The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

It was a war movie.

An old war movie. I waved farewell to an unclear someone in my vision. She stood on a classic widow’s walk atop a white two story building. A scarf waved at the end of her arm as a farewell to me.

Prisoners were on an island far off at sea. Hadn’t this been a pirate movie I had seen? A sail above my head caught wind allowing it to push the ship. This was wrong. I’m not a sailor. At sea is decidedly not a place I belong. Someone else should be sailing, not me.

But I was to lead a raid to free prisoners. I could be one of the prisoners. Disconcerted, I was puzzled.

The symphony finished. Without the wheelchair he’d feel a lot more relaxed. The quiet after the music always let music reverberate through him, bringing him brief respite from the chaos his life had become.

Rapping on his door was not helping at the moment.

“Come!”

The woman with the computer tablet came in.

“There’s a Captain Neuman to see you.” She waited for his direction.

For a couple minutes he did not move. Restless, she tried to patiently stand still. Her shifting from one foot to the other caught his attention again.

“Oh hell. Send him in. He has important work to do. If he’s here, something is going on.”

The young woman backed out the door, leaving it open. Moments later she led a uniformed Police Captain and what probably was an aide in. Hyman knew the aide but the only way he’d remember the name right now would be a probe. Instead he looked at the captain.

“Are you here to ask about a specialist for the recruitment program?”

“No Sir,” responded Neuman. “It’s about two of the detectives seen with the target, Ben Madison.”

“And so?”

“They’ve been following a handful of our people. I presume to trace back to you.”

“So? Is he with them?”

“No, he hasn’t been. I was irritated by them spying about. I took action to remove them as a problem.”

“Did you fix the problem??”

“I had the special unit pick them up. I have them in a nice safe hole. I wanted to ask your permission to bring them to you. My thought was you could persuade them to join us.”

Hyman contemplated someone he knew getting close to Madison, “Maybe.”

“They could be sent back into his place to keep us updated, perhaps catch him off guard and capture or remove him suitably.”

“What is it with military guys and euphemisms? Dammit.” Did it really seem like a feasible idea? What would happen if they got close to Madison? “No, it won’t work. I can turn them so they won’t be helping him anymore. But the minute they get within sniffing range he will be able to turn them again. Sending them back to him is not going to do much for us. But I don’t want to waste time or manpower holding them.”

“What do you want to do then?,” asked the captain.

“Have them brought here. We can assign them some duties with the Mayor’s office I think.”

The captain nodded. “I will call my men to bring em here.”

“Do it from the outer room, I would like a moment or two of quiet.”

With a slight bow, the captain signaled his aide to step out to make the call.

“Is there something more Captain?”

“You mentioned it Sir. I wasn’t here for the purpose but we do need a specialist to verify the targets we locate.”

“I’m severely short handed. Are there any targets nearby I can check and be back quickly from?”

“All travel routes from here involve a bit of effort. I can check to see if we can arrange quick transport. Maybe by air?”

“By air,” the Wizard smiled. “Good idea Captain. Let’s see if we can arrange a helicopter. There’s plenty of room here to land it.”

The aide burst back into the room his face pale. He rushed up to Captain Neuman and whispered in his ear.

“Dammit, I’m going to find out anyway so there’s no point to whispering. OUT WITH IT MAN!”

“The two men we were holding escaped,” the aide explained. “No one knows how they got out or when they got out. The guards said they just disappeared.”

Suddenly the aide screamed. Dropping to the floor he clung to his head, pressing in on himself as if to stop the skull from expanding. Moments later he stopped moving. Neuman looked at the Wizard while trying not to react. Hyman’s face was twisted into a mask of rage and fury.

“Fucking incompetents,” the anger spoke from him.

The Captain knelt down to feel for a pulse. He was relieved, his aide wasn’t dead, just unconscious. Explaining his disappearance would have been very difficult.

“We’ll find them again, Sir.”

“Get him out of here before I change my mind and kill the messenger.”

With some effort, he lifted his aide into a fireman’s lift. He managed to get through the door sideways. Once out of the office, he put his load into a chair and took a deep breath. The only way he’d know what happened was to get back and find out what kind of clusterfuck was going on.

The first name on the list was one M. Edison. Nerves on end, Ben had no idea where to find this Edison guy. He had to start somewhere though. Heading downtown in a cab, he pulled out his phone and made a call.

“Sergeant Toomey, how may I help you?”

“Sergeant, this is Ben Madison, I need your help?”

“Oh? Whatcha need?”

“I have the list of names Cain and Shaw were working on. Maybe you can steer me to where people on the list might be?”

