"Come in" Jan already knew who it was. Her parents' knocks were near the top of the door. This knock was near the middle.

Thomas came in slowly. He looked at Jan on the bed and looked around at the rest of the room. He had been in the room before, but he didn't really pay attention. Jan's room was pale yellow almost white with bright white trim around the windows and doors. The windows and view were impressive. Jan had vertical wooden blinds on her windows, but she didn't have curtains since she loved natural light and was never one to sleep late.

Thomas was still trying to gather himself. It had been one week since Jan had found him on the street, and he had tried to kill her by accident. He found out later that it would be pretty hard to kill Jan Caufield. Not like he would ever try again. She had saved his life in more ways than one. Thomas had eaten Thanksgiving dinner with the Caufield family with mixed feelings. He missed his family so much he had physical pains whenever he thought about it, but on the other hand this family had totally embraced him. Their affection and concern wasn't forced or contrived. He didn't know how to act. He would have to feel his way through this period, because Thomas had a plan. Thomas always had a plan.

Thomas went to the other side of the room in the only area that hardly got any sun at all. Thomas pulled the covers off several boxes. They looked like records. He reached down in the box and pulled one out. He just grabbed the vinyl and held it up so he could read the label. "What's this?", Thomas asked without turning around.

Jan was off the bed and over to him in an instant. She went down to a knee and took his hand and gently pulled the record from it. "This", Jan pointed at the record she held very very gently. "This is an original pressing of Terraplane Blues by Robert Johnson." Jan carefully put the record back in the sleeve. The original cover had long since been lost.

Thomas pointed at another record, but didn't pull it out. Jan was glad. "This is My Black Mama by Son House. Part one is one side and part two on the other. This is one of the best copies known to still exist."

"So its rare. How did you get it?"

Jan laughed. "A $5,000 check and good friend who can drive really real.ly fast. I've only had this record since last summer.

Thomas went to another box further down and pulled out a record. Jan's eyes almost rolled back in her head when she saw what he was holding. "Please be careful, Thomas."

Thomas had gone down into Jan's jazz record section. "What's this one?"

Jan carefully took it from his hands. "This is West End Blues by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five. This is one the best songs ever."

"Can I hear it?"

Jan almost said no, but music was meant to be listened to, shared, and enjoyed so she went to her closet and pulled out a very expensive record player. It was the only player Jan let her records be played on. It had a special needle and a special turn table. Jan pulled out a few more records. They were the starters. Jan carefully put on the record and let it play. Thomas sat cross legged and listened. He listened to the same song four times before he was ready to listen to another. Finally at the end he looked up at Jan.

"Why haven't I ever heard any of these before?"

Jan shrugged her shoulders as she put the records back. "Sometimes you have to have an invitation to hear music like this. Well you just got one."

"Where did you get your invitation from?", Thomas asked taking in what he had heard.

"From an old piano player named Mose Chapman." Jan smiled thinking back. "He taught me the blues and then one day told me that I could move on to jazz. He used to say that jazz without blues has no soul. He taught me a lot."

"Can I meet him?"

Jan shook her head. "Mose died about 2 years ago."

Thomas stood up after a while. "Jan, I don't know how to say this, but you're 19 right." Jan nodded and Thomas continued. "Where's all the teenage white girl music?"

Jan laughed hysterically on the floor in front of her $100,000 music collection. She got to her feet and went over to her desk and pulled down a few of cd's and tossed them to Thomas. "There you go." Thomas looked down at Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time album, Mandy Moore's So Real, and Vanessa Carlton's Be Not Nobody.

"I have some more where those came from. I have some Pink, Avril Lavigne, Backstreet Boys, N'Sync..."

"Never mind."

"I mean if you want to give that a listen too that's fine, but I don't buy new music on vinyl."

Thomas stood up and handed her the cd's back. "That's not why I asked. You remember the other day when you thought I was a Vulcan? I just wanted to make sure you weren't really an elderly black man trapped in a white girl's body."

Jan inhaled in surprise and pushed the boy on the shoulder lightly. He started laughing. "You should be ashamed of yourself", Jan was trying not to laugh, but failing.

Thomas looked up with his big brown eyes into Jan's deep blue ones and said, "Well, I'm not."

