Chapter 67: The Countdown Begins

There's nothing quite like the last day of school. You've spent the whole year waiting for it to arrive, suddenly it's here and everywhere you look you see people crying at leaving. Not everyone of course; there are always, for example, the ones who can't wait to get to the first party of the summer. They will likely discover that it bears striking resemblance to the ones they've been attending practically every other weekend. Then there are those sad unfortunates for whom the last day of school heralds nothing more than a short recess before they have to come back and make up that class they just failed; the really sad cases in this group are the seniors that have to make up a class just to graduate.

Then there are the seriously disturbed individuals, both male and female, for whom summer means taking extra classes and getting a jump on next year. The really scary thing about these twisted souls is that in a few years most of us are likely to be working for one of them. And then there were the college bound for whom this was just to be the first of many partings as they leave home and friends to venture into their futures.

For me the last day of school was a bittersweet affair, my last day sharing lunch with three people whom I had come to admire and appreciate a lot in the last year. This was tempered somewhat by the knowledge that I would be sharing that same table with them again next year. Only then there would likely be another member of our little group. I hoped to be sitting next to Shannon at that table next year. Summer school was nothing I had to worry about, having gotten A's in all but one class. Social studies had been the only blemish on what was otherwise the best report card I had ever had. I considered it a personal victory having just managed to stay awake the entire year

For the summer, Shannon and I were content to keep our relationship in the dark corner that it had lived, and thrived in all year. After all, if her parents found out what was really going on between us it would likely kill the summer. I doubt that they would allow her to spend nearly as much time at our house, especially without parental supervision. I personally was looking forward to having both my loves around the house, both in, and out of their bathing suits, all summer. Of course Mark would be around now and then but he was actually working part time now at one of the local fast food places. Most of his spare time was now being spent hanging out with his other friends playing video games or trying to pick up girls. He'd had a bit of a hard time this year adjusting to the fact that I had lost most of my interest in video games. The fact that I was interested in his sister took care of the rest. Fortunately he didn't even suspect just how interested we really were in each other.

The girls were both apprehensive about my wanting to make it public knowledge in the fall. They felt that the current situation was working just fine and saw no need to rock the boat. We were still discussing it. For now we continued to be who we had always been. Shannon was my little sister's best friend, and I was just her best friend's big brother. Exactly how best friends they were was something we didn't want to get out either. Let's face it, if finding out about Shannon and I was a problem, finding out about her and Allison could be a disaster.

And of course, since there must be balance in the universe there was a downside to summer vacation. In my case it was the king of all wet blankets; the last day of school meant that the countdown had begun. It was killing season. Somewhere out there was a madman who most likely already had his victim picked out and was waiting for the right moment to take her. He had a perfect record of success, not a single blemish or mark on it. He was three and oh; three perfect crimes, zero leads or clues. He had the hat trick, now it was up to me to keep him from trading it in for a grand slam. Yeah, I know, you shouldn't mix metaphors, especially sports metaphors. I was a little nervous, feeling, fearing rather, that I was in over my head. Let's face it; he held... most of the cards. We had no idea who he was, or where he was, and we only had the barest idea of who his next victim may be. The geographic area we had to work with was huge, and there was no guarantee that he was even in it. He'd already been out of state once. He could be anywhere. Even if the geography was right we could still be wrong in our choice of possible targets. Was there something we had missed in setting up our profile? Was there some tiny little thing that we had missed that would have him fishing in a different demographic pond altogether? I had brought all of this up to Rebecca.

"Jimmy, that's just something you have to learn to live with. All we can do is all we can do. We give it our best effort and hope it turns out okay. You're right; there is every possibility that we still don't have the right girl. He, they, could be anywhere. In another state, I doubt if he would be in another country, but it's a possibility."

"I don't think so," I said.

"Really? Why not?"

"Background images in the visions; street signs, billboards, things like that are all in English. The street signs in particular, stop signs and such, are American. And any visions that involve driving are on the right side of the road"

"You know, you're getting really good at this. You could probably have a future in it if you wanted."

"I don't think so," I said. I could see her starting to answer but I went on, "I mean, I could probably do the work, I am in a rather unique position to help. What I mean is I don't think I could deal with the hierarchy involved without risking someone finding out. And I can't take that chance. Too many people in that world would want to use what I can do. And if I didn't want to play along..."

"Yeah. I guess... no, I know you're right. I guess we'll just have to stick to you being my ace-in-the-hole private source for special information. Think you could do that?"

"I'll give it some thought. Right now, let's just see what we can do about catching this guy."

