BOOK 2: COMMUNITY / CH. 8:A VERY BUSY HALF HOUR
MONDAY AFTERNOON
“Sarah said you'd had a scary thought — what if it's not just Karen's friends that were the targets?”
“Exactly,” Teresa said.
“We've been checking Karen's friends,” Sarah said, “we found two were targets and decided that Karen's friends were targets. But that's bad logic, isn't it? All he knew for sure was that Karen got rescued by mind-readers. A power beyond what he'd had. What if he wanted to know just how wide our power was? Then you'd include some people Karen knows, and some she didn't. If none survive, then Karen's rescue was a fluke, if only Karen's friends survive, then the protection is limited somehow, and if all survive then he might as well become a reformed character, at least as far as kidnapping and long term torture is concerned.”
“Callous, logical, meticulous even, and lacking in any respect for human life, much like we think he is,” Teresa concluded.
“I think we need to pray for guidance here,” John said. “We can go through our list of clients, or could even get the computer to bring up a list of everyone in the city, but that ignores the rest of the country. If he's got contacts, then he could be checking our range too, for all we know.”
“Oh Lord, forbid it,” Teresa prayed, her most earnest prayer ever.
John prayed, “Father God, we know you are the God who rescues people. You sent Moses to rescue Your people and lead them into the promised Land, You led Rahab to protect the spies, You sent the judges to rescue Your people from evil oppressors, You sent Your Son to rescue us from bondage to sin and to break the power of the evil one. If we are right, Lord, there could be tens or hundreds suffering because of that evil man. Help us to find anyone Karen's uncle might have caused to be left like Priscilla, or whatever he intended for George. Lead us to those he is making suffer, dear Lord, we pray.”
“Yes, Lord,” Karen continued, “don't let that evil man cause more pain, let his plans be thwarted, whatever they may be. Send us help if there is anyone else to help us, show us how to use this gift You've given us for Your purposes and Your glory, dear Master, we pray.”
“Amen,” they all agreed.
“Let's start with our clients list, we can at least check if a few people are OK,” Kate suggested.
[Why do it that way, don't you know anything?] they heard a voice, male, that they didn't recognise.
[We know we've just prayed for help, I'm John by the way.] John replied, not sure who he was talking to.
[Well, I guess that's why the Good Lord's woken me in the middle of the night, John. I'm Enoch. You got some kind of natural disaster over there?]
[Human, we suspect. Roland Underwood, my evil uncle. He knows I got rescued from his trap by thought-readers. He had one of my friends left tied up in her freezer. He wanted to make sure another friend of mine, George, died really slowly, though we're not sure how. He gave them a scary threat to pass on, but we've just realised that he could have been testing how the gift worked as well.]
[And Mama Ng's just gone home to be with her Lord.]
[You knew her?] Sarah asked. [She told us some things and gave us some memories, but it didn't cover anything like this.]
[Ha, so you've had the basic-level introduction and then she dumped the scary stuff on you, but left you to puzzle out the, intermediate and advanced use on your own? She did so like to be mysterious. Good job she told me about you four. But it's not four, is it?]
[George here knew he had the power, but we found this afternoon that he has the gift too.]
[Five with the gift sitting in one office! Glory be on high! Whatever the Lord's planning it's going to be interesting for you guys, but you think there might be people suffering because of some scheme of this Roland Underwood?]
[Yes. It would seem in character. It's been hard to prosecute him because people have mysterious accidents before they can give statements to the police. If he cares so little for life, then why torture just two if you could get far better data with ten or fifty? Or if you've also commissioned someone to blow up a few shopping centres or something.]
[Seems plausible. OK, first, you find peace, then from there — only ever do it from there — pray for the Almighty's protection. Four praying constantly wouldn't hurt none either, and then one of you, with Roland in your mind, let yourself focus on Evil just for a tiny fraction of a second. You're not going to like what you see, and you're going to be burning hot for a while, because there's a lot of Evil in the world.]
[Thanks, Enoch. Will we know where the victims are or what their name is? We know we can check on people by name, but then all we can do right now is wait for them to think about where they are.]
