Daniel called Frank and, after telling him the good news about Rollie, explained that there wouldn’t be any point in bringing Dylan all the way over to the hospital since they wouldn’t be there much longer.

“Would you mind watching him for a while longer?” he asked.  “We’d like to get Rollie home and all settled first.”

“No, we don’t mind,” Frank assured him.  “Or I should say that Sarah won’t mind.  She’s on her own with the kids today since I’m at work.  How about if I bring Dylan to the loft after lunch?”

“That would be fine.  But wouldn’t you have to leave work?  Couldn’t Sarah bring him?”

“Her car’s in the shop.  She’s pretty much stuck at home.  But it’s all right.  I can bring him.”

“Okay, we’ll see you then.  Oh, and pass on the good news to Leo, okay?”

“Sure thing.”

“Hey, did anyone think to bring me some clothes?” Rollie was asking when Daniel returned to the room.

Angie snapped her fingers.  “Oh, darn!  I just knew there was something I forgot.  Gee, Rol.  I guess you’ll have to stay another day.”

Rollie smiled sarcastically.  “You had better be joking, Ange.  Otherwise, I’m going to make you go out and buy me new clothes to wear home.”

“Well, if I get to pick the color of the shirt, it’s a deal,” Angie shot back.

“And what do you mean by that?”

“Rollie, have you looked at your wardrobe lately?  You may look good in black, but I’d sort of like to see you in another color on occasion.  And a plain white T-shirt doesn’t count.”

“I wear other colors sometimes,” Rollie objected.

“You do?  When.  Those pajamas you’re wearing are the most color I’ve seen on you in years, except for when you play ‘dress-up’ for the cops.”

“I like black,” the Aussie said petulantly.

“No kidding.”

Rollie turned to his brother for support but then noticed that the minister was wearing a pale yellow shirt and brown pants.  He sighed.  “Yeah, okay, so maybe I do wear a little too much black.  I’ll go out and buy some neon shirts and checkered pants the first chance I get.”

“I hate to break it to you, Rol, but passion pink just isn’t your color.”

Everyone else laughed, and Rollie smiled, a genuine one this time.  “So, did you bring some clothes for me or not?”

“Yes, I did.  I’ll go down and get them.”

Not fast enough to suit Rollie, his discharge from the hospital was complete, and he was on his way home.  He sat in the passenger seat of the Caddy, soaking up the feeling of the sun and wind on his face.  A part of him was sorry when they reached the loft.  But the happiness of being home soon made him forget that.

“Hey, Blue!” Rollie said to his electronic pet, who was barking and wagging his tail like crazy.  “Did you think I disappeared again?”  Bluey whined in reply.

“Oh, he was definitely concerned, Rol,” Angie told him.  “He kept pacing up and down the floor and staring at the door.  I had to reassure him several times that you were coming home.”

Rollie went into the loft.  He moved slowly and cautiously, careful not to twist or turn in a way that would put a strain on his wound.

“How do you feel?” Daniel asked him.

“Pretty good.  I can tell that my stamina isn’t even close to normal, though.”

“Well, it’s going to take some time to get back up to full speed.”

“Yeah.  Not too long though, I hope.”

There was something about the way Rollie spoke the sentence that made Angie wonder what was on his mind.  “What are you thinking, Rol?”

The Aussie shrugged.  “It’s just something that I’m hoping to be able to do, but I don’t know if I will.”  An almost wistful expression formed on his face.  “I hope I will.”

“What?” Daniel asked gently.

Rollie settled on the arm of the couch.  He didn’t speak for a moment, just studied the floor between his feet.  “It’s just that, um . . . our birthday is in two weeks, and it . . . would be really nice if we could celebrate it together.”

The quietly uttered sentence, spoken with a note of deep longing, tugged at everyone’s heart.  Daniel came forward and rested his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“That would be wonderful, Rollie.  I would love it if we could.  But I don’t know if you’d be physically well enough in two weeks to travel that far.  That’s a long time to sit on a plane.  If you’re like me, being on a plane for just a couple of hours is uncomfortable.  They didn’t make coach seating with guys like us in mind.”

Rollie smiled faintly.  “Yeah, tell me about it.  If I’m in a window seat, my knees are just about in my chest, and if I’m on an aisle seat, I spend half the flight trying to find a way to have both legs out in the aisle without tripping the flight attendants.”  The smiled disappeared.  “If I’m not all healed by then, I think that the only way I could do it is if we flew first class, and that’s not cheap.  What with all the hospital bills hanging over my head, two first class tickets across the country would be pretty hard to swing.  Also, Angie and I really need to get back to work as soon as possible to bring in some money.”

“Rollie, you’re not going to be able to go back to work for a while,” Angie said.  “If you had a desk job or even something that just requires light manual labor, then you could probably go back to work before you’re all well, but our job can be physically exhausting and requires putting in long hours.  You should wait until you’re completely healed.”

“What about this guy who wants to buy your game?” Dingo asked.  “You said that you might be able to work out a deal to get money up front.”

Rollie nodded.  “Yeah, it’s possible, but not for certain.  Besides, that’s not a sure thing.  Once Mister Hampshire calculates how much it would cost to manufacture all the equipment needed for the game, he might change his mind.  We really can’t count on it.”  He gave a sigh.  “I won’t be able to make any plans until I know what’s going to happen.  I might have to get a loan, which I hate the thought of.”

“Rollie, though I love the idea of us celebrating our birthdays together, I wouldn’t want you to put a big strain on your budget.”  Daniel gave his twin’s shoulder a squeeze.  “Even if you can’t be there physically, you can be with me psychically.”  He smiled.  “I’ll even let you get into my head again and have cake and ice cream with me.”

The Aussie gave him a weak smile.  He didn’t express his other concern, his fear that being closed up in a plane for that many hours would bring on an attack of claustrophobia.  But he desperately wanted to spend his birthday with his twin.  It was more than just that, though.  He also wanted to go someplace where he could be under the open sky, where there were birds, and trees and wide open spaces.  No, he didn’t just want it, he needed it.  Even if it was only for a week or so, he needed that kind of freedom to drive the specter of those months as a prisoner out of his mind.

Angie studied the expression on the face of the man she loved.  She could tell that this was a lot more important to Rollie than he was letting on.  She came up to him and wrapped her arm around his waist.

“We’ll figure something out, Rol,” she promised him.

They changed the subject and talked about other things for a few minutes.

“Well, unless you guys need me, I’m going over to Chet’s,” Dingo said a short while later.

“Yeah, speaking of Chet, are you finally going to start work on Monday?” Rollie asked.  Dingo’s first day at work at been delayed yet again when Chet decided that it would be best for Dingo to start on Monday instead of Wednesday, giving the reason that it was the beginning of a new pay period and would, therefore, be easier with the accounting.  Rollie suspected that the real reason was that the big-hearted bar owner had thought Dingo should spend a little more time with his son.

“Yes, I am definitely going to start on Monday,” Dingo replied.  “But I want to go over there this morning so he can help me some more with mixing drinks.”

“Just don’t poison him, Dad.  That would not be a good impression to make on your new boss.”

Everyone else except Dingo laughed.  After a moment, Rollie’s father laughed too, seeing the look of teasing mirth in his son’s eyes.  He’d come close to never seeing life in those eyes again.  It was good to see Rollie laughing, albeit silently, even if it was at his expense.

“I have places to go as well,” Mangela said.  “I will be returning home soon, and there are things in New York that I wish to see before I go.”

The smile in Rollie’s eyes dimmed.  He sighed.  “Yeah, I guess you will have to be going back home, won’t you.  I bet Ukiri and Karingana are beginning to wonder what happened to you.”

“Ukiri and Karingana?” Alex asked, not quite pronouncing the names right.

“My daughters,” Mangela explained.

“Pretty names.  Unusual.”

“Those are their tribal names.  They have other names, those that they use when they are not with the People.”

“What about your wife?  I should think that she would be worried about you, too.”

“My wife’s Dreaming reached its end many years ago,” Mangela told Alex quietly.

“Oh.  I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.  The years she had with the People were good ones.”

After Dingo and Mangela had left, Daniel decided to call his parents.

“Daniel.  We were just about to call you,” Bonnie said.  “We called the hospital and found out that Rollie was released.  Is he home?”

“Yeah.  We just got here a little while ago.”

“I bet he’s relieved to be out of that hospital.”

“Oh, yeah.  Most definitely.  What are you and Dad up to right now?”

“Your father is working on the sermon he’s going to give at the fair tomorrow,” his mother replied.  “I was just about to head over to help some of the people who are organizing it.  They’re going to be setting things up today.  Will you be able to participate tomorrow?”

“Yes, I will.  Rollie’s going to work on giving me a new face so that no one will recognize me.”

Bonnie laughed.  “Well, that will be interesting.”

“Um, would you be able to put off going over to the fair for a little while?” Daniel asked.

“Certainly.  What is it, Daniel?  Is something wrong?”

“No, not really.  Something happened that I need to tell you and Dad about.”

“Oh.  All right.  Do you want us to come over there?”

“No, we’ll come to the hotel.  We’ll head over there now.”

“All right.  We’ll see you in a little while, then.”

Daniel hung up the phone with a slight sigh.

“You’re going to tell them about the mugging?” Rollie asked.

“Yeah.  I really can’t keep it from them.  I hate to think what Dad’s reaction is going to be, though.  He’s been wanting me to take a bodyguard with me wherever I go.  Once he finds out that Alex and I got mugged and nearly shot last night. . . .”

“He’ll freak out,” Angie said.

Daniel laughed.  “Trust me, Angie.  The Reverend Cliff Cooper does not ‘freak out’.  But he will be even more adamant about the bodyguard.  I understand his concern, but I am not going to spend the rest of my time in New York with one of his men acting as my shadow.”  He sighed again.  “Well, I’ll just have to deal with it somehow.”  He looked at Alex.  “Will you be coming with me?”

“Of course.”

“Daniel, do you want me to put together a quick disguise for you to wear?” Rollie asked.  “I imagine there’s a good chance that the press are hanging around the hotel, especially since the ad for the fair came out in the morning edition, mentioning that your father is going to be speaking at it.”

“Hmm.  That might be a good idea.  But it needs to be something that I can remove easily, then put back on.”

A wicked grin curved Rollie’s lips.  “Oh, don’t worry.  It will be.”

Daniel stared at his twin.  “Well, if I wasn’t worried before, I am now.  What have you got in mind?”

The Aussie held up his hands.  “I promise, Daniel.  It’s nothing extreme.”  He got up and fetched his makeup case.  “Come on.  Let’s go upstairs.”

It took a lot longer for Rollie to get up the stairs than what it normally would, and the activity increased his respiration, which caused his chest to ache.

“You okay?” Daniel asked in concern once they’d gotten to Rollie’s bedroom.

“Yeah. I’m all right.  It’ll pass.”

“Maybe you should keep your trips upstairs to a minimum until you’ve healed more.”

Rollie shook his head.  “I need to build up my stamina.  If I baby myself, it’s going to take that much longer for me to get back to full steam.”

“Well, just don’t overdo it.  I don’t want you thinking you have to do a Rocky Balboa and go running up and down the stairs a few hundred times.”

The Aussie grinned.  “Daniel, I couldn’t do that before all this happened, so I sure wouldn’t think I could do it now.”  He set the case down on the bed.  Then he rubbed his hands together with a gleeful smile.  “Come on.  Let’s get to work.”

Daniel glanced up toward the ceiling.  “Heaven help me.”

It was less than fifteen minutes later when they went back downstairs.  Angie was busy showing Alex a program on the computer, so they didn’t notice the twins’ return.  The men walked up to the workstation.

“So, what do you think?” Daniel asked.

Alex turned to look at her fiancé just as he smiled . . . revealing the biggest buckteeth she’d ever seen in her life.  She stared in astonishment for a couple of seconds then started laughing so hard that she was in danger of falling out of her chair.  Daniel turned to his brother.

