Cry For Tomorrow (11 page)

“But, sir, I think you should—” the sergeant waved his taser at the group of younger children, “I mean, you really should—”

Sanders snapped his head around, prepared to roar some reprimand but before he could speak, I interrupted in a smooth, self-assured, and very angry voice, “That bastard that turned me in is
not
my father and I am not a child.” I looked him dead in the eyes.

Startled by the sudden change in attitude, Sanders stuttered and his eyes got very big. I saw him cast a look back at his subordinate and I saw the look on his face change when he noticed the children that were now openly sliding along the building away from them.

“I think I’ve had just about enough of this crap,” growled Sanders. He pointed the muzzle of the taser at me and I saw his trigger finger twitch in anticipation. “You need to make a decision right now, you little freaks! Either you come with me real nice and peaceful-like, or I’ll take you out right now and they can use your corpses for their damned experiments! They pay me by the body and it’s no difference to me.”

I knew by the look of cold hatred flashing in his eyes that this man had every intention of following through on his threat, but I also knew that to allow him to take us in was not an option. When Sanders took a step back to get a clearer shot, I took one step forward and to the side and another step further from the others.

I was about to strike when my eyes were drawn to a sudden, stealthy movement by Rainor, sliding in behind his partner’s back. Before Sanders could react, the grey agent was pressing a weapon that had been concealed in the palm of his hand against the back of his commander’s neck.

“Wha—” Sanders tried to twist away but he was too slow to react. There was a sharp buzz and the agent stiffened, his eyes popped wide.

It seemed to take an eternity for his lifeless body to crumble to the ground.

Jennie was at my side and had me by one arm, trying to drag me away.

“W-why did you do that?” I gasped faintly as I stared in disbelief at the grey agent.
Are we next on his hit list?

“Because the bastard meant what he said.” He picked-up the taser gun lying at Sanders’ side and checked the settings. “Just as I thought—set to max. Sanders had every intention of killing you.” He raised his sharp grey eyes and looked me in the eye. “I know this is a little confusing to you, but I’m not one of
them
.” He kicked the dead man in the ribs. “It’s true that I’ve been working with the military agents but I’m not really one of
theirs.”

“I didn’t intend to approach you in such an abrupt manner, and I know you might have a little trouble understanding this, but I am in fact an agent of Tereus, a world that exists in a parallel dimension to your own. I infiltrated this man’s military unit several months ago in the hope of making contact with some faction of the telepaths that have gone into hiding in your cities. Unfortunately, time is of the essence and it has taken me this long to even get close to someone connected to the psis, and I’ll be damned if I am going to let Sanders just kill you for the sake of feeding his blood-lust.”

This was all just too much for me to digest. I shook my head, annoyed beyond belief. What was this maniac trying to say? “Hey, look, Sergeant who-ever-you-are, I was perfectly able to deal with that bastard, and would have if you hadn’t interfered,
without
killing him,” I snapped at him. “Now there’s a dead agent, a
military
agent to boot, and we’re going to be blamed for it!”

“Yeah, all because some crazy man saying he’s from someplace that doesn’t even exist thought he was helping us out!” Jennie glared at him as she came to my aid.

Faced with our distrust and total disbelief, Rainor shook his head in resignation. “Hey, I’m sorry I had to spring this on you so unexpectedly but I’ve been trying for months now to get some kind of lead on telepaths like you, but most of them have already been driven underground by the Company and military. You’re the first real lead I’ve been able to get close to and this butcher was going to kill you all so he could collect the bounty, and well, I just couldn’t let him do that.”

Jennie tugged at my arm again, silently urging me to follow her, but I shrugged her hand off and remained to face down the stranger. I needed to know what was going on here. I was relieved when she gave up and returned to gather the younger children, slowly leading them away from the agent.

