Chapter 19

I hadn’t bothered to set up the coffeepot this time. Shezzie woke me with a comm anyway; I guess she knew when I usually got up. <T, it’s Shezzie.>

<Good morning, Shezzie. Give me a second ... I’ll call you right back, OK?>

Two minutes later I commed her. <Good morning again! I needed to hit the bathroom. I guess I overslept a bit.>

<I just wanted to bring you up to date on what I’ve been doing. I’m at the cabin in Jemez Springs, and I’ve been buying some things online. I should start receiving stuff within a day or two, and then we’ll need to get together. I’ll need Ray too for what I have in mind.>

<OK, I’ll let him know. I have some things to tell you too. You know about Ray and his girlfriend Ana Maria, right? Anyway, she’s gone back to Mexico to try to see if she can work through the problems with her family. After that, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her around Ray a lot of the time.

<I’m not surprised!>

<Anyway, I spent most of yesterday snooping around the gangs in El Paso, trying to sense their thoughts. We knew some of them worked with the ones in Juarez, or at least that’s what the newspaper said, so I thought it might be worth checking them out. I finally found a gang that I think was involved in Marisela’s murder. They go by the name BCN and they’re located in an apartment in south El Paso, just a little north of Ascarate Park. Anyway, two of them were on their way to Juarez so Ray and I went over to follow them. But they got into a car and we lost them; I guess we hadn’t thought far enough ahead. We were on foot. They had taken the bus downtown, so I figured they’d be walking. They did cross the bridge on foot, but then they got into a car and there was no way we could follow. I’ll be comming Ray after I finish here, because I think it’s time we let this particular gang know that their activities are known and that they aren’t anonymous anymore. Or safe. There need to be consequences to what they’ve been doing.>

<Ray’s going with you? Is he strong enough to help? If you want to wait, I could drive down to El Paso.>

<No, I think Ray will be enough. He’s an experienced soldier, and even though he worked in an office during his last assignment he’s been around. All of us picked up training, just from being on active duty, so Ray is no rookie. Maybe he’s not strong yet, not as strong as I am anyway, but he’ll know when force is needed. If nothing else, he has his bubble to protect him. That works reliably for him now.>

<I’m sorry I overreacted when you taught him about the bubble. We had a nice dinner, and then that business on the mountain just struck me wrong.>

<I could have done more to explain it, and I should have. I guess I didn’t realize the effect it would have on the two of you.>

<I’ve missed you, T.>

<Me, too, Shezz. After this is over, maybe we could take a vacation, just the two of us? I don’t care where, national parks or Vegas, or maybe out to San Francisco? What do you think?>

<I’d like that. We can talk more when I see you.>

We said our goodbyes and I commed Ray. I was feeling much better; the feeling of being alone again had weighed on me more than I wanted to admit. I hated feeling that we might be drifting apart!

<Ray, it’s T.>

<Morning, T. Hey, have you seen the morning paper?>

<No. I just woke up. I was comming with Shezzie.>

<OK. What’s she been doing?>

<Shopping, I guess. I think we’ll take some time off for ourselves after we finish working on Ana Maria’s problem, or maybe it would be better to call it the problem that her family is having.>

<Well, they’ve got fewer problems than they had. Those guys we followed last night? I think it’s the same ones, and if it is they ran into something they didn’t expect.>

<Like what, Ray? What are you talking about?>

<Like they’re dead, that’s what I’m talking about! It appears they were meeting with some big guy in one of the gangs, probably for a payoff according to the newspaper. When I read about it, I wondered if you had gone back across after we split up.>

<Not me! I just came back to the apartment and ate supper. The only run I made to the border was picking up a burrito from Taco Bell.>

<According to the paper, > Ray sent, <whatever they ran into sounded like an IED, except that there were no explosion burns and no residue. But the bodies were just ripped apart. I mean, literally ripped apart. There was a photo in the newspaper, but parts of it were blanked out. I could see what looked like blood spattered everywhere, though. Someone, or some thing, must have hated those three, because it really did a number on them! The paper tried to be less graphic, but ‘dismembered’ only has one meaning as far as I’m concerned. The paper also mentioned that it didn’t look like the wounds were made by a knife or anything like that, not like they were done by anything with a blade.>

<Maybe they ran into one of those chupacabras, huh?> I joked. Not sure what a chupacabra really is, maybe just the Mexican version of the booger-man that parents use to scare kids!