Jan's eyes went wide, but her smile was even wider. She reached down quickly, wrapped one of her big hands around Thomas's ankle and lifted him off the ground. She held the 12 year old by the ankle upside down. He looked so funny with his mop of curly hair hanging towards the floor and his arms flailing around. Jan had no trouble holding him. Her long arms barely shook as he moved. Jan had super strength, but not always. Her strength used to be random, but now she had better control. Usually it took negative emotions to get her strength out. She had none of those right now as she held Thomas upside down. She didn't need super strength to hold up Thomas' 93 pounds. Her arm was rock hard and ramrod straight. Muscle fibers flexed and bulged. She turned her head to look at Thomas. "You ashamed yet?", she asked. Jan laughed and bounced him a couple of times.

Thomas laughed. "No" Thomas put his hands down to try to touch the floor, but Jan just raised her arm higher. It was harder to hold him like this, but it was worth it. Jan was about to let him go when his ankle shocked her. She dropped him. His hands hit first and then he rolled over laughing. Jan shook her hand.

"Hey, you cheated."

Thomas was still laughing. "And you didn't, holding me upside down like that?"

Jan smiled and looked down at him. "What? I don't need super strength to hold you up." Jan bent down, pulled up her sleeve and flexed her right arm. It was like her upper arm erupted. The muscle bunched up and rose higher and higher until a jagged 14.5" inch dual headed peak rose up. Her great triceps added on made her arm look truly massive. Jan flexed harder and a thick vein snaked across the bulging muscle. She extended her arm and pumped it a couple times just because she liked to watch it rise. She put her arm down then helped Thomas up to his feet. "I think these babies could lift you just fine." Jan did a double biceps pose. The sleeve was off her right arm, but the sleeve on the left was stretched to the limit by Jan's muscle.

Thomas scoffed and turned away. "Show off."

Jan laughed and climbed back into her bed. Thomas closed the door and walked back out. He was satisfied. That had gone well. He had more to do though. He went downstairs to find Mrs. Caufield. Carol was probably in her office which would be all the better research for his plan.

Sara could hear her own breathing and the wind going past her ears as she ran towards her goal. She could feel each beat of her heart and she could feel each muscle group in her legs tense and release as she strode towards the end of her run. Sara guessed that she was 1000 yards from the lamp post that marked the end of her route. Sara's breathing pace increased as she started gaining speed. Sara was building a reputation as a finisher on the track team. Real meets were a long way away, but it was never too early to make a good impression. Sara's quads flexed with surprising definition with each step. Her calves were nice also. Sometimes in her room she liked to flex them just to see the muscles bulge under her skin. Sara would rub her finger over them to remind herself that it was really her's. Sara had been a skinny little girl growing up. She had always been cute, but not in a sexy way. She wasn't drop dead gorgeous like her friend Jan, and she didn't have a body that could stop traffic like her friend Alisha, but Sara had become a head turner. That was progress in her book. The idea of being sexy was new to Sara, but she kinda liked it.

Sara was getting closer.. 600 yards... 500 yards. Sara started striding faster and faster. She willed herself faster and faster until she was sprinting. She wished Chris Adams had been there to pace her, but she made it up to full speed. Her body ached all over, but she sprinted the last 500 yards and past her lamppost. She slowed to a jog and then finally to a walk. Sara's route ended directly in front of her dorm. She went up, took a shower, and after dinner when to her room.

Sara sat in her dorm room alone. At first she had liked having the room to herself. No compromising on the music, or the television, but now it was getting boring. Sara didn't get bored often, but excitement seemed to follow Jan Caufield around. She'd only been home for a few days when she found a boy who can control electricity and then she had to beat up nine guys. The most excitement Sara had had was going out to the movies with Chris. Sara was pretty sure she liked Chris, but like many a college man, he was usually broke. She wasn't quite ready to start paying for stuff just yet, so she suffered along with him when they went out. Sara was finished with her school work, and was about to book a plane flight home for Christmas when her phone rang. She was excited when she saw the number.

"Hey, Rick. I haven't heard from you in a while", Sara greeted her mentor and teacher.

"Yeah, I've been pretty busy out here and I know you have", Rick Hassek said back.

"I have, with school and all. Plus the other stuff."

"Its the other stuff I was calling about. There's going to be a convention, or more like a conference for three days... a Friday, Saturday, Sunday type thing in Washington. All the first, second, and third level telepaths and telekinetics are going to be there. You're new to the list and the mailing went out late so I wanted to call. Its after your last exam. I already checked."