“I think she finds it amusing,” he said, deadpan, the fake teeth giving him a slight lisp.

“I believe you may be right,” Rollie responded, his face equally impassive.

Alex gasped for breath, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.  “That’s . . . that’s quite a disguise, Daniel.”  She noticed that he was also wearing long sideburns, and his hair was slicked straight back from his forehead.  The very simple disguise changed the minister’s appearance so much that only someone who knew him well would recognize him, and then only if they saw him up close.

“Rollie wanted me to wear a wig, but I drew the line at the sideburns.”  Daniel held out his arm for Alex to take.  “So, sweetheart.  Shall we go?” he asked, deliberately forcing the air through his teeth on each ‘s’ so that he made a whistling sound.

Alex giggled and took his arm.  “Certainly, you handsome devil you.”

They headed out the door, leaving Rollie and Angie alone.

The Aussie chuckled.  “I wish I could see the look on Cliff’s and Bonnie’s faces when they see him.”

“That would be a sight.”  She looked up at Rollie.  “You should sit and rest for a while.”

Rollie opened his mouth to say that he was all right, then changed his mind.  It wasn’t worth the argument.  Besides, going up and down the stairs had fatigued him a little.  “Actually, there is something I want to do on my computer.  Where’s the bag that you put the stuff from the stand beside my hospital bed in?”

A faint feeling of dread building in her, Angie fetched the bag.  She knew what he wanted from it.  It was something that wasn’t there.  She had forgotten to put the notebook pages and business card back in the drawer.  By the time she remembered, it was too late to sneak them in with the rest of the stuff.

Chewing on her lower lip, she handed the bag to Rollie, then went to where she’d laid her purse.  She could hear the Aussie rummaging around in the bag.

“That’s funny.  They’re not in here,” he muttered.  “Ange, when you cleared out the drawer, did you notice a few sheets of notebook paper folded together?”

“You mean these?” she asked quietly, holding the sheets out to him.

Rollie paused, staring at the pages, then took them.  “Yeah.”  He looked at her.  Almost immediately, she dropped her gaze from his.

“I, um . . . I needed Trent’s business card so that I could call him at home,” she told him in a low voice.  “I snuck it out of the drawer while we were all having pizza.  When I did, those fell out onto the floor and slid under the bed.  I managed to get them later, but I couldn’t slip them back in the drawer, so I stuck them in my purse.  I was going to sneak them back into the drawer this morning.”

“Did you read them?” Rollie asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

“Yeah.”  Angie met his gaze.  “I’m sorry, Rol.  I know I shouldn’t have, and I was going to tell you about it.  I just--” her apology was stopped by Rollie’s fingers on her lips.

“It’s okay, Ange.  You would have read it eventually anyway.  I did give you permission to read my journal.”

“Yes, I know, but I still shouldn’t have done it, not like that.”

Rollie pulled her into his arms and looked into her eyes.  “I wrote those words about you, Angie, about the way I feel about you and how lucky I am to have you in my life.  I want you to know how I feel about all of this, about the fact that you love me, which is a miracle in itself, the fact that you want to marry me, and the life we’re going to share with the children I hope we’ll have together.”

Angie pulled him closer, pressing her face against his neck for a few seconds.  Then she drew back and met his gaze.  “I want you to know how I feel too, Rol.  Look on the shared drive.  There is a new directory called Angie.  There’s something I want you to read in it.”  She gave him a kiss and withdrew from his arms.  “I’ve got some stuff to do up in the cleanroom.  Call me when you’re done.”

Rollie opened the directory she’d mentioned and found a text document file called Angie001.  Pausing a moment, he double-clicked on the file name.  The proper program was launched, and the file opened.

July 13, 2000
 
It’s been a very long time since I wrote in a journal, not since I started college.  With my busy life at NYU, I lost first the time then the need to put my thoughts and feeling down in words.  I find myself beginning the practice again after all these years because of one thing: Rollie.  Not long ago, he gave to me a precious gift, the privilege of reading his journal.  His journal wasn’t about his experiences or the everyday events of his life; it was about me, about his thoughts and feelings for me.  I can’t say how much it means to me that he would share those intensity private thoughts.  I have read only four entries in his journal so far, but each one has touched me profoundly.  It has given me a look into his soul, into something that dwells within his heart that I didn’t even know was there until a short while ago.

And so, like his journal, this one will focus on one subject: him and the feelings that I have for him.  To start it off, I will go back to a day that will always be one of the most important in my life.

Two years, three months, one week and two days ago, a huge part of my life changed forever.  That was the day I realized that the love of my life, the man I’d want to spend forever with, was the same man who had been right there beside me for fourteen years.  It was the day I realized that I was in love with Rollie.

There was a man named Victor Loubar, an international weapons dealer and assassin and one of the most evil men I’ve ever met.  Rollie had tangled with him on two occasions, foiling his plans both times.  In April of ‘98, Loubar came back again, this time seeking revenge.  Loubar was a master of disguise.  The first time Rollie went up against him, it was after he’d posed as Rollie as part of a plot to steal and sell a top secret weapon called a smart grenade.  When Loubar came back for revenge, he posed as Rollie again.  But, this time, he tried to frame Rollie for murder.  That was going to be his revenge, to see Rollie rot in prison for something Loubar did.  It was a tight frame-up.  Loubar was smart.  He planted just enough evidence that a jury would be certain to convict Rollie, but not so much that people would question why someone as smart as Rollie would make so many mistakes.  And the victim was somebody Rollie had reason hate, the owner of another SPFX company who stole a big movie contract out from under us by lying about things in Rollie’s past.

But Loubar’s plan didn’t stop at framing Rollie.  He planted evidence against me, too, making it look like I’d been an accomplice to the murder.  He wanted to get revenge on me for the part I’d played in foiling his plans the second time.  But, more than that, it was an additional part of his desire for revenge against Rollie.  He knew that it would tear Rollie up inside to see me imprisoned.  Rollie would have blamed himself for it.

Loubar came very close to succeeding.  But, as smart as he was, Rollie was smarter.  And Rollie also had an advantage that Loubar could not have anticipated.  Not quite a month earlier, there was an accident on one of our movies that gave Rollie a concussion--and woke up an ability within him that he hadn’t used since he was a child, the ability to see the future.  Just before Loubar returned for his revenge, Rollie had a couple of visions that, though he didn’t realize it at the time, were a warning about Loubar.  It was Rollie’s brilliance and those visions that enabled him to prove that he was not the killer and show who really was.  He also discovered Loubar’s whereabouts.  Rollie, the cops and I tried to capture Loubar, but something went horribly wrong.

I still get a tight feeling in my stomach when I think about that moment, the moment when I stood there, helpless, and watched Loubar put a gun to Rollie’s head.  He was going to kill Rollie, and both Rollie and I knew it.  I looked into Rollie’s eyes, and all I could think about was that I was going to lose him.
 
But, again, Rollie beat Loubar.  At almost the last second, he figured out the meaning of one of his visions.  He managed to trick Loubar and get away from him.  A few seconds later, Leo was there and took Loubar down permanently.
 
Afterward, when it was all over, it really hit me how close I’d come to losing Rollie, and I suddenly knew that, if he had died, I would have died, too.  That’s when I knew the truth about my feelings for him, when I finally realized that I was head over heels in love with him.

But that was only the day I woke up to that fact.  In truth, I have been in love with him all of my adult life.  It started as a childhood crush, and, unknown to me until that day, grew into a love so deep that I couldn’t find any words in the any language to describe it.
 
I shake my head now when I look back and see how blind I was.  Why didn’t I see it before?  It seems so obvious to me now.  I knew I was attracted to him physically.  I knew that I wanted more than just friendship with him.  I’d been wondering how we would be together ever since I was seventeen years old, for Pete’s sake.  Yet I actually fooled myself into thinking that it was just physical.  I was such an idiot.

Rollie smiled.  He hadn’t known about the crush Angie had on him as a child, and he definitely hadn’t known about the fact that she first started feeling attracted to him when she was only seventeen.  What would he have done back then if he had known?  Probably nothing.  He hadn’t been anywhere near ready to admit his own attraction to Angie.

For two years I performed the best acting job of my life.  I pretended that I was not utterly and completely in love with Rollie.  I really don’t know how I did it.  More than anything in the world I wanted to be with him, to hold him in my arms and kiss him, to make love with him.  I couldn’t tell him.  I thought for sure that Rollie didn’t feel the same, and I didn’t want him to know that his “little sister” was totally in love with him.  It would have hurt too much when he rejected my love, though I know that he would have been very sweet and gentle about it.  Yet, even as sure as I was that he didn’t love me, I still held the hope deep inside that I was wrong, that Rollie would one day show me that he loved me after all.
 
Then, on March 18th of this year, it all came to an end, all my hopes, all my dreams, everything.  On that day, I thought I lost Rollie, that the man I loved more than life was gone forever.  For fifteen of the most horrible weeks of my life, I continued to believe that.  During most of those weeks, I was dead, too.  My body just hadn’t gotten the message.  I lived in a haze of unbearable agony, with no joy, no laughter, no feelings except the aching emptiness in my heart and the pain of knowing that I’d never see Rollie alive again.  The only hope I had left was that I’d be reunited with him in death.  And I wanted that death.  I wished for it every day, hoping, praying that some accident or illness would take me away from this world and into the next, where I could be with the man that I still knew I would love for the rest of my life.

Rollie stopped as the words blurred too much to read.  He blinked away his tears, swallowing painfully.  Waiting until he’d regained some control, he continued.

But then a miracle happened.  Rollie was given back to me.  I could not possibly describe the joy I felt that moment I found out he was alive.  My life had been given back to me.  I cannot thank God enough for that.
 
Rollie has been through so much.  He has suffered more than anyone could truly imagine.  Yet his strength and courage has never faltered.  He is even more amazing and . . . beautiful to me than he was before.  He was cast into the fires of hell and came back out even stronger than he was before, though I have a feeling he believes just the opposite.  He has no idea how incredible a person he is.

It was thirteen days ago when another miracle happened.  Rollie told me that he loved me.  I have wanted to hear those words for so long.  The moment our lips met in our first kiss I felt something unlike anything I have ever experienced before.  It was so much more than a just kiss.  Rollie said it best when he said that it was like we were sharing a part of ourselves with each other.  It was incredible.  And then, a few days later, I found heaven.  I know that sounds corny, but it’s true.  Heaven couldn’t be any better than what I felt when Rollie brought me into the Dreamtime and we made love.  Again, Rollie echoed my thoughts when he said that it was the most indescribably beautiful thing he’d ever experienced, that it was as if we became one person, one soul.  I would never have dreamed that it could be possible to share a connection with someone that was so absolute.  I cannot wait to experience that connection again, only, this time, on a physical level as well.
 
I think that, after all the suffering I went through, God must have decided that I was due for an equal measure of joy, more than equal, in fact.  I was given a third miracle when Rollie proposed to me.  It happened shortly after I thought that I was going to lose him again, when he came so close to death that he stood upon the event horizon of heaven.  In less than a month and a half, we will become husband and wife.  The childhood dreams I had when I first knew him are going to come true.  We’re going to spend our lives together.  There is nothing on earth or in heaven that I could want more.
 
Rollie thinks that he doesn’t deserve me, that I could do better than him.  He has no idea how wrong he is.  How can he not see how truly wonderful a person he is?  How can he not see that nobody could be better for me than him.  Nobody could make me feel the way he does.  He is perfect for me, and I hope that he feels the same way about me.

‘I do, Angie.  You are perfect for me,’ Rollie answered silently.

I do understand Rollie’s feelings, though, since I used to feel something similar.  For all those years that I was attracted to him, I felt inadequate compared to the other women he’s been with, those women with their long legs, big breasts, tall, shapely figures and gorgeous faces.  It never surprised me that I thought Rollie felt no physical attraction to me.  What did I have to offer compared to them?

