Random

Author: Milady Dragon

Disclaimer: see the previous chapters – and previous stories, because by now you must know I don't own anything.

Author's note: Another chapter, another day...hurray! Thanks guys for your reading.


Chapter Seven

Cameron arrived at the Lab early the next morning, only to find that House had beaten her there.

"What do I have to do to get away from you?" she quipped, stepping down from the jaunting pad.

House sat at the link table, a cup of coffee in his hands. "Apparently more than you're doing now," he snarked back. "You look like shit. Didn't sleep last night?"

"Can I have a cup of coffee, please Tim?" she asked, not answering right away.

"Certainly, Allison. And good morning." The asked-for beverage appeared on the scanning table.

Cameron took a sip, sighing in relief. She joined House. "I thought we took your matter transporter belt away."

"You know…Tim's an old softie. Just offer him a game of chess and he's ready to roll over and let you rub his balls."

She almost snorted her coffee up her nose at that. The four hemispherical shapes on the supercomputer's housing did, in fact, get a lot of grief. But House had raised the bar considerably since his frequent visits to the Lab.

"As you are aware, Greg," he answered; if a biotronic machine could be said to smile, Tim was doing just that, judging from the sound of his voice, "that every time we have played, I have beaten you decisively. You simply keep hoping that I will let you win for once."

Cameron laughed at out at House's outraged expression. "The time before I was two moves from checkmating you!"

"Ah, but who was the actual winner?" Tim asked smugly.

She shook her head, wondering at how much life had changed since the Tomorrow People had come back into her life. Never in a million years could she have guessed that, one day, she'd be sitting there, listening to House and Tim tease each other.

"You didn't answer my question," her boss went on, pinning her with those incredible blue eyes.

Okay, she wasn't going to be able to forget what he'd asked. "No, I didn't sleep well last night. I kept having…nightmares." Cameron hadn't wanted to admit it. But she also knew House wouldn't have let her get away with changing the subject, and Tim would have backed him up if she'd tried it again.

"About Jeremy." House didn't even couch it in the form of a question.

Cameron nodded. "I know he's fine now, but just the idea of someone having grabbed him with the intention of killing him…and what that maniac had told him…it just bothered me a lot."

"Look, we already know that no one is targeting Tomorrow People," House said practically. "Jeremy was just a fluke. Sounds to me like it's just the insane ramblings of your garden variety nutcase."

"I know. Still…" Cameron guessed it was just her natural paranoia at work.

"It would behoove us to try to locate Jeremy's abductor," Tim replied seriously. "Until he is caught, Jeremy could very well be in danger."

"How are we going to do that?" she wanted to know. "Jeremy didn't see the man, and doesn't know where he was taken. And you couldn't get a fix on the location…"

"Perhaps speaking with Jeremy again would bring out further details," the supercomputer suggested.

"I don't dare go back to the hospital to visit him."

"Well, you can talk to him telepathically," House pointed out.

Cameron rolled her eyes at him. "Well…duh! What I mean is, he's such a new TP that he's not used to prolonged telepathic contact. Until you're trained properly, it can mean headaches…at the worst, a migraine. With him being in the hospital, we don't want to cause anything that might make some well-meaning doctor order a CT or MRI. Plus, I'm afraid he'll start talking out loud without realizing it. There's nothing worse than people thinking you're having a conversation with yourself."

House conceded the point.

"Jeremy might not actively remember anything about where he was being held," Tim said, "however, the subconscious stores much more information than the conscious mind is aware of. There is a way to reach that information."

It dawned on Cameron what he was talking about. "You want me to try a mind merge?"

"It would be the most effective way of accessing what Jeremy cannot recall on his own."

"But he's just broken out! Won't that be dangerous?"

"Jeremy has proven to be a powerful telepath in his own right, judging by the way his breaking out affected you. I believe the risks will be minimal."

"This is from the person who thought me having Jeremy jaunt out danger was risky!"

"And you are the one who believed he could jaunt so early into his break-out."

