Chapter 76: Hidden Agendas

Mid-August, 1985

[He just wouldn’t recognize us!]

Greg and I were of a like mind when he told the girls, “We are NOT letting you girls go alone!”

Bob said calmly, “Let’s go inside and get into Greg’s shield or bubble or whatever you call it.”

We all went inside and gathered around the kitchen booth, since it would seat all 9 of us with the three chairs we brought in with us. Greg actuated his ‘shield’ and we began talking.

Mary started, “Okay, first thing. When Charlie and I were in Lenny’s head I was doing a little more than just looking and listening. Lenny and I communicated and he left me a packet of info that I just ‘opened’ a minute ago. It was similar to what Charlie left for Brock. We’re pretty sure Sherman doesn’t know what it contained. BUT, Sherman DID know I was communicating with Lenny! I’m sure that’s why Lenny openly communicated with me now, using my alias’ name. He’s making one last push toward making Johnny believe he’s not just Jonah, but also the Catalyst. He’s going to make Johnny believe he created Jackie and she’s me! By having Sarah there as his ‘girlfriend’ is part of the plan. He’s counting on Johnny and Sherman recognizing her. Gracie has been on TV, so they’ll recognize her too. Jamie is going as my friend and another one of Lenny’s ‘protégé’s.”

“I fucking HATE this,” I screamed, “I’m just going to kill that bastard and get this over with!”

“Nooo! You CAN’T Charlie. Sherman IS the Catalyst!” Mary pleaded. “If you kill him, we’ll ALL lose our powers! Joshua is certain of that, even though he HASN’T told Johnny yet. He doesn’t feel that Johnny would accept it.”

“But I thought Joshua said I was the Catalyst?” I exclaimed somewhat less vehemently.

“You are OUR catalyst, Charlie. It’s just that you’re ‘raw’ abilities stem from Sherman!” Mary explained. “I don’t fully understand it, because that’s all my ‘packet’ said, but it makes sense if you think about it. Joshua believes that the reason we’ve all progressed as far as we have is that our emotional AND spiritual connections have been wildly amplified by the love we all have for each other. That’s a concept that Johnny steadfastly refuses to believe. It’s ALSO one that Sherman is very envious about. Right now Sherman is nearly psychotic with rage ... and loneliness. Greg, drop the shield for a minute and let’s connect with the icons, but you all stay quiet, okay?”

We nodded then Greg nodded that the shield was down.

Mary flashed Dad. “Lenny darling, I forgot to ask, have you made reservations for tonight?”

Dad was chuckling, “Oh yes my love. I see you’ve learned a new trick! Where did you go? My friend and I have been VERY frustrated that you disappeared!”

Mary was grinning, before answering VERY seductively, “Oh sweetie, a girl has GOT to protect her secrets, doesn’t she? Tell your friend it’s not nice to fool around with Mother Mary!”

I could tell Dad was nearly choking, “You’re absolutely right. I’m sorry for intruding, it won’t happen again.”

“Suuure you won’t. And Santa Claus only cums once a year! Right Nickie?”

Now Dad was gasping in laughter, “I really hope not! I’m hoping he might ‘cum’ tonight!”

“Till then my love. Toodles!”

She motioned for Greg to put up the shield.

I was flabbergasted. “How did you know that sweetheart?” I asked, after I was sure the shield was up.

“I wasn’t 100% sure until just now. You heard your Dad. I’ll bet Sherman is freaking out right now. The funny thing is, he’s so jealous of your Dad’s abilities and is desperately hunting for HIS catalyst. Sherman is hoping to convince ‘you’ to help HIM get those kinds of powers!”

DING and the light went on!

Greg smiled knowingly, “And Sherman doesn’t get it, that without a deep capacity to LOVE, it’s NEVER going to happen! Joshua and Ann were right on! Ann has ALWAYS believed that our deep love for each other is what has enhanced our abilities and made us progress as fast as we have.”

Mary nodded, then said cautiously, “Yes, but remember, Sherman has been ‘chemically enhanced’ and IS very powerful once he gets into your head. You saw Butch and his abilities. Sherman is MUCH more powerful than his son ever was!”

That was a chilling thought.

We were going to have to play ‘footsie’ with this guy until we could figure out a way to control him without KILLING him. How do you neutralize a hurricane?

We’d been talking for over an hour, when I looked over and saw TJ poking his head in the door. His lips were moving but we couldn’t hear him. Until Greg started laughing and dropped the shield, that is!

He was hollering, “Did you guys go deaf!? I’ve been knocking and calling you guys for 5 minutes!”

Bob was twisting his finger in his ear, “Nope, I can hear you just fine ... now!”