“My God, Angie,” Rollie whispered.  “They were nothing compared to you.  No woman could compare to you.”

But I now realize that, though I may not measure up to those women physically, I can offer Rollie something they never did, perhaps never could.  I can offer him my heart and soul, everything that I am.  I can give him the rest of my life.  And that’s what I intend to do.  I’m giving me to him, my . . . my songline.  In truth, it has always belonged to him.
 
Rollie says that he wants children.  I want that, too.  I keep seeing in my mind little boys and girls who look like him and maybe a little like me.  I want to feel life growing inside me that Rollie helped put there and watch him be the wonderful daddy that I know he will be.
 
I can see the years before us so clearly, raising a family, our children growing up to have kids of their own.  I see us growing old together, always at each other’s side.  We may never be rich, we may never have the big success in our careers that we might want, but no life could be better than what I will have with him.  It wouldn’t be possible.

Rollie stared at the words on the screen, feeling them burrow deep into his heart.  He looked up at the cleanroom, where he could see Angie at work.  He could feel her up there, not just her physical presence but her songline too, the songline that she’d just told him belonged to him.

Taking as deep a breath as he could, Rollie closed his eyes and focused on that songline.  He reached out to it, embraced it, pulled it close to him, into him, until he could feel only her and the thrumming pulse of her life.

‘Angie,’ he quietly spoke in his mind.  Hoping that she would hear him.

Angie sat before her computer, not really seeing what she was doing.  Her mind was on Rollie and what he was reading.  She hoped that her words could impart at least some small measure of her feelings toward him.  She wanted him to know how much he meant to her and how lucky she felt having his love.

Sighing softly, Angie attempted to concentrate on her project.  Her hands returned to the keyboard--then suddenly froze.  Her breath caught, eyes widening as the most amazing sensation took hold of her.  She felt what she had come to know was Rollie’s songline envelop her.  It flowed through her mind and soul like a warm current of water, washing away everything except the strong, clear presence of him.

‘Angie,’ his voice said in her mind.

‘Rollie?’

She sensed him smile.  ‘Yes.’

‘What’s happening?’

‘I think I’m recreating some part of what we experienced in the Dreamtime, though I can’t psychically feel your body like I did then.  I wanted to be a part of you, Angel.  I want you to really know how much I love you.  Can you feel it, Angie?’

Angie closed her eyes.  Yes, she could feel it, in every part of her being.  It was so strong it almost overwhelmed her.

Tears coming to her eyes, she smiled.  ‘I feel it, Rol.  Can you feel how much I love you?’

‘Yes, Angie.  I feel it.’  Rollie’s mental voice held the equivalent of a tremor.  ‘Come here.’

Angie immediately went downstairs, their connection staying intact.  Their eyes locked upon each other.  Angie came up to him and, wanting to be as physically close to him as possible, climbed up onto his lap.  He pulled her close and nestled his face into her neck.  Then he lifted his head and pulled her lips down to his.  They opened to each other, mouths hungry, but not frantic, tongues mating, then parting in a sensual dance.

The kiss went on until both of them were light-headed from lack of oxygen.  Rollie rested his forehead against Angie’s, his eyes closed as he soaked in the feeling of the closeness of their songlines.  Then he raised his head and looked straight into her eyes.  He took her face between her hands.

“Angie, I want to make something perfectly clear to you,” he said aloud, wanting her to hear this with her ears.  “All the other women I’ve dated couldn’t hold a candle to you.”

Angie’s eyes fell from his.  “I didn’t write that because I wanted you to stroke my ego, Rollie.  I wrote it because of what you said in that journal entry.  You said that you felt like you didn’t deserve me, and I wanted you to see how I had felt something similar, only from the standpoint of my physical appearance.  Now that I know you love me, all those feelings I had don’t matter.  I know that physical beauty is not what’s important.  You don’t love me because of the way I look.  Love is more than that.”

“You’re right, Ange.  Love is more than that.  Even if you were ugly, I’d still love you.  But you need to understand something.  In my eyes, you are more beautiful than anyone I’ve ever known.  You are so much more to me than beautiful.”  Rollie ran his hands over her body, making her respiration increase.  “I cannot tell you how many times I have fantasized about your body.  I can’t count the times I saw your lovely face in my dreams.  You have no reason to feel inferior about the way you look.  You’re perfect just the way you are.  It doesn’t matter that those other women were taller, or had bigger breasts, or longer legs.  You are the woman who has occupied my dreams, and my fantasies,” he looked into her eyes, “and my heart for a long, long time.  You will always be the only woman I want.  You are perfect for me, and I will desire you long after I’m too old to do anything about it.”

Their lips met again, passion rising until Rollie’s injury reminded him of its presence.  His mouth twisted in a half-smile.  “I guess this isn’t such a good idea, huh.”

“No, probably not.  It’s just as well that we both decided to wait until we’re married, though I have to tell you that these next few weeks are going to be agony for me.”

Rollie’s smile became full-blown.  “For me, too.”  His smile faded.  “I don’t want to release you.”

Angie grinned.  “Well, I have no objections to staying right where I am for a few more minutes.”

‘No.  I mean in this way,’ Rollie told her silently.

‘Oh.  Do you . . . do you have to?’ Angie asked, also in her mind.

‘Yes.  It takes some concentration to keep it at this level.  And it’s so strong right now that you’re all I can feel.  It’s overwhelming my senses.’

‘Yeah, mine too.  Can you still feel Daniel?’

‘Um . . . yeah, but only if I pay attention to it.’

Angie gave a mental sigh.  ‘I guess we can’t stay like this.  It would be hard to function.  But . . . can we stay this way for just a little while longer?’

Rollie pulled her close, and they rested their heads on each other’s shoulders.  ‘Yeah.  For a little while longer.’

They sat together in silence, both physical and mental, absorbed in the feeling of each other.  Finally, though, Rollie slowly lessened the connection of their songlines until it was like it was before.  With a sad sigh, Angie got up.

Rollie reached for her hand.  “We’ll do that again, Ange.  Soon.”

Angie smiled and nodded.  “Um, I want to finish what I was doing.  Or, rather, what I was trying to do.  Maybe you should get some rest.  I’ll be back down in about an hour.”

“Okay.”

As Rollie watched Angie head for the spiral staircase leading up to the cleanroom, he had a sudden need to know something.  ‘Ange?’ he called in his mind.

She turned around.  “Yeah?”

A bright smile lit the Aussie’s face.

“What?  What is it?” Angie asked, puzzled.

‘You can still hear me.’

Angie’s eyes widened when she realized that the voice she was hearing was not verbal.  “I can!  I can still hear you,” she said with a happy laugh.  ‘Can you still hear me?’

Rollie grinned back at her.  ‘Yeah, I can.’

‘Wow.  Is this the way it feels when you and Daniel speak telepathically?’

‘Yes.’

A big grin grew on Angie’s face, one that held a touch of wickedness.  ‘This could be fun.’

‘How so?’

‘Oh, it’s just an idea I had,’ she replied vaguely.

‘Uh oh.  Have I good reason to be afraid?’

‘Nope.  I promise.  It’s nothing to fear.’

‘Hmm.  I’m not so sure of that, Angela.’

Angie gave him a mysterious smile, then turned and made her way upstairs.  The Aussie chuckled, wondering what she had in mind.  He guessed that he would find out sooner or later.

Daniel walked with Alex through the lobby of the hotel.  He felt rather odd being there wearing the disguise.  He wondered if Rollie felt the same way the first few times he wore a disguise.  Knowing his brother as he did, he had a feeling that the Aussie hadn’t had any problems with it at all.

The minister was very glad he was wearing the disguise, however, when he saw a group of people wearing press ID’s gathered in a corner of the lobby.  Trying not to look nervous, he and Alex quickly left the lobby and headed up to the Executive Park Suite.  Bonnie answered their knock on the door.  Her eyes widened and her lips parted in shock as she saw her son.

Blinking a couple of times, she stammered, “Uh . . . D-Daniel.  That is a very, um, interesting disguise.”

Alex smiled.  “I said the same thing.”

Daniel grinned.  “Yeah, after she finished laughing herself silly.”

Bonnie smiled.  “Well, come on in.”

As they entered the common room of the suite, Cliff was coming out of one of the bedrooms.  He came to a very abrupt halt when he saw Daniel.

“Who. . . .”  He looked more closely.  “Daniel?” he said in astonishment.

Daniel grinned again.  “Like the new look, Dad?”

For the first time in Daniel’s memory, he actually saw his father rendered speechless.  It only took the televangelist a few seconds to recover, however.

“I’d have to say that it’s, um, very effective.  I almost didn’t recognize you myself.”

“Yeah, and it’s a good thing I’m wearing it.  There’s a bunch of reporters down in the lobby.”

Cliff nodded.  “The hotel management told us about it.  They want to get a statement from me about the fair.”

Daniel removed the fake teeth, which had started to irritate his gums and upper lip.  “Are you going to give them one?”

“Yes, I told them I’d come down in half an hour.  That should give us some time to talk.  So, what is it that you needed to tell us.”

Daniel suggested that they all sit down.  He then started to tell his parents about the mugging.  As soon as he got to the part where the mugger pulled the gun and demanded their money and jewelry, Bonnie gasped.

“Oh my lord!  Daniel, you could have both been seriously hurt.  You are all right, aren’t you?  He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

Daniel reached across the space separating them and squeezed her hand reassuringly.  “We’re fine, Mom.  He didn’t hurt us.”

“Your mother is right,” Cliff said.  “You could have been hurt or even killed.  We can thank God that you weren’t.”

“God and Rollie,” Daniel responded.

“Rollie?  How did he help?” Bonnie asked.

“He sensed immediately that I was in danger and called 911.”

“Oh, thank goodness for that.”

Daniel nodded.  He had no intention of telling them the rest of Rollie’s part in the drama if he could avoid it.  When Rollie was helping him with his disguise, Daniel had asked his brother whether or not he wanted Cliff and Bonnie to know about what Rollie had done to the mugger.  The Aussie had replied that, if he had to tell them, then do so, but Daniel could see that Rollie didn’t want them to know.

“So, the police arrested the man?” Cliff asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, thank the Lord, and Rollie, for that.”  Cliff shook his head.  “This is very disturbing, Daniel.  I sincerely wish that you’d had one of my men with you.  They could have protected you.”

“How, Dad?  Your men don’t carry guns.  The mugger was armed.  If one of your men had been with us and tried to disarm the mugger, he might have been shot, along with the rest of us.”

“But if someone had been with you, that man might not have attempted to mug you in the first place.”

“Yeah, that’s possible.  It also might not have made a difference.  The guy was a drug addict.  He wasn’t thinking rationally.”  Daniel sighed.  “But that’s not the real point.  This had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I’m your son.  Alex and I simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  What happened to us happens to thousands of people every year in New York.  People get mugged.  People become the victims of violent crimes.  They can’t all have bodyguards to protect them.”

“But you can.  I can give you that protection.”

“Yes, you can, and I appreciate that you’re worried about me.  But, Dad, when I went to Hope Island, I was starting a life of my own, separate from yours and Cooper Ministries.  Since then, I’ve become my own man.  I’ve learned to rely on myself.  I make my own mistakes, and I accept responsibility for those mistakes and deal with the consequences, fixing them when I can.  When I decided to stay on Hope Island instead of joining your ministry, I chose to continue leading my own life.  I can’t let that change now.”  Daniel looked into his father’s eyes.  “I know you want to protect me because you care about me, Dad, and that means a lot to me.  But you have to let me make my own decisions and go my own way.”

Cliff gazed at his son, all at once seeing the strong, determined, responsible man he had become.  He had changed a great deal from the rebellious youth he had once been.  Cliff found himself filled with pride.  Daniel had found his path in life and was following its course with steps that were straight and true.

Cliff rested a hand on Daniel’s shoulder.  “I’m proud of you, Son.  You’ve learned to take responsibility for your life and have turned into a fine man and a fine minister, whom I’m sure that God takes delight in.”

