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You re
needed in the Nexus. Hess hasn t changed he wants to lock the Seco
nders up,
and study our mental powers. He s restricted our freedom already. With you
back,
he probably plans to turn the place into a big prison.
 Why didn t you tell me this was getting serious?
But thinking back, I realized she had. I ignored it in my joy at seeing
her
again. She touched my cheek with gentle fingers.
 I know you can t stay here and fight our battles, Lee. You have t
o go back.
He s not trying to harm us. I ll be okay until you can come and ge
t me in the future.
Right now, you have to get out of here.
 I m not leaving you like this, I muttered.  Hess made me a promise. Hell,
the
government made me a promise. They re going to pay.
I kicked off the covers, realizing I d been a fool to trust any government
agent.
Back when the Seconders came under attack by the Church of the Gates, I
d
convinced Hess I could make the gates disappear if I wished. In return f
or leaving
them on Earth, I d extracted his promise of government protection for the
Seconders.
I d bluffed him once. I d do it again. Only this time I d find a way to keep
him honest
after I left.
Rita jerked her thumb at the door. Sliding out of the bed, she tiptoed over,
and
locked it. She pointed to where our clothes lay in a heap on the floor a
nd we got
dressed. A calm determination filled me. Hess was not going to win this one.
Beckoning me with her finger, Rita drew me over to the wall away from the
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door, and whispered,  After you left, things were okay for a while. H
e even let Randy
and Terri leave to go to the Nexus, too.
I nodded. That s why I d had no sense of alarm about the situation on Earth.
 I think he got pressured by higher-ups. They knew with you gone, we
couldn t make the gates vanish, and it might be their one chance to s
tudy us.
 Goddamit! I don t usually swear. But with the deadline on the
Nexus looming
over me, I didn t need trouble on both worlds.
 A bunch of government bigwigs came here to meet us about a week ago,
and after that Hess got antsy, Rita murmured.  I knew he was plotting
something.
As much as I hated to violate anyone s mental privacy I was set to take a look
in his
devious little mind only I waited too long to do it.
 What do you mean?
My hand patted my pockets. Out of sheer habit, I was looking for the sma
ll
pistol I usually carry. I came up empty, and my heart sank. When I d said
goodbye to
Earth the last time, I d left my gun with Rita and Rita didn t
believe in weapons.
 He agreed to tell the world about Seconders that we were harmless
, I
snapped, remembering the promises he d made after I d scared the hell out of
him
by making a gate disappear and reappear.
Hess was merely a puppet of the politicians, of course, and they were te
rrified
enough to agree to anything once they were convinced I could make the ga
tes
vanish at will. They needed those gates on Earth in case they became ill and
for
certain when they became old. Rita stroked my shoulder and made a soothing
sound.
 At first he did try to get more information about Seconders and what we were
like. I actually thought he was planning to release information about us
to the public
at large and put us in a good light after the scary rumors people hav
e heard for the
past year or so.
The Church of the Gates was responsible for most of those rumors. They
d
run a coordinated campaign to convince the public that Seconders were
dangerous
telepaths out to read people s minds. As a result, we d been stripped of our
rights in
many states, Texas among them, although the Supreme Court had struck down
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those laws. But more persecution was certain unless we could reverse the
tide of
public opinion. Hess had promised that the U.S. government would protect us.
 I was naïve, too, Rita murmured.  I thought they were scared enough to
keep their promises. But fear only makes a cornered animal fight harder to
protect its
territory. Instead of releasing positive information about us, Hess took
whatever we
told him and passed it up to his superiors. Oh, they re protecting us
, but only
because they want to keep us locked up, and our powers under their control.
She shivered. I pulled her close, while tears stung my eyes. I d thought I d
left
her safe. Instead, I d gone blithely off to the Nexus and left her to
face the
manipulations of a government gone mad with the hunger for power. As I bent
over
to kiss her forehead, the nightstand next to the bed caught my eye.
Of course! I d forgotten in the weeks away, but I kept a gun there. I stepped [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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