Chapter 16

Thwack! Thud! Pang! Swish...

"Crap. Missed that last one."

"Well, to be fair," consoled my mother, "I was jinking it awfully hard. The other three weren't sitting ducks and you nailed them pretty solidly."

Letting her targets drop to the ground amid the rare scattering of remaining snow, she floated the four billiard balls back to my range where I guided them into the backpack I was wearing. So far I had collected about three dozen, most of them damaged in some way, picking them up for pennies or for free from various places to include the dumpster behind a pool hall.

"I know I'm getting better, but when push comes to shove I'll have to be dead on if I hope to do any good." We had determined that the small hard spheres had little or no impact on a standard TK shield, but by slamming them, at high velocity, against an attackers face, even with their shields, it could be very disconcerting and distracting. Enough velocity and they could even knock a person off balance, especially if they are being peppered with one right after another. But I went through my ammo pretty quickly that way.

"Your hit percentage is in the upper nineties. Since you can shoot those things right out of your backpack almost like a machine gun, I'd say you'll do fine. What we need to work on is you making and holding a mental connection while you're tossing those things around."

I'd been able to hold a connection to both Tiffany and Kirsten while controlling the bottle, but doing it with even one person while controlling or even throwing several balls had proven difficult.

"Well, that will have to wait," I said, looking at my watch, "I have to get to my self-defense class. You know, the more traditional one."

Yes, despite my advantages, I was still taking classes on how to defend myself the old fashioned way. Mike had joined me and I didn't even have to do any 'convincing.' We were doing some strength training as well. His physiology seemed to take to the training more quickly than mine and though we were both bulking up, he was way ahead of me.

It wasn't just a cover any more. All the cloak and dagger business lately had me concerned. I thought it would be a good idea for both Mike and myself to be, well, at least not total pushovers. I was having some luck convincing Samantha and Tiffany join up as well.

I had questioned my mother about the techniques she had used to avoid detection when she had been captured by Phillip and, using her training and some ideas of my own, I had done what I could to protect my 'normal' friends mentally. They each had been programmed with triggers, much like my mother had been when I first realized my powers, except theirs would trigger a shell personality that would give all indications of being meekly under the thrall of whatever telepath was controlling them. Their true selves, however, would be hidden behind a protective barrier, well, more of a maze really – a maze of random memories that, if not navigated correctly, would lead any visiting 'tourist' in their minds around and away from the "protected" area.

Their true selves would be aware of everything that was going on, watching from the safety of their mental fortresses, but would be unable to override any commands given them until I can get close enough to enter their minds and free them. The upside was that any instructions given to them wouldn't affect their real selves. They didn't know about their protection – the memory of it could not be in their minds.

I wasn't completely satisfied with the results and was determined to revisit the project if I could come up with a better one.

I stood outside the training center, waiting for Samantha to pick me up and enjoying the sunshine. It was the most beautiful spring I had ever experienced – though, in truth, that had little to do with the weather.

Samantha and I had a long talk after Kirsten's party and she agreed that since the worst offenders had been dealt with, there was no more reason to bring girls into the fold so harshly. In fact, we stopped recruiting cheerleaders altogether. Samantha, Tiffany and Kirsten were more than enough even though I wasn't fucking Tiffany anymore – it wasn't fair, in my mind, for me to fuck her while Mike couldn't fuck Sam. Besides, if we kept adding more women there was always the risk of someone getting suspicious and asking too many questions.

I wasn't ready to find out how far I would go to protect my secret in a worst case scenario.

I honestly didn't need any more women, Samantha was nearly insatiable and she was making Kirsten fuck and/or suck me nearly every day – Tiffany was making sure she took care of Mike as well.

Samantha had been serious about not giving up pussy and, while Tiffany and Kirsten were smoking hot and lots of fun, she had had a life before and even though her sex life had been secretive, she had developed relationships and I saw no reason she should cut herself of from people she had previously formed a strong connection with.

Samantha would, on occasion, have one of her former lovers join us. They were already bisexual and all I had to do was make them believe I was good looking because, let's face it, I am no Brad Pitt.

What we had done to Kirsten had changed her in a profound way. Her repeated humiliations and servitude had somehow made her more pleasant during her normal day to day interactions, and not just with us. She was now a wonderful girl brimming with confidence and good cheer. Samantha was even thinking about dropping the slave routine and just keeping her around as a friend with benefits since, in her opinion, " ... she was just too damned hot to not fuck her."

We discussed it as she drove me home from self defense class and I was in a pretty good mood about, well, pretty much everything, until we got to my house.

"I don't care whether you fuck her or not," Samantha was saying as we made our way into the kitchen, "cause I'm gonna keep..."

She stopped when she saw what I had seen immediately upon entering my back door. My mother was sitting at the kitchen table, her face was ashen and she looked like she was in shock. There was a "throw away" cell phone in front of her.

"Mom?"

She didn't respond.

"Mom, are you okay?" I gave her shoulder a little shake that time. It did the trick.

"Oh, Jake, I didn't hear you come in."

"What's the matter?

"I got a call from one of guys in Cincinnati. The leadership council that Alek had gone there to participate in was betrayed by someone on the inside. It's been decimated in a raid by Phillip's people. Only a few of them got away and not everyone's turned up or been otherwise accounted for. No word on whether or not Alek was taken. He wasn't among the dead so there's still hope."