Daniel’s breath caught in his throat.  His emotions welled up and overflowed in him.  For so long, for so very, very long, he had ached to hear those words from his father.

Daniel blinked back the tears that had come rushing to his eyes.  “It . . . it means so much to me that you would say that, Dad,” he said in a roughened voice.  “I hope that I can keep living up to your faith in me.”

“I’m certain that you will.”

Both Bonnie and Alex smiled happily, seeing father and son come together.

Daniel cleared his throat.  “Well, we should get going.  You’ve got to deal with the press downstairs, and, Mom, you’ve got to get over to the fair.”

“Would you and Alex like to help with setting up?” Bonnie asked.

“We would, but it would be best if nobody sees me with you, and I really don’t want to wear this disguise for the rest of the day.”  He and Alex stood up.  “Give us a call this evening, and maybe we can get together for dinner.”

His parents stood as well.  “That would be nice,” Cliff said.

Daniel put the fake teeth back on, then left the suite with Alex.  Once they were in the car and out of the parking lot, Daniel removed the teeth and false sideburns, then ran a hand through his hair a few times.

“Yuck!” he exclaimed in disgust as he got the gel Rollie had put on his hair all over his hand.  “This stuff reminds me of that gunk Bonita put in my hair shortly after she opened her beauty salon.”

Alex laughed, remembering what Daniel’s hair looked like after the fledgling beautician had gotten through with it.

Daniel wiped his hand with his handkerchief.  “I was thinking we could go back over to that clothing store we went to yesterday.  I’d like to get some work shirts and a few other things.”

“Sure, that would be fine.  It’ll give me the opportunity to get some things for Dylan.”

“First, though, I’m going to stop at a gas station and wash this stuff out of my hair.”

After doing that, Daniel contacted his brother.  ‘Hey, Rollie.  How’s it going?’

‘Fine.  Sooo, how’d things go with your parents?’

‘All right.  Dad reacted just as I expected he would.  But we talked, and everything got sorted out.’

‘Ah, so no musclebound bodyguards will be following you about for the rest of your time in the Big Apple?’

‘Nope,’ Daniel replied.  ‘I wanted to let you know that Alex and I are going to go back to that clothing store to do more shopping.  I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone.  If Frank gets there with Dylan before we get back, will that be all right?’

‘Sure, no problem.  I’ll take Dylan on a tour of the place, then we can take a flight in an F-16.’

‘Excuse me?’

Rollie chuckled mentally.  ‘It’s a program I have for the VR chamber.  It’s a real blast.  I should show it to you sometime.’

‘Sounds like fun.  Just don’t crash and end up back in the hospital.’

Rollie laughed.  ‘I’ll fly carefully.’

‘Okay, we’ll see you when we get back.’

Rollie smiled and turned his attention back to his computer.  A little while later, Angie came down from the cleanroom.

“Rol, I thought of some errands I need to run.  Do you think you can stay out of trouble if I leave you alone for a while?”

Rollie gave her a sarcastic smile.  “Well, it’ll be tough, but I’ll try really hard to, Angie.”

His bride-to-be gave him a kiss, grabbed her purse, and headed out the door.

Silence fell upon the loft.  Rollie realized that this was the first time he’d been alone there since being freed.  He stood up and wandered around the place, checking some of the equipment to make sure it was still in running order.  Then he went to the circular shelving unit that held many of the memorabilia from jobs he’d done in the past.  After a while, his gaze traveled up to the VR chamber.  He stared at it for a long time before ascending the stairs to it.  Opening the door, Rollie looked inside the tiny white compartment.  He remained standing just inside the doorway for a solid minute, then, at last, when inside.  He closed the door behind him and sat in the chair.  But he did not start one of the programs.  Instead, he just sat there, staring at the white walls surrounding him.

Rollie did not know how long he’d been in there when his respiration began to increase.  Sweat broke out on his forehead, and his hands started to shake.  He could feel the walls closing in on him, pressing down like a crushing weight.  He was trapped, trapped.  No way out.

With a gasp, Rollie leapt out of the chair and wrenched the door open.  He fled out onto the landing.  Leaning on the railing, he took deep breaths, ignoring the pain they and his sudden movements caused, his eyes tightly closed as shudders passed through his body.

“Damn, damn, damn,” he cursed under his breath.

Once his legs had stopped shaking, Rollie descended the stairs and went outside.  Running trembling hands over his face, he leaned back against the wall.  He turned his face up to the sky.  What he’d just done was stupid, and he knew it.  He’d just felt the need to find out if he could take being in a small, closed in space.  Well, now he knew.  His reaction to being in the VR chamber had been far worse than he’d feared.  He hadn’t expected it to hit him so hard and so suddenly.

What was he going to do?  He couldn’t work on a set with this kind of disability.  He often found it necessary to work in tight quarters while setting up a gag.  He couldn’t expect Angie or others to take over those jobs.

Rollie thought about what Trent had said.  The claustrophobia could be cured.  There were ways to deal with it.  The doctor had even said that people could cure themselves of it.  Of course, Trent had also said it wouldn’t be a good idea for Rollie to try doing it himself.

Giving himself a few more minutes outside to recover, Rollie went back into the loft and to his computer.  He began searching for information on claustrophobia and the treatments for it.  He’d been at it for about twenty minutes when an odd feeling distracted him.  His eyes left the monitor and went to the door of the loft.  The odd feeling resolved itself into what Rollie could only call a premonition.  He sensed that something was about to happen, something that could change his life.

The feeling continued to rise until it reached a peak.  “Blue, show me the outside camera feed,” Rollie commanded his pet.  The image popped up on the monitor.  About ten seconds later, a car pulled up out front.  A tall, blond man in a suit got out.  Rollie went to the door and opened it just as the man was about to knock.  Startled, the man stared at him for a moment.

“Um, excuse me.  Rollie Tyler?”

“Yes?”

The man pulled out a government ID and showed it to Rollie.  “I’m Agent David Rain, Mister Tyler.  I would very much like to talk to you.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Rollie stared at the man, then at the ID he was holding up.  He did not recognize the name of the agency the badge was for, but something on the ID made him stiffen.  In the upper lefthand corner of the badge was an insignia.  At the center of it was an eagle, a Harpy eagle.

Rollie stepped back.  “Come in, Agent Rain.”

The man stepped past Rollie and into the loft.  He looked around.  “This is a fascinating place.  Your line of work must be very interesting.”

“It can be.”

The agent turned to face Rollie.  “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here, Mister Tyler.”

“No, actually, I know exactly why you’re here.  My friends told me that a government agent was at the hospital while I was unconscious, asking questions about me.”

Agent Rain smiled faintly.  “Ah, I see.  Yes, that was me.  You must also know, then, that certain . . . information about you has come to our attention.”

Rollie gave a short nod of his head in reply.

The agent studied him.  “Would you like to sit down, Mister Tyler?  I know that you’ve only just been released from the hospital.  I’ve been shot myself, and I know that it takes a while before you fully recover.”

Rollie and the agent went into the lounge.  Rollie took the couch, and Agent Rain settled in the chair.

“Before we get to the reason why I’m here, I’d like to say that it is a pleasure and an honor to finally meet you,” Rain said.

Surprised at the genuine note of respect in the man’s voice, Rollie stared at him.  “A pleasure and an honor?”

“Yes, sir.  I’ve read your dossier and quite a few reports about you.  I have come to greatly admire your work with the New York Police Department and the FBI.”

“I see.  I had no idea that the feds were keeping such close tabs on me.”

David smiled.  “Well, considering what you do as a, um, sideline, it would only be natural that we would have some interest in you, but we really haven’t been paying any closer attention to you than what was warranted.”

“Until now,” Rollie said, his voice gaining a hard edge.

“Yes.  Since you already know what brought me here, there’s no point in me dragging this out.  I’m not going to hand you a line of bull, Mister Tyler.  I’ll be straight with you.”

“I appreciate that,” Rollie responded, studying the young agent more closely.  There was something about him, an air of earnestness and honesty that was very rare among people in his line of work.  In spite of himself, the Aussie found himself starting to relax.

“To say the least, what we have heard about your . . . special talents is quite extraordinary,” the agent said.  “We know that you have an amazing ability to see things that are going to happen in the future.  An ability like that would be of great value to us.  It’s a gift that could save a lot of lives, if used properly.”

“But that isn’t the only thing that interests you.”

“No.  In our interrogation of Frederic Carfield’s people, we learned some startling things.  Two of the men we talked to told us of unexplained physical crises suddenly afflicting them.  One man stated that, all at once, he found that he could not breathe.  This man was among the individuals who were using a machine on you that was intended to take control of your mind.  This man recounted how he felt the need to escape from the room, feeling that, if he got out, he would be able to breathe again.  At that exact moment, a group of rescuers--whom we know was made up of Detective Leo McCarthy, Angela Ramirez, your brother, and your Aboriginal friend, Mangela--were waiting outside the room.  They subdued the man, as well as the others inside, and got you out.  Shortly after that, came the second incident.  You were surprised by another man, who pulled a gun.  This man said that, before he had a chance to fire, he experienced an excruciating pain in his head then blacked out.  Now, I will be honest with you and admit that neither of the men could swear that you were the cause of their sudden physical . . . distress, though you were present during both of the incidents.  There is, however, what happened to Arthur Cromwell, whom I know you are aware is actually Frederick Carfield, the man who abducted your brother as an infant.”

Rollie stiffened, alarmed at how much the agent knew.  Seeing, the Aussie’s reaction, David Rain lifted his hand in a calming gesture.

“Please don’t worry, Mister Tyler.  We have no intention of revealing what we know about your brother and his abduction, nor his later adoption by Cliff and Bonnie Cooper.  We would have nothing to gain from revealing that knowledge and much to lose.”

Rollie simply nodded, not ready to trust what the man was saying.

“As I was saying, there is what happened to Arthur Cromwell.  He kidnapped your brother.  From what we learned, we know that it was a mistake.  He believed Reverend Cooper was you.  You, Ms. Ramirez, Detective McCarthy, Detective Francis Gatti, Mangela and your father went to rescue your brother.  You and Mangela entered the house to get Reverend Cooper out.  This resulted in Cromwell holding you and Reverend Cooper at gunpoint in his study.  We got hold of the tape recording that was made of what went on in the study . . . the entire recording.”

Rollie’s tension went up several more notches.  Knowing that the tape recording contained the whole thing about how Rollie could physically affect people, Leo had snuck it out of Evidence and given it to Angie, who had edited out all the stuff regarding that facet of Rollie’s abilities.  She then made a new tape, which Leo put back into the evidence locker.  The original tape was destroyed.

“I see,” Rollie said.

“So, we know what you are capable of, Mister Tyler, or at least a portion of it.  We know that you can physically affect individuals, causing catastrophic and even fatal physiological trauma.  What happened to Cromwell is proof of what you can do.”

Rollie stared at the agent.  “So, I guess we’ve reached the part where you tell me what you want, haven’t we.”

Rain nodded.  “Yes.  But I want to ask you a question first.  Why do you choose to help your friends in the police department?”

Rollie paused, surprised by the question.  “Because I can.  Because it feels good to stick it to the bad guys and help those who need it.  Because Leo’s my friend, and I wanted to help him.”

David nodded, his expression revealing that he’d already guessed the answer.  “That’s why I chose my career, because I wanted to put away criminals and help the innocent in whatever way I could.”

There was such a ring of sincerity in the agent’s voice that Rollie knew he wasn’t being handed a line.

“But it sometimes comes at a heavy price, doesn’t it,” David said, a shadow of pain on his face.

Rollie studied the younger man closely.  “Yes, it does.”

A short silence fell between them.  Then David leaned forward in his chair.  “Mister Tyler, what I am about to tell you is not yet known to many.  I’m sure you noticed the agency name on the badge I showed you.  I also know that you wouldn’t have recognized it.  That is because the agency I belong to has only recently gone public.  That agency is made up of individuals from several other government agencies, including the FBI, CIA and NSA.”

