The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Nathan looked up the street. There were patrol cars from the precinct all over the block. Probably there was a bunch behind the building by now.

“How many helicopters are up there, anyway,” said Bart, “damn noisy.”

“I counted three,” Nathan responded, “one official police copter, two that appear to be newsies.”

“Do you want to go find out what’s going on?”

“Sure, we can do that.”

The telepath grunted.

“No. Not ‘we’ because, while you have something official to justify talking to these folk, I don’t,” said Bart. “There’d be a lot of questions even accompanying you.”

“What ya worried about? Use a bit of psychic juju and they’ll think you’re official.”

“Nope. Not gonna happen. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Several of those people may cross my path again. Some are important. Some may not be, but some are. I don’t want to go to the trouble unless there’s no other option.”

“Oh.” Nathan contemplated a moment. Then he pulled out the cell phone he carried and dialed.

“Agent Thorn speaking.”

“Hey there ever so special agent. Nathan here.”

“Where are you? We’re down at that club you seemed so keen on checking. There’s been a shooting.”

“I’m up the street a ways. There seem to be an awful lot of HPD out here. Should I tell the officer to let me through at the barricade or is there no need.”

“If your,” he seemed to search for a word to use, “special needs people are available to help with the special needs suspects inside, we might be able to use that kind of help.”

Nathan looked over at Bret, “He’s asking after whether there are any friendlies who can help.”

“Tell him not immediately. Not that I want to stall him, but the young man who just left, and a few other associates may be a little busy at the moment. You might warn him any that get too close are in danger though. Even the roof is too close.”

“Sorry Thorn,” he spoke to the phone again, “there’s no one I can get to you right away. I’ll get back to you soon as I can about that.”

“Oh, meanwhile, there was a woman shot here. She had a man with her. For some reason one of the people you’re working on decided to shoot her then ran into the club.”

“That explains this huge professional interest by the local Leos.”

“Sure. Look, do you know anything about this?”

“Sorry, I was out back at the time the gunshots went off. One of the friendlies was doing, I don’t know, a little reconnoiter and rescue. There’s four less of the hostiles as a result. And at least four less innocents in the building.”

“Oh? An entire four? How many total, do we have any clue?” Thorn snarled.

“By my count when the killings started there were between thirty-eight and forty-two,” replied Nathan, “Judging by the information I have they are down to only twenty, to maybe twenty-two. Does that help any?”

“You’re saying twenty or so have been killed?” Thorn was stunned, “All I have so far is eight to ten of them.”

“Not all are dead. They might wish they were. We’ve been peeling off a few here and there by taking the talent away from them for good. No killing if we can avoid it. The friendlies aren’t killers. Ethically improper, you know.“

“I could really use a few of those friendlies right now.”

“No one of them alone would going to wander into a den with twenty of the hostiles expecting visitors. Honestly, your guys in blue don’t stand a great chance either. Oh, you might want to pull your people back a little ways to reduce risks of, let’s call it involuntary disobedience.”

“What do you suggest?” asked Thorn. “We chased a shooter into the building. There’s no way the locals will let a shooter remain on the loose when so many bodies have dropped.”

“I can bring one in to consult at the moment, but he will need anonymity protected.”

“Can’t he do so himself?”

“Would you trust him if he did?”

“Just a minute,” Nathan waited as Thorn and Mathers consulted. “Okay, how about you bring him around to the back of the empty building. Locals have set up a command post in it but we should be able to talk unobserved in the alley behind it.”

“Be there shortly.”

Edward opened the door ushering Jill into the bunker. The women were in residence in the library room with their anxiety and knitting supplies Polly had shared with them. It had turned into a hobby they enjoyed sharing with each other this week.

He banished the controls on Jill he kept to make travelling calm. They passed without any incident until now, but he expected a hysterical woman when he let go restraining controls. Instead, Jill surprised him by appearing thoughtful and looking at him curiously.

Lexi leapt up, rushed her friend, sweeping her into a hug to end all hugs.

“Jill!” Lexi had tears in her eyes, “I was so worried.”

There was a bit of silence during which Prudence gave Edward a soft kiss then whispered thank you. Elaine came over to hug him though she stepped back quickly. Pain was still coming from internal restraints.

Jill stood there in stoic uncertainty though the warmth with which she returned Lexi’s hug was noticeable. She looked with wariness in Edward’s direction. She knew somehow he made her come with him. Her whole body had been his puppet until now.

“Did what I think happened really happen?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he responded. “You need to decide what I do next. That is, how you want me to help you cope with what happened. I’ve abolished the mental controls you were under. I did not take away the memory of it.”

