Chapter 2

'PATRICK! GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, NOW!' Megan screamed hysterically into my mind.

'Megan? What is it?'

'BANDOR! GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE, NOW! PLEASE?'

My blood ran cold.

'Red alert, girls! Full shields, NOW, all on Megan.

'Eric, get your rainbow around her, now!'

'It will just supersede their shields; it won't add to them, ' Eric said.

'Adjust the average frequency to 422nm; then it will, ' I said. There was a pause.

'Oh, so it will. Done, ' he said, sounding surprised.

'Sarah, lock on to Megan to teleport her the second I tell you to. When I tell you, get her out of there and out of his range. Send her to Nova Scotia if you have to. Lock on her now, honey!'

'Becky, contact my dad and ask him why this son of a bitch is still alive. Have Sarah teleport him here if we need to. I want that fucker dead this time!'

'Sarah, Jessica, prepare an inverted shield. It might work again.'

'Cindi, Becky, prepare for teleport. Sarah, lock on to them and prepare to teleport them to Megan. Cindi, Becky, when you get there, kill the son of a bitch, and I mean now. Don't engage him in conversation and don't use your powers; just break his fucking neck.' I won't repeat what Cindi and Becky said back to me, but the clean version was 'Duh!'

'Megan, honey, are you ok?' I asked. I heard a sob.

'I'm ok. Are you getting me out of here?' she asked in a frightened whimper.

'I'm working on it, dear. Stay linked with that girl. I'm sending Becky and Cindi in to guard you. You know what they are, don't you, honey?'

'Yes. Thank you.' There was a pause as she thought. 'You have to keep me in here for the girl, don't you? It's ok, I understand, just don't leave me, Patrick!' she begged.

'Megan, I'm not leaving you. If it comes down to it, I'll come in there myself. He'll gladly take me over you.' I meant every word of it.

'You will not! I won't leave Amy a widow before she's even married!' Megan was emphatic. I didn't answer. I had something else to do. I keyed my radio.

"Captain Miller, this is Patrick Phillips. Withdraw your men. Get them at least a block away, now."

"No sir, I will not. You may be in charge of this case, but..."

"God damn it, Captain, get your men out of here now, or I will make a phone call and you'll be writing parking tickets in Manhattan for the rest of your life! That's Manhattan, Kansas, Captain!" I threatened.

"I can't leave you there..."

"Captain, listen to me. There is something here that will kill all your men faster than you can blink an eye. If you don't get them out of here, now, you will have a disaster on your hands that will make 9/11 look like a school picnic! I'm trained to deal with it and it almost killed me last time. Get them the hell out of here, NOW! And get those choppers out of here too. If I see another one fly by, I will take it down myself. Gently; I won't hurt your men, but you will be minus a chopper."

There was a long pause.

"Yes, sir!" he said. Holy shit! I didn't do that well with my own daughters!

'Ok, girls, let's get rid of these damn radios. We do this our way now.' I heard loud cheers.

'Sir, Peter says Bandor is not alive. It's impossible. He is contacting you directly, ' Becky said. I immediately heard my Dad's voice in my mind. That was a first.

'Son, Bandor cannot be alive. It's not possible, ' he said.

'Explain, ' I said tersely.

'Son, my gray power directly controls all healing and all bringing back to life. When I kill someone, there is no coming back. He is not ever coming back, Son.'

'Are you sure?' I asked. Ok, it was a stupid question, but I was worried. I could hear my Dad's smile in his voice.

'Oh yes. Absolutely. Trust me, Son.'

'Thank you, ' I told him.

'Sarah, send Cindi and Becky in to Megan. Girls, she's freaked, as you can imagine. Announce yourselves clearly to her as soon as you come in; she might blast you if you surprise her. Guard her well. Give me 30 seconds to warn her.'

'Megan, honey, how are you doing? Cindi and Becky will be there in seconds. You should be shielded by now. He can't touch you, honey.'

'Wow! I've never seen anything so beautiful! There are colors everywhere! You guys really do love me, don't you? Who's protecting you guys, with all this around me?'

'We're worried about you right now. We all love you very much, honey. Megan, have you actually seen Bandor?' I asked. There was a pause.

'Ummm... no, but I can feel him here. He's here... or maybe he's been here.' There was a pause. 'Maybe... I overreacted a little? I'm sorry, Patrick, ' she said, sincerely, embarrassed.

'That's ok, honey. Better safe than sorry. Besides, at least it gave us the chance to get rid of the cops!'

She giggled; a nice sound.

'Check the other girl's mind; see if he has been there. Maybe that's what you are sensing.' I hoped so. Well, maybe not, for the girl's sake.

There was a long pause; so long that I was starting to get worried.

'Cindi here, sir. We're with Megan. She's rattled but ok under the circumstances. There's no sign of Bandor. We are on either side of her, sir. Anything or anybody that even dreams of approaching her will be dead so quick they won't even know it.' I believed her. I wouldn't want Cindi saying that about me. I'd seen firsthand what a Tarqa could do.

Finally, Megan contacted me again. She was in tears.

