Chapter 20

Thursday evening, all hell broke loose. I was at home entertaining myself, as both the girls were out at some cheerleader thing. Victoria was in San Francisco (I think). I was dozing on the couch when my cell phone rang. My regular one, not the special one.

My cell phone never rings. It's just an ornament in my pocket. I fished it out, and saw on the caller ID that it was Victoria. I knew immediately that something was wrong and immediately answered it. Her voice was frantic, panicky even, and she sounded as though she was crying.

"Oh, thank God I got you! Oh, Patrick, I am so sorry! I love you and Amy so much, and I have screwed up so bad. I've lied to you so much, and now I am going to die and never see you two again!" She was openly sobbing now. "I want to see you again so badly, I love you two so much! And I can't, because they're coming to kill me and I can't stop them. I'm so sorry! Please forgive me and take good care of Amy and Katie!" She dissolved into sobs.

I was terrified. Victoria doesn't panic, and doesn't cry. I couldn't imagine what could be happening that she couldn't handle. I did two things at once. First, I screamed in my mind.

'KATIE! AMY!' If they were listening with their ears, they would have been deafened.

'Daddy?' Amy.

'What is it, Daddy?' Katie. Thank God! I wasn't sure this would work.

Meanwhile, I was trying to talk to Victoria.

"Victoria, tell me what's the matter? Where are you, honey?"

"Oh, God! I ... I'm locked in an abandoned warehouse. I can't get out, and they're going to burn it down around me. Oh, God, I love you so much! I wanted for so long to die when I was younger, but now I have you, Amy and Katie, and I don't want to die anymore! Now I'm going to die because I'm stupid! I'm so sorry! They've hurt me so bad, done so much to me, and now they are going to kill me! Tell Amy I'm sorry!

'Katie! Can you hook up with Victoria? She's in trouble!' I yelled in my mind.

'Already got her, sir. What do you need? All you have to do is ask, sir.'

'Can you tell where she is?'

'635 Wharf Street, San Francisco, sir. She's in an abandoned warehouse. The warehouse is filled with gas fumes and gas is soaked everywhere. They have done really bad things to her, ' Katie responded sadly.

I wondered what was going on with the 'sir' stuff, but I would worry about it later.

Meanwhile, I was trying to calm Victoria down. She was full blown hysterical. Something was seriously wrong to get her like this.

"Victoria, honey, calm down for me, ok? Is anyone there with you now? Exactly where are you?" I tried to sound calm and reassuring, even though I was dying inside.

"I'm locked in a room in the warehouse. There's gas everywhere. They said they were coming back to burn me alive. Please don't let Amy know how I died!" she begged. "Oh, God, I don't deserve to live with what I've done!"

I was talking to the girls in my mind at the same time.

'Katie. I don't have time for the phones. Can you hook into Captain Jensen's mind?'

'I don't know him. I have no frame of reference to find him, sir," Katie replied.

'I know him!' Amy yelled. 'Katie, hook me in to him. Your connections are stronger. Daddy, you take care of Mommy. I'll handle this.'

'I have to let you know what instructions to give him, Amy, ' I reminded her.

'If I need your help, I'll holler, ' she assured me.

Meanwhile, I had to calm Victoria down. I decided to try shock treatment.

"VICKIE! CALM DOWN AND LISTEN TO ME!"

Miraculously, it worked. She was quiet for a second, and then said calmly, with only a trace of hysteria in her voice, "Ok, talk to me."

"Sweetheart, I'm going to get the police there, just hang on."

"It's too late," she half sobbed. "I'm going to die!"

"Ok, so you're going to die. I don't want my last conversation with you to be this way. Tell me how much you love Amy. Tell me how much you love me. What do you want to do tonight? Tell me what you have always wanted to do that we haven't done yet. Talk to me, sweetheart." It worked! She began to calmly talk to me.

'Daddy! I have Captain Jensen. You can hear both of us, but he will not be able to hear you, ' Amy notified me.

'Captain Jensen, sir. This is Amy Phillips. This is an emergency. Victoria is in critical trouble. Please do not waste time asking me how I am talking to you. I am in contact with my Dad. Do I need to give you authorization codes, sir?'

'No, Amy. Tell me what you need.' Apparently, he remembered her.

