Discovery (Science of Psionics Book #1) (17 page)

“I can’t think too well right now, I hurt too
much,” he said. “I’ll need a while to recover, and it goes without
saying that we’re not leaving until Linda is also on her feet. Keep
going with your plan, I’m going to lie down before my brain starts
to leak out of my ears.” With that, he crawled over to Linda and
flopped down next to her.

I watched him inspect her wounds, touching
them gently. He then wrapped his arms around her and was asleep
again within moments. I looked outside the cave and saw the sun
rise up over the mountains. I crawled over to the brush at the
entrance with my Dragunov and settled in to watch and wait. It
wasn’t over yet.

Mark: Decisions

“Go, go, go now!” Sara shouted.

I was ready to go with both Carl and our
decoys, determined to get out ahead of Linda. At Sara’s command, I
shot through the door before her and headed for the hills. I knew
that she was a better flier than me, so I decided to stick mostly
to the edge of the trees where I could keep up my speed better.

I kept expecting to feel a bullet in my back
at any second, but it seemed that we made it out free and clear. I
was even starting to get optimistic about our chances as we
approached the pool and slowed down in order to land. Of course the
world would pick that time to explode in my face.

I awoke with a start and immediately
regretted it. I carefully looked around, trying to figure out where
I was. Dark – cave – a rock sticking in my back – pain. I couldn’t
process much more than basics at the moment.

“Then we’re screwed,” I heard Sara say.

“If I was screwed, then it must have been a
marathon session,” I said weakly.

They explained things to me slowly, but it
was still a little too much for me to handle right now. I asked
them to continue doing whatever they could and crawled over to
Linda. I held her in my arms and let sleep take me again.

The next time I awoke it was brighter inside
the cave. This wasn’t necessarily a good thing, as the light
stabbing into my eyes instantly multiplied my headache. At least I
could think this time. I thought that I was pretty thirsty.

“Water,” I croaked weakly.

Carl was slouched against the wall, but
popped his head up at the word. “Hey, welcome back, eh!” he said
quietly, as he shuffled over with a water bottle.

After an initial sip to clear my throat, I
sucked back half of the bottle. “Much better,” I said relieved.
“How’s Linda? And how are you two?”

“Linda is still asleep, but I think she’s
resting easier now than she was earlier. Miss Congeniality won’t
let me sleep because of the bump to my head. She said that I might
have a concussion and that if I fall asleep she’ll shoot me or cut
something delicate off. She’s over by the entrance keeping watch,
or maybe sleeping, I dunno.”

“I heard that,” she whispered back.

“You were meant to,” he said without turning.
“Anyway, we’re still stuck in this cave in the cliff waiting for
you two to get better and save the day. That’s about it. Any more
questions, or are you ready to do that day saving thing?”

“I’ll check the schedule in my day timer and
get back to you on that.”

I looked down at Linda and saw that Carl was
probably right. The lines of pain that had etched her face earlier
had faded, and she seemed to be resting normally. With her hair
singed and matted with blood, not to mention the bandage covering
her forehead, she obviously needed some time to recuperate. I
didn’t have a mirror handy, but I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t
be winning any beauty pageants either.

“Is there any sign of them in the area?” I
asked, turning to Sara.

“There was movement around the pool earlier,
but nothing for the last couple of hours. They know that we were in
the area last night and there’s probably blood on the rocks to let
them know they did some damage, but they can’t know where we went
after that. If I were in their shoes, I would have a couple of
people watch this area while others spread out and searched for
us.”

“We need to get help for Linda. She’s looking
a bit better, but that’s a relative statement. She might have
internal injuries or the blow to the head could be causing all
sorts of problems that we can’t diagnose, let alone treat.”

“She’s too weak to move, and you’re too weak
to get us out of here and defend us. No, it’s too dangerous to try
leaving now. Give it a little time, and things will become
safer.”

“What if Linda starts getting worse?”

