and too many
places to look. Getting a picture of her had been fairly simple. A simple
Google search using her name and her home town of Beaumont, Texas produced a
fair sampling of photos. As he’d expected, she zeroed in on Alex right away,
heading directly to him without even pausing to consider where he might be. He
didn’t take much time to consider why that would be, however.
He tried to stay back far enough from her to not be
conspicuous. After all, he was looking to surprise his target. He was intending
to merely speak with him, to warn him to leave his daughter alone. He wasn’t
sure why, but he’d felt it necessary to bring an old Luger along that his
father had brought back as a souvenir from World War II. He’d at least taken
the time to clean it, since it hadn’t been used for the last thirty years. He
didn’t even know if it would work, and he certainly didn’t plan on using it. He
merely wanted it so he could scare the miscreant away in case he couldn’t get
him to see the situation rationally.
When he saw the tight band of women surrounding the man he
was after, most of them young beautiful and seemingly innocent, he was overcome
with a righteous indignation. Each of these girls was like his own daughter.
Each believed in this man out of their own naïveté and their own sense of the
purity of man, never once suspecting just what he was planning to do to them.
He could easily see this supposed angel taking advantage of each of them,
leaving them penniless in some strange city days weeks or months in the future.
The ‘angel’ didn’t look anything like he’d imagined. He was
just a young man who seemed to have delusions of grandeur, since he didn’t seem
that impressive. He appeared clean cut, but Anthony assumed a con-man would
have to project that image in order to get others to trust him. But the fact he
projected such a false image just set Anthony off that much more. He felt
himself losing it at that point, his hands literally shaking with rage.
He wasn’t quite sure what happened from that stage, all he
knew was that he was filled with an overwhelming anger at the injustice of it
all. This self-appointed saint enriching himself while stealing young girls
from those that loved them, taking both their innocence but also irreconcilably
destroying their relationships all in one fell swoop. When asked later exactly
what he did, what he said or why he chose to do it, he wouldn’t be able to
answer, all he knew was that it was over in an instant.
“You’re not going to do to these women what you’ve done to
my daughter,” he said with a snarl as his hand came out of his pocket. Alex
wasn’t entirely clear on what he said, due to the loud music surrounding them,
but his intent seemed clear. He seemed to be holding something in his hand. As
his hand rose everything suddenly slowed down, once again. Alex had experienced
this before, so he knew what to expect.
Suddenly he no longer noticed the music filling the arena.
Instead he picked up a bunch of seemingly irrelevant details; like that the
man’s suit looked to be an expensive European cut and his shoes were freshly
shined, as if he wanted to look his best for this confrontation. He also
noticed those around them, mostly the girls talking to Cate, seemed frozen in
place and Alex noted the pretty patterns in their dresses frozen in
mid-movement.
The man’s hand continued to rise slowly and Alex noted a
glint of dull metallic gray, but that was the last detail he managed to
register. Before Alex could figure out what was happening, he was hit from the
side, simultaneously hip-checked and shoved from the side. Knocked off balance,
he had time to glance over and see that Haley, a slightly bigger girl, had
shoved him out of the way for protection. As he began to slowly topple over,
falling in a twisting motion, he saw her moving forward towards the man
approaching with the gun.
Things continued to move in slow motion, but now his mind
was focused on his inability to observe what was happening. As he fell away, he
was no longer able to observe the man, but his overactive mind was recording
everything else it saw flashing before his eyes, most of it immaterial to the
threat on his life. The old chewed gum and beer stains on the floor, the movements
of those around him, as Haley and Kayla rushed forward. They seemed to move glacially
slow, but they were moving faster than anything else around him, as everyone
else seemed surprised.
Most of all he was aware of how powerless he was. He’d been
too surprised to react, but even the ability to do nothing had been taken out
of his hands. Now he was merely observing what was happening, both to himself
and those around him, as an outsider without a clear view of what was
happening. The man was no longer in sight, he had no idea what he was doing, or
what he intended. He had no idea how everyone else was responding. What’s more,
he had no indication of how much of a threat the man was, or whether anyone
else was in danger as well.
If he’d had more control, he might have been able to
respond. At the very least he could have moved away from the others, drawing
the man away from the others. Instead now he a helpless bystander, a potential
target amongst several unintended victims, unaware of what was happening and
unable to respond to it.