“And what is the purpose of this agency?”

“Well, cooperation and communications between certain departments in the government has not always been what it should be.  Also, each facet of the government has its own strengths and expertise.  The FBI was designed to perform one task, the CIA another, and so on.  This agency I am a part of combines the strengths of all these departments, plus it allows us to get past the red tape between those other departments and get all the data and information we need.  It also gives us a huge resource of manpower since we can get whomever we need from any of the agencies that ours was created from.

“Put in a nutshell, our purpose is to protect the United States and its people, as well as its allies, from any threat, foreign or domestic, and to gather any and all intelligence on possible threats to the U.S.  That threat could be as simple as a mob boss gaining so much power that he becomes a danger to the nation or as far-reaching as a terrorist organization plotting to strike multiple U.S. and allied targets.  Of course, a great deal of what we do is classified, so I can’t tell you about it, but what we’re trying to accomplish is to make it possible to protect the nation in ways that would have been far more difficult or even impossible before.”  David stared piercingly at Rollie.  “And that’s where we’d like you to come in.  There are times when all the intel, all the data we gather through conventional sources isn’t enough.  We need something else, something . . . unconventional.  There have been some recent discussions about using people with psychic abilities.  As I believe you are aware, the USSR’s KGB was very interested in using the talents of psychics and did have some success with it.  That is one of the reasons why Doctor Kessler, whom you know is actually Doctor Vassily Sadovnik, got involved in Cromwell’s plans.  He worked for the KGB on one of their projects involving psychics.”

“I know.  I learned that the same time as I found out who he really was.”

The agent nodded.  “That’s what we figured.  Up until now, the U.S. government hasn’t seriously considered using psychics, partially because it was too unreliable a source for information.  But, every day, our world becomes a more dangerous place to live in.  The threat of terrorist attacks grows progressively stronger, as do other dangers.  We need something to give us an edge, Mister Tyler, and, from what we’ve learned, you have a remarkable and extremely accurate ability to find out future events.  That could prove invaluable to us.”

“All right, so you’ve explained why you’d be interested in my ability to see the future.  Why are you interested in my other . . . talent?”

The younger man smiled.  “Why do you think we’d be interested?”

“Well, it would be pretty handy having someone on the payroll who could incapacitate a person from a distance without the use of a weapon.”

Agent Rain’s smile broadened.  “Yes, it would.”

Rollie’s expression darkened, along with his thoughts.  “And I’d make a very efficient assassin.  I could kill someone and make it look like natural causes.”

The agent lost his smile.  His gaze dropped to the floor for a moment.  “Yes,” he admitted.  Then his eyes rose to meet Rollie’s.  “But we would never ask you to do something like that, Mister Tyler.  I swear it.”

“Are you sure, Agent Rain?  Judging by your age, I’d guess that you are not highly placed in this agency of yours.  How do you know what your superiors have planned for me?”

The two men stared at each other for a silent moment.  Then the agent gave a small nod.  “You’re right.  I don’t know everything that my superiors have in mind to use your skills for.  But, though I am not naive, I’d like to think that we would not stoop to using civilians to do our dirty work.”

Rollie lifted an eyebrow.  “I notice that you don’t try to deny that assassination is something you people do.”

“Like I said, Mister Tyler, I’m not naive.  I know what our government has done in the past to protect our country.  I’m not proud of those things, and I would not choose to be a part of them, personally, but there are times when nasty things have to be done for the benefit of the country.”

“The ends justify the means?”

“Sometimes, but not always.  Mistakes have been made; terrible acts have been committed that shouldn’t have been because someone felt that it was the easiest solution to a problem.  But I’m hoping that this new agency will reduce the need for such extreme actions.”  He paused.  “And I’m hoping that your involvement would help even more in that regard.”

“Or it could just make it easier to know exactly who to get rid of,” Rollie pointed out.  “Let’s say that I did go to work for your agency.  Let’s say that I was able to find out who the leader was for a terrorist group that was planning a strike against the U.S.  What would you do?  Would you arrest him?  I doubt it.  You wouldn’t have the jurisdiction or the evidence to back up your charges.  No, the easiest thing for you to do would be to have him killed, along with any other members of the group that I identified.  Can you guarantee that would never happen?”

David’s gaze again fell to the floor.  He did not answer for a while.  At last, he looked at Rollie.  “No.  No, I can’t make that guarantee,” he admitted in a low voice.

Rollie nodded.  “Which is one of the reasons why I cannot be a part of your agency.  I won’t have any part in murder, even if it is ‘for the good of the country’.”

“No matter what you could be offered in return?” David asked quietly, watching him closely.  “We could offer you a lot, Mister Tyler, anything you want, money, success, security.  You’ve made quite a few enemies over the years by working with the police.  We could do a lot in protecting you and the people you love from them.”

Rollie shook his head.  “With these . . . skills I now have, I could get money and success all on my own, if I chose to do it in that way.  As for security, I am not willing to sell my soul to be safe, and the people I love wouldn’t want me to either.  My answer is still no, no matter what you can offer me.”

David gave a slight nod, an expression of deep respect on his features.  “I admire your principles and convictions, Mister Tyler, but I have to say that I am not surprised by them.  From what I’ve learned about you, I already knew that you are a man of honor and integrity, which is a rare and precious thing these days.  I guessed even before I came here that you would not accept our offer if you believed that you might be put in a position where you would be a part of the . . . darker side of what our government does to keep the country safe, and that’s exactly what I told my superiors.”

Surprised yet again, Rollie stared at the man.  “Then why did you bother coming here if you already knew what my answer would be?”

“That is a question best answered by someone else.  I would like to take you someplace.”  When Rollie started shaking his head, the agent held up his hand to forestall him.  “I assure you, Mister Tyler.  You will be perfectly safe, and you would not be gone for long.  My superiors wish to speak with you, and, for reasons of security, they cannot come here.”

“It has to be now?”

Agent Rain paused.  “No, it does not have to be now, but they are anticipating your presence.  If you have a serious issue about accompanying me at this time, we can schedule the meeting for another day.  It is up to you, but I would prefer it if you would agree to come now.”

Rollie studied the agent closely.  There was something about the man that made Rollie want to trust him, but, after everything that had happened to Rollie lately, his need for caution had increased.  “You are asking me to put a lot of trust in you, Agent Rain.  I have no proof of who you are or what your motives are.  For all I know, you could belong to some organization like Cromwell’s.  You might even be one of Cromwell’s associates.”

David Rain nodded.  “That is a valid concern, and I understand why you would have it.  Obviously, my promise that I am who I claim to be would not be enough, so what would convince you of my sincerity?”

“There’s really only one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Give me your badge.”

Rain stared at him a moment, then silently handed him the badge.  Rollie held it in his hands and focused his ability on it.  Figuring that the past would give him more information than the future, that was the direction he turned in, narrowing the “search parameters” to Agent Rain’s career.  Like short clips from a movie reel, Rollie saw scenes from the professional life of David Rain.  He saw the young man being recruited by the FBI from college.  Scenes from his training flashed by, in which Rollie saw that the man was an expert marksman.  He graduated first in his class.

Rollie saw the young agent with an older man and guessed he was David’s partner.  The ‘movie’ suddenly flashed forward to that same agent getting shot to death by a man whose eyes held the madness of a serial killer.  It instantly moved to David himself being shot by the same suspect while he shielded a teenaged girl with his own body.  Seriously wounded, David nevertheless pursued, then shot and killed the man.  Another jump forward saw him being awarded a commendation for his heroics.

Rollie witnessed more scenes from David’s life with the FBI, all of which showed the agent to be a man dedicated to putting away criminals and protecting the innocent.

All of a sudden, though, the scenes from David’s career faded into something else.  Rollie saw him sitting in a hospital room at the bedside of a young woman.  The woman’s hair, which must once have been a glossy dark brown was now dull and thinning.  Her face, which Rollie somehow knew had been beautiful, was now gaunt and showed the ravages of illness.

“I love you, Stephie,” David whispered as the heart monitor in the room changed to an unending tone.

Shaken by the image, Rollie paused for a moment, then continued with his search.  He saw David and another agent weaving carefully through a house full of booby traps.  The other agent tripped one of the traps, which set off an explosion.  He went flying through the air to land in a twisted heap, both legs gone and his body terribly burned.  After seeing to the downed agent, David continued through the house, rescuing a man and a woman who were apparently hostages and killing the man who’d kidnapped them.  His reward was another commendation.

At last, Rollie saw David standing in a wide lobby.  Upon the floor was the same Harpy eagle insignia present on his badge.  A man came forward and shook David’s hand.

“Welcome to the ANSI, Agent Rain.”

Rollie halted the vision there.  He looked up at the younger man, full of amazement and respect over what he’d seen.

“What?  What is it?” David asked.  “Did you see something in my future?”

“No.  I didn’t look at your future.  I looked at your past.”

“We didn’t know you could do that,” the agent said in surprise.  “But I guess that makes sense.  That would be the only way you could have known about Kessler’s real identity and previous line of work.  So, um, what did you see?”

“Enough to know that you’re telling the truth about who you are.  You used to be with the FBI.”

David nodded.  “I’ve been with ANSI for two years now.”

“Two years?  Why doesn’t anyone know about this agency by now?”

“I was recruited when the agency was in its infancy.  At first, it was kept very hush hush.  It is only recently that it’s started to go public.”  David smiled.  “That badge is brand new.  They were issued only last month.”  He became serious again.  “So, do I let my superiors know that we’re on our way?”

Rollie thought about it a moment longer, then nodded.  He had begun to think about the vision he’d had, of the Harpy eagle asking for his help and the black shadow that was growing larger.

David made a brief call to someone, telling the person that they were on their way.  He and Rollie got into David’s car.  As they drove, Rollie contacted Daniel.

‘Daniel, something’s up.’

‘What is it?’

‘That government man who was asking questions about me at the hospital came to the loft.  I’m in a car with him right now, on our way to talk to his superiors.’

‘Rollie, do you think that’s wise?’ Daniel asked, suddenly concerned.  ‘Are you sure you can trust these people?’

‘I think I can trust this agent I’m with.  He allowed me to touch his badge, and what I saw about his past was pretty impressive.  And there’s something else.  I believe these people are the Harpy eagle in my vision.’

Daniel paused.  ‘So, is there something I can do?’

‘Yeah.  I need you to keep an eye on me.  Do you think you can track my location?’

‘Yes, I think so.  Our connection’s a lot stronger now than it was when I tried to find out where you were being held prisoner.  From what I can tell, you’re getting closer to me.’

‘That’s right.  We’re heading uptown.’

‘Okay, I’ll keep track of where you are,’ Daniel said.  ‘I think Alex and I should head back to the loft.  Frankly, I’m surprised Angie didn’t put up a fight when you went with that guy.’

‘She wasn’t there.  She had to run a few errands.’

‘Rollie, please don’t tell me that I’m the one who’s going to have to tell her what you’ve done.’

The Aussie laughed.  ‘What’s wrong, Little Brother?  Afraid she might kill the messenger?’

‘Something like that.’

‘Well, you can relax.  I’ll be contacting Angie myself.’

‘How?  Are these people going to let you call her?’

‘No, I doubt they’d let me do that,’ Rollie replied.  ‘I discovered that Angie and I can speak telepathically with each other.’

‘You can?  That’s amazing.’

‘Yeah, it is.  But I think we’re both going to be very glad we can, though, right now, I’m not looking forward to hearing her yelling at me in my head.’

Daniel chuckled.  ‘I sympathize with you, Brother.’

‘There is something else I need you to do, though, either you or Angie.  I want you to contact Leo, let him know what’s going on.’

‘Right.  Good idea.’

‘Okay, I’m going to, um, sign off now.  Watch my back, Little Brother.’