“If she gets worse, then we’ll try it. If
you’re feeling better by tonight, then you could maybe try making a
break for town and help. I can stay with Linda and take care of
her. Alternatively, you could try making a break for town with
Linda while Carl and I stay here. I wouldn’t recommend that
though.”

“Why not,” I asked.

“If you take Carl, then you can split up and
get both medical and police or military help. Carl is also
independently mobile on foot. If you take Linda and for some reason
have to abort the flight, then you’ll be stuck in the middle of
nowhere with her. Also, I have a gut feeling that Linda will be ok
and just needs more time. Last, but not least, if something does
happen to you, then Linda and I can come rescue you once she’s
healed up.”

“I don’t quite like it, but I can’t fault
your logic.”

“Eat something and get some rest. We’ll be
able to make better decisions by tonight. We’ll wake you if
anything changes.”

Nodding, I accepted a ham sandwich from Carl
and started eating. I choked it down and wondered if it seemed
unappetizing because of my condition or because the weirdo put
pickles in it. I drank some more water and lay down with Linda
again. “
I don’t know if you can hear me or not, but everything
is going to be ok
.” I sent to her while gently stroking her
cheek. I fell asleep almost instantly.

When I next awoke, it was with Carl shaking
my shoulder. “Wake up bud,” he was saying.

“Which part of you do I have to punch in
order to hit the snooze button,” I queried.

“It’s getting dark and we need to exchange
some information.”

“Ok, ok – give me a sec, will ya.”

As I started to wake up more, the first thing
that I noticed was that Linda was still asleep, but her hand was
clenching my wrist. Elated, I asked “Did she wake up?”

“Yes, but only briefly. She complained of a
headache and of being cold before passing out again. She’s going to
be ok! How are you doing now?”

“I’m cold and have a headache,” I said
bluntly. “What’s the word from the Russian front?”

“It’s cold and Sid is giving me a headache,”
Sara replied deadpan. “I spotted some movement just before
twilight, so I think there are definitely watchers out there. We
promised to wake you when it got dark or if anything changed, so
here we are. Are you ready to make a decision yet?”

I took a mental inventory and found that
other than being stiff and sore all over, I wasn’t in too bad
shape. My headache was still fairly prominent, but it was far
better than it had been earlier. As a test of my psionics, I lifted
one of the packs off the ground briefly. There didn’t seem to be
any problem doing it, but I could feel the effort echoed in my
headache. It seemed akin to the unpleasant feeling of hot sun on
skin that was already sunburnt, except I’ve never had sunburn on
the back of my eyeballs before.

“I think I would be able to make a run for
it, but it won’t be easy; it hurts a bit to lift just the one pack.
If I had to exert myself carrying a lot of weight for an extended
flight, then I don’t think I would be in any kind of shape when I
landed.”

“Ok, then how about this: wait until false
dawn before making your break. That’ll give you more time to
recover, and you’ll still have bad lighting outside in case anyone
is looking to shoot at you. Dawn and dusk are the two worst times
for acquiring a target. You can get some altitude and follow the
mountain spine toward town. By the time you get clear of here and
need to turn down into the valley, you’ll have plenty of light to
fly by.”

“Do you think I should still take Carl, or
just go myself?”

“Take Carl with you. We’ll give him your
laptop and a phone. If it doesn’t look safe to go into town, then
maybe y’all can hole up in someone’s yard, shed, or maybe an empty
house. If you can get a phone signal or internet connection, then
you can get help without exposing yourself.”

“I doubt that Sid went so far as to put
troops in town,” I said in disbelief.

“It’s not likely, but I try and think of
everything possible. We already know he contacted the sheriff, and
it’s possible that he left a man there to liaison with him. Or to
spy on him and make sure that we don’t make contact.”

“Alright, it sounds like we’ve got a plan. If
I’m able, then we leave at dawn. What if I’m not ready though?”

She shrugged. “If you can’t leave, then we
wait another day. I’m pretty sure that we’re safe up here, and the
longer we wait, the better your chances are of not being seen. In
another day, he might figure that we’re long gone and move
out.”

“If Linda’s getting better, should we just
wait a week or so and let them go away?”