Our ongoing experiments were paying off as well. On Bob's advice I had gotten a physical and then hooked up with a couple of physical trainers at night. It turned out Bob was right. My body reacted to the dream stimuli and within a few weeks the difference was noticeable. I had no interest in looking like a body builder so I toned down the regimen when we hit a certain point. The increased definition in my arms, chest and abs was kind of nice. Shannon really liked the new abs. She loved to lay next to me and run her hand up and down the new six pack, tracing over and around the muscle groups. She had a tendency to get carried away though so it quickly became just a new form of foreplay. I didn't mind.

Allison, on the other hand, seemed fixated on my ass. Both wanted to know if there was any way I could get the whole dream workout thing to work for them. I pointed out that if it was going to work for them that it probably already would be. They both had to agree with me on that part.

The other experiment was far more interesting. After prom night we immediately brought Shannon up to date on everything that had happened. With the expected results; she immediately started making plans for the future. Well, not really immediately. First she attacked both Allison and I and we pretty much killed that night as far as productivity went. Sunday we started working on experiments with overlapping realities. First we had to find a place to work. We decided the best place to start was in Shannon's dreams. Since Allison would be the one waking me up we wanted it to be some place we could leave her without problems.

We went to that cabin she had retreated to when I was in the hospital. It was a place she had once gone to on a youth retreat years before and now she went there to relax, study, or even just to sit and think. Once we were in and settled, Allison left and woke me up. The first few times it didn't work. I woke up too quickly, no transition. We decided I was anticipating too much, so the next time she tried it she worked on making sure she didn't shock me awake. Shannon said she had just the thing to take my mind off of what Allison was doing. I should have known, but it did work. In fact it worked exactly as it had the first time. I went from being focused on what Shannon was doing to perceiving that Allison was doing the exact same thing. But their rhythms and techniques were different. Eventually I went from the dream with Shannon to being awake in the reality with Allison. But then she stopped!

"Oh, do you have to stop?"

She gave me a long lick and squeeze. "Probably not, but you need to tell me exactly what just happened. Then we need to see if we can do it again, only this time Shannon and I need to be doing different things just to see if we can duplicate it under different stresses. If that works then we need to see if you can make it last longer, the transition that is."

"And how do I do that?"

"Once you feel yourself starting to wake up, resist. Try to stay in the dream."

"How?"

She crawled up and kissed me, you know kissed me. "Find something to concentrate on. Something that will hold your interest; I'm sure you can think of something if you put your mind to it. If not, ask Shannon, I know she can come up with something. Now, cuddle me and let's get back to sleep."

"Sure, like that is going to work," I muttered.

It took a while but eventually we both got back to sleep. We decided to let Allison sleep a while before trying again. She did have school in the morning after all. No point in having her tired for school; with only one more week to go both girls were in the middle of finals. Shannon was very helpful in finding something for me to focus on. As soon as Allison was gone she decided it was time for a long, slow, intimate love making session, just the two of us. It had been a while since we had been able to spend any quality time together just the two of us. We were pretty involved by the time I started to feel Allison. At least she had decided on a different approach this time; a gentle back massage. I could feel her hands sliding up and down along the larger muscle groups along my spine. Shannon noticed the distraction and pushed me up.

"Oh no you don't! You are not leaving me in the middle again. You are damn well going to finish what you started first." She rolled up to all fours. "Fuck me you big stud."

Wow, Shannon swearing; this was serious. I entered her and began stroking with earnest.

"You call that fucking? Harder. Here, maybe this will help." She flipped her hair back over her head and sort of gave a wiggle. I took the hint, grabbed her hair and started pounding into her.

"Oh yes! More! Give it to me! Oh, God, Yes!"

This was definitely a new twist for Shannon and I felt it was safe to say my concentration wasn't going anywhere else anytime soon. Wrong, it wasn't that easy. I could still feel Allison working on my back and she was starting to press harder. I could feel more of myself being drawn toward her. Suddenly something shifted and I was back in my bed with Allison, I could still perceive Shannon as well, but she was starting to fade.

"No! Not now, don't go now!" she pleaded, squeezing herself around me and thrusting back against me.

Quickly I grabbed Allison and rolled on top of her. I think she figured out what was coming and stopped me. "Wait, I'm not ready, in my mouth." I knelt and she quickly took me into her mouth and started working her tongue around my shaft, getting it as sloppy wet as she could, then she pulled back. "Okay, now."

I was feeling Shannon better now but it still wasn't a good connection. I slid down between Allison's legs and she guided me in as best as she could without risking wiping off any of the lubricant she had applied. That was all it took. Suddenly I was doing the same thing in both places; not the same position but the same basic motion and it was like I was in both places simultaneously, neither here nor there.

