Flinch ran upstairs and came back a moment later with a device the size of a pen. He pushed the button, then told Martin, “Okay, let’s check it out.”
Martin brought the disrupter over to me. I swung the cell door back and forth with my mind. “It’s off,” I said. “What the heck were you doing?”
“Saving a friend,” he said.
“But you could have just stomped on it,” I said.
He shook his head slowly, then smiled. “You aren’t the only one of us in trouble.”
I realized what he was thinking. “That’s perfect.”
He nodded. “Yeah, it is.”
“Is everyone okay?” I asked as Martin wrapped the bandage back around my arm.
Cheater nodded. Torchie got up from the floor and gave his accordion a squeeze. It made a sound like a newborn kitten. “I think it’s broken.”
“I kind of like it that way,” Flinch said.
“It’s definitely an improvement,” Martin said.
“What do we do about him?” I asked, pointing to the guy who’d gotten shot. “Should we call an ambulance?”
Thurston knelt down, rolled him over, and examined the wound. “Bullet went clear through. He’s okay, short term. Just in shock right now. He’ll need medical care eventually. Or we can leave him here to die.”
“No we can’t.” I knew what sort of stain that would put on our souls.
Flinch shrugged. “After what those people did to you, it seems fair.”
“We still can’t,” I said. “But I don’t want them chasing after me. Or chasing any of you, for that matter.”
“He’s no problem,” Thurston said. “He just works for the highest bidder. Bowdler hasn’t told him anything more than he needs to know.”
“So who knows?” I asked. That was the crucial question. If too many people knew about me, there was nothing I could do but run, or accept that my talent doomed me to a future doing things I didn’t even want to think about. If it was just a couple people who knew, there was hope.
“Bowdler and I are the only ones who’ve seen you in action,” Thurston said. “The lab workers were never allowed to observe anything. But Bowdler made a video the last time he applied for funding.”
My heart sunk at the thought that there was proof of my secret. “What’s on it?”
“Just enough to show that telekinesis might exist,” Thurston said. “A couple marbles rolling.”
Move the marble a half inch, Eddie. Just a nudge. Stop! That’s far enough. Wait. Now, very slowly, move it back. I remembered a video camera on a tripod.
“The Russians had lots of that,” Cheater said. “I saw it in a documentary. There were all these grainy black-and-white films. Some guy would be staring at a piece of paper and it would flutter. It always looked sort of fake—like he was breathing on it, or there were hidden wires.”
“Maybe they’ll think the video with Trash is fake,” Martin said. “Most people don’t believe in psi.”
The thought of fake videos and grainy images jammed together in my mind. I remembered that day at the bank, when I’d taken the money from the vault, and I saw a way out.
“I have an idea,” I said.
upon reflection,
a solution appears
“YOU’D MAKE A good agent,” Thurston said after I’d explained what I had in mind. “We can do that. Everything we need is at the lab. We just have to put our friend on ice for a while.”
He grabbed the guy under the arms and dragged him to a cell. “Let’s see what we have here.” He went through the guy’s pockets, pulling out a phone, keys, and a wicked-looking folding knife. He backed out of the cell, then picked up the bloody key and locked the door. “He’ll keep for a while. You did a good job with the bleeding.”
After we followed Thurston upstairs and onto the street, I dropped back and joined Martin. “Sorry I didn’t trust you earlier.”
“No problem. I usually don’t trust me, either.” He pointed ahead and whispered, “You trust him?”
“Yeah. Not that we have to.” I tapped Cheater on the shoulder. He moved next to Thurston and said, “You wouldn’t hurt us, would you?”
“Of course not.”
Cheater put his hand behind his back and flashed us an “OK” sign. I guess he hadn’t found anything dangerous in Thurston’s mind.
“You want to check him out, too?” I asked Martin.
“No thanks. I’d rather not learn his deepest secrets. That other guy already spooked me enough. Getting close to Bowdler wasn’t a lot of fun, either. He thinks he’s the smartest guy on the planet.”