Chapter 60: Crunch Time

Originally posted on: Mon Dec 25, 2006 5:29 pm
Last edited on: Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:22 pm

"I really don't like this part," Shannon said. "I don't want to risk Cindy but I don't want to risk Allison just to find out either."

We had started the night in the usual fashion. You know, dinner with the family, dishes, the 'rents playing cards, the kids playing video games, and swimming of course. Then it was time for Tom, Karen, and Mark, to say goodnight and leave. Now we were standing in my version of Allison's glade.

"What do you mean, risk Allison?" Allison asked.

"Oh come on," Shannon answered. "Like you would let me try it first? I know you better than that. You've already made up your mind that you will be the one to take the risk, haven't you?" Without waiting for a reply she moved in close, slid her arms around the shorter girl and kissed Allison's forehead. "Haven't you?" she repeated.

Allison still didn't answer. I thought Shannon had guessed right; Allison had made her mind up but she had not prepared her arguments yet. Still hugging Shannon she looked to me for help. I noticed her eyes beginning to tear and moved in to join the group.

"Hey now," I said, kissing her hair. "We're letting our own fear cloud our thinking. This is going to work, and do you know why it's going to work?" I asked, looking from one to the other.

Shannon still looked apprehensive but Allison was looking intently at my face, as if looking for an answer in my eyes. She must have found one because I saw a change in hers. She finally cocked her head to one side and asked, "Do you really think it's that easy?"

Shannon was still looking confused when I answered, "Yes. In fact I'm sure it will be."

"So it will be?" she countered.

"Exactly."

"Oh, well then we don't need to worry about it." She pulled free of Shannon's embrace. "We can do it later. That works for me. Did you have something else in mind?"

"I get the impression you do?"

A huge grin suddenly split Shannon's face as she realized we were talking about postponing the night's planned experiments and said, "Definitely."

"Okay, I thought I might go take care of my weekly reporting just to get it out of the way. Can I drop you two at the beach."

"You're not coming?" Shannon asked

"No, I'm not even breathing hard." It was something I'd read in a book and it was just the right thing to say. Shannon took a second to get it but Allison was standing there with her hand over her mouth stomping her foot to keep from exploding. When Shannon finally got it she turned beet red.

"That's not what I meant!" she said, slapping my arm. At this point Allison could no longer contain herself. Apparently she had been having trouble breathing with her hand over her mouth because she just sort of flopped on the blanket gasping for air.

"It wasn't that funny," I said.

"Actually it wasn't," Shannon said. "I think it was partly about me not getting it. It sucks to be the brunette and not get the jokes, you know that! Especially when the blonde gets them first. Hey! You! It wasn't that funny."

Allison just laughed harder.

"Oh this is ridiculous," Shannon said. Suddenly the ground dropped out from under us. Before I had time to react we all fell into the crystal water of the lagoon. When I came up I saw that Zeus and Hera were already there waiting for us. Allison came up a second after me, sputtering and looking about as happy as a wet cat.

"What did you go and do that for?" she asked.

"I didn't," I responded. I turned to face the shore and confirmed my suspicions; Shannon was standing on the shore, dry and smiling.

Allison had followed my gaze and now understood what had happened. "She really is getting good at this. We're going to have to start being more careful with her when we're in your dreams."

"I guess so." I raised my voice and said, "You're really getting good at this. I never even saw that coming."

She gave a slight bow and said, "Why thank you. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to... EEEEK!" she screamed as the bucket of ice water emptied itself over her head. "Why you..." she began before I cut her off.

"Uh-uh-uh," I said, shaking my finger. "Behave yourself, young lady. Don't say anything you're going to regret."

With a thought she was warm and dry. With another thought the ground suddenly mounded under her and she found herself on a water slide rushing out into the lagoon to join us. She splashed down a little to one side and when she came up Hera was laughing at her.

"Truce?" I offered.

She frowned and stuck her tongue out at me but then shrugged and said, "Truce."

"Seal it with a kiss?" I asked.

