Brain Storm (A Taylor Morrison Novel Book 1) (14 page)

“It would have helped to have a little advance warning. Was there some reason you couldn’t do that?”

Jonas sounded like he was working up a good head of steam, but I couldn’t get my mind off what Mac had said. Three men outside, four inside. They had sent seven men to take me, and assuming that Mac had killed the three outside and I had no reason to assume otherwise, seven men were now dead. Who were these people and why were they so desperate to get to me, that they were willing to loose so many? What about now? Surely they would try again and when they did, was anyone here safe? My mind flitted from one scenario to another, each one ending in disaster.

“Taylor, stop.” Mac had his hand out, stopping Jonas from continuing in his tirade, focused completely on me. “Everything is all right. Just relax.”
 

“Relax? Mac, seven men are dead because of me and I . .” Mac grabbed me and jerked me out of the chair, giving me a good shake, causing Jonas and Trinity to jump up from the table sending their chairs flying backwards, ready to defend me.

“Taylor, listen to me.” His words were calm but demanding as he swung me around, putting me between him and the others.“What you’re feeling now is raw emotion and you’re sending it all over the room. What you do, the power you have, is based on emotion. They’re linked and feed off each other. It works, if you’re focused. If not, the more emotional you are, the less control you have. Are you understanding what I’m saying?”

“Let go of...” My words froze, his gaze locked on mine, willing me to understand. As shocked as I was at being grabbed and thrown around like a rag doll, his words somehow got through to me. Was he right? I couldn’t move the spoons, but I’d wanted to. Or had I? If I was honest with myself, I wanted to fail as much as I wanted to succeed on that one. As for spinning the wheel? I couldn’t have cared less about that, but boy, did I want the coffee Marcus had been holding, and I was nearly in tears from the frustration of not being able to reach those stinking keys. Images flashed through my brain and I knew he was right. Every time something had happened, an emotion had been attached to it, a strong emotion, focused on an end result. Tonight had been no different. Terror, panic, anger - it didn’t matter.
 

I had sat at the table, just seconds ago, getting more and more upset, increasingly panicked by the second. If Mac hadn’t stopped me, what would have happened?
 

He saw it on my face, the moment I knew and relaxed his grip on my shoulders.
 

“You okay, now?” he asked, setting my feet back on the floor.
 

I gave him a nod as I smoothed my clothes back into place. He nodded to Jonas and they went about collecting the chairs, quietly putting them back at the table. Everyone seemed afraid to say anything as we sat back down and the silence soon became deafening. It was Trinity, who finally broke the tension.

“Well, okay. That clears things up. Now we know you have to stay calm, Taylor. No more big emotional upheavals.” She reached over to grab my arm. “Unless of course, we’re being attacked or something, and then by all means, get emotional.”

“Okay,” I agreed, feeling somewhat relieved that everyone hadn’t run from the room when they discovered I was nothing short of a ticking time bomb. “Let’s go back to where we were before I started freaking out.”

“Oh, that would be where Jonas was about to hit Mac for saying he was a wimp.”

“I didn’t say that.” He gave Jonas a look of chagrin. “I might have implied it though and I apologize for that. I failed to do my job tonight and you all nearly died because of it. You got no warning, Jonas, because I had no warning. They hit before I expected them. Way before.”

“What happened to the guard out front?” Jonas asked after a moment. I had completely forgotten about the guard, but now I remembered that Jonas had been looking out the window right before we were attacked. The missing guard must have been what alerted him. I closed my eyes, dreading hearing the answer.

“He’s okay. I got there in time. He’s probably at home with an ice pack on his head, even as we speak. And no,” he added at Jonas’ questioning look, “he didn’t see me. No one did. At least no one who matters now.”

What was that supposed to mean? No one that matters
now
? I cocked an eyebrow up in question at Mac, who met my gaze dead on.
 

“The guy who set the fire. He must have been outside and I missed him. He saw me when Jonas and I went back in. He doesn’t matter any more.”

