Chapter 14: Found

The school year spun by in a blur. Except for the nights Melody spent at home because her mother wasn't working she slept at our house. So did Jason. Most days I woke up snuggling with Melody and shortly after, she and Jason would switch rooms. We would all get dressed and have breakfast with the folks.

I found a private detective who had connections back home. After a little 'persuasion' he was willing to work for me. Once a month I would show up at his office, collect a report on how Maria and the boys were doing and pay him cash in advance for next month's report.

The boys were doing well. Craig was interning with a good engineering firm with good job prospects for after graduation. He had set a date to be married to what sounded like a wonderful girl and it tugged at my heartstrings that I would miss it.

Tim was pulling a 4.0 but hadn't decided on a major yet. No big deal, he had another year at least before he would really have to worry about that.

Maria was dating. She was seeing a guy I knew. He was the brother-in-law to one of her friends. A real nice guy, though the last time I had talked to him he had been going through a messy divorce brought about by his ex-wife's infidelity (it wasn't me - I swear). It hurt a bit, reading about that, but I was glad for her at the same time. Like I said, he was a good guy and would treat her right.

I had no more problems with any football players and I even wound up on pretty friendly terms with Kevin (the guy who apologized to me on that first day.) April hooked us up with three other girls. One, while sexy and pleasant enough hadn't worked out real well but that left us with April, Theresa, Miriam and Jackie.

Miriam was a slim blonde hottie with short hair and smallish titties. Jackie was a beautiful brunette with 'D' cup tits and a very adventurous spirit.

Miriam was a gymnast like April but not quite as well built. Her face had a Meryl Streep quality to it. She was limber, playful, had a rock hard ass and a tasty, tight, talented pussy.

Jackie had known April through some other lesbian friends. Thick wavy brown hair fell to mid waist. She had a classic hourglass figure, which included those nice big tits, flat, toned stomach and a beautiful hip/ass combination. She was a freshman in college and always brought along her copy of the Kama Sutra. Very entertaining.

At least once a week we would get together with one of the other girls. We enjoyed all of them and they had a good time (they came back for more anyway). But, April was always our favorite. Besides her talent, she shared a bond with Melody and I that went beyond sexual. She even showed up a few times on nights we were with one of the other girls. All welcomed her and those were nights to remember. Let me tell you, that having Melody, April and Theresa in bed is an experience that I will remember no matter how many lives I live. They probably heard it a block away.

But in the end it was always Melody and I. Sex for fun was fantastic. But making love with Melody took me to another world. Just like when I made love with... well... you know.

I had also returned to fighting crime. After school I had a few hours while Melody and Sarah did the cheerleading thing and Jason was tutoring. Two nights a week, Melody stayed with her mother and I was free to cruise. Jason helped out too. When he was available he would drive so I could make faster getaways.

Plenty of thugs in the LA basin let me assure you. I didn't need money this time around but I still liked to liberate as much as I could. I kept some of it, for incidentals, nice things for Melody, but most of it I would bag up and drop off at some church, homeless shelter or soup kitchen. Nice thing about being a mind reader is knowing which charity administrators will spend it where it is supposed to be spent and which ones will blow it on hookers - in which case I'll probably end up with it again right after the hooker spends it on crack.

I was using telekinesis a little more too. Once you get the hang of it, keeping your car in neutral and pushing it with your mind while the engine idles is a real gas saver.

But in general I was back to the same old modus operandi. Sensing fear, showing up and stopping the bad guy. False descriptions all around and I was off to save another (but, you can bet I was checking for dogs now).

I was trying to keep a low profile because a few times I felt that tickly feeling like you're being watched. But a broad scan never turned up anything. I finally found out what it was about two weeks before graduation.

Jason and I were sitting in the living room watching and old rerun of saved by the bell when Sam walked in and tossed me an envelope.

The return address was a firm with an office in Torrance. I opened it up and my gut froze.

It was a single sheet of letterhead.

It had two sentences with no signature.

It said, "Please come to our office on Saturday at 10 AM. We would like to talk to you about your telepathy.

"Dude," said Jason with concern in his voice, "you look horrible. What is that?"

Putting my finger to my lips, I motioned for him to follow me and we went to my room where I let him read it.

"Shit."

My sentiments exactly. I wondered where I fucked up.

"What are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to meet them."

"You can't just walk in there, what if it's a trap or something."

"If they wanted to hurt me, they wouldn't have sent an invitation. The question is, what will they do if I don't show. I've got the feeling that whoever this is, they are used to people doing what they ask them to."

