Chapter 16

1900, Saturday, June 10, 1995

I went into the room I’d set up as my meditation room. I was so pissed off that I couldn’t even go to level at first. Finally, I found my nowhere place and my nowhen time. The first image I got was of the two oversized mountain lions that had hauled the first pair of killers off into the desert.

The lions looked at me, with piercing deep blue eyes. They didn’t break away. I looked (mentally, of course) back. When I had formulated a plan, they were gone.

I tapped into Abel Fortin’s mind. He was in the back of a limo, being driven back from a local Chamber of Commerce dinner, with his wife. He was enjoying a cigar. His wife had cracked the window of the car, to get the smelly fumes out of the limo faster. He was reviewing the day. Overall, it was a satisfying day. He’d snuffed out the meaningless threat from that little Indian bitch. The two agents he’d activated hadn’t called back with any problems, so the job was done.

And he was looking forward to one of his nightly pleasures: his daughter, seventeen-year-old Devon, was gonna be coming back from a date. Like always, she’d take a shower and go back to her room. She’d be naked, preparing for bed. He could see the tableau; it would be like the last time he watched on the camera that was trained on her bed. She would reach to the left, and her little boobies would be stretched. In the bedside table, she’d extract the lipstick-sized vibrator. It would be flipped on, and she would apply it to her pink clit. She’d moan and moan as the little buzzer did its work.

He took a couple of puffs on his cigar. Sometimes, Dr. Freud, he thought, a cigar is NOT just a cigar. He was looking forward to beating off while his daughter rubbed one out on her bed. And then he’d go through his favorite online porn sites, before going to bed.

A jolly evening.

I waited and watched as his evening progressed. He finally got himself settled in his office, when I spoke to him. ’Good evening, Abel.’

’Check. Stand up. Walk.’ I made him stand, by activating his muscles.

’What the fuck!’

’You have to do what I tell you to do. Now go into your bedroom and place your hand on your wife’s throat, feel where there should be a pulse.’ He finally believed me, and walked on his own to the bedroom. I’d never have been able to walk him to the bedroom, without having him fall over.

When we got there, he felt her throat. ’There’s no pulse! You killed her.’

’Now go check on Devon. She’s dead, too. I told you what I would do. I said I would kill all your family.’ By the time he went to Devon’s suite, the water was running in the shower. ’Go ahead, open the bathroom door. She won’t mind.’ Devon was on the toilet, nude, and slumped forward in an awkward position.

’You bitch. She’s only a kid. And now she’s dead.’

’How dead would you have made my twins? They are eight. Notice I said “ARE?” That’s because they are still alive ... Just for fun, I killed the baby that was in her uterus. She was pregnant, with your grandson ... Oh well, that’s the price you pay for trying to kill me and mine ... Let’s go back to your office.’

He stood there, in the bathroom, for a long time. And then went back to his office.

’Are we having a good evening, Abel? Just to round out the tour of special people in your life, your work wife, the alluring Ms Melrose. I thought it would be fun to tap into her brain, just this once: (in Melrose’s voice, he heard) “Oh, yes. Fuck me. Fuck me. FUCK ME! ... God Jose! You twice the man that Fortin is. That slob of a man actually wanted me to blow him, today. I had to. But he only had such a tiny needle-dick that...” I think that’s enough of that, don’t you.’

’You sure? I would enjoy so many, many hours of actual torture.’ I cut off his ability to breathe, and made his tongue go back into his throat. It was like he was strangling himself. He lurched forward trying to take just one more breath. When he almost passed out, I released everything, and let him breathe.

’See, Able. I can control everything in your body. How about a pain in your left arm? See how it can get worse? ... and then even worse? ... and then travel down to your cock? What about a terrible pain in your nuts?

’Isn’t that worse than taking a look at your little Devon, one more time, when she was alive, with that vibrator humming in her pussy? Good move, hiding the name of the file – Devon = NOVED. It took her ten seconds to find it last month when she was looking at your computer. Yeah, she found it. And she found the record of the file you had with the little Filipino girl and her Rottweiler. You paid $500 for it, remember? You had so much fun beating off to that, remember? I can access your memories, too, Abel. Here’s one of your sessions.’ I replayed that memory.

‘Devon didn’t have as much fun. She vomited into your trash can.

’Now, call up the NOVED file, and take out the .45, Abel. Or do you want me to rummage around in your sick little brain. There must be SO many enjoyable memories. What you did to that young boy in boarding school. Or how you got... ‘