‘I will, Rollie.  Don’t worry.’

Preparing himself for what he knew was going to happen, Rollie reached out to Angie.  ‘Ange?’

There was a slight paused before she responded.  ‘Rollie?  Man, you startled me.  This telepathy thing is going to take some getting used to.’

‘Yeah.  Um, I need to tell you something, and I don’t want you to get upset.’

There was a moment of mental silence.  ‘What did you do, Rol?  Did you fall down the stairs or something and break your leg?’

Rollie gave a short laugh.  ‘No, Angie, I didn’t injure myself.  You remember that guy from the government who was asking all the questions?’

‘Yeah.  Did he show up there?’

‘Yes.  I’m with him now.’

‘Just great.  You want me to come back?’

‘Uh, well, you see, that’s what I have to tell you that I don’t want you to get mad about.’  Rollie paused.  ‘I’m not at the loft.  The man is taking me someplace to talk to his bosses.’

There was another silence.  Then came the explosion.  ‘Of all the stupid, idiotic, foolish things to do!  What were you thinking, Rollie?!  This guy could be anyone.’

Rollie winced internally.  ‘Angie, calm down.  He’s legit.  He let me do my thing with his badge.  I saw enough to know that he is on the up and up.  He’s the Harpy eagle, Angie.  Well, not him specifically, but the agency he works for.’

That calmed her down.  ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yeah, pretty sure.  But I’m still not taking chances.  Daniel is keeping track of me.  If something happens, he’ll be able to find me.  He’s on his way back to the loft now.  I also want one of you to call Leo, let him know what’s going on.’

‘Okay, I’ll call him as soon as I get back there.  Rollie, be careful.  Please.’

‘I will, sweetie.’  Rollie noticed that they were pulling into a parking garage.  ‘I’ve got to go.  Love you.’

‘Love you, too.’

David went to the highest level of the garage, where there were very few cars.  Pulling up beside a white panel van, he turned off the engine.

“From here, we’re going to travel in the van,” he said.  “The place we’re going to is top secret.  It needs to be kept that way.”

They went to the van.  The side door was opened by the driver.  Rollie looked inside.  The van had no windows, and a solid wall separated the cargo area from the cab.  Rollie stared at the white metal walls and could already feel himself tensing up.

“Is there a problem?” David asked.

‘You can do this, Tyler,’ Rollie told himself.  ‘It’s just a van.  It’ll take you someplace, then you’ll be let out.  You can stand being in it for a little while.’  He took a deep breath.  “No, nothing’s wrong,” he said aloud.

Rollie and David got into the van.  The Aussie flinched as the door closed.  He sat in one of the seats along the driver’s side wall and took a few more deep breaths.  He felt the van begin to move.

Rollie tried to distract himself by concentrating on other things, building schematics in his head of devices he’d been wanting to make but never had the time for.  But the longer they were in the van, the harder it became not to think about the white walls surrounding him.  Just like in the VR chamber, he began to perspire, his respiration rising.  His hands started to shake.  Rollie closed his eyes tightly, blocking out the sight of the walls.

“Mister Tyler, are you all right?” came David’s concerned voice.  When Rollie didn’t answer, the agent touched his arm.  “Rollie, what’s wrong?”

“I . . . I have to get out of here,” the Aussie said in a tight voice, holding onto his control through sheer force of will alone.  “You have to let me out, now.  Please.”

Daniel stared at him for a moment, then pushed the intercom button.  “Pull the van over.  Quickly,” he told the driver.

Several seconds later, seconds that seemed like years to Rollie, the van came to a stop.  David hurriedly opened the door.  Rollie was out of the van instantly.  He walked away a few paces, then just stood there, trying to calm his body and mind.  After a little while, David came up to him.

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t realize.  You’re claustrophobic, aren’t you.”

Rollie turned to him.  “When I was a captive, I was kept on an underground level.  My cell was a six-by-six, white-walled room.  There were no windows anywhere.  For three and a half months, I was kept inside that place, with no view or contact at all with the outside.”

An expression of compassion and understanding filled the agent’s face.  “I’m sorry, Rollie.  If I had known, I’d never have asked you to get into that van.  I’ll contact my superiors and work something else out.”

Just then, an idea came to Rollie.  “No, wait.  There might be a way of solving this.”

“What?”

“There is an Aboriginal technique where I can put myself in another state of consciousness.”

“You mean like meditation?”

“No, not really.  It’s too hard to explain right now.  The point is that I think if I go into that state, I’ll be all right.”

“Are you certain?  I don’t want to put your health at risk.”

“All I can do is try.”

Rollie got back into the van and buckled his seatbelt.  “Wait until I’m under before shutting the door.”

“How will I know when you’re under?”

“You’ll know.”

Rollie closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall.  Calming his thoughts, he slid into the Dreamtime.

David watched as the Aussie’s face grew still and peaceful.  His respiration slowed dramatically, becoming barely noticeable.

“Rollie?  Can you hear me?” the agent asked softly.  There was no reply.  Getting back in the van, he closed the door and told the driver to continue on his way.

Throughout the trip, David kept an eye on Rollie.  The Australian never moved, his breathing staying slow and shallow.  He almost looked like someone in a coma.

Finally, they arrived at their destination.  The van stopped, and the driver got out, opening the side door.  David looked at Rollie.

‘Um, okay.  You forgot to tell me how to wake you up,’ he silently said.  Hesitantly, David shook the Aussie’s shoulder.  “Rollie?  Rollie, wake up.  We’re here.”  Not getting a response, he shook Rollie a little harder.  There was a reaction.  The Aussie’s breathing deepened and speeded up.  His eyes blinked open, and he looked at David.

“We’re at our destination,” the agent told him.

He and Rollie got out of the van.  The Aussie looked about.  They were in what looked like a very large storage area.  “Where are we?”

“We’re in an underground complex.”  An expression of realization spread across David’s feature.  “Damn.  I didn’t even think about that.  Are you going to be all right?”

“Yeah, I think so, at least for a while.  Just don’t put me in any small rooms.”

“We won’t.  And if you start having trouble, let me know right away.”  David smiled.  “There’s at least one thing that should cheer you up.  The walls in the main part of the complex aren’t white.  They’re a warm cream color.”

Rollie smiled.  “That’s good to hear.”

They walked across the room to a steel door.  The Aussie noticed closed circuit cameras on the walls on either side of the door and guessed that there were more around.  He also saw what he realized was a retinal scanner to the right of the door.

“You certainly take your security seriously,” he remarked.

“Yes, we do, but only out of necessity,” David told him.

The agent stepped up to the scanner and bent over it, putting his eye up to the eyepiece.

“Identity confirmed.  David Tobias Rain.  Access granted,” announced a computer voice.

“Are you familiar with retinal scanners?” the agent asked.

“Somewhat.  They’re a lot more foolproof than fingerprint scanners or voice print identification.”

David nodded.  “Well, we’ve got other sensors here as well, and they’re telling the computer that there are two people standing here.  The door won’t open unless you’ve been identified and cleared for access.”

“How’s that going to happen when I’ve never been here before?  Don’t tell me that you scanned my retinas while I was unconscious in the hospital.”

David laughed.  “No, but we do have your fingerprints and your voice print.  Even as we speak, the computer is analyzing your voice and comparing it to what’s in its database.”  He turned to a microphone mounted in the wall.  “Computer, state the identity of the individual with me.”

“Voice print matches that of Roland Nathaniel Tyler.  Please provide fingerprints for confirmation.”

David pulled out a metal wand from a recess in the wall and handed it to Rollie.  “Grasp it firmly, with your fingers spaced slightly apart.”  Once Rollie had done so, the agent ordered the computer to confirm Rollie’s identity.

“Identity confirmed.  Access granted,” the computer stated.  “Please provide retinal scan for future identification.”

David gestured for Rollie to put his right eye up to the scanner, which the Aussie did.

“Retinal scan of Roland Nathaniel Tyler added to database.  Please proceed,” the computer said.  The door opened.

“I feel like I just stepped into a James Bond movie,” Rollie said as they went through the doorway.

The agent chuckled.  “Unfortunately, we don’t have all the fancy gadgets and supercars that ‘Q’ provides 007 with.  Wish we did.”

They traveled down a hallway all the way to the end and entered a room where six people sat around a large round table.  They all stood.

“Mister Tyler, we are very pleased that you’re here,” said a tall, statuesque, forty-something brunette as she shook the Aussie’s hand.

“Yes, we are,” confirmed a red-haired man of about the same age and height.

“Rollie, this is Sandra Reese and Adam Caldwell,” David said.  “They are the heads of our agency.  Sandra was formerly with the CIA, and Adam was with the NSA.”

“There was a third member of our triumvirate, a former FBI agent, but he was seriously injured in an accident recently and had to retire.  We’re still looking for a replacement,” Sandra told Rollie.  She turned to the other people in the room.  She motioned toward an Asian man.  “This is John Wang, head of internal security.”  The man nodded infinitesimally, his piercing eyes examining the Aussie intently.  “The woman there is Lisa Young, who is in charge of our science department.”  The blond woman smiled briefly at Rollie.  “Robin Greenwood here is head of Research.”  The short, dark-haired woman also smiled at Rollie, but it was a far more open smile.  “Douglas Crow is in charge of interagency relations.”  The man, who looked to be of Native American descent, held his hand out, giving Rollie a firm handshake.  “And you’ve already met David, who heads our covert operations.”

Surprised, Daniel looked at the man.  He hadn’t expected someone as young as David to have such a high position in the agency.

Sandra turned back to the Aussie.  “There are others whom you will meet later, if you choose to join us.”

Everyone took their seats.

“All right, I’m sure that David has already told you a little about the agency that we are all connected to,” Adam said.  “It’s called the Agency of National Security and Intelligence, ANSI, and chances are that you’ll be hearing more about it in the coming years.  Until very recently, the agency was kept under wraps, known only to highly placed individuals in the government and in the agencies from which the ANSI was created.  What David hasn’t told you is that the people you see here and the others in this facility are actually part of an inner agency within the ANSI, a special unit.  Unlike the rest of the ANSI, we will remain completely covert, and we answer only to the president himself.”

“And what is it that you do?” Rollie asked.

“Pretty much what the ANSI does, except that we do it in complete secrecy,” Sandra replied.  “You will never see anything on the news about what we’ve accomplished.  No word of our efforts will make it to the public ear.  If any credit is given at all, it will be to the ANSI as a whole.”

“With most decisions, we have complete autonomy and can act on our own,” Adam told him.  “For major decisions and extreme threats to the nation, we take our orders directly from the president.  Now, because we are a secret organization, and because of the lack of red tape that other agencies of this kind have to wade through, we have an unparalleled freedom to act quickly and decisively.  This will be of monumental importance in situations where time is of the essence.”

“All right.  This all sounds like a good idea, but where do you expect me to fit in?”  Rollie asked.  “I’m not a government agent, and I have no desire to be one.  I am a special effects artist who just happens to help the cops and the feds from time to time.  David has told me about your interest in my paranormal abilities and given me a vague idea of what you’d want to use my ability to see the future for, but I need a lot more information than that.”

Sandra nodded.  “Of course.  We expected no less.  But we’d like to make something clear to you first.  Even before we became aware of your psychic abilities, we were very interested in you and your skills.  You have an extraordinary talent for making the impossible possible.  Your brilliant solution to the Wayne Harmon dilemma alone showed us how good you are.”

Rollie shook his head.  “I didn’t do that alone.  I had a lot of help, especially from Angie Ramirez, my partner in Tyler FX.  Without her, I couldn’t have done a lot of the things I did.”

“Yes, we are very aware of Ms. Ramirez’s part in what you have accomplished and recognize the value of her skills.  If you chose to become a part of our task force, she would be added to the team as well.”

“The fact that you do not seek to advertise your exploits with the police made you an even better candidate for our task force,” Adam said.  “As for your paranormal abilities, they are an unexpected goldmine to us, one that we sorely need.”

