Chapter 13

Colins was ranting again. "This has to be Knox. I always knew she was a common thief. I'm going to make her pay. Nobody can do this to me."

After half an hour, Andrew came toward him and said, "Knox was robbed the same way when she went out to fight. They robbed her blind. The figure we got was sometimes 800 million to a billion dollars. She claimed it was the kids that read her mind."

Colins thought about this for a few seconds and said, "I changed the numbers on the accounts daily. You said my shield is good. You said that even you can't go through it."

Andrew said, "I can't but those kids have had the drug longer than I have. They have more experience as well."

"So they can get past my shield!"

Andrew wanted to back up and even leave the house but some situations had to be faced. "I have no idea. We can track them because they can't block us from following."

"They took my money. I want them dead. Why the hell would Knox take them back?"

"I don't know that, Sir. Knox is acting peculiar. She won't associate with the ordinary people. She was actually in Kensington Market today."

Again there was a pause. It was so hard to think when he wanted to kill with his bare hands. "Maybe they found a way to control her?"

"That's possible. She's too old to change much. From what I know of her she would fight to the end."

Rage flared again. Killing Knox with his bare hands would be so easy now. Those kids were just her experiments. They survived and turned against their master. They had to die and slowly if possible. "Were they better than you or just lucky. Nobody caught them."

"They were caught and we got one. They had help to get away. It was all a plan to lure us into a bad position and finish us off."

"There were other times."

"They went up against Carstairs' people. They never knew what to expect. Its easy to get away if you can read the opposition's mind."

"They got away from Knox' people."

"We weren't trained. We had to react to what they did but they could act anyway they wanted. How else could they shoot down a goddamned helicopter? They could shoot to kill but Carstairs and Knox' people had to capture them alive. They're smart and vicious."

"I want my money back."

"You have to capture some alive if you want that."

"We can use the gas tonight."

"It's raining, Sir. The gas wouldn't work. You'd just warn them of your intentions."

"That's it! They knew what we were preparing to do and attacked."

The double doors burst open and Carstairs group entered. A dumfounded servant didn't know what to make of their impropriety. Carstairs said, "We have to talk, now!"

The doors were closed by the last men and they took up defendable positions around the room. Colins' rage had been bottled up until now. They had burst into his home and into his room. "What's all this about Carstairs?"

Carstairs looked around the room for witnesses and said explosively, "We were robbed. All of us were robbed. That witch or whatever said that the name of the person responsible was in ACSII code. Your name was what we found, Colins."

Colins was already standing and raced forward to confront this lowborn. "I was robbed of everything as well. It was either Knox or those kids. They did it to Knox before when they left a year ago."

"Even if that's true are you going to reimburse us? It was your enemies that did this to us. I lost nearly five million. I can't take that kind of hit and neither can the men."

"I just told you, fool, that they took everything I had too."

"You have a house and stock. You're still very wealthy."

Colins had difficulty with this. He wanted to blurt out that they were on their own but if he did that he could kiss their help goodbye. "The people we're after have all our money. Let's get it back from the ones who stole it instead of fighting among ourselves?"

"When we go against them we take casualties. Your gas idea won't leave anybody left to get our money."

"Then capture one of them."

"We tried that. They seem to know exactly what we're doing."

Colins and Andrew looked guilty enough to admit that they knew. Colins said nothing so Carstairs said, "What the witch said was too accurate. Can she read minds for real?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Don't try and stall. Answer the question. This man we captured has been near you since we met. He looks around and smiles at odd times. Tell me straight out, can he read minds? Is that how we were robbed so easily?"

The pack was coming. Herb, Kim, and I were the closest at what we hoped was the limit of Andrew's reach. I wanted to see what was in Colins' head but his block was up. I could try harder but this may alert Andrew. The need to know was too great and I tried harder.

Andrew tried to drift to one side but two men shifted to make sure he didn't get far.

"They were lucky, that's all."

"Like hell that's all. I spent the last forty minutes thinking about that woman. She's crazy but she told the truth. Knox' people were not tracking them with a transponder but with their minds. I searched their car. There was nothing odd in it.

"You acted like it was Christmas when you got the pills those people had. You got rid of the bodies of the last three people but kept the brains. We know you gave them the drug."

Colins thought furiously. There were few avenues left. "Ok, you're right. The drug is dangerous. Apparently it adversely effected an even higher proportion before. In a decade or two it may be reasonably safe to use."

I pushed harder. Andrew's block had gone up as high as it could. Some data was coming through but not enough. I needed more strength and our union wasn't enough. I reached into my pocket and immediately Herb put his hand on my shoulder. "I'll take it."

"Thanks, honey, but I was going to take it one time or another. It may as well be now."

He held me with two hands. I could feel his fear and the fear of everybody in the pack. "Don't take it. We can find another way."

"We have a chance to wrap this up once and for all. I have to do it."

Kim said, "I can take the pill."

"And the burst it gives you is minimal."

I opened the foil pouch. Both of the people I loved wanted desperately to stop me. I was pack leader though and probably now the strongest empath in the pack. I had not increased in the last few weeks. This I attributed to reaching some sort of mental plateau.

I looked at Kim and especially Herb. He was the one that was nearly falling apart from what I was doing. He was going to jump me so the pill went in my mouth quickly and I swallowed. He stopped in mid stride and just held me.

The drug took time to work so we went back to eavesdropping on the tableau in Colins' home.

Andrew blurted out, "They're all around us."

Carstairs turned his head quickly. "Who?"