"That sounds great. How many people are going to be there?"

"Maybe a hundred. There aren't that many of us."

Sara talked to Rick for nearly an hour before hanging up. She was happy. At least it was something different. Besides she might be able to learn a few new skills. Sara called her father and told him that she was going to be in Washington for a few days for a conference. Her father told Sara that he would be in DC too. William was going the White House Christmas party. Sara thought that this was working out just great. She told her father to call her when he got up to the area. Sara got off the phone and did book a flight, but she didn't book a hotel. She was going to surprise someone.

A few days went by and Thomas had settled into the household a bit. He couldn't really leave the house because no one could know where he was. The best he could do was go out back onto the patio and into the yard. That was fine. Carol and Jan had gone shopping the other day and bought him a Playstation2 and an Xbox. They had no idea which one he liked better. They bought him several games for each console and told him to go online and pick out what other games he wanted. Thomas didn't know how to thank them. They had also brought home bags and bags of clothes. He wouldn't run out of stuff to wear for weeks. Some nights Thomas would lay in his bed and cry. He would cry at the memory of his parents and at the kindness of these strangers. He would have to remind himself to stick to his plan.

He continued with the research for his plan one afternoon. He walked down stairs to Mr. Caufield's office. His office was right next to Mrs. Caufield's home office. He wondered if he could get an office. He knocked on the door and Mr. Caufield invited him in. The office was more informal than the office at corporate headquarters were Mr. Caufield was Chief of Research/Development/Testing for a big defense contractor. This office had some old trophies on the walls and shelves. He had books, but not the leather bound kind. He had some photos of his wife and child, but also of his brothers, and his sister, and his parents and grandparents. Thomas looked at all of them. He went to another shelf and looked at Jack's military shadow box. Thomas sawat the ribbons and unit insignias. Thomas's uncle had taught him what all that meant, but he wasn't concerned with that now. It was time to do some research.

"Mr. Caufield", Thomas tried to sound as innocent as possible. "Do you think you're going to work on the car any more this week? If you were going to, could I help?"

Jack looked up from his paperwork. "Sure. I'd love to have you help. I'll be finished with this stuff in half an hour. Be ready."

"Ok!" Thomas smiled and ran from the room. So far so good. This was pretty easy.

Sara got off the plane at Balitmore-Washington International Airport. Security was really tight around the holidays. Sara hoped all these people were paying attention. She picked up her luggage and went to an ATM and got some money before catching a cab. The cab drove to Howard County past several nice neighborhoods before coming to a very exclusive neighborhood. The community wasn't gated, which was good, but every house was. Sara made sure the address was right. She saw the gate to this house was open. The cabbie pulled up the brick and stone driveway. He pulled to the front of the house and helped unload the bags. Sara paid him and gave him a pretty nice tip. Sara hefted her bags and went to the front door. She had to set down one bag, then she rang the doorbell.

Carol Caufield opened the door and look down at Sara. She recognized her at once and her face lit up. Sara put her finger to her lips and "Shhh'ed", Mrs. Caufield. "I want to surprise her." Mr. Caufield came around the corner and saw Sara. They both shhh'ed him. They lead Sara up the stairs and down the hall. Thomas fell in behind them, but kept quiet. "Nice house, Mrs. Caufield", Sara whispered. Carol smiled wide and nodded as they got close to Jan's room. The door to Jan's room was open. Sara peeped in and saw Jan was working at her desk with her back to the door. Sara turned and held her fingers to her lips one more time and then got into her tactical stance. It allowed her to move quietly and efficiently if it did look a little silly in Jan's bedroom.

The soft carpet helped as Sara got closer and closer. The family stood at the door peaking in, but trying to remain silent. Mr. Caufield nodded approvingly at Sara's form as she got closer to Jan, who was busy at what she was doing. Sara smiled to herself. This was going to be cool. She was almost in striking distance. She held her breath, but didn't speed up. She stood up a little straighter. Suddenly, with speed that impressed everybody, Sara's arms flashed out to circle Jan's neck in a rear choke, but Jan was quicker. Her right arm flashed up and caught Sara's right wrist and her left arm went up and blocked Sara's left arm from getting any closer. Jan turned and stood up.