“Hang on a minute.” The sounds he heard were clattering and muffled voices in the background. Ben felt impatient. Waiting without saying anything, he tried not to fidget in his impatience too much. If he found the new hide out being used, he hadn’t come up with any good ideas other than confrontation with the Wizard. He supposed it was a good thing he wasn’t into chewing his fingernails.

“You still there?”

“I’m here,” Ben said.

“I found my copy of the list. Can you give me about ten minutes then call back? I will try to find the most likely places. Can you do that?”

“Sure. That’s not bad. I’ll call ya.” He hung up. The next name D. Cowman. That one didn’t ring any bells either. The next one, J. Skey. The list didn’t hint if they were cops, gang bangers, lawyers, city officials or whatnot. He really would need Toomey’s help or he’d have to use brute force scanning some of police headquarters or city offices to locate any of these names. Or someone else who was working with the Wizard.

He had the driver pull over once he neared City Hall. He wasn’t sure this was a good place for brute force scanning but he did know one thing. Any of the agents for the Wizard would be adjusted, making it a little faster to search for the ones he was seeking.

He checked the time. The ten minutes had passed. Looking at the list, he pulled out his phone again.

“Sergeant Toomey, how may I help you?”

“It’s me again, Ben.”

“I’ve got a list here of the names and likely places for a dozen of them. Do you have a pen and something to write on?”

“Not really, I’m downtown with the idea I’d start scanning City Hall or police headquarters by the Brooklyn Bridge.”

“I can text you a list of those I got locations for. There are a handful in the area down there. That should help a bit, no?”

“Oh, I don’t know, it just seems like such a good idea. Yes, please do.”

The Sergeant chuckled, “will do. Expect texts. I’ll send more texts as I get likely locations for the any of the others.”

“Cool beans. Do it. I await your notes.”

It was late enough, Ben concluded not many of the target names would be likely to be around. This was his best shot and he really was tired of being on the defensive all the time. Toomey, good to his word, had started to text. His phone started to buzz with each incoming text.

Out of the first dozen, there were indeed five with likely locations near him. This mayoral aide named McAllister seemed likely. They might be working late. So he started to scan City Hall, first looking for the man, then to see if anyone knew this guy, where he was.

A sweep of the building did not find McAllister in his office. Or anywhere else in the building. Ben reassured himself at this hour it wasn’t to be expected. He started to scan people who were in the building to see if they knew him and where McAllister might be. As it turned out, there was a popular bar just a few streets up for the aides and clerks who worked for the mayor. Some of the minds he’d scanned through seemed to think the man would be there for an after hours drink.

A short stroll later and he was outside a bar sporting a sign reading “The Moon Under Water.” For a moment he thought about going in or not. It seemed a better idea to go in to sit at the bar than stand outside looking like he was lost.

“What can I get ya?,” asked the bartender.

“Just now, a bottle of Guinness.”

“Comin’ right up.” In just a few moments there was an open bottle and glass in front of him. He really didn’t want the beer. Appearances had to be maintained however.

Without looking away from the bottles displayed behind the bar he began to scan for McAllister. The place was packed and a lot of these people had been touched before by a telepath. He wondered if he should look at all of them to see if any were in the Wizard’s clutch of followers. It didn’t take long though to discover his target wasn’t there.

But another man from the list was. A fellow named Shankley. He dug around in the man’s mind for a bit. There were a number of shady real estate operations he’d helped with for the Wizard. Ben wondered if any of the places involved were the new bolt hole being used. Trying to work through Shankley’s knowledge of the locations involved, only a few were in run down areas likely to have few inhabitants. But those were in the ‘as yet to be acquired’ category.

While Shankley had known about the place on Roosevelt Island, he was unaware of where his boss had relocated to. While Ben was scowling the bartender came to ask if he needed another beer. He must have been absentmindedly drinking the one he had. It was now empty.

“Sure.” The empty was swept away, replaced with a fresh bottle. Additional customers entered from the street. Expecting nothing, he scanned them quickly.

One of the new faces was indeed this Edison guy who was at the top of the list! Two subjects in one location, that was a good change of fortune. Starting to scan the man, he perked up a bit more. Edison had indeed visited the boss today.

With a little patience and care, Ben went through the entire trip and back inside Edison’s memories. The trip was a quick but detailed ride. The building the Wizard was in featured as a gray multi story free standing structure. What would be required now was transportation.

He pulled out his phone and called Toomey.

“Sergeant Toomey, how can I help you?”

“This is Ben again. You can stop looking for locations. I got what I needed. Have either Cain or Shaw turned up at all?”

“Good to hear you found what you were after. No, no word. The detectives are still out of contact. I’ve heard nothing.”

“Guess I’ll have to go this alone then. Wish me luck.”

“Good Luck. What am I wishing you good luck for?”