They fell out of his field of vision as he twisted further
and he now found himself only a few feet off the floor when he heard what
sounded like a couple of firecrackers off in the distance. “Pop”, “Pop”. Despite
not hearing the music playing in the background, Alex was aware of silence
hanging in the air for a moment, as the speech around him fell silent from the
interruption of the unexpected sounds.
Since Alex’s mind was now in overdrive, and since he could
no longer see what was happening around him, his mind raced, trying to guess
about what was happening. Instead of being worried about himself, his thoughts
immediately flew to those around him. Not just Haley and Kayla, but the girls
with Cate who were between him and his attacker, in the line of fire as well.
He tried desperately to think of what he could do, but even if he knew what was
happening, he’d be unlikely to stop bullets already fired. Not knowing what was
happening prevented him from even attempting to. His mind recorded the
footfalls of the girls, the whizzing sound of something traveling at high speed
slicing through the air, and then the sickening sound of flesh being torn and
the gasps of pain that were exhaled in slow motion from above and behind him.
He had no idea who, but someone had been shot. He didn’t think he’d been
injured, but he knew how the mind played tricks on you, and tended to block out
minor details like the perception of pain. He hadn’t felt pain when Rakeem had
shot him at point blank range. Alex was pretty clear he hadn’t been injured,
but that left him to wonder just who had been struck, and whether he was
actually the intended target or whether the man was upset at someone else
entirely. The mind goes to unexpected places in these circumstances, but it was
in hyper-drive now, and it was trying to fit the many pieces together into a
coherent whole. Then all hell broke loose.
Things started speeding up, at first moving incrementally
faster, then suddenly moving much faster. The people around them drew back,
holding their hands to their mouths in horror, and Alex landed with a crash
onto the hard floor, bouncing slightly, spittle unexpectedly flying from his
gaping mouth from the impact. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he was
pretty sure what the loud pops he’d heard were. The next thing he heard was
Gail’s voice ringing out, cutting through all the distractions around him.
“Drop the gun or…” she yelled before her words were
punctuated by a louder pop, just above and to the left of Alex’s head, “I’ll shoot,”
she finished in a calm tone of voice. The difference between her initial
excited utterance and her accepted conclusion made her statement that much more
poignant.
It was then that the screaming started and the disruption
finally reached the band. Alex suddenly became aware of the ongoing music just
as the band members stopped playing one by one in an odd manner that drew more
attention that something was wrong than anything else.
‘Alex, you’ve got to get the fuck away from here,’
Gail insisted.
‘What’s going on? What happened?’ Alex asked, desperate
to find out what he’d missed.
‘Some asshole just tried to shoot you. Instead he hit the
two girls you were with.’
Alex rolled over and started to stand, still seeming to be
moving in slow motion, despite how quickly everything around him was now moving.
‘I’ve got to help. Maybe I can—’
‘The hell you will,’ Gail hissed. ‘Security and
the police are going to be all over this in just a few minutes. If they connect
you to this they’ll have your name and a record of your employment on
Patricia’s payroll. If this shooting is related to your being the famed Angel
of New Orleans you won’t have a private life anymore, and every one of us will
be exposed. You’ve got to get out of here.’
Alex intended to ignore her and continued trying to stand,
something that took substantially more time to do in slow motion than speaking
telepathically did. As he did so he felt Cate urgently pulling his arm, trying
to move him away from the scene he found himself in.
“I’ve got—,” he tried to tell her but she cut him off.
“The hell you do, you’re getting the hell out of here,” she
hissed, trying to be insistent while keeping her voice low so it wouldn’t be
overheard by anyone else.
Feeling he was losing the argument he instead reached out to
Kayla to see what he could do for her and Haley.
‘Kayla, how are—?’ he tried to ask, but was once
again cut off.
‘Alex, get the hell away from here,’ she answered as
waves of pain, fear and frustration washed over Alex from their shared
telepathic connection. He was strangely aware of what his own reactions must
have felt like to those around him when he’d been shot only a month earlier. At
first Alex thought she was scared and reacting to being shot, but that initial
thought was soon proved wrong.