"Man! Almost!", Sara yelled. She and Jan hugged each other, both girls smiling from ear to ear. "How did you know I was there!?! I almost had you!"

"You want to know? I heard your left knee pop just a little when you were about halfway."

"Are you serious? What do you have super hearing now?"

Jan laughed. "No, not super just perfect." The girls shared a laugh. Sara explained to Jan why she was going to be in town for a few days. Jan's parents had gone back to what they had been doing. "Here let me introduce you two", Jan said to Sara and Thomas.

Thomas didn't wait. He held out his hand. "Thomas Jackson Lee", he said quickly as Sara took his hand in her's.

"Sara Lavinia Hewitt. Don't ask... old family name. So you're the young man who can control electricity?"

Thomas shook his head. "Nobody can control electricity. I just sort of convince it to go one way or another. Are you like Jan? Strong and fast and can't be hurt."

"Oh, no. I can't punch through a wall or take a bullet to the chest."

"Oh." Thomas looked so disappointed.

Sara felt bad to let him down. "I can do a couple of things though." Thomas looked up at her with renewed excitement. Sara looked around the room a couple of times before she closed her eyes slowly. Thomas looked around as all the books, binders, sheets of paper, lifted up. Jan's laptop was next and then all the things on her desk and her dresser. Thomas' mouth fell open in amazement, but then it got better. He felt a pressure all over his body. Just lightly. He looked down and saw his feet rise off the ground. Jan rose off the ground too. Sara opened her eyes once everyone and almost everything was in the air. Thomas looked like he was on a carnival ride. Sara shrugged her shoulders and decided to lift Jan's bed and other furniture too. Jan thought this was cool, but she really didn't want anything broken. Sara didn't drop anything. Everything went back gently into place.

"Man, are all your friends cool like this?"

Sara smiled down at him. "If you want cool, wait until you meet Alisha. She'll leave you speechless." Sara looked up at Jan who nodded in agreement. "Alisha's going to be here tomorrow. I'm not sure of the details, but she's spending Christmas in New York with her family."

That night Jan and Sara spoke late into the evening. They started out catching up since they hadn't seen each other in nearly a month, but the conversation quickly turned to Thomas. They had to find out who was chasing him. They hatched an idea. When Alisha got to Jan's house they would explain it.

Jack Caufield had a personal secretary, a general secretary, and a receptionist, but he always got his own coffee and even brought them coffee and sodas when they needed it. He figured that these people were hard working and educated, besides he hated seeing someone else do something that he was supposed to do himself. Jack set a cold Diet Coke on his young receptionist's desk on the way back to his office with his coffee. He sat down behind his magagony desk. The desk had been made from some of the wood from the last surviving clipper ship built by the now closed Caufield Shipbuilders Company. The old polished wood was unique and ornate. Jack loved it. He had just settled behind it when his buzzer buzzed.

Jack put on his suit coat and waited for his guests. Jack had met Romano Scalfaro several years ago. The man was a big wig in the Italian defense industry. They built some good stuff, but not much the U.S. could use. The door opened. Romano and his assistant came in. Both were dressed well. Italians didn't do business unless they were dressed well. The men got settled and had bottled water.

Romano looked around the office. He knew Jack a little, but he was impressed. The man had a good education and then he looked on the desk. "Is this your family?", Romano asked with a heavy Italian accent.

Jack beamed. "Yes. Those are the two of the three most important women in my life", Jack answered with a chuckle.

The two Italians chuckled too. "Got one on the.." Romano motioned with his hand.

Jack laughed then. "No, no. I meant my mother. Can't leave out Momma." The Italians laughed again. Jack got down to business then. "So, gentlemen, I always like a visit, but I'm sure you came for a reason."

Romano looked at his assistant and the man pulled a thick folder from a leather attaché case. Romano set the folder on the desk, but didn't open it. "Mr. Caufield have you ever heard of the Human Engineering Project?" Jack nodded, and Romano continued. "Not many people know, but there are people in this world who have abilities that the rest of us do not. Most of these people have powers that are weak and not useful, but some are extraordinarily gifted. I have scoured Europe and the Near East for such people. I have found nearly a dozen who have some sort of power that is useful to men in our business. Has your company done research along these lines?"