“I know where the Wizard is. If I delay he may relocate again. So as much as I’d rather go hide; I’m off to see the Wizard.”

“Very funny, but I doubt you could be mistaken for Dorothy. Can I give you any kind of backup?”

“Good point. Naw. I don’t want you endangered because I choose to seek trouble.”

“Well good luck anyway.”

The three men waited for someone to answer. The cab ride hadn’t been too bad but both detectives insisted on stopping to eat before going on. They’d stopped at the cafe just down the street from Ben’s place and tried to grille Robert.

Robert wasn’t having any though, managing to deflect questions with little effort. The one thing Shaw noticed was the odd telepath was watching out the windows as if he expected someone to sneak up on them. Paranoid? Or just being cautious?

Once done with a light meal they walked up the street to the building Ben lived in. As luck would have it, they were able to catch the door before it latched as one of the tenants left. A short ride in the elevator later and a knock at Ben’s door they were waiting for an answer.

The lock click and door opening was followed by Ginny’s smile.

“Detectives! We heard you went missing! It’s good to see you.”

“Yes, we misplaced ourselves,” Cain replied, “but despite goons bopping us on the head, we’re back. There’s another player in town no one knew about.”

“Ahem,” said Robert, “I’m playing, am I?”

“Oh get inside already. Both of you,” Shaw said.

“Okay already,” Cain answered.

The three men entered as Ginny closed the door behind them. Three of the seats around the dinette table were occupied by Ben’s other guests.

“Did I miss something,” said Shaw, “or is there one woman more in here than Ben told us about?”

“If you missed it, so did I,” said Cain.

“You already know Janet,” said Ginny, “this is Celia...” she indicated the woman.

“And my name is Alison,” said the more elderly woman, “which is about all you need to know.”

But she gave a rather surprised look at Robert.

“Another telepath?,” she said, “I presume you know that ‘I’m not here’ trick Ben taught me.”

Robert let out a short chuckle, “I know you’re here though. Mister Madison was kind and generous helping you to learn.” He paused. “Call me Robert for now. Let’s just say, I am on your side.”“That’s what he told us when he got us out of the cooler we were being held in,” said Cain. “It’s not clear to me how he found us or how he claims to be on our side. For all I know, he is the Wizard guy we’ve been looking for.”

“I assure you, I am not.”

“You could be, trying to get in close without being noticed.”

“If he was, would we be discussing it?,” said Celia, looking over Robert carefully. “I think we have to take him at face value and assume he’s okay.”

“What makes you say that?,” Shaw said.

“If he’s not telling the truth, we wouldn’t stand a chance anyway. None of us will be able to do anything. If he’s not on our side that is.”

“Speaking of making people do things they don’t want to,” said Cain, “where is my all too friendly mindbender at the moment?”

“Mindbender?,” muttered Robert.

“His word for you telepaths,” whispered Shaw to him.

“Celia pointed out the obvious to him. Something he’d managed to somehow overlook. You guys must have overlooked it too following your persons of interest.” Ginny managed to giggle after that, “Celia is pretty clever.”

“What was so obvious?,” Cain said.

“You didn’t need to follow the people. Ben just had to read their minds to find out how they get to their boss now.”

Shaw slapped his forehead. Cain looked down and muttered a curse word under his breath. It really wasn’t particularly audible to anyone but himself.

Robert said, “Does that mean what I think it means?”

“That there are moon mice eating the green cheese?,” quipped Ginny, giggling still.

Alison glared at her, “Ben has rubbed off on you.”

“No, but…” Robert said, “if he’s not here, did he go out to hunt for someone from the list?”

“Yes,” said Ginny and Celia in unison. Janet was grinning at the two of them.

“For the love of…,” Robert said. “Is he coming back after he finds out the location or going straight there?”

“He didn’t say.” Alison just smiled, “He figured with me here we were proof against anything except the Wizard showing up in person. Plus the detectives were ‘missing’ as far as he knew.”

Robert plopped down on an armchair. “I gotta think about this.”

“Can I use someone’s phone?,” Shaw asked of no one in particular. Janet offered hers.

The Sergeant finally had a break from people looking to file complaints, or those just waiting for someone to take them off for interviews. The benches and chairs were about half full in the lobby. He was ready for a coffee break.

“Jones, cover for me. I’m going to get a cup.”

“Sure thing Sergeant.”

The officer took over his chair while Toomey stepped through to the more restricted part of the precinct house. Sniffing the pot, he concluded it was too stale, and dumped it into the sink. It took a few minutes to measure out the grounds and start a new pot. He waited, looking around. A couple of his fellow officers appeared to be stealing looks at him as he was preparing his coffee. His nerves were starting to act out he decided. There was no reason to think any of the men watching him were part of the telepath’s gang of followers.

