Part 9
With a whispered, "Yes!" Adam leant back in his chair and smiled to himself in satisfaction. Another piece in the puzzle he was working at had just fallen into place, and he was hopeful it would take him closer to unlocking the mystery of what was happening to Jesse, even if it didn't prove to be the key itself.
He'd been up early, his mind unable to completely let go of the feeling there was something he was missing, and after checking in on a thankfully peacefully sleeping Jesse, he'd got back to work. And it seemed to have finally paid off.
Deciding he'd earned a break, he got up and headed for the kitchen, pleased to hear the sounds of girlish chat that told him both Shalimar and Emma were already there, and in better spirits than they'd been for some days.
He found the two of them sitting at the table with the remains of breakfast in front of them. "Morning," he smiled, seeing them start in slightly guilty fashion at his obviously unexpected arrival before returning his greeting brightly, and he wondered what they'd been discussing. Though on second thoughts, knowing these two, perhaps he didn't really want to hear – the inner workings of the female mind were still as much a mystery to him now as they'd ever been.
Fetching himself a cup of coffee, he turned and leant back against the cabinet, watching idly as Emma cleared the plates away and stacked them in the dishwasher. "So, how did you sleep?"
"Pretty good..." Shalimar answered, but he saw them exchange a glance and knew there was more. "Well, apart from the visitors." And she went on to tell him about their encounter with Jesse. "I wish I could have got him to talk more, tell us something about this second nightmare, but Em... well, we thought he'd had enough."
"No, you did the right thing," Adam assured them. "Pushing him wouldn't have helped. But at least you got him to open up a bit and that has to be good for him in the long run. He always has tried to bottle things up, especially things he thinks it would hurt others to hear."
Shalimar shook her head with a wistful smile, though. "Maybe... but not nearly as much as he used to. He's changing, Adam, growing up – away, even. You must have noticed that."
That stopped him in his tracks, but when he thought about it he knew she was right. It was the small things that he realised he'd been ignoring; the little snarky come-backs, the questioning of his decisions, the growing cynicism that was so out of character for the happy-go-lucky boy he was used to.
There'd been more blatant signs, too – like when he'd gone against Adam's explicit instructions that he stay in Sanctuary during the affair with Gaumont, something that the younger Jesse would never have considered. Oh, he'd done his share of running off on personal jaunts without thinking to tell anyone where he was going, but this had been different – this time he'd known he was risking his life, known that he was walking into a situation he might not walk out of. And he'd made his own choice, believing the risk was worth taking in order to save the tens of thousands of lives threatened by a nuclear meltdown that only he could prevent.
Adam had to respect that, regardless of how he'd reacted to the younger man's defiance at the time, though he couldn't be sure he'd be feeling the same if the outcome had been different.
They'd come through unscathed in the end, for the most part. But he could see now that the very fact that Gaumont had been playing them all along, using them all – but most especially Jesse - for his own ends, had hit the molecular hard, adding another layer to the web of self-doubt that seemed to ensnare him so often these days.
He realised Shalimar was still focused on him, waiting for some kind of response, but he was saved from any admissions by the whirlwind that was Brennan, bouncing into the room on a wave of excitement. "There you are! Been looking all over for you guys. Listen, I got a lead..."
"Well, that makes two of us," Adam countered, with a smile. "What've you got?" He made an 'after you' gesture which Brennan was only too happy to accede to.
"I've been doing some more digging into DeSalles, some of the companies he has links to. One of them, Northside Properties, bought a major tract of land for an anonymous client. It's real remote, only one road in, no settlements nearby, so it's pretty useless for housing or any other commercial enterprise. It doesn't even have any agricultural value. But they paid top dollar for it – and it's only fifty miles or so from where DeSalles lives." He grinned broadly, arms spread as if awaiting their ovation. "Gotta be worth taking a gander at, yeah?"
And they all had to concur. "Good work," Adam added, unable to hide a smirk at the ostentatious bow the elemental offered him, to the giggles of his team-mates. But he sobered quickly as he went on. "OK, I've been doing some more checking too, cross-referencing everyone who came back and told me they'd been having nightmares as well. And I came up with a match." He turned to Shalimar and asked, "Remember Joshua?"
