Caleb 79 - Communication

"He's a user," I told Ness. "An Empath."

"Oh," she said. "Then I was wrong?"

"No!" I almost snarled at her. "You were spot on. He's a wild, using his powers to...." I stopped there. I didn't want to elaborate. Instead, I examined his mind a little. He had no shields and no concept of other power users. The child was quiescent in the passenger seat of his car, overwhelmed by his powers. From what I could tell, he lived out of state. He was heading for a second car that he'd left parked on the top floor. Once he'd changed vehicles, he'd head for the freeway and back to his home.

He glanced down at the boy strapped in next to him and ran his hand up the boys leg. He felt himself stiffen at the contact. He wondered if he had time to have a taste. If the parking lot was quiet enough, he might risk it.

I both regretted and was glad that I wasn't carrying my weapon, having left it at home while going to the flight school and the FBI office. I regretted it because I had an almost irresistible urge to put several bullets between this guys eyes, and was glad, because I might not have been able to restrain the impulse.

I seized his mind and Compelled him to stop his car, put it in park, get out and lie down on the ground.

Ness pulled up behind me, and got out of her car as I got out of my truck.

"Go take care of the boy," I said. "He'll be scared and confused."

She nodded to me, went up to the passenger side of the vehicle, and opened the door.

I walked around to where the driver was face down on the concrete. He was lay spread eagle on the concrete. I had to resist the impulse to plant my boot between his legs.

"Caleb," called Ness from the other side of the car.

I made sure that the guy wasn't going to go anywhere then walked around to her.

"How is he?" I asked.

"He won't move," she said. "He seems kind of out of it."

I rolled my power over the boy, seeing the residue of the Empathic effect the man had had over him. I gently pushed it aside with my own, wrapping the boy in safety and security. He blinked. Then he looked at Ness.

"Hi," she said to him with a smile. "What's your name?"

"Noah," he said. "Where's my mom?"

"She'll be along," said Ness.

He looked around, still seated in his kidnapper's car.

"Whose car is this?" he asked.

"It belongs to a bad man," said Ness. "Tell you what. Why don't you come and sit in my car until your mom arrives?"

I heard a car honking behind us. I looked up and saw a man who apparently just wanted to get into the parking lot for the mall. We were kind of blocking traffic.

I walked over to him.

"Sorry," I said. "There's an issue here. Can you go around?"

He looked up at me, and I could see the challenge in his eyes. I didn't even try to suppress the urge. I Compelled him to simply drive around the obstacle, and find himself a space on one of the upper floors. He left the scene.

Six more cars passed us before a police cruiser pulled into the parking lot, lights on. It pulled up behind Ness' car and two officers emerged. Both of them were female. I walked over to them.

"You Agent Stott?" one asked as she approached. I showed her my credentials.

"I'm not an agent, just a consultant," I said. "The boy is in my fiancée's car there, and the guy who took him is on the floor on the other side of his vehicle."

One of the officers walked towards Ness' car, and the other followed me to where the kidnapper was still face down on the floor.

"What did you do to him?" asked the officer.

"I asked him nicely to stay there," I said. "He decided to comply."

The cop gave me a strange look before telling the kidnapper to put his hands behind his back. He complied instantly. She cuffed him and read him his Miranda rights. She sat him up, and told him to stay where he was.

Meanwhile an ambulance had arrived and two EMT's were walking towards the boy, presumably to check him for injuries. Shortly after, Dianna arrived with an agent, with two more agents following.

Dianna walked over to where I was standing with the kidnapper and the officer. I gave her Ness' memory of what she'd seen.

She flashed her credentials to the officer.

"Special Agent Everson," she said taking charge.

Now that Dianna had arrived, I went over to where Ness was standing by her car. The EMT's had taken the boy to their ambulance which was too tall to enter the parking structure, and so was parked outside. The officer that had originally gone to the boy had accompanied them.

I slipped my arm around Ness' waist, and felt her trembling a little.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, pulling her tighter against me.

