Into a Dangerous Mind (18 page)

The Reaper sat on the bed of his hotel room trembling as rage rocketed through him.
 
“How dare they break through my vision!
 
That insolent whore has no right to try and make a fool of me!”

He longed to throw something, or better yet, kill someone to take the edge off his rage, but some rational part of his mind reminded him it would be careless and get him caught.

Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself his power would come in time.
 
Each time he killed, he took their pitiful gifts inside himself, knowing he would one day dominate the psychic world.
 
They should appreciate him liberating them from their pitiful lives, their useless existences, but he knew none of them understood.
 
They struggled against him and only heightened his victory.
 
And if it gave him an erection just thinking about controlling and dominating the women he liberated, it was his right.
 
“It’s survival of the fittest, after all, and I’m most definitely the fittest.”

No, he couldn’t get caught, it would only prove his parents right.
 
They never missed an opportunity to call him stupid and useless.
 
He refused to prove them right.

The memories of the day they died still haunted him.
 
The way his father had laughed at him right up until the knife pierced his flesh.

They even stooped so low as to offer him a position managing their careers.
 
“Hah!
 
Like I wanted to be their lackey for the rest of my life.
 
By birthright I should be the most powerful psychic the world has ever seen!”

He clamped his hands over his ears as his parent’s laughter taunted him from beyond the grave.
 
“Stop it!
 
I already killed you!
 
Leave me alone!”
 
He sat on the bed rocking back and forth.

.”

at the end of the sentence.
 
He enjoyed the way the knife bit into his father’s larynx as he’d plunged it through his neck.

The hot blood spurted against his hands and only a small spark of psychic power remained alive deep inside his father.
 
It had been so easy!
 
He’d reached inside his father’s mind and mercilessly smothered the small spark before his father had time to react and warn his mother.
 
His father hadn’t even tried to shield from him.
 
He’d been so shocked his only son would betray him.

Then he waited until his mother returned home.
 
She feared both her husband and son were dead when she lost connection with both at the same time.
 
He calmly approached her and plunged the blade through her heart.

Right before she shuddered and fell to the ground, he saw the raw desire in her eyes, begging him to finally give her what he’d dreamed of since childhood.
 
The ripe thrill of orgasm had thundered through him as he plunged the knife into her chest again and again.

A picture of her torn breasts wet with blood and her slack mouth and staring eyes flashed across his memory, causing him to harden uncomfortably.
 
Loosening his zipper he slid his hand inside his pants to stroke himself absently.

He stroked faster as he mused.
 
His father had always been between them, though he never deserved her.
 
Society may not have understood, but he could have been the only man his mother ever needed.

Shrill laughter bubbled up through him and filled the room.
 
“Now look at me, Dad.
 
I’m more powerful than you ever were!
 
I’ve learned how to have the ultimate power—the power to take someone’s life and their psychic gifts at the same time.”

pay for humiliating me and so will the FBI agent.”

He shook his head as a picture of Cassidy imposed itself over the vision of his dead mother.
 
He hardened further at the sight of Cassidy with torn breasts wet with blood.
 
A smile curved his lips.
 
“I understand now.
 
But this time, I’ll fuck her while she dies.
 
She will scream my name as she gasps her last breath.”

He stroked himself faster, His breath coming in ragged pants.
 
“We’ll be together like we always should have, Mother.
 
You’ll see.”

“So, what do you think?”
 
Zach ushered Cassidy inside his temporary office at the FBI headquarters in downtown
Phoenix
.

Cassidy glanced around at the drab gray walls and matching cubicles.
 
It looked like any other office building.
 
There were even bored-looking men in loosened ties gossiping around aging vending machines.
 
“Well, frankly I’m disappointed.
 
I’m not sure what I expected, but this isn’t it.”

Zach gestured to a chair next to a small conference table.
 
“Have a seat.”
 
He took a seat next to her.
 
“So, let me guess, you pictured guys in dark suits with ear pieces stationed at every entrance and elevator with their hands poised over their side arms?”

tossed in.”

“Harrison Ford played a CIA guy, not FBI.
 
Besides, most of our actual work is done in this boring-looking office setting.”
 
He smiled over at her.
 
“By the way, you got an interim security clearance while they finish processing your actual clearance, but you cleared for secret level information.”

“So, does that mean I have a backup job if I ever decide to quit the symphony?”

Zach looked over at her seriously.
 
“I know you were kidding, but you could.
 
The FBI can always use someone with psychic powers.
 
They frown on anything but cold hard facts and there is considerable bigotry around it, but they actually recruited me for my gifts.”

Cassidy glanced over at him.
 
He’d never shared his background with her before.
 
“How did they even know you had them?”

“My mother is a practicing psychic.
 
She mentors growing psychics in several areas.
 
An FBI recruiter contacted her and asked for the name of her most powerful student—she referred him to me.”

Zach shrugged.
 
“He really wanted me for field work, but I’ve always been fascinated by profiling.
 
And to be honest, my skills are more in line with that field anyway.”

“So, your mother is a mentor?”
 
Cassidy asked.

At Zach’s nod, she continued with a sly smile.
 
“So, if I called her up and asked her to teach me, she would?”

Zach laughed, twirling his pen between his fingers.
 
“Definitely.
 
I was her most powerful student to date, but as I said, once you’re fully trained, you’ll be more powerful than me, and possibly even my mother.”

It still surprised her to suddenly be considered a powerful psychic.
 
She only knew enough about her powers to be dangerous and unpredictable.
 
“So.”
 
She gestured around the room effectively changing the subject.
 
“Where do we start?”

Zach pointed to a stack of files.
 
“You can start by reading these and giving me the Reader’s Digest version when you’re done.
 
I’m going to do some online research about his parents’ careers.”

She studied the dusty stack of manila folders before meeting his amused gaze.
 
“Why did we have to come all the way down here to research on the Internet?
 
We could’ve done that from my office at home.”

Zach smiled and wiggled his eyebrows.
 
“Because from here I have access to all kinds of records and databases you could never access from your house—even if you were a top notch hacker.”

“Ahh.
 
Makes sense, but you have to provide the munchies and Diet Pepsi.”

Zach smiled.
 
“Such a demanding woman.”

’s later, Cassidy looked up at Zach.
 
“Take a look at what I found.”

Zach rubbed at his eyes and walked around the table to peer over her shoulder.
 
“What do you have?”

She slid the folder to the side so he could see it.
 
“It’s an article published by Brian’s parents about one of their forms of rehabilitation therapy using psychic means.
 
It talks about having a psychic use a subject’s fears and self-imposed limitations as teaching tools to allow the subject to find a way to overcome their inner issues.”

She glanced over her shoulder into Zach’s cognac eyes.
 
“Apparently, they wrote several papers on the subject and successfully rehabilitated several criminals using this therapy.
 
There are journals, lab records, and even guidelines for other psychics to be able to reproduce their work.”

“I’ll be damned.”
 
Zach reached for the folder.
 
“Let me see that.”
 
He scanned the file and Cassidy stood to stretch her cramped muscles.

“Of course.”
 
Zach pounded his fist on the desk, startling her.
 
“I should have recognized it.
 
He used my own psychic patterns.
 
I didn’t bother to analyze the psychic auras on the restraints.”
 
He looked up at Cassidy with fresh anger smoldering in his eyes.
 
“We were right, the bastard used my own fears and even my own power to restrain me—and I let him.”