"Joshua?" put in Brennan, pulling out a chair and lowering his bulk into it. "That kid whose mother had him kidnapped because his father wanted to hand him over to the GSA?"
"No, a different one," Adam told him, "though he was probably about the same age." He looked at the feral again. "Four, maybe five years back?"
Her small frown of concentration cleared rapidly at that, eyes widening at whatever she was recalling. "Of course, how could I forget? That was some day!"
Adam nodded agreement and continued for the others' benefit. "It was back in the very early days of Mutant X, the same time Gayle was here. We'd only just started setting up safe houses, and our security was nowhere near what it is now. I don't really know how it happened - maybe someone talked – but the GSA turned up at one of them just as we arrived to send the group we'd had hiding down there for a week or so into the underground. Shalimar and Jess took care of most of the agents, but their leader – Eckhart's pet mutant-of-the-week – got a bit carried away and created a gravity wave that brought down a large part of the building we were using."
He sighed, expression turning sombre. "We lost a lot of innocent people there – but somehow a few of them survived the initial disaster. One of the central supports didn't collapse completely, a couple of the walls came down at an angle – I can't recall exactly what it was, but there was a small area still standing where some of them managed to take shelter. There were eight of them of varying mutancies, including a boy - Joshua. He was a psionic - a telepath – and even though he was still young and his powers were very underdeveloped, we could all hear him..." He tapped a finger against his forehead to clarify what he meant, "...quite clearly telling us they were trapped in there."
Halting briefly, he cast a sideways glance at Shalimar who was lost in whatever she was remembering, plainly not something she was enjoying. "Well, to cut a long story short, Jesse phased in and found them, stayed with them until we could get enough people together to help dig them out, then used his com-link to guide us in."
"But, how is this connected with what's been happening?" Brennan asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table.
"It's the same people," Emma supplied, looking up at Adam for confirmation. "The one's who've been having the dreams?"
He smiled at her perceptiveness, though she could see it didn't really reach his eyes. "Yes. Everyone I've heard back from was a member of that group – including Gayle and, to a certain extent, Jesse, though of course he wasn't with them for most of the time they spent together. There were a couple more I've lost contact with – and, of course, Joshua."
"What happened to him?" Emma could feel the sadness emanating from Adam as he spoke the boy's name, wondering at its cause.
"He was very badly hurt, caught up under a piece of fallen rubble, and it took us quite a while to get him out. He was barely alive when we did, and the damage to his legs and spine was so extensive it was doubtful he'd make a full recovery even if he did survive the initial shock. In any case, he'd lapsed into a coma and we had no way of knowing if he'd ever come out of it. So I found a nursing home that could take care of him, people who'd take responsibility for his on-going welfare. But I lost touch over time, forgot..." He paused, lost in a regret-filled reverie.
"There've been so many," Shalimar said softly. "You can't blame yourself for not remembering them all." But she knew he did. Not just for not remembering, but for not being able to save every single one of those he'd been instrumental in creating.
He shot her a small grateful smile, seeming to take strength from her support.
"So..." Brennan said slowly, pragmatic as ever. "What are you thinking? That this kid can help? By the sounds of things, he's more likely to be dead – or at the very least a vegetable."
Adam shook his head. "No, he's not. He's very much alive. It took me a while to track him down – the nursing home was forced to close, the remaining patients were moved on – in his case, for some reason, several times. But it seems he finally came out of his coma about six months ago and, after a period of rehabilitation, he was placed with a foster family. And yes, I think he might well be able to help. He was part of a small group that went through a very intense experience together, most of whom are now sharing something else in common. At the very least I'd like to know if he's been having nightmares, too."
"You mean, you haven't asked him yet?"