"That was scary," she said. "I was so worried I'd lose him in traffic. Or that I'd made a mistake and was causing a fuss over nothing. He definitely took the boy, its not like he's his estranged dad or something, right?"

"No," I said. "You don't want to know what he had in mind for the boy, but you can be assured that you saved that boy from a horrible fate."

She looked up at me. "He's a power user?" she asked. I nodded.

"An Empath." I said, "It's weird. It was only yesterday Jeevan told me about how dangerous wild Empaths could be if they were predators and, less than twenty-four hours later, you spot one.

I looked over and saw that an agent was searching the kidnapper, prior to putting him in the rearmost SUV. I walked over.

"You'll need a collar," I said quietly, having ensured that nobody else was near enough to hear. "He's a power user." The agent looked at me, and then nodded. "Also he has a change of vehicle on the top floor, a blue compact I think."

The agent picked up a set of car keys that he'd placed on the hood of his SUV as he'd searched the suspect.

"Thanks," he said. "That might give us more information. From what I saw from his car here, it's a rental, rented under a false ID. Perhaps his other car might give us more information about who we're dealing with."

I went and rejoined Ness, who was standing with Dianna.

"I'm going to have to take statements from the both of you," she said. "First though, I need to take that boy back to his mother. I'm sure she's out of her mind with worry. I sent officers to her house to tell her we'd recovered him, but she's not going to be happy until he's home. The EMT's have checked him over and he's fine."

She glared at the man seated in the back of the rearmost SUV.

"He didn't do anything that we can tell," she said to me, "unless you know different?"

I shook my head. "He touched his leg only," I said. "Nothing more. Fortunately Ness spotted him in time. He had ideas of 'sampling' him here in the parking lot if he thought it was quiet enough.

Dianna grimaced. "Fuck" she said, then looked at Ness. "I can't say how proud I am of you right now. You saved that boy, if not his life, certainly a lifetime of suffering and mental trauma."

Ness looked at the older woman, a slight blush on her face. "I didn't do anything," she said. "Caleb stopped him."

"Caleb wouldn't have had the first idea that anything was wrong," Dianna said, "if you hadn't had your eyes open. I also saw that you could see his power working. You're training your Empathy?"

Ness nodded. "I can't do anything with it, but I'm hoping to at least be able to raise a shield. I didn't know it would enable me to see others using powers."

"You did really well," Dianna repeated, and hugged the younger girl who had a mix of pride and embarrassment in her expression. I smiled at her.

"Can we go?" I asked.

"I'll need to get statements from both of you," Dianna said. "Can call around later?"

"Dinner at seven thirty?" I asked and she grinned.

"Perfect, and make it something special," she told me. "It's not every day that you pass your Phase 1 test."

I looked at her perplexed for a moment.

"My..." I began.

"Check your email," she said laughing, and moving off to give orders regarding securing the vehicles.

I pulled out my phone and did as suggested. She was right. I'd had an email to say that I'd passed my Phase 1 test and that the FBI would be in touch regarding the next phase of the recruitment process. I showed it to Ness.

She grinned at me and threw her arms around me.

"Now I'm proud of you," she said. "Let's head home. I'm going to cook you a celebratory meal."

It took a few minutes to extricate our vehicles from the parking garage and we headed back to the house. I'd already shared my memories of the afternoon's events with the rest of the girls, via the connection, and they were waiting for us to arrive home, so they could congratulate us both.

On the drive home, though, I had a call to make.

"Hey, Pops," I said as he answered the phone. "You'll never guess what your youngest daughter just did...."

I grinned to myself after I finished the call. Knowing that he and Cheryl would call Ness as soon as she got home.

The front door of the house was open when we arrived. Ness pulled onto the drive and I pulled into the garage, choosing to exit via the closing garage door rather than use the door into the kitchen. I joined Ness and the rest of the family where they were gathered around her giving her hugs and showering her with praise. She grinned around at them and tried to divert attention to me by announcing that I'd passed my test for the FBI. I too got hugs and kisses. Then Jules approached Ness, her phone in hand.

