Brain Storm by Cat Gilbert (detective books to read .TXT) 📖

that’s the important thing. I’m just sorry I didn’t do it. Which reminds me,” he said, turning on Mac, “where were you? Aren’t you supposed to be her ‘Watcher,' whatever that means?”

“I am her Watcher, and I was busy with the three waiting outside. Who do you think cut the power? I knew you were inside and thought you could take care of things until I could get there. Apparently I was wrong.”

“It would have helped to have a little advance warning. Was there some reason you couldn’t do that?”

Jonas sounded like he was working up a good head of steam, but I couldn’t get my mind off what Mac had said. Three men outside, four inside. They had sent seven men to take me, and assuming that Mac had killed the three outside, and I had no reason to assume otherwise, seven men were now dead. Who were these people and why were they so desperate to get to me, that they were willing to lose so many? What about now? Surely they would try again and when they did, was anyone here safe? My mind flitted from one scenario to another, each one ending in disaster.

“Taylor, stop.” Mac had his hand out, stopping Jonas from continuing in his tirade, focused completely on me. “Everything is all right. Just relax.”

“Relax? Mac, seven men are dead because of me and I . .” Mac grabbed me and jerked me out of the chair, giving me a good shake, causing Jonas and Trinity to jump up from the table sending their chairs flying backward, ready to defend me.

“Taylor, listen to me.” His words were calm but demanding as he swung me around, putting me between him and the others.“What you’re feeling now is raw emotion, and you’re sending it all over the room. The power you have is based on emotion. They’re linked and feed off each other. It works if you’re focused. If not, the more emotional you are, the less control you have. Are you understanding what I’m saying?”

“Let go of...” My words froze, his gaze locked on mine, willing me to understand. As shocked as I was at being grabbed and thrown around like a rag doll, his words somehow got through to me. Was he right? I couldn’t move the spoons, but I’d wanted to. Or had I? If I was honest with myself, I wanted to fail as much as I wanted to succeed on that one. As for spinning the wheel? I couldn’t have cared less about that, but boy did I want the coffee Marcus had been holding, and I was nearly in tears from the frustration of not being able to reach those stinking keys. Images flashed through my brain, and I knew he was right. Every time something had happened, an emotion had been attached to it, a strong emotion, focused on an end result. Tonight had been no different. Terror, panic, anger - it didn’t matter.

I had sat at the table, just seconds ago, getting more and more upset, increasingly panicked by the second. If Mac hadn’t stopped me, what would have happened?

He saw it on my face, the moment I knew and relaxed his grip on my shoulders.

“You okay, now?” he asked, setting my feet back on the floor.

I gave him a nod as I smoothed my clothes back into place. He nodded to Jonas and they went about collecting the chairs, quietly putting them back at the table. Everyone seemed afraid to say anything as we sat back down and the silence soon became deafening. It was Trinity, who finally broke the tension.

“Well, okay. That clears things up. Now we know you have to stay calm, Taylor. No more big emotional upheavals.” She reached over to grab my arm. “Unless of course, we’re being attacked or something, and then, by all means, get emotional.”

“Okay,” I agreed, feeling somewhat relieved that everyone hadn’t run from the room when they discovered I was nothing short of a ticking time bomb. “Let’s go back to where we were before I started freaking out.”

“Oh, that would be where Jonas was about to hit Mac for saying he was a wimp.”

“I didn’t say that.” He gave Jonas a look of chagrin. “I might have implied it, though, and I apologize for that. I failed to do my job tonight, and you all nearly died because of it. You got no warning, Jonas, because I had no warning. They hit before I expected them. Way before.”

“What happened to the guard out front?” Jonas asked after a moment. I had completely forgotten about the guard, but now I remembered that Jonas had been looking out the window right before we were attacked. The missing guard must have been what alerted him. I closed my eyes, dreading the answer.

“He’s okay. I got there in time. He’s probably at home with an ice pack on his head, even as we speak. And no,” he added at Jonas’ questioning look, “he didn’t see me. No one did. At least, no one who matters now.”

What was that supposed to mean? No one that matters now? I cocked an eyebrow up in question at Mac, who met my gaze dead on.