“But you could, yet you didn’t?” asked Jill.

“I wanted you to decide if you want me to erase memories for you. If I don’t, you will always remember what happened. Whether that’s good or bad is up to you. I am willing to remove them, because, well, I can for one thing.”

“You waited? Why?” asked Jill.

“It should be your decision,” he replied. “So you have control, a choice. I will not remove the memory of our discussing this. I feel compelled under the circumstances to make this outcome your option rather than due to my own edict.”

“I see.”

She was clearly mulling over her memory of sexual slavery she’d been put through. Brief as it was, it did not unsettle her. Not nearly as much as the fact of someone having control of her thoughts. Which had also been happening but stopped because of, well, another man who could control her thoughts.

“Would you like to talk it over with someone else who has been through the same thing?” Elaine asked. “I’ve been through it myself..”

“You were controlled like me?” she asked Elaine.

“For three years.”

“Oh my god,” Jill looked at her in awe.

“Edward removed a lot of it, but I still have some problems. I’d like to be able to reward him for rescuing you at this moment, but can’t. Not the way I’d like.”

“Don’t worry,” said Prudence, “Lexi and I will do our best to do it the way you’d like to. I think he’d?”

“No. Not right now.” Edward interrupted. “Ellie and I are going to have another tet-a-tet today. As soon as Jill has had a chance to decide what I do.”

“Hell, I’d like to reward you personally myself,” said Jill with a wink. She thought he looked a lot more attractive than some of the men she’d been dating.

“The kind words are enough. Besides, Pru, Lexi, and Ellie laid claim to me already. Pretty much every way except putting me in a glass case with cotton to protect me.”

“Awww,” Jill pouted.

He wondered a moment if he’d done something to the part of her mind that provided inhibition. He did a quick scan and concluded otherwise. In regards to her inhibitions and personal nature, they were already relatively unaltered once he’d taken Peter’s touch away. Peter only set her up to be attracted to him, there had been no need to turn off her inhibitions.

“Lexi was worried for you,” he told Jill. “I only meant to find you, not drag you here.”

“We all were worried you were putting yourself in danger,” said Prudence to Edward. “Even Lexi was worried you’d get yourself hurt.”

“Fortune managed to shine a light on me today. I plan to avoid being so reckless ever again. It wasn’t a good idea. Still a bit shaky.”

Prudence clung to him tighter. Lexi came over and kissed him softly. “I appreciate you saving my roomie a lot. She’s always supported me with my special needs. I am glad you got her out of there.”

“Um,” said Jill. “I think I want to remember all of it.”

“Oh?” asked Elaine. “Why would you want to do that? You were raped.”

“Despite having no choice, the sex was good. I like good sex.” She beamed as if that explained it all. She didn’t feel anything there to embarrass her. “Peter meant nothing at all to me but I’ve had sex before where it was just for fun. He made it fun, even if he was creepy by getting into my head.”

Lexi laughed. “Oh, man.”

“Seems as reasonable view as any.” Edward motioned to Elaine to go with him, “um, Lexi and Pru, can you entertain our guest a little bit? I want to talk to Ellie a little bit.”

Elaine looked at him quizzically. He led her off towards the bedroom.

“I wonder what that’s about,” said Prudence. She grinned though, hoping it meant something fitting the Elaine’s desires.

“I think it’s a good thing,” said Lexi.

“So, other than Edward, what do you guys do for fun?” inquired Jill.

Prudence and Lexi gave each other a look showing they had mischief in mind. Jill saw they were grinning. They dragged her to one of the futons and sat her down.

“We’re going to show you what we’ve been knitting...”

“That passes for excitement here?” Jill rolled her eyes.

“We have to drive you nuts before you get to do anything fun,” giggled Lexi. “The entertainment room in Ed...ward’s home is spectacular. This place is safer at the moment though.”

In the bedroom, Edward sat Elaine down on the bed. He closed, locked the door, and sat next to her.

“I swear that place would be a better bordello than it is as a club.”

“It might have been one in the past,” she replied. “I only looked into its past as a BDSM club.”

He wanted to reach out and hold her hand but thought better of it just now. Instead he settled for meeting her eyes and holding to his solemnity.

“I’ve given our situation a great deal of thought.”

“Just so we’re clear,” she said looking at him tenderly, “which situation are we talking about?”

“You and me. The others count too. You have a huge priority at the moment. Due to what was put in your head.”

“Ah, what are your thoughts?”