Determined to keep the stranger’s attention on me and away from my friends, I took a couple of steps in the opposite direction. I needed to keep him talking long enough to give myself a little time to think about the things he was telling us. I considered myself a pretty good judge of character and for no really logical reason this man’s words rang true. Jack and Rosa’s house had been a gathering point for a broad assortment of free-thinkers and dissidents and I had spent many evenings listening to the many rumors and discussions they’d brought to the table about the possible origins of the phantoms and the probable existence of a parallel world. This was not the first time I’d heard the name Tereus whispered behind closed doors
but,
so far, I had never heard any one offer concrete evidence one way or the other.

Now that we’d put a little distance between us and the other kids, I stopped walking and faced this man claiming to be from another dimension. He looked overwrought and anxious, like something was really driving him. And there was something about him—his whole presence was so
grey
that I could almost believe that he was a phantom or wraith with just a little more substance and dimension than the others I’d encountered.

“Just what makes you think that we might have any contacts with the people you’re interested in?” I demanded. I needed answers, right now, or we were getting out of here.

“Well, for one thing, I believe you’re one of those that possess some of the abilities I’ve been seeking. It’s obvious that you’re not one of the poor mind-warped
freaks
that roam the streets, but I’d bet that you
are
the telekinetic psi the Company agents were looking for, and secondly, because I saw what you and your friend did back at the house.”

When I didn’t immediately respond, Rainor went on. “It’s true that you’re still pretty young, and I’m not sure if you have any actual contacts yet, but I’m running out of time and you’ll have to do. You two are the first psis of any kind that I’ve been able to get near, well, at least before they were either killed or damaged beyond use like the Morrises.”

Jennie had obviously been listening to the conversion and when I continued to linger she returned, slowly circling around behind the grey-clad man, ready to come to my aid at the first sign of betrayal.

“Okay, Mister, let’s just say we’re willing to give you the benefit of the doubt that you really aren’t working for one of the agencies. For one thing, we’ve never seen or heard anything to prove that this Tereus place you’re talking about exists, and even if it does, what does it all have to do with us?” Jennie demanded.

“Yeah, right,” I agreed, carefully watching the agent’s face for his reaction. “We’re really getting tired of people and
agencies
that go to such lengths to keep their secrets from us while they’re so determinedly seeking us out. Even if this
parallel world
does exist, how do we know that your motives are any better than theirs? Why don’t you just tell us why we should believe any of what you’ve told us?” A soft shuffle of feet made me look back. Still too young to understand the real danger they were in, the younger children had also returned to listen.

“Great, now we’re getting someplace.” Rainor sighed with relief as he gave a quick look around at the curious faces surrounding him. “But first, I think it would be a really good idea if we get our friend Sanders out of plain sight. Somebody grab his legs and let’s drag him into the alley here,” he instructed.

Without comment, the youngsters each grabbed hold of some part of the dead agent and helped Rainor drag the body into the alley where they proceeded to cover it with trash to keep it from being spotted.

With Sanders disposed of and no one trying to run off on him, Rainor seemed to relax. Wiping his hands on his pants to remove dirt that wasn’t there, he stopped and studied us.

“Okay, that should take care of things for a while. Independent agents like Sanders don’t have any set schedule and pretty much come and go as they please, so nobody will even bother to look for him for three or four days.” He nodded his head at the overgrown remains of a neighborhood park just barely visible at the end of the block. “But I would feel much better if we move from the immediate vicinity and take our discussion over to that park across the way.”

Without waiting for our agreement, Rainor stepped into the street and took several strides in the direction of the designated park. Kelly and I started to follow, but Jennie grabbed our arms. “Wait, are you sure we want to do this? What if this is just a trick to get us to go with him without a fight?”

“Maybe, but I think killing your partner would be a pretty radical way of doing it, don’t you?” I shrugged. “And besides, I’d like to hear what he’s got to say. Maybe we can gain some information. Look, we all know that something’s been happening with the phantoms lately, they’re getting more aggressive and more substantial. If it’s time for us to get out of town then I’d sure like to know about it before the ghoulies take over.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Jennie reluctantly agreed. “What he’s saying could be true, there have been some really radical changes in the phantoms lately, and the agencies are getting freakier everyday too.”