Tim was right, of course. Damn, he usually was. Sometimes he was just as bad as John or House in that department. "But there's still the problem with me going back to the hospital."

"Can't you do it from here?" House asked.

Cameron opened her mouth to tell him no, but closed it again without saying anything. "Do you think we could, Tim?"

"I believe with the two of us linked, we should be able to perform the merge," he answered. "I would not have suggested the procedure otherwise."

Of course he wouldn't have. "Then, I guess there's no time like the present." Cameron placed her hands palm downward on the link table, which lit up under them. She felt Tim's strength flow into her and she let her mind reach out, toward the newest member of the Tomorrow People family. "Jeremy"

The response was instantaneous. "Hey, Allison! Great to hear from you!"

"You, too. Listen, I want you to be careful and not speak out loud when you're talking to me telepathically, okay? We don't want people to think you're talking to yourself."

"Oh, geez…thanks! I never would've thought about that!"

"No problem. How are you today?"

"Doing better. Doctor says I should be released today, then Mom and I are going to some sort of safe house so the FBI can protect us."

"Good. I'm glad they're looking after you." Cameron wished they could just bring Jeremy and his mother to the Lab, but that would really send out all sorts of alarms if they suddenly vanished.

"That Agent Booth keeps asking about you, though. I haven't said anything."

Cameron breathed a small sigh of relief. Tim had told her last night that a sketch of her had been put out on the FBI computer network; it would have been accurate enough to match her driver's license and passport photos if Tim hadn't made certain it wouldn't find either one. "Jeremy, there's something I want to try, if you're willing."

"Sure! I trust you. It's weird, you know? I only just met you, but I already know you're my friend."

"I feel the same way. Okay, first of all, I want to bring Tim into our link."

"Hello, Jeremy," Tim obligingly spoke up.

"Hey, Tim!" the boy greeted.

"Jeremy," Cameron went on, "we know the FBI is doing their best to find the guy who kidnapped you, but we want to help…without them knowing, of course. We want to make sure you're out of danger."

"Okay." Jeremy was curious.

"We know you saw nothing of your abductor or the place where you were taken," Tim put in. "However, your other senses may have picked up clues that you simply do not remember."

"You mean, I might have heard something?"

"Indeed, or even noticed an odor that, at the time, did not make an impression on you."

"Gotcha. Tim, can I say something without you getting all offended?"

"Of course, Jeremy."

"You sure do talk funny."

The artificial intelligence chuckled. "No offense taken."

"There's a technique we can try to get to those subconscious memories," Cameron said, a smile in her mental voice. "It's called a merge, and it means I'll get deep into your mind and try to trigger those buried impressions. I know you've been through a lot – "

"It's okay, Allison. I know we have to get that guy. And it's worth a shot."

She was suddenly more proud of him than she's been before. "Okay. Now, I need you to close your eyes, so you can concentrate better."

"Already done that. I'm pretending to be asleep."

"Now, that's something I didn't think of. All right, I need you to concentrate on my voice. Only my voice. Don't let anything distract you." She could feel the change in the contact; suddenly his connection to her was more focused. "I want you to start to look within your own mind. I'll follow you. Think back to when you were being held. Keep your mind open, don't close yourself off to my presence."

Cameron sensed Jeremy struggling, so she added her strength to his. As soon as she did so, darkness filled her mind, along with a panic so bad it made her heart race.

"Calm down," she soothed. "This isn't real. We're in your memory, nothing more. He won't hurt you again, I swear."

"O…okay," came the shaky reply. The panic faded, although it still lurked at the fringes of their merged minds.

"Now, just let me get a little deeper…that's it. You're doing fine, Jeremy." She was as far in as she dared to go, afraid of losing herself in the boy's memories.

"Do not fear, Allison," Tim's reassuring voice echoed through their bond. "I shall not let you get lost."

Taking Tim at his word, Cameron went even deeper. She could actually feel what Jeremy had experienced: the pain, the terror…and other things.