“Tell me what you want, really,” his eyes showed concern. “You have the ability to make choices at the moment. Whenever any day ends in the future, when I’m going to sleep? I have to be absolutely certain I did not make this particular decision for you.”

“I want this,” she said, tentatively touching his arm, then drawing it back sharply. Merely the intent to be intimate still was an issue.

“This being?”

“I want you. I want to be yours in the sense we’re talking about. I want you to take me, make me your own, mark me if you must. Change this mental possession limitation. So you and I can share the emotions I felt with you. You touch my soul.”

“I can’t promise I will always act reasonably. You realize it is the same as being married to me without any option of divorce for you, ever?”

“It doesn’t matter. No relationship is without bumps. I want you in charge. I want you to make our decisions. I want you to push me to be what you desire. I could never have said so before I went through what I did with Dean. I do want the person I’ve chosen. I do not object to being owned as long as I pick who the owner is. I chose you.”

“Just so you’re sure. I’ll do my best to be a good man. I cannot guarantee or promise anything. I learned today just how human I am.”

“Yet you rescued Jill in the face of risks I can only imagine. Please. Make me yours again. Permanently.“

“Last chance?”

“Please. I trust you. I do. You can bring me back to feeling peace and purpose. If I can act like a brat sometimes, all the better, but. All this does is reinforce what’s already true but blocked off. Something I cannot display for you as I want to. Please.“

Sandi got her purse back out of the case, stuffed the Smith & Wesson back in it. The case looked as though it could have a musical instrument, maybe, as she slung it back over her back. She hoped people would mistake it for something other than a gun case.

With a bit of travel she managed to get to a place with crowds of people. Interesting being around crowds made her feel safer than hiding out in her apartment would right now. She had no clue if her apartment was safe or not really. It seemed very unlikely with all the events going on down where the demented mind control freaks were, any would be here.

The place she’d chosen was the City of Hurricane Open Market.

The original three story building had been a hollowed out old high school and renovated to allow the stalls on the first floor. What had been a second floor had turned into a wide balcony around the inside of the building. The balcony allowed diners to sit. From there they could look down on stalls of food merchants, crafts sales booths, artisans, a few chain operated joints selling pizza, ice cream and other options.

She found a concession stand with a menu she favored. It had a placard above it in the crowded aisles reading Charlie’s Delicatessen. She stood in line to order a sandwich. She did managed to blow off some guy who thought he was god’s gift to women. His pickup line had been pathetic. Given how disheveled she felt, it was a little ego satisfying. She picked out a drink to go with her sandwich and took the bag towards the stairs up.

She followed the stairs up another floor above the balcony where there seemed to be an office area with management staff working. Behind the door a narrower set of stairs to what must be the roof.

It wasn’t though.

Well, it was.

On the corner she came up in, there was a glass enclosed room with a glass enclosed walk to the next corner over. A pair of doorways were visible out to the roof. The usual accouterments found on any roof for buildings this size were present, the air vents, air conditioning units, chimney flues, and of course the tarred roof. Benches and seats were aligned outwards away from the roof for visitors. The other corner’s room looked to have padded seats.

Thinking this was a good place where no one could approach her without warning, she looked down the stairs one more time before closing that door. She walked to the other corner, enjoying the view of people walking by outside, the traffic on the street. It was pretty busy, with a lot of people who were having fun or family stuff.

She settled in on one of the benches in the corner room, put the case on the ground in front of her, the purse on the bench beside her. After a moment of relaxation a little bit of peace started to descend on her. Sandi opened the bag with her food, set the drink next to her. She closed her eyes.

Connie was not responding to her.

She tried to summon up Connie again but there was no response. She couldn’t be gone. She could not go anywhere at all. She was always there. Always. It was impossible. Maybe she was pouting because Sandi thumped the doctor. Maybe. It did not feel right.

“We are always together,” she said aloud. It sounded hollow to her. “Connie? I’m sorry, please come out. Come back. Please?”

Her eyes welled up. She always was able to get Connie to come out. Connie was the one who? she breathed and a sob came. She needed her sister to take over. How would she get to Connie if Connie didn’t come out? She had no idea how to probe around in her own head. There had to be someone who knew how to help her get Connie back.

Bart would. Alison would be so mad at her now, even if she might be able to help.

Maybe.

She started eating. Food filled only one of the hollow spots inside her. She could hear sounds from below. A crowd of humanity being a crowd of humanity with all the noises included from being in the same place. There were no threats to her life from down there.

She didn’t fear death as long as Connie was okay. Not being able to find Connie brought her fear, something she had very little familiarity with. Usually Sandi was the angry one, never Connie. She wasn’t used to these other sensations.