‘Alex, you can’t help them,’ Gail said, speaking to
him angrily from her own frustration with him. ‘They sacrificed themselves
for you, and if you ignore that and stay to help them, you’ll not only put them
in danger, you’ll put all of your followers in danger as well. To stay and try
to heal them will only belittle what they did for you, insulting their
sacrifice, but it will probably be useless since you know you can’t stop
bleeding with your powers. Just take off and I’ll take care of them.’
Alex was about to try to plead his case one more time when
Kayla cut him off.
‘Get out of here,’ she insisted. ‘Haley and I will
be OK. He wasn’t aiming… at us, so we weren’t hurt… too badly,’ she tried
to say even as she had to stop frequently as the pain kept interrupting her
thoughts. ‘But you’ve got to get the hell away from here.’
Cate was still yanking on his arm as he finally got to his
feet, and since he was off balance she pulled him farther off balance, so he
started to stumble towards her, away from the girls. He knew they were correct,
but he felt like he should do something. He couldn’t just leave two women who
were injured trying to help him. But he also knew that Gail was right. He had
the wrong skills to help them now. Chances were the stadium had medical personal
on call and they’d be here shortly with their security people. They could
staunch the bleeding and stabilize them until an ambulance could reach them.
There wasn’t much that Alex could do as far as emergency medicine was
concerned. His specialty was helping speed the healing process. He’d be better
helping them at the hospital.
Since he was conflicted as to the best course of action Cate
continued to drag him towards the exit, which they were near anyway. People
were still screaming but no one was moving yet. They were still recoiling, and
their screams were starting to spread around the stadium. Alex knew as soon as
people got their wits about them there’d be a mass rush to the exits, so he
knew they’d be swamped soon. Against his better judgment, he let himself be
dragged away from where he felt he should be. He already felt guilty, but there
really wasn’t much he could do, and they’d specifically asked him to. Feeling
terrible about it, he finally started heading out on his own.
There was sheer pandemonium after that. There were people
running and screaming in all directions. People poured out of the stadium like
it was on fire. Alex was sure that no one realized the violence was over, but
he wasn’t about to point out their mistake to them. As he ran he received a
variety of messages.
‘Alex, are you OK?’ Jamie asked, just before her
sentiment was echoed by Steph. They’d both heard the commotion and immediately
thought of Alex when they recognized it sounded violent.
Before he could answer he got another message, ‘Alex,
this is Liv. What happened? We could feel your emotions just now, and we know
what happened the last time you did that.’
Alex figured if he didn’t head this off, he’d have to
respond to everyone individually, so he sent out a message to all the Seers.
‘Things are crazy right now. I’m OK but someone tried to
shoot me,’ he alerted everyone. ‘We don’t know why yet, but he hit two
new girls that were with me. Everyone forced me to leave although I resisted.
I’ll let you know what happens, but I just wanted everyone to know in case you
got some emotional leakage from me.’
‘Alex, you get your ass out of there right now!’
Patricia insisted, which was instantly echoed by several other telepathic
voices. ‘Are they OK or should we call the police?’ Patricia asked.
‘Gail is with her and she’s applying emergency first aid
until the medics reach them. But if you were to call 911 you’d inform the
police that you know more than you’d have any reason to.’ For some reason
Alex didn’t understand, he seemed perfectly rational and in control when he
heard himself telling others what to do, but he didn’t feel that way as his own
mind was awash in conflicting ideas and motivations.
‘Good, that’s where she should be since she’s been
trained for that. Your being there would just slow her down and you’d risk
exposure. I’ll find out from her what’s going on.’
‘I don’t think it will be any better overwhelming her
than it is overwhelming me. Let her do what she needs to do. She’ll likely
contact me as soon as she has any news, so I’ll pass any news along to everyone
else.’
Alex then proceeded to tell the other girls in the stadium
to pass the word to anyone with them that he’d be in the parking lot and that
they should try to find him in front of the East entrance. He figured that’s
where the ambulances and police cars would congregate, so he warned them to
take a separate entrance, but that he’d be near the entrance so he could see
what happened to anyone they brought out.
It seemed that most of the people that fled the stadium
simply got into their cars and left, but there were still a lot of people standing
around watching what was going to happen. Time passed with no word. Alex
concentrated on flagging down anyone looking for him, but they all seemed to
zero in on his energy, so it didn’t take much to get their attention. Soon he
had several new followers around him, so he turned to the girls he’d met
earlier to keep his mind off how little he knew.
