Chapter 34: Command Voice

Everybody

“EMERSON!” Keira breathed as she hugged her friend. She caught the door just before it closed behind her.

“You brought her!” Trayce screamed. “You didn’t want me at all!”

“That’s not true, hon,” Keira protested.

Emerson stalked across the floor to Trayce as Keira shoved pillows to block the door open.

“Listen here, you little bitch!” Emerson growled. “You have no idea what these two have gone through to find and rescue you. If they had to call in a friend to help them, you should be thankful they had a friend to call. Did you have a friend? Or are you only bitching about what they did?”

“Emerson, please. Not now,” Keira said. “Where’s Jaime?”

Just then they heard the repeated squeaky call from the hall.

“I don’t know if that’s him or not,” Emerson said. “I’ve only ever heard his voice on the computer.”

“Schwartz has some kind of brain-wave dampening mesh surrounding all the surfaces in here. None of us can use our head voice,” Keira said.

“Either that or head voice doesn’t really exist,” Trayce declared. “It was a figment of my imagination. None of you are real. They were just characters in a story I’m writing.”

“Are all creative types this stupid?” Emerson asked.

“Jaime! We’re here. You’re getting closer,” Keira yelled out the door.

Jaime came running to the door and into the room.

“Keira! Trayce! I found you,” he squeaked in his out-loud voice. “Emerson! What are you doing in here?”

“I came looking for you after you’d been out of touch for forty-five minutes. We need to get out of here. Schwartz and his two cronies are searching outside for you. They don’t know I’m in here.”

“Let’s go, Trayce. Bring your manuscript. You’ll want to finish it later. But we are taking you out of this dungeon,” Keira said.

“I don’t believe you. I’ll go outside just to prove you are a test the doctor set up for me to show it’s all imaginary,” Trayce said, gathering her notebooks.

“We’ve been trying to find you ever since you screamed for help yesterday morning,” Jaime said. “This way will get us up the back stairs and out of the annex. I marked the walls.”

They followed Jaime with Emerson bringing up the rear as Keira wrapped her arm around Trayce and guided her through the hall. Soon, they reached the stairs and Jaime went ahead to check that the coast was clear.

«Let’s move to the car, » Jaime said in their heads as soon as they were outside.

«Right, » Keira answered.

“No! I didn’t hear that. It’s just what I think you’d say,” Trayce said. “You didn’t hear anything, did you?” she demanded of Emerson.

“I never hear anything unless it’s spoken out loud or one of them has a hand on me. I can’t head talk. If you think you just heard something, you probably did.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Trayce said.

“Guys, head downhill,” Emerson said. “I’ll go up to get the car and meet you at the bottom of the hill where there’s a park with trees. Phones should work again now, so I’ll text you when I’m on the way. They won’t be looking for me and I have to go the other direction to get to the car. They know all three of you.”

Emerson went to the front of the annex and crossed the street. Jaime led Keira and Trayce down the alley.

«I don’t think they’ve seen me, » Jaime said.

«But they’re looking for you, » Keira said.

I need to spice up the dialog a bit. These guys are boring, Trayce grumbled in her mind.

«You can spice things up when we get you home, » Jaime growled. Trayce gasped. They crossed behind the guesthouse and the next street, heading for the trees in the park.

“Perfect!” Schwartz yelled as he jerked the passenger door of Emerson’s Kia open. He plopped in the seat and grinned at Emerson. “Now, you will take me to the pickup point. Are you one, too? It’s quite a bonus to get a fourth.”

“You don’t have any!” Emerson growled, opening her door to get out. A gun faced her.

“Get in and drive,” the thug growled. “Your friends don’t have a ride if you don’t go to pick them up.”

Emerson closed the door and started the car. The thug got in the back seat, making sure she knew he still had the gun on her.

“I don’t need to take you to find them. All I need to do is drive around a while and they’ll be gone. You’ll never get to them.”

“Don’t try it,” Schwartz said. “You’re too young to die. Besides, Shirley is on their tail and she won’t let them get far.”

Emerson floored the Kia and squealed out of the parking lot, but soon let up on the accelerator when she felt the gun barrel against her neck.

Jaime, Keira, and Trayce came to a stop beneath the trees near the road. They were panting as much from the adrenaline rush as from exertion.

«Is it true?» Trayce said when Jaime and Keira wrapped their arms around her. «Are we really talking to each other in our heads?»

«Yes, » Jaime answered. «Trayce, we won’t let him try to drug and block you.»

«He’ll use me to hurt you. I tried to resist. He gave me something in my food that made me sleepy and then hypnotized me. I tried to resist. But I know he told me I had to obey, » Trayce said.

