Chapter 31: Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Jake tossed on the bed again, awakened from a shallow sleep by yet another siren.

“C’mon, Jake. Go to sleep,” Shannon mumbled.

Jake rolled out of bed. It was three a.m. and he was exhausted. But with the strange bed and the strange place, his sleep was fitful. He got himself a drink of water and stared out the window into the night. There was still a lot of activity down at the ground level. Traffic noise seeped in through the window. He had to get some sleep. He went to the bathroom to pee and then crawled back into bed with Shannon.

“Time to get up,” Shannon said brightly, shaking his arm. “It’s already nine o’clock.”

Jake groaned. It felt like he had just fallen asleep.

Shannon pulled him upright.

“Take a shower. Then we’ll get some breakfast. A cup of coffee will bring you around.”

“I hate coffee,” he said.

“Then have one of those caffeinated sugar water things you drink. But I’m not wasting the whole morning watching you snore.”

“I don’t snore.”

“You just keep telling yourself that.”

Jake sat down with a sigh. His feet were sore from walking for hours through the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What was it with his women and art? Why couldn’t they just take in a day game at the new Yankee Stadium? He had checked. The Tigers were in town for a four-game series.

Jake was seated in the same booth in the same bagel shop he and Shannon had sat in the previous afternoon. He set a large Coke and a bagel on a stick onto the table. The bagel was just a prop, but he needed the Coke. He had been tired all day. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to doze off right there in public.

Jake forced himself to focus on Shannon. She was walking through the front door of Bacon’s office building. Jake sighed in relief when the security guard ignored her.

Shannon went straight to the elevator which she rode to the sixth floor as they had agreed on ahead of time.

I’m going to pop into the ladies’ room, she sent, and scan from there.

Jake followed her mind as she went in. The restroom was empty. Shannon stepped into a stall and closed the door.

I feel like I’m violating your privacy, he sent.

You know you can watch me go potty anytime you want. Now hush a minute. I’m going to scan.

Jake took a sip of his drink and checked the time — 2:45. Plenty of time to check things out before the conference call.

I’m still too far away, Shannon sent. I’m topping out at the twentieth floor. I need to go higher.

She left the restroom and went into a stairwell. It was hot and stuffy in there. At each landing, she stopped and cast out for Bacon’s office again. She was satisfied with her reception when she got to the eighth floor. She left the stairwell and made her way to the restroom. Jake left her alone while she surveyed the 21st floor.

There’s a lot going on up here, she sent finally. There’s an accounting section, a security section, a data processing and telecommunications group, people responsible for PR, plus a unit that develops and acquires new businesses. There are some executive types who oversee everything. The security operation is huge. Some people investigate and report on other mind readers. Others look for press and government interest in telepathy. There is a team devoted to you, Jake. They know about Diana’s. They are gathering information about everyone who lives with you, except the servants, thank God. They suspect you are responsible for your father’s disappearance but don’t have any direct evidence of it.

By the way, Shannon continued, it’s a good thing that you haven’t entered the building. They have cameras installed in the lobby, the 21st floor, and the penthouse, and people are monitoring them. They take their security very seriously here. They don’t know whether you survived the assassination attempt, and the security people are worried about retaliation.

That was too close, Jake sent. I would have just wandered into full view of their cameras if you hadn’t talked me out of it.

Just goes to show that you can listen when you have to.

Any sign of Bacon, smart ass?

Every bloody place. They revere him like a god here.

I mean the man himself.

No, Jake, but he may be on the top floor. When I’m finished scanning the 21st floor, I’ll climb up another story and check out the penthouse. I’m pretty sure there is someone up there, but the impressions I’m getting are just too vague to be sure. Now, be quiet a few minutes while I look more closely at the security section. There may be a problem.

Jake took a bite of the bagel and fretted. The good news was that Shannon seemed safe at the moment. He was also pleased with how self-possessed she was. Hell, she was cheeky. The danger was making her randy. That tart attitude was how she behaved when she was trying to provoke him to discipline her. He would have to be sure to use her hard when they got back home. It was a delight for both of them that he didn’t have to fake being a dom anymore

Here’s trouble, Jake. I’ve been reading one of the security guys. He’s Bacon’s liaison with underworld enforcers. He’s prepared a proposal that Bacon plans to put before the Council today. He wants to put out a contract on you. He figures he can get some high quality hit men interested.

Jake’s stomach clenched up.

This is going to be a real problem, Shannon sent. Unlike Wise, these guys are skilled killers. The security guy thinks this is what they should have done about you from the beginning. Boris has always said that the ... Hold it, Jake. Something’s happening. Shannon paused. Guess what? God just arrived. It’s like someone kicked a fire ant mound. These people are all stirred up. For their sakes, I hope Bacon doesn’t show up often. They’d never get any work done.

Less editorial. More narrative. What’s he doing?