Linda smacked him, laughing, “We were just in a very deep discussion. It seems that Lenny set Mary, Sarah, Jamie and Gracie up with a bunch of his friends!”

“WHAAAT?” TJ asked incredulously.

When we started explaining, TJ stopped us abruptly the instant he heard Sherman’s name. He held his finger to his lips just before saying, “I wanted to introduce you to some friends we brought back with us from Chicago.” He was motioning with his head nervously. “Why don’t you guys all come outside and meet them?”

As I walked out the door I saw Brock and two pretty strawberry-blond teenage girls. Brock winked as the rest of the family gathered around me. “Guys this is Brock Leeman and his twin daughters Bonnie and Bridget. (Bridget had an adorable small birthmark on her left upper lip.) TJ then introduced us, using only first names, ending with, “and this is ... Charlie.” Brock was smiling, but the girls looked at me with an alarmed expression on their faces.

I tried flashing soothing thoughts to them. That only seemed to make them more anxious. They were looking back and forth at each other and I could tell they were wondering whether or not I was the ‘Charlie’ that they had heard when their uncle was lamenting Butch and Benjamin’s demise.

“I’m sorry ladies. It was never my intention to hurt Benjamin.” I flashed to them hoping they’d hear me. “Butch was trying to kill me and Benjamin was trying to help him. I was just trying to get Butch to stop when things got out of hand. I hope someday you can find some way to forgive me because I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to forgive myself. I didn’t realize that Benjamin was just a pawn in Butch’s game.” I was apologetically looking into the girls’ eyes.

Bonnie flashed, “Bridget and I loved Benjamin. Please don’t tell Daddy, but the three of us made love many times. Both of us tried to stop Benjamin when he told us Butch demanded that he had to help him fix a problem that he had. Dad didn’t even know that Butch was in town. On the way here, Daddy explained to us what he thought may have happened to Butch and Benjamin. He said he met you at his FBI office. He tried telling us about you and what you did for him. It won’t be easy for us to forgive you, but we’ll try. Can all of you talk this way?”

She was looking at the rest of my family.

Mary flashed, “Yes ladies, we all can. You don’t know how badly Charlie feels about what happened to Benjamin. When Butch attacked him everything happened so fast there was literally nothing he could do before it was too late. He thought that Benjamin was trying to help Butch kill him. Please believe him.”

Bridget flashed, “I do and like Bonnie said, it’s partly our fault for not telling Dad the truth about why Bennie had to go to the airport. We knew he was going to meet Butch, but Bennie made us promise not to tell.”

When I looked over at Brock I could tell that he wasn’t picking up any of our conversations. Because of the period of silence however, he must’ve sensed that something was going on. I flashed Bridget, “Do you guys ever talk to your dad like this?”

Bridget giggled, “Oh no. I don’t think he can talk like this but it seems like whenever Bonnie and I are in trouble and we call out to him in our heads he always seems to find us. I don’t think Uncle Sherman likes Daddy much. Daddy got real mad at him when he tried to give us some kind of a shot he said would make us just like Butch and Benjamin. Benjamin told us that he had only been given one shot, but that Butch had gotten many. To be honest, it wasn’t until Bonnie and I began, well, you know, fooling around with Benjamin that we learned how to do this. That must’ve been just before Mama died.”

Bonnie added, “Butch got very jealous of Bennie when he found out Bridget and I were making love to Bennie but not him. Butch has always been mean to us. Once he found out that Bridget and I could talk to Benjamin like this he kept trying to get us to help him trick some old man into giving him money.

“It worked pretty good, too. He would hold out a deck of cards and tell the old man to pick one, look at it and put it back in the deck. We would be standing behind him and tell him in our heads what the card was. He did it like 10 times and each time the man gave him more money for guessing the right card. When we got back to Uncle Sherman’s house, Uncle Sherman told Butch that next time he would have to start asking for MORE money. He said that $50 for 10 guesses in a row wasn’t enough.

“We felt that what we were doing was dishonest and the next day when Butch asked us to do it again we told him we didn’t want to. He started slapping us. Mom saw him and tried to tell him to leave us alone. Mom got so angry that we think that she had a stroke. The next thing we knew she had a lot of blood running out of her nose and they rushed her to the hospital. Later, Uncle Sherman told us that Mama was dead.”

That confirmed virtually everything that I had wondered about Sherman and his knowledge of Butch’s doings. The son of a bitch had been grooming his son to use his power to take advantage of people ever since Butch was a kid. As far as I was concerned Sherman was just as evil as Butch if not worse.

I vowed to myself to make sure MY son understood that whatever ability he might ever have should only be used to help people. I felt Mary saying, “Amen to that Charlie, our son will only know love and honesty. I firmly believe that the example we set will guide him on the right path.”