'Ok, Amy, tell him... 'I stopped and listened as I heard Amy begin to talk to Captain Jensen without even waiting for my instructions.

'Sir, I need you to scramble Angels 1 and Angels 2 immediately with full air-to-air capability. Twenty miles north and south of 635 Wharf Street, at 10,000 feet.' I heard her talk on the side to Katie. 'Katie, the airlines! Take down the air traffic control computers. Ground everything. All flights already in the air reroute to Los Angeles immediately! Send the reroute commands directly to their onboard computers. It's faster that way. We'll clean up the mess later. Get them out of there! Clear out at least 20 miles in all directions!' Then she continued with Captain Jensen. 'Scramble Extraction 1 and Support 1 immediately to that address. Be advised that there are massive explosive fumes and liquids in the area. Use no flash weapons only. Get Angels 3 up as soon as possible with a full load of air-to-surface missiles. Scramble Firebird 1 and Firebird 2 for close in support to the same location. Nothing except Victoria Phillips and your men come out of that warehouse alive, sir. As soon as she is out of the area, I want that warehouse to be a hole in the ground. You have less than five minutes to extract her.' I heard Katie give her an airlines report. 'As of now, Captain, you have total control of the skies over San Francisco. If anything approaches closer than 10 miles to that warehouse, shoot it down. You have authorization for all weapons short of nuclear. Do you need me to shut up so you can get all this done, sir?' I listened to her, stunned. How did she know all of this?

Captain Jensen chuckled. 'No, Amy, all those units except Angels 3 were already scrambled. When our tail on Victoria lost contact, we scrambled them as a precaution. Extraction 1 is less than two minutes from the building now. We'll have her in a few minutes.'

As all this was going on, I was continuing to keep Victoria occupied. She was calm now, probably because she knew she was going to die.

"Victoria, the police will be there in five minutes or less. Can you hold out that long, sweetheart?" I was so scared for her.

"I'll try, Patrick. The fumes are getting really bad. They will be back any minute. Once they light this building, there will be no chance. I'm sorry, Patrick. I wanted to grow old with you. Oh, shit. Someone is here! Goodbye, sweetheart, I love you." I listened in shock as her cell phone went dead. There was just silence. I sat there stunned. My mind couldn't even grasp the concept of losing Victoria. I understood perfectly Amy's wail now when she knew Cindi was dead. "Oh god, Daddy, what am I going to do now?" Then I heard Captain Jensen.

'We have her, Amy. She's alive. She has some injuries, and I don't know all they've done to her, but she'll live. Tell your Dad.'

I don't know if he said anything else or not. Between Amy and Katie's screaming for joy in my head, and my own dizziness, I couldn't hear. Then he continued.

'Amy, the warehouse is gone. It's a spectacular fire. We're moving out of the area before the police show up. We killed ten of the enemy, and captured one alive. I thought that maybe Patrick might want to say hi to him. Where do you want him and Victoria?' I finally found my 'voice'.

'Amy, have him get Victoria here on the fastest jet he can get. I want a fully armed fighter escort for her jet. I want her here yesterday. Get that scumbag here on a different jet, fast, well guarded. I do indeed want to pay him my respects.'

Amy passed that on. Then I heard her final conversation with Captain Jensen.

'It was a pleasure talking to you again, sir. Please accept my apology for my behavior last time we talked. You are a good man, Paul.'

He laughed. 'I would be delighted to work with you anytime, sweetheart. You are a delightful young lady. Don't you think Paul is a little informal, though?' he teased her.

'Normally, yes, I would. But in this case, no, since I know who you really are.' Amy giggled.

There was a long silence.

'Let's just save that conversation for another time, shall we, young lady, ' he stated sternly.

'Yes, sir! Anything you say, sir!' I could picture Amy saluting to him. I heard him chuckle. I smiled. Smart-ass teenager genius. How I loved them!

By this time, Amy and Katie were walking in the door. They had arranged for Rebecca's mother to bring them home. They ran up to me and hugged me fiercely. I couldn't tell which one of them was crying, but my shirt was wet. Hell, it could have been me.

I don't know what Captain Jensen got for a plane, but Victoria arrived 70 minutes later at our house, in a fully equipped ambulance, with an entire medical crew taking care of her. We set them up in our bedroom. Victoria was unconscious. I went out to talk to the doctors.

