The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) Kurtis Eckstein (psychology books to read TXT) đ
- Author: Kurtis Eckstein
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I gave her a confused look. âShe didnât?â
âCorrect,â she agreed. âAlmost a year ago, when Lexi took a break from her job, after Blaze Maddox disappeared, she decided to terminate her public contract with us â the one that made her a face of the organization. Her last public appearance was a television interview, where she announced her separation from Blaze. Since then, sheâs bought a new house, thus changing cities entirely, and sheâs been removed from the public eye. At this point, almost a year later, sheâs been nearly forgotten.â
âSeriously? How could people forget her?â
âEasily. They do all the time. We do it to them, all the time. The formula is simple â media censorship, combined with distraction. Lexi âtakes a breakâ and we thrust a new young attractive super in the publicâs face. They donât even realize itâs happening, or that itâs happened, but theyâve long since forgotten about Lexi. After all, sheâs just one of many celebrity superheroes, even if she was one of the most popular at one point in time â it happens all the time with movie and music celebrities too. And sure, people might privately wonder about her sometimes, but no one is talking about it publicly. And if they did, weâd shut it down.â
Damn.
That was useful, but also kind of scary how much control they exerted.
âSo her home is safe,â Jackie continued. âAnd your home is especially safe, because Lexi doesnât officially live there. Technically, even going out in public isnât as dangerous as it sounds. The airportâs database had been infiltrated, which was how the enemy probably found out she was going to be there, and it sounds like her younger sister opened up an opportunity when she put her name up on a dating app. Itâs even possible the assailants didnât know for sure that Heidi was Lexiâs sister, and were just taking a chance. Had Heidi denied having a sister, or if someone different shown up, instead of Lexi, then they might have determined that there was no relation and kept searching.â
âWhat about the mall?â I wondered.
âThe exact method used to find her has not been determined, but there are a lot of possibilities, especially since you were there for a while. For example, a hacked security camera with facial recognition software. Itâs also possible they have a powerful technopath on their side, though nothing thus far has indicated that is the case. Because if that were true, then the situation would probably be a lot worse. However, something like going to the grocery store, or going to a park, is all extremely low risk.â She paused, as if she was reconsidering her own statement. âThat being said, I still think she should avoid going out in public for a while, but itâs really not as unsafe as it might seem.â
I nodded, only to realize Iâd neglected to ask the most important question of all. The who and why.
âJackie, who is this Sheriff guy, and why is he even after Lexi?â
She took a deep breath, leaning back into her chair more. âThe nickname is self-proclaimed, as Iâm sure youâve realized by now, and heâs a terrorist we thought Blaze Maddox killed a couple of years ago. And, up until three months ago, we thought he was truly gone. As to why Lexi? We really donât know. Itâs possible Lexi has become a target because of her association with Blaze, maybe as a form of revenge. After all, publicly, no one knows Blaze is deceased. Only missing. So it could even be an attempt to get Blaze to come out of hiding.â She took a deep breath. âThis terrorist bastard brainwashes people into doing what he wants, though we suspect the process takes a lot of time, because otherwise heâd have an army at his disposal and be a much bigger threat.â
Shit! I didnât like that at all. Not one bit!
Brainwashing people? Meaning, all these assailants might have been normal everyday people who were turned into this guyâs puppets?
Shit!
Jackie could see the horror in my expression, quickly leaning forward to reassure me.
âWe also think he has limitations,â she added. âVery rarely are his victims female, and the few times in the past when they were, they werenât actually brainwashed. Instead, they were coerced via blackmail, always by men who had been brainwashed.â
âSo then, the suicide bomberâŠâ I whispered.
She nodded. âItâs very likely she wasnât brainwashed, but was instead blackmailed with something significant, like the life of her family. And that threat might not have even been real. For example, the guy who did the initial attack might have met her using the same dating app, and then convinced her that the people he worked for would come after her kids or parents if she didnât do what he wanted. And while the threat might have only involved him, with there not actually being other people, she would have no way to know for sure.â
Jackie glanced at the wall then, her eyes becoming unfocused. âPlus, the threat would definitely feel real if sheâd been abused beforehand. Not to mention, the bomb she had strapped onto her body probably couldnât be removed once it was put on her. That gave her no options at that point. Itâs not like she could just take it off and walk away.â
I shook my head in disbelief, prompting her to focus on me again.
âThen again,â she continued. âThe person you saw might not have been female. Could have been a guy dressed up as a woman. Unless youâre confident it was a woman?â
I honestly wasnât confident at all. The person was definitely dressed like a woman, but I wasnât exactly taking the time to verify gender. Definitely not a priority when I was having premonitions of a bomb going off.
Unexpectedly, Jackieâs phone rang then, and she hung up a few seconds later with good news.
Lexi was out of the hospital, and the two sisters were already on their way
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