"Can't... The good people who took him in seem to have an aversion to the trappings of modern life. They don't have a phone. It happens," he added wryly, seeing the looks of incredulity being exchanged around him. "So, what we're going to do is this. We'll take the Helix, drop you two..." He waved a hand in a motion that encompassed Brennan and Shalimar, "...near this property Brennan found so you can start doing a little preliminary snooping, check out the lie of the land, while Emma and I go on to Arkansas and talk to Joshua. Then we'll come back, pick you up again, see what we've got and plan our next steps."
"What about Jesse? And the girl?" Brennan got the question in before anyone else could.
"We should only be gone a few hours – five, six at the most. Jesse will be fine – he's over the worst of it, just needs rest now, and I'm sure Connie can amuse herself while he does that. I'll talk to her, make sure she knows how to reach us if there's a problem – which I can see no reason why there should be. OK?" He wasn't sure exactly who he was trying to reassure most – them or himself. It went against the grain to leave a relative stranger to all intents and purposes unsupervised in Sanctuary. But ever since he'd found out that Joshua was alive, he'd felt the growing need to see him face to face, to be the one to make the first contact and talk to him rather than sending one of the team.
He looked around, seeing no signs of obvious dissent, though Shalimar didn't look completely convinced and Emma seemed to be mulling something over. But when neither of them spoke, he nodded and said, "OK. Let's meet in the plane in, what? Fifteen minutes?"
Adam wasn't surprised to see Brennan bound to his feet, his eagerness to be doing anything other than sitting round there written all over his face. And after a second or two, he saw the lure of action overcome whatever doubts the other two might be having, sending them off after him to get ready.
*
Jesse woke slowly from a confused but mercifully nightmare-free sleep, taking a few moments to get his mind ticking over again, and a few moments longer to realise there were sounds of life and activity floating into his still darkened room from outside. Shalimar talking animatedly with Emma, Brennan calling to them to get a move on, not to keep Adam waiting – all signs of a mass exodus that sent him lurching to his feet in a surge of alarm-fuelled adrenaline and hurrying a little unsteadily to the door.
He yanked it open and emerged into the corridor just in time to see the two girls disappearing round the corner in the direction of the hanger.
"Shal!" he called, desperation colouring the single word, and he was relieved to see her re-appear to look at him quizzically. She threw a glance at the still hidden Emma and he heard her say, "I'll catch you up," as she came back towards him, a warm smile lighting up her face and making her eyes dance with pleasure.
"Heya!" She greeted him with a quick hug that he was happy to return. "Didn't expect to see you up so soon. How're you doing?"
But he just shook his head impatiently, sidestepping her question. "What's going on?" he asked. "Where are you going?"
"We have some leads we're going to follow up. Don't worry, we won't be gone long and Connie's here to keep you company."
"But where? Where are you going?" he persisted, grip tightening unintentionally on her upper arms, feeling her pull away to fix him with a slightly bemused look.
"Brennan found out that one of DeSalles' companies bought a big piece of land about fifty miles from where he lives. We're going to check it out, while Adam and Emma go to see someone else – a blast from the past. Joshua? The kid from the safe house cave-in – remember?" She watched him a little anxiously, but he seemed not to hear the last part of her news.
"Don't go down there, Shal – please." His voice was little more than a whisper, but his eyes pleaded with her to listen.
She took a deep breath. "Why, Jesse?" she demanded, frustration at his reticence making her more forceful than she'd intended. "Just tell me why!"
But he could only stare at her in silence, still unable to put into words the horror he'd seen and felt. So in the end she just smiled sadly. "I'm a big girl, Jess. I can take care of myself. You just get better, OK?" And with another swift hug and a kiss on the cheek she was gone, leaving him standing desolate and alone with his demons.
**
"Oh! You're up early, dear. I was just coming to help you."
"No need, thank you – I managed."
"I can see that." A pause. "I wish you'd waited, though. We don't want you falling, hurting yourself. And you know how easily you tire."
"I'm OK. You don't have to worry."
"That's easier said than done – it's what we're here for."
Silence.
"Joshua? What are you looking at out there, dear? Is there someone there?"
"No." Then, whispering, "Not yet. But there will be."
"What was that?"
"Nothing. No one."
"Oh. Well, I'd better go and get on with breakfast. I'll call you when it's ready."