"It's for you," she said. handing her the phone. I saw Ness take the device, a puzzled look on her face.

"Hello?" she said. "Oh, hi Mom..." she began but was cut off as Cheryl started talking excitedly down the phone at her. I couldn't hear what was said, but I could hear her voice. I grinned at Jules, and she at me, having successfully ambushed her little sister.

"Let's go inside," I said.

We entered the house, and I went into the kitchen, to make a start on dinner. Ness, it seemed, might be tied up for a little while talking to her parents.

After a while Ness joined me in the kitchen. She was flushed but seemed pleased.

"You okay?" I asked. She smiled at me.

"It's kind of embarrassing," she said, "having people keep telling you how proud they are of you, but..."

"It's not a bad feeling?" I suggested smiling at her.

She nodded.

"I am proud of you," I said.

"As we all are," said Amanda. The rest of the family nodded their agreement.

"We've not seen Caleb's memories of what he saw from that man," said Mary. "He refused to show us. He said that we were better off not seeing that kind of thing. But I can see from his aura how bad it was, and you saved that little boy from that horrible man. You should be very proud of yourself."

"I'm just glad I spotted him," said Ness, shuddering slightly. "I don't even know why I decided to go that way today. It's not my normal route home, but I just fancied trying a new route. I was getting bored driving the same way all the time."

"We'd better get dinner sorted," Ness said. "Dianna will be here soon, and expecting to eat.

I laughed at her diversionary tactic and we continued with the preparation. We were interrupted again by a squeal from the living room.

"Come look!!!" came the shout from Sarah.

Ness and I went into the living room where the local news was on the television.

We caught the end of the news report.

"...Police say that if it wasn't for the quick thinking of a young lady, driving home, who spotted the abduction, called police, and followed the kidnapper's car until police could catch up, things may have ended very differently.

"The identity of this heroine is unknown, but one of our reporters spoke to Noah's mother to see if she had any message for the person who saved her son."

"I'd really like to meet her," said the mother, "to tell her how grateful we are. She saved my little boy and brought him home safely to his family. From what the FBI agent said, she wasn't old enough to have children of her own, but maybe one day, when she does, she'll be able to appreciate just how huge the gift that she gave to us is." The woman looked directly into the camera.

"Whoever you are," she said. "Thank you."

I saw Jules give Ness a side hug. Ness looked up at her older sister, who smiled down at her sibling.

The camera cut back to the studio.

"If any of our viewers have any information about the identity of the heroic young woman involved," the anchor woman said, "we'd love to speak to her too. Anyone with any information can email the studio on..."

She gave out the email address.

Ness and I went back into the kitchen.

Dianna was late. She arrived after eight.

We'd already eaten, but had saved her a plate, keeping it warm for her.

Her face was grim when she entered.

She sat down at the table and began to eat. While she ate she talked.

"Your perp came from Idaho. Nampa, west of Boise. The car he'd stashed in the parking lot was his own vehicle and registered to his home address. The Boise office raided his home. It's going to take a while to sort out, but he had two other boys locked in his basement, and there was evidence of others there too. We suspect he's been doing this for some time, and disposing of the boys once he's done with them.

"It's going to take a good while to get to the bottom of it all." She looked at Ness and then at me. "Not only did you save that boy today, but you stopped a serial predator. Both of you should be very proud of yourselves.

"For obvious reasons," she added looking at me, "your involvement in this has been kept completely out of the limelight, although the parents of the boy have asked if they can meet you," she directed this to Ness. "I've told them that I'd ask."

Ness shook her head. "I didn't do anything," she said.

"You did more than most," said Dianna. "You saw something you thought was suspicious, and you acted appropriately, most likely saving that young boy's life and probably many others."

"But Caleb..." began Ness.

"I already told you," Dianna insisted. "Caleb wouldn't have even known if you hadn't spotted it." She looked at me. "Obviously you did good," she grinned, "but no more than we've come to expect."

I grinned back at her. "Put it on my file for my application."

"Don't worry," she responded. "It most certainly will be."