Jack was keeping his cool, but this man was hitting close to home. Thoughts ran through his head, but Jack wanted to hear him out. "Nothing serious. The start up money is enormous and the return is shaky. We canceled the research years ago. What does this have to do with us?"

Romano smiled. "Our own research is fairly advanced, but the subjects we have been working on are marginal at best. I am here offering a partnership to bring about the future. We believe that conventional weapons are good and will always be needed, but what if we could make a soldier who is a weapon himself? I am here to offer you a chance to get in on the ground floor."

"Go ahead"

"I need your help. There is a certain person we have been trying to track. This person is extremely dangerous. Recently within the last few month, we have launched a full on hunt for this person. He has killed some of my men. At first I was going to go your government, but then I thought of you. I wanted to offer you and your company a chance to help us first. We must find this person. Once we do, we will be able to print our own money as they say. I have in this folder proof of the existence of a person who's power, if harnessed and reproduced, could change the face of any battle on land, sea, or air. The chase has lasted quite awhile, but the reward will be worth it. Are you interested."

Jack leaned closer. He looked at Romano who was obviously excited, then he looked over at his assistant. He was a cold fish. The man had deep hollow eyes and an expressionless face. Jack didn't like him at all, but he wasn't the boss. Romano was. Romano slid the folder over to Jack. Jack casually pulled the folder to him and opened the cover. It took all his strength to keep the emotion from showing on his face. Inside the front cover was picture of young Thomas. Jack flipped past the picture and looked at the detailed records of their spying on him. They had been spying on young Thomas since he was seven years old.

"How did you find out about his powers?", Jack asked making sure his voice sounded casual.

"Quite by accident. He and his parents took a vacation to Rome some years ago. We were running a simulation and our equipment went crazy. We traced the source of the interference to a hotel room. When we looked we didn't see anything except a young family in the room. We ran the simulation again and nothing happened, but the next day we got more interference. After some searching we saw the boy tossing around balls of charged energy. We've been tracking him at a distance ever since, looking to see if his powers got any stronger. They did. Earlier this year we decided to go after him before his powers developed past his control."

Jack's emotions were running at a 1000 miles per hour, but his face remained calm. He wanted to call his wife, or his daughter, but instead he looked Romano in the eyes. He closed the folder after a long moment. "Is this the only copy you have, because I am very interested. I don't want to throw our company behind it all the way, but helping you locate the boy could get us started."

"Excellent", Romano nearly shouted.

"I'm going to give this to one of my best men. With your permission, of course."

"Yes, yes, of course. I have more copies. I brought that hoping not to take it back with me. This is going to be the start of an great partnership." The three men shook hands and Jack escorted Romano all the way to the elevator. He was all smiles and slaps on the back. It was not until Jack was back in his office with the door closed that he nearly broke down. Sweat poured down his forehead and his neck. His hands didn't shake, but they were getting moist. He sat down in his plush chair and tried to gather himself. He couldn't call home. That assistant had been sneaky. More than likely there was a bug in his room now. He had to play this very cool or they would be on him. Jack picked up the phone and called the company chief of security. He told the man that he wanted to ask him something important. Jack then took his jacket and the thick folder and went out into the hall. He hoped it wasn't bugged because he spoke to the chief for about five minutes about golf. After that he hurried to his Tahoe and back home. He had to protect his family.

Romano was still smiles as the got back in the limousine for the trip back his new secret headquarters. He offered his assistant a glass of wine. "That went well, Giuseppe. Don't you think?", Romano asked as he listened to Jack call the chief of security. "He's a smart man not to tell what's going on over the phone. He handles it face to face. Jack is a very good business man. Very cool."

"Yes, sir", the assistant began. "He looked cool, but he was not. His emotions spiked into a near panic when he saw the picture of the boy in the folder."

"What? Are you sure? I didn't notice a change on his face or his mannerisms."

Giuseppe nodded. Giuseppe was an empath. He could sense emotions in people. He could sense the small changes even, but Jack's changes had been huge. "I am very sure. He became very hyper when he saw the picture of the boy."

Romano rubbed his chin. "He knows something. Put some people on him at once. I knew he was good, but looks like I underestimated him."