****
With a whispered, "Yes!" Adam leant back in his chair and smiled to himself in satisfaction. Another piece in the puzzle he was working at had just fallen into place, and he was hopeful it would take him closer to unlocking the mystery of what was happening to Jesse, even if it didn't prove to be the key itself.
He'd been up early, his mind unable to completely let go of the feeling there was something he was missing, and after checking in on a thankfully peacefully sleeping Jesse, he'd got back to work. And it seemed to have finally paid off.
Deciding he'd earned a break, he got up and headed for the kitchen, pleased to hear the sounds of girlish chat that told him both Shalimar and Emma were already there, and in better spirits than they'd been for some days.
He found the two of them sitting at the table with the remains of breakfast in front of them. "Morning," he smiled, seeing them start in slightly guilty fashion at his obviously unexpected arrival before returning his greeting brightly, and he wondered what they'd been discussing. Though on second thoughts, knowing these two, perhaps he didn't really want to hear – the inner workings of the female mind were still as much a mystery to him now as they'd ever been.
Fetching himself a cup of coffee, he turned and leant back against the cabinet, watching idly as Emma cleared the plates away and stacked them in the dishwasher. "So, how did you sleep?"
"Pretty good..." Shalimar answered, but he saw them exchange a glance and knew there was more. "Well, apart from the visitors." And she went on to tell him about their encounter with Jesse. "I wish I could have got him to talk more, tell us something about this second nightmare, but Em... well, we thought he'd had enough."
"No, you did the right thing," Adam assured them. "Pushing him wouldn't have helped. But at least you got him to open up a bit and that has to be good for him in the long run. He always has tried to bottle things up, especially things he thinks it would hurt others to hear."
Shalimar shook her head with a wistful smile, though. "Maybe... but not nearly as much as he used to. He's changing, Adam, growing up – away, even. You must have noticed that."
That stopped him in his tracks, but when he thought about it he knew she was right. It was the small things that he realised he'd been ignoring; the little snarky come-backs, the questioning of his decisions, the growing cynicism that was so out of character for the happy-go-lucky boy he was used to.
There'd been more blatant signs, too – like when he'd gone against Adam's explicit instructions that he stay in Sanctuary during the affair with Gaumont, something that the younger Jesse would never have considered. Oh, he'd done his share of running off on personal jaunts without thinking to tell anyone where he was going, but this had been different – this time he'd known he was risking his life, known that he was walking into a situation he might not walk out of. And he'd made his own choice, believing the risk was worth taking in order to save the tens of thousands of lives threatened by a nuclear meltdown that only he could prevent.
Adam had to respect that, regardless of how he'd reacted to the younger man's defiance at the time, though he couldn't be sure he'd be feeling the same if the outcome had been different.
They'd come through unscathed in the end, for the most part. But he could see now that the very fact that Gaumont had been playing them all along, using them all – but most especially Jesse - for his own ends, had hit the molecular hard, adding another layer to the web of self-doubt that seemed to ensnare him so often these days.
He realised Shalimar was still focused on him, waiting for some kind of response, but he was saved from any admissions by the whirlwind that was Brennan, bouncing into the room on a wave of excitement. "There you are! Been looking all over for you guys. Listen, I got a lead..."
"Well, that makes two of us," Adam countered, with a smile. "What've you got?" He made an 'after you' gesture which Brennan was only too happy to accede to.
"I've been doing some more digging into DeSalles, some of the companies he has links to. One of them, Northside Properties, bought a major tract of land for an anonymous client. It's real remote, only one road in, no settlements nearby, so it's pretty useless for housing or any other commercial enterprise. It doesn't even have any agricultural value. But they paid top dollar for it – and it's only fifty miles or so from where DeSalles lives." He grinned broadly, arms spread as if awaiting their ovation. "Gotta be worth taking a gander at, yeah?"
And they all had to concur. "Good work," Adam added, unable to hide a smirk at the ostentatious bow the elemental offered him, to the giggles of his team-mates. But he sobered quickly as he went on. "OK, I've been doing some more checking too, cross-referencing everyone who came back and told me they'd been having nightmares as well. And I came up with a match." He turned to Shalimar and asked, "Remember Joshua?"