“Right, and we
can
just take off anytime we want to,” whispered Kelly as she followed me into the street. “It seems like if he was going to get rough with us, he’d have already done so.”

As we drew close to the neglected park, the two younger children skipped ahead, confident that we would warn and protect them if things got dangerous. The dog yipped softly as she ran between the giggling children but the sound was nearly smothered under the sharp rustling of the tall grass and dry, brittle weeds that covered what had once been manicured lawns.

Rainor had already made his way to an old concrete picnic table nestled under the bare branches of an ancient oak tree and settled in the middle of the weather-stained table. The grey agent returned our curious stares as we gathered round him, patiently waiting for us to settle on the surrounding benches. When all eyes were finally focused on him, he drew a deep breath and began.

“Okay, I think it would be best if I just start by telling you something about me. As I tried to tell you before, I am not from your dimension. I
am
a resident of White Rock City, which is the capital city of the Main Island. We have always referred to your dimension as the over-world, for your dimension overlaps ours. Very few over-worlders are aware that there is another world that exists in a parallel dimensional orbit with your own. They also have no idea that our world is the source of the phantoms you have been so determined to evict, or that it is populated with people and cities and, and well, a whole other civilization.” He was silent for a moment as he collected his thoughts. “And our civilization is dying.”

“This is all very fascinating and I’m sure we’re all very sorry too about your world’s problems, but what can that possibly have to do with us and how can we be of any help?” asked Jennie.

“Yeah, right and why should we even care, especially since these phantoms that have invaded us from your world have ruined our lives?” interrupted Kelly.

Rainor leveled sad eyes on us and said softly, “Because if my world dies, it will take yours with it. The two worlds are on a collision course, and if we do not find some way to enlist the aid of special people, like you, we are all doomed. I was chosen for this mission because I more closely resemble an over-worlder than most.” He smiled when he saw our looks of concern.

“I assure you that the inhabitants of Tereus are not dangerous to your people, at least, not under normal circumstances. My mission has been to infiltrate the ranks of your military’s Special Investigations Agency with the hope of discovering a way to contact members of the psi underground in your city in a bid to solicit their help directly. We have attempted to accomplish this by dealing with your government, but all of our efforts have proven unsuccessful so far.” He plucked a stem of tall grass and stuck one end between his teeth, chewing thoughtfully, before going on, “Unfortunately, when I arrived I quickly discovered that the two most powerful agencies in this region of your earth—that representing the powerful civilian agency calling itself The Company and the Security Agency of your military—have been employing extreme force and coercion in their efforts to control these people. They have, in turn, gone underground to protect themselves and are exceedingly difficult to reach.”

He shook his head in sad disbelief and went on, “I was about to return to my world to report this sad turn of events to my superiors, when my human
partner
, Sanders, received orders to pick up a young telekinetic girl. When he ordered me to assist him, I did consider refusing him, until I was told what your ability was. Desperation made me reconsider, and I decided to take one more chance on trying to make direct contact with one of the psis before giving up.”

“The information he had sounded good, and the intel on this Jack and Rosa Morris made it look like there was a real good chance that there actually was a psi of this quality on the premises. Things were looking promising until we arrived at the house and discovered that another team had already been there and things had gotten completely out of hand. I did try to keep him off your scent,” he looked at Jennie and me meaningfully, “even when I saw through your camouflage screen and spotted you all hiding in the shrubs.”

“I was hoping Sanders was going to head back to headquarters so I could come back and track you without his interference. Trouble was, he already had enough info on you to have a fair idea of which way you’d run if you had the chance. He insisted on laying in wait a few blocks from the house, in hopes that you would show yourself if you thought we’d given up.” He shook his head in sad resignation.