"I guess..." he still didn't like it.

"Besides, look right here, in the letter... they said 'please'."

He punched my shoulder. Those weights were making a difference. "I should go with you. To watch your back."

"No can do buddy, I don't think they want any one else along, and if it does turn shitty It may be all I can do to get myself out."

I sent the letter to my top shelf, behind a book, folding it up along the way.

"My main concern right now is how am I going to get out of here Saturday without making Sarah and Melody suspicious."

"We'll just go plinking varmints again." That was the excuse we had used to get out into the dessert to practice my telekinesis. It would work again.

So that Saturday we loaded a couple 22's into the trunk of my car. I dropped Jason off at a mall in Redondo Beach and headed to the office.

I wondered who these people were. The Government? Those behind the Government?

It took me a while to find a parking spot. The building was fairly good sized and one of a dozen others just like it. Not an obvious Government building. CIA?

The office I was looking for was on the top floor and when I entered I was awed by the opulence. A very voluptuous and attractive blonde woman was seated behind a desk.

"May I help you?" she asked seductively, her eyes doing split second darts to my crotch.

"I guess so," I said, "I received a letter saying someone from this office wanted to speak to me. I don't really know anything else."

"That's fine," she purred, "you just have a seat over there," indicating some comfortable seats off to one side, "and I'll get someone to take care of you."

As I found a seat I scanned her to see if she knew why I was here. She didn't know anything. Really. She had been instructed that should anyone show up with a story like mine she was to notify Mr. Hall. Other than that she really didn't know much. She knew how to answer the phone and direct the calls, she knew how to greet those walking in and notify the appropriate parties. There was no personal history. Her name was Cherry, but that was it. No family, no home. She left her desk when instructed, went with whoever she was told to go with. She ate and slept where and when she was instructed. The only other thing in her mind was a vast library of sexual techniques. She was a living fuck doll with basic clerical skills.

I had to pull out of her mind before I threw up. Sure it was intriguing, even tempting considering her looks, but at one time she was a person with likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams like anyone else. She was a sister, a daughter maybe even a wife and a mother. And now...

I didn't have long to wait before a distinguished looking man of about fifty came out of an office and greeted me. He led me back to the office he came from. It was a large office. A deck outside had a view that overlooked the rest of the city.

"Sit Down, Danny" he said cheerfully. "My name is Stuart Hall. I wanted to meet you and explain a few things. I didn't want to leave you out in the lobby, but I have to finish this, I won't be a moment." He picked up a pen and started writing on a piece of paper.

I guess I was impatient. I didn't feel like listening to some long prepared talk. The woman outside had shortened my patience with these folks. I wanted to know who they were right now.

I tried to scan him... Nothing. I sent my eye out to Cherry and found her mind right away. I tried to read Stuart again... Nothing. I pushed harder into his brain... There... a whisper...

"What The Fuck Are You Doing?" He Roared. "You Lousy Little SHIT!"

Suddenly I was on fire. My skin blistered and peeled off. The marrow in my bones boiled, incinerating me from within. I drew a breath to scream but the searing air turned my lungs to useless lumps of charred flesh.

Then as quickly as it started. It was over. I was curled up on the floor, panting and sweating. I looked at my hands and arms. There were no burns... nothing... I could breath fine.

The man, Stuart, stood over me.

"That was about one second." He stated flatly. "One minute and you would either be a dribbling, mindless lump of flesh - completely catatonic. Longer than that and you would be dead. Wanna know how I know these things?"

I didn't. He helped me back into my chair.

"That's gratitude for you." He said as he walked back around his desk and sat down. "I invite you here to explain the rules and within the first minute you break the most cardinal one."

He pointed a pencil at me. "Boy, you NEVER try to read another telepath. Especially if your shields are for shit."

As soon as he had started yelling I knew he was another mind reader. So that part wasn't a big shock. But he said something about shields.

"Shields?" I asked weakly.

"Oh for the love of Christ! You haven't even toyed with protecting your mind from others like you?"

"I'm gonna do you a favor, boy. I'm gonna throw another of those blasts at you in ten seconds. All you have to do is put up something to block me."

I tried to envision some sort of shield. The Jinni hadn't let me down yet. If I tried it, it should work. I envisioned a globe around my head. It was like a one-way mirror. Only instead of reflecting light it reflected mental energy.

I felt a split second of pressure on my shield. Then, he nodded.

"Better. At least you're a quick study. You may even survive."

