The Strangeness Within Pt. 05

"No need to be rude," Javier said as Kat stood up, looking half ready to punch Janelle. The smile on Janelle's face brought her up short, though. The two of them knew they were utterly outmatched by this crazy ninja.

"Great, kids," said Janelle. "Now strip naked."

"What the fuck?" Javier said.

In a blink she had one hand under his chin, pressing and lifting. He would have laughed if he could breathe. She was actually pulling a fucking Darth Vader on him.

"I could kill you in an instant," she said softly. "I've done it before. I enjoyed it."

"Quit playing games," brown-haired guy said. "Now you two, do what she said. We're not going to touch you. That's not what this is about."

"You ruin all the fun, Geoff," Janelle said, dropping him on the floor.

Javier coughed and got back to his feet, trying to catch his breath. Kat kept a tough look on her face, but he could see she was just as terrified as he was.

"OK," Kat said. "All right. Obviously we're no threat to you. I don't have a gun up my ass if that's what you're wondering."

Janelle just smiled and waited. Reluctantly Kat pulled off her sweatshirt and quickly reached for her pants, facing away from Javier.

Javier got the hint and did the same. As fast as possible. He had no idea what they were looking for, and then it clicked. They wanted to know if he was like Esther. Surely it was something like that.

He heard Kat finish rustling just after he did. In the corner of his eye he could see Janelle leering at him.

"What a cute pair you are," Janelle said. "Now, José, turn your pretty ass around for me."

Javier had to assume Geoff was telling the truth. He closed his eyes and blushed, hoping Kat wasn't looking. He'd never felt so wretchedly exposed.

"All right, Piggy, you do the same. No, spread your legs wider."

"Stop calling her that," Javier said nervously.

"Well, you'll have to give me a better name, then," said Janelle. "I know you probably are all spy-like and didn't bring identification with you, but what about in that car you parked down the block?"

"Karen," said Kat reluctantly.

"All right, José and Karen, go ahead and get dressed," said Geoff. Javier reached gratefully for his underwear.

"So," said Janelle. "They don't have the changes. Should I kill them and dump their bodies out back?"

"Shut the fuck up," Geoff said tiredly. "God, what a mess. How did they find us? I guess I'll have to check with Prime. You two sit tight with Janelle and don't do anything stupid."

"I'm guessing he's the hacker and you're the muscle," said Kat. Janelle scowled and put on what she probably thought was a poker face. These two weren't any more professional than Kat and Javier were. Kat wasn't even overly impressed with Geoff's hacking skills.

The changes, Janelle had said. That made sense. What if the changes that had made Esther so brilliant but left her body weak had done something different for Janelle? Were there people with superpowers hiding out everywhere? Were these two part of some organized superhuman resistance?

No, not superhumans. Esther had hated it when he talked that way. Just people. And of course some of them would be assholes just like any people.

"Look," said Kat. "I suspect we're on the same side. I found you guys because I was also trying to get into InfoCorp, and I'm a better hacker than Geoff is. Though you obviously have us beat in the muscle department."

"Why don't we wait until we hear from Prime," said Geoff, coming back in. "And maybe you can show me how you're a better hacker by explaining how you found us."

Kat just smiled until he left again.

The two of them sat against a wall, not quite touching. Javier's entire body ached from the bruises and scrapes Janelle had given him, and no doubt Kat was feeling the same. When he reached for her hand, she moved away slightly, shaking her head. Maybe this was hostage tactics. Javier felt totally useless. All this was his fault.

To pass the Janelle began a series of what looked like martial arts moves, jumps and kicks, with a power and grace that went beyond anything he'd seen, even in action movies with special effects. It was all very impressive to watch now that it wasn't aimed at Javier. A few minutes in, though, something went wrong when she landed on one foot.

"Fuck!" Janelle yelled, collapsing on the floor. Geoff came running in.

"It's my knee," she grunted, staring at it as though she could fix it by punching it.

"You shouldn't have overdone it," Geoff said. "You know what happens —"

"I was fine!" she said, pushing Geoff away. He threw his hands up in disgust and went back to the other room.

For a minute the three of them sat there, Janelle rubbing her knee and grimacing.

"I play soccer and know first aid," Javier said eventually. "You want me to take a look?"