[Oh John! You do have a lot to learn, don't you? You can do the skin of people, but you've never tried focusing on the skin of a place?]
[Skin of people — is that what we do when we check on someone's health? I guess we're aiming at their skin.]
[Yes, that's right. If you focus on the feet of the person then that gives you the place they're in, even if they are lying down and were carried there. Focusing on the skin of a place, you'll be aware of who's there.]
[When you say we'll be aware of the place, how do you mean?] Sarah asked.
[Try it on me, girl, doing is knowing.]
Sarah focussed on Enoch's feet, and much as when she focussed on peace, there was a strong visual component as well as knowledge component. She was aware of a room, with a man, Enoch, sitting up in bed and beside him, still asleep, there was Enoch's wife. She couldn't see details. The scene receded from her and the room was in a house, and the house was the fourth from the end of the road, and the road was there in the town, she could have given it a name with a map. And the town was there between the mountains and the sea, again, with the right map, she could have named it, and the island was big and beautiful, and far far away, it was there on the globe. Sarah focussed on peace. She'd been looking for a few seconds, but there was no heat, and she returned to mundane. [Greet your wife from us, Enoch, when she wakes. Thank you for your help,] Sarah thought.
[Oh, you spotted Rose, did you? Most people can't. Do you have the pain too?]
[Yes.]
[They seem to go together. I'll talk to you sometime when I shouldn't be asleep, if that's OK. Go carefully when you look for the workings of evil. You'll see horrors, and they might see you, which is why you need to do it with the protection of His peace. God bless your efforts.] Teresa saw their eyes open and focus. “Have I just witnessed a long silent prayer, a conversation between mind readers, or a miraculous answer to prayer?”
“A bit of both of the last two, Teresa,” Kate answered. “God woke up someone on the other side of the planet so he could answer our questions. It's not going to be easy, but he told us how we can check up on the evil schemes of Roland.”
“I'll do the first bit,” John volunteered, “and if what he said about the pain is right, Sarah should be the one who locates any victims.”
“Whatever's your motive for saying that Sarah should suffer, John?”
“Not that I should suffer, Teresa. It's just that the part of my mind-reading ability which causes me pain in crowds, it's called the pain, actually comes in useful here. Enoch told us how to find where someone is, and because of my having the pain, I should be aware of others near them when I do.”
“Oh.”
“But what John's going to do, that sounds scary. He's going to look for the workings of evil, and from what Enoch said, the workers of evil could find his mind in return.”
“Which is why I'll be doing it surrounded by my brother and sisters in Christ, who'll be praying for me, and I'll do it from the mental place about which Mama Ng said that nothing could harm us there.”
“Teresa, will you join us in praying?” Sarah asked.
“I'm not sure. I'm not sure I'm on the same terms with God that you are. But I think I'd like to be.”
“Be careful what you ask for, Teresa, you might be given it,” Kate warned.
“I don't want your gifts, if that's what you mean.”
“I didn't think you did. That's why I said be careful.”
“I don't think you're due for a heart attack, Teresa, but if you want to talk to one of us while the others pray, that'd be fine,” John said.
“Heart attack? Oh, you mean it's not urgent?”
“I mean I don't know if it's urgent, Teresa. I know there could be people for whom every minute is critical, and I've been warned that I'm possibly about to stir up the forces of evil. I don't know how dangerous that is and I'd rather I knew you were safely under God's protection, that everyone here at the Institute was. We're going to pray for a bit along those lines, that everyone here will be kept safe, before I follow Enoch's instructions, but real spiritual safety comes from being committed wholeheartedly to God. But I'm not going to pressure you into the most important commitment of your life and say that you need to decide now. So, if you'd like to borrow my office and talk about things to one of us, that's important enough a reason to borrow someone from our prayer time.”
“I understand. Thank you. Sarah, could we talk? I know John said he wanted you to help later on, but I don't think I'll keep you long.”
“Umm, sure, let's leave them to pray.”
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“Why me, can I ask?”
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“Because Kate can be too intense, and she's my employer, and I don't know Karen as well as I know you, and I think you spent a long time away from God, didn't you?”