The surface he'd laid on had been hard, with little bits of grimy stuff that had seemed a combination of slick and sticky. There'd also been a cold wetness that had penetrated his clothes down to the skin. Jeremy had only been able to breathe through his nose, and every time he had the sharp smell of pine filled his nostrils, and buried under that strong odor had been something like damp wood.

He'd also been able to hear, and when his kidnapper had moved around, the footsteps had sounded echo-y and harsh against the floor. There'd also been the sound of water lapping, and a scratching noise from somewhere above him.

"Come back, Allison," the supercomputer ordered. "You have been gone long enough."

Cameron complied. She gently started pulling herself out of Jeremy's memories. "Very well done," she praised, once she was done.

"Thanks," Jeremy answered, relieved that it was over. "Was it any help?"

"Don't know yet. We'll see what we can come up with. In the meantime, why don't you get some rest."

"Sounds like a good idea. I got a headache now."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be," he answered firmly. "It had to be done. Just hope it worked."

"I'll contact you later, all right?"

"Sure! I can't wait! See ya, Allison! And you, too, Tim!"

"And you, Jeremy," Tim answered warmly.

Cameron ended her link with the boy, sighing tiredly. "Did you get any of that, Tim?"

"No, Allison. You were the only one to experience Jeremy's memories. I was merely the anchor."

"Did you find out anything?" House asked. He was trying to look unworried, but it wasn't working.

She was touched by his concern. "I think so, but we just need to put it together." She explained to him what she'd felt and heard.

House took in everything she was saying. Cameron could see the wheels working in his head. "Tim, I think – "

"A whiteboard is in order?" the artificial intelligence finished.

"Are you sure you aren't reading my mind?"

Tim chuckled. A whiteboard appeared on the scanning table, and House quickly set it up. "Now, what do we know? We know Jeremy was lying on something hard, sticky, slick, and wet." Those four things went on the board. "We know he could smell pine and wood."

"Damp wood," Cameron corrected.

House obliged by adding those two items, underlining the word "damp" just for her. "We also know there was water nearby."

"I'd say a body of water, maybe a lake or river."

"Okay. What about the footsteps?"

Cameron thought back. "Hard, and they echoed. I'd say maybe a large space with a concrete floor."

"So a big building of some kind. What about that scratching sound?"

"It was hard to describe. It could've been an animal, or anything."

"Where did it come from?"

She chewed her lip. "Overhead."

House's brow furrowed. "Probably not an animal then, unless it was climbing up or down the wall. Could you tell what sort of material it was scratching against?"

"I…I want to say metal, but I'm not sure. I do think it was coming from outside the building, though."

"Could it perhaps have been a tree branch, rubbing against the outside wall?" Tim suggested.

"That's it! You're right, Tim. It could very well have been a tree."

"So, we're looking for a large building, on the water, with trees outside. Probably pine trees, since that was what Jeremy smelled," House added a new column to the whiteboard, with these items on it.

"No, that's wrong," Cameron said. "The pine smell was inside the building."

"Like cleaning fluid?"

She let her mind go back to that part of her experience. "Um…no, I don't think so. It was more of a stale pine, not like cleaner at all. Pine cleaner is sharper. This wasn't, it was like it'd been there for a while and just permeated the building." Something was tickling the back of her mind, something that the smell reminded her of. "I think I might have smelled it before."

"Oh yeah?" House raised his eyebrows in question. "Where?"

"Not sure." She went back to chewing her lip. "It's…familiar, though." Why was she thinking of it as almost a festive scent? Of course! "Christmas trees!"

House just looked at her. "Care to elaborate?"

"It's like the smell you get when you have a live Christmas tree, and it's been in your living room for about a week. That's exactly what that smell was!"

"So," House drawled, turning back to the whiteboard. "We have a large building near water and trees, and that has a Christmas tree in it somewhere. You do realize, Cameron, that it's May, and that any sort of Christmas tree would've gone off by now."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just telling you what Jeremy experienced. And I don't think there was an actual Christmas tree present. It was all over, not just in one place. Like maybe there'd been a lot of them in the room at one time."