"Don't touch me," Janelle said. "I'll be fine."

"Did you feel a pop when it happened?" Javier asked. "Can you put any weight on the knee?"

Janelle scowled and didn't reply, which Javier took as a yes.

"I think you tore your ACL," he said. "That's pretty serious. You might need surgery."

"I'll recover," Janelle said. "And don't try anything funny. I could whip you both while hopping on one leg."

Geoff came back a few minutes later, looking uncomfortable. "Prime says your name is really Javier Sanchez. Is that right?"

Javier was too shocked to bluff his way out or even reply. Geoff nodded.

"Well, then. I guess we'll be stuck together a while longer. We're going to see Prime."

"What?" Janelle said. "All the way back? What about our mission?"

"It wasn't going anywhere quickly," said Geoff. "Especially with all the stupid shit we ran into. And now your knee. I hate California and I'm glad to be gone. I'll pull the hard drive and disconnect the phone line, and then we just leave everything. He wants us on a plane immediately."

Janelle stood up and tried to look tough. It was obvious she was in pain, but Javier wasn't about to test her.

"Are you kidnapping us, then?" Kat asked.

"If we really are on the same side, it's just an urgent business meeting," said Geoff.

"Yeah, we're kidnapping you," agreed Janelle. The thought seemed to cheer her up.

* * *

Esther took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Nicola let her go and the two took their usual chairs.

"I think I followed you this time," Esther said. "You did something, didn't you? Something important."

"Important?" Abuela said slowly. "I'm not sure. But necessary, I think."

"I felt it this time," said Esther. "There were sensitive people in that place. It was so far away. What did you do? Why was it necessary?"

"There was a young woman, someone I have only glimpsed before at a much greater distance. She was being reckless and hurting others with her abilities. Once I had my attention on her, it did not take too much time to find a path that blunted her recklessness. For a while."

Esther nodded. She hadn't felt any of those details, though at least she'd sensed the strands Abuela was following. Abuela's paths didn't correspond to anything so simple in Esther's own mental construct.

There was something strange, though. She'd felt pulled towards one of the people in the tangle.

"Who else was there in the room with the woman?" Esther asked. "Can you see?"

Abuela shook her head. "I am too tired to find a new path to see that. I was focused only on the young woman. There was a man with her as well, someone with much more caution and less developed abilities."

"Why didn't you bring this woman here, if she was dangerous?" Nicola asked.

"I do not think she would come so willingly," said Abuela. "And even if I managed to entice her, I have neither the time nor the concentration to hold her here long enough for her to understand my purpose. She is only one of many concerns."

"Abuela," Esther said. "I still can't see the big picture. You said your task has become much more difficult of late. Can you explain how? Are there more like us than there used to be?"

"No more than you would expect," said Abuela. "Technology has made it harder to hide, though. And about fifteen years or so ago, some of us began to disappear. It took me a long time to understand what was happening. They are being taken out of my reach, towards the East coast."

"Towards Washington," said Esther. "Towards the places that Jackson and Daniels wanted me to be."

"Yes," said Abuela. "I'm sure it is no coincidence. But in the last few years there has been a new development, a subtle kind of warfare. Someone is organizing those of our kind, and I suspect teaching them as well. Their activities as a whole are cleverly woven, but individuals are making themselves obvious, precisely when they should be working harder to hide. I have tried to blunt their actions, but I am becoming too weak to do so. If this is a struggle among factions or against the government, all of us are at much greater risk."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Javier asked. No one answered this time, either.

As Geoff drove the minivan, Javier wondered again how the others intended to coerce them onto a plane. There would be security everywhere. All they had to do was break away and talk to a guard.

But as it happened, that wasn't the kind of airport they were going to.

When they were hustled towards a business jet, Javier shook his head. It was unreal. They'd been caught by people who thought they were the bad guys in a movie.

He had to admit he was impressed by the way Janelle hopped up the stairs. She must have a ridiculous pain tolerance. Maybe she healed quickly like Esther, but she was still an idiot not to treat her knee more carefully.

Aside from two people in the cockpit, the four of them were the only ones on the plane, which could have taken another half dozen. Janelle let them take the back row, clearly unconcerned about any trouble they might make. When they sat down, Kat leaned against Javier and put her head on his shoulder. The whine of the engines rose as they prepared to take off.

