The Mind Keepers (The Mind Readers) (12 page)

He lifted a low-hanging oak
branch for us. “With Cameron attaching her powers to mine…yeah.”

“Good, because we can’t do this
without that train coming to a full stop.”

I was glad they were so positive,
because I sure as heck wasn’t. Cameron and Aunt Lyndsey moved toward the tracks.
Just as Lewis was about to follow, I reached out, latching onto his arm. He
glanced back curiously.

“If things go south, grab
Cameron and run.”

“You know she won’t leave you,”
Lewis said softly.

“You love her, right?”

“You know I do. She’s everything
to me.” Although Lewis rarely showed emotion, mention of my sister brought up a
passion he never otherwise gave into. The guy practically came to life when she
was near, as if she held the damn sun.

I nodded, knowing the feeling
well; it was exactly the way I’d felt around Maddox. Cameron had paused and glanced
back, searching for us. “Then get her out. If you love her, save her.”

He nodded, and I knew he would
because although Lewis valued his honor, and cared about me, he breathed and
lived for my kind, compassionate and completely selfless sister. The ground
shook, trembling with the approach of the train and commanding our full
attention. My heart leapt into my throat. Closer. Closer. We paused just inside
the trees near the tracks. We all knew that this was our only chance to save
Maddox. If we failed, he was as good as dead. And if he wasn’t actually on this
train, then he was lost to us forever.

“Once the train stops, they’ll
suspect something,” my aunt whispered. “Who knows how many soldiers they have.
Best case scenario is less than fifty.”

“Can we take that many?” Cameron
asked as we all crouched down, hiding behind the trees and the overgrown
vegetation that lined the track.

Aunt Lyndsey shrugged. “Not
without killing some.”

We were silent for a moment, all
of us tense and waiting as the ground trembled underfoot, warning of the
approaching train.

“Cowards like S.P.I. tend to
surround themselves with public shields,” I said. “If innocents are hurt, they
can paint us as some monster terrorist group.”

“True,” Aunt Lyndsey muttered. “Let’s
hope there are no innocents aboard. Lewis and Cameron, get the train to stop. I’ll
try to hold back as many agents as I can.” She looked at me. “You think you can
locate Maddox by sensing his energy?”

“Maybe.” My unease grew. What if
this was a set-up? What if they’d already found Olivia and knew we were here? What
if Maddox was already dead? “I don’t know.”

She gripped my shoulders and
looked directly into my eyes. “If you love him like I think you do, then you
can sense his energy. You know his energy, you know him.”

Wow, wait…love? How the hell
would she know what I felt?

“Last chance,” she said. “This
is our last chance to save him.”

My heart squeezed painfully, the
feeling odd and unfamiliar.
Fear,
the
word whispered through my mind. I wanted to scoff at the thought, deny my worries.
I was a warrior. A
warrior.
I was
never afraid, but I couldn’t deny the feeling that swept, ice-cold, through my
body. Our last opportunity, our last chance. “If he’s on that train, I’ll find
him.”

She nodded and released her hold,
focusing on Cameron and Lewis. “Ready?”

They headed toward the rails,
leaving me with my thoughts and worries. I stood just outside of the trees, my
nerves growing the closer the train got. Those few moments seemed to stretch
into hours, and just when I thought I might snap, the brilliant light from the
approaching train flashed around the bend, piercing the evening and momentarily
blinding me. I lifted my arm, shielding my eyes.

Focus now, Nora,
my aunt called out mentally as she stopped next to
the tracks, so close that I was sure the thing was going to barrel by and knock
her over. Lewis moved into the opening between the tracks and woods, Cameron’s
hand in his. Both of them were concentrating so hard I was surprised the train
didn’t explode. That deep whistle called once more. The locomotive was coming
fast. Everyone was in place, concentrating. Everyone but me. Could I do this?
Could I find him?

“Now or never.” I took in a deep
breath and closed my eyes.

At first I felt everything at
once: the energy from the trees, pure and calm. The energy from the animals, wild
and hunted. Even the energy from the train barreling down the tracks straight
toward us. I focused on the train as I heard the wheels screeching, a horrible,
high-pitched sound that made the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on
end.