"A storage area for the trees, perhaps?" Tim asked.

House wrote on the whiteboard: Christmas tree warehouse. "Are there such things in the Washington DC area?"

"I am searching now, Greg, using the parameters Allison has detailed." There was a moment of silence, then, "There are two such places, but only one matches Jeremy's memory precisely."

Cameron couldn't believe it had actually worked. "I'll get the stun guns."


They jaunted to just outside the building. It was large, and looked forlorn in the early afternoon sunlight.

Tim hadn't been able to put them down inside. He hadn't been able to come up with a good enough floor plan that would've allowed them to jaunt safely within. Instead, Cameron and House were on the gravel road leading up to the warehouse.

Together they headed up the road, their stun guns drawn. It was silent, with only the wind rustling the trees around them. Cameron shivered slightly in the breeze.

The door was locked with a big, rusty padlock. Cameron used her telekinesis to pop it open, and then pushed the metal panel back far enough to look inside. "Tim, can you send us two flashlights, please?"

"Certainly, Allison." Suiting action to words, a pair of small but powerful pencil lights appeared in her outstretched hand.

She gave one to House, and thumbed hers on. The first thing she noticed was the pervasive scent of pine. This had to be the right place, but would the killer still be there?

Once again, Cameron wished that House was telepathic. It would make all this sneaking around so much easier if she could communicate with him silently.

The warehouse was practically empty. The two of them moved deeper inside, trying to be careful not to break the quiet and alert anyone present to them being there.

Cameron's heart was racing. There was that old familiar adrenaline rush, one that she'd been willing to give up all those years ago. She'd never get used to it.

She sent the beam over toward the back. Several crates were stacked up there, hiding the rear wall. Cameron headed toward them, and House took the cue and followed. They passed a door in one wall, and she thought to herself that she'd check that out before they left as well.

They were just approaching the crates when a strange green energy beam struck the concrete between them.

Cameron acted without thinking. She dove for the crates, her telekinesis pulling House along in her wake. She turned both flashlights off, so they wouldn't be such easy targets for whoever it was shooting at them.

"Warn a guy next time you do that," House muttered.

"Sorry," she muttered back, even though she really wasn't. The last thing she wanted was for him to get hurt. And she had no idea what that green energy was. "Tim, we've just been shot at."

"I should jaunt you out – "

"Not yet. Let's see if we can still get the guy." Cameron shut down the contact, hoping her eyes would be quick to adjust to the gloom.

"I think he was up there." House indicated a catwalk above them.

"Makes sense. Cover me and I'll jaunt up there – "

Her plan was interrupted by a noise by the door.

Cameron took a quick look around the crates they were hiding behind. A group of men was entering the building.

She pulled House toward her, in order to whisper this new development in his ear, but his shoes scuffed the floor.

"FBI!" came an authoritarian voice. "Come out from behind there, hands first!"

Cameron instantly recognized the voice. She ground her teeth in frustration. Was that guy an idiot? Did he want to get killed?"

House cursed. Cameron wanted to do the same thing.

Instead, she bumped her elbow purposely into the crate. If she could get the wacko with the energy weapon to pay more attention to them, instead of the Feds with the death wish out there, maybe she could stun him and they'd be free to jaunt out.

"Stand by, Tim."

"I shall, Allison."

"I said come out! You're surrounded, there's no way out!"

Cameron wondered if this was that Agent Booth Jeremy had mentioned. Damn!

She looked up at the catwalk, and thought she saw a moving shadow up there. Cameron acted, using her telekinesis to throw the nearest object – it felt like a pipe to her – at it. There was a loud clang as it hit the metal catwalk. "Freeze!" the agent ordered.

The energy beam came arching out again, and this time the bastard had their location. Cameron barely had time to shout out to Tim before both she and House were enveloped in the ray.

She shrieked, as she felt her mind being torn apart under the assault…