'Her mind's a mess! He's been there all right, but probably not since he died. She's been raped repeatedly. She's terrified, but she's resigned to it. She... she also seems to... enjoy it even though she hates it. She's scared to death that they're coming for her again, and she's scared to death that they won't come back for her. I don't understand, Patrick!' she said with a sob of sympathy for the poor girl.

Yeah, Megan; that's been the whole problem the last few weeks; you've never understood, I thought to myself.

'Patrick, we have to get her out of here! They're going to have an auction. The new girl is safe until she's sold; she's being sold at a high price as... inexperienced. But this girl is supposed to be a trained... servant. They each expect to be able to sample the product before they bid. Please, Patrick... we can't let this happen! We have to get her out of here!'

Megan was almost babbling she was so scared and concerned for the girl she was linked to. I suspected some of the girl's emotions were crossing over. I hated to do it, but I decided to keep her linked. I needed to know what was going on, but I also hoped some understanding would dawn on Megan as she felt her emotions.

'We're going to get them out and you too, Megan. Just let me know if anything changes. We'll be coming in shortly, ' I assured her. Just a few more minutes, and we would be ready to go. I was just waiting for that last chopper to get out of range. I didn't want the cops to see what was happening here.

The boy was perking up even more now. Something interesting was definitely going on.

He first noticed he was not alone when he saw her on the roof of the adjacent building. He didn't know how long she had been there. It was a shock when he discovered her there. He didn't know who she was, but she was good to have escaped his notice before now.

He was sure she hadn't seen him. He had picked this spot very carefully, checking the area out thoroughly over the last few days. He had all his toys and tools spread out, ready at an instant's notice. There was no hurry. The first girl was already past the point of danger; she had been abused so badly by the time he found out about her that she would either survive or she wouldn't. There was nothing that could be done to affect the odds either way. The second girl, however, was scared but untouched. He assumed they wanted a virgin. He uttered a string of curse words that his mother and sister would have been horrified to hear him say. He quickly steered his mind away from those thoughts.

The next surprise had been the string of check-ins over the police band radio. My God, there were a lot of them! He considered that they might be amateurs, needing that many, but then why were they here? He had seen the police around, and it was obvious to him that the law enforcement agencies were letting these others run the show. And they were all female, mostly young girls, except the one they checked in with. He thought briefly of the stories he had heard at the training camps, but he discounted them immediately. They were just local legends.

They certainly seemed to be professionals. Their radio transmissions were all business. Funny, he had picked up something that he was sure the stupid cops would miss. There were sometimes silences for varying periods of time when someone should have been answering a question. It didn't ring true. He grinned suddenly as he realized what they were doing. They were using another method of communication to pass messages they didn't want the cops to hear! He whistled in admiration; these were professionals!

But so young? Those voices were young teenage girls, he was sure. They couldn't be more than 14 or 15 years old. Of course, he was only 14... There were at least three adults though, and the messages seemed to indicate more, maybe as much as half and half. From the code names mentioned, there were at least 18 of them, although it sounded like as many as six were not directly involved, plus the two on the roof. He knew there was another one on the roof, although he had not seen him or her. There seemed to be some problems with one of the adults, too. He wondered if her fellow agents recognized the symptoms of PTSD.

Ten minutes later, he was even more impressed. He couldn't find their alternate transmission method! He had the best communication equipment in the world with him, and it wasn't on any of those bands. He smiled to himself; this was going to be fun to watch. The agency would be pissed to high heaven if they knew he was doing this job on his own, outside of their venue. If someone else wanted to do it for him, so be it. He would watch, however, to make sure they didn't need help. This job had to be done right.

A few minutes later, he knew he had to find out more about this group. The leader had chewed out the Captain of the locals over the radio and insisted they pull their people back. And they had! This man told the cops what to do! His excitement escalated greatly when he heard him describe briefly a presence that could kill all the cops at once and had almost killed this leader.

They were obviously getting ready to storm the building, but all radio traffic had ceased. Well, it would have been simpler if he could have followed their transmissions, but he would go in when they did. Not only did he want to be sure the job was done right, but he wanted a look at this group. He would not be passing this information along to his handlers!

He sat back and waited, ready to go at a moments notice. Meanwhile, he tried to decide why two of those voices had sounded vaguely familiar.

'Patrick, you have to come in now! They're setting up for the show. I don't think the second girl will survive this. I don't think they care about her anymore. She won't bring a high enough price to make it worth it. They're just going to use her and kill her. She's just a bonus to get the men here for the other girl. She's the entertainment! Please, Patrick, we have to save her! For me?' Megan was frantic. She had been in close contact with this girl in her mind for days now, and she really was concerned for her.

'That's what we're here for, honey. Julie, Sammi, Eric, move up to take over guarding Megan. I don't think Bandor is here; he's dead.'

'Cindi, Becky, I want you in first, with Amy right afterwards. Cindi, Becky, you might want to do that invisible thing you do, to get in and make sure the two girls are guarded and safe.'

'What invisible thing?' Amy asked.

'Later, honey, we're a little busy right now.'

'Are you keeping secrets from me?' I heard her hiss to Cindi.