“Look, as I’ve already told David, I cannot be a part of your agency,” Rollie said.  “I will not be involved in some of the things that you people do.”

Adam smiled slightly.  “Yes, we already guessed that you’d be reluctant to join us.  The truth is that, when David came to you, it was more than just to find out if you might be persuaded to work with us.  It was also a test.”

“A test?”

“Yes.  Everyone here is aware of the . . . unsavory side of the agencies that we all came from.  We know of the illegal, immoral and sometimes cruel acts that have been performed in the name of the U.S. government.  There’s nothing we can do about that.  What we can do is run our unit in such a way that it will not be necessary for us to resort to things like that.  David here was testing you to see what your viewpoint is on that sort of thing and whether or not you would hold to your principles.  You passed the test.”

Rollie looked at David.

“We want people of integrity, Rollie, people who are incorruptible,” the young agent said.  “We found out from the people working for Cromwell what they did to you, what they put you through, and we know that, despite the torture and their attempts at mind control, you refused to give them any information that would cause harm to others.”  He smiled.  “We also know about the false information you gave them regarding the diamond shipment.  That was a very courageous thing to do, one that you must have known would result in great harm to you when they realized what you’d done.”

“I had reason to believe that I was going to be rescued soon,” Rollie explained.

“Nevertheless, you showed a strength of will and unswerving perseverance the likes of which we have rarely seen,” Sandra told him.  “You are the kind of person we want.”

Rollie shook his head.  “Like I said before, I have no desire to work for the government.  All I want is to be an F/X artist.”

“We don’t want you to stop making movies, Mister Tyler,” Adam revealed.  “We are not asking you to join us as a full-time employee.  All we want is for you to be willing to help us when we need you.  We have no way of knowing how often that will be.  All we can tell you is that we will only ask for your help if it is truly needed.”

“And what kind of help are we talking about?” Rollie asked.  “It’s not hard to figure out why you’d want my ability to see the future.  But what about the other thing?  What exactly do you want it for?”

“We can’t answer that question specifically,” Sandra said.  “We don’t know what circumstances might arise where such an ability would be needed.  But perhaps I could give you an example, a hypothetical situation.  Let’s say that a group of terrorists were holding a plane full of people hostage on a runway.  Right off, the rescuers are in a bad position.  If they rush the plane, many of the hostages could be killed.  Even if they could manage to sneak on board, in the ensuing battle, innocents are bound to lose their lives.  But what if there was a way of taking out all of the terrorists without firing a single shot?  What if you could get close enough to the plane that you could knock them all out?”

“I don’t know if I could do something like that,” Rollie said.  “I’ve never tried to affect someone I wasn’t in the same room with.”  Rollie didn’t tell them that, when an Aborigine “pointed the bone,” the target was almost never nearby.  Since he had the ability to do a bone-pointing, there was a good chance that he could affect someone from a distance.

“Well, that was just an example of something we might need your kind of ability for.  The point is that we would only ask you to use that ability to save lives or to prevent a major threat to the country.  We would never ask you to take a life.  You have our word on that.”

“All right, I’ve got another question for you.  What are your intentions for my brother?  I know that you were asking questions about him too, about what was going on between the two of us at the hospital.”

“We have no plans for your brother, Mister Tyler,” Sandra replied.  “We would be very hesitant to involve him in anything because of who he is.  Being the adopted son of Cliff Cooper increases the public’s awareness of him, though he has managed to keep a very low profile since moving to Washington State.  Besides, there is also the fact that your brother is a minister himself and lacks your knowledge, skills and experience.”

“We are, however, very interested in this paranormal physiological connection between the two of you.”  That statement came from Lisa Young, the woman who headed the science department.  “It is quite extraordinary.  I, personally, would love to find out how it works.”

“Okay, we can stop right there,” Rollie said firmly.  “If, and I mean if I was to decide to help you guys out, it would be with the understanding that you are to leave my brother completely out of this.  I don’t want him involved at all.  Is that clear?”

Both Adam and Sandra nodded.  “Yes, we understand, and we agree,” the woman said.  “We don’t expect you to give us an answer now, Mister Tyler.  Think about it.  Discuss it with Ms. Ramirez, if you wish.  Since she would be a part of this as well, you will need to do that anyway.  And, knowing what we do about your connection with your brother, we would not expect you to keep this a secret from him.  All we ask is that you not tell anyone else about us.  That includes Leo McCarthy.”

Rollie shook his head again.  “Leo is my friend, and I trust him.  He is going to know that something is up, and if you know anything about me, you know that I don’t deceive my friends.  If lying to my family and closest friends will be a requirement of this job, then you can forget the whole thing right now.”

Sandra and Adam exchanged a long look, then turned back to him.  “All right, Mister Tyler,” Adam said.  “You can tell Detective McCarthy what you need to.  But please impress upon him the need for secrecy.”

“Leo’s a cop.  He knows how to keep his mouth shut.”

“As for the rest of your family and close friends, if you need to tell them anything, please just refer to us as a federal or government agency.”

Rollie nodded in agreement, saying that, since Francis Gatti was Leo's partner and was closely associated with Rollie and the work he did with the cops, he'd have to know, too.

“Very well, then,” Adam said.  “David will take you back home now.  We appreciate you agreeing to speak with us, especially considering that you are still recovering from your injury.  Because of that injury and because we are aware that you need to get your life back on track after everything that’s happened to you, we want to give you plenty of time to think about this.  We will contact you again in one month.”

Rollie shook his head.  “That’s not going to work out.  Angie and I are getting married on August 26th.  Between now and then, my life is going to be pretty hectic, to say the least.”

David smiled.  “Congratulations, Rollie.”

“Yes, congratulations to both of you,” Sandra said.  “I can understand your need for more time.  I’m married myself and am well aware of the chaos in the weeks before a wedding.  Will you and Ms. Ramirez be going on a honeymoon?”

“We haven’t talked about it.  We can’t lose too much time from work.  Neither of us have made any income for four months now, and there are bills to be paid.”

“Of course.  Perhaps the best way to do this is for you to call us when you’ve made your decision.  We would only ask that you not take too long.  David will remain your contact and can give you a number you can reach him at.”

“There is one other thing,” Adam said.  “Something that we’d like to help you with.”

“What’s that?” Rollie asked cautiously.

“We know that you have been attempting to keep the fact that you are alive and were a prisoner of Arthur Cromwell’s a secret so that you would not be harassed by the press.  Obviously, you have no intentions of staying ‘dead’, but our guess would be that you’d prefer to keep your whole involvement with Cromwell unknown.  Is that right?”

“Yes, I’d like it a whole lot better if I could manage to do that, but I don’t see how it’ll be possible.  The second the press find out I’m alive, they’re going to want to know what happened to me and where I’ve been all this time.  I have no ‘cover story’, nothing I can tell them that can’t be disproved.”

“Ah, but that’s where we can help.  We have the capacity to set up any cover story needed.  For instance, we can plant all the evidence and information required to back up a story that a contract was put out on your life and you were put in the Witness Protection Program, your ‘death’ having been an elaborate hoax to make the people who wanted you dead believe that you had been killed.”

“What about all the people who know otherwise, Cromwell’s employees and associates, the cops who were there when I was rescued, and the people who have been interrogating Cromwell’s men?  I trust the guys who helped get me out of that place, but how can you keep Cromwell’s people from talking?  I’m sure their lawyers already know about me.  Between the cops and some help from one of the FBI agents working the case, we’ve managed to keep a lid on things, but I really don’t expect that to last much longer, especially not after what happened in Mount Vernon.”

“As we said, Mister Tyler, we have a lot of resources,” Sandra said.  “You might be surprised by how much we can do.  We can put a lid on this thing.  The truth is that we have already taken steps to cover up all evidence of yours and your brother’s part in the whole Cromwell case.  In fact, we began doing that very thing shortly after we found out what went on in that complex.  We’ve . . . impressed upon quite a few individuals our desire to keep your part in everything a secret.  We have also talked to the personnel at the hospital where you and your brother were and let them know that they are not to talk to anyone about the case.  In addition, we’ve talked to those at Tisch Hospital who know the truth about what happened to you.  And all of yours and your brother’s medical records have been altered as needed.”

Rollie was silent a moment, shocked by the massive coverup that was already in progress.  That’s when an idea occurred to him.  “Can you also cover up the whole thing about Daniel’s abduction as a baby and the illegal adoption?”

Sandra nodded.  “Yes, we can.”  She smiled.  “We are aware that you have already deleted the computer records of your brother’s adoption through the Carfield Agency, which, by the way, was a very smart move on your part.  We can also remove the paper trail of the adoption.”

“Something else we have also already taken steps to do is cover up the fact that Arthur Cromwell is actually Frederick Carfield,” Adam told Rollie.  “That will break the link between him and what happened to Joanne Carfield.”

Rollie looked at them closely.  “Why are you going through all this effort, and why are you willing to put in more time and effort to cover everything up?  Are you hoping that, out of gratitude, I’ll agree to work for you?”

Adam shook his head.  “We expect nothing from you in return, Mister Tyler.  The truth is that covering all this up would be to our advantage, and is, in fact, quite necessary.”

“How so?”

Sandra looked at him intently.  “Think about it, Mister Tyler.  What would happen if word got out about your incredible paranormal abilities?  You’d be a media sensation.  People around the national would learn of it.  In time, word would spread to other countries.  Now, what would happen if people involved in certain organizations decided that they could use those abilities for their own gain, not unlike the way Cromwell sought to use you?  What if enemy countries decided you would make an excellent spy for them?  In hiding your part in the whole thing with Cromwell and covering up everything regarding your paranormal abilities, we are preventing a possible threat to the country.  Chances are that no one would have any greater success in controlling you than Cromwell did, but, as the old saying goes, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Besides, if you did choose to work for us, you’d be far more effective if your abilities were unknown,” Adam added.  He rose to his feet, as did Sandra and the others a moment later.  “Well, I can imagine that you are getting quite fatigued.  Go home.  Rest.  Recover from your injuries.  We will get to work on building your cover story.  Is the fabrication of you being in the Witness Protection Program all right with you?”

“Uh, yeah, that would work,” Rollie replied.  “I guess it’s really the only story that would make sense.”

“When do you plan on announcing the fact that you are alive?” David asked.

“I don’t know yet.  It wouldn’t be until after Daniel goes home.  I can’t wait too long, though I have to be honest that I am not looking forward to all the grief I’m going to go through with getting myself ‘resurrected’.  Dealing with the IRS alone will probably give me a killer migraine.”

Several of the people in the room laughed.

“Well, actually, the cover story of you being in the WPP will be of benefit to you in that regard,” Sandra told him.  “There is a program already in place that aids people who were in the WPP to get integrated back into their former lives if the time comes that they no longer have to live in hiding.  We’ll work with the proper authorities to get you into that program.”

“Thanks.  That would be a big help,” Rollie said, thinking that having connections in high places could definitely come in handy sometimes.

“Just let us know at least a couple of days before the date you choose for the big announcement so that we can coordinate everything with you,” Adam requested.  “We will have to ‘get our stories straight’ to avoid contradictions.”

“Right.”

Everyone shook Rollie’s hand again, wishing him well.  David then led him back to the van.  Rollie escaped back into the Dreamtime for the return trip.  As soon as they were in David’s car, the Aussie contacted Angie.

‘I’m okay, Ange.  We’re on our way back to the loft.’

Rollie sensed Angie’s overwhelming relief.  ‘Thank God.  We’ve all been worried sick.  Leo’s been wearing a trench in the floor.’

The Aussie chuckled.  ‘I bet he’ll have a few choice words for me when I get there.’

‘Probably so.  So, what did those people have to say, Rol?’

‘I’ll tell you all about it when I get home.  There is something I want you to do right away, though.  Check the loft for bugs.  These people seem to be okay, but I still wouldn’t put it past them to stick surveillance devices in the loft to monitor me.’

