They were sitting in the
backroom of some small and really dirty hovel.
It had been bombed out last year and hadn’t been used since then. The place was perfect. It was nowhere near any other homes or
businesses although that wasn’t too hard to do in this province. It helped that the rest of the places had
been bombed out during the last year and it had made the place really
uninhabitable. It was hot and it was
dusty and she felt as if she needed to stand under a shower for three
years. The conditions weren’t much worse
than the last assignment, but going from winter in South America to summer in
Afghanistan wasn’t what she would have chosen.
Then again being covered from head to toe with a burka all day as she
did recon hadn’t helped. It was now
about eight thirty at night and Rob had just returned with two bags.
They
worked for a little known governmental department or agency known as the
Paranormal Enforcement Department, or ‘PED’ for short. In the department it was
their job is to provide protection, detection, and deception. Jan, as well as
others, were part of a grand experiment.
They were discovered through bogus psychology experiments in
colleges. Then they were drafted into a
lifetime of service for the department.
All of these agents had one thing in common, they could read minds, and
they were partnered with a handler to keep them loyal to the job. Her handler
had always been Rob.
“There better be a gourmet
meal and a Coke in that bag,” she smiled as she leaned back against the wall,
“and the rest of my gear in the other.”
“Right
on one,” and he set one bag down in front of her, the other one in the corner
nearby.
“Hell,
it was the least you could do after putting me up in such wonderful digs here,”
and she opened the bag pulling out something that resembled food. Digging to the bottom of the bag she found
it, “Yes!” It was a Coca Cola, no,
actually three.
“Can’t
help it, you know we go where they tell us,” and he sat down as he futilely
tried to brush the dust out of his hair. “I still can’t believe we agreed to do
this.”
“They
needed a second reader to go in,” she avoided his eyes, but they both knew why
they were here. Ward was working on this
assignment and had been for the last three months. That meant that it had been at least three
months since Jan had seen him. It also
meant that somehow, and Rob didn’t know how, Ward had gotten them reassigned
here.
“And, of course, we are the
only other team out there,” Rob grabbed the other sandwich and unwrapped
it. Not only had Ward not seen her but
he was also willing to put her life in danger just to do it.
“It
wouldn’t have mattered,” Jan opened up one of the cans and gulped down nearly
half of it before she continued, “We are always in danger.”
“Save
your skills for those who need it,” he was still miffed and the last thing he
needed was her reading his thoughts.
“I am. I was reading
your face.” Rob had been her partner for
many years now. He had really been more
than that to her. Rob had been more like
the father she had never had. He was
fourteen years older than she was and although that had caused some problems to
begin with, it didn’t now. She was only
twenty-one when she had graduated from college, been commissioned and then made
it through the PED program in record time.
Her skills had developed fast and she was eager to be trained in all the
defense measures they had offered. Even
though she had been assigned early on she also had continued to take all the
training opportunities that she could becoming a model agent.
