Chapter 4

"What do you think?" Lisa asked Bobby as he poured over the print outs documenting the battery of tests that had just occupied the past few hours.

"Well, there's not much. No unusual blood chemistry, nothing odd on your EEG – you are exceedingly normal in all the usual ways."

"So what's next, professor?"

"I'd like to get you in for an MRI. We have a subtly different brain construction than normal humans, nothing noticeable unless you were looking for it. But that's going to take some time to arrange, damn it. I'm dying to see which one your structure matches more closely, normal human or those with the ability."

"You aren't going to get impatient and try dissection are you?"

Bobby looked up at her with a grin, "Depends, are you armed?"

"Dork."

"Seriously though, you say you have always had a certain, intuition, especially when it came to telling if a person was lying or not. That makes me think you are more like us than anyone ever thought. Yet, strangely, you can pick up whatever commands are sent your way."

"Why is that strange?"

"Because those of us with the ability can't. I could try all day to influence Walter, or even someone with a weaker ability, like the guy you're looking for, and they wouldn't get a thing – I mean they wouldn't have the slightest idea what I was trying to tell them to do unless I said it out loud."

He moved over to a more comfortable chair.

"You sit over there on the couch, I want to try some things."

"Sure, what are we doing?"

"We are going to find out exactly how you resist the ability."

Bobby then sent her a series of commands. Nothing suggestive, simple things like trying to get her to pick up a book, make her thirsty enough to get a drink, or try to make her forget the previous five minutes. Each exercise was followed by a thorough debriefing exploring what she felt, how she knew the impulse was not her own and how she was able to avoid complying.

"I'd like to do some follow up testing with you and a couple normal human types, just to verify, but I think I've got a decent theory to work with."

"Am I going to live?"

"It's nothing life threatening..." began Bobby, then he looked up and saw her grin. "Nobody likes a smart ass." He said with a grin of his own. Then he continued. "What I think is that there are really two types of abilities, different, yet based on the same phenomena. Those like Walter and I are transmitters, we can send out thoughts and emotions to anyone we focus on and influence them. You, on the other hand, are a receiver. You pick up thoughts and emotions from anyone you focus on."

"Not thoughts. I don't know what someone is thinking."

"You have to be. Probably at a very low level because you've never been trained or practiced, but it's there. Otherwise your lie detector trick wouldn't work. I wonder if that's something you could work on. Maybe we could bring it up a level or two. That would really make you devastating in the interrogation room."

"I don't know. I've been pretty critical of some of the ways you guys use your abilities. It would be sort of hypocritical of me to start honing what I have in order to pry into other people's minds."

"Hey, with any ability there are good guys and bad guys. Walter and I try to be among the good guys with our ability, I have no doubt you'd be one of the good guys with yours."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but you know, there's that whole 'power corrupts' deal and..."

"Is everyone decent?" came a pleasant call from the door as Rachel breezed in accompanied by the heavenly aroma of Popeye's Chicken. "If you guys were naked I'd join in, but since you have your clothes on I'm almost afraid to interrupt – it means your working."

"I was just leaving." laughed Lisa, standing up and grabbing her jacket.

"You sure? I have plenty, if you're hungry."

"No thanks," she said with a brief one-armed embrace, "good to see you again, though. See you later, Bobby."

She noticed the evening had grown brisk but the cold didn't bother her as much as the idea of a mind reading detective churning in her mind.

Though it did have possibilities.

The next morning ushered in another warm day so Lisa decided that, since it was just surveillance, she would dress for the weather. The only nod she gave to the fact she was working were the tennis shoes she wore. Other than that, brief shorts and a halter would help keep her cool and get her started on her tan. As she did her make up and tied her blonde hair into a pony-tail, she realized she was dressing for Walter as much as to take in some sun. There was no more denying that she had feelings for him.

She stuffed more work-like clothes into a duffel along with other equipment and went out to her car.

She was half way to the stake out when her phone rang. She dug it out of her bag.

"Lisa? It's Walter. The council wants me to meet with them this morning so I'll be a little late. Sorry."

"How late is 'a little late'?"

"I'll be there by noon, I promise."

"I guess I can handle two hours on my own. I'm looking forward to seeing you, Walter."

"That sounds like a good thing."

"It is, so I'll see you later."

"Take care, remember, wait for me, no shooting or cutting off of peckers until I get there."

"Deal." She chuckled, and hung up.