"I'm so sorry," he said softly. "I was a fool."

"Well, it turns out I'm not such a great secret agent," said Kat. "Ugh, I think I'm going to throw up."

Javier quickly found an airsick bag for her, but she just coughed unpleasantly a few times.

"Did you hit your head when Janelle beat the crap out of us?"

"No, it's not that," she said. "Just stress, I guess. I hate feeling like this. Powerless."

"We might both be shitty secret agents," Javier said very softly. "But you're a brilliant hacker. And you're not fat. You're beautiful."

"I didn't look, Javier. I was a good girl for once in my life, when it mattered."

"Same here," he said.

"Jesus!" yelled Janelle over the engine noise. "If you're going to bonk each other, I'll cheer for you, but at least wait until we reach cruising altitude."

Javier swallowed. Of course Janelle had good hearing. That must have been how she'd known they were outside the building. She was like Esther during her sensory orgasms, except Janelle could do it all the time.

He reached to hold Kat's hand. Who knew where they were being taken. Away from California, anyway. To the person who somehow knew Javier's name and exactly what he'd been doing. Daniels and the Unit were the only ones he could think of who could have managed it, but Janelle and Geoff obviously weren't working for that bunch.

The old woman had inexplicably found Esther in a similar way, and that gave Javier a burst of hope. If Esther was with Prime, it would explain a lot. Esther might have guessed it was Javier poking around the warehouse. Perhaps Prime and the old woman were just pseudonyms for the same person. But he'd been so sure Esther was up in the Sierras somewhere.

They were in the air a couple hours. Javier tried to figure out where they were landing, but it was still dark out. And when they got into a waiting van, Janelle handed them some big paper bags.

"Over your heads," she said.

"Are you kidding?" Kat grumped. But of course Janelle wasn't kidding.

When the bags were finally removed, they were in some kind of bedroom. It was pretty nice, actually, with its own bathroom. But the windows were permanently shuttered on the outside.

"Someone will get you in a while," said Geoff. "You might want to sleep." He closed and locked the door.

Javier sat on the bed. "You think they bugged this place?"

"Probably," said Kat. "Or else Janelle is just sitting outside the door." She sat next to him.

"So you think we're in the Midwest somewhere?" he asked, and she nodded. On the way into this house, the air had been warm and humid, with a familiar smell, like plowed dirt. Agricultural.

"Might as well sleep," Javier said. "If we can."

They looked at each other. It was only a double bed.

"I like the left side. That OK?" Kat asked. Javier nodded and got up to turn off the lights.

He tried to keep to the edge of the bed, but there wasn't really space. All he could think about was Esther, and whether she was somewhere nearby. Kat sighed and put her arm over him.

"C'mon, Javier. We're all right here. Let's try to be comfortable with each other. I'm glad for your company in all this craziness."

"Me too," he said. "I just keep wondering about whether she's —"

"I doubt it," said Kat quickly. "And you know she wouldn't begrudge you."

Her breath was warm and steady on his neck, and he slowly relaxed against her. After a while she started to make little snuffling noises, sort of half snores, and she cuddled up even closer. Her breasts pressed against his back, but this was just companionship. If he was getting an erection, it was just an automatic response, something that happened when he was sleepy.

* * *

Light woke him, and Geoff's tired voice.

"All right, you two. Come with me as soon as you can."

Javier quickly let go of Kat's arm, and the two of them disentangled.

They were in what seemed to be an enormous house, with wide corridors and marble staircases and many closed doors. They saw no one else, but maybe that was to keep them from learning of other members of this organization. That meant they were going to be released. Not that he'd really expected to be executed the way Janelle had joked.

At the end of a corridor Geoff knocked.

"Come in," said a voice with a faint accent. Geoff didn't accompany them inside.

The room was a technological zoo, filled with computers, monitors, stacks of paper, and even what looked like a microfilm reader. There was a blond-haired man sitting in front of one computer. Standing next to him was someone very familiar.

"Raj!" Javier exclaimed. Kat started, looking back and forth between them.

Raj gave a tired nod. Javier couldn't understand what was going on here. Had the professor secretly been working with this group? That would certainly explain how they knew who Javier was. The two men seemed to know each other.

The blond man turned around and stood up, and Javier thought there was something familiar about his face. His accent had been German, or Swiss.

