The Elders (Mind Dimensions #4)(56)

“It sure happens,” another deputy says. “Military bases don’t show up, same with Area 51.”

“I’ve gone ahead and had my house removed from Google Earth,” another deputy echoes. “You can report your privacy concerns to the good people at Google maps, and they’ll blur your house, just like that.”

“That’s just darn stupid,” the sheriff says, and everyone snickers at the privacy-concerned deputy’s expense.

“Let’s spread out again,” I say and turn away from my entourage, ready to head deeper into the forest.

The sheriff’s walkie-talkie blares to life behind me.

“We found it,” a voice says, the static masking the person’s identity.

In the distance, southwest from us, a flare arcs into the sky.

This development is so incongruent with our stealth-oriented plan that I instantly phase into the Quiet to make sense of it.

The stupid Teleportation is still causing me to show up in the Quiet at random locations. This time, I end up on the other side of the sheriff, who was, just a moment ago, a few feet behind me.

I look at the frozen-in-time flare uncomprehendingly. The plan was to surreptitiously circulate the Temple’s GPS coordinates. We made a point of instructing everyone that they were not to alarm the monks. On top of that, the extraction operation was supposed to start at nightfall (without any flares or even a hint of our presence), but it’s still daytime.

What the hell is happening? Did the monks send up the flare as some kind of alarm? I have a hard time picturing that.

Realizing I’m just blankly staring at the sky, I stop and walk toward my frozen body. The best way to figure out what’s going on is to approach the flare and see for myself who shot it.

Then something catches my eye.

The sheriff’s hand.

Maybe the events at Kyle’s funeral have made me paranoid, but I don’t like the way the frozen sheriff’s hand is positioned. In fact, walking up to the nearest deputy, I note the same disconcerting pattern. It’s almost as though they’re reaching for their side arms.

I walk up to the sheriff and initiate a Read.





*





We’re trying to listen, but find it hard to concentrate. The black-latex-and-leather-clad woman in charge is too stunning to allow a red-blooded male to function. She gives us our instructions. The plan isn’t too different from what we’d do if we were looking for a lost child in the woods, which is the only reason we can follow what she’s saying.

“You’re not to enter the clearing that surrounds the place, let alone the large mansion that’s in the middle of it,” the woman says. “Upon finding it, get in touch with your group, then notify the rest of us.”

I, Darren, disassociate because at that very moment, a presence enters the sheriff’s mind.

If you find the mansion, kill Darren, the young official accompanying you.

If you get a radio transmission that states, ‘We found it,’ that is also your signal to kill him.

He’s an extremely dangerous fugitive trying to escape custody. Wait until your group has gathered and his back is to you, then shoot him. Don’t ask questions, don’t read him his Miranda rights, and don’t do anything that would give him a chance to react. He is extremely dangerous, and if he knows your intentions, you will die. He is your enemy. You are at war . . .

The sinister instructions continue, but I’ve heard enough to get the general idea. Plus, I recognize this ‘voice.’ It belongs to the same person who was controlling the police officers at Kyle’s funeral.

The person I’ve been calling the Super Pusher is the one Pushing the sheriff.

But that makes no sense. How could he be here?

The likeliest explanation is that one of the dudes on Kate’s team is the Super Pusher. However, Kate mentioned they hadn’t left the Island in months. That means they couldn’t have been at Kyle’s funeral—unless the Super Pusher Guided Kate to say that to provide her team with an alibi.

Alternatively, maybe my assumption that the Super Pusher isn’t a man was right. I thought I was wrong after the masked attacker—who was clearly male—had attacked me in the library, but what if Kate is the Super Pusher? What if she Guided some random guy on the Island to attack me to throw me off her scent? That possibility isn’t so different from the way these cops were triggered to attack me. Maybe the condition for the masked guy was putting on the mask? She could’ve Guided him long before we got pulled into Frederick’s Mind Dimension to avoid the limitation of not being able to reach Level 2 from someone else’s Session. Come to think of it, she was just returning from a walk when George and I were having breakfast. Had she left to put her plan into motion? Using similar logic, Eleanor could also be the one behind all this.

In any case, it seems the Super Pusher is close to revealing him or herself. The most important clue is that he or she turned the surrounding cops into sleeper agents that have been triggered to kill me.

As I ponder why the Super Pusher delayed killing me and consider the mystery of the flare signal, the only probable answer dawns on me.

I was kept alive to make sure the Temple was found first, because I’m the only person who’s been there.

Which means the Temple is the Super Pusher’s target for some reason.