Having sweetened and added cream, he went back out to the entry desk. Placing the mug on the desktop got Jones’ attention.

“Hey, line four, for you,” Jones said. Then he got up and gave Toomey his chair back. “All yours again Sergeant.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

He took a sip of his coffee and decided he hadn’t sweetened it enough. Before he picked up the phone he added some more sweetener from packets he’d squirreled away in the draw here for just such a situation. Then he picked up the phone.

“Sergeant Toomey, how can I help you?”

“Hello Sergeant,” the voice was Shaw’s.

“Detective,” there was relief for Toomey, a weight dropping off him. “Where have you been? Is Detective Cain with you?”

“Yes, he’s here.”

“That’s a relief. Where did you vanish to?”

“I’m not sure you want to know. Someone caught on to us shadowing minions of the telepath around.”

“So, what? It took a while to lose them?”

“No, it took someone rescuing us. We were picked up by uniforms in his clique.”

“I know Ben didn’t rescue you. And it wasn’t me. So who…?”

“There’s another telepath none of us knew about who says he’s on our side. He found us. He got us away from the miscreant officers.”

There was a pause.

“How did you know it wasn’t our mindbender?,” said Shaw. “Do you know something new?”

“Ben called me for help locating the subjects on your list. Then he called me again to see if you’d turned up yet since he’s found out where the wizard guy is.”

“He did?”

“Yes. He said he’s going after the guy too. Before he relocates again. He seemed to want you along. He did say he’d rather go hide than go after the wizard.”

“Did he tell you where this wizard is?”

“No. I should have asked.

“Any hints?”

“All I know is he had me compiling lists of possible locations to find the agents of the telepath.”

“Can you text th… oh no. I lost my cell phone, badge and my gun. Cain too by the way. Just a second.”

Toomey held on, waiting as some discussion happened at the other end of the phone.

“This phone will do. Can you text me the locations you’d already sent him before he told you he knew where to look?”

“Sure. Oh! You have a telepath that’s on our side. Not Ben but someone new.”

“He calls himself Robert. Plus, he’s big on being mysterious, no last name.”

“Why is it so many people think the world is all cloak and dagger work?”

“I don’t have time for philosophy. Just text me the notes. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Okay chief. It’ll only be a few minutes.”

Very much relieved to know there was another ally who was telepathic, he collected and sent the same information he’d sent Ben.

Robert drew Alison aside from the others a bit while the detective was on the phone.

“Are you getting more comfortable with your talents?”

“I suppose. I have managed to control the surveillance team that was following me around. Ben says my mental shield is good enough for a start.”

“I meant have you had any problem with using it ethically. You are a psychiatrist after all. I’d think you had to go through several classes on ethics.”

“At first, it shocked me. Ben pointed out that I was already using it unconsciously to help my patients. He told me his concern was if this unscrupulous telepath was after him… they’d be after me too. This seemed like a good time for ethics to be a bit situational.”

“Well it seems you’ve already got your own little band of followers. Ethics be damned,” he smiled at her.

She reddened slightly. “I really don’t want to be controlling them but it beats the alternative. I have no desire to be kidnapped.”

“Has he taught you any mental attack methods?”

“Only a couple. The thing about “not here” is something he says will help my shield and make it hard for an attacker to reach me. After that he tried to stress imagining throwing a spear, or a long spike at the other telepath’s mind. I was doing fairly well he said. Yet he did say I needed to work on it.”“That’s good for a start. There are several ways to strike at an enemy. That’s the initial starting point but after that if it fails you need to try to find openings in their shield. Somewhere you can push through to take control. Give it some thought, I’ll try to help with a few tips before I leave the city.”

“I appreciate it. Who are you and why are you here though? I know you said you’re on our side, but why?”

“I’m here because. Well. Let’s just say I learned there was trouble here. So I came.”

“Insisting on being the Man of Mystery?”

“It is better that way until we get rid of this wizard character.” Robert turned back to the detectives, “Has anyone tried Ben’s cell?”

“I will now,” said Shaw.

After a few moments it went to voicemail. If Ben turned off his cell, thought Shaw, he’s probably already close to his target.

“No joy. Voicemail.”

Ben considered commandeering a helicopter from the flight service place off South Street. It really seemed like an elegant way to get where he had to go. Until he considered the amount of noise it would make. The last thing he wanted was his presence to be announced by his transportation.

Instead, he headed to the shore line and downtown.

He managed to make all the way to South Ferry without finding anything he could use. As he stood watching the Staten Island Ferry head out into the bay, he started to scan the area to see if anyone knew of any more reasonable boats he could use. A ferry boat would be too conspicuous. Likely enough, anything could seem conspicuous if he tried to go directly to his destination.