"How is she?" I asked.

"Patrick Phillips? I am so delighted to finally meet you, sir. She will live. She has some relatively minor internal injuries, and a few bruises and scrapes. Two broken ribs. Some minor temporary lung problems from the fumes. I have her sedated right now to give her a chance to rest and heal. Frankly, sir, I am more concerned with her mental condition. She ... well, sir, it seems she was used rather extensively ... shall we say sexually?" I closed my eyes for a second. Amy was standing next to me. When I opened them again, I saw her face had turned white. Then I saw her eyes. Flat, devoid of expression, empty. She looked into my eyes, and nodded slightly. I'm sure mine looked the same. Amy turned to Captain Jensen.

"Where is our guest?" she asked sweetly. Captain Jensen led her to the room where he was being held, as I followed. She turned to me.

"Let me try interrogating him first, sir. Sometimes a pretty girl with a soft touch can get much further than a man." I should have been suspicious, with the eyes and calling me sir, but I was worried about Victoria, disgusted with what they may have done, and frankly didn't care what happened to him as long as I got the information I needed.

Amy walked towards the suspect, smiling sweetly. I wondered what a soft touch entailed. Then I found out. As she was looking at me, smiling and talking, she suddenly moved faster than I had ever seen anybody move. Faster than Victoria at the Fair. Before anyone could react, she reached out and took Captain Jensen's gun out of his holster. She nonchalantly pulled back the slide, cocked the hammer, and took off the safety all in one smooth motion. Without even looking at the man in the chair, looking at me and talking to me, she fired two shots almost simultaneously. I heard the prisoner scream, and he grabbed both of his knees. Before he could fall to the floor, she moved smoothly to his side. My little 108 lb Amy then picked him up out of the chair by the front of his shirt, held him about a foot off the ground, and slammed him against the wall, hard, holding him there. She held the gun under his chin and smiled sweetly at him again.

"You have ten seconds to start talking about what happened today. After that, I am going to turn you over to that man over there." She gestured at me. "He's not nice like I am. He's mean." She leaned forward and smiled encouragingly at him. "And I don't think he likes you very much," she whispered in his ear.

She was right. The soft touch from a pretty girl indeed worked very well. He started talking immediately. Amy dropped him to the floor and fired a shot into the wall, nicking his ear, and then looked at him, encouraging him to go on. He could hardly get the words out fast enough. We had names, addresses, locations of the main people responsible. He was even able to provide us with floor plan layouts and the number of guards. I left the room when he started to talk about what had happened with Victoria. I felt sick. I didn't want to know. The girls could fill me in on anything I needed to know. Then I saw Katie run out of the room, sobbing, face green, and heard her throwing up in the bathroom. I went in and held her head, stroking her hair as she dissolved into a puddle of sobs.

While he was talking, Amy walked over to Captain Jensen and handed his gun back. She smiled prettily and said 'thank you'. He stared down at the gun as if he thought it would bite him. He looked up at her with unabashed admiration, and maybe a little fear.

Later, we all gathered in the living room. Everyone was introduced to each other. It seems the doctor was so glad to meet me because he worked for me. When I introduced Amy to Captain Jensen, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him an affectionate kiss. He didn't seem displeased.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Be careful, though, you could give an old man a heart attack." Her merry giggle lightened the mood considerably. "Kind of intimate for an old Captain you've never met before, though, isn't it?"

"For an old captain, yes. But not for you." She whispered the next word so that only he and I could hear. "Grandfather."

He looked at her in shock. Then he looked at me. I was just as shocked.

"Don't look at me! I didn't tell her!" I protested. Amy laughed at us. Between her and Katie, I didn't know which way was up anymore. I had a feeling these two cute little girls were much more than we ever suspected; I was almost afraid to find out what they could really do. Little did I know I would find out sooner than I thought. I also suspected they knew much more about what was going on than they let on.

I had a private conference with Captain Jensen about what support I would need. Well, as private as it could be. Amy and Katie just followed me into the room and refused to leave. I needed to have a talk with them. 'Me Dad, you bratty teenage daughter, I make decisions, you obey'. Yeah. Right. I told him to order a fast jet for tomorrow morning to take me to San Francisco. Amy said to make sure it would carry two. It took me a few seconds to realize what she was saying.