"Oh," I said surprised. "I was kidding."

"I'm not," she said. "Stuff like this will do you no harm at all. Also, your use of powers, and the restraint you showed, has been fed back to the family council. They are also incredibly pleased and proud of you, both."

I grimaced, realizing that I'd not spoken to my parents for an age, even after the shooting, I'd avoided it.

"I presume they heard about the shooting?" I asked.

Dianna nodded.

"They wanted to speak to you, but I advised against it," she said. "You needed time to come to terms with what happened. I have to say you are looking much more stable now than you did. Talking to Jeevan seems to have really helped you."

"It did," I said realizing that one of the twins would have spoken to her about it.

"I'm glad," she said. "Mary said that you've decided to quit your hypnotherapy business?"

"Only at school," I said. "Those ungrateful fuckers can go screw themselves. I'm thinking that Melanie and Sarah can pick it up in a while once they are ready. I don't need the training any more."

"I can't say as I blame you," she responded.

Dianna finished her meal, and then took our official statements. Ness' was fairly easy, since all she really needed to say was that she'd seen the abduction and followed until help arrived.

Mine was a little more complicated since we had to hide the use of powers, but between us all we came up with a plausible story that covered the eventualities. It didn't hurt that nobody other than us saw power use. I did confess to Dianna my use of powers on the drivers who I'd directed past the scene, but she shrugged.

"Crowd control," she said. "Perfectly reasonable."

It was past ten by the time that Dianna left. I contemplated going to bed but, when I glanced out of the window, I saw Jane pacing up and down her yard with Kirsty in her arms.

I went out.

"You okay?" I asked. Jane looked relieved to see me.

"Help?" she said holding Kirsty out. Kirsty, predictably held her arms out to me.

"Let's try something different," I said. "Is Chris around?"

Jane nodded.

"Will he come out?"

Jane walked to her kitchen door and called Chris. He came out.

"I'm more than happy to help out with Kirsty," I told the pair of them. "But I don't think it's what you all need. Would you be willing to try something?"

They both nodded. Kirsty started whining, still holding her arms out to me.

"Take a seat," I said to them, indicating a two seater in their yard. They did, Kirsty still on Jane's knee.

"Now," I said. "I'm just going to try a relaxation technique on you two. Hopefully you being relaxed and unstressed, will mean that Kirsty will also be relaxed, and able to sleep. That's my theory. I'm not going to hypnotize any of you, just get you to relax okay?"

They nodded again.

I started talking to them in a low voice, using general relaxation techniques, getting them to loosen up, and let all their muscles go slack. At the same time I rolled my empathy over them, a little at first but increasing the intensity until they were both boneless under the torrent of safety, security, and relaxation. Kirsty was fast asleep in Jane's rather slack embrace. I made sure she wasn't going to drop the child.

"How was that?" I asked, a few minutes later.

Chris started a little, having actually come close to dozing off.

"That was amazing," he said, looking at his daughter, currently fast asleep on his still very relaxed wife's lap.

"Jane?" I asked.

"Hmmmmmm," she said, "that was wonderful. And Kirsty is fast asleep. Chris, will you take her up, I'm not sure I can move."

Chris stretched for a moment, before standing and collecting his daughter.

"Don't fall asleep there," he warned Jane. "I'm going to bed once I tuck this monster up."

"I won't," Jane said shaking herself a little.

Chris went into the house.

Jane held out her hand to me. "Help me up?" she said.

I stood and took her hand, assisting her to her feet. She pulled herself up and, before I knew it, she was pressed against me, her face only inches from mine.

Before I could move, she closed the distance, put her arms around my neck, and pulled me into a kiss. She pressed her body even harder against me, and gently but insistently probed at my lips with her tongue.

I took me a moment to remember where I was and what was going on. I gently disentangled myself from her.

"I think you need to go up to bed," I said. she smiled at me.

"You and I need to talk," she said running her hands down my arms, until she was holding my two hands in hers.

"We definitely need to talk." She repeated, before turning around and taking herself into her house, closing the door softly behind her.