“So, girls, how about you tell me a little about
yourselves,” he asked Jamie, Steph and Brittany.
“I work for the UPS,” Stephanie said, causing Alex to smile
at her.
“I can just picture you in brown shorts.”
“No, I work out at the airport organizing the airplanes
flying around the country, so I don’t get to wear the shorts,” she told him.
“I’m in college studying architectural engineering,”
Brittany said.
“And I’m a video artist,” Jamie replied. “I make video
presentations that get shown in galleries as well as on YouTube and
occasionally on television as well.”
“Well I guess that explains your unique look. I guess it’s
fitting for your line of work. I couldn’t see you as an office worker looking
like that. Tell me, what’s with the aggressive attitude from earlier? There
must be a story behind that?” Alex asked.
She was about to respond when Alex’s eyes glazed over. She’d
just been warned to watch for that, so she waited until he was done before
answering him.
‘Everyone is OK,’ Gail informed him. ‘They
received glancing blows since he was aiming at you. That’s serious enough, but
it isn’t life threatening. Haley was hit in the side and Kayla was hit in the
thigh. Apparently he was shooting downward as you were falling and she was
between you. I’ve patched them up and they’re in pain but they’re alert and in
good spirits. They both wanted me to be sure that you got away OK. The stadium
people just got here so they’re looking after them now. Before they got here I
went over with them what to tell the police, but they’d figured it out for
themselves. I just gave them the same advice that I’d given you about not being
too obvious by making their lies too simple. I told them to tell the truth but
leave off any mention of you. You weren’t there. If anyone presses, give plenty
of detail about everything else.’
‘If you can, tell them I’m worried about them and I’ll
help them in any way that I can. Tell them I’ll come to the hospital to—”
“You most assuredly will NOT,’ Gail insisted. ‘They
both agree with me on that. They don’t want you anywhere near the hospital.
They figure the police will be watching it to see if anyone tries to contact
them, so stay well away from there. They’re covered. They both have insurance
so they should be OK.’
‘They may have insurance, but there are still the
deductibles, not to mention follow-up physical therapy,’ Alex argued. ‘I
don’t want them going broke because they were injured trying to save me.’
‘Again, you will do NO such thing,’ Gail warned him.
‘It’s too easy to trace payments. The foundation can’t make any payments
either. But don’t worry about it, I think I’ve got an idea on how to save them
for having to pay for being attacked. And about conveying your feelings to
them, I can’t say anything now because of the other people who are here, but I
assured them you wanted to stay, but that we’d forced you to leave. That made
them feel better.’
‘What about the attacker?’ Alex asked. ‘Did you
find out why we were attacked?’
‘Yeah, the asshole was quite talkative. He said he was
trying to stop you from stealing money from unsuspecting girls. As for how
he’s doing, he’s in more pain than anyone else. I shot him in the gut, so
hopefully he’ll be terribly sick from sepsis before he goes to jail.’
‘That was what he initially said,’ Alex said,
ignoring the latter half of Gail’s information. ‘Do we have any idea what he
was talking about?’
‘Look, I’ll talk to you soon. The medics are getting
ready to take the girls out and security is holding the shooter. I don’t trust
these clowns to keep him secure. I’ve got my hands full at the moment.’
With that their conversation ended and Alex found himself facing a waiting Jamie.
He had to refocus to remember what he’d been talking about earlier, but he told
the girls around him what had happened before he returned to Jamie.
As he was providing them with the update, several police
cars pulled up, followed shortly after by an ambulance. The front of the
stadium was busy with flashing lights, although no one there yet had any idea
of what had actually occurred. The people around them were busy gossiping about
what they thought might have happened, so Alex lowered his voice some more,
causing the women around him to lean in more to hear him clearly.
Since they hadn’t yet brought anyone out, Alex turned back
to Jamie and asked her to continue.
“Well, I’ve got a… history with guys,” she answered a little
obliquely.
“Meaning?” Alex asked. When she didn’t answer right away
Alex tried to help. “Look, if you’re gay it doesn’t make any difference to me.”
Jamie made a face at that, but it apparently prompted her to
explain.
“I’ve got no problem with guys, in general, but they always
want to compartmentalize me, to put me into their little boxes. I’m the ‘pretty
girl’, so I’m expected to act in a certain way, or ‘she’s a blonde’ so they
assume I don’t know anything.”