“Urm, yes, a few years anyway. Then I sort of drifted around the edges of church, and listened too much to people who thought they knew it all or who made fun of people who had a strong commitment to God.”
“I guess I'm closer to that last group. I went to Sunday school, I'm fairly sure God's there, but I'm certainly not a committed believer. I've always been comfortable where I was. But today I started off thinking that Maria was misusing the word evil to describe her brother. Now I'm sure she wasn't. And I've seen how Karen heard Arnold's hate speech, against her too if only he'd known, and yet she defended him to his Commanding Officer. I'm Arnold's sister and I can't really forgive him for the hate he aimed at you, but you guys don't seem to count it against him at all. And Karen checked up on him, even though he shouldn't be a friend after that break-in. That much forgiveness can only be from God, I'm convinced. And the level of evil scares me. I want to be on the right side of God.”
“Did your Sunday school teach you a prayer to pray?”
“Oh, probably. I probably even joined in when I was six. But I certainly haven't honoured it since.”
“Well, maybe God still takes it seriously, even if you haven't. In exchange for your repentance He offers total forgiveness. Just pray and mean it, Teresa, you can even use the prayer of general confession if you like. Tell God you're sorry for your attitudes and sinful actions and sinful inactions. Ask Him to be your Saviour, Lord and King and to take away your sins.”
Teresa prayed, and as she did, Sarah prayed for her, and for John to be safe and successful, and for those they thought might need saving.
Opening her eyes she saw Teresa's face full of new found joy. “God is good, Sarah. I don't feel dirty any more. God is so good!” And then she burst into tears that Sarah sensed were a sign of healing of a deep deep hurt. Sarah embraced her, knowing instinctively that Teresa needed to be held, without thinking of what the contact would bring. As she heard Teresa's thoughts she pulled away. But Teresa held her. After a while she released her. “I'm not dirty now, Sarah. God has taken my shame and my guilt.”
“Total forgiveness, Teresa.”
“God is so good!”
“Well, of course He is!”
“I didn't used to think that. I used to think He was a spoil-sport. But my sport left me dirty. And God made me feel clean again.”
“'Wash me and I'll be white as snow,’ says the Psalm,” Sarah quoted.
“Can we join the others?” Teresa asked.
“I expect so, but I don't want to disturb them if they're at a critical point.”
Sarah focussed on John's health — his skin, she guessed. He was tired, just starting to rest. “John's finished, we can go in.”
----------------------------------------
They entered the meeting room. Sarah saw that John was sweating. “Kate, how's John?”
“He said he was hot.”
“George, help me take his shirt off him, please. It'll help his brain cool faster.”
Sarah focussed on peace and merged her thoughts with John's. [Show me the heat, John.]
[It's hot, love.] He showed her.
[John, have you ever seen it that bad?]
[Just the once, the first time.]
[Oh John! How long did you look?]
[Hardly any time, I think. There was so much to take in though! So many plots and schemes.]
[OK, beloved, I'm afraid you're going to be in Janet's care for a while. Once we've got you on the monitor, we'll slowly have a look at what you found. Don't you dare surface!]
[OK, love.]
Sarah withdrew and said, “Kate, I'd like him hooked up to Janet's monitors, just in case. It's the worst we've seen since the first time we plugged him in.”
“Janet's got a client with her right now, Sarah.”
“Oh, can we at least warn her then? If he goes unconscious...”
“Of course. You pull his shoes off too, I'll send her a warning.”
“Would a wet flannel on the forehead help?” asked Karen.
“Excellent idea,” Kate agreed.
George was worried. “Do you understand what's happened, Teresa? Karen said something about overheating your brain, but I didn't think they meant literally!”
“Sarah tried a fifteen second long scan on me three weeks ago. A few minutes later she passed out from a swollen brain. Some kind of inflammation response.”
“So they're trying to cool him?”
“I guess so.”
“Karen,” Kate called from the computer, “Janet's acknowledged and says, ‘Karen/Ivan: Portable scanner?’ does that make sense to you?”
“Of course. She was showing me the portable scanner earlier, it's in the lab. I think Ivan's a better bet than me. I can drive it but not interpret anything. Shall I bring it here, or all take John to the lab?”