After buying a latte she saw that the bench she'd used before was empty and in the sun so she took her position, trying to appear as though she was just relaxing in the warmth while her sunglasses masked her scanning of the courtyard.

She'd been at it for over an hour and a half when she was overwhelmed by a feeling of confusion. Even though she had been caught flat footed, she recognized it and tried to fight it off, but it was difficult trying to gather her scattered wits. She looked at her drink and couldn't remember what it was called, she was thinking of it as 'one of those coffee thingies'. There were a handful of seagulls perched on a trash can but she couldn't figure out exactly how many there were. She was even having a hard time recalling her name. Through her haze she realized that she must have been spotted. Her cover was blown and Freddie was trying to subjugate her.

A man she didn't recognize sat down beside her. She could feel that she was supposed to find him irresistibly attractive. She struggled to think of what to do and in desperation she decided to play along until she could think clearly again. With great effort. She kept her face expressionless.

"Wow, you're fucking hot. Freddie's gonna like you. How would you like to go for a ride with me, baby?"

Her cover hadn't been blown, he was picking her up! He was trying to turn her into some kind of mindless bimbo sex slave.

She tried to think what a brain dead bimbo would say. She decided on the simplest course – she went with the flow.

She giggled. "Okay, you're cute."

They got up and walked across the courtyard. As they approached the trash can four seagulls took flight.

Four! She thought. There were four seagulls. The fucker now belonged to detective Lisa Benson.

He was pulling out of the parking lot when her confidence drained and her stomach turned cold. In her confusion, she had left her bag in the courtyard. Her badge, gun, knife and cell phone were all in it. She had nothing but her brief outfit and quickly returning wits.

She considered jumping out as soon as he slowed, but she couldn't make a run for it, she had to know where he was taking her.

"My name is Tommy," he said, "and yours is ... Brandy. I like Brandy."

"My name isn't Brandy," she said, raising her voice a couple of octaves and throwing in a confused lilt, "My name is ... is ... gosh, I don't what my name is. I guess Brandy is as good as any."

"It's not Brandy yet, you have to earn your name. But in the meantime," he said with a grin, "How about a little preview?"

She felt an urge to show him her tits. The inner struggle was brief as she knew she had to act the part.

Giggling, she pulled up her halter to give him a good look at her large, firm breasts. She allowed the urges she was feeling to swell the nipples but found she could deny the rest of the desire she was supposed to have and there was no reaction from her pelvic region.

Leering, he unzipped his pants and pulled out his penis.

"Why don't you hold on to that until we get home."

Choking back the bile, and forcing another giggle she followed the urge where it led, wrapping her hand around his rigid member she began tugging.

She was relieved when he pulled into a parking lot without having cum. At least she didn't have to deal with that.

He got out of the car and she followed, obeying his orders as she felt them coming.

They walked into a four story walk up and began climbing stairs.

"You're the best one we got yet. Freddie's gonna be so jealous I found you. You're hotter than that redhead he scored."

There was no way in hell she was going into their apartment. She was skilled at hand to hand combat but there would be two men and despite what happens in the action movies, when a hundred pound woman hits a two hundred pound man they don't generally drop like a sack of potatoes – she would need maneuvering room that is hard to come by with multiple adversaries. Besides, they might have weapons and it sounded like they had other girls who may pitch in on the side of their 'masters'. It was time to go. She waited until he stopped in front of an apartment door on the third floor and fumbled for keys. Walter had said that these guys didn't have strong abilities so she wanted to make it look good. She hoped he would think he got distracted looking for the apartment key and let his control slip.

Putting her hand to head she staggered.

"What's happening? What are you doing? What am I doing?"

He looked up at her, startled.

"Relax baby..."

"Don't 'baby' me, you asshole!" She shoved him hard and ran for the stairs. He was right behind her as she leapt down the three flights. As she pushed open the door he grabbed her arm but all that did was get him an elbow in the solar plexus.

She sprinted down the street, ignoring the apathy and lethargy he was trying to overwhelm her with and easily outpacing her abductor. He gave up chasing after about a block. She kept running until she found an open diner. She went in and breathlessly approached the man behind the counter.

"May I use your phone, please?"

His eyes made a slow journey down her shapely, scantily clad, body and back up.

"Local call?"

"Yes."

"You gonna order something?"

She knew without a badge that convincing him she was a cop would take longer than simply going along so, digging in the tight pocket of her shorts, she found the change from her latte. Glad now she had paid with a twenty, she ordered a cup of coffee.

