Psychic Visions 08-Now You See Her... (32 page)

Dean ran a hand down his face. She felt sorry for him. He really had a shitty life if he had to face this guy every day. No wonder he had to take the month off. Big time.

She leaned back and closed her eyes.

“Please, Tia.”

Okay, that one kind of tugged at her.

“Dean, stop joking around. It’s obvious she’s gone. Where and how I don’t know, but you can bet by morning I’ll know. Even if I have to get some kind of security system in here.”

Dean groaned. “If you’d calm down…”

“Calm down? I am calm. Otherwise you’d be out on the street on your ass right now,” he roared.

Ah shit. Dean was going to get into big trouble if she didn’t do something. She really didn’t want to face him. But the coffee was looking mighty fine. Then again it was cop coffee – would it even be drinkable?

Not likely. But maybe…she reached across and dragged the coffee toward her. It wasn’t super hot. As the other two kept up their bickering, she lifted the cup and took a drink. Nice. Much better than she’d expected. She took another sip then another. Finally, she realized the shouting had stopped.

She glanced over to find them both staring at her.

“Tia? Honey? I know this is normal for you, but for other people it’s a bit of a shock.”

She started. Then realized to them, her coffee cup was sitting in mid air. Dean wouldn’t give a damn, but the captain pulled a chair out on his side and collapsed. The look on his face was the funniest she’d seen in a long time. With a sigh, she shifted her energy and let the edges of her form show. To hell with them. Now she should be more opaque, but that was all he deserved. Damn it.

Only the look on his face made her afraid he’d have a heart attack – like for real.

“Fine.” She tried to take the disgruntled tone out of her voice but knew she hadn’t succeeded when Dean tried to hide his smile.

She showed her full body and glared at him. “Happy now?”

“Yes, thank you.” He sat down and calmly reached for the spare cup. “The captain, now, he might need a moment or two.”

“Jesus.” And this time the captain’s voice was soft as a prayer. His whole demeanor had changed, shifted into a believer even if he never knew what that meant. Now he was facing a reality shift that he couldn’t have ever contemplated.

“Yeah, nice to meet you. I’m Tia,” she said impudently.

Dean shot her a warning look. She just raised an eyebrow back. “He yelled at me.”

“I did. And I’m sorry,” the captain said. To give him credit, he reached a hand across the table, still shaky but quickly trying to regain lost ground, toward her. “I’m Captain Bronsen.”

“Tia Hanniger,” she said with a nod, then eying his hand distrustfully she gave it a small, quick shake.

“I’m sorry I scared you earlier. In truth my wife gets on my case all the time about it. I do have a temper, but…” his eyes closed and his next words had her realizing he really did know who she was or her history at least, “I would never hurt you.”

She eyed him in disbelief. “If I was forty pounds lighter, you would have knocked me over with your voice alone,” she snapped.

He grinned. “But you’re not forty pounds lighter and you are fine.”

“Hmmph.” She eyed him carefully but the thought of being lighter brought back that it had been a long time since breakfast. “How long ago did we eat?” she asked Dean.

He rolled his eyes. “It must be hours because you’re hungry, right?”

She nodded. “Well, I am hungry, even if it’s only been one hour.”

“I’ll go grab something from a vending machine.”

“Don’t bother, there are dozens of donuts in the conference room,” the captain said.

Tia lit up at the thought.

“I thought you needed to eat healthy,” Dean muttered, narrowing his gaze at her.

“Donuts are a food group all their own,” she muttered. “Anyone who doesn’t think so, never ate them.”

The captain snickered. “Better bring a couple and I’ll have a coffee too.”

Being sent out as he was, there wasn’t much Dean could do, but he stopped at the doorway and looked back at both of them. “Play nice.” And he shut the door.

Left alone, Tia tried to gauge the captain. As far as she could see, his energy was green and orange and had some red flares still sitting inside and poking at him, part of the temper issue, she was sure. She decided to bring it up. As she opened her mouth, she caught sight of small images floating around him. Football, oh look she had him pegged correctly. She saw pictures of a beautiful woman and two boys climbing all over him. He really was a family man. With a temper.

“If you’d let some of that go, you wouldn’t be so quick to fly off the handle you know?” She kept her voice low, her tone neutral. The wrong tone and people tended to get really irritated.

The captain asked in confusion, “What? Let what go?”

“That you didn’t get your chance to lead your team to victory at twenty-five. That’s when you blew your knee out permanently, isn’t it? And the team went downhill from there. You stood on the sidelines and screamed at them to get it right but because they needed you on the field, it wasn’t the same anymore.” She waited a half beat and added in a very gentle voice, “Was it?”

He stared at her in shock. There was barely any color on his face which being a mix of milk and dark chocolate looked very odd. But his red flares were lighting up again.

“It wasn’t your fault. It was an accident. You can’t keep that anger inside.”

She leaned back to see what he’d do with that. Likely ignore her. That’s what most people did. Not that she spoke to many like this over the years. But those in Land’s Edge had lots of issues. Some wanted to know and others…not so much. After all, who wanted someone else to poke and pry into their lives? No one.

And certainly not this huge guy. “You’ve got power and prestige, a beautiful wife and two sons. You’ve been to anger management and marriage counseling and still you can’t let go of the anger. That championship was yours. You can feel it. Taste it. And if you hadn’t had that damn accident you’d have made it. But…” she waited and watched, getting an idea as the truth hit her. “You blame the other guy. The one who tackled you to the ground and the fight that ensued. You were never the same again.”