Lewis and Cameron had done their
job. Now it was my turn. But it was all happening too quickly, like a movie on
fast forward. Frantic, I searched the train, tossing aside one energy field
after another. I could sense the typical mechanical chips S.P.I. placed inside
their soldiers’ heads, but then something stuck out…something different,
something
more
that gave me pause.
The train stopped, the area going creepily silent.

“Mind reader,” I called out.
“They have a mind reader, at least one.”

“On their side?” Cameron asked. “Or
as prisoner?”

I squeezed my eyes shut harder,
as if that could help me concentrate. Where the hell was he? Damn it all, if
this was for nothing…

“We’ll assume any mind readers on
that train are our enemies,” my aunt muttered.

Doors screeched open. Startled,
I lifted my lashes. It had begun. There was no going back now.

“Ready?” Aunt Lyndsey called
out.

A fine pattering of rain began
to fall, peppering my face and chilling my skin. Soldiers poured from the
train, stumbling from the metal machine, guns raised like they were in a
real-life version of Call of Duty. “Crap.”

A sudden explosion lit the sky
to the left of the train. I stumbled back, shocked. I wasn’t the only one. At
least ten men flew through the air with cries of pain, landing injured or worse,
scattered around the tracks.

Don’t worry,
my aunt’s voice whispered through my mind.
Merely a diversion.

Another grenade? She’d thought
of everything. I brushed aside my surprise, ignored the cries of pain from the
injured agents, and frantically searched the many energy fields for Maddox. I
couldn’t sense him. I ducked into the trees, evading the soldiers, and headed
down the tracks, following the train. He had to be there; I wouldn’t give up.

Nora! No! You can’t get that close!

I ignored Cameron’s mental voice
and continued my search, attempting to keep in the shadows as much as possible.
The soldiers pouring from the train didn’t notice me, they were too intent on
reaching the cause of the commotion: Aunt Lyndsey. It was obvious by their
shouts of outrage and the chaos of their movements that they hadn’t been
expecting us. But they were prepared. Always prepared.
 

“Find him?” Cameron’s face glistened
with rain as she stumbled up beside me. Lewis watched her back, fighting off
the few guards who came our way. But stopping the train had taken its toll.
They were pale, trembling, depleted and wouldn’t last long.
 
 

Everyone had done what they were
supposed to…everyone but me. If I didn’t find Maddox soon, we were as good as
dead. “Not yet.”

I swiped the rain from my face
and paused, breathless, near the middle of the train. He had to be here. His
energy might not be apparent, but instinct told me he was on the train.

“Aunt Lyndsey needs help,”
Cameron said. “I know she’s the source, but even she has her limits.”
 

“I’ll go. You stay with your
sister. Nora, touch the sides of the car,” Lewis said as he spun around, headed
back toward our aunt. “It helps.”

It sure as hell couldn’t hurt. Every
car was windowless, as if it was merely carrying supplies. We knew better. I
stumbled over the tracks, slick with drizzle.

“Hurry,” Cameron urged.

I pressed my hand to the damp metal
car and closed my eyes. A shiver of awareness whispered over me, energy…living
beings, but nothing familiar. “Not here. Just agents.”

Agents who would be leaving the
comfort of their car to help their comrades as soon as they realized they were
overpowered. We raced to the next car, tripping over the gravel that lay
between the tracks. The shouts around us grew, and I could feel their frantic
energy coming closer, closing in. Aunt Lyndsey and Lewis were fighting a losing
battle. I pressed my hands to the next car. Hollow. Empty. “Nothing.”

I started down the line when a tingle
of familiarity rang a mental warning bell, pulling me up short. I froze,
staring hard at that closed door. The grunts, the sounds of fists hitting flesh
and cries of pain from those fighting around me faded. All I could focus on was
that familiar energy.

“What is it?” Cameron asked, her
voice holding a frantic edge that brought me back to reality.

“Mind reader.”

“Who?”

But I didn’t have time to
answer. The door screeched open, and suddenly Father Myron appeared. My heart
constricted, denying what I already knew to be true. I felt Cameron’s shock
beside me. Another betrayal. Another person we had trusted with our secrets,
our hopes, our dreams.