She feared she burned an important bridge. Alison would be so upset. What about Edward. Maybe he could help her. She didn’t know. The women with him seemed taken by him. They weren’t enslaved minds she such as she’d encountered before. He acted with concern about her. He didn’t push, Bart hadn’t pushed. Doctor Moore hadn’t pushed.

Alison was kind and Sandi had wanted so much? okay.

She owed Alison an apology. There was nothing she could think of to make up for knocking her out. There was nothing for it though but to try to say she’d made a mistake. She wasn’t quite the kind person her sister tended to be.

She wasn’t used to her sister missing.

There was a phone in her purse somewhere. She searched for it. It wasn’t in her purse. Could she have left it home? She needed a phone.

Samuel set the phone on speaker. It wasn’t the best plan but if they could find them by GPS trace it wouldn’t hurt. He looked up to see a man in a blue FBI vest . He’d known someone was back there, he’d heard the shots and saw Jacob flee.

“Get an ambulance. She’s shot,” he snarled that direction without even registering the gun pointed at him. The other blue vest the other side of the car read FBI too. He let himself sense them and realized the second was already calling for medical attention.

“Keep your hands where I can see them,” Thorn told him. Thorn knew there was no weapon there but protocol was to treat everyone as a threat until the suspects are all identified completely.

“She’s bleeding, I’m applying pressure. You gonna take over?” He snapped back at him sharp as the snarl of command had been. “There’s no time for this crap.”

“Are you fuckin’ ser?”

“Shut the fuck up. Get an ambulance here,” Samuel wasn’t really angry. He was feeling impatient. His effort was seriously devoted to helping Polly keep pain at bay. His thoughts only partially were aware of the world around him as a result. It was sliding down a slope to becoming a big blur, anything beyond Polly and her needs.

“Stop John!” The woman’s voice coming from behind Thorn interrupted. “He’s right. He’s not the threat. She needs medical attention.”

Samuel’s sense of blurred events became thicker with his intense effort to care for his soul mate. If a focus could block out everything else he was getting close. The blur was narrowing his vision to a tunnel displaying almost solely Polly’s face, he managed to keep the pressure in place.

Tin sounding sirens filled the air. More me in uniforms started to show up. Samuel saw the ambulance come around and over the sidewalk to get close enough. The blur of things kept moving. He would not take his eyes off his wife for an instant.

A pair of hands in gloves came into his vision and took over applying pressure. Another pair of hands helped him settle back on his knees. Soon Thorn had been moved away. Sarah Mathers had a comforting hand on his shoulder as the EMTs took over. He didn’t know Sarah but it was apparently an attempt to provide compassion in a time of crisis.

Thorn was engaged in directing police as they arrived. They set up some people and he tried to enter the club door, not surprised to find it blocked. Throwing weight against the door to force it open was not particularly effective. More to say it did nothing.

No one had come out of the building. Eventually they tried a heavy doorknocker, the battering ram they’d pulled out to break in with. The heavy lump was only scratching the paint. The sound a hollow ringing noise of steel meeting steel in a solid thud.

Samuel was slightly aware of the inconsequential activity other than his wife’s caregivers. Their actions seemed to assure she’d still be alive when they reached the hospital. It was all he could ask for just now. It was all that mattered to him. His entire being seemed dedicated to the hope these strangers knew what to do.

And that she still be alive when they got to the doctors in the emergency room.

“Sir? Sir?” he heard cut through his fog. “We’re going to need you to move. We’re putting her on the gurney. She’s as stable as we can do here. Give us room.”

He was aware of her only as they moved her form. There was nothing else in his universe but her. He felt her holding him. They weren’t touching but he felt her. He climbed in the ambulance with the gurney and barely felt the vehicle move as they pulled out again with the lights flashing.

At the hospital he finally used his ability to influence someone else. They put a mask on his face and gloves on his hands while he stayed in the room because he’d made them do so. He was not leaving her side. If he did, it would only be if she perished.

The phone ringtone sounded wrong. Alison opened her eyes and looked. Because the ringing came from the hotel phone, not her cell phone.

Who knew she was here? That is, who knew and wouldn’t call her cell phone? Maybe the desk was ringing the wrong number.

“Hello.” She held the phone receiver in her hand.

The sounds at the other end made it apparent someone was there. They didn’t respond right away.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“I’m sorry.” She knew the woman’s voice but couldn’t place her right away. Oh. Sandi. It was Sandi.

“You pulled an awfully dirty trick on me.”

“Um. There’s a problem.”