"Hey!" Allison interjected. "What about me? I'm the one who was being good and she gets a kiss? What do I get?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "Come here, you can have a kiss too." I pulled her in close and as our lips met we were all suddenly sitting in the sunken area in the cabana. You could hear Zeus and Hera chittering outside. I dropped a couple of anchovies out of the sky to them and they got over their abandonment and went off wherever it is dolphins go when they get bored.

"You really are getting better with your control, Shannon. But a sneak attack like that... not fair." Allison said.

"I'm sorry," Shannon replied. "I was just feeling a little defensive I guess. I love you to pieces but sometimes your brains get to me. I mean, you are just so damn smart. I feel like, I don't know, like I'm the younger one. Like the other night, you figured out what Jimmy was doing with the key before I even noticed anything. And I still don't know what you were talking about before. I guess I was feeling sort of useless."

"Useless?" I asked. "Shannon, don't put yourself down like that. You're looking at it wrong. Yes, Allison is smart, downright brilliant at times; her mind just seems to work faster than mine or yours. That's one of the many things that make her special. It's her gift. Just like my gift is being able to do all this. We all have gifts, Shannon. And they are all different. That's why we work well together, why we get along so well. It's our differences that attract us to one another."

"So what's my gift? Comic relief?"

Now it was Allison's turn. "No, silly. You have two very important gifts. For one thing, you are very insightful. Sure, I can think things through faster, but I miss things. You have a gift for seeing what others miss. They jump out at you like big red stop signs. You ask questions no one else thinks to ask. And when you ask them everyone else just looks at each other with stupid expressions on their faces and says, 'Why didn't I think of that?' You were the one that suggested that the killer had already killed again, the one that said maybe we just weren't asking Amy the right questions. You keep your head when things go wrong. You don't get overwhelmed. Don't ever let yourself feel like you don't contribute, sweetie; ever. We need you, I need you." She pulled her lover close, kissed her forehead and said, "Without you whose tits would I play with, Jimmy's?"

Shannon had to chuckle, and I knew an opening when I saw one. I switched to my troll suit, added a two piece bikini, stuck out my non existent chest and said, "What's wrong with my tits?"

By now, Shannon was reduced to outright laughter, "Well for one thing, there's all that hair."

Allison laughed and said, "Maybe we could wax him."

That was it for me. I was back to just plain me in baggy shorts so fast you wouldn't believe it. "No thank you! I'm fine, thanks."

We all laughed and then it was on to more serious matters. "I still have to go see Rebecca. Do you two want to stay here or should I drop you somewhere else?"

Shannon looked at Allison, then back at me. "Here is fine. Play nice with the FBI then come back and join us. Meanwhile the blonde can explain to the brunette what she missed in the last scene."

I kissed them both, changed clothes and prepared to head for the office to see Rebecca, and probably Bob, too. I should bring him up to date on what we had discovered over the course of the week. Well, most of it anyway. I sort of felt like I should ask him about the note, get his thoughts on it, but I wasn't sure I wanted to share that little detail yet. Wait and see on that one. Some of the other stuff I was definitely keeping to myself.

I stopped at the door, pulled out my phone and dialed.

"Hi, Jimmy." Rebecca answered. "Ready for our weekly meeting?" She sounded positively chipper for the middle of the night. I mean sure it was a dream, but still, it made me wonder if there might be more to it.

"Yep. Do you mind if I invite Bob along? I have a couple things I need to bring him up to date on as well."

"No, I don't mind. Where did you want to meet? The beach?"

"I was thinking about Bob's office. You two don't seem to concentrate well in beach attire."

She chuckled and said, "Well aren't you Mr. 'all work and no play' tonight? Okay, the office it is. Hey! Where are you? I just walked in and you're not here yet."

I stepped out of the elevator behind her, closed my phone, and said, "Just one of the things I wanted to talk to your boy-toy, er... I mean gentleman friend, about. I was just getting ready to call him. Or do you want to?"

"Ooh, can I?" She had the most evil grin on her face. She dialed her phone and muttered, "I wish this worked all the time instead of just when you're here." Before I could say anything she started whispering in a voice just dripping sensuality, "Hey handsome, my partner and I just finished up and he said that since I've been such a good girl he'll make me a special place for the night. I'm soaking in a large tub of warm, bubbly water, but it's really too big for one. Why don't you put on a towel and come over?"

