“Nothing. We never made any real progress. When the cold war ended, the government cut our funding. Bowdler was the one who suggested we could form a private company. He realized he was at a dead end in his Army career. He wanted to be a general some day. They wanted him to go away. But the military was happy to fund our research, even if there was only a small chance we’d ever find anything.”
“But when I got caught, they had the bank photos. That had to be connected with the FBI.”
Thurston nodded. “Just because we aren’t part of the government doesn’t mean they don’t cooperate with us. All the agencies share information with us. When the FBI got involved with the bank case, they didn’t even notice you on the video. But the officer who investigated the case marked it as ‘unexplained’ so the file came to us. We took a lot closer look at all the surveillance material than anyone else had. They weren’t looking for psi. We were. Well, I was. Bowdler didn’t really believe.”
“He didn’t believe?” Flinch asked, stepping up to the bars next to me.
Thurston shook his head. “He was a total skeptic.”
Behind me, Martin said, “Someone’s upstairs.”
“How do you know?” Flinch asked. “You suddenly develop new powers?”
“Nope. I heard a thump. But from the way they’re stumbling around, I think my idea turned out to be brilliant. And I sense an apology coming my way in the near future.” Martin flashed a smug look in my direction.
I glanced up at the ceiling, then back at Thurston. I wanted to learn as much as possible before we were interrupted. When Dad was going into a business deal, he dug up everything he could find out about the guy on the other side—even his hobbies and favorite charities. “If Bowdler didn’t believe in psi, why did he start a company?”
“The same reason lots of people start companies. Money. We got a nice research budget from the military. That was fine with me. I believed in what we were doing. Not Bowdler. He was just getting back at them for not promoting him. He was totally unprepared when we discovered you. I suspect that’s why he didn’t turn you right over to the government. He needed to figure out a way to pull the most profit from our discovery. It looks like he’s decided to offer a package deal. You’re the weapon, he’s the controller.”
“There’s definitely someone upstairs,” Martin said. “It sounds like they’re searching the place. Which means they’re not the bad guys.” He turned toward the stairs and shouted, “Hey! We’re down here!”
A moment later, I saw Cheater and Torchie lurch into view. Cheater was a bit wobbly, but he looked okay. Torchie was wobbly, too, since he was carrying his accordion.
“How’d you get in?” I asked.
“I torched the door,” Torchie said, grinning. “That was hard work. I gotta sit down.” He moved past the cell door and slumped to the floor by the side wall.
“You’re supposed to thank us for rescuing you,” Cheater said. “I figured out what Martin wanted me to do as soon as that creepy guy showed up.”
Behind me, Martin cleared his throat. “Anyone want to apologize for doubting me?”
I had something more urgent to deal with. “The front door?” I asked, thinking about the alarm at the lab.
“Yeah, we came right in the front,” Cheater said. “What’s the big deal?”
“You’d better find the key to this cage real fast,” I said. “I think you set off an alarm.”
Before Cheater could do anything, I heard more footsteps on the stairs. Heavy, adult steps. A big guy came down, gun in hand. With his other hand, he removed a pair of sunglasses from his face and put them in his shirt pocket. His expression was chillingly blank, like he didn’t care what he found at the bottom of the stairs.
synergy
BEHIND ME, I heard Martin gasp, then whisper, “He’s a hired killer. That’s the guy who was at your house. I called the cops on him, but I guess it didn’t do any good.”
Keeping the gun on Cheater, the guy held out a large key. “Unlock it,” he said.
Cheater took the key and turned toward the cell. I looked around the room. Martin, Flinch, Cheater, Torchie, and me. We had powers that could stop this right now. But our powers were useless while this disrupter was buried in my arm. Torchie was our best bet. But he was right next to me, in range of the disrupter. He’d have to move back past the guy with the gun before he could do anything. We were powerless.
No, that wasn’t right. Only our psychic powers had been disrupted. We were bonded together by a lot more than that. Martin must have had the same thought. “We’re still a team,” he said as Cheater put the key in the lock.