“I’ll say, you slugged me over the head. It hurt when I woke up.”

“I’m very sorry.”

“You can’t just say ‘I’m sorry’ and expect it to fix things, you know.”

There was a pause.

“Killing people doesn’t fix things either.” Alison prompted in hopes of getting through to the woman.

“It stops life wrecking barbarians.” Sandi’s vendetta voice woke up a bit.

“There’s other ways to stop them without killing.”

“It’s the only way I can.”

“You don’t need to anymore. I promise you. Hurting me did not help a bit.”

“I know I can’t say it enough, but I’m sorry.” Sandi was so unused to the idea of working with others. “I have a problem I don’t know can’t? I can’t. I just.”

Alison was exasperated. Still, she was calm. Issues with patients who did unsettling things was a common thing to her. Professionally, being hit over the head by an accomplished killer was not a normal experience. Yet she was not going to cease having a professional demeanor because of such a nasty inconvenience.

“Tell me the problem Sandi.”

“I can’t find Connie.”

This brought Alison to a sitting position.

If not for the serial killer aspect Sandi and Connie would be in for a life long treatment plan with medication and counseling. With medication prescribed to sustain normal dopamine levels from the neurotransmitters in the brain. It wasn’t unusual for the different personalities to communicate with each other. It wasn’t unusual for them to be unable to communicate as well. For it to change was not usual. Ideally they were all just facets of the same person but unique in their way.

They all came from some part of who the person was.

“What do you think I can do, Sandi?”

“Help me find Connie. She can’t leave. She can’t.” The desperation was evident in her voice.

“I’ll try. Do you trust me? Yes or no.”

“Yes. I’m sorry about...” she trailed off.

“Well you know where I am. I have no idea where you are.”

“May I come there? Please. I am sorry.”

“Yes,” she sighed aloud. “You know which room I’m in. Just me. For now.”

Bart sought out ahead with his ability, finding only Thorn and Mathers outside the back of the building. He nodded to Nathan who led the way. The two agents in blue vests turned to look at them as they approached. Bart however kept scanning the buildings around them to see if they were watched. Sure enough, there were a couple officers in windows above and a captain with a detective just inside the door.

He made the two in the windows unable to watch for now, having them turn away from the windows completely. After they took a couple steps back he relaxed a bit more.

“You may as well have them come out,” he said as they approached. He pointed to the door. “It’s not like they can do anything inside the door.”

Mathers narrowed her eyes a bit at the words from the man she’d not met, but signaled the captain and detective to join them.

“Special Agent Mathers, Special Agent Thorn, Detective Bulliosta, and Captain Brooks,” Nathan started introductions, “This is Bartholomew Masterson, a field agent of my organization.”

Inwardly, Bart found it amusing to have Nathan claim him as one of his field operatives. He knew it was intended to make acceptance easier, but it was funny to hear the words. No one had a weapon out. The police attention really was focused on the Fire Eaters building. He was sure if they hadn’t gained entry already they would soon, then the serious fireworks might start.

“Mathers, Thorn,” said Bart, “Captain. Detective.”

The captain looking impatient as hell. He obviously wanted to know why they hadn’t been allowed yet to breach the building to get the shooter. Bart shook his head. That would be a spectacular way to blow everything out of control. The media already had two broadcast trucks out front he’d seen. One, if not two of the helicopters overhead probably was normally a traffic helicopter. All this for only one shooter who was holed up inside a building they could breach easily.

“Mr. Masterson. What can you tell us about the club we don’t already know? We have the layout in registered plans from the city.”

“I’ll look them over if you like, but you won’t get anywhere going in while telepaths are there. Not with any officers if you want them to stay alive.” His reply did not sit well with Mathers and Thorn, who were skeptical but open minded about the threat.

The Captain looked displeased if not actually upset by his time being wasted.

“Wait, we came out here for some Area 51 conspiracy bullshit? Just let my men go in. We’re already on the roof.”

Bart smiled at the Captain. “Simon Julius Brooks, you have two daughters, Janet nineteen and Sally twenty-three, a son David, twenty, two dogs, a pair of Shelties named Sniggers and Shadow your wife loves and you just kind of put up with. Your favorite fishing hole is in West Virginia near the border with Ohio, you have a Fenwick rod you like to use for fishing, and at the moment you’re struggling to remember if indeed that’s the correct brand. I hope you don’t want me to give you really embarrassing things you’ve kept private to believe your thoughts are an open book to me. Like during your college freshman year at St. Johns?”