“Traitor,” Cameron whispered.

We didn’t have time to prepare. As
he stepped from the train, he threw his energy at us. The very man who had held
our hands when we’d mourned our mother’s death. The man who had prayed for us
every Sunday. The man I had admitted things to that no one else knew.

We fell to the ground with a
thud, gasps of pain slipping from our lips. His energy was stronger than I’d
expected. But how? He didn’t carry the source. I shoved my hands into the wet
grass and sat up. Unless S.P.I. had somehow enhanced his abilities. I wouldn’t
put it past them.

“He’s strong,” Cameron whispered.
“Too strong.”

“S.P.I., they had to have done
something to enhance his powers.” If he was greedy for power, and S.P.I. could
offer it to him, then he would take it. I’d seen better men fold under the
offer. “You!” I shouted. “You’re the one who told Mom about the boat. Told her
that Aaron had Cameron on the river.”

I stumbled to my feet, Cameron
standing up beside me.
 

“I’d always wondered how Mom
knew that Cameron was out there. My dad couldn’t fight her in the tunnels; he
needed her out in the open. You told her. You set her up. She died because you
betrayed her!”

“Bastard!” Cameron threw her
energy at him.

He stumbled back but held his
ground. He shouldn’t still be standing. Why wasn’t he collapsing? I grabbed
Cameron’s hand and together we tried again, combining our energy. Nothing. The old
man merely started toward us, calm as you please.
 

“It can’t go on anymore, girls.”
He cut his arm through the air. His energy hit us hard, and we stumbled back,
but managed to retain our footing. “This fighting. This war.”

He hit us again with his energy,
harder this time. Our feet fell out from underneath us, and we flew back into
the trees. I landed with a thud upon a patch of wet leaves. Cameron wasn’t so
lucky. She cried out as her head hit a root, the thunk echoing through the
woods.

Frantic, I crawled toward her,
the palms of my hands sinking into the damp forest floor. “You okay?”

She nodded, but she wasn’t okay.
A fine line of brilliant red blood trailed down her forehead, mixing with the
rain and shimmering under the light of the moon. Even in the dull light I could
tell she was dazed.

I cupped the sides of her face,
forcing her to focus on me. “Run. Get Lewis and go.”

“No.” She shoved my hands away.
Ignoring my outstretched fingers, she gripped a tree branch and pulled herself
upright, gaining my respect and admiration.
 

My sister was in this till the
end. She wouldn’t abandon me. She would never betray me. I surged up beside her,
more determined than ever. If she could go on, I sure as hell could, too.

Father Myron had to have a
weakness. He was powerful, but he didn’t have the source like we did. I glanced
toward my aunt. She was still fighting, holding her own, but she would be of no
help. No, this was our war now.

“You implanted the vision of
Maddox in my mind,” Cameron said, swiping the blood from her forehead. “I felt
an energy from the vision but didn’t recognize it, didn’t understand it. You
wanted us here. It was a trap. ”

“Cameron!” Lewis had noticed, or
maybe felt her pain and was racing toward us, tossing aside soldier after
soldier in his attempt to get to her. Idiot, he was going to get himself
killed. We were all losing it and fast. We needed to regain control before it
was too late.

“What do you want from us?” I
asked, merely to keep him busy. There were about twenty soldiers still standing
as far as I could tell, and Aunt Lyndsey and Lewis were doing their best to
keep them at bay. But their best wasn’t good enough.

Father Myron paused about ten
feet from us. I’d always thought those eyes kind, but now his gaze sent a cold
chill down my spine. Mom hadn’t known, that was the worst of it. She had
trusted him like she’d trusted no other. “What I’ve always wanted. Peace.”

“Peace?” Cameron released a wry
laugh. “And we don’t want peace? You don’t think we’re sick of running,
fighting?”

The rain around us thickened,
rattling the leaves like mini spectators cheering in a Roman stadium. Father
Myron started toward us once more, his hands folded demurely in front of him. “Then
accept my offer of peace.”

I released a wry laugh. “Being
in a cell, having S.P.I. torture you is not peace.”

“If you agree to work for
S.P.I., for this country, then you won’t be tortured. If you pledge your
loyalty, we will make sure--”