“No. We’re pretty much trapped in here right
now, and the goofy gourmet over there only made us a dozen ham
sandwiches out of a whole fridge full of food. There’s a trickle of
water that I can reach just outside the cave, but we can’t hunt or
forage with his men out there. We’ll have to leave within a couple
days at the outside.”

“Very well then,” I decided. “Unless
something changes, Carl and I will leave in the morning.”

***

Our breakout went as planned. I was feeling
much better by this point, and so, it appeared, was Linda. She
hadn’t woken up again, but she occasionally shifted in her sleep so
I was much encouraged in her recovery. Carl had filled and put on
his backpack hours ago in case we had to leave suddenly. I debated
eating another one of Carl’s grotesque sandwiches but declined. We
could get something to eat if we made it to town.
WHEN
we
made it to town, and not
IF
, I chided myself.

Sara handed us each a full bottle of water
and also gave Carl a spare clip of ammo for his handgun. She once
again warned us to try and keep evasive in our flight and then made
us wait until the first lightening of the sky heralded the
approaching dawn.

Ok, it’s time to go,” she finally said. “Get
some altitude quickly so you don’t ram Carl’s pointy head into too
many trees. After all, I wouldn’t want to see any trees
damaged.”

Carl gave her a quick salute with his middle
finger as he stepped to my side. “Now or never,” I thought.

I took a deep breath and lifted us off the
ground. I gathered myself for a moment, planning out what I wanted
to do and then flung us out and up. Once I got us a few yards away
from the cliff face, I began climbing in a spiral pattern as fast
as I could. It was a little disorienting, but I kept at it until I
figured that I was about a thousand feet up.

It took a few more turns before I could
orient myself properly in the near darkness, but I finally noticed
that it was a bit brighter in one direction and figured that was
east. Once I had that determined, I angled our upward spiral toward
the north and tried to add more speed. After keeping to that
heading for about fifteen minutes, I thought that we would be safe
enough, so I cut sharply to the east.

As we sped along, I kept climbing as best as
I could. It was tough to tell, but I estimated that we were better
than a half mile up by now. I would have to dive down into the
trees when we got closer to town but for now, the altitude was
reassuring. The wind whipping by us was freezing. A pair of goggles
sure would have been handy. Carl probably wished that he brought
his toque.

Once the sun broke over the horizon it became
easier to pinpoint our position, but it was a bitch flying straight
toward it. I was fairly proud to see that my blind reckoning was
only off by a few degrees. I made a slight course correction and
leveled out. “How are you holding up?” I shouted to Carl.

“I’m glad that I skipped breakfast. That
bloody corkscrew thing you did was almost enough to make me
decorate the landscape. Then again, it might have been worth it to
have puked on one of those bastards.”

I had to chuckle at the thought of vomit
landing on one of them out of nowhere. Carl was one of a kind.

I kept to our course until I was past the
town. I thought it would be safest to approach from the far side on
the odd chance that Sara was right about there being an enemy
presence around.

We went down below the tree tops for the last
half mile, and on foot for the last hundred yards. Pausing at the
tree line I asked, “Ready to head in?”

“Why don’t you wait here and let me check it
out first. I’m pretty sure that Sara’s a little too paranoid, but
better safe than sorry.” He slipped the pack off his back and hung
it up on a short tree branch.

Nodding agreement, I sat down with my back to
a tree and rested. Our mad flight here had taken a lot out of me,
and I almost dozed off a time or two waiting for him to come back.
When he finally did, he came back bearing manna from heaven. It was
only fast food coffee, but right now, I would be willing to swear
that it was the best thing I had ever tasted.

“There didn’t seem to be anything out of the
ordinary that I could see,” he reported.

“I didn’t think there would be, but Sara’s
paranoia is contagious and it was worth checking.”

“Where shall we go first?”

“Straight to the police station I think. The
sheriff may have been duped by Sid about ‘maneuvers in the hills’
but if we report that Linda’s house was shot up, he’ll have to
investigate. From there, he can call in whatever force is
needed.”