He turned to the Detective, “You on the other hand have a profound fondness for the dog you have, a Rottweiler named Murray. You’ve had him nine years since you adopted him from a shelter in Cincinnati. Though you aren’t married you’re considering getting your girlfriend Valerie Putnam a ring, and wondering if you can arrange to propose during a trip to Hawaii. Hawaii? Really?”

“She loves our trips there,” responded the detective. “Okay, you can do mind reading tricks but why would that be a problem?”

“Oh? Can’t imagine why it would be a problem? Other than them knowing every action an officer intends to do before he does it? I wonder if you can put your arms down.”

Both the Detective and the Captain were startled to find their arms were now straight out at their sides, as if they were pretending to have wings. Neither of them seemed able to do anything about it.

“Captain, I can’t move my arms,” the detective said in a tone of dismay.

“Undo this. Whatever hypnosis you used,” said Captain Brooks. Both of them found their left arms released.

“Just to reinforce. It is easy for those telepaths to control someone who isn’t. Depending on how strong they are, they can control your men from thirty feet to a half mile away, through any barrier you can imagine.”

Both men tried to lower their right arm too but couldn’t until he released them as well. Bart did after a moment to make clear it was his choice, not theirs.

“When you said you could introduce us to one, I didn’t realize how otherwise normal he would seem,” said Mathers to Nathan.

“Believe me when I tell you; if you go in that building you won’t be able to tell the telepaths from those who aren’t either. They will control your men. It will only make any siege effort more difficult.” Nathan checked Hubert was still in his contented spot, his own nerves up now. Then he looked up and continued. “For each telepath in there they probably have anywhere from two to five other people under their control inside. All in their mental control. Expect anything from a hundred to two hundred hostages in effect. Or if armed, drafted to be soldiers.“

“I wouldn’t be too sure anyone is still in there,” said Bart, “the place is an old building likely to have been used for a long time for outlawed activities. There’s bound to be an escape tunnel somewhere.”

“That’s why we wanted to go in right away,” said the Detective. “But now you’re saying they don’t need to escape. They merely need for us to send men in who will be unable to do anything.”

“There’s a number of other possible scenarios, Detective,” said Nathan. “Men could go in and report nothing was there when the place is still occupied. They could turn your officers on you creating a blood spree, they could just make them kill themselves. From the top indoors floor, even controlling those on the roof. It’s a bad risk.”

Captain Brooks nodded seriously. “I see. That’s worse than I was thinking. You’re saying it is as bad as any terrorist attack we’ve prepped for.”

“More a human trafficking organization, a self serving one,” Bart said.

“I suggest you have your SWAT people blow the door open, maybe set up snipers to keep an eye for anyone coming out. I doubt it will happen but if they feel the breeze from the door being open they might talk,” said Nathan.

“No, don’t,” contradicted Bart. “I’m the only one present who can screen any of them at the moment. If I could get a couple more friends here they might be able to help.”

“Did you call any before this started?” Mather’s asked. “Some that might have arrived when the shooting began?”

“Why?” Bart felt a chill run down his spine.

“We had a woman shot out front by this man,” Thorn flipped up a picture of Jacob on his phone which he held up before continuing, “she was with another man not in the pictures you gave me.”

“Shot?”

“Yes, the man was applying pressure to the wound while we approached,” Thorn said.

“Oh jeeze,” said Nathan, “they mentioned a woman had been shot when I called them. I didn’t mention it to you Bart. I’m sorry.”

Bart immediately scanned both Mathers and Thorn for the images of the couple involved in the shooting. He turned pale. He looked sharply at Nathan.

“You wouldn’t know them either, so no, it’s not your mistake,” he pulled out his cell phone and started dialing as he started to walk, “They are friendlies. Excuse me a moment.“

The first number went to voice mail. So did the second. So he dialed a third number. By the time he reached the corner and turned it, the phone was picked up at the other end.

Among the details omitted from city records about the building was the site’s pre-twentieth century history. This particular building had been built on top of a previous basement. It passed through many hands over those years. During prohibition it was a speakeasy. The need for a means of smuggling in the liquor from the river was a keen issue to the owner at the time. He’d planned to dig down from the basement to put a tunnel in to the docks.

The speakeasy’s owner did not do much digging. He didn’t have to. All he ended up doing was digging out the remains of the additional basement, shoring up the support structure and clearing out dirt. Once he had, he found there were already tunnels to the docks. During the nineteenth century, the building had been a part of the underground railroad for escaping slaves.

The tunnels had been dark and dingy. With a little additional shoring up, some concrete and a set of rails between the ends, and presto! He had his own little transportation line in place. Shipping bootleg was a simple matter to do, getting ships from the Ohio River to unload in the night without trouble.