<Yeah, right. Uh ... T, I hate to ask this, but where was Shezzie last night?>

<She didn’t do this, Ray. She’s been up at the cabin in Jemez Springs, spending money via the internet. And she just doesn’t have the temperament, even if she had the strength. Now that I think about it, I don’t think she has that much strength; she’s got the bubble, but that’s about it as far as her PK Talent goes.>

<OK. Well, you called me. What’s up?>

<I think we should do something to discourage those gangers. The two we followed may be dead if that report you told me about is correct, but the rest are probably holed up and laying low while they figure out what happened. I know where they hang out, so I’m going down there and depending on what I find, do a sneak-and-peek recon. If the chance presents itself, I might also do a little physical reasoning with them. Maybe I can convince them they should find a different line of work, something that doesn’t involve murdering and mutilating girls for money! Doing it because some cartelista wants it done and doesn’t want to get his own hands dirty!>

<I’m down with that! I think I can contribute something too; I’ve been practicing whenever I had a few minutes alone, and I’ve got more strength now and a lot more control. Even the headaches haven’t come back.>

<That’s great! If my own experience is a guide, it means you’ve passed a plateau and can keep on improving. It took me a long time to reach that level and pass beyond it. You’re improving fast!>

<Maybe it’s because we had such a tight link when we joined together in that meld; did you ever have anything like that happen to you when you were in the School?>

<No, never. We just didn’t do anything like that, and none of us got ever got close to anyone else in the program. I don’t think anyone even knew it could be done. Shezzie and me—that’s the first time I ever heard of it happening, that close mind-melding—and that happened by accident. Then you, and we didn’t mean for that meld to happen then either. So far, they’ve all been surprises. We failed when we tried to meld with Surfer, so maybe we don’t yet have a handle on it. Anyway, where do you want to meet?>

<How about I pick you up? You were driving your truck yesterday, so someone might have noticed it. They might recognize you or be looking for your truck, but they won’t recognize my Volvo.>

<OK. I’ll pick up breakfast and wait here.>

<Make it two breakfasts. I’ll leave a note for Ana Maria, in case she comes back while I’m gone. She’s got the spare key, anyway.>

<Spare key, eh?>

<Well, she might need a place to stay if her family’s still being shirty, so I told her she could stay here.>

<Absolutely, Ray. I’m sure she needs a friend like you.>

He sounded defensive, I sounded mildly sarcastic. We broke the comm, I got cleaned up and headed out for two breakfast sandwiches and two of Mickey D’s large coffees. I guess that’s how they stay in business. It’s not that the food is so tasty, it’s just that people are often too busy to take time for a better meal.

Ray came in, we ate, and then sketched plans. We would just go down, park near the apartment, then maybe walk around and see if we could pick up more information. For all I knew, the gangers might have found religion overnight!

We could look around where I’d picked up their thoughts, then decide what to do. There was no longer any doubt in my mind. Finding the same two crossing the border was all the confirmation I needed. This was indeed the gang that had murdered Ana Maria’s sister.

We followed the same route I’d taken the previous afternoon. I passed directions to Ray and he circled the block where I’d located the gang. <Ray, can you sense anything?>

<Nothing, T. You’re sure this is the place?>

<Oh, yeah. They’re there, some of them, but not as many as I sensed yesterday. That might be because two, or at least what’s left of them, are in a morgue somewhere in Juarez! Want to get out and walk around, maybe work in closer? We could probably sense more thoughts if we did.>

<Sure, let’s do it.>

Ray parked the Volvo, we got out, and he engaged the locks. This also set the alarm, not a bad idea in this neighborhood. We saw nothing of interest, so we headed west along the sidewalk. I could sense the gang, but Ray still wasn’t picking anything up. Well, his telepathy might still be weak, and for that matter he might be a natural psychokinetic without much TP Talent at all. Time would tell.

We walked, not fast and not slow, to the end of the block, turned right, and kept going. We made another right turn and found ourselves behind the apartment. I located the gang in the westernmost apartment of a single-floor duplex. Shoddy construction, I thought, but then landlords don’t spend much money on apartments in this part of town! We made another right turn and headed back to where we’d started, and found that things had changed.

Three guys were by the Volvo. One was apparently trying to pick the door lock, but not having much success; there’s only one exterior key slot and it’s on the driver’s side, so he was working while standing in the street. Two others were on the sidewalk, one ahead of the car and one behind, acting as lookouts. Ray was all for charging ahead, but I just sent, <Wait.>