Just like that, he didn’t matter anymore. Mac had killed him. Well, he might not matter to Mac, but he mattered to me. A total of eight now, that had come for me. All dead. Somehow it didn’t help knowing that it could have been us. Dead was dead. Killing was killing. Tonight I had done more than my share of it. Mac might be able to toss that off, but I had a feeling it would haunt me for quite a time to come.
 

I reminded myself that at least the police guard was still alive. There was that at least, along with Jonas and Trinity. The thought helped me get my head together and focus on the question that had been nagging at me all evening.

“Who are these people, Mac? For that matter, who are you?”

“Yes, Mac,” added Trinity, bringing her chair up closer to rest her elbows on the table. She gave him her lawyer look and I knew she was back on track as she leaned across the table, “Just who are you?”

It was definitely Mac’s turn on the hot seat as three sets of eyes all turned on him, waiting for answers. Not quite as big a man as Jonas, Mac was still a good size. After all, Jonas was just short of huge, at least to me. Mac had to be coming in at closer to 6’2 or so and there wasn’t a distinguishing thing about him, if you discounted his air of confidence. He wasn’t handsome, but not ugly either. Just a regular, attractive guy. Brown hair, brown eyes. His clothes were clean and comfortable looking and disguised his body well. If he hadn’t pulled me up against him when I couldn’t walk, I would never have guessed there was a rock solid body under the loose shirt. He came off as easy going and laid back, which everyone at the table knew wasn’t the case. So far Mac had been professional, efficient and deadly. Where he came from, I had no idea, but apparently I was the reason he was here, and after tonight, I was fairly sure I was glad he was on our side. That didn’t make me any the less curious about where he came from and what he was doing here. Mac had answers and I had plenty of questions.

“Where would you like me to start?” he asked me.

“How about at the beginning,” Jonas answered. “When we have questions, we’ll ask them.”

“Oh you’ll have questions, Jonas, and I’ll answer what I can, but I’ll tell you now, most of what you want to know, I’m not at liberty to tell you.”

“Ah, you’re government.” Jonas reached across the table to grab and crack open another can of Coke. “Why do I think this is a bad thing?”

“A few years ago, it would have been a bad thing. The people I work for have learned a few things though. That’s why they’re more interested in protecting Taylor than using her as a lab rat.”

Lab Rat?
That certainly got my attention. When Mac looked over at me and winked, I felt somewhat better, although not completely relieved. If I hadn’t already conjured up a picture in my mind of being caged and studied in some hidden far away horror chamber, it would have been easier.

“Taylor, you’ve done the research.” Did he know that for a fact, or was he guessing? I was starting to get creeped out with the idea that he’d been
watching
me. “You know there’s never been a shred of scientific evidence that TK exists. Yet we all know that in fact, it does. They know it too. The problem is it can’t be duplicated in the lab. Something happens, maybe the people feel pressured, or frightened, but whatever it is, it’s like hitting a light switch. It just doesn’t work anymore. It’s gone. Sometimes it comes back, sometimes it doesn’t. The one thing they know for sure is that their method of testing doesn’t work.”

“So what are they doing now?” Trinity chimed in. “Monitoring these people? Invading their privacy?”

Yeah, what about that?
He was talking about people having a choice, but to my way of thinking, I hadn’t had one. They sent Mac in to watch me without so much as a by your leave. The violation of my privacy bothered me almost as much as the concept of being a
lab rat
did.

“In a way, yes,” he answered. “They pick likely candidates. Keep tabs on them and if there’s any positive indications, they assign a Watcher to them. Like me. Most of the time, nothing ever happens and the people just go about their lives. Other times, their ability develops, and the organization I work for makes contact when they feel the time is right and things proceed from there.”

“How do things proceed from there?” I prodded.

“That depends on the Client, Taylor. If they want to try to develop their ability, there’s someone to help them. If they want to forget about it, that’s okay too. We’ve already figured out it has to be the Client’s choice. Take away the choice and you lose the ability.”