Jan had left her classes early when she heard that Alisha had come into town. Jan met her at the airport. Sara was still at the conference and couldn't really break free. It was cool. Jan hoped Alisha was in the mood to do a little work. She wasn't, but she would be soon. Thomas came around not long after Alisha got to the house. Both of Jan's parents were gone and Thomas he been home by himself. Nothing was broken so that had been okay. Thomas was playing a video game when Alisha had walked in. Jan called out for him. He paused the game and walked into her bedroom.

"You must be Thomas", Alisha began.

"Yes. Thomas Jackson Lee, and you are?" He held out his hand.

Alisha shook her head and looked up at Jan before taking his hand and shaking it. "Alisha Cathrina Marie von Edder. Pleased to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you too." Thomas shook her hand. "So can you do anything different? It seems that all of Jan's friends can do something."

Alisha laughed. "No, not all of them."

"Well can you?", he asked again.

Alisha bent down and looked at Thomas very very carefully. She felt his hair and ran her hand around his shoulder. Thomas frowned and started to get a little uncomfortable. Alisha stood up then. "Yes, as a matter of fact and can do something different." Alisha's body shimmered then became hazy. When it cleared, Thomas was looking at himself. "What do you think?", Alisha asked in Thomas's own voice.

Thomas couldn't believe it. He looked up at Jan. "You said she was going to be cool. Now this is cool." Alisha shimmer back to herself and smiled down at Thomas. She was about to say something, but he tapped her on the shoulder. She turned back around. "Can you look like what ever you want pretty much?"

Alisha thought about it. "Yeah, pretty much. Why?"

Thomas stared up her with his eyes barely blinking. "I just wanted to know, are those real or are you like making them?"

"Are what real?", Alisha asked confused. She looked over at Jan who had her hand over her mouth shaking her head. "What?", Alisha asked still confused. Jan pointed at Alisha's breasts. Alisha wore a nice red and green sweater, but it didn't hide the shape and size of her breast. Alisha's eyes went wide and she put her hands on her chest quickly. "Are you talking about my breasts?" She was shocked.

Thomas seemed embarrassed a little, but he still wanted to know the answer. He nodded.

Alisha laughed. "These are real. I've had them since I was 13. No special powers or plastic surgery needed. If you were older, I'd let you see them."

"You would really?!?" Thomas almost jumped out of skin.

Alisha's grin went sideways. "No, not really! Now stop being a preadolescent pervert."

"Man, that was mean. I was just curious. I'm not a pervert. I've never even seen a naked woman." He looked down at the ground. His eyes really were the window to his soul.

"Good", Alisha said at once. Then she looked down at him and realized at that moment that she liked that kid. He was smart, really smart, he had had a hard time recently, but he was still kid through all that trouble. She smiled and bent down and whispered in his ear. Thomas' face lit up and then he ran from the room.

"What did you tell him?", Jan asked.

Alisha grinned. "Nothing bad, and none of your business."

Jan let it go and explained what she and Sara had discussed the night before. Alisha liked it. It was only going to be she and Jan. Sara was at a conference. She wouldn't be available until late in the day. That was fine. Jan and Alisha thought they could handle it. They spent a little time getting ready and then they went to work.

Jack Caufield drove home as fast as he dared. He pulled up the driveway hoping beyond hope that he wasn't too late. He checked around the house quickly and then went inside. He didn't know it, but he was already too late.

Jan had driven around the streets of DC for nearly two hours before stopping at a rather secluded parking lot. She had a good view of the streets from there. The passenger door opened and Thomas got out. Jan scanned the area quickly, but couldn't see much beyond the bushes and clutter. She motioned for Thomas to get close, but he wouldn't get the chance. Jan turned to go up the walkway, but was met with the barrel of a gun. Her reflexes were beyond quick, but they weren't quick enough. The man holding the gun fired twice, a double tap. The bullets slammed into the middle of Jan's forehead at point blank range. Blood misted from the hole and she collapsed to the pavement instantly. Three more men grabbed Thomas from behind. These men weren't wearing protective suits. One man showed Thomas a live grenade and then snatched him down towards the end of the parking lot near an abandoned building. The pickup van was on the way. The four men looked out to secure the small space and waited for the fifth man to bring the van.

Thomas looked at the grenade and then at the men. They were all stern. There was no celebration and no happiness. These men were soldiers pure and simple, and they were only a third of the way through their mission. They watched out for people coming, but they had no idea what was about to happen.