Having two girlfriends and even the many rounds of three-way playtime we had indulged in was nothing like what I was feeling now. I was literally making love to two girls at once. Two words; Fucking Incredible! When the end came it was just too much; simultaneous orgasm in two realities. That whole subconscious projection thing must have been running in high gear because both Allison in the real world and Shannon in the dream world, passed out. The big difference was that I passed out as well.

It only lasted a second or two, just long enough to realize what had happened. I awoke to find myself sprawled across my sister's unconscious body. I was still inside her but things were fading fast and I was already sliding out. I pulled free and rolled next to her, spooning against her side and waiting for her to come back to herself. She took a sudden breath, her eyes fluttered and she let the breath out slowly, stretching her arms up to the headboard as she did. I gave her a gentle kiss on the arm closest to me so she would know where I was. When she relaxed back out of the stretch she rolled toward me, propping herself up on one elbow and draping the other arm over me.

"I love it when you do that to me. So, let me guess and then you tell me if I'm right and fill in any blanks. Getting inside me allowed you to duplicate your basic motions on both sides at once, this allowed you to not have to concentrate on one or the other and you stayed, sort of, in both?"

"Exactly. Before the physical world had more pull. Your back rub was drawing me back from Shannon even though I was more physically involved there. I almost slipped all the way back."

"Bet Shannon wasn't happy about that. Me stealing you away twice in one night, I mean. I'll have to do something special for her. I'm thinking we can call this a success. Now we'll wait and see if it takes as much effort next time or if it gets easier."

It did get easier but there was still a tendency to wake up unless I really worked at it; which was difficult, because the harder I tried to concentrate the more my mind wanted to wake up to do it. Out of deference to Shannon we found other things to do besides Allison stealing me away in the middle of sex. I didn't ask what Allison did to make it up to her, but apparently Shannon forgave her. As much fun as it was, Allison, ever the practical one, insisted we start experimenting with other things besides sex. It gradually became easier to keep my focus in the dream and still see in reality. My biggest success was actually getting up and getting a drink of orange juice from the refrigerator without waking up. That was a weird experience.

The girls both finished the year with straight As and took great delight in rubbing in my one B at every opportunity. I informed them both that I would be expecting full apologies at the end of their freshman years unless they did better in that class than I did, not just the grade, they both had to go the entire year without falling asleep in class as well.

Rebecca

Everything I had told Jimmy was true. From here on out it was out of our hands. All we could do was hope that we had followed the right path and that somewhere in our target group was his next victim. I know that sounds bad, but the alternative, that he picked a different girl, was beyond bad. Even if he picked one of our target girls it could be days before we knew what happened. We were down to the wire and we couldn't afford to make any mistakes. Someone's life quite literally depended on it.

"I don't know what else I can do, Rod." We were in his study after Sunday dinner sharing a brandy and going over everything one more time. "Missing persons' reports have a tendency to accumulate at the bottom of the to-do list in most departments."

"That they do," he answered. He took a sip of his brandy and stared down into to the swirling amber liquid. "You've got what; twenty girls on your A-list, in how many cities?"

"Seventeen cities. Most are in major Metro areas, you don't tend to get the kind of competition you need for that kind of talent in rural areas. But there are a few here and there."

"Too many; your top ten, how many cities?"

"Ten."

"Not much better but at least it's a workable number. Of the top ten, any in rural areas?"

"Just one, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking we need to have someone keeping an eye on them."

"No way, Rod, we can't risk it. For one thing, we don't have the available personnel. Besides, this bastard is too damn smart. If he smells trouble he may run and then we lose him completely. How long before he sets up shop somewhere else and does another girl? He's been in three cities hundreds of miles apart already. We didn't even know about any of them because they were single incident, isolated cases. We can't afford to lose him."

"Lose him? Rebecca, he doesn't want you to lose him. Hell, he's been playing with you for over six months. I say he's going to hit somewhere close. If you don't have a chance to catch him then it's no fun for him. Why else would he be feeding you clues?"

"He's not feeding me clues."

"Bullshit! Now I'm tired of playing this game, Bex. You either tell me what the hell has been going on or this conversation is over. How do you know he's not your source?"

"Because I've met my source and it can't be him."

He stared at me for a second and then set his glass down on the desk. I sat patiently and waited for the explosion. It was worse than I expected. Rod leaned forward in his chair and growled, "What do you mean you've met your source?"

I took a deep breath. "Just what I said." I held up my hand. "Rod, it can't be him."

"Who is he?"

"I can't tell you."

