A Loner Mentalist Pt. 05

"Then I'll have that lumberyard staked out."

Chrissie rolled her eyes. "Are you nuts? You don't have the authority to-"

"No, but the Feds do," Drew said, prompting Chrissie to gape at him. "I've been cultivating a relationship with a contact inside the Bureau. I can give them a tip-off about a lone wolf domestic terrorist trying to buy sawdust to make a fuel-air bomb and have my contact label it as a credible threat. They can mobilize a go team and covertly set up surveillance within hours of my call." His moustache reared up as he smiled. "They only do terrorism and law enforcement corruption nowadays. They'll come for one, stay for the other."

Drew's smile faded as he stared hard into Jack's eyes. "If you're ten million percent sure about this..." Jack returned an unwavering stare. Drew nodded. "Then we'll do it your way. You said you need an ID?"

"Yes. The gang's liquid assets are held in an account owned by a Rachel Ransfeld. Miss Ransfeld is a twenty-five year old business owner who has been making money and paying taxes despite having died of cystic fibrosis ten years ago in Boston." He took out a piece of paper and wrote down the woman's name, address, date of birth and other info that needed to be on the ID. "Mia will be portraying her, since she's the only one of us that can pass for a twenty-five year old girl. Mia, honey, give Drew the photos you brought."

"Oh! Right!" She dug into her purse and gave Drew a small envelope containing the photos. Drew took it and slid Jack's paper inside it.

Jack looked at a disbelieving Chrissie. "This whole plan hinges on you giving me your old uniform so I can pass for one of the deputies and take their stash."

She stared at him. "Jack! You need to think, boy! They are bound to be guarding the stash. You'll get killed if you try to take it."

"Chrissie, don't worry! I got it covered. All I need is the uniform and the stash gets taken."

"This is madness! Suicide!" She shook her head. "I'll not be party to it." She shook a reproachful finger at Drew. "And you should know better, brother. Since when are you ok with allowing kids to go running headlong into trouble?"

Drew stared at Jack for a long moment. Finally, he said, "The boy's got it."

Chrissie spread her arms wide and rolled her eyes. "Oh, my God! Now you're channeling Dad and his famous gut feelings, aren't you?" The hairs on Drew's moustache raised and Jack realized the man was grinning at his sister. Chrissie muttered a resigned, "Oh, fuck my luck."

"So, this is going down tomorrow?" Drew asked of Jack.

Jack nodded. "We're taking the cash right before the bank closes. Least chance of tired bank managers questioning Mia, or trying to persuade her to invest with them. I'll hit the stash house as soon as the sun is low enough on the horizon to glare into the lens of their door camera. They'll be meeting at the lumberyard by ten p.m. at the latest."

"Well, if that's the plan, then I'd better run along and get started with my part." Drew held up the envelope. He got up and smiled at Mia. "Sorry to ditch such pleasant dining company, but I really must dash." He took Mia's hand, gave it a kiss and left the restaurant. Chrissie shot Jack a baleful look as she followed.

Jack mouthed the word "uniform" at her and she rolled her eyes before nodding her head once. Jack grinned. The plan was coming into place and, if Drew's tip brought the full might of the FBI on the scene, it was already way ahead than he could have hoped it would be.

Mia and he enjoyed a hearty meal, thoroughly sampling the dishes the Maynards left them, and then he drove her home. He told Mia he had to go meet his informant for one last talk before the big day and she nodded in understanding. He left her with Janice and called his dogs to the car. Spot, Porthos, Athos and Aramis climbed into the back seat as he drove towards Seraphim Falls and the rapist mentalist that had given him a terrible fright the other night.

Jack grinned. He had seen in his vision that the asshole had also been frightened by touching Jack's mind, but he had decided to ignore the incident.Big mistake, buddy boy. Big mistake.

Jack parked down the street from cousin Maria's house, in the darkness under a tall ash tree. He let his dogs out quietly and they snuck off to surround the house and discreetly scout the situation. Spot returned quickly and Jack read in the dog's mind that a woman and a man had very recently entered Maria's house and that there was another man standing at a window, looking in.

Jack ordered Spot to remain hidden and ready to intervene, just like the other three dogs, as he went to go see who this peeping Tom was.

