The Enlightened (Mind Dimensions #3)(37)

“Come with me, my son,” the Master says once he’s standing within striking distance of me. Is this some kind of kung-fu, violence-avoiding mumbo jumbo? He wants me to go peacefully so he won’t have to fight? Not happening.

I assess the situation and formulate a makeshift plan. Since this isn’t the Olympics, where sportsmanship matters, I kick the Master in the balls—no disagreeing to go with him, no warning, nothing. As I do, I recognize that the move is a standard Krav Maga groin kick.

To my utter amazement, the Master doesn’t fall to the ground screaming, as any regular man would. He performs what looks like a tai-chi move with his hands, takes a deep breath, and settles into a defensive stance. Getting over my initial marvel at his lack of a reaction, I kick him in the shin. He moves out of my reach and then lunges forward and punches my exposed shoulder.

The shoulder hurts like hell, and what makes it worse is knowing I can’t undo the damage by phasing out. This is the real world, and these are real injuries. Thinking of phasing gives me an idea, and I slip into the Quiet.

I’m standing beside the Master and myself. He’s about to kick me behind my knee. I have an advantage here. I can phase in and out to observe his next move. This is the strategy that Caleb mentioned to me once.

A very promising strategy.

Phasing out, I move my foot out of the way, turning to face my opponent from a more opportune position. As soon as I do, I phase into the Quiet.

I examine my attacker. His shoulder and arm muscles are tensing in a way that suggests he’s about to punch me with his right hand. With some confidence, I suspect the punch will be aimed at my shoulder that he already damaged.

I phase out and walk under the punch, placing one of my own into his midsection. His abs are like steel, and I doubt I hurt him at all.

I freeze everything again.

Aha! He wants to bring down his elbow on my arm. And his leg is getting ready for a kick.

I phase out and avoid both attacks, and then do an aikido-inspired throw, something that should be foreign to his style of fighting. The Master falls to the ground, and I give him the Caleb special—a kick to the ribs. Then, just in case, I phase into the Quiet—and I’m glad I did.

The other monk is almost on me. Shit. Even with the advantage of the Quiet, I’m not sure I can deal with two people at once. I need to knock the Master out so I can deal with this new guy.

I phase out and kick the Master in the jaw. He moves his head, and my kick’s impact is drastically diminished.

I spare a glance at the other attacker and see the younger monk behind him; he’s almost caught up to his companion.

I’m done. I can’t deal with three of them at once.

I look at the younger monk, who’s trying frantically to close the distance, and consider my rapidly dwindling options.

Then the younger monk grabs his brother monk by the shoulder.

“Darren,” the young monk says, “run for the gate.”

I get it. This is the monk we thought might be Guidable by Hillary. Looks like our theory was right.

“Last call for JFK-bound flight 2447,” I hear over the intercom.

Oh no. I decide to follow Hillary’s suggestion. I turn to run, but the Master’s hand grabs my leg.

I phase in, and the noises around me fall silent.

I run through the frozen people, in the direction of the gate. I need to buy myself a little extra time. As I move, I notice Eugene in the distance. In the real world, he’s running away from the gate. I contemplate pulling him in but decide against it. Let him focus on whatever he’s doing.

It takes me a few seconds to locate the girl who made the announcement. I Read her and learn what I already know. There are only moments left before departure. I also learn who her boss is.

No one is flying anywhere without me, I say to the frozen girl and look for her boss. In her mind, he’s in charge of ending the boarding process.

It takes me a few minutes to locate the guy—a thin, mousy individual. I Guide him to wait for me. Then I Read him and learn that despite what his subordinate thought, when it comes to boarding, not everything is up to him.

Armed with this new knowledge, I enter the jet bridge leading to the plane and locate the pilot. Reading him, I learn I can’t stall things for too long, not without making a journey to Flight Control and visiting a bunch of other airport bureaucrats. I do the best I can and Guide the pilot not to take off for the next five minutes. He has that much leeway.

As I walk back to my body, I Guide any person I meet to make sure they get out of my way. I also instruct them to get in the way of any Buddhist monk they see following me. I wonder whether the monks will hurt these civilians. For some reason, I doubt it.

Regaining some of my hope, I look around. The young monk is keeping his brother busy, but it’s clear he won’t last long. The Master is bleeding, yet he’s stubbornly holding on to my frozen self’s foot. I see what I need to do. It won’t be pretty, but it should free me.

I phase out.

I swing my leg back, giving it all my strength. As expected, the Master’s wrist makes an unhealthy tearing sound. I’m glad when he lets go of me. I phase in again to see whether he’s planning to pull some other stunt, but it doesn’t look likely. I feel terrible when I see his wrist hanging at a weird angle. Whatever damage I inflicted, I remind myself, is on my grandparents’ conscience, not mine.