He found there were additional tunnels branching out to other buildings. Other property owners who also supported the fugitives during their flight to freedom. With a little bit of work those tunnels too were made safer for his patrons to flee in the event of a raid. The speakeasy’s owner was able to either make arrangements or buy properties as additional investments.

After prohibition the tunnels were locked up. Property changed hands. Holding companies picked up the properties, sold them, deeds changed hands. People came and went. Memory of tunnels slipped off into the past and few records remained. A brothel operated there for a while. There had been an attempt at putting a legitimate hotel in but flopped. An enterprising couple bought the property and set up a club there for people who participated in The Scene but they never made enough money to make it last.

Jacob came along one day and looked at the property. He determined quickly it was perfect for his purposes, so he acquired it. He discovered boxes with some very dusty old journals in the front offices with mention of the tunnels. He managed to obtain other properties where tunnels ended. The people he had perform repairs lost memory of doing the work. He told Jonathan about the escape routes, but no one else in the club was aware an emergency hatch of sorts was available.

The means of getting from the basement to where the tunnels were now was well concealed as well. One had to enter an old play dungeon then move a wall. Mostly the wall was entirely a rack for the play toys for the kind of sadism not commonly practiced elsewhere in the club. The prior BDSM couple really were both cruel sadists at heart, wanting a place to be able to leave blood without it being noticed. Even though they put the racks up on the wall, they never once found the mechanism to open it.

Jacob liked finding the room as it was. He was looking for the entrance to the tunnels at the time but the room suited his purposes as well. Several of the other members knew when he took one of his little playthings down there they might not see her again. Not the way she’d been before, not at all. He would sometimes just walk someone down he hadn’t controlled more than motor skills, then break them. For his own pleasure.

Those tunnels behind the toys rack was pretty well hidden. Jacob had taken time and the trouble to ensure the city records didn’t show them. He’d worked pretty hard to prepare for the worst, and it wasn’t going to creep up on him unprepared if he could help it.

He had to decide soon. Did they ditch the place and run? Or was it better to start slipping people out to begin taking control of the law enforcement people? He started to do a headcount to see how many were present.

He knew off hand Mia Abernathy and Jonathan were missing. Who was with them still? Which were present? He pointed to three of the younger ones who were looking to him for guidance. The youngest among them as well.

“Okay, here’s what I want you three to do. Go to the second floor and out the door at the end corridor, there’s an office over looking the bay of the loading dock. Keep an eye out for anyone slipping in through there. Get them under control and keep them reporting back without going further. In fact,” he turned to the two large thugs he used to guard his internal domicile sending them over to the three telepaths, “Take these guys along. Send them outside to just sit and watch. Then you can monitor if anything happens to them to see if someone’s coming.”

“Is there any reason we can’t take entertainment with us?” said one of the young men.

Jacob wanted to cover his face with embarrassment. These guys had no idea what trouble was going to be like for them with normal people knowing about their abilities. Stupid with talent was not good.

“Yes, take your sluts along if you wish. Where is the guy I sent to the second floor at?”

“He hasn’t come back,” said one of those remaining. He’d dispatched six people, counting Melody, so looking across the group, he realized there were less of them than he’d hoped for. Maybe holding the fort wasn’t a good idea. Was this set of telepaths worth saving or not? The cooperation thing he was looking for wasn’t working as well as he liked.

“You,” he pointed, “and you. Get in range of the front door. The cops were banging on it recently. It’s just a matter of time before they use some explosives to take it down. When they do, the best thing for you to do is control any coming in and turn them on each other. Buy some time doing that. Then come back to here so we can act together to control any that come in.”

He had to make sure they all thought they were going to hold the place. He didn’t want panic among a bunch of dilettantes.

“Who can check the roof? I want three or four people for that? Not to go out in the open but to make sure no visitors come from above.”

No one volunteered. This did not surprise him.

“Hi guys,” Edward said as he returned hand in hand with Elaine. Ellie had a bright smile.

“How’s Jill doing?” Elaine asked.

“What was all that about?” asked Lexi, “Oh goody, you can hold hands now!”

“Jill’s fine,” said Prudence. “A bit disturbed by the fact there are people who can control her mind at whim, but she’ll be okay since Edward cleared her mind of those cobwebs.”

Jill had received a detailed explanation of Elaine’s problem from Prudence. She saw Elaine holding his hand. Like Lexi, she was curious what changed.

“What’s the deal with Ellie?” asked Jill.