Jack clambered over the low fence with ease and snuck around a corner. Standing in front of a big window, illuminated by the light that was coming from within, was a short man with immaculately coiffed blonde hair, dressed in a gray suit. He was standing on tiptoes and staring intently through the window. Jack checked the positions of his dogs. They were hidden nearby, ready to rush at any target Jack felt threatened by.

Jack held on tightly to his mental cloak. He still had no idea what to do with the rapist mentalist. He didn't want to kill the man, but that seemed like the only thing that would stop him from hurting more people. Regular law enforcement and the justice system were simply no match for a mentalist. Jack had briefly considered somehow luring the cloaked figure to come and deal with Sébastian, but, if the cloaked figure's track record was anything to go by, that would also turn out to be fatal for the man.

The only difference between that and having Sébastian mauled by his dogs was risking exposing himself to the cloaked figure. Jack's jaw locked down tight. He was going to talk to the man and give him one last chance to stop and repent. If he didn't take it with all his heart, then Jack was going to end him. It was not the best course of action, not by a long shot, but Jack didn't see any viable alternative. This guy was going to keep hurting people.

First thing's first, Jack thought, glaring at the peeping Tom. The man seemed familiar to him, like he had seen him somewhere before, but he just couldn't place his face.Time is ticking away.

Jack took one last deep breath and left his hiding place to face the blond man. The man sensed his approach and turned to face him. His jaw was square and his mouth was spread into a superior sneer. His blue eyes seemed to twinkle with intent and energy. As Jack looked closer at the gelled hair, he knew he had definitely seem this man somewhere before.

Jack kept his cloak up and stopped when he was right next to the man he was now dwarfing. The blonde's arrogance faded quickly and he gulped in fear.

"Who the hell are you and what the fuck are you doing here?" Jack growled low.

The man nearly flinched away as he swallowed repeatedly. He looked to be on the verge of running away. Jack grabbed the man by the shoulder and easily kept him in place. His mouth worked with no sound coming out, so Jack shook him hard. "Well?"

The blonde gasped. "Ok! Alright!"

"Keep your voice low."

"Yes. Yes, ok. I, uh, I'm, uh, I'm Jamie Jacobs and I, uh...I'm a healer." Jack nearly nodded as he finally placed where he had seen this man before. He was the fraud spiritual healer that was touring the country. Huge billboards with his smiling face and tour dates were everywhere.

Jack looked into the window. Maria was naked. She was staring blankly at Sébastian and then she began to kneel in front of him. Jack realized he didn't have much time left to intervene. He gave Jacobs another forceful shake. "My question had two parts, pipsqueak."

Jacobs flinched and his hands shot up to try and defend him. "Ah! I, uh, I was...I'm, uh..."

Jack glanced inside again. Maria was undoing Sébastian's zipper. "I've lost patience with you, little man."

Jacobs' hands shot up in a gesture of supplication. "No! No. I'm a healer. There's this family, see? They're all women, all related, and they came to me cause they had these, uh, these nightmares, you know? They have nightmares of being raped and they're all so similar...and some of them confided in me...and they're all family, these women...and I came here to check on one of the remaining few that hadn't had the nightmares yet, just to see what was going on."

Jack looked back inside and saw Maria swallowing Sébastian's dick.Goddamnit, I'm too late! He glared through the window in frustration. Jacobs got up on tiptoes again and looked in with an expression of intense concentration. Jack's lips pressed tight. He needed to get rid of this peeping Tom and then go inside and have his dogs maul this asshole rapist. Just as Jack was about to send Porthos, his Great Dane, the order to drag Jacobs away, Sébastian screamed like a little girl.

Maria's slack face was suddenly bathed with strong spurts of a rich, creamy, red fluid. Jack blinked when Sébastian started spinning around. His dick was missing and a geyser was spurting blood from his groin. Maria opened her mouth and a piece of flesh fell out of it. Blood dripped from her mouth down her chest.

Sébastian kept screaming. He bent over and picked up the shriveling piece of flesh that was dripping blood. Jack winced as he recognized the remains of a dick. When Sébastian stood back up, he began to wobble on his feet. His groin was no longer spurting. Blood was now oozing down the front of his pants. He blinked his eyes repeatedly as his screaming voice lost its strength. His face was drained of all color. His jaw went slack and he swayed on his feet, even as his groin stopped bleeding altogether.