I really wanted to somehow let the girls know the truth about what happened to their mom. I just didn’t feel that now was the time or the place to do that.

I wasn’t surprised when Brock asked if he and I could go somewhere together to have a talk. He asked me if we could go tonight, but I told him we had already made other plans. I assured him that tomorrow morning I would certainly like for us to get together.

He told us that he and his daughters were staying at the Holiday Inn just up the road from our campground. He said they were in room 201 and that I could call the hotel and ask for his room.

I asked TJ where he was staying and he laughed, “actually, Janet and I were kinda hoping we could stay with you guys. It looks like it might be a little crowded.”

Ed was laughing, “You can stay in our little Toyota camper if you’d like.”

Janet giggled, “That’s not EXACTLY what we had in mind, but thanks anyway. For tonight we’ll just get a room at the same Holiday Inn. What are you guys doing for dinner?”

I felt Greg putting his bubble around us, enclosing TJ, Janet, Jamie, Mary and I inside.

I told TJ, “Something is going on over at Maria’s Cantina on the north side of town. Dad invited the girls to have ‘dates’ with some of his friends, who I’m assuming is probably Sherman, Johnny and Joshua. We’re not sure what’s going on, so we’re all going over there to keep an eye on them. Bob, Greg and I are going to put on our disguises and hopefully just look like some bikers getting something to eat and having a good time. Do Johnny or Sherman know who you guys are yet?”

TJ frowned, “Unfortunately, yes. Janet and I could probably just show up there like 15 or 20 minutes after everyone else gets there. If they notice us they might just think it was coincidence since they knew we were coming here for the Jamboree. I take it you wouldn’t want us to sit with you?”

“It would be better if you didn’t. I’m not sure what’s going on it all. I feel like we should be playing this very close to the vest. Mary, Sarah, Jamie and Gracie are meeting DAD and his friends there at seven. Bob, Greg and I are gonna go so we can be there and get seated before anybody shows up. If you two come around 7:15 PM that should work. You may not recognize us and while we’re there we DON’T want to use any mental communication whatsoever. Sherman is extremely perceptive and will probably pick up anything that is flashed. Do you remember the disguises we wore at the Illinois State Police barracks?”

Janet giggled, “Oh how could I forget! Between your flaming red hair, Bob’s ears and Greg’s potbelly I don’t know which one of you looked sexier.”

Greg harrumphed, “Then you won’t know me, because I am NOT wearing that damn potbelly!”

More laughter ensued before Greg raised the shield.

Brock, Bonnie and Bridget left with TJ and Janet to go over to the Holiday Inn. I told Brock that I would be free any time after about eight in the morning tomorrow.

We all decided to remove our wedding rings, especially since Mary, Jamie and Sarah’s were identical. It wouldn’t take a professional investigator to notice they were all the same and we didn’t need that kind of attention.

Gracie even helped them put some makeup on their hands to help hide their ‘ring’ marks. It was decided, since Johnny had met Ed, that he should not come. Linda decided that she would stay behind too so Ed wouldn’t have to sit home alone.

There were some humorous moments when Greg and I realized we hadn’t worn our masks since we’d grown our full beards. We had everything out ready to start applying glue when we realized this.

Bob started laughing, “It looks like you guys are either going to have to shave or find out what a facial ‘bikini wax’ feels like!”

We both slugged him on the upper arm before grabbing our shaving kits to remove our beards. We had a nice month and a half’s growth going so we first had to cut it off with the beard trimmer before shaving it smooth.

We were both hoping this was going to be worth it.

Our rough and tough biker looks were taking a severe beating. Half an hour later, with a little help from Gracie, even our mothers wouldn’t know who we were.

When we got to the Maria’s Cantina the place was already doing a brisk business. We noticed a large table in one corner that had a reserved sign on it. I noticed there was a smaller table right next to it that wasn’t occupied. I gently ‘pushed’ a suggestion that our hostess to seat us at that table, but NOT remembering that we had asked to sit there.

We made it a point to sit so it didn’t appear we were watching the big table. In fact, it would appear that we were attempting to ignore them.

We WERE close enough to hear all but a whispered conversation, however.

Just before 7:00 PM Dad, Johnny, Sherman and Joshua walked into the restaurant. Dad had to suppress a chuckle when he saw the three of us sitting at the table right next to the one they were being led to.