“I'll call Ivan, he can bring it, I'm sure,” Kate replied.
“I'll start working on what John found out,” Sarah said. “Karen, if I come up with any victims, can you relay them to someone appropriate?”
“Of course, I've forewarned Mummy.”
“I'll be praying for you,” Teresa said.
Sarah merged thoughts with John once more. [Beloved, it's going to be Ivan checking up on you, apparently. Janet's with a client. Let's look at this memory, OK?]
[Of course, love. I hope I didn't get it wrong.]
[Me too. Show me, slowly please. You stay passive and cool down.]
John slowly brought his memory to mind. There was Roland, at the centre of a network of blood red threads of different thicknesses and intensities. Looking at them in turn they saw that the thickest lines were the different plans and relationships he had been involved in the longest, the most frequently, links to drug dealing and prostitution rings, to blackmail and so on. The brightest seemed to be the most recent. Looking at one particularly bright one they found his plans and crimes against Priscilla. Beside it, almost parallel, was George's planned fate. Not as bold, since he hadn't been quite as involved, and nor had the plan been accomplished. Both connected to a knot, a corrupt administrator at the police computer centre, with a strand linked to the thread of bribery and blackmail. A little distance away, parallel, but not connected to the corrupt administrator node, they found what they'd dreaded. Five other victims, chosen by him, and thinner still, orders to the gangs of thugs to pick some other victims, with different tortures to be applied. Thirteen lines in all, beyond Pris and George. [Thirteen lives to be ruined.]
[Love, do the thinnest first. They might be no more than plans still.]
[Yes, I agree. I'll check this girl first. Rape and live burial. Yuck.]
[God be with you, Sarah.]
Sarah checked on the girl. They'd been right. She was still fine, but checking where she was, Sarah found she was alone, in a quiet part of the park. As the image pulled back, she found the gang. They'd seen her from a hill top.
[George, I need help. Karen! Five gangs, thirteen targets. Number one not yet a victim. {details} She's in the park near here, alone. They've seen her and are discussing who rapes her first, then they'll bury her alive. Get Security to contact her and tell her to get in a crowded place, a gang of rapists is
approaching from the hill. Anonymous tip off, that sort of thing.]
George checked the next one. A boy who was going to be hung up by hooks. He hadn't been caught yet, but he was running. In thirty seconds he'd go past the Institute's front doorway. [Kate, there's a boy about to run past the Institute in terror. Let him into the lobby, and get his pursuers gassed or something! They're planning to hang him with meat hooks.]
Kate quickly went to the front door, then acted as though she was leaving. She saw the teenage boy fleeing four thugs a little older than him. She was just on time. “In here!” She yelled at him. Seeing some sanctuary, he needed no second invitation and sprinted across the flower beds towards the front door. As he trampled their blooms she gave an instruction she'd never really expected to give. “Computer, security alert ten. Defend approaching boy against pursuers: immediate threat to life.”
The gang members were surprised to see anyone intervene. Normally people looked the other way. That was what they expected, but they didn't mind. An extra victim or two and a bit of arson was no problem, and it would serve as an object lesson to other busy-bodies.
The boy entered the lobby, and the door slammed shut behind him. “Where to now?” he panted, “glass won't hold them.”
“Don't worry,” Kate said, “it's bullet proof. You OK?” The front three attackers, expecting to burst through the glass, hit it at top speed, side on and holding spikes at their hips. If it had been normal toughened glass, the spikes would have shattered it and they'd be through with hardly any resistance. Security glass would have failed under the combined assault. They knew that and expected the impact of hitting its yielding surface, followed by access to their two victims. They weren't expecting forcefield glass. It didn't bend, or yield. They splatted against it and were temporarily stunned. “Yeah! Thanks, lady. Nice windows you've got here.”
“Pretty view sometimes.” She indicated the tangle of gang members' bodies. “What got the gangs chasing you in broad daylight?”
“I don't know. One of them yelled, ‘There he is,’ and I ran. Actually, urm, I've seen him before. I'd been chatting to a girl and he said to get away from his sister, but that was weeks ago. And she’s not in the gang! She didn't even recognise him to start with. She's been in foster care.”