«You know the keys of what he’ll try to do. You can resist with us to help you. Hold our hands, honey. You’ll see how much stronger we are than when we’re alone, » Keira said.

«We’ve got a problem, » Jaime said. «Schwartz carjacked Emerson. He and one of his thugs are arriving with her. The woman is coming up behind us.»

Emerson’s blue Kia skidded to a stop a few feet away. She jumped out of the car and ran to Jaime. He took her hand and felt the gestalt forming among the four of them. It was almost enough to knock him out. He could feel power flowing, even from Emerson.

Schwartz and the thug got out of the car to face them.

“So, I finally have you all! This is wonderful,” Schwartz said.

“You don’t have us,” Keira growled, feeling the support from Trayce, Jaime, and Emerson. “And there are enough of us that we can make a pretty big stink before you can kidnap anyone again.”

“I don’t want to kidnap anyone. I want to save you!”

“From what? So far, you are the only threat,” Emerson said. “You and your goon held me until I drove here. That’s carjacking.”

“Let’s not be picky,” Schwartz said good-naturedly. “It’s the government we need to worry about. Why do you think I went to so much trouble to dampen audio and psychic waves and microwaves? Whoever found the control room and shut down the ANC system was very clever. Of course, we knew as soon as we saw this one run that you’d reached the honey in our trap.”

“Trayce is not honey in a trap,” Keira said. “Step aside and we’ll be gone.”

“No, no, no! If the government finds out about you, they’ll want to experiment on you, just as they did on me,” Schwartz said.

“The government didn’t find anything of interest in you, Kenton,” Rose said, stepping past the thug. Angus stepped up from the other side with his sword drawn and pressed it against Schwartz’s side. “They tossed you aside and you haven’t been able to stand it. You wanted so desperately to be a cool kid and talk in people’s heads. Nothing you can do can make it better. You’re a fake and a charlatan.”

“Rose! My dear sweet girl. How I’ve missed you. I haven’t missed you, Angus. Still running around with a sword? We have guns, you know,” Schwartz said, seemingly unfazed. “Now, Trayce, tell your friends about Kalliope.”

«We’re supposed to go back in the building. I’m sorry. I have to take you back, » Trayce said, exerting mental force on the other three. Jaime gathered the reins of the gestalt and cut her off.

«DROP YOUR GUNS!» Jaime sent to the group.

Four guns hit the ground.

“What the fuck?” Thursday yelled. Schwartz’s two guards spun on Kate and Thursday, who had slipped up behind them. Fists began flying, showing that both the strippers were as skilled at martial arts as Schwartz’s guards seemed to be.

«STOP IT!» Jaime commanded. The four combatants froze. «YOU TWO. GO HOME!» he directed at the two goons. The girls joined their out-loud voices to his mental voice. The two thugs started backing away.

“This is wonderful! It’s wonderful! It’s just like I said it would be. You commanded with your mind and people obeyed!” Schwartz nearly jumped for joy. “With me to guide you we’ll be unstoppable! How I wish I’d had you when we were experimenting at the university. Of course, you weren’t yet born, were you? And when I first spotted you, you were much too young. But now, look at you. All grown up and testing your power. I’ll show you how to use it.”

The two goons were now running flat out toward the guest house. Kate and Thursday bent to scoop up all four guns, now being free from the command.

“You’re paranoid,” Rose said. “You don’t have anything to offer them. Even your inn is a detriment to them. You’ve been feeding Trayce drugs, haven’t you? And attempting to hypnotize her. You can see it didn’t work.”

Jaime sent some hints to Keira, still holding the force of their gestalt.

“Here’s what you need to do,” Keira said. “You need to retire from counseling. Forever! Do not ever attempt to investigate head talk or head talkers again. Make a happy business for yourself with your inn and never bother us again.”

“You can’t imagine that I’m just going to give up my life work,” Schwartz said. “I’ll...”

“GO AWAY AND LEAVE US ALONE!” the four said in unison, three with out-loud voices and Jaime in his head.

«OBEY!» Jaime commanded.

Schwartz straightened as if he’d been struck. He looked around at the eight others still in the park.

“I’m getting too old for this,” he muttered. “I was going to retire anyway. I’m going to live up there in my apartment at the top of the world and watch the ships come sailing in. You kids don’t need me. I don’t need you. It’s all a bunch of nonsense anyway. Talk in people’s heads. That’s pretty stupid when you stop to think about it. Have a nice life.”

Schwartz turned and wandered back toward his guesthouse as Jaime increased the pressure on him to forget all about the kids from Portland.

Then Jaime collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Emerson and Kate and Thursday

“What the fuck just happened?” Thursday fumed. She, Kate, and Emerson had been left in the living room of the B&B while Rose and Keira carried Jaime to their bedroom, trailed by Angus and Trayce.