Finally, his scanning came up with a guard with the duty of watching over keys for a handful of boats used for maintaining buoys in the harbor and along the East River. This would make it a lot easier. He walked through the building to find the guard’s post, and thereby the location of the small motorized boats. From inside the guard’s mind there was no problem finding the right door.

The door opened for him as he arrived, the guard now more than willing to assist his effort to get started in one of the boats. He handed Ben a set of keys and lead him through another corridor to a roofed over dock.

“I don’t know how well fueled they are,” the man said. “Usually they fuel them up before they go out again. If you bring, that’s the boat over there,” he indicated with his hand, “over here to the gas pump, I can fill ’er up for you.”

“Sure thing.”

Ben walked along the dock until he came to the indicated skiff. The floating platform was about twelve feet wide and almost twenty-five long, coming to the usual point at the bow while being flat in the back with one outboard motor. On board were a number of tarp covered objects, a number of lock box storage units, and a handful of uncomfortable looking benches. The waves that came in to the dock made it bob a bit. Stepping over the side to get in took a little bit of balancing excercise.

With a little effort the engine started up. Ben thought it was loud. His reaction to the sudden growl was it still better than a helicopter was. With a little effort he cast off and steered the boat to where the guard stood. The fueling station was a simple pump and hose thing appearing to be as old as the building here on the shore.

“Hang on sir, I’ll tie her off for you for this.”

Ben threw the stern rope to the man who used the rope to draw the boat to the dock. Then they exchanged another rope to pull the bow close to the pier.

“So what do I do? You just hand me the nozzle and you start the pump?”

“Yes sirree. That cap there, on the outboard. You have to press down on it to unscrew it.”

The cap had a short piece of string tied to it with an end attached to the motor. It wouldn’t do to have the cap drop in the water. Soon he had the nozzle in the tank. Shortly the fuel was topped off and the tank closed back up.

“Okay, you’re good to go.” The guard tossed the ropes back on board and Ben restarted the engine. In a few minutes he was bouncing on the waves away from Manhattan. Looking over his shoulder he could see the Ferry building. It seemed it could use some loving attention to him. But he wasn’t there for the architecture.

Even in the dark he could see his destination. He lined up the little boat’s bow to steer for Governor’s Island.

Shaw and Cain looked at the man who had rescued them.

“What do you think,” asked Shaw of Cain.

“We’re not going to learn anything without him. Or Dr Moore. I suspect he’s the better choice though.”

“Hey Robert,” Shaw spoke up.

“Yes detective, I certainly am coming along. I had intended to be with Mr Madison at this point. It appears he’s more resourceful than I expected.”

“He did have a little help,” observed Janet, nodding towards Celia. Celia blushed.

“People can be exceptional at a multitude of things and still make mistakes,” replied Robert. “and it’s to be expected that even if you’re smart, there’s someone smarter than yourself.”

“Let’s not start doing philosophy right now,” said Cain. “Let’s get going.”

With a goodbye to the women, they left Ben’s apartment.

The three men stepped out on the street and hailed a taxi. At this hour traffic was light enough to make the drive quicker than usual in Manhattan. The place they went first was a building in Hell’s Kitchen. A little north of the Post Office they got out and paid the hack driver.

“Which building is it?”

“That one,” answered Cain, pointing Robert at it.

“We don’t need to go inside, just give me a few minutes.”

Having been through this before with Ben on Roosevelt Island, the detectives just kept watch for the man. For his part, Robert located their target. The fellow in question, named Washburn, turned out to be uninformed as to the location of the new base for the Wizard. Robert had been afraid this might happen. If the wizard had relocated he would want to reduce the number of people who actually knew where he was.

“No go. He’s here but he has no knowledge of the new base. Cleared out the controls from our adversary though, as long as I was in there. We’ll have to do that eventually anyway, with the people he had under his control.”

“Sure. Where next?,” asked Shaw.

Cain went through the list he had. “Union Square area. A bit east, maybe close to Third Avenue.”

A short cab ride later they were on East Sixteenth Street, midway between Union and Stuyvesant parks. Again, the detectives stood watch as Robert scanned the building. Shortly they noticed the man was grinning. Then he frowned again.

“What is it?,” Shaw said.

“I got the location, but I don’t know how we get there.”

“Where is he?”

“There’s a house over on Governor’s Island he’s using. The ferry is no doubt closed for the night.”

“We just need to find a boat we can use,” said Cain.

Shaw thought, trying to remember where they might find a boat.

“North Cove Marina?,” said Cain finally.

“North Cove Marina.”

“Boats I assume?,” asked the telepath.

“Boats, you would be correct,” answered Shaw.

Clearly it was time for another taxi trip.

“Anyone got ideas about what to do if Ben doesn’t come back?,” asked Janet.