I was surprised when, a few seconds later, Doctor Andre Honyestewa walked in and joined them. Bob, Greg and I had arranged ourselves with Bob’s back to their table with Greg sitting next to him while I sat across from Bob. Greg and I could see the table with just a slight turn of our heads. Joshua introduced Andre to Johnny and Sherman. Johnny welcomed Doctor Honyestewa and thanked him for coming for the Jamboree. They were all chatting amicably when Mary, Jamie, Gracie and Sarah walked in, dressed to the ‘nines’. They were all wearing very short but elegant sundresses with their hair fixed beautifully. The men had arranged themselves so that each of the ladies would sit between them. They were all standing up as Dad introduced them to their guests.

Mary gave Dad a hot kiss then said, “Lenny darling, so nice to meet you again.

Dad replied, “Mary, my love, you and your friends look absolutely stunning tonight. Thank you for joining us.”

Doctor Honyestewa said, “Sarah, I’m glad to see you again. Are you here covering the Jamboree?”

It was apparent that neither Johnny nor Sherman had recognized Sarah as being the reporter who was featured in all the stories about Jonah, the ‘Invisible Man’.

I could see Johnny thinking for a second before saying, “Oh, YOU’RE Sarah Reynolds, the reporter from the Chicago Tribune! I’m sorry that I didn’t recognize you, you are much more beautiful than the pictures I saw on television. I’m sooo glad you could join us.”

That revelation seemed to make Sherman very nervous. “Lenny, you never told me you knew a reporter.” Sherman said with a sneer.

“My relationship with Lenny has been a closely guarded secret.” She smiled and winked at Dad, “I see our secret is out lover, just how much of our relationship am I allowed to tell now?”

“As long as you don’t reveal our ‘bedtime stories’, you can tell my friends here just about everything!”

Both Johnny and Sherman were looking at Dad with raised eyebrows.

Sarah went for the kill, “Oh Lenny, I guess I can only hope that you’ll engage me in a ‘bedtime story’ later tonight at the hotel! A girl can only hope that her Hero will take care of her, can’t she?”

Johnny had his hand over his mouth, but Sherman was looking at Dad with what I felt was extreme jealousy.

Without trying to sound too condescending Sherman asked, “Just how many of you ladies has my friend Lenny here entertained with ‘bedtime stories’ before?”

His eyes went wide when all the girls blushed before saying in unison, “We all have!”

Mary looked at Dad with a slight pout, “Lenny darling, I see you haven’t told our friends about the cruise we were all on. Tsk, tsk, tsk, maybe you’ll just have to invite them all on another one sometime? It might be fun to get to know all of them better. Maybe Joshua could even invite his wife Ann?”

Now all of the guys’ eyebrows were raised as Andre and Johnny were looking at Dad like he was some kind of a sex-god. Sherman’s jealousy became even more apparent when everyone but him began giggling and laughing.

Sherman then must’ve tried to get into Mary’s head.

Mary looked at him sternly saying, “Shermie, if you’d like to know something just ask. It’s not nice to go snooping around in a girl’s brain without asking. Just for that I’m going to shut you off.”

Greg had been ‘watching’ through my eyes and when Mary scrunched up her face he encapsulated her in his bubble. The resulting shock to Sherman’s mind probe being suddenly cut off sent him reeling backwards off of his chair.

The sudden commotion THAT caused, drew the attention of nearly every patron in the restaurant.

Johnny and Joshua, wanting to restore peace and tranquillity gently helped Sherman back to his seat. Joshua then whispered to him, “Please try and keep your ego in your pocket my friend. As you can see you’re not the only one here with amazing abilities.”

Having been put firmly in his place, I could tell he was looking at Mary in a whole new light. Almost reverently he said, “Please forgive me Mary. It seems I’ve underestimated you.”

I saw him thinking to himself when suddenly his eyes went wide. “So YOU’RE the one who was floating around in my head this afternoon! You’re very impressive young lady, no one’s EVER been able to sneak into my head before. I hope you’ll join us over at the lab tomorrow and maybe we can swap some secrets. Besides, it isn’t fair for Lenny to have all the fun.”

Mary patted him on the cheek, “If you promise to be a good boy maybe Lenny will allow you to share me with him.” She giggled then added, “having two guys just doubles the fun!”

Sherman was blushing furiously as the other guys were poking fun at him. I wasn’t sure if this was what Dad had planned, but the look on his face said he was enjoying every minute of it.

They all had dinner amicably, just making small talk. Sherman was on the quiet side and I noticed him looking around as secretively as he could.

Greg had the three of us encapsulated in his bubble, ensuring that Sherman couldn’t detect the three of our mental abilities. It seemed like he was trying to get into our heads as a look of extreme frustration came over his face.

Thankfully his embarrassment from earlier seemed to prevent him from trying to come over to our table, where he might have created an even bigger scene. It WOULD have created quite a scene when he stumbled into the invisible wall!