"You are not going, young lady!" I snapped. I was scared and mad.

"Cut the crap, Dad. You need me, and I can take care of myself. If I were you, I'd also talk to Captain Jensen about how well calling me young lady works!"

"Amy! You are a 13-year-old girl. A very unusual one, but still, I'm not taking you into a situation like this." When did I lose control over this little ... whatever she was? That was unfair. She was Amy, my precious little daughter.

"Oh, Daddy. Do you really think you can stop me? You can either enjoy my company on the trip there, or I will just have Katie ground your plane and I will beat you there and do it all myself." I looked across at Katie; she looked guilty, then giggled and nodded her head. "But, tell you what. Let's make it fair. Hand to hand combat or target practice at a range. If you can beat me at either one, I won't go."

My way out. I tend to downplay my abilities. It is wise when you are supposed to be a medical professional. The truth is, I am one of the best in the world at both hand to hand combat and shooting a gun. There was no way little Amy could beat me at either one of those. Although, her performance with the gun in the prisoner room was impressive. Katie interrupted in my mind before I could embarrass myself.

'It's a sucker bet, Daddy. Might as well let her go. If anyone could beat her, it would be you. But you'll lose. It will be close, but you will lose.' I was offended.

'You don't know what I can do, Little One, ' I said. I tried to keep my hurt feelings out of my thoughts. She noticed it though, and smiled apologetically.

'I'm sorry, Daddy. Don't be offended. Actually, I know exactly what you can do, and exactly how good you are at it. But you don't know what she can do. I do. I've seen her in action. Trust me. Besides, you really do need her for this.'

'Do you know what it would do to Victoria and me if she gets hurt?' I pleaded my case.

'Do you know what it would do to Victoria, Amy, and me if you get killed?' she countered. 'You said you trusted me with your life. Trust me now. Let her go. Do you want me to completely destroy your ego and show you in your mind what she can do?'

'It would help if I knew I didn't have to worry about her being able to take care of herself."

Katie sighed. 'One of these days you are going to learn just to take my word. Remember, you asked for it.' I watched two 'videos' run through my mind.

'Katie, can I see that again? I can't have seen that right.' I was startled. No one could do that!

'You saw it right. Here you go again.' She snickered at me as I watched it again. 'Look any different this time? Sorry, Daddy, I shouldn't tease you. It was just as hard for me to see the first time. I didn't show you the really interesting one. You've had enough shocks for the day.'

'Ok, she can go. But we're going to sit down and have a long talk when I get back. I am going to get some answers, or you two are going to have some really sore little butts!' I suddenly thought of something. 'Did Amy see what you just showed me?'

'Oooh! Do we get a vote as to which one? Answers or spankings?' she giggled. 'No, Dad. Amy knows nothing about what I just showed you. She has no memory of it. We should keep it that way. At least as long as we can. She deserves to be a normal little girl.' I turned back to Amy.

"Ok, Amy, Katie has convinced me that you are going." Amy smiled gratefully at Katie. I could see it in her eyes — 'thank you, I didn't want to have to hurt him'. "But you get yourself killed and I will never talk to you again!"

We talked about exactly what was going to happen. Amy wanted to make sure I knew where she was coming from on this.

"Dad, as far as I am concerned, this is the same as someone messing with Mommy's babies. I am going in there to kill them. Period. If that is a problem with you, tell me now so we can work something out. We won't have time to discuss this when things start happening." I felt like crying. My poor little baby. I couldn't forget those 'videos' I had seen in my mind. And Katie said she didn't show me the worst one. What had they done to my little girl? When this was all over, that issue was going to be addressed too. Right now, I was glad she was the way she was — I was going to need her.

"Amy, we're on the same page. The only conflict we're going to have is who gets to kill more of them."

I was very cold and clinical about this. They had fucked with Victoria, maybe literally as well as figuratively. They would die. The best they could hope for was a quick death. Depending on what shape Victoria was in when she woke up, they might not get that.

