Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(58)

Jack watched Jonas and me. But if the blank look on his face was any indication, I wasn’t sure he was listening to the conversation.

“What do you think?” I asked Jack.

“About what?”

Are you even paying attention? Are you planning to carry a gun around?

I already do. He shrugged. Sometimes.

I stared at him. How did I not know that he carried a gun?

That was when I felt it. I had pretty much blocked Jack from reading my thoughts and I trusted him with my life, so I had stopped watching for his presence inside my head. But there he was, hanging out along the edges of my mind.

I moved my leg away from him, breaking his contact with my body. I stared across the room at Jonas. He cocked his head.

“Lexi, why don’t you want to learn to use a gun?” Seth asked.

I stood and walked over to the table where half a dozen guns lay, mainly to get out of reach of Jack. “Because, Seth, guns scare me. And if I’m scared of guns, and if I’m caught with a gun, I’m pretty sure it could be used against me.”

I searched my mind. Jack was definitely there. His presence, like always, was solid with concrete edges, comforting and protective. I kept searching.

“While I agree with you in theory,” Coach began. “I think you should at least learn how the different types work, where the safeties are, and how to clear them of ammunition.” He held up a bullet. “You can rest a little easier knowing these are rubber bullets. Getting shot with one of these would sting, but wouldn’t break the skin.”

Somehow, I was able to keep up this debate about guns while I searched my mind for other foreign presences. “I guess you’re right. I should at least learn. But I’d like to learn other weapons, too. I want to know other ways to protect myself that my enemies wouldn’t see coming.”

Jonas smiled. “So, can Seth continue? There are others here who aren’t such scaredy-cats.”

After glaring at Jonas, I spun around and returned to my seat. “Yes, please continue, Seth.”

I sat back down and kept all parts of my body out of reach of Jack’s while I searched through my mind again. Bypassing Jack’s presence, I found what I was looking for. It was like finding a few specks of pepper in a shaker of salt. Jonas was sneaky, hiding in the tiny crevices of the outskirts of my consciousness.

I immediately stretched my foot back out and made contact with Jack. He pressed the length of his leg into mine. While I could still see the tiny granules of Jonas’s presence, I blocked his mind games with Jack’s help.

“So, the gun you’re holding now,” I said, trying to prove I was listening. “Is that a typical issue for IIA agents?”

Coach held it loosely in his palm. “This one? This is a Glock 19, and yes, some law enforcement would carry this or something very similar. But IIA agents would also carry backup weapons of their own, so it’s good to know different types.”

I liked the idea of backup weapons.

Briana and Danielle both paid close attention to Seth’s and Coach Williams’s lessons. Kyle seemed to hang on every word as well. Jonas was more interested in watching the others in the room. Something told me he purposely avoided my glares, but he did not avoid looking at Briana, and often.

Jack continued to shift in his chair. His gaze shifted from me to the classroom door to Jonas. His anxiety seemed to grow. I wanted to know why, but I didn’t want to ask now when we would have to mindspeak. I didn’t want to risk Jonas hearing our conversation.

Toward the end of the lesson, Seth and Coach handed each of us a Glock and showed us how to unload and reload a magazine of bullets, while making sure a bullet isn’t left in the chamber.

While I practiced with one of the pieces, Jack wandered over to Coach and spoke with him privately. Jonas helped Briana, Seth discussed something with Kyle, and Danielle and I unloaded and reloaded our own firearms.

The guns definitely made me nervous, but the fact that the bullets were rubber eased my worry somewhat. I unloaded and reloaded the Glock three more times while I stared daggers at Coach and Jack. What were they talking about? Jack had been acting nervous all afternoon, and now he was having private conversations.

After the fifth time I successfully reloaded the gun, I set it down not so gently on the desk in front of me. Every head in the room jerked toward me. “What?” I asked with a shrug.

Jonas shook his head.

Jack’s lips stretched into a thin line. Will you please remember that you’re handling a deadly weapon? For someone who claimed to be scared of guns not one hour ago…

I started to answer him, when Danielle stood and turned toward the rest of us. Backing away from us toward the door, she brought the loaded Glock up and pointed it directly at her temple.

“Dani?” I stood slowly, my hands stretched out as if for balance.

She held her free hand out. “Don’t come close.” A tear formed in her eye.

“Danielle?” Kyle was on his feet, too. “What are you doing?”

“It’s not me,” she said.

I shot a panicked look to Jack.

Someone’s in her head, Jonas mindspoke.

“Dani, can you feel someone in your head?” I asked.

She cocked her head and squinted her eyes at me. “Feel them? What kind of question is that?”

A crazy one, I guessed.