He was past staring. His eyes had gotten huge but the red flares were still sitting spiking. Not erupting, and for that she was grateful, but too close for comfort. “It was a game. He paid a high price too.”

At that the captain jerked in surprise, and she nodded. “There’s no way an injury like that happens to just one. For all you know he’s worse off than you. And it wasn’t even the championship game, so he didn’t get that win either. You both wanted it. You were both aggressive – too aggressive. That’s another problem here. You feel guilty. As if you were responsible for the whole team losing. If he hadn’t pounded you back, but also if you had taken a different play, it would have all turned out another way. And you insisted on that play, didn’t you?”

“I was so sure I could do it,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper. “So damn sure.”

“And you did make it,” she responded gently. “But you didn’t think long term. Big picture.”

He nodded. “That was the coach’s big phrase. It’s not about winning the game, it’s about taking home the trophy.”

“And he was right.” She watched and waited. Not everyone wanted to see hard truths. Good for him to listen and not take a strip off her.

The door opened to let Dean inside, a plate of donuts balanced on top of a cup of coffee. “I almost got mugged,” he muttered. “You have no idea how my life was in jeopardy out there.”

He sent a questioning glance to Tia then back at the captain. “Here’s your coffee, sir.”

The captain nodded but didn’t say anything. Instead, he drew circles on the table with his finger as if by doing so he could change history or at least go back in time and have another chance.

Tia understood. She would do the same thing if she could. She smiled at Dean and beamed at the plate. “Captain, do you want a donut?”

“No, I’ve had a couple already.”

He motioned to her to go ahead.

“Dean?” She glanced over at him to see him grinning suspiciously.

“Go ahead, Tia, all three are for you.”

She grinned and bit into the first one. “Awesome,” she mumbled. And sat back in peace and joy. Food.

*

Dean watched her
enjoyment. Such a simple thing. He wanted to go and get her another half dozen donuts if it would make her that happy. He couldn’t imagine the things she’d missed growing up. Maybe she’d had a chance to enjoy many fun foods before she joined Wilhelm, but he doubted she’d had much opportunity.

She scarfed the first one and picked up the second and took a bite. He was trying to give the captain some time. He didn’t know what had happened to the big man while he’d been gone, but something obviously had changed him. He wasn’t scared, neither was he angry. He looked thoughtful. Weary almost. It worried Dean. This was not normal.

“Captain?”

The man started. And looked over at Dean. He shook his head. “I’m fine. Just a little lost.”

“I know how you feel,” Dean muttered, shooting Tia a suspicious look. “I can say that my life hasn’t been the same since Tia fell into it.”

The captain shook his head. “She’s a good woman. You are a lucky man.”

Dean shot his captain a surprised look then realized he’d called Tia honey, and neither of them had exactly hid their feelings for each other. “I am,” he said and waited as Tia polished off the second donut. She eyed the third one but sat back waiting. She turned her attention to the men.

“So, why am I here?”

The captain spoke up. “Questions. Regarding Billy and the others.”

Right. She leaned forward. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything.” And with that they got started. By the time the captain had asked her a dozen questions, he’d filled a notepad several pages thick and several other people had come to join them. Tia was on her third cup of coffee and looked to be fading quickly.

Finally, Dean put a stop to the barrage of information firing back and forth. “She needs a break.”

“She does,” Tia agreed, her voice wan and thin. “Right now would be good.” She dropped her head and rested her forehead on her crossed arms.

The captain held up his hand. Instantly the noise eased back. “Let’s leave her alone for a few moments.”

He stood up and ushered the others out of the room. He looked over at Dean. Dean shook his head. “I’ll stay here with her.”

The captain nodded and walked out, closing the door gently behind him.

“I’
m fine,” she
mumbled from inside her folded arms. “Just tired.”

“With good reason,” he said gently. “Take it easy. We have a few moments alone. Close your eyes and sleep if you can.”

“Can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t know.”

But she wouldn’t lift her head. She felt odd. Disconnected. Loose ends floated in her mind and that made no sense. She was here and doing something constructive. It’s what she wanted to do. What she wanted to have happen. Only no one was talking about Simone. No one was talking about her dead partner. They were all talking about dead kids. She didn’t want to talk dead kids. They were dead and gone and she wasn’t. She’d survived. Why the hell would she want to take a closer look at that scenario? She wouldn’t. She didn’t. She wasn’t suicidal.

But she did want this all to stop.

“Make what stop?”

She lifted her head and stared at him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

He shrugged. “No problem. But that’s still no answer.”

She stared at him. “I want it all to stop. I want a normal life. When I can get up in the morning and go to bed in the same bed at night, knowing it’s okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes, knowing it’s okay. That I won’t be hauled out screaming from bed in the middle of the night for the next barrage of tests Wilhelm dreamed up. Knowing I will get three meals a day each and every day. Knowing I can walk the streets if I want and not have to run because they might have found me. It’s not a nice way to live. I never met many street people or hooked up with the underground. I was too nervous. Many reached out to me but they scared me. They might have been part of his network. And then they’d find me like they had the first time. For the last couple of years I was living in a small town with less than a thousand people. Within a day of arriving everyone knew who I was and that I had no clothes or money and was in trouble. But not one of them terrified me. As one old guy went out of his way to say, “We’re all here for a reason. Don’t worry about it, just let the trouble go away and let life be.”