“If that’s the way it works, why are those nut-jobs after Taylor? Why did they try to kill us tonight?” Trinity was up and pacing the floor. “If what you’re saying is true, their behavior doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’re right, Trinity. It doesn’t make sense.
If
they believed what I just told you, but they don’t. They think they can force the power, learn about it and use it. They really don’t care about who they hurt or what they have to do to get it. Imagine what Taylor could do, if she didn’t have any morals, if there was nothing to stop her. It’s a scary thought and it’s what they’re thinking. I don’t know of anyone who’s had Taylor’s amount of ability and she doesn’t even know what she can do yet. No one does. But you can bet right now, there are people sitting around a table somewhere, just like us, thinking about all the things they could do, if they could only get their hands on her. People who are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish that.”

Well, wasn’t that just the icing on the cake. And here I didn’t think I could feel any worse. How had my life gotten so screwed up in such a short time? To top it off, it wasn’t just my life. Things had changed for everyone. Trinity might not realize the ramifications yet, but I was pretty sure Jonas did.

“Do we know who these people are?” Jonas asked quietly, confirming my suspicions. He knew what was happening. I could tell from the resignation in his voice.

“Some of them, but, no, we don’t know them all. The more people who find out what she can do, the more danger she’s in.”
 

 
“What about Marcus? Where does he fit into all this?”
 

Mac hesitated in his answer and I knew things were suddenly about to get worse.

“Marcus was one of us,” he finally answered. “My guess is he was working for someone in the organization that’s either selling information or selling actual clients to the highest bidder.”

“Are you kidding me?” Trinity came up out of her chair, livid with anger. “He was one of you and you expect us to trust you now? Oh no. No, no, no. Who are you working for? Are there people waiting to knock down that door and drag Taylor away, or are you just going to open it and invite them in?” She was shooting daggers at Mac as she paced, throwing off the effects of the pain killers. This was Trinity on a tear and I didn’t have the strength to stop her. Fortunately Jonas did. I don’t know what he said after he finally cornered her, but at least she was coming back to the table. She was still shooting daggers, but the yelling had stopped.

“Actually, that’s a good question, and one I’m interested in as well,” said Jonas, after he got Trinity seated again. “Where do you stand in this?”

I buried my head in my hands on the table. I really didn’t think I could take anymore, and frankly, I was scared to hear his answer. He had just said that Marcus was working for someone in his organization. He could be just as easily doing the same thing. His actions tonight didn’t mean anything.
 

“Taylor.” I snapped my eyes open to met Mac’s gaze, and I knew my suspicions were obvious to him.

“I am not Marcus and I will not betray you. I can’t make you believe me, but I can tell you this. I am here to protect you. That’s my job and I am very good at it. I am willing to die to protect you and I am willing to kill for you. They will not take you.
No one
will take you.”

It was a chilling declaration and I didn’t doubt it for a minute. He’d already made it clear he was willing to kill. Abundantly clear. It was the ‘why’ of it that I had concerns about.

Jonas and Trinity stood silently watching me, waiting for my decision. Problem was, I was just too tired to make one. My brain was having trouble dealing with everything else that had happened and there was just no way I could add any more to the mix.
 

Sighing, I rose from my seat and began gathering up the makings of our meal, feeling the need to do something normal in the middle of all the chaos.
 

“You’re cleaning?” Trinity was incredulous. “You need to think about this Taylor. I don’t know if we can trust this guy.”

“Neither do I, Trinity.” I concentrated on gathering up the empty cans without cutting myself. “But I’m not sure it makes any difference. I have no idea where we are. Do you?” I didn’t give her time to reply as I rushed on. “I don’t know what’s going on, who to trust or what to do next, but I do know that we’re alive because of Mac and if we can believe anything he says, he intends to work to keep us alive. There may be hoards of Federal agents, waiting outside the door, planning to rush in and get us and suck out my brains, but if so, there’s not a thing we can do to stop them. So whether I trust him or not is a moot point. We’re here. He’s here. We deal with it the best we can.”