"Prime," Javier said slowly. "You're Lukas, aren't you?"

Lukas smiled and nodded. "Well done. I am sorry to bring you all here so abruptly, but it seems we must talk."

Raj spoke up. "Javier, I had no idea what was going on. Some of his men — abducted me from my home. I only just got here. You can imagine my shock."

Lukas looked at Raj for a while. His blue-green eyes were slightly mismatched, and Javier saw the hint of what looked like a green freckle on his neck just above his collar. Raj couldn't seem to meet Lukas's gaze.

"I was keeping you safe," Lukas said quietly. Raj shook his head and walked to stand with Javier and Kat.

"It is nice to meet you, Kat," he said. "Even under these circumstances." The two of them shook hands.

"So," Lukas said. "Tell me. Is all of your activity truly related to the girl who won the math exam? Esther?"

They looked at each other, but no one said anything.

"Javier, you attended school with Esther, and you accompanied her when she fled from agents of the Unit. Raj, you met her as a result of your exam work, and I assume met Javier through her. What about you, Kat? What is your role? Geoff said you were an extremely talented hacker."

When they didn't respond, Lukas nodded. "I was inattentive, and I should not have taken you the way I did. It is not the way you behave to those you hope will trust you. Perhaps when you hear my story you will understand why I made this mistake, and why we must work together. Please, have a seat."

He gestured vaguely at some folding chairs scattered around the room, and the three of them arranged themselves close together, facing Lukas. A team. Lukas smiled faintly and began his story.

"The day after I arrived in Chicago all those years ago, I received a visitor in my dorm room. He said they'd heard a lot about me already, and there was a mathematical institute interested in fully funding me for independent research. Of course I was interested. This would have paved the way to any graduate school I chose. I was naive, of course, and arrogant, but nothing in my life had suggested I was somehow in danger. My odd personal traits were something I'd become used to concealing."

He and Raj exchanged a glance before Lukas continued.

"I got in a car, and something chemical was pressed into my face. The next thing I knew, I was alone, in a basement room somewhere, wearing different clothing. It was effectively a prison, and whoever had taken me now knew about some of my odd physiology. For a few days a man came to ask me questions, pose puzzles, that sort of thing. Sometimes I ignored him, and sometimes I played stupid, and then eventually I lost my temper and showed off a bit. I have always had a quick mind and a prodigious memory, and it seemed they merely wanted confirmation."

"They took me out of the room, into what seemed like a gloomy office building. I was starting to suspect it was a US government facility. And then they brought me to Mr. Franklin."

Lukas sighed. "I don't expect you to understand this part, but you must trust me. Franklin is a terrible man. He has an ability that you might call hypnosis, but it is not that. It is far more subtle and dangerous. Over the years I have come to realize he is able to control every bit of sensory information coming to a person. We like to think of our brains as something mystical, apart from bodies, but they are a biological process like every other, and the only way we can understand the world is via our senses. If you change that input methodically, you can eventually change everything about a person, because you are in every meaningful way changing the very world in which they live."

Raj stared at Lukas.

"What you're saying is unbelievable. How could someone do that? And he would have to maintain that environment for you, lest the real world reassert itself."

"Yes," said Lukas. "Though once the patterns of thought change, the brain is sluggish to change back, so perhaps it does not require truly continuous efforts. And I must assure you Franklin does have this ability. Perhaps Javier can explain why this is not as unreasonable as you might think."

Javier nodded slowly. "One of the people who captured us was named Janelle. She has extraordinary abilities. Superhuman strength, and she can obviously hear or sense far beyond an ordinary person. I'm starting to wonder if there are others like her."

"There are," Lukas said. "I am one, though I do not have all of Janelle's strengths. And Franklin is another. The Unit has been collecting people like us for two reasons. First, we are incredibly useful for their actual intelligence work. Second, our sensitivities seem to make it easier for Franklin to control us. And for all intents and purposes, Franklin is the Unit. As I said, he is a terrible man. The first day, he kept me in his office for some extended period. The next thing I remember is waking up a different person. I got up, took a shower, and went to my orientation as an eager new employee in the Unit, fighting dangers to your country, because the people we fought were dangerous to the entire world. Finally I could put my abilities to their proper use."