“So you decided to rebel by getting an odd haircut, so
you’ll stand out more?” Alex asked, genuinely curious.
“More so they won’t be so quick to pigeonhole me. People
tend to give artists a little more leeway.”
“But don’t they put the same restrictions on artists. You
dress a certain way, so you must be a certain way. You do a certain kind of art,
so you must think like other artists do?”
“Yeah, but it gives me a little more latitude,” she
explained.
“Which you use to be abusive to those around you?” Alex
asked, enjoying turning the tables on her.
“Well, not everyone. Mostly guys,” she admitted, suddenly
hesitant and sheepish.
“I hate to break it to you, but I’m a guy as well,” Alex
reminded her.
“Yeah, but you’re not like other guys. You’re different.”
Alex was set to tell her he was hardly different when he
stopped himself. He knew how hollow that sounded, since everyone could tell he
was hardly ordinary, so he took a different approach.
“So this attitude only extends to men?”
Here she blushed, so Alex knew he’d hit a nerve. She saw his
response, whether in his aura or by his attitude, Alex didn’t know but she
tried to explain herself.
“When they get high and mighty I have a tendency to put them
into their place.”
“And does that ever accomplish anything, besides making
yourself feel better by belittling others?” he asked her pointedly.
“It works, though,” Steph said. “With her by my side, taking
charge of everything, I had no troubles marching into that restroom. I never
would have done it if she wasn’t by my side, and it was her attitude more than
anything else that gave me the courage to approach you like that.”
“Well, it’s good that you can motivate people, but the
question is just how many do you motivate that way, as opposed to the others
that you either put off, insult or make feel terrible about themselves?
Actually, when you get right down to it, how are you any better than the people
you criticize when you judge people based on how you suspect they’ll act rather
than getting to know them?”
Both Jamie and Steph were looking nervous, but that hadn’t
been Alex’s intent. Instead he was simply trying to figure out what motivated
them to behave as they did. He was about to continue when there was a shift in
the crowd’s attention and he turned to see they were bringing out several
stretchers.
Though it was hard to see around the vehicles and the people
crowded forward, they observed the gurneys rolled out one by one. They brought
the two girls out, and then they brought out the attacker as well. Alex wasn’t
as concerned with him at the moment, however.
‘Kayla? This is Alex. How are you holding up?’
‘Well, I hurt like hell but I’m fine,’ she answered.
‘We weren’t badly hurt. I’m just glad you got away in time. They’re
interviewing everyone they can find so be careful. It’s probably only a matter
of time before they start interviewing the people out here looking for
witnesses.’
‘How’s Haley? Have you been able to talk to her?’
‘Well, we’ve hardly been in the mood to get into a
gabfest, plus there have been people all over, so we really couldn’t say much.
You know, this talking telepathically makes it much easier. I don’t have to
measure my words to match my energy.’
‘Yeah, I was hoping to help with both the energy and the
healing issues,’ Alex told her, lamenting how powerless he felt having been
unable to do anything at all for her.
‘Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Just promise me you’ll stay
away so you don’t raise any questions. It looks like there are going to be
people all over us, so they’ll likely ask about anyone coming to visit.’
So Alex promised her he wouldn’t, as much as it tore him up
to not be able to take care or protect those who depended on him. As much as he
hated to admit it, there were always going to be things he couldn’t protect his
followers from, and if he tried to control and shield them from everything,
he’d probably end up hurting them even more. Maybe there’s a lesson here, he
told himself, without trying to flesh it out just then.
He watched as they loaded Kayla and Haley into the waiting
ambulances. They were both loaded into the same one while their attacker was
loaded into a separate ambulance, accompanied by an armed policeman. Alex
thought he saw a handcuff under the stretcher, but he really couldn’t tell from
that distance. Finally the ambulances moved out, although the police cars
remained where they were, their lights still flashing against the dark night
sky.
“They’re OK. Kayla seemed a little more composed, so they
probably gave her something, but she still seemed pretty clear. They told me to
stay away from the hospital.”
Cate knew him well enough to know what he’d been thinking
about so she went to him and wrapped him up in a big hug.
“Don’t worry. I know you want to shelter each of us, but
sometimes things happen. You’ve got to learn that you can’t control everything.