He stared hard into my eyes. "Agent Hampton, do not play with me. Right this moment I am not your friend, I am your superior within this agency and I am not asking you to tell me, I am telling you."

"Ask me why it can't be him."

He blew! "Do not tell me what..."

I blew back, "Ask me!"

That shocked him enough to stop him. He sat back in his chair, folded his hands and stared at me.

"Just ask me," I whispered. "Please."

He picked up his brandy and downed the remaining liquor in one swallow. He grimaced as the fiery liquid burned its way down his throat then sucked in air to cool it.

"Why can't your source be the killer?"

"He's fifteen years old."

His jaw dropped. He looked away and shook his head, then he did something I have never seen him do in all the years I have known him. He reached into the desk drawer, pulled out the bottle and poured himself a second drink, setting the bottle back in the drawer and closing it before he turned to me once more.

"This had better be good. I want it all."

"I can't give you much..." He started to lean forward but I put up a hand to stop him. "Rod, you don't understand the risk. The danger he could be in. Just wait a second." I reached in my pocket, pulled out my phone, hit a speed dial and waited.

"Bob, it's me. I've got a problem." Rod's eyes got big but he didn't speak. "I'm at Rod's house. We've been talking about the case. I'm in a jam. I need you to assure him that what I have told him is true."

Bob's voice sounded very flat when he answered, "That depends on what you have told him."

"Don't sound like that, I haven't told him much. He's still convinced that my source is the killer and on the one hand that's good. But we're down to the wire and I need options. I told him my source couldn't be the killer, that he was fifteen years old and he could be in danger if... well, you know."

"That's all you told him?"

"Yes, that's all I've told him." I looked Rod in the eye. "That's all I'm going to tell him. That's why I need you. You need to convince him I'm telling the truth. I'm going to give him the phone now." I handed Rod the phone.

Bob

When my phone rang and I heard Rebecca's voice I thought it was just a routine call. That went out the window pretty much immediately. This was not good.

"This is Samuel Rodriguez, deputy director, United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles Bureau. To whom am I speaking?"

"Director Rodriguez, Rebecca speaks very highly of you. I've been looking forward to meeting you. I'm sorry it had to be this way. My name is Robert Shelby. Doctor Robert Shelby, actually, and everything Rebecca has told you is true. Before I say anything else let me say that the young man in question is a patient of mine and therefore I am very limited in what I can tell you without consulting him first."

"Good evening, Doctor Shelby. Thank you for warning me in advance. What is the nature of your medical relationship with this fifteen year old boy?"

"I am a licensed psychotherapist and he is a patient."

"I see. So how much can you tell me?"

"Not much more than you already know. My patient is a fifteen, well actually sixteen now, year old boy. He came to me some time ago for advice on... a concern he was having. He would not tell me anything about it until I agreed to take him on as a patient and could protect him legally. When he told me what was happening, I understood the nature of his concern immediately and I cannot stress enough that secrecy is the only thing preventing him from being in extreme danger; danger that could easily spread to others around him."

"You can't be serious. You're aware of the nature of Agent Hampton's current case?"

"I'm very serious. As to how aware I am of Rebecca's case, intimately. We talk about it quite a lot. Actually, I've known about it longer than she has."

"Excuse me? You do realize how that sounds?"

I don't think he was ready for what came next. I laughed. "Yes, actually I do. Except that the reason I've known longer is that he told me before he told her. It's a very bizarre tale, but I assure you, my word of honor, sir, that it is the truth." I got very serious after that. "It's been very hard on him. You can't begin to imagine. More than anything in the world he wants to stop this guy before he kills another girl." I took a breath. "We've spoken before you know?"

"I thought your voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't pin it down."

"Sunday morning late last year, before Thanksgiving; I was a little abrupt on the phone."

"Yes you were; you told me someone named 'Jimmy' needed to speak to Rebecca. I recognized it as the name she said her source gave her to use. 'Jimmy' is your patient?"

"Yes sir."

"And he told Rebecca about all this in a dream."

I was silent. Surely she hadn't told him...

"Dr. Shelby?"

"I'm here. How did you know that?"

"She told me about it when she first got involved with the case. Wait a second. That's when she met you, the day after you called."

"Actually, now that you mention it, yes, it was the day after we spoke. That was the first time; the only time in fact, she's ever actually met him. I just happened to be there at the same time."

"And why were you there?"

"Advice. It was a... difficult weekend. Things happened that had to be explained. Rebecca was part of the explanation."

"Explained to whom?"

"His parents."

"His parents? What could she possibly have to explain to his parents?"

