Chapter 5

Ahand gently stroked her cheek, then pinched her neck gently. Veni winced and tried to pull away.

“Don’t,” a woman said. “We don’t have much time.”

Veni opened her eyes slowly to see her mother staring at her. It took a moment to understand just how unusual this was. Then they enveloped each other in a tight emotional hug.

Her mother was crying, yet trying to talk through her tears, as she whispered, “We don’t have much time.”

Veni frowned at her. “Time for what?”

“I’ve managed to buy us a few moments together,” she murmured, “but they won’t have patience for long.”

“What do they want?”

“They want us to go back, of course,” she whispered, with a sigh. “Plus they want us to stay there and cooperate and never try this again.”

Veni winced at that. “Are they listening to us right now?”

Her mother’s tone lowered, as she whispered, “I would imagine so.”

Veni looked around, and their guard was leaning against the door, watching the two of them. She couldn’t stop hugging her mother, as she whispered, “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

“No, they didn’t. I’m fine,” she replied. “You?”

She nodded. “I’m fine too. Of course we know that is only a temporary circumstance, unless we agree to cooperate.”

“Exactly.”

She glanced at the guard, who even now was looking around nervously. “Nobody knows?”

“No, I had to bribe him.”

“Of course. At least that’s one thing you can count on over here. Yet you took a big risk,” Veni replied, “and, if he gets in trouble, he’ll ensure that you pay.”

“I know, but I need to know if there’s anything…” Then she stopped.

“Anything I can do?”

“I needed to know that you were okay regardless.”

“I’m fine,” she whispered. She held her mom tight, and, into her hair, she whispered, “I can’t seem to communicate with anyone. Something’s wrong.”

Her mother stiffened, and then her shoulders sagged, as she nodded. “The drugs.”

“I don’t know. I’m… I’m still trying. I was hoping that maybe somebody could find us, if we could leave something behind.”

Her mother stiffened at that, wondering if that were even possible. “I… I’m just grasping at straws here.… I’m feeling a little on the desperate side now.”

“You and me both,” Veni muttered. “I’m working on it, and I’ll keep trying.”

“Remember that you can do way more than you ever thought you could. We’ve proven that time and time again.”

“Maybe, but these aren’t the best conditions to try something like that.”

“It doesn’t matter,” her mom said. “Circumstances like this show you who you really are.” She struggled to meet her gaze, then pleaded, “Can’t you reach out to people you’ve known in the past?”

“I’ve tried,” Veni stated. “One guy I used to play these games with all the time. I’ve reached out to him, but I’m not… Remember? I’m a transmitter, as they call it, and I am not a receiver.”

“Yet surely that has to be two halves of the same thing.”

Veni waved a hand, still keeping her tone low, as she held her mom close. “I understand, yet that isn’t the easiest thing to change on the spur of the moment.”

“No.” Her mom pulled back, hearing the guard, as she looked down at her daughter. “Still, times like this bring out the best in us, and, when we insist on change, it often shows up because we need it to,” she murmured.

Just then, the guard hissed.

She immediately got to her feet and looked down on her daughter with a teary smile. “Stay safe.” And, with that, she walked over to the guard, who quickly led her away.

Absolutely over the moon, having seen her mom and knowing she was doing okay, Veni now had to turn her attention to figuring out how to get out of here. Her mind had possibly been impacted by the drugs, plus her fear for her mother had rendered Veni less proactive as well. That was something she wouldn’t allow to last much longer.

The door closed, and she sank back down. Was anybody watching at this very moment? She wouldn’t take any chances. She closed her eyes, wrapped herself up tight in the blanket, and started sending a message, as strong and clear as she could, about how she needed help, that they needed help. Damned being just a transmitter. If she would be just a transmitter, she would be the best damn transmitter she could be. And not for the first time in her life, she cursed her decision to not develop these abilities, having not seen any future in it. Yet now, all she could see were the advantages of having something like this available to her.

It would help a lot if she had somebody to send the messages to, and the only one she could really reach out to was Reid. Dammit, if he was out there and if he was getting some messages, all the better because maybe he would have the ability to contact somebody and get the word out that they were in trouble.

With that thought in mind, she kept sending as many messages as hard as she could. When she fatigued, she closed her eyes and did it again and then again and again. When a tone slammed into her brain, she froze, looking around wildly, trying to figure out just what she had heard. Yet the door to her room was closed, and nobody was in here with her. Unfortunately her mother hadn’t returned, and even now Veni still had no idea what was going on. But she had surely heard someone.

When that tone slammed in her head again, she froze.

Message received.

Wild and terrified, she looked around, then whispered to the ethers, Seriously?

It came back again. Yes, seriously.

She let out a slow breath. Who are you?

Somebody who can help, the man replied.

She froze at that. Who are you? she asked, bolting to her feet and looking around cautiously.

A friendcame the same tone. People are looking for you. Can you give us any location as to where you are?