Just focus on what you can change and let the rest go. You’ve got
amazing abilities to help people, but if you get too obsessed with trying to
control every little thing, you’ll only make yourself crazy and you won’t be
able to help anyone.”
Alex thought about that, and how little control he had over what was happening.
But, in the silence that descended as the ambulances pulled away, he felt he had
to say something just to distract himself so that he wouldn’t obsess. What’s more,
if he simply started talking he’d talk about the girls, which he didn’t like
doing because he could never tell when someone walking past might overhear them.
So he once again returned to the inane discussion they’d been having earlier.
“So what about you, Steph?” Alex asked once Cate let him go
and stepped back. He needed to distract himself so he wouldn’t have to deal with
worrying too much. The girls were in very capable hands now. He
couldn’t do anything for them, so it wouldn’t help them no matter how badly he
felt. “Why do you feel this need to be more in control?” he asked her, echoing
his own concerns with himself. “What is it about you that feels powerless?”
Stephanie seemed to consider this a few moments before
answering. She seemed to be as thrown by the question as he felt asking it.
“I’ve always been a bit of a mouse, a wallflower if you will. I tend
to simply go along with what everyone else wants, preferring to let others take
the lead. It saves me a lot of trouble, but it can leave you feeling powerless
after a while.”
Alex reflected on that. Here was someone who took the opposite
tack than he did, but she didn’t appear to be any happier. He considered that
maybe it wasn’t so much what you worried about as much as how it defined your
life. It wouldn’t hurt to be concerned about things, but once it started
defining how you acted and limiting your actions, then it turned into a major
problem.
“Are you married? Do you have spousal issues?” he asked her.
It was really a surreal scene. Here he was, having a normal everyday discussion,
while one of his closest friends was being led away to be questioned by the police
about a scene he was actively trying to hide from, and as two people he was
indirectly responsible for injuring were being taken to the hospital. It was
making Alex’s mind spin, but he knew this was his defense mechanism. By acting
normal, he could maintain his equilibrium. And by discussing something so mundane
and safe he could keep his mind active, ready to respond but not actively
fretting about what he couldn’t do at the moment.
“No, I’m single, although I was in one abusive relationship
for a while and I just ended another relationship I was hoping would develop,
but just never did.”
“Is it possible it never developed because you didn’t help
it along?” he asked, wondering what it was that was driving him to ask these
probing questions. It was one thing asking what people did to try to figure out
what they’d be good at, but it seemed to be a wholly different thing to be
asking them about the reasons behind their personal failings.
“I suppose it did. I wanted to confront him about it. Many
times, in fact, but I just never did. I just didn’t want to make a big scene
about it,” she answered him.
Alex was about to respond when one of the girls pointed out
something behind him. He turned and saw Gail being led out by a couple of
police officers, along with some other people, including Linda Evens. He was
about to speak with her, but Cate pulled on his sleeve and pointed in another
direction where they saw police officers starting to wander into the crowd.
“We’d better go,” she suggested.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here. It wouldn’t be hard to simply
deny we saw anything, but there’s no sense tempting fate,” he told them, so he
turned and led everyone back to his car. As he did he asked the three girls,
Jamie, Steph and Brittany, if they’d accompany him home for the evening,
explaining they couldn’t do much until much later in the evening since he
planned to pick up Gail after the police finished with her. Cate went on to
explain exactly what his offer entailed. Each explained that they were
unattached and would be honored to spend the evening with him. Brittany actually
offered that she would be willing to become impregnated by him, but that she
was currently on the pill, so it wouldn’t do them any good. Jamie answered that
she didn’t think she could deal with being pregnant quite yet, while Steph said
she was afraid she might be too old to catch easily. Alex considered this to be
TMI, “too much information”, although he understood why it was important. But
right then he was more concerned with what was happening to everyone else to
fret about who he slept with or whether he could get them pregnant or not.
As they drove out of the parking lot they drove past a
policeman in the process of closing off the gate to prevent anyone from leaving
before they could be interviewed. Once again, they managed to slink away by the
skin of their teeth. It seemed like everything that night had been like that.
Alex had been unable to control anything that had happened, and it had all
worked out due to nothing that he’d done. These were all things to think about,
as he waited for Gail to call him later for him to pick her up.
To Be Continued