"Joshua?" put in Brennan, pulling out a chair and lowering his bulk into it. "That kid whose mother had him kidnapped because his father wanted to hand him over to the GSA?"
"No, a different one," Adam told him, "though he was probably about the same age." He looked at the feral again. "Four, maybe five years back?"
Her small frown of concentration cleared rapidly at that, eyes widening at whatever she was recalling. "Of course, how could I forget? That was some day!"
Adam nodded agreement and continued for the others' benefit. "It was back in the very early days of Mutant X, the same time Gayle was here. We'd only just started setting up safe houses, and our security was nowhere near what it is now. I don't really know how it happened - maybe someone talked – but the GSA turned up at one of them just as we arrived to send the group we'd had hiding down there for a week or so into the underground. Shalimar and Jess took care of most of the agents, but their leader – Eckhart's pet mutant-of-the-week – got a bit carried away and created a gravity wave that brought down a large part of the building we were using."
He sighed, expression turning sombre. "We lost a lot of innocent people there – but somehow a few of them survived the initial disaster. One of the central supports didn't collapse completely, a couple of the walls came down at an angle – I can't recall exactly what it was, but there was a small area still standing where some of them managed to take shelter. There were eight of them of varying mutancies, including a boy - Joshua. He was a psionic - a telepath – and even though he was still young and his powers were very underdeveloped, we could all hear him..." He tapped a finger against his forehead to clarify what he meant, "...quite clearly telling us they were trapped in there."
Halting briefly, he cast a sideways glance at Shalimar who was lost in whatever she was remembering, plainly not something she was enjoying. "Well, to cut a long story short, Jesse phased in and found them, stayed with them until we could get enough people together to help dig them out, then used his com-link to guide us in."
"But, how is this connected with what's been happening?" Brennan asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table.
"It's the same people," Emma supplied, looking up at Adam for confirmation. "The one's who've been having the dreams?"
He smiled at her perceptiveness, though she could see it didn't really reach his eyes. "Yes. Everyone I've heard back from was a member of that group – including Gayle and, to a certain extent, Jesse, though of course he wasn't with them for most of the time they spent together. There were a couple more I've lost contact with – and, of course, Joshua."
"What happened to him?" Emma could feel the sadness emanating from Adam as he spoke the boy's name, wondering at its cause.
"He was very badly hurt, caught up under a piece of fallen rubble, and it took us quite a while to get him out. He was barely alive when we did, and the damage to his legs and spine was so extensive it was doubtful he'd make a full recovery even if he did survive the initial shock. In any case, he'd lapsed into a coma and we had no way of knowing if he'd ever come out of it. So I found a nursing home that could take care of him, people who'd take responsibility for his on-going welfare. But I lost touch over time, forgot..." He paused, lost in a regret-filled reverie.
"There've been so many," Shalimar said softly. "You can't blame yourself for not remembering them all." But she knew he did. Not just for not remembering, but for not being able to save every single one of those he'd been instrumental in creating.
He shot her a small grateful smile, seeming to take strength from her support.
"So..." Brennan said slowly, pragmatic as ever. "What are you thinking? That this kid can help? By the sounds of things, he's more likely to be dead – or at the very least a vegetable."
Adam shook his head. "No, he's not. He's very much alive. It took me a while to track him down – the nursing home was forced to close, the remaining patients were moved on – in his case, for some reason, several times. But it seems he finally came out of his coma about six months ago and, after a period of rehabilitation, he was placed with a foster family. And yes, I think he might well be able to help. He was part of a small group that went through a very intense experience together, most of whom are now sharing something else in common. At the very least I'd like to know if he's been having nightmares, too."
"You mean, you haven't asked him yet?"