That was the next problem. Now that she had contacted somebody, and, God help her, she didn’t know how that worked and didn’t even know who this person was or how they knew she had reached out to Reid. Now she was afraid she had opened up a pathway to somebody who would betray her because that’s what these people did. This was what they wanted from her, a display of her abilities. Had she just unwittingly fallen into their trap? But the calm tone was still there, still waiting for an answer. She whispered cautiously, No, I can’t.

Good enough, he replied. Are you both in decent health?

Yes, she answered again cautiously, wondering whether this was just another test and a trap.

Then in a soothing tone, he added, Stay open. I’ll be back. And, with that, he was gone.

She wanted to cry out for him to come back. The contact with somebody, anybody from the outside world, had risen an unbelievably strong hope within her. Yet what was she supposed to do when there was absolutely nobody here to talk to? Maybe she was just going crazy, and she’d imagined it all. And worse, maybe it was the Russians, who were now over the moon, since Veni had finally reached out, and they had the proof they were looking for on what she could and couldn’t do, something she’d been desperate to hide from them. And yet she’d willingly opened up and told somebody else, some stranger, that she was here. What had she done?

Horrified, she sank back onto the mattress, staring around her, wondering how she could reverse what she’d just done, when the door opened, and one of the guards stepped in, walked around the room, and stared at her with an odd look, before walking away again. That just reminded her that she had to be more careful. She’d bolted to her feet in shock, and now they were in here, looking around to see what she’d seen.

That would surely bring other people in as well, to see what her problem was, to see if she was communicating with anybody. Chances were good they would just knock her out with drugs again, rendering her unable to do anything. And, if this unknown person talking in her head was there to help, it wouldn’t make any difference because Veni couldn’t respond, not once they pumped her full of drugs again.

The door opened again, and two men stepped in, one with a long needle. With tears in her eyes, in a last-ditch effort, she sent a hard message to Reid.

Being drugged and pulled back under. Please find me.

And, with that, she lost consciousness.

*

Reid stared atthe old man screaming at them at the top of his lungs in a language that they didn’t understand, and he wasn’t even giving them a chance to say anything. The old man acted as if they had slighted him in some way. When someone shouted at him, the angry old man turned and glared, but his demeanor changed at the appearance of the second man. The old guy shot another look at Reid and Anders, then turned and went back into his house.

The second man—in some sort of uniform but one Reid didn’t recognize—walked toward them, his tone guttural as he spoke. “You really set him off.”

They shrugged at that. “Sorry, we just pulled into his driveway, and he came out running.”

The other man gave a half smile. “He doesn’t take kindly to strangers.”

“Did I hear something about his car being stolen?’

The other man nodded. “Yes, it was taken a few days ago. That’s another reason why he went off on you,” he replied. “Sorry, unless, of course, you guys took it.”

“No, but we’re interested in who might have.”

“Why?” he asked. “What are you even doing here?” He looked at them suspiciously.

Reid smiled. “We’re looking to find two women who were kidnapped.”

At that, the other man’s eyebrows shot up. “Around here? That’s strange. I haven’t heard of any women missing around here.”

“No, but they were brought here,” Reid clarified, infusing his tone with confidence to confirm the information that he had received energetically with actual fact. Of course they were a long way from having that fact in their heads.

The other man shook his head. “Of course you don’t know from where.”

“Right. No, we don’t, but it brought us here.”

“Good luck with that,” he said, with a note of humor. “This old guy can’t stand anybody, and the last thing he would have done is kidnap two women.”

Reid glanced at Anders, as he asked the newcomer, “What about his vehicle?”

With that question, a curious look crossed the other man’s face. “Now that’s an interesting idea. We really don’t get much theft around here, and his vehicle went missing a few days ago.”

“No sign of it since?”

“No, no sign of it since, which is why everybody is quite pissed off about the whole thing.”

“Of course,” Reid agreed. “And we’re not here to upset him any further.”

“Too late for that,” the stranger noted, with a chuckle, “because you’ve definitely upset him. Yet he upsets easily. Now, if you were to return his vehicle, that would be a whole different story.”

“That might not be possible, but it’s certainly something we would give consideration to, if we had the chance. What can you tell us about it?”

“It’s a small white car. He left it out, as we always leave our vehicles out. However, he’d just had it tuned up, and it was sitting outside, still running because he’d had some problems with the battery. He had planned to take it back to the mechanic and yell and scream at him over that problem. Instead it was stolen, and he thinks the mechanic took it.”

“Ah, right, and I suppose that’s possible too, isn’t it?”

“Everything is possible,” he murmured.

“Don’t suppose you know what the license plate is, do you?”

He looked surprised, but then he nodded. “I do because we were out looking for it to see if it showed up somewhere.” He provided them with the license plate number. “If you find it, I’m sure the old man will talk to you.”

“If it’s linked to our case, we’ll do our best,” Reid replied.

“And if it’s not?”

“If we come across it, we’ll definitely let you know. Vehicles are stolen on a regular basis, it seems.”

“Yes, but not around here, not very often anyway,” the stranger added. “We’re a small town, and nobody cares much. You wouldn’t even be here yourselves, if you weren’t looking for somebody.”