“And you've been going out with a gang member's sister? Are you nuts?”
“But she's not one of them!”
“Oh well. I wonder what they're going to do now.”
“I don't suppose we could call the police, could we?”
“The computer's done that. Let's make sure they don't get away, shall we? Computer, raise perimeter security barrier.”
Disturbing a few flowers as it rose, a grey metal barrier rose quickly from the ground. It was four metres high when it stopped. “Wow! What is this place?” the boy exclaimed.
“The Institute for the Human Mind, Didn't you see the sign?”
“No, I was busy running. They've not even noticed the barrier yet! What's he got in his hand?”
“Looks like a glass cutter to me. They really want you, don't they?”
“You too, now, you know that. No witnesses.”
“I'm not scared,” Kate said, and realised it was true.
“Why not? He's going to cut the glass.”
“If he manages then I'm going to have a few stern words with the supplier.”
“If he does then we're dead.”
“Naah. He won't get past the forcefield.”
“Forcefield glass? I've got forcefield glass protecting me? Wow!”
“Look, guns. Sometime they're going to start shooting, I expect. Silly boys.”
“Don't bullets bounce off forcefield glass?”
“Yes. I expect the police surgeons will be able to patch them up, but it won't be pretty. And it'll make a mess of my pathway. Can't have that!”
“Not much we can do.”
“Computer. Firearm discharge would represent definite risk to health of attackers, probable risk to life of attackers, possible risk to life or health of passers by. Attackers are about to try to force entry to facility.”
“Acknowledged. Firearm discharge will not be permitted.”
“What's it going to do?”
“Watch.”
They heard through the window. “Alert, alert! This is a secure neutral facility under United Nations resolution 56747. The use of firearms is strictly prohibited. Forced entry is strictly prohibited. Any reporting concerning personnel or clients is strictly prohibited. You must not attempt to discharge firearms, you must not attempt to force entry. You are under arrest. This secure facility will not permit your departure. Please remain calm and await police. Do not attempt to depart. Prohibited actions will be met with less-lethal force.” Inevitably, the gang members didn't comply. One aimed a gun at the boy and was immediately hit in the face by a jet of what looked like steam, but was actually sleep-gas. He went down immediately.
The one with the glass cutter ran and suffered the same fate. The other two, seeing the fate of their colleagues, started arguing. That hadn't been prohibited, at least. Eventually the police arrived, took statements and bundled their four captives away.
Sarah meanwhile had checked the next victim. A third team of attackers. Their last target was going to be a young woman, to be gagged, tied up and have her legs broken, then left to die in the tunnel system Karen had been rescued from. She was still OK too. The gang were watching the party she was at from a van. Another warning, don't leave the house, stay with friends, keep your panic button ready. That gang's previous target was tied in a freezer, like Priscilla. Was there a booby trap? George checked on the fourth gang's last target. It was to have been a teenage girl, to be handcuffed under a pier below the high tide line. She was hiding from the men who were after her, he couldn't sense where the gang was. George passed on her location to Karen, who passed it on to her mother. Gang five's first target was hanging by his wrists in a disused warehouse, beaten, but still conscious. Their last had pressed her panic button and the police had arrived just as she was being kicked and beaten. Sarah knew this was only the first part of what had been planned for her, and was relieved. Why did people still think panic buttons were only for young people?
With heavy hearts she and George passed on the list of other victims and their locations to Karen. All were still alive, but beaten and wounded.
Sarah also passed to Maria the name of the corrupt computer centre worker. Security would have to prove the case of course, but it wouldn't be hard to prove that he'd requested the searches that led to Priscilla being attacked and George's near brush with death. All five gangs would be caught eventually, Maria was sure.
It had taken less than half an hour, but emotionally they were drained. Karen, George and Sarah sought peace over what they'd seen and witnessed, and to make sure there was no heat. There wasn't, but there was tiredness and distress. They needed the healing that came from bathing in that strong peace.
John's brain, Karen was able to relay, seemed to be recovering well, though he might have a headache. Ivan didn't see any swelling. It seemed their day was going to have a peaceful end.