Jan came from the shadows like a blur. She grabbed the man closest to her around the head so that her bicep was pressing in on his throat. With one powerful jerk upward, she snapped his neck. She kicked the man next to her in the stomach with one of her long legs. He doubled over, but didn't get a chance to straighten back up. Jan pointed her .45 at the back of his head and pulled the trigger. The man holding Thomas raised his gun to shoot, but felt bullets whiz past his face as the man to his right was struck in the chest twice. He turned away from Jan and looked to his left. His vision was hazy and when it cleared a young woman stood where the boy had stood a moment ago. She snatched the gun from his hand and backed away with her still smoking gun pointed at his head.

"You shot me in the head!", Jan yelled, her voice full of venomous rage. Her face was covered in blood mixed with sweat, and her head throbbed terribly. She took her left hand and dug into her flesh and pulled out the two flattened slugs. She threw them at the man still alive. She could see the fear on the man's face. These two girls had just tricked him and then killed three of his best men. He had no ideas.

They waited for the van to arrive. It did a minute later. The head man was helpless as he watched the dark haired girl change to look like him. She was leading the fifth man to a trap. The head man had a gun pointed to his head, but he had to do something.

"That's not me! Kill him! That's not..." Jan slammed the butt of her gun into the base of his neck.

Alisha knew her cover was blown. The man pulled out a machine pistol and aimed it at her. Alisha shimmered back into her own form and dodged to the left. She already had her gun out and the man didn't have time to track her. She aimed and fired twice. That was that.

Alisha motioned for Jan to come on. They had to leave Jan's car and drive the van. This man was going to tell them everything they wanted to know. First they had to get him to a location for the interrogation. They had just the place.

Their old friend, classmate, and teammate Kennedy Morrision was studying at Georgetown. Jan gave her a call and said that it was an emergency. Kennedy gave them directions and made sure it was clear when they walked the man up to her very nice apartment. They tied him to a chair and gagged his mouth. After that the three girls seemed to relax. The man watched as the girls smiled at each other and hugged.

"What happened to your face?", Kennedy asked, careful not to use anybody's name.

"That guy over there shot me twice."

Kennedy frowned. "Really, were you mean to him or something? Temper get the better of you?" Kennedy laughed, because she knew regular bullets were a serious annoyance to Jan, but nothing more. "So what is going on?" Jan gave Kennedy the summation of everything that had happened. Her face got red with anger looking at the man tied to a chair in her apartment. "So what's the plan?", Kennedy asked her former team leader.

"He's going to be interrogated as soon as a conference ends downtown."

Kennedy nodded. She knew that meant Sara was coming. Which was good. She hadn't seen Sara in ages. "Anybody want apple cider? I was just warming some up when you called."

"Yes, thank you."

Kennedy went towards her kitchen and then turned back and pointed at Jan. "You go and wash your face and stuff. Bathroom's that way."

Jan smiled sheepishly and went towards the bathroom. An hour later there was a knock at the door. Kennedy let Sara in. The two girls hugged too and chatted up. The four old classmates sat in the living room drinking cider and talking. The man looked at them amazed. Who were these girls? They didn't seem nervous and the things they talked about... They sounded like pros. They were pros.

"Will we need to call clean-up?", Kennedy asked before Sara got started.

Sara took in a deep breath and thought about it. "Call retrieval instead. This won't be all that messy, but we don't want to have to carry him out of here. Tell them to standby. This should take at least 3 hours."

Kennedy nodded and lifted her own special secured cell phone. She called it in. Then there was a knock at the door. Rick Hassek stood here smiling down at Kennedy. He greeted her and she welcomed him inside.

"Is this the subject?", Rick asked like he was looking at a lab rat.

The girls nodded. Rick looked the man over. He could tell that he was tough, but he was nervous. Sweat beaded on his forehead and his hands had involuntary twitches. Rick had also, already heard about who this man was and who he worked for. Rick thought it was terrible to go after a little boy, but to kill his family was beyond the pale. Rick and Jan carried the man and the chair into another room. He ordered them to go to the store and bring back a case of spiral notebooks and bag of ball point pens. Jan and Alisha went. It gave Jan a chance to pick up her car on the way.

Rick closed the door and then instructed Sara to remove the gag.

"I'm not going to talk. I've been trained."