Sébastian fell over and audibly cracked his skull on the corner of Maria'a dresser. Jack flinched and felt Jacobs flinch in his grasp as well. It was immediately obvious to both of them that that was a fatal blow to the head.

Jack stood there, staring through the window, unsure of what he had seen or what he should do, until Maria blinked and looked around herself, as if rousing herself from sleep. Her face adopted an expression of pure horror. She drew a gargantuan breath and began to scream at the top of her lungs as she tried to wipe the blood from her face.

Jack and Jacobs looked at one another and then ran off in opposite directions. Jack barely had the presence of mind to signal his dogs to quietly circle around to his car. He got in it and started the engine. He rolled down the street, picking up his dogs as they caught up to him, and then drove off as quickly as he could. His dogs sensed his freakout and offered him their unconditional support. He drew strength from it and it helped him clear his mind. He slowed down so he wouldn't make his tires screech on the pavement and draw attention to him.

He wiped his sweaty brow and tried to unsee what he had just seen. He began to berate himself for losing his nerve like that.You see one little dick get bitten off and you panic like a little girl. And you'd like to be a badass that brings down evil.

As he drove down the freeway towards Springfield, he criticized himself for not having made up his mind about what he was going to do beforehand.Seriously, Jack, if the girl hadn't bitten off his dick and he hadn't keeled over to smash his skull on the corner of her dresser, what would you have done?

He gripped the steering wheel tightly and told himself that it didn't matter. It was over and done with. Sébastian was dead, Maria was going to wind up in a hospital and no one knew he had even been there. That Jacobs character certainly wasn't going to appreciate the kind of press he'd get if anyone ever found out he was a peeping Tom, so he wasn't going to say anything to anyone. Even if he did, he had no clue as to who Jack was, so he was safe from that quarter.

By the time he parked at his house, he reaffirmed his decision to go through with his plan for bringing down the gang. Unlike the situation with Sébastian, he had a clear vision of what he had to do and how. He felt confident it would work.

Even though it was only ten p.m., the house was dark. He let his dogs out and the three musketeers took up position in the back yard. Jack had Spot come inside with him and tell him if he sensed anything off. The dog confirmed that Janice and Mia were each in their own room and that no one else had been there that night.

Jack sighed in relief and climbed the stairs. He stood in front of his bedroom door and looked at Mia's door. He wondered if mind controlled slaves could turn on their masters. He shuddered at the thought of Mia biting his dick off someday. He told himself the guy had simply fucked up. It had been nothing more than that.

The guy was probably very hungry when he gave her the order to suck on his dick and he subconsciously gave her the urge to eat something.

Jack decided to make extra sure both he and Mia were always well fed before they had sex. He imagined the nightstand by their shared bed having huge bowls of snacks on it. He smiled and told himself Mia would look even better with some ten to fifteen extra pounds on her.More for me to grab on to.

He wasn't in an amorous mood after what he had seen, so he didn't pay Mia a visit. It would have been awkward to make her scream in orgasm when his mother was down the hall, anyway. He took a shower, spent some time online and then went to bed.

When he woke up the next morning, Mia was sitting on his chair, in front of his desk and looking at him with an angry expression. He froze and his hand shot down to feel up his dick. He nearly sighed with relief as he confirmed everything was still attached at the right place.

"Your mother," she dramatically said, "is impossible. I am not going to spend anotherminute under the same roof as her."

Jack glanced at his door. "Is she here?"

"No, she's gone to work, thank God, or I would have throttled her to death with my own two hands. As soon as you drove me home last night, she started to badger me." Mia's eyes watered as she paused. "I don't even want to tell you what..." She began sobbing.

Jack got up and gave her a hug. "Hush, baby. It's all over now. She's gone and we'll be gone in no time at all."

Mia let herself cry as she hugged him back. "It wasn't my fault!"

Jack kept shushing her. "Of course it wasn't." He frowned. "What was she blaming you for?"

"For you no longer being...for us...oh, God, that woman is nuts!"

"I know. I know, baby. She can get crazy sometime."

Mia let herself relax as she cried in his arms. After a few minutes, she began to calm down. "Ugh, I nearly stuffed the rolling pin in her big mouth to keep her from yapping. I swear, Jack, if I have to listen to her judging me for just one more second, I'll claw her eyes out!"