'Listen girls, I'm not trying to tell you to commit murder or anything, but these guys are scum. If they don't surrender immediately, don't try to talk them into it; frag 'em. Our job is saving those girls, period.'

'John, Rhonda, if anything comes out of that building that is not a girl or one of us, drop it. If there are innocent civilians in there, we haven't detected them and we'll cry over them later. My call, my responsibility.'

'Patrick, don't look now, but we have a shadow. I picked him up a few minutes ago. I don't know how long he's been here, but I was lucky to see him. The way he's acting, he's not on the side of the people in the building, but I don't know who he is. He's small; small male or a female, but he moves like a male. What do you want me to do?' Rhonda asked.

She was so glad that, in the month since Bandor's attack, they had taught her how to send and receive communications in her mind. Everyone had been stunned when Lisa said it could be done. They were even more stunned when she had done it. It remained to be seen if she could be trained to do the other things these girls did. But this was worth its weight in gold!

'Does he look like he'll be a problem? We don't need an amateur screwing things up. Have the police handle him if he gets in the way," I told her.

'Oh, this guy's not an amateur. I doubt I could drop him right now if I tried. He knows we're here, by the way. Just wanted you to know. He looks like he's getting ready to move out with us, ' she replied.

'Well, if he gets in the way, take him out. My concern is for you guys and those girls, not some idiot who shouldn't be here," I responded. It was time to go.

'Julie, Sammi, Eric, move out!' I waited a moment.

'In position, boss, ' Amy called out.

'Remember that, sweetie!' I whispered. I was surprised how well her return raspberries came across in mind talk!

'Ok, Becky, Cindi, do your thing!' I called out.

'Amy, give them about 30 seconds, then go in firing. Everyone, if you hear firing, all timetables are off and go in hot right away. Be careful, Amy honey, ' I whispered. I heard kissy noises from the other girls, followed by giggles. Joking even when their eyes were changed, I thought with amazement.

I waited a few seconds, and then followed them. They would shit bricks if they knew I was going in too, but I wasn't letting my girls take all the risks.

I made a big mistake. Sometimes you just have an attack of the stupids. I guess I could say no one else thought of it either, but it was my job to think of it. I didn't.

It never occurred to me that if Bandor had been there, adjusting that girl's mind, that some of his people might be there too. Some that had Tarqa type training. Not the fighting skills, necessarily, but the ability to see through the invisibility.

Cindi had barely gotten ten feet across the room when the first bad guy fired on her.

It is possible to kill a Tarqa. It's hard, but possible. It's also possible to take one by surprise. Even harder, but possible. He caught Cindi by surprise. I watched the whole thing unfold, as if in slow motion, with my heart in my mouth, as Cindi should have died. All because of my stupidity.

Good training always comes through. Megan was in bad shape, had been for weeks. I would have sworn she couldn't defend a kitten. She was useless. That's when training is the most important. The woman who a moment ago was sobbing for me to save her saved my precious daughter.

In a blur too fast to follow, in a form that would have done any Tarqa proud, Megan threw up her purple shield around Cindi, shielding her at the last second against the bullet. She then covered the distance between her and the gunman in a nanosecond. It was to be the last nanosecond of his life.

Megan kicked him in the head with a flying roundhouse kick, almost literally knocking his head off, at the same time ripping the gun from his hand. As she was still spinning in the air, almost prone to the ground, she shot him between the eyes before he hit the ground. Quite unnecessary, the shot. Had she been herself, I'm sure she would have dispensed with that wasted motion. Before she landed on her feet again, she shot two of his friends, and shattered the larynx of the man nearest her original target with her free hand. Then, she became superfluous again as Cindi and all the rest of the girls exploded into action.

The boy knew exactly when he had been seen. He was stunned! He couldn't believe it! He knew, without bragging, that he and maybe one or two of his fellow agents were the top, most highly skilled and trained agents in the world, even if he was just fourteen. No one ever saw them, even just before they died. Yet, he knew immediately that the woman on the roof had seen him. He also knew that she had reported it. He could tell by how she reacted, even though he still didn't know how she communicated it. Then his respect for her went up even more.

She didn't even try to take him out. He knew she couldn't; it would be almost impossible for her to make that shot. What impressed him was that she instinctively knew it too. She didn't even try. She gave him a tiny, almost unseen salute. He returned it, grinning to himself. He had to meet these people. And she wasn't even on the immediate assault team! He was sure she was military trained by her actions, but not any military he had ever run into. The two worked well together, also. He knew there was another one up there by her actions, but he had yet to see him or her.

It took him only mere seconds to get down from the roof and head for the building. He could tell she was impressed. Then, with a shock almost unparalleled to him in his career, he realized by her actions, as he watched her closely, how she was communicating.

She was telepathic! He was sure of it! He was also sure, by the way that she held her head as she communicated, that she was not a natural telepath. Someone had taught her this? Could... could the local legends be true? Telepathy, teenage girls, unparalleled physical abilities? Unnatural powers, for God's sake? He dismissed it as nonsense again, but he had to meet these people. He adjusted his eyesight slightly as he moved. He was right; there was her telepathic aura. He was right that she wasn't a natural either. He made another small adjustment and homed in on her.