“And the people we’re after wouldn’t have come here unless they thought it was a good place where they could hide these women.”

At that, the other man nodded, with a shrug of acknowledgment. “That’s a good point that I hadn’t considered. Lots of properties are out in the back hills. I personally haven’t seen any newcomers to the area, but, if these women are prisoners, I wouldn’t have, would I?” Then he slid a gaze over the men.

“No, you wouldn’t have,” Reid agreed, with a nod. “Chances are, they’re being kept hidden. And it looks as if there are lots of places around here to do that.”

He shrugged. “My heart goes out to them. Playing games like that isn’t fair to anyone,” he muttered. “And who kidnaps women? I’ve never understood that sort of thing.” At that, he looked around and added, “If you find the car, let us know, and if you don’t, well, that’s just the way life goes.”

“Was it insured?”

He looked back at him and shook his head. “He doesn’t do insurance.”

Reid winced. “Ouch, that makes it harder.”

“It absolutely does, but we can tell people until we’re blue in the face about things like insurance, but it doesn’t seem to change anything.”

“No, it won’t, especially if insurance is yet another cost that most people here can’t afford.”

“Exactly. Thank you.” And, with that, the guy nodded. “I’ll wait here until you leave.”

Reid and Anders shared a glance, then shrugged and got back into their vehicle.

As they pulled out of the driveway, Anders asked, “You want to tell me what that stop was all about?”

“Not sure I can,” Reid admitted cheerfully. “That lead was based on information that came from Langdon, the locator.”

“Right,” Anders replied, “all that turn left business.”

“And yet it pulled us into a property where their vehicle had been stolen recently. I’m passing that information along to the team.”

It didn’t take more than ten minutes of their driving through town, trying to get a lay of the land, before Terk called Reid back. He answered and put the call on Speaker.

“That’s an interesting vehicle,” Terk shared.

“Why?”

“Because, according to a police account, it was found in a ditch not too far from that address.”

“Yet they didn’t contact the owner?”

“It’s apparently in pretty rough shape, and they were thinking that maybe the owner perished in the accident. Honestly the process over there isn’t very fast or very efficient.”

“So, what then? They found the vehicle, but it was totaled?”

“Yes, per the local authorities, but it was stolen, according to you.”

“Correct,” Reid confirmed. “I was hoping that maybe somebody had decided they might need that vehicle to move the two women. Any chance we can look at it?”

“I would suggest you do just that. It’s in a junkyard right now, since deemed as totaled, and no way the owner will get it back. Plus it’s not drivable, so there is that.”

“Right, I wonder if he already knew about all that.”

“That would imply that the other man you spoke to knew about this as well.”

“Yeah, well, interesting how quickly he was on the scene.” He turned to look over at Anders, who was listening in. “And also odd how quickly the old man immediately shut down his yelling and screaming, once he saw this other guy.”

“Right, so maybe his vehicle is something they already know about, and the other man wondered if you guys had taken it or not.”

“That’s possible, or he didn’t care if we had taken it or not, and we were just another likely target. Definitely something weird is going on in this town.”

“Something weird is going on in every town,” Anders noted, with a wry look. “People don’t like strangers and don’t like people interfering.”

“Maybe. I’ll keep you updated, Terk.”

As he put away his phone, he leaned forward, only to have something slam hard inside his head. He sat back, gasping, his body shuddering with the force.

Anders quickly pulled off to the side of the road. “Dude, what’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” he muttered, holding his head with both hands. “Good God, my head’s just booming.”

“And booming isn’t good, I gather.”

Reid frowned at him blankly for a moment. “Could it be somebody trying to contact me?”

“You tell me,” Anders quipped, studying him, with one eyebrow up. “This is one of the strangest missions I’ve ever been on.”

“While I try to figure this out,” he muttered, still gasping with pain, “why don’t you try to figure out what you would do, if you didn’t have me and Terk and Langdon along for the ride.”

“I don’t have them along for the ride,” he replied in a dry tone. “I’m not sure just what all Terk and Langdon have picked up in this corner of the world either, but it doesn’t mean it has anything to do with our case.”

The pounding in Reid’s head increased, then, all of a sudden, a message was emblazoned in his head.

Help! I need help!

He straightened and turned to look at Anders. “It’s Veni,” he cried out. “She’s sending a message for help.”

Anders nodded, as he turned the vehicle back onto the road. “Let’s hope she can tell us something this time.”

“No, she can’t. At least not yet.”

“Of course not.” He shook his head. “I’m beginning to think you guys are hindered by these abilities because, so far, I haven’t seen that it’s of any value against someone who knows what you can do.”

“Not yet maybe, but stick around,” Reid stated, wanting to smile. Yet the pain and the immense amount of energy slamming into his brain was intense. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but wow.”

“Can you get a location? Can you get anything?’

“I’m a receiver. I can receive whatever she’s sending. She’s a transmitter, but she’s only sending that she needs help.”

“Again, not helpful,” Anders muttered, as he headed down to the far end of town and the junkyard.