The next morning the door slid open to reveal Jedikiah, one hand holding a trank gun, the other holding cuffs.
John stared sullenly without speaking.
"What's it gonna be, John? Are you thinking clearly again, or is it going to be a futile grand gesture that's going to get you darted and punished?" Jedikiah waited for an answer as if he had all the time in the world.
John slowly turned around, holding his arms behind his back. Jedikiah pressed the gun to his neck and clipped the cuffs on him one handed. Once he had John secured, he slipped the gun into his jacket pocket. "Glad you came to your senses, son."
"I told you before I'm not your son."
Jedikiah just smiled and put a hand on his shoulder and pressured him out the door. John tried to shake his hand off, but Jedikiah just squeezed briefly with painful pressure. "I'm in charge here, John. You don't decide if I put my hand on your shoulder. I do."
John didn't reply but stopped resisting.
When they entered the annex where the three girls were kept there were armed orderlies waiting. Jedikiah led him over to a larger glass enclosure that he hadn't noticed before. One of the white uniformed orderlies followed him over. "Here's the way it works, John. I'll remove the cuffs outside. You enter this first chamber lock, and we'll secure it. The inner door will open, and you'll go in. Once you're in, that door will lock. You go over to the slot in the large chamber and put wrist out. I'll remove your suppression cuff. You make any false moves, and you get darted. Do I make myself clear?"
When John didn't reply, Jedikiah sighed. "John, you get to be without the suppression cuff, but not unless you follow the rules. Now, do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, I understand," John replied.
"What do you do?" Jedikiah was still patient.
"You remove the cuffs out here. I go through the secure portal and inside the large chamber. When the door is locked, I put my arm through the slot and you remove the cuff." John, his tone insolent, rolled his eyes while he repeated the instructions.
Jedikiah made no move to unlock the cuffs. John finally turned his head. "What?"
"Say it again without the attitude."
The two of them locked eyes until John finally gave in. He repeated the instructions in a toneless voice.
"Very good, John." Jedikiah removed the handcuffs, and John entered the chamber. The outer door locked, and the inner door sprung open. Once he was in the large chamber he moved over to the narrow slot which just allowed his hand and wrist with the suppression cuff to fit through. Jedikiah pulled a tablet from an inner pocket in his jacket and tapped several times. The cuff fell off into Jedikiah's hand.
John had to brace himself against the wall as he felt his mind freed. He felt so giddy he turned in circles arms spread out from the heady sensation of feeling his powers again. There were various balls and items spread on the floor as if this was a play room. He mentally pushed one of the balls, and it bounced up to the ceiling and down again. He laughed and made a hoop rise and twirl in the air.
Jedikiah, his face inscrutable, stood with his hands in his pocket watching him. The orderlies brought over the three girls. He was so caught up with watching John that finally one of the orderlies coughed to catch his attention. He started, and then nodded. The three girls, Subject B hanging her head so her hair covered her face, were put in one by one following the same routine. When A's suppression cuff was removed, she brushed Jedikiah's hand with hers.
He quickly looked at her, but her face revealed nothing. He decided it was an accident.
Jedikiah spoke up. "You have an hour, John."
Startled, John looked over and realized that Jedikiah and the orderlies were leaving, and the three girls were in the same room with him.
He reached out. "I'm John."
Two of the girls stood protectively in front of the girl he knew to be Cara's sister. They looked him over and then turned to each other. He couldn't hear them, but he felt that they were communicating. He started to panic wondering if being so long with the suppression cuff had permanently inhibited his telepathy skills.
The girl with the ash blonde hair tried to calm him. "You're okay. We've just learned to be careful. I'm Subject A."
"Don't say that." It really bothered John that they had tried to strip her identify. "You have a name."
She just smiled at him and mentally pushed the ball he had been playing with, bouncing it hard off his head.
"Ouch! Hey! That's not nice."
The other girl, the one who had pleaded with him to be good, slowly approached him. He was a lot taller than her and she tugged on his shirt. He realized she wanted him to sit so he slowly slid down the wall, landing on his butt. Subject A came over also. Subject B followed slowly.
He sat quietly not wanting to frighten them. The girl who had identified herself as Subject A sat on one side of him and Subject C on the other. They looked at each other and then they put their hands on him at the same time. He back arched as they flooded his mind with images. He knew they were sisters, that their parents had died trying to protect them, that the one with the ash blonde hair was Melissa and the one in cell C with the silver blonde hair was Amy. He knew that they were protective of B and that they had no idea how long they had been here.
Just when he thought his mind would overload, he felt them stop inputting images and start rifling through his mind. He tried to fight, but they double teamed him, when he turned to block one the other slipped in. They stopped only when they felt his fear that they might get the location of the refuge. They felt how protective he was of his group. They felt his pain at knowing he had killed. He lost track of time as they pulled information from him. When he became aware of the present, Amy projected. "I'm sorry you and your Daddy are mad at each other."
John looked puzzled. "My Daddy?"
"The man in the suit who yelled at you."
"He's not my father!" John was quick to deny it.
He clearly heard Melissa disagree. "I felt him. He thinks of you as his son. And I feel you. You love each other."
John shook his head vehemently. "No, he doesn't, and I don't think of him as my father."