Hold on. Another pause. Okay, I see. He’s here to collect his bodyguards. He’s about to step out for a business appointment.

Jake almost laughed out loud. Shannon had the right idea. He sent her encouragement. She kept her monologue about shoes going, moving to her hosiery when she ran out of things to say about her shoes. If Bacon chanced on her mind, the surface thoughts would be decidedly uninteresting.

Then Jake had a sobering thought. Bacon was going to come into Jake’s range, too. Did Jake have time to get away before the elevator got to the ground floor? He didn’t know for sure.

Suddenly Bacon came in range. That kind of arrogance couldn’t belong to anyone else. Yes, it had to be him. He was reading the minds of his bodyguards, verifying their loyalty. No time for Jake to run now. Besides, this was an unexpected opportunity. If they were going to bring in a professional killer, Jake didn’t have the luxury to wait for the ideal circumstances to ambush him.

Bacon’s elevator passed the third floor. He would be able to read Jake momentarily. Jake didn’t have enough time to construct a good loyalty control. He shoved a fast and dirty intuitive control into him instead. The elevator door opened.

Ah, Lord Bacon, it’s nice to finally meet you, Jake sent. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jake Fielding.

Jake felt Bacon freeze just outside the elevator. Bacon experienced surprise, then terror, and finally acceptance. After all, he owed Jake his allegiance.

I am at your disposal, Mr. Fielding.

Wait where you are for a minute.

Yes, sir.

Jake constructed a permanent loyalty control in him and installed it. He erased the intuitive control.

Bacon lurched into motion again. He had stood stock still for about 15 seconds and his guards were getting concerned. He reassured them that all was well. They walked through the lobby, out the door, and into a waiting car.

Jake sagged.

I think that’s that, he sent to Shannon. We have a dinner date, by the way.

Jake ate more of the bagel, drank part of his Coke, and relaxed. He hadn’t realized that his presence on the mission would make it that much more dangerous. Well, all’s well that ends well. They now had the Council 40% wrapped up.

Jake called Carol.

“Hey, boss,” she said. “How are things in the Big Apple?”

“Why do they call it that? There’s nothing apple-like that I can see.”

“Have you looked it up on Wikipedia?”

“No. I never thought about it before you mentioned it.”

“I’ll look it up when I get a free moment. That way you won’t have to obsess about it when you should be off doing battle.”

“That’s why I called. The battle’s over.”

“Do tell.”

“Shannon and I are at Bacon’s office building. He came on us unexpectedly. The safest thing was to take control of him before he could detect us.”

“Good. The Boston and D.C. teams plan to be in place for the four o’clock conference call. Ellen and Alice report that Greenlee’s offices in Philadelphia are located on grounds with walls that are too far away to read from a public place. Their current plan is to case Greenlee’s residence tonight and see if they can ambush him there.”

“Next time you talk to them tell them I said to be careful. I couldn’t handle losing either of them.”

“You’re soppy, you know that? But I’ll let them know.”

Jake rang off and checked in with Shannon.

Jake noticed that Bacon had returned and was walking through the lobby.

Jake decided to not correct Bacon’s misperception but Bacon sensed something and read Jake.

Jake turned his attention back to Shannon.

Anything else? he sent.

Shannon relayed the call from Bacon’s perspective. He was sitting in front of a desktop computer looking at four different windows on two different monitors. He was wearing a headset with a microphone and leading the conversation.

“Any old business?”

“What’s happened with that boy in Texas?”

Who asked that? Jake sent.

Jake sensed Shannon reading Bacon. That’s Greenlee.

“I just got off the phone with an investigator in Miami,” Bacon said. “Wise left a week ago yesterday. He hasn’t been heard from since. He made no arrangements for his staff to get in contact with him.”

“He can’t afford a cell phone?”

Who? Jake sent.

That was Michael Dixon, Shannon sent, the Council member in D.C.

He was a handsome, middle-aged black man, Jake saw from the image on the computer screen.

“The lack of a phone may be the least of his problems.”

Who?

That was Boston, John Murphy, Shannon sent.

He was a young man, maybe not yet 30.

“We have to assume he failed,” Greenlee said. “The boy is dangerous.”

“You might be right,” the only woman said. “But there’s no reason to make assumptions. We should rely on intelligence sources on the ground.”

That had to be Tonya Burgess, Jake thought, the mind reader that Jan had taken control of in Cleveland.

“We have a private investigator looking at Fielding,” Bacon said. “I asked him to see if he could find out about Miami. He’s come up with a complete blank.”

“We have a telepath who’s missing,” Murphy said, “and the boy looks to be unmanageable. We need to act right away. It’s time to send in an experienced telepath to figure out what’s happening.”

“You mean another experienced telepath,” Dixon said. “Who do we have who would do better than Wise?”

“Wise has done nearly 20 jobs for me,” Greenlee said, “but accidents can happen. We still need to ferret out the truth. We need to send in someone who will be careful.”