Her level anxiety was far higher than I would have expected over the loss of even a good friend.

"I'm sorry, mom. I hadn't realized what he meant to you."

She looked at me, puzzled, then with realization.

"It's not that." She said, "We're just friends – good friends, but nothing more. He knows about you, Jake. If he's captured alive I doubt he'll be able to resist for long ... there will be too many of them. He'll tell them everything. Your unique abilities will make you a prime target – half of those bastards will want to study you, the other half will want to kill you just for having the audacity to be different."

She looked up at me then over at Samantha.

"I'm sorry, but we have to disappear, at least until we know what happened to Alek, maybe forever."

"I understand," I said, "but we can't leave Samantha and her mother here. He knows how much Sam means to me and if they can't get to me they'll go after her knowing I would never abandon her to them. Likewise, if she's not around they may go after her mother in order to flush her out. Whatever we do, they have to go with us."

"We'd have to let Beth in on our secret." She said, concerned. "I'm not crazy about that, but you're right, leaving them behind would put them at risk." She turned to Samantha. "Is your mother home? If not, we'll need to go to her. We have to move fast, it's possible that Alek has already been broken and they could be on their way here right now."

"She won't be home for a couple of hours, and I'm not entirely sure where she is. She's already left work and I know she planned on paying some bills and running a few errands. She could be anywhere."

"But at least she's safe," I pointed out, "if we can't find her neither can they, and with your help we have a better chance of catching up to her. Don't call her yet, no need to make her worry." I looked back to my mother. "Should we take time to pack?"

"Just basic necessities. One bag. We'll get our stuff here and then go with Sam to get her stuff and a bag for Beth. We have to accept that we may never be able to come back."

"Wouldn't it be faster if I went and packed while you guys got your stuff together?" Asked Samantha.

"NO!" My mother and I said in unison.

"As long as there's a threat," I said, "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"He's right," said my mother, "we stay together, all of us..."

Just then, the throw away on the table rang. My mother snatched it up.

"Hello?"

The relief that flooded her face told me who was on the other end before she even said it.

"Alek! We heard about the raid and have been worried. Nobody knew anything about what happened to you ... What?..." Her face had look of confusion. "How did you get there? ... Oh ... what? ... I could be there in, fifteen minutes ... What about Jake? ... Okay, just sit tight and I'll be there."

"That was Alek," she said as she folded the phone, "he managed to slip away from the raid and he's back in town. He wants me to meet him out at the Motel Six – It could be he's injured and doesn't want anyone else to see him. I'm going alone." She looked at me and saw that I was about to protest, "I'll bring him back here, obviously he's not too banged up to travel. You two just stay here and wait for us."

"What about the packing?" Samantha asked, "I take it this means we don't have to worry about being found out."

"Did he say how he got away?" I asked, "I mean, could someone have followed him?"

"Exactly why I'm going alone. I think it's just a little odd that he didn't come straight here. He may suspect he's been followed. So, just in case, I'll check around before making contact – if everything's kosher, we'll come back here. We can put the packing on hold for now."

With that she stuffed the cell phone in her purse, checked to make sure she had her keys and purposefully strode out the door.

We watched her pull out of the driveway, then Samantha put her arm around me, "This shit is real, isn't it? I mean ... we were really gonna just pack a bag and disappear?"

"I'm sorry. But, yeah, this shit is real – and we still might have to vanish. If we get discovered by Philip and his cronies, it'll mean death for me and my mom, and probably death for you too ... if you're lucky. You'd more likely end up as a plaything for twisted sexual gratification ... I don't want think about what that fucker would put you through."

"We probably won't hear anything for a few hours, maybe we should wait over at my house ... just in case. I'm sure your mom will be back with Alek in tow and everything will be fine, but it couldn't hurt to hedge our bets."

I turned to look at her, "that's a good idea."

"You don't have to sound so surprised."

"It's not that ... I just ... you haven't ... crap, is there any way out of this for me, you know, without shoving my foot deeper into my mouth?"

She laughed playfully, "Only by you shoving something that isn't your foot, into something that isn't your mouth."

We quickly made our way through the back yards and into Samanth's kitchen.

"Speaking of twisted sexual gratification," she said, thoughtfully, "your mom won't be back for a while and it just occurred to me that this is the first place we had sex ... sort of ... but neither of us really enjoyed it ... you know ... if you don't count the fact that you came."

"Then we should rectify that. Do you want to get up on the table or the counter?"

"Neither – you were wounded, out of it and sitting in that chair. So you sit down and let me play nurse."

I quickly spun the chair around and sat. she straddled me and began to gyrate to unheard music, giving me a very erotic show. My cock started to swell, still trapped inside my clothing.

She pulled her shirt up over her head, allowing me to see her lovely swollen chest, barely covered by a thin green lace bra that matched her eyes.

She pulled my head into the soft resilient mounds, mimicking one of the actions that had gotten me so fevered that day ... that day all this had started ... that day Thad had unknowingly unleashed my power.

Time slipped by as I received my impromptu lap dance. I was about to open my trousers and relieve the painfully twisted cock that wanted so desperately to be straight and hard when my phone rang.