I arranged with Captain Jensen for everything we would need on sight. We were going in hot and the only thing that would be left would be a smoking hole. He would take care of notifying the various authorities that something would be happening in the area and to stay out of the way. He finally convinced me to let him have a support group nearby on standby in case we ran into big trouble. I let him only because, as I remembered again those 'videos' in my mind, I knew we would never need them. This was personal; we would do it ourselves.

Just before we were ready to go to bed, Katie came in. She was disheveled and looked really bad. She looked like she had a bad headache. Both Amy and I went to her, and sat her down on the couch between us.

"Katie! What's wrong, Little One?" I was shocked at how she looked.

"I don't know. I have an awful headache. I have so much interference in my mind. I think someone or something is trying to contact me. I can't think." She sounded desperate. "I can't block them."

We hugged her. Amy tried to patch in with her to try to help block them, but it didn't help. I decided to try something to help. I had no idea what I was doing. I blanked my mind, then thought of Katie as hard as I could. I blocked everything else out. I felt her confusion, her pain, her distraction. Then I saw some orange tendrils flowing in from the side. When I focused on them, I heard static, confusion. I somehow knew this was what was causing her problem. I also somehow knew it was not trying to hurt her. It was as if the tendrils were lost, looking for the right place to go. But I had to stop it. I focused on it as hard as I could, then commanded "STOP" as 'loud' as I could. I could sense surprise; it was startled. Then, I swear, the tendrils formed into the shape of words. It spelled out "yes sir." This was too freaky for words. The tendrils turned a softer orange, and just swirled around, still in her mind, but not focusing anymore.

Katie visibly relaxed and started to look better immediately. Both Amy and Katie looked at me in amazement.

"It went away! What did you do?" they asked in unison. They both were staring at me.

"I don't know. Did it work?" I had no idea what I was doing, but Katie looked better.

"I think so. It's still there, but it's behaving. I feel I should know what this is, but I can't place it." Katie seemed truly puzzled. Then she bit her lower lip. I knew what that meant. Confession time.

"Daddy, I think we had better have that talk now, before you go. I have a really bad feeling about this. Something is wrong, terribly wrong. There's something I've missed, or that I'm not seeing. It doesn't add up; it doesn't make sense. I can't send you out there without you knowing everything I know." She turned to Amy, tears in her eyes.

"Amy, you know I love you more than I can tell you, don't you?" She seemed really concerned. Amy nodded. "Do you trust me, Amy? Really, really trust me?" Amy looked concerned, but nodded her head again. "I'm so sorry, Amy, but you cannot hear what I have to say to Patrick." Patrick, not Daddy. This was going to be serious. Especially to cut Amy out. "Please, Amy, please, don't be mad at me. Don't hate me. You know I don't keep secrets from you. But you can't know this. Not yet. Please?" She was crying now.

Amy is such a sweetheart. She will do anything, especially for Katie. I know it cost her dearly, being a genius and as curious as she is, but she smiled tenderly at Katie.

"It's ok. If you say it's necessary, I believe you. You've saved my life, Katie. At least I can give you this. Mmm, why don't I ever get to save someone's life? I seem to always be the one that needs saving!" She smiled teasingly. "As long as you're not pulling another scam on me, like when you blocked me from your mind while I was asleep when you were seducing my Daddy in the basement!" She smiled to show her she was not really mad. Katie blushed and gasped. I gulped.

"You two think you are so smart, don't you? What really hurts is that you would think I would be fooled by such an amateur ploy." She laughed to show us she really wasn't offended.

"You knew?" Katie whispered. "Amy, I am so sorry!" Amy grinned at her. She always gets you back! Katie turned to me.

"In five minutes, an icon will appear on your computer desktop. It will remain there for one hour, and then will disappear forever. As soon as you open it, the icon will disappear forever. The file can only be opened once. Once it is opened, it will remain for one hour. Then it will disappear forever. It cannot be recovered. If anyone else but you tries to open it, it will disappear forever. If anyone is in the room with you when you open it, it will disappear forever. When you click on the icon, a password will appear in your mind. Type it in. That password will never work again. Do not type it in wrong. Are you getting the impression that I want only you to read this file?" She giggled, then she turned serious again. "Please, Daddy, please, keep loving us after you read it. Please? Remember, we want nothing more than to be your little girls. Remember that Victoria loves you so much it hurts. We didn't ask for this. Remember, tell no one what you read. I shouldn't even be sharing this with you. I have no idea what ramifications this might have. But I am afraid of what is out there, and I can't let you go without knowing about all of us."