She had to work hard not to giggle at his answer and said, "No, wear the towel. I'll help you out of it when you get here. Oh, and don't forget the wine." She closed the phone and cracked up.

"You've got a serious evil side, don't you, Agent Hampton?"

"Oh, come on, I told him to wear the towel. If I was really evil I would have told him he didn't need it."

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

In a sultry voice she called out, "Come in."

The door was suddenly flung wide and there stood one of the top psychologists in the state, a bottle of wine in one hand, two glasses in the other, a rose in his teeth and the classic 'deer in the headlights' look on his face. He recovered quickly, spitting the rose out and catching it with the hand holding the wine, a wry "I've been had" look on his face.

"Oh, you're funny."

She must have been because the two of us were almost rolling on the floor by now.

"Well, if you'll excuse me I'm going to put on something a little more appropriate. I'll be right back."

He set the wine and glasses on the tall cocktail table that I materialized next to the door. Then, placing the rose carefully in a tall bud vase, gave a slight bow and nod in our direction before disappearing through the door. He was back immediately, still wearing the towel but pulling the tie he had added into position. It was an interesting effect, the tie came with a built-in collar; sort of like the ones male strippers wear, and had a picture of a hula dancer on it. He picked up the wine and glasses, but left the rose by the door. By the time he got to us there were three glasses, which he promptly set down. He pulled a corkscrew from somewhere and opened the wine. He poured himself a glass, then handed one to me, then from the same bottle poured some bubbling concoction into the last glass. It looked like something out a 1950s Halloween movie, the steam on top did not really evaporate, it just spilled out and down the side of the glass. I know in the movies they used dry ice to get the effect, I wasn't sure how he was doing it but the message was clear.

In fact he made sure of it, saying, "I noticed on the way in, your broom was double parked, I hope you brought your badge."

Rebecca just pulled out her Glock, jacked a round into the chamber, tilted back her sombrero and said, "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!"

It was then I realized my mistake. When I said Bob's office I was thinking about my version and that's the one I let Rebecca into. I moved us seamlessly to Bob's office, then switched Rebecca back to her previous outfit. I left Bob in the towel, after all, Rebecca had had her little joke and he deserved the chance to get even. I'm not sure what had been in her glass before, but I switched it to raspberry créme soda just to be safe. I switched mine to a root beer float. That turned out to be another mistake.

"What? I don't get ice cream?" Rebecca demanded.

Bob intervened, "No Rebecca. Bad little girls don't get ice cream in my dreams. Now maybe if you behave yourself and play nice..."

She cut him off, "Don't you start with me, I know exactly what bad girls get in your dreams. You told me about it in some detail in fact. You behave yourself and maybe I'll sign up for detention when we're done." Bob's entire face, neck, and the top few inches of his chest were flaming scarlet as she turned to me with a smile and said, "Now then, Jimmy, you had some things you needed to discuss?"

I decided that I really wanted to get down to business and get out of here before these two started mud wrestling on the floor. Apparently their relationship had turned a major corner and I was in no hurry to catch up.

"Yes, actually I had news for both of you. First off, as you just saw, we've discovered some new wrinkles in my ability. Apparently I can move people around without really thinking about it. The girls and I did some experimenting earlier this week and discovered that I don't actually have to be present to move people around. When I said I wanted to meet you in Bob's office it automatically keyed the next door you went through to take you there. Where you ended up was actually my copy of Bob's office, not his. That's why you were still able to change your outfit when he decided to get cute. Speaking of cute..." I changed Bob into khaki shorts, a polo shirt, and Birkenstocks. "... I could just as easily have made it Bob's office."

Bob leaned forward. "You mean you can move Rebecca into my dream, or vice versa without actually being present in either dream?"