“Sir will be back,” Ginny said with certainty.

“We won’t even know if he fails,” Alison said. “Unless Robert comes back to tell us so.”

“He is a telepath. If he doesn’t get in trouble too Robert could come back. He’s stronger than you are Alison?” Celia looked up at the psychiatrist curiously.

“I assume he’s at least a lot more experienced than I am. I’m not sure how relative strength works in telepathy. It might be like a chess match with both players having different styles. From what I’ve been told about his struggle getting Ginny back, Ben had the advantage of Ginny clobbering the other guy over the head.”

“We don’t know, Robert may get there in time to help him with the baddie,” Celia added. “Or Ben, Sir I mean, may be able to deal with the baddie on his own.”

Alison refilled her glass with the wine Ginny had brought out. After taking a few sips she looked around.

“Which of you live here?”

“I do,” said Ginny.

“My apartment is downstairs,” Celia added.

Janet looked at the two of them and just smiled, then turned towards Alison.

“I have a career and live downtown. I’m not giving him up. He has been very honest about Celia and Ginny with me,” she took more wine in her glass too, “I don’t want them pushed away.”

“Well, I know I could probe your minds directly,” she started, “er, not Celia’s though from what he’s told me. I’m just wondering how is it you can accept this arrangement together.”

“I will do anything to please my Sir,” answered Ginny. “He does so much for me I could never ask for that to change.”

“Odd how you all seem to feel that way,” Alison muttered.

“If he wants us as family… I will think of them as sisters,” replied Ginny.

“I’d expect no less from you Ginny. You were submissive before he met you, as I understand it. But Celia, what about you?”

Celia looked down at her hands a moment. When she looked back at the doctor she said, “I think my reasons are more complex. I find myself to be submissive to him specifically. I chose without him forcing himself on me. I trust him. I believe I love him. I want so very much to please him. He is already Sir to me. It may be more shortly, I don’t know.”

“Don’t look at me,” said Janet. “I’m more than willing to take him as he is. He quit his job working for me so we wouldn’t have an office romance conflict. HR would destroy my career if such a thing came up. Trust? I am sure he resigned to protect me and my career. I like Ginny immensely and wouldn’t want anything to happen to her. I’m learning to like Celia. I’m sure the two of them will educate me as we go.”

“Sir has indicated emotional interest in both of them,” added Ginny. “I don’t know what his emotions are regarding me.”

“Don’t diminish yourself with us Gin,” said Celia patting Ginny’s arm. “You are precious.”

Alison looked at the three women and took another sip or two of her wine. There was probably a book in the real stories behind these women, she thought. Not as though she could write it. As a telepath and knowing Ben was more capable with the skill than she was she wouldn’t want to test their association. Perhaps he was simply far more experienced. She really had no desire to find out.

He’d better come back. She couldn’t see herself watching over these three indefinitely.

Separated from Brooklyn by the Buttermilk Channel, Governor’s Island is substantial enough to dominate the entry to the East River yet so small as to be hard to notice. Originally sixty-nine acres which once was home to Walnut, Oak, and Chestnut trees, the local Native Americans called it Paggank (Nut Island). The current name stems from the British colonial era when the island was given over for exclusive use by the Royal Governor. The name stuck. For a hundred and eighty three years it serviced as a US Army base, but it was turned over to the US Coast Guard in the mid 1960s. Since the early twentieth century the island had been expanded by a hundred and three acres with landfill. Now it was used for a national park with numerous historic buildings on it’s landscape. The full time resident population is less than two thousand five hundred people.

Where barracks used to stand the building the Wizard had taken was closer to the East side of the island. The ferry to and from Manhattan docks at the northern end of the island. Ben’s nautical skill really had been limited to visits to lakes with much less swell than the harbor had. The bouncing boat tested his muscles and his stomach. Between the boat and trying to keep himself masked as “not here” he felt stressed. And tired. He was wet too, as the boat kept kicking water up over the sides with each bouncing stroke against the water. A shallow amount pooled up at his feet. The swells evened out as he came into the channel between the island and Brooklyn.

With effort, he managed to get the boat close in next to a retaining wall on the East side of the island. There really wasn’t any good cover to conceal the boat, but he thought the retaining wall might hide it. He had chosen a spot with a handful of trees nearby too. Gripping the railing, he pulled the boat close and tied it off at the base of one of the posts. Then he did the same with the bow rope.

It took a few minutes but he became accustomed to not hearing the sounds of the boat’s motor. Somehow that was a relief. Sound also could give his presence away if the motor continued. He stayed in the slightly rocking boat for a while to ensure no one heard it approach.