"Now for the rules - before you break another one and I have to kill you."

"Wait a minute." I interjected, "Who are you people?"

He looked impatient. "Listen, Son, I'm trying to do you another favor. You may be a big fish in a small pond in your little corner of the world. But, here you ain't shit. You shut the fuck up. Let me explain the rules. Then we can talk about whatever you want to talk about."

I shut the fuck up.

"First: You never try to read another telepath. A lot of them won't be as nice about as I was. If you try to read someone and you hit a shield, that's a telepath. Back the fuck off. Try introducing yourself the old fashioned way."

"Second: We don't give a shit what you do to, or with, the dead heads. But whatever you do, don't attract attention, and don't seek public positions of power."

"Third: If a dead head has been claimed by another telepath, leave it alone unless invited. We can be territorial about our property."

"Fourth: When you travel to another Territory, you report your presence to the nearest office. If you are asked to leave a territory by that Territory's Chief, you get out. Don't argue or ask why. Just do it."

"Fifth: If you run into any other telepath breaking any of these rules you report it to the Territorial Chief before you do anything else. Don't even take a leak before hitting a phone. Rogues can be dangerous and if he is going to kill you we would like to find out about him first."

"You got those?" He asked pointedly.

"Yes, but some of them confuse me."

"Then ask."

"Okay, Who are you? The Second Rule tells me you probably aren't the Government."

"Hell no we aren't the Government, and before you ask, we aren't even the power behind the throne. We don't give a diddly-damn what the Government does. Doesn't mean anything to us."

He sat back, "We are Telepaths. There are only a few thousand in the whole world. These rules were devised a long time ago to help us live in peace. According to our history, it used to be anarchy. Telepaths subjugating hundreds of dead heads and trying to destroy the others. After we almost wiped each other out, we learned. The rules are what help us thrive. Any violations are taken seriously. If you really fuck up, we take you out. The most important thing is peace among the telepaths. Second most important is that we stay a 'secret' society. You do anything that threatens our secrecy - we take you out."

"You divided up territories?"

"Yes. I'll get you a map along with contact information for each territorial office. We are actually formed as Multinational Syndicate. Basically a Chief is in charge of telepath activity in his area. In this area there are eight Territories in the United States, six in Canada and five in Mexico. Each Territory has branch offices in every major city. The map I'll get you has every territory and office in the world identified. It's pretty easy. Like I said, we really don't care what you do as long as you don't break The Rules. The Rules are what let us coexist peacefully. Basically, don't fuck with another telepath and don't attract attention. Break the rules and you could very well end up dead."

"But, apparently I attracted attention. How did you find me?"

"You attracted OUR attention. That's not a problem unless you make it one. We don't want you attracting the attention of the non-telepathic power structure. You know, police, FBI, CIA, that kind of shit. As for how we found you. We pay attention to odd patterns."

He opened a file and glanced at it, "In your case, it was spotted by one of our staff that a fairly small mediocre high school suddenly started scoring much higher on standardized tests and its teams were winning games they usually didn't win. So we looked closer and we found that one particular student, who had previously been a loser with poor grades, got kicked in the head one day and suddenly he is getting straight A's and dating the prettiest girl in school. It ain't rocket science."

"I guess I was pretty obvious, huh?" Well, they knew about the telepathy, but not how I got it.

"Only to those who know what to look for." He looked back down at the file in front of him. "Great taste, boy. That is one sweet piece of meat you got there. I see you have a small occasional harem." He looked at some other sheets. "Hmm... Left you sister alone though... what a waste... Let me know if you ever decide to farm her out... okay... Hmm... looks like over all you're some kind of Boy Scout aren't you?" Before I could answer, he raised his hand, "Its not a problem. Like I said, we don't care what you do."

This guy was starting to piss me off. But I needed to learn more.

"Maybe we can use that though." He said thoughtfully.

"So do all telepaths get kicked in the head?"

"No. Some are born that way. Telepaths can have children. About one in twenty five develop powers. They usually manifest at adolescence though there are indications before that. They start their training early so by the time the powers are fully manifested they have a pretty good handle on them. Most naturals are pretty powerful. I'm a natural. Those like you, who probably had a natural somewhere in your family tree, had the power lying latent. About a third of the population does. Once in a while, one of you gets a head injury that seems to knock loose whatever was blocking you. Occasionally a kid will be what we call a super-latent. Someone who hasn't had and active telepath in his known family history but come adolescence - boom. No head trauma necessary"