Amy and Melissa exchanged glances and shrugged. John clearly heard. "Why is he lying to himself?"
"I don't know, but let's leave him alone."
Amy quickly changed the subject. "You know Subject B's sister."
"Yes." John couldn't hide his sadness. He knew they knew how he longed for her; how he feared he would never see her again.
John felt their understanding and their sympathy, and it almost undid him. He quickly asked, "How do you know what I'm feeling? It's not just like your reading my thoughts; there's more to it. I've never heard of anyone doing what you're doing."
"It's me," Melissa said. "I've always been able to feel what people feel. I don't just hear their thoughts. I feel. Mommy said I was a mpad."
"Empath." John absently correctly. "You too?" He directed to Amy.
"No. I can't do that. Melissa sends it to me."
"Do you do anything special?" John asked.
"No," Amy quickly replied, "and no one knows that Melissa can feel."
"I'll be careful." John quickly returned. The image of the Founder simultaneously appeared in all three minds. Amy's and Melissa's held a deep hatred.
"B." Melissa coaxed. "Touch John. See if you remember."
The dark haired girl came cautiously forwarded. She touched John's arm and he sent his recollection of Cara. An ecstatic smile lit her face. "Cara. Sister. Safe?"
"Yes," John sent. "I found Cara, and I took her home." He sent his recollection of meeting her and bringing her to the refuge he had built. Melissa picked up on his feelings for Cara and shared them with B.
She surprised John by wrapping her arms around his neck, practically falling in his lap. He hesitated a moment and then hugged her, trying to send images of security.
"Time's up." Jedikiah managed to startle him by entering the main room unnoticed. John shouldn't have been surprised. The man had taught him how to move with the same stealth.
John's stomach clenched at the thought of wearing the suppression cuff again. Wild thoughts of fighting filled his mind until he felt B's panic and the calming thoughts sent by Amy and Melissa. "Don't, John." "You can't beat them today." "I'll stay in your mind for as long as possible." "I will too."
John gritted his teeth and hesitated before putting his wrist through the slot. "Please, John." "Do it, John." Finally he closed his eyes and plunged his hand through the slot. Jedikiah slipped the cuff on, and it locked and all was silent once more. John swayed and then moved slowly to the entrance chamber. As soon as he was outside, Jedikiah hand cuffed him and moved him off leaving the girls to the orderlies.
When they returned to John's room, Jedikiah uncuffed him, but didn't immediately leave. John stood rubbing his wrists wondering what was coming.
Jedikiah looked at him appraisingly. "I'm impressed, John. Most TP go a little crazy when they've been suppressed for as long as you and then are freed. I thought for sure we'd have to tranquilize you to get the cuff back on."
John gave a noncommittal grunt and lay down on the bed, hands behind his head.
"Don't get comfy." Jedikiah turned to see Kane behind him and the rest of his group in the hall. "Time for training."
John got up and brushed past Jedikiah with a cheeky farewell. "Places to go."
That night after the shared shower when Maritza escorted him to his room she slipped into his bed. He rolled over on his side determined to ignore her, but she wasn't someone easily ignored. He tried to leave the bed prepared to sleep on the sofa, but the problem was he wasn't dealing with just a persistent girl. She weighed the same if not more than him and was a strong, muscled, experienced warrior. To his intense embarrassment and anger, he soon found himself pinned on the floor.
"Really?" he protested. "Really?"
"Yup," she confirmed.
"I know what you're doing. You're trying to make me identify with you and the team. It's a standard ploy to use sex on a captive."
"Right again. Dr. Price said you were well trained. Looks like you retained everything he taught you." Maritza was smug. "Give in, John. You know I can kick your butt. You're just going to get hurt if you keep resisting."
"What's the point if I know what you're doing?" John attempted to reason with her.
"The point is what I'm ordered to do. The point is you'll be punished if you don't cooperate. The point is you're not the only one that gets punished. The point is you are supposed to cooperate. The point is when you're given orders you show you can follow them."
She stared down at him. "Now can we get comfortable on the bed? I don't know about you, but I appreciate that mattress."
John met her gaze. May be it was her matter of fact tone that got through to him, or maybe it was the fact that he knew she probably could kick his butt. Whatever the reason she felt his muscles relax, and she stood up. When she reached down a hand to help him to his feet, he just shook his head in resignation and took it allowing her to easily pull him up.
"We're not talking about love here, John. But we can make each other feel good, and if you need to you can close your eyes and pretend I'm whoever you want me to be."
It took him a long time to fall asleep that night. Once he and Cara were together he had never slept with anyone else. He felt like he had betrayed her. He tried to argue with himself; to justify it with the fact that she had slept with Stephen, but justifying didn't work for him. It would be one of the many things he had done that he would have to live with.
His life now had markers to measure the passage of time. Testing was limited to a half an hour in the morning followed by a one hour session with the girls. Sunday was the day he shared a video call with Irene.
He grumbled at first, but soon became accustomed to sharing his bed with Maritza. She was skilled and enthusiastic and having bodily contact with someone that you weren't trying to beat up did satisfy a need in him. And if at night, he murmured 'Cara' in his sleep Maritza was too smart to mention it.