The Thought Readers (Mind Dimensions #1)(38)

“How about a way to the roof?”

“That’s through the sixth floor,” he says, pushing his glasses further up his nose. “I think I can get there if I need to.”

“Okay. Hopefully you won’t have to. First, we need to try for the main door. They’re walking up the stairs. It will take them time to get to your floor. I have an idea—follow me,” I tell Eugene and head back to the building.

I run up the stairs, pushing the mobsters out of my way. Eugene follows. I pull the elevator door on the second floor. It’s locked. I run to the third floor and do the same thing, getting the same result. The door on the fourth floor opens. So far, so good. I keep running, checking near the elevator doors on every floor until we get to the top, on the sixth.

“Okay, Eugene. Here’s my plan: they think your elevator is broken. That gives you a good chance. As soon as I phase out and you’re in the real world, press the elevator button. Since the elevator’s on the fourth floor, it should get to you in plenty of time. No one is by the elevator on any of the other floors, so there’s little risk of any slowdowns.”

“Got it, Darren.” He smiles for the first time since I’ve seen him today. “You know, I could’ve come up with this plan on my own. You’re basically telling me to take the elevator down and walk out.”

“Yeah, I guess I am. Also, pull up your hoodie and try to hunch as you walk out. Go straight to the car. That’s where I’ll be waiting, keeping it running,” I say. This sounds doable, but I wouldn’t want to be in Eugene’s shoes right now. “If something goes wrong, run for the roof and text me. I’ll phase into the Quiet and come talk to you. Can you phase in every few seconds and walk down to check on the bad guys’ progress?”

“Yes,” he says. “Since I’ll only be spending a small fraction of my available time in each instance, I should be able to re-enter the Mind Dimension without waiting a long time in-between. Thank you.”

“Thank me when this is over,” I say and begin to walk down the stairs again. He continues to follow me.

“Darren,” he says when we reach my frozen body in the lobby. “If something happens to me, promise you’ll help Mira.”

“I promise,” I say. I have no idea how I’ll do that, but it occurs to me that the last thing Mira made me promise was that I would save him if she didn’t make it. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad having a sibling after all, the way these two look out for each other.

“Don’t look guilty as you get out of the building,” he says, looking in the direction where Sergey, the driver, is waiting for his comrades.

“Same to you,” I say. “See you in a few minutes.”

We shake hands.

I take a breath and touch my frozen self on the forehead. The sounds of the world come back.





Chapter 16


I do my best to avoid looking suspicious, in case Sergey is watching me from the car. I pat my pockets, take out the car keys, and confidently walk back. The image I’m trying to project is: silly me, I forgot something in the car. I might not win an Oscar for my acting, but hopefully the performance will be enough to keep us off the Russians’ radar.

As soon as I’m in the car, the first thing I do is fish out the pen I used to sign the receipt for this car rental and the receipt itself. On the back, I write the address and phone number I kept in my head.

Then I start the car.

I’ve never been this antsy. I stare at the car’s digital clock, but it seems to have stopped. It feels like half an hour has passed when a single digit on the clock advances one minute.

The plan initially seemed simple enough—just wait for Eugene. I didn’t expect the suspense to be this torturous. I take a deep breath and mentally count to thirty. It doesn’t work.

There is something I can do, though, so I phase into the Quiet.

I’m in the backseat of the car. My frozen self is in the front. I’ve always wondered how the body I get in the Quiet decides where to show up. Of course, there is Eugene’s mention of this possibly not being a real body. That still doesn’t answer it completely. Whatever I inhabit now, who decided it should appear in the backseat? How did it get there? Why not show up, say, outside the car?

I open the door and get out. Now that he can’t see me staring, I can get a better look at Sergey. He seems to be bored, so I assume I didn’t raise his suspicions. Good. I also note the car he’s driving is actually pretty nice—a Mercedes, no less. Apparently crime does pay.

I walk into the building. The goons are now approaching the second floor. It’s scary how close they’re getting to Eugene.

I run all the way up to the fifth floor.

Thankfully, I see Eugene opening the elevator door. This is it. The plan is working.

I go back to the car and phase out.

The noises are back, and the digital clock in the car is supposed to work normally; only it’s still crawling. I wonder if using the Quiet messes with your time perception. I mean, how long can a few minutes last?

After what seems like another half hour of worry, but really is only three minutes according to the clock, I phase into the Quiet again. Eugene is still not out of the stupid elevator on the second floor.

I go back, phase out, wait ten seconds, and go back in. I repeat this a couple of times until I see the elevator door open. Yes! Finally.