“The guy who set the fire. He must have been outside, and I missed him. He saw me when Jonas and I went back in. He doesn’t matter anymore.”

Just like that, he didn’t matter anymore. Mac had killed him. Well, he might not matter to Mac, but he mattered to me. A total of eight now, that had come for me. All dead. Somehow it didn’t help knowing that it could have been us. Dead was dead. Killing was killing. Tonight I had done more than my share of it. Mac might be able to toss that off, but I had a feeling it would haunt me for quite a time to come.

I reminded myself that at least the police guard was still alive. There was that at least, along with Jonas and Trinity. The thought helped me get my head together and focus on the question that had been nagging at me all evening.

“Who are these people, Mac? For that matter, who are you?”

“Yes, Mac,” added Trinity, bringing her chair up closer to rest her elbows on the table. She gave him her lawyer look, and I knew she was back on track as she leaned across the table, “Just who are you?”

It was definitely Mac’s turn on the hot seat as three sets of eyes all turned on him, waiting for answers. Not quite as big a man as Jonas, Mac was still a good size. After all, Jonas was just short of huge, at least, to me. Mac had to be coming in at closer to 6’2 or so, and there wasn’t a distinguishing thing about him if you discounted his air of confidence. He wasn’t handsome, but not ugly either. Just a regular, attractive guy. Brown hair, brown eyes. His clothes were clean and comfortable looking and disguised his body well. If he hadn’t pulled me up against him when I couldn’t walk, I would never have guessed there was a rock solid body under the loose shirt. He came off as easy going and laid back, which everyone at the table knew wasn’t the case. So far Mac had been professional, efficient and deadly. Where he came from, I had no idea, but apparently, I was the reason he was here, and after tonight, I was fairly sure I was glad he was on our side. That didn’t make me any less curious about where he came from and what he was doing here. Mac had answers, and I had plenty of questions.

“Where would you like me to start?” he asked me.

“How about at the beginning,” Jonas answered. “When we have questions, we’ll ask them.”

“Oh you’ll have questions, Jonas, and I’ll answer what I can, but I’ll tell you now, most of what you want to know, I’m not at liberty to tell you.”

“Ah, you’re government.” Jonas reached across the table to grab and crack open another can of Coke. “Why do I think this is a bad thing?”

“A few years ago, it would have been a bad thing. The people I work for have learned a few things, though. That’s why they’re more interested in protecting Taylor than using her as a lab rat.”

Lab Rat? That certainly got my attention. When Mac looked over at me and winked, I felt somewhat better, although not completely relieved. If I hadn’t already conjured up a picture in my mind of being caged and studied in some hidden far away horror chamber, it would have been easier.

“Taylor, you’ve done the research.” Did he know that for a fact, or was he guessing? I was starting to get creeped out with the idea that he’d been watching me. “You know there’s never been a shred of scientific evidence that TK exists, yet we all know that in fact, it does. They know it too. The problem is it can’t be duplicated in the lab. Something happens, maybe the people feel pressured, or frightened, but whatever it is, it’s like hitting a light switch. It just doesn’t work anymore. It’s gone. Sometimes it comes back. Sometimes it doesn’t. The one thing they know for sure is that their method of testing doesn’t work.”

“So what are they doing now?” Trinity chimed in. “Monitoring these people? Invading their privacy?”

Yeah, what about that? He was talking about people having a choice, but to my way of thinking, I hadn’t had one. They sent Mac in to watch me without so much as a by your leave. The violation of my privacy bothered me almost as much as the concept of being a lab rat did.

“In a way, yes,” he answered. “They pick likely candidates. Keep tabs on them and if there’re any positive indications, they assign a Watcher to them. Like me. Most of the time, nothing ever happens, and the people just go about their lives. Other times, their ability develops, and the organization I work for makes contact when they feel the time is right and things proceed from there.”

“How do things proceed from there?” I prodded.

“That depends on the Client, Taylor. If they want to try to develop their ability, there’s someone to help them. If they want to forget about it, that’s okay too. We’ve already figured out it has to be the Client’s choice. Take away