"Why she needed his help. For some reason parents don't like the idea of their kids playing around with serial killers. That was also the day we found out about the second and third victims. There were other things I had to help explain to them as well. The most important of which is why no one can know about any of this."

"His parents didn't know?"

"There was no need for them to know. That's how important it is, Sam, until circumstances forced it, he couldn't even tell his parents. It's really that critical that no one know."

"Why?"

"Mr. Rodriquez, before I answer that I need your word of honor that you will never, ever, repeat a word of what we are about to discuss."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I need you, Samuel Rodriguez, to swear to me that you will not ever divulge what I'm about to tell you. Lives quite literally depend on it and I believe you will understand that before we are finished."

"Very well. You have my word."

"First let me tell you that the only reason I can even discuss this with you is because you have prior knowledge. Otherwise, it very much falls under doctor-patient privilege. That being said, how would you feel if a total stranger showed up in your dream and told you he needed your help to stop a serial killer?"

"How would I feel? Are you serious? I wouldn't believe a word of it."

"She didn't either, but he's very convincing. You wouldn't be a little freaked out about the fact that a total stranger walked into your dreams with enough information to convince you that it was really happening? Would that bother you at all? The idea that someone could walk into your very dreams, your most intimate, private, moments?"

"When you put it that way, yeah, it probably would. Actually when you put it that way, it would bother the shit out of me."

"Sam, it would bother the shit out of any rational human being."

"And this puts him in danger?"

"Sam, you work for the government."

"Obviously."

"If you were him and you could do those things, can you think of a single person in the government that you would trust with that information?" Silence; I waited. The empty seconds ticking by seemed to take forever, "Sam?"

A soft voice came back, "Only one."

"Really, I couldn't think of any, which one?"

"The one I'm looking at. Doctor Shelby, Bob, since we're obviously on a first name basis here, you're right, and you've convinced me." I could hear him take a deep breath and let it out. "Listen, Bob, since we're such good friends and all now, how about coming to dinner next Sunday. My wife is dying to meet you. Hell, I've wanted to meet you. Uh-oh, listen don't answer that right now, I'm getting 'the look' from a lady I happen to know is armed. Just talk to her and if she says it's okay, show up. I have to go. And don't worry; short of torture, nothing could get me to repeat any of this."

The line went dead. I hung up and dialed Jimmy's house. We needed to talk. No one answered. I was a little surprised considering it was a Sunday night. But then, it was summer break and there was no school tomorrow. I left a message on the house phone for him to call.

Rebecca

The look on Sam's face as he handed me the phone said it all. He was convinced.

"So it's all real."

I nodded. "I'm sorry, Sam. I couldn't tell you. I promised to help him keep his secret. Did you mean what you said when you told Bob I was the only one you would trust?"

"Yeah, I did. I'm sorry I doubted you. But I don't think this gets us any closer to solving your current problem. You were right when you said we don't have the manpower to have these girls watched. Not without pulling people off of every other ongoing investigation on the west coast. The only thing I can suggest is that we need to tell a few people what's going on. I don't mean the rank and file. But the chiefs in the major metros could put the word out that attention needs to be paid to any missing persons reports that match your target group. All we need is to be advised immediately if someone goes missing. That would at least allow you to get on the trail before it got cold."

"I don't want to give out the names. If anyone passed them down and started watching specific targets it might spook him. I can't afford to lose his trail and try to pick it up cold somewhere else. It could take years before we got this close again, if we ever did."

"Couldn't your boy find him again? For that matter why hasn't he found him now?"

"It's complicated. And forgive me for saying it, but you know too much already."

"I gave my word, Bex."

"I heard you, Rod, but if Washington called you in tomorrow and started asking questions? How far are you willing to go to keep it? Don't answer, I don't want to know, but think about it. Because your word in this case means you don't ask questions."

"So how do you contact him?"

"I don't. He calls me. I had Paul rig a cell phone to be untraceable, or as close as he can make it. I've only seen him the one time. He trusts me, Rod. That means a lot to me."

"Get me a list of cities and I'll start working on a list of who I think we can talk to."

That was something anyway. Now I needed to talk to Jimmy. I was sure Bob was already calling him. I hoped he would call, and I really hoped he would understand. I thought about calling Bob back but I really didn't want to try to explain this over the phone. One of the reasons Rod had made deputy director was because he had an unbelievable memory for stray facts. Along with an uncanny ability to turn random bits and pieces into something that made sense. I'd forgotten about telling him the details of Jimmy's first contact way back when this all started. It was before we met and before I agreed to keep his secret, but considering the stakes, that fact didn't make me feel any better.