"Can I use the phone now?" she asked as he put the coffee in front of her.

"Sure."

He pulled a cordless handset out from under the counter and handed it to her.

"Don't run off with that." He warned.

She dialed Walter's number.

"Hello?" He answered after the first ring.

"Walter, it's Lisa."

"Thank God! Are you alright? I found your purse in the courtyard and I've been crazy ever since. I've even got Bobby on his way down. Where are you?"

"I'm fine. Freddie's partner tried to take me as one of their sex slaves, I know where they are but we've got to move fast. They'll probably bug out since I escaped. I'm at a diner in Ferndale on Channing, it's only a couple of blocks from their apartment on West End. Grab my duffel out of my car before you come."

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

Tommy rushed into the apartment, "Freddie, we got a problem!"

"Not now! Help me with this fucker."

Tommy blinked and looked over to where Freddie was staring. The was a large man in a suit standing blank-faced holding what looked to be a set of lock picks.

"Let's get him to the kitchen and figure out what to do with him."

Tommy added his ability to Freddie's and they easily guided the intruder to the kitchen and had him sit down.

"Who are you and why were you breaking into our apartment? You are ordered to answer honestly."

"My name is Jim Zeigler, I am head of security for the company Xavier Lopez worked for. I came here looking for any blackmail materials you may have had on him."

"Blackmail? What blackmail? And how did you find us?"

"The blackmail that made him rob that bank. I was following that detective when your partner met with her and brought her here. When they ran off, I thought the place would be empty, and came in."

Freddie looked at Tommy, "Detective?"

"Ah shit, I didn't know she was a cop."

"You didn't know 'who' was a cop?"

"The broad I picked up, you shoulda seen her, blonde, body to die for, she was amazing!"

"Tommy! Focus! What the fuck happened?"

"She broke my control just before I brought her in here, I tried to catch her but she was too fast for me."

"She didn't break your control, she was never under your control! She was an enforcer!"

"No way, she was responding to my unspoken commands, I know she was – so she couldn't have been one of us."

"Either way, she'll be back, with help. Start packing, but first we have to give Mr security here his commands. At least we have someone handy to deal with the girls."

"Which one are we taking with us?"

"None of 'em! We don't have time. Now, help me give this guy his instructions and go tie up the girls while I get the bags from downstairs."

Walter entered the diner carrying Lisa's duffel. He stopped, eyes wide at the vision of sexy beauty that greeted him.

"Damn! No wonder he took you, that's some outfit."

"No time for that now," she said taking her bag and heading for the bathroom. She stopped just before entering and looked back, "But, thanks."

She was back out in four minutes wearing loose fitting jeans, a sweatshirt and a light jacket to cover her sidearm.

"I liked the other outfit better."

"That's sweet of you to say but, we got work to do. Let's go."

They walked rapidly back along her previous path.

"He mentioned that I was just their last acquisition. There are probably other girls in the apartment. Will they be a problem?"

"At the level of ability they're operating at, once they're dead the girls will eventually get their own minds back. The longer they have been subjected, the longer it will take. Anyone just taken will probably snap right out of it. We can have Bobby take care of them, I told him where we're going. He's on his way."

They entered the apartment building and carefully, but quickly ascended the stairs. Pausing briefly in front of the door to make sure they were both ready, Walter tried the knob and to his surprise, he found it turned. They swung open the door and strolled in.

"Going somewhere fellas?" Asked Walter.

The two men had several bags on the floor and were busy stuffing money into a couple of back packs. They jumped up as Walter and Lisa entered.

Lisa had her badge out. She hadn't drawn her gun as they had hoped not to use firearms.

"Look Freddie, it's that broad I was telling you about. Shit, she is a cop."

"The one you couldn't handle. I've got this – back me up." His eyes squinted with concentration, "Pretty lady, you're gonna take out your gun and kill the man with you, then yourself."

Lisa felt the extremely powerful urge to do what he said, but easily squelched it and smiled at Freddie.

"Now, why in the hell would I want to do that?"

Freddie and Tommy looked at each other.

"See? I knew it wasn't just me." Said Tommy.

"No matter," said Freddie, he raised his voice, "Mr. Zeigler, a little help please."

A movement from the kitchen door drew her eye. Jim Ziegler came out holding a gun in his hand. His movements were stilted, but even as Lisa drew her weapon, she knew she wouldn't make it in time.