He could not imagine the Wizard would be here without guards. It was worth a few minutes to consider what amount of security the man had to protect himself physically. He’d have some armed men at the house. Maybe half a dozen, he thought. Someone who can control minds though doesn’t have to pay to get quality bodyguards. So he could have dozens outside the house doing the job of picket as well as patrolling for unusual activity. He wondered if the detectives had been brought here to become unwitting bodyguards.

For the first time since he’d gained the mental powers Ben felt very insecure. He was so unsure of himself right now. He was a bit frightened at the idea of having to approach another telepath of unknown quality.

He could still turn around and run away. The world is pretty big, this guy wouldn’t find him again if he did it right, he thought. Perhaps I could just wander off to Australia and disappear in their wilderness areas. Maybe if I just take off and make a new life, no one will ever notice me. He shivered as much from being wet in the cold air over the water. He was tired. He should have thought of this before he swiped the boat to come out here.

No, he realized, he could not turn to leave. He had no idea what the fate of the two detectives was. Maybe Toomey would know more by now. He reached in the pocket he kept his cell phone. It had gone missing. One of the bouncing over waves must have knocked it loose. It should be on the seat still.

Pawing around he found a flashlight clamped to the inside of the hull. Splashing in some of the water that had come over the sides, he looked at the seat only to find the cell phone had fallen to the bottom of the boat. Sunk in seawater, it was useless. There could be no call to Toomey.

Late evening with darkness outside, Hyman readied himself for sleep. He tended to sleep sitting up now, so that meant getting followers to set him on the bed. They’d have to add a few pillows to keep him upright.

On the plus side, the tourists to the island during the day were gone. He could relax his effort to keep their surface thoughts out. He reached out to check his guards. Touching their minds briefly to see that no threats were evident. Doing so was one of the habits he developed simply to ensure he still was in control. Barring another telepath, none of them could slip out of his control.

He had his assistant bring him a small glass of brandy. Barbara waited for him to finish it. He might want the glass taken away. Though she wore a thick rimmed pair of glasses, she had a delicate face and a great hourglass figure. As eye candy, he appreciated her. He was glad he’d seized on her as an assistant.

There was a time, he thought, I’ve have screwed her to senselessness. Being crippled the way he was really made him angry, taking away his pleasures. Forcing himself on women had been one of those pleasures. With the nerve damage he was dealing with, it was amazing any part of him below the waist worked at all.

The woman took the glass out of his hand. His eyes closed.

City noises seemed so distant. The lights on the opposite shore looked bright, showing the shoreline well. Darkness had a certain comfort to it where he was.

Ben had climbed over the railing next to the seawall. He now was situated against the nearest building, listening for other people. Scanning seemed like a bad idea without a specific target in mind. Yet, that is.

Guards were present, he could hear a couple of them chatting. Applying his own logic to why a telepath would want guards had given him a number of concerns.

If he were to use guards, they’d be the tripwire outer security against intruders. Against normal intruders they probably would stop the unwanted guest. Which itself would be an intended purpose, he supposed. But the wizard was worried specifically about him, another telepath.

He would know the guards could be simply turned. As a tripwire how do they alert the Wizard to an intruder? From the experience with the Russian, he remembered the two snipers. The Russian didn’t know they’d been taken away from him until Ben stepped out where he could be seen. Unless he was somehow monitoring them, Ben could not think of a way for the wizard to know if he lost the followers.

Ben got himself in a position he could see two of the guards. With a direct line of sight he felt being detected by the wizard was much less likely. He inched himself closer slowly, staying in shadows. There were a couple more off to one side, he could barely see them but there was no question they could see the one’s closest to him.

With carefully measured effort he did his best to multitask the effort. Switching between putting a tiny thread out to one of the guards, he was keeping another and larger effort to detect any kind of alarm to signal the guard’s master. The little intrusion he slipped past the outer parts of the guard’s mind let him do a little snooping. The controls on the man were all about loyalty to a man in a wheelchair.

A wheelchair? The wizard was crippled and unable to walk on his own it appeared. He was able to isolate the specific building and how many men there were on duty guarding the man. There had to be almost fifty of them out here around the house. Some of them with rifles in the trees.

He looked up. Then he took two steps back. The man above the two guards in the tree was not looking his direction at all. Realization struck. Three dimensions, he had thought only about things on the ground. Doing a little more digging he found the man knew there were also motion detectors deployed around the building.

By no means could he claim skills in alarm systems. He might need someone who could. Or maybe he could turn off the alarm systems. If he could only find the right guard. The one he was examining was just one of the grunt level sorts, not the one in charge of the security. But he knew who the man in charge of his group. A man named Tom. The next problem for Ben was going to be locating him.