"Are you sure I don't need this information to be prepared too?" Amy asked. Katie smiled at her.

"Nice try, Amy. The last thing I am concerned about is you being prepared."

I kissed the two girls, and went into my office. It was exactly as Katie said it would be. I opened the file, and started to read.

Katie's File:

My name is Katie Thompson. I am 13 years old. I, like Amy and Victoria (Mommy) ran across this file while Patrick (Daddy) was unconscious. I didn't write in it then, as I figured two was enough. Besides, they were being computer pigs! However, Daddy is out of town for a few days at a medical conference, so I have access to this now. No, they did not leave us here alone. We are staying at Rebecca's house, three doors down, but we have access to the house. Although I consider myself a good, moral and trustworthy person, I guess I must be a little lower in moral fiber than Amy and Victoria, because, unlike Amy and Victoria, I could not resist reading this file. And their additions. I did, however, tell Daddy that I had read it when I talked to him on the phone yesterday. He laughed and said he wondered who would find it and read it first. He had already seen the stuff Amy and Victoria had written. It seems that Victoria was planning to erase much of her writings, but she must have forgotten.

I have Daddy's permission to write this account of our family. It was necessary to get his permission because of some of the things that will be revealed here that pertain to all the members of my family (you don't know how good that feels to say — my family!). We had a big long fight about this. I think this story has to be written in case anything happens to us. Daddy thinks it is dangerous, and he also just hates to be the object of attention, as he will be in this story. He doesn't know what is in here until he reads it; he just knows enough to know he is not going to like it. We compromised; I am writing the story, but it will be password encrypted with a code that is unbreakable. The code to open that encryption is buried in the minds of Patrick, Amy and Victoria. They do not know it is there. I will explain as we go along how I can do that.

The code will become available to their memory at any time that any one of them is the only surviving member left of our family. I have access to the code at all times, and can change it at will. That change will automatically update to everyone's mind. There are safeguards in my mind that will deactivate the current code, change it to another code, and transfer that code to Patrick's mind and erase it from my mind if a serious attempt that I can't handle is made to access it in my mind by anyone other than me. Patrick can also change the code, but he doesn't know that. Under certain conditions, this knowledge will become available to him. So, if you reading this file it means a) I am dead (that will really ruin my day!), b) I am captured and incommunicado, or c) I have released it or transferred it to Patrick's mind for some reason. I really hope it is c).

I guess I have your attention now! Let me begin again.

My name is Katie Marie Thompson. I am 13 years old. I am 5' nothing, 90 lbs, long blond hair, and eyes that used to be blue but now are blue with yellow flecks in them. Let me say right off the bat, as I am sure you are wondering; I do not know what Amy, Victoria, Patrick, Cindi, Becky or I am (or were, in Becky and Cindi's case). I do not think we are aliens (I hope not; I want to be human), but I do not know that for sure. I think we are, shall I say, governmentally manipulated humans. I have some reasons for believing that which I will share as I go along. I cannot prove it, however.

I also want to reiterate that I am a normal 13-year-old kid. I am going to tell you many things here that will make it seem like I am much older, that I know what is going to happen, that I know why things happen. Some of that is true. But, I giggle like all teenagers, I panic when my Daddy is hurt. I cry every night in my bed because I miss my twin sister Becky. At least two nights a week, Amy crawls into bed with me and I hold her as she cries about missing Cindi. And I cry with her. Do you know what it does to you to watch and listen to someone who never cries, one of the toughest, strongest people you know, as they cry? I know Cindi had to die, but I still cry for her. I still wish she had not. I would still give up my life to bring her back. I am still a mixed up kid, even though part of me knows things no one else knows.

If you have read Patrick's file, you know most of my story. My lousy family life. My father raping me for six months when I was 11 years old. How he raped Becky. Her death in the fire. My guilt in deserting her and my responsibility for her death. Cindi's death. My connection mentally with Amy. My love for Patrick and our relationship. It is all there. Read it if you haven't already. It tells everything about me. Everything worth knowing. Which isn't much. I wish I were as interesting as Amy is or Cindi was.