"Can't... The good people who took him in seem to have an aversion to the trappings of modern life. They don't have a phone. It happens," he added wryly, seeing the looks of incredulity being exchanged around him. "So, what we're going to do is this. We'll take the Helix, drop you two..." He waved a hand in a motion that encompassed Brennan and Shalimar, "...near this property Brennan found so you can start doing a little preliminary snooping, check out the lie of the land, while Emma and I go on to Arkansas and talk to Joshua. Then we'll come back, pick you up again, see what we've got and plan our next steps."
"What about Jesse? And the girl?" Brennan got the question in before anyone else could.
"We should only be gone a few hours – five, six at the most. Jesse will be fine – he's over the worst of it, just needs rest now, and I'm sure Connie can amuse herself while he does that. I'll talk to her, make sure she knows how to reach us if there's a problem – which I can see no reason why there should be. OK?" He wasn't sure exactly who he was trying to reassure most – them or himself. It went against the grain to leave a relative stranger to all intents and purposes unsupervised in Sanctuary. But ever since he'd found out that Joshua was alive, he'd felt the growing need to see him face to face, to be the one to make the first contact and talk to him rather than sending one of the team.
He looked around, seeing no signs of obvious dissent, though Shalimar didn't look completely convinced and Emma seemed to be mulling something over. But when neither of them spoke, he nodded and said, "OK. Let's meet in the plane in, what? Fifteen minutes?"
Adam wasn't surprised to see Brennan bound to his feet, his eagerness to be doing anything other than sitting round there written all over his face. And after a second or two, he saw the lure of action overcome whatever doubts the other two might be having, sending them off after him to get ready.
*
Jesse woke slowly from a confused but mercifully nightmare-free sleep, taking a few moments to get his mind ticking over again, and a few moments longer to realise there were sounds of life and activity floating into his still darkened room from outside. Shalimar talking animatedly with Emma, Brennan calling to them to get a move on, not to keep Adam waiting – all signs of a mass exodus that sent him lurching to his feet in a surge of alarm-fuelled adrenaline and hurrying a little unsteadily to the door.
He yanked it open and emerged into the corridor just in time to see the two girls disappearing round the corner in the direction of the hanger.
"Shal!" he called, desperation colouring the single word, and he was relieved to see her re-appear to look at him quizzically. She threw a glance at the still hidden Emma and he heard her say, "I'll catch you up," as she came back towards him, a warm smile lighting up her face and making her eyes dance with pleasure.
"Heya!" She greeted him with a quick hug that he was happy to return. "Didn't expect to see you up so soon. How're you doing?"
But he just shook his head impatiently, sidestepping her question. "What's going on?" he asked. "Where are you going?"
"We have some leads we're going to follow up. Don't worry, we won't be gone long and Connie's here to keep you company."
"But where? Where are you going?" he persisted, grip tightening unintentionally on her upper arms, feeling her pull away to fix him with a slightly bemused look.
"Brennan found out that one of DeSalles' companies bought a big piece of land about fifty miles from where he lives. We're going to check it out, while Adam and Emma go to see someone else – a blast from the past. Joshua? The kid from the safe house cave-in – remember?" She watched him a little anxiously, but he seemed not to hear the last part of her news.
"Don't go down there, Shal – please." His voice was little more than a whisper, but his eyes pleaded with her to listen.
She took a deep breath. "Why, Jesse?" she demanded, frustration at his reticence making her more forceful than she'd intended. "Just tell me why!"
But he could only stare at her in silence, still unable to put into words the horror he'd seen and felt. So in the end she just smiled sadly. "I'm a big girl, Jess. I can take care of myself. You just get better, OK?" And with another swift hug and a kiss on the cheek she was gone, leaving him standing desolate and alone with his demons.
**
"Oh! You're up early, dear. I was just coming to help you."
"No need, thank you – I managed."
"I can see that." A pause. "I wish you'd waited, though. We don't want you falling, hurting yourself. And you know how easily you tire."
"I'm OK. You don't have to worry."
"That's easier said than done – it's what we're here for."
Silence.
"Joshua? What are you looking at out there, dear? Is there someone there?"
"No." Then, whispering, "Not yet. But there will be."
"What was that?"
"Nothing. No one."
"Oh. Well, I'd better go and get on with breakfast. I'll call you when it's ready."
****