With a little effort he slipped a change into the guard so he would simply fall into a deep sleep if any unexpected events occurred. He thought doing so an apt use of what he’d done to protect Janet before. Looking up at the tree above, his next thread went up to the man there. This man provided confirmation of the information about the leader of this squad or so of men. With a little effort he altered this man also, trying to also impose a ‘not seeing’ instruction for unexpected strangers tonight.

From the man in the tree he could see others on the ground. Watching out the eyes of another person made his own vision a little strange. The two views seemed super-imposed at first. With a little struggle he managed to separate the images so his own eyes would be what his physical movements reacted to and the other view provided his mind information. It was very peculiar to have two separate viewing perspectives to the same physical scene.

With the alternate view he spotted this Tom fellow. Tom was his next silk thin thread of probe to be inserted. Tom it seemed had responsibility for about a third of the manpower outside the house. The man in charge of all the security people was inside. Tom didn’t have any excuse to go inside so sending him in to spot for Ben did not seem appropriate. Keeping his intrusion as minimally visible as possible was his best hope for not having physical threats when he confronted the Wizard.

Ben settled back and crossed his legs to start the process of disabling the outside guards. Tiny little probe threads seeking out the guards one by one, based on his ability to see each in sequence from those he already controlled. It was time consuming in the effort, but he hoped it would improve his safety in the end.

What he really wanted, needed indeed, was to find the person who could turn off the motion detectors set up on the perimeter. None of the men outside he’d probed had that authority. After getting through three dozen of the outside guards, he’d concluded the Wizard’s paranoia made his own seem lame.

Soon though, he had worked his way through almost all the guards outside. He just needed a way to get eyes on, or the virtual eyes of one of the guards, for a line of sight probe to one of the guards inside. If the Wizard knew he was here, he was sure they’d be engaged in a mental clash already. He had at least the illusion the effort was transpiring well.

Waking up in the darkness was not a unique event. Normally he just went back to sleep. He was accustomed to his assistant waking him up with his breakfast in the morning. So while he did not mind waking up in the night, he expected to fall back to sleep quickly. That wasn’t happening.

Maybe if he listened to some Beethoven it would help. With just a touch of uneasiness he summoned Barbara. He could reach the lamp on the flexible arm near him, so he turned that on. Listening for sounds, he could hear her rising. The room at the medical building had been soundproof so he didn’t hear anything when he summoned her in the night there. The reason for the soundproofing wasn’t for his ears but for those outside the room.

The door opened. She stood there in a robe, holding her tablet.

“Sir?”

“Turn on the eighth symphony for me. On a low volume.” He didn’t explain anything. There was no need. She walked to the stereo and picked up the remote for it. Pressing a few buttons the strains of the ‘little symphony in F’ first movement started up.

“Will there be anything else sir?” She walked to his side and put the remote for the stereo in reach so he could manage the stereo as he might wish.

“No, that’s it.”

He listened to the violins and followed the fast three quarter time pace with a smile on his face. Perhaps, he thought, it wouldn’t hurt to check with the guards.

He reached out and touched the captain of his security force. The man was near the front door, helping to monitor alarm systems. All seemed well tonight. Hyman almost let it go there since the usual stillness in the house was comforting.

Being bored as he was by being unintentionally awake, he chose though to look further.

Ben was slowly working his way into blind spots the motion detectors didn’t seem to cover. Only the fact he knew exactly where the sensors had been concealed made it possible to get as close as he had so far. He really would prefer to find the person controlling the alarms to turn them off. Scanning the house seemed like a horrible idea.

Suddenly he heard a loud thud, followed by others not as close by. Turning to look he saw the guards in the trees had fallen and were unconscious. His touch me triggers had put them out. The other guards had dropped to the ground as well. They were asleep for the count.

Ben cussed to himself. Surprise was no longer on his side. He initiated a direct scan of the house with his little radar technique, quickly finding the guards. He had the Captain of the Guard turn off the alarms, but that was as far as he got before the headlong clash he had feared. The Wizard was awake and alert to his presence now.

Wide awake now, Hyman directed his inside guards to protect the entrances. He wasn’t taking any chances the outside guards would try to storm the place. He could tell they’d all dropped into a sound sleep the moment he touched them to check on them. There was no other possible explanation than the other telepath had found him.

Angrily, he started his own scan to find the intruder. He knew Margaret’s trick with ‘not here’ well and had learned how to spot her even when she used it. Finding the telepath out there who was using the very same trick took him a little longer than a simple scan. Once he realized the stealth effort he simply sought out the vacant spaces in the scan. This turned up Ben in short order.

He tried to insinuate a thought thread out into the intruder. There was a sudden and sharp failure to connect. Mental shielding was in the way.

This was going to be a tough clash but he felt comfortable he could take any telepath, especially if they were counting on that ‘not here’ trick to protect them.