“Sir fixed my problem,” said Elaine.

“Oh, OH!” Lexi got it quickly enough, for her own tempo.

Lexi grinned. Elaine kissed Edward’s cheek happily.

“So, are you reconsidering our requests too?” asked Prudence coyly, tracing one foot in the carpet. While her head was pointed towards the floor, she had a sly grin and peered up at Edward.

“Yes. You’ve got to understand what it means, but we will talk. I am more comfortable now with the idea with some minor modification.”

His cell started to ring. “One moment,” he did the little touch slide to answer the phone. While he was talking, Jill slid over close to Lexi.

“If we’re three stories down in the ground, how does he get cell service down here?” she asked.

“I’m not certain. Whoever really owns this probably set up repeaters. Maybe a few of them even. I think there might be another floor or two below us.”

They noticed a sudden intensity in Edward’s expression. Elaine was holding his hand as if she’d never let him go, but even she noticed his disturbed look. Her face fell too. She clasped her hands to her mouth as shock overtook her features.

He hung up and walked back to the other women.

“We’ll talk later,” he said all too seriously.

Lexi and Prudence saw tears on Elaine’s cheeks. What Edward’s eyes revealed was rage.

“What happened?” asked Jill.

“Aunt Polly’s been shot,” said Ellie.

A gasp arose from the two other young women who knew Polly. Jill was caught up in the moment but was wondering how his aunt had come to be shot.

“I am going to the hospital. Do you want to come along?” he asked. “I know you’d gotten to know her only a little while, but...”

“Of course we’re coming!” Lexi said. Prudence next to her was nodding. Jill wasn’t staying here alone. She was on board as long as her thoughts were her own now.

The young man Jacob had sent to bring back the other members on the second floor had done as he was told. Stan had rushed to the given task to avoid frictions going on with the group. After going down the corridor he knew had other telepaths and telling them about the common summons for everyone, he’d worked his way to the end of the hall.

The door was locked and though he tried, he wasn’t able to open it. He knew it lead to a stairwell so he really didn’t see a point in going through it anyway. He turned back, returning to the balcony.

It was evident Jake was still chewing some people up down there, not what he wanted to go through. He wasn’t one of the better telepaths yet Jacob had provided protection, even intervening once when someone was going to take Stan’s favorite slut away from him. She was a personal act of revenge on a high school cheerleader he’d had classes with and sought her out after his ability started in college. He loved seeing her plead to have her face painted. Jake knew she was special to him, stopping some guy from just yanking her away one day.

He opened the door to the other hallway and stepped through. Darkness fell on him. The two guards waiting to ambush Jacob pulled him inside and closed the door again. They chuckled between themselves and kicked the unconscious Stan in several places. Even if he lived through this he’d end up with broken ribs.

When the three assigned to watch the loading bay came to the door, of the three Pat was good enough to sense the two brutes waiting on the other side. After freezing them in place he was curious why they’d jumped Stan.

It took only a few minutes to determine they’d been under Peter’s control as he departed the premises. Pat was angry, mostly because Peter wasn’t stuck in this mess with the rest of them now. He instructed the rest of their little group to go on. He took one of the two thugs to go downstairs for Jake to look at. He’d join the sentry duty shortly. It seemed important to let Jacob know there had been a traitor in their midst.

He was seeing red before he reached the stairs, almost wanting to push the thug down the steps to take out his ire. He didn’t though. The guy was a puppet gunny type. He could be put in the way of other problems they had.

He did not enjoy thinking about Jacob’s reaction.

Jonathan got up again. He checked and rechecked he’d cleared away everything inside the skull of this twerp. The body was built and seemed to have the kind of sturdy metabolism he was looking for. He started the process of transplanting memories.

It would take some time to be absolutely accurate. He went about it slowly, methodically, with as much focus as possible. He wanted to make this work before he fled the city.

Time was not on his side though.

Every time he’d thought he was close, it failed. The subjects he’d used to date were all like this one. Good young stock, men in the making who would be sturdy, unlikely to pass away from the various things he was most concerned with.

He was working away at when a new thought impinged on his efforts. What if he had subjects that were telepaths? The new idea didn’t derail his effort. He just let it marinate in the back of his mind as he worked on.

When this effort failed as the ones before had he didn’t get as upset as he had previously. He wondered if there was a way to get a telepathic subject. His thoughts went back to the club. It might be too late to use any of them as subjects.

Where would he find other telepaths to use as subjects? For the first time in a long time he was thinking about how to find telepaths from the pattern of normal behavior.

Could he find a better source?