“For some reason I’ve labeled him Bruce. Not sure why. Probably because he’s really pushing the macho biker look. Lots of denim, studded leather belt. Motorcycle boots. Tattoos. Wears his hair in a ponytail.”
“Sounds like one of the guys who attacked us.”
“No. A different man. But the same aura of energy. I’m pretty sure he’s a talent of some kind. Given the fact that he’s standing guard, I’m betting that he’s a hunter. But he doesn’t read like a full para- hunter.”
“What do you mean?” Chloe asked.
“I can sense weaknesses and vulnerabilities, remember? My talent tells me that Bruce doesn’t have the full spectrum of abilities that come with true hunter-talent. I don’t know how to explain it. There’s just something a little off about him.”
“Like the guy who was waiting for us in the motel room?”
“Yes.”
“That makes three bikers involved in this thing,” Chloe said. “A lot of low-end, not-so-bright muscle. Go on.”
“Bruce asks me if I need to take a leak.” He cleared his throat. “Uh, use the bathroom. I tell him yes and that I really need to go bad. My voice sounds mushy, even to my own ears.”
“Bruce unfastens the restraints?”
“Yeah. Tells me that if I piss in the sheets I’m going to have to clean it up, myself. Then he moves back and pushes the aluminum walker toward me. I’m sitting on the edge of the gurney. It takes almost everything I’ve got to stand. Feels like I’m moving through a sea of gelatin. But I take hold of the walker. That’s when I realize I’m wearing a hospital gown. Going to be tough to escape from wherever I am in an outfit like that.”
“What did you do next?” she asked.
“I try firing up my senses to see if that will give me some energy. I’m more than a little amazed when the room comes into sharper focus. I’m definitely stronger running hot. Not so shaky. I know I can’t rely on raw psi for very long, not burning it at this rate. But for a short period of time maybe it will give me what I need.”
He stopped talking for a moment, trying to process a few more memories. It was strange having them come back to him like this, as if he had just plucked them from a deep, dark hole.
“Was there a struggle?” Chloe prompted.
“No. I know I can’t take Bruce in a hand-to-hand fight. Not even on a good day and this is not a good day. Bruce might not be a full hunter, but he is powerful and he will be fast. It’s clear that he’s not expecting trouble from me, though. Why would he? I probably look like overcooked spaghetti to him. He lounges against the gurney and reaches for the can of chewing tobacco in his back pocket.”
He stopped again, replaying his own words, trying to absorb all the new data.
“Jack, what happened next?”
“I take one step and then another with the walker. When I’m satisfied that I can hold my own weight, I upend the aluminum frame and ram one of the legs straight toward Bruce’s gut.”
“Good grief. Did it work?”
“Almost. With a nonhunter I think it actually would have worked. But Bruce has the lightning-fast reactions of his talent going for him. He seizes the walker leg just before it hits him and he jerks the whole frame out of my hands. I lunge for the door, but I already know that I’m not going to make it. I can hear Bruce roaring behind me. He’s in a real ’roid rage, and he’s running wide open. He won’t just stop me, slap me around and tie me to the gurney again. He’s going to kill me. Won’t be able to help himself. He’s out of control.”
“Oh, geez.”
“And then, without even thinking about it, I know exactly how to stop Bruce.”
“With your talent?”
“My new talent.”
“Your fully developed talent,” Chloe said firmly.
“I hit him with a heavy wave of psi. Bruce grunts once and drops to the floor. He doesn’t move.”
“Dead?”
“No.” He frowned, trying to think. “Not then. But he was unconscious, and he must have died later because there was a report in the papers about an unidentified body found floating in Elliott Bay. The description sounded like Bruce, right down to the tattoos.”
“How did you get out of that room?” she asked.
“I took Bruce’s clothes. They didn’t fit, but it was the middle of the night, one or two in the morning, I think. There was no one around on the street. I knew where I was. Capitol Hill. I managed to stagger the two blocks to Broadway. The bars and clubs were closing. I got a cab. I remember the driver thought I was stone drunk. I paid him with some cash I found in Bruce’s wallet. I made it home and then I collapsed. When I woke up I couldn’t remember anything. I ran a fever for two days. Stayed in bed. Never been so sick in my life.”
“Did you talk to anyone?”
“No. When I finally recovered I told myself that the reason I couldn’t remember anything was that I’d been unconscious due to a raging fever. The report of a naked, tattooed male body being pulled out of the bay appeared that same day in the papers.”
“What was the cause of death?”
“Overdose, according to the press. The authorities figured he’d jumped from one of the ferries.”
“But you didn’t buy it,” Chloe said.
He met her eyes. “It was a little tough to believe that version of events when I had a bunch of biker leathers and denims along with a pair of motorcycle boots sitting in my closet.”
She pondered that for a moment. “You said the last thing you remembered before you woke up in that room was walking home after having a beer with a friend.”
“Right.”
“Well, that certainly explains the taint of the drugs that I saw in your dream psi. It wasn’t the sleeping meds—it was whatever they gave you to knock you out and keep you under in that room where they held you prisoner for twenty-four hours. Someone kidnapped you right off the street. You’re a wealthy man. I wonder if they planned to hold you for ransom.”
“No,” he said, very certain now. “This was all about the lamp. There has to be a connection.”
“Whoever grabbed you drugged you with something strong enough to give you amnesia for that twenty-four-hour period of time. There are several heavy-duty sedatives that could do that. Also a lot of illegal stuff. Whatever they used suppressed your memories for a while, but the effects of the drug were fading because your strong talent was reasserting itself. Sooner or later you would have remembered everything. Wonder if the kidnappers realize that?”