Jack guessed that the old Mia would have completely agreed with the sanctimonious judgement Janice was heaping her way. Since he had tweaked her mind on prom night, Mia was unable to feel guilt for having had sex with him. Even if she firmly believed Jack had taken control of her, a small part of her was obviously receptive to Janice's religious judgment, or it would not have affected her so.

He rubbed her back and gently said, "Everything's going to be all right, Mia. We're going house shopping as soon as we've had some breakfast and we'll be moving out of here in no time!"

She sniffed her tears. "Promise?"

He raised two fingers. "Scout's honor. Now, what do you say you go whip us up some breakfast while I send my lawyer an email about renting a house in the city?"

"I already ate." She cheered up and smiled. "But I could fix you something."

"I'd like that."

She gave him a peck on the cheek and went down to the kitchen to make him something to eat. He got on his computer and composed an email to his lawyer. Even if he had any misgivings about blackmailing the realtor earlier, they were gone in light of seeing Mia suffer at Janice's hands.This is better than making a severe intervention into my mother's head.

In the email, he enumerated the many repairs the house needed and instructed his lawyer to draw up an ironclad five year lease agreement and to include a bunch of conditions that favored him greatly. He told her he would come by her office with the owner later that day to sign it.

He sent the email and then got dressed. After a quick breakfast, he drove Mia into the city. He stopped by Carmen's house first and told Mia to wait for him in the car as he went searching for the young Latina. Her neighbor told him she was at the hospital, visiting her cousin.

Jack drove there next and again asked Mia to wait for him in the car as he had to meet with his CI and make final preparations for that afternoon. Mia nodded in understanding and played some music to pass the time.

He found a haggard-looking Carmen sitting outside her cousin's room and clutching a cup of coffee that had long ago gone cold in her hand. Jack sat next to her and followed her eyes to look at Maria lying in her bed. He dropped his cloak, imagined himself filled with worry and used the mutual visual to slip inside the woman's mind.

Jack told himself he should get tested for STDs, particularly Chlamydia.

He snapped back into himself and sat next to the woman who wasn't moving. Carmen just kept staring at Maria. Jack was about to try again when a nurse walked passed them.

"Excuse me," Carmen said, addressing the nurse, "does this hospital do STD testing?"

"Yes," the nurse said. "They've already run a complete panel on your cousin and the doctor will discuss the results with her parents, when they arrive."

"I meant for myself."

"Oh!" The nurse shot Jack a look and then leaned in to take Carmen by the arm. "If you'd like to come with me, please?"

The two women walked down the hall as Jack kept looking at Maria. As soon as no one was looking, he got up and went into her room. He quietly closed the door behind himself. Maria was lying on the bed and staring straight at the ceiling. She didn't react in any way to his presence.

Jack pulled a chair over to the bed and sat in it. He leaned back and focused his attention on the same spot she was staring at. He imagined himself going too numb to allow himself to feel anything in a desperate effort to keep his mind in one piece. He dropped his cloak and slid into her mind.

Jack took stock of his feelings and was overwhelmed with guilt and disgust over what he had done last night. He told himself nothing that happened yesterday night was his fault. He convinced himself he wasn't a victim because he had taken action and fought back. He told himself he wasn't a bad person for having done what he had done, he had merely been defending himself.

Jack slid back into his mind as Maria sniffled. He drew his cloak around his mind. She reached up to rub her watering eyes and Jack quietly left her room.

He made his way to the parking lot and got in the SUV. "Everything go ok?" Mia asked him.

"Perfect!" He smiled. "Ready to go find our dream home?"

"Ready!"

At Lehaine's office, Jack and Mia met with the realtor. He was as slick and charming as Jack had seen him be in his vision. The man took care to pay Mia many compliments, but also to not pay her any compliment that might make Jack angry or jealous. Mia smiled in genuine delight at his words, but Jack just bided his time until he got to drop the hammer on the liar.

Jack described their ideal home, which the house he had seen in his vision actually fit quite well, and Lehaine offered to show it to them right away. Jack and Mia accepted and they took the short drive over to it. Jack got out and surveyed the neighborhood, the one thing he had not seen in the vision. It was a quiet, residential area on hills that overlooked the city center, to which it had superb connections.