Rick didn't smile. He just looked at him. "Oh you don't have to talk, but you are going to tell us everything we want to know." Rick looked at Sara who had pulled up a chair. She sat facing the subject at an angle, about five feet away. Rick pulled up a chair and sat directly across from the subject. Sara and Rick closed their eyes at the exact same time. A moment later the man started squirming. It felt like fingers were slipping to his head. He wanted to scream, but couldn't. He couldn't do anything, but these two powerful telepaths were just getting started.

Jan and Alisha came back with the materials twenty minutes later which was good because Sara stuck her head out of the room and asked for them no long after that. She took them quickly and then closed the door. Jan, Alisha, and Kennedy wondered what was going on in there, but figured that they wouldn't understand even if Rick or Sara explained it. Instead they tried to catch up on each other's lives.

About an hour later, Rick and Sara came out of the room. Both were sweaty, but they looked satisfied. The other girls went into the room and were surprised at what they saw. The man was sitting in the chair totally untied. His face was blank and he made no effort to leave. They had pulled a table up to his right side and put an open notebook on it. The man's arm and hand moved quickly. He wrote line after line in surprisingly good handwriting. It took less than 10 minutes for him to fill an entire notebook using on the front side of each page. He automatically closed it and pulled up another and started writing.

"What's he doing?", Jan asked in a whisper.

"Oh, you can talk normally. He can't hear us.", Rick said while wiping his brow.

"He's telling us everything he knows about the organization that's trying to get Thomas. Every detail that is stored in his brain is being organized and written down. Obviously he knows a lot."

Jan reached down and looked at the first notebook. The opening pages were just an outline. She flipped through page after page and then she came to the main stuff. Her face darkened quickly. She looked up at the man still writing and wanted to tear his head off. This man had personally killed both of Thomas' parents. Just as disturbing was the size and reach of the organization he was describing. Jan knew right away that this was much more than anyone had thought. The people in the room talked it over and knew that it had be called in. This was about to get a whole lot bigger. Finally the man began to slow down after he had filled 20 notebooks. The wondered if that meant he was getting tired. Sara and Rick assured the group that he would have written until his fingers fell off. He couldn't even feel tired. After he wrote the last line, Kennedy got on the phone and called retrieval. Jan called the one person she could trust to know what to do. Ms. Worthington greeted her with a warm, "Merry Christmas." Jan greeted, and then got to business never once giving a thought to home.

Jack hurried through the door of his house and found Thomas alone in his bedroom playing video games. He asked the boy if he needed anything before heading downstairs and calling his wife. She came home early from work, but it was dark when she got home since the days were so short. Jack explained to Carol what had happened in his office. Carol was worried because she knew her husband was concerned. If he was concerned, then she should be worried. She tried not to show it and keep a level head. She and Jack had known what they were getting into when they agreed to take Thomas in. They knew that he was worth fighting for. They were both deep in thought when they were interrupted by the sound of breaking glass. They heard Thomas scream as men on ropes broke through the windows of the room where he was. He quickly shut off the lights in his room and ran. He ran down the stairs.

Jack and Carol met him as he got to the bottom. Jack scooped the boy up in his arms and headed for an exit, but didn't go far. He realized that they were surrounded. Four men with guns in insulator suits blocked their way. One man went and snatched the boy from Jack's arms. They pushed Jack and Carol into the living room and then down onto the sofa where they had watched so many movies as a family. Carol wrapped her arms around her husband, but he pulled them away from his middle and instead held her hands in his. Tears streamed down Thomas's face as he thought about what he could do. He could explode the guns, but that might hurt Jack and Carol. He didn't have a way to get past the suits. He could try to blind them with a flash or even turn off all the power, but they had the guns, and it wasn't totally dark outside. They would be able to see enough to kill everybody. With all his power and ability, Thomas felt helpless to help the people who had helped him. The hope that had felt so good was destroyed, to be replaced with despair.

Jack couldn't believe this was happening. It had happened so quickly. He held his wife's trembling hands in his. He looked at her tear streaked face and said the first thing that came to his mind. "Honey, I'm so sorry." The men raised their guns and waited for the order. A moment later there was gunfire, and there was screaming...

to be continued...
This is a chapter in the ongoing story "Power and Fury"!  Check out the earlier chapters here:

Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter  8 -- Chapter 9

Look out for the conclusion coming very soon!!!