"Yes, when I was working with the girls I moved, or rather let them move directly into one another's dreamscapes without being present. I just sat in my office and thought about it. If I didn't think about it they went nowhere. Okay, that's not really right. It's not that I don't think about it, what I mean is I don't have to like, concentrate on it like I used to. Before I had to concentrate on sending you a door to bring you to wherever I was, now I just have to want you there and the rest takes care of itself."

Rebecca's pretty smart, she asked the obvious question right away, "Can I leave again on my own or am I stuck here?"

"Yes and no. You are not really stuck there automatically. For instance you could just get up right now and walk out the door and be back in any of your own dreams that you want, or just asleep between dreams."

"That answers the yes. What's the no?"

Bob answered, "You mean I could stop her from leaving if I didn't want her to?"

"Exactly. As long as the dreamer does not consciously try to stop you, you can leave."

"Jesus!" said Rebecca. "That is scary." She stopped for a second. "Although I can see some serious benefits to that. Please, Mr. Wizard, pretty please, can I have just ten minutes alone with Frank Watkins? Please oh please oh please?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "No. I don't think that would be really good idea. We don't want him waking up and telling anyone about the mean lady from the FBI now do we?" I had other reasons for not wanting her alone with Frank Watkins. I was mostly concerned with what would happen if someone started noticing a pattern of bad dreams in a certain group of upstanding citizens in Las Vegas. I was planning to spend a lot of time in their dreams in the near future and I didn't want any lingering images or memories getting in the way.

"Alright, alright, it was just a thought."

"A bad thought, Bex," Bob said. "You don't want to start having those kinds of fantasies playing out in your subconscious, not even just for fun. You never know when it might spill over into your real life and you realize you just shot someone for the wrong reason. I know it sounds simplistic but it's important that you not let yourself do things here in this world that you would not do in the real world. It's not that you can't have fantasies, but you have to be sure they are only fantasies. Otherwise the lines could become blurred and then... well, you get my meaning."

"Yeah, I get your meaning, and you're right, it always starts small. They beat that into us during all our training; never break the rules, one break invariably leads to another, before you know it procedure breaks down and then you are sunk, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, just the media waiting to pull you in like a drowning swimmer. I'll be good, girl scouts honor."

"Nice try," Bob said. "You already told me about you and Sylvia in the Girl Scouts."

Now it was Rebecca's turn to blush. Bob just went on.

"Just look me in the eye and promise you'll come to me if you ever even start dreaming about it." She looked up at him and their eyes met. She held his gaze for a second then nodded once. He reached out and took her hand, kissed it, and turned back to me.

"Any progress on the other issues?"

"Nothing really. We haven't come up with a safe way to experiment but I don't think we'll really need to for now."

"Really? Why not?"

"Keys."

"Keys?"

"Yeah, we found out I can make the girls keys so they can leave anytime they want, whether the dreamer wants to stop them or not."

He sat forward. "That's interesting. That should make you feel better anyway, Rebecca." He glanced at her and found her staring blindly forward. He glanced back at me.

"I don't think I want everyone to know about all this. I don't want Rebecca to ever be in a position where it may create a conflict for her."

We stared at each other for a few seconds before he nodded his agreement. "You're probably right."

"I know I'm right, Bob, so do you. I trust Rebecca almost as much as I trust you. I don't trust the people she works with. We're getting into dangerous territory with a lot of this stuff as it is. There are people who would abuse this kind of thing without a second thought. We both know I'm right. Now, before the time thing drags out to long, sit back where you were and we'll start over from where you kissed her hand. She is frozen at the point you turned to ask me about the 'other issues, ' just take it from there."

He reset himself in the chair and took her hand again. Looking up at me he asked, "So, anything else going on?"

"Just some stuff I needed to bring Rebecca up to date on. I've started bridging some of the potential victims in an attempt to confirm some of the data you've been gathering. I'm hoping we can narrow the list and concentrate on the ones who are really at risk."

Rebecca grinned. "Really? And just how did you get a list of the girls we are looking at."

I answered with a smile of my own. "Independent research project. Anyway, I hope to be able to concentrate on the ones that are unconfirmed first. I should be able to just observe their normal dreams, maybe throw out a little bait here and there and see what happens."