‘Will do.’

‘I’ll see you in a few minutes.  Bye.’

‘Bye.’

As they pulled up to the loft, David noticed a car he recognized sitting out front.  A small smile curved his lips.  “Looks like Detective McCarthy is here.”  He looked at Rollie.  “But then, that doesn’t surprise me.  I should imagine you contacted your brother as soon as you got in the car with me.”

Rollie just stared at him, not saying anything.

“We surmised from what was on that tape of your conversation with Cromwell that you and your brother can speak telepathically with each other,” David explained.  “We already knew the chances were great that you’d contact him and that he would call Ms. Ramirez.  It made sense, too, that one of them would call Detective McCarthy.”

“So, why didn’t you ask me not to contact Daniel or, at the very least, have me tell Daniel not to let Leo know what was happening?”

“Because that would have made you suspicious.  We are familiar with Detective McCarthy’s record as a police officer.  We know that he is a man of integrity, who is dedicated to his job.  We also know that you and he have been close friends for many years and that he would not reveal anything regarding an association you had with ANSI if you did not wish him to.”

“Then why did your bosses ask me not to tell Leo anything?”  Rollie’s eyes narrowed.  “Was that another one of your tests?”

“In a way.  We wanted to see how you’d react.”

Rollie shook his head.  “I don’t like the way you and your bosses have been manipulating me, Agent Rain.”

The young man’s face turned very serious.  “Not manipulation, Rollie.  We would not do that.  You have to look at this from out viewpoint.  We’re taking a chance telling you about us.  You are presently the only civilian not in our employ or under contract to us who knows about the secret unit of the ANSI.  We’ve had to put a considerable amount of trust in you.  And if you do choose to work for us, we will have to put even more trust in you.  Considering what’s at stake, I hope you can understand why we’d need to make sure of the kind of man you are.”

Rollie thought about that for a moment, then nodded.  “Put that way, yes, I guess I can understand.”

David handed him a business card.  “You can reach me day or night at that number.  If something happens that you think we should know about, call me.”  He shook Rollie’s hand.  “Thank you again for listening to us.  I sincerely hope that you will join our team.”

Rollie got out and watched the agent drive away, then he turned and went inside.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

The moment Rollie came through the door, Angie was beside him, pulling him into her arms.  She scanned his face.

“You look pale, Rol.  Are you okay?”

“I’m kind of tired, and I’m starting to hurt.  My pain meds have pretty much worn off.”

“Go sit down on the couch.  I’ll get some ibuprofen.”

Rollie sat wearily on the sofa, resting his head against the cushions and closing his eyes, his hand going unconsciously to his injury.

“You really look beat, Rollie,” Daniel said in concern.  “I think we should wait to discuss what happened.”

Rollie was very tempted to agree.  He was pretty tired, and his chest was hurting enough that he was having a hard time breathing normally.  But he felt like he needed to tell them what happened as soon as possible.

Angie returned with the ibuprofen, a large gel pack and a hand towel.  She got Rollie a tall glass of ice water, then put the gel pack in the microwave oven to heat it up.  The Aussie poured out four pills into his hand and took them with a big gulp of the water.  The others did not miss the fact that his hands were shaking.

“I think Daniel is right,” Leo said, worried.  “We can wait to hear what those feds had to say.”

Rollie shook his head.  “I don’t think I could relax right now.  Besides, it won’t be all that long before Dylan gets here, and we need to talk about this before then.”

Angie shook her head.  “Frank’s not bringing him over.  I called both him and Sarah and told them that something had come up, and it wouldn’t be a good idea to have Dylan come over to the loft right now.  Alex went over to get him and take him someplace.”

It was only then that it occurred to Rollie that Daniel’s fiancée wasn’t there.  “I didn’t even notice that Alex wasn’t here.  Boy, I am out of it.”

Angie wrapped the towel around the hot gel pack and gave it to him.  He laid it on his chest, over the wound.  “Thanks, Ange.  Um, did you check for . . .” he waved his hand around the loft, “you know what?”

Angie nodded.  “Yeah, the loft’s clean.  Not a bug in the place, except for the multi-legged variety.”

“Good.”  At that moment, Rollie’s stomach reminded him that it hadn’t gotten lunch yet.  “I’d guess that you guys haven’t eaten yet.”

“No.  We were too keyed up,” Daniel told him.  “How about if Leo and I go get something for all of us, and you can relax here on the couch?  Then you can tell us what happened while we eat.”

“That sounds like a plan,” the Aussie replied.

They all decided what they wanted, and the minister and cop left.  Angie ran back up to the living quarters.  She returned with two pillows.  She sat at the end of the couch and placed one pillow over her lap and the other on the armrest, then she instructed Rollie to lie down with his shoulders and upper back on her lap and his head on the armrest.  Liking that idea quite a bit, he did not object.

Rollie closed his eyes, feeling the soft caress of Angie’s fingers through his hair.  He gave a contented sigh and let himself relax.

Angie watched as the lines of pain and exhaustion on Rollie’s face smoothed out, his respiration slowing and deepening.  With a smile, she watched him sleep, making sure the gel pack stayed in place.  Daniel and Leo returned around twenty minutes later and smiled at the sight.

“So much for not being able to relax,” the minister said in a low voice.

“Yeah.  It took him all of thirty seconds to conk out,” Angie told him.

“Do you want to eat now or later?”

“Later.  I don’t want to risk disturbing him.”

As Daniel and Leo had their lunch, they talked with Angie in quiet voices about what she and Rollie were going to do regarding bringing the Aussie ‘back from the dead’ publically.

“We haven’t really talked about it much,” she said.  “You can imagine what the press is going to do when they find out Rollie is alive and where he’s been all this time.  I really wish we could postpone it until he’s healed, but that wouldn’t be possible.  The longer Rollie’s here, the greater the chances are that word is going to get out accidentally.  A whole lot of people already know that he’s alive.”

Leo nodded.  “And there’s no way we’ll be able to sit on the story for that long.  It amazes me that we’ve managed to keep it under wraps this long.”

“We can thank the people I spoke to for that,” Rollie said, startling them all.  He opened his eyes.

“How long have you been awake?” Angie asked.

The Aussie sat up.  “Only a few seconds.”

“I’m sorry we woke you,” Daniel said.

“That’s okay.  I really hadn’t intended to sleep.  I need to tell you what went on.  Is my lunch around here somewhere?”  Daniel handed his brother and Angie their sandwiches.

“What did you mean that we had those feds to thank for the story not getting out?” Leo asked after Rollie had taken a couple of bites.

The Aussie swallowed what was in his mouth.  “I think I’d better take it from the top.”  Rollie had a sudden thought.  “But, before I do, there’s something I need to check on.”

Rollie went to one of the shelving units that held various pieces of equipment and got a pair of infrared goggles.  He had just thought about another way that someone could be listening in on them.  When he got involved in trying to stop the murder of Jimmy Chu by the Chinese Triads, Alec Martel, one of the men behind the plot, used a laser device that picked up the sound vibrations off the window glass of the loft to spy on Rollie.

Rollie motioned for the others to be quiet.  ‘Ange, there is another way they could be listening in,’ he told her in his mind.  ‘Remember the case with Jimmy Chu?’

‘Yeah, I remember.’  How could she forget?  That was the case in which the woman Rollie had loved came back into his life.  She would never forget the jealousy she’d felt when she saw Rollie and Taya Kwan kissing in the F/X van or how worried she’d been that Taya would hurt Rollie  again like she had last time.

‘Go shut off the lights,’ he instructed silently, motioning toward the light switch.

Angie did so, and Rollie donned the goggles.  Drawing closer to the windows, he scanned them carefully for the telltale sign of a laser beam.  He found nothing.  He removed the goggles, and Angie turned the lights back on.

“Nothing,” the Aussie said.  “We’re clear.”

“What was that all about?” Daniel asked.

“There is a device that uses a laser to pick up sound vibrations off of glass.  With one of those devices, someone could listen in on us from the building across the street.  These are infrared goggles.  With them, I’d be able to see the laser beam.”

Daniel shook his head, thinking once again about how different a life his brother had led.

Putting the goggles away, Rollie returned to the couch and told the others everything that, first, David Rain, then Sandra Reese and Adam Caldwell had said.  He mentioned nothing about his attack of claustrophobia in the van, knowing that would distract everyone from the issue at hand.  Leo, Angie and Daniel asked dozens of questions, and Rollie answered them the best that he could.

“I don’t trust them,” was the first thing out of Leo’s mouth after Rollie was through telling them about ANSI and what the agency wanted from him.

The Aussie grinned.  “You know, if I’d had someone to bet with, I would have just made some money.  I knew that’s what you were going to say.  You don’t trust any fed, Leo, not even Marty Pruitt, even though you two worked side-by-side on that case that your snitch, Jimmy Hickman, came to you with.”

“Pruitt’s an okay guy,” Leo grudgingly admitted, thinking about the fed who’d helped them prevent a canister of deadly nerve gas from wiping out a building full of people and who knows how many others.

“I don’t know about the others, but I can say that what I saw in David Rain’s past showed that he is one hell of a good fed,” Rollie told them.  “If he was a cop, he’d probably already have made detective, even though he looks like he’s only around thirty.  These people must think pretty highly of him, too, since they made him head of their Covert Ops.  That’s quite an achievement for a man of his age.”

“Though I’m willing to extend these people a little more trust than Leo is, I have to agree that you need to be cautious, Rollie,” Daniel said.

“Oh, I am being cautious, Daniel,” the Aussie assured him.  “Don’t worry about that.  But I’m also thinking about my Dreaming.  There was no indication of a threat to me from the Harpy eagle.”

“What about the shadow?” Angie asked.

“I’ve thought about that, and I can’t be sure, but what if that shadow doesn’t represent a specific danger?  What if it’s the overall threat the U.S. faces?  The rise in organized crime, the danger of terrorist attacks, all the things that ANSI is battling against?”

Daniel nodded.  “That would make sense.”

“And when the eagle, who was me, did not help the Harpy eagle, the shadow got bigger.”

Everyone was silent, thinking about that.

“I still don’t know if I’m willing to commit myself to ANSI, but I’m not going to reject their request out of hand,” Rollie said.  “I need to do a lot of thinking about it.  But there is one really good thing that’s come of all this.”

“What’s that?” Leo asked.

Rollie told them about what ANSI had done and were doing to hide not only Rollie’s connection to Cromwell, but also everything about Daniel’s abduction and illegal adoption.  They asked the same question Rollie had: why ANSI was doing it.  The explanation made sense to all of them.

“Well, I have to say that this is a big relief,” Daniel said.  “I was still worried that something was going to get out about the adoption.”

“Yeah, and the fact that Rollie’s psychic abilities aren’t going to get splashed all over the news is fantastic,” Angie added.

Rollie nodded in agreement.  “It takes a big load off my mind.”  He stifled a yawn.

“Okay, that’s enough for now, Rol.  You’re going to bed right this minute.”

The Aussie’s mouth twitched upward at the tone in Angie’s voice.  “Yes, Mummy.”

Rollie gathered up the pillows and headed upstairs.  After using the bathroom, he piled several pillows at the head of the bed to elevate his back and head.  Then he kicked off his shoes and crawled under the sheet, sighing in relief as the softness enveloped him.  A minute later, he was asleep.

When Rollie awoke, he was surprised to see that he’d slept for nearly four hours.  He did feel much better, though.  He splashed some water on his face and combed his hair, then went downstairs, where he found Angie, his father and Mangela.

“Hey, there’s sleeping beauty,” Angie said with a smile.  “How do you feel?”

“A lot better.  I guess I needed the rest.  Where’s Daniel?”

“He decided to spend some time sightseeing with Alex and Dylan since you were down for the count.  They all wanted to see the Statue of Liberty and go to the top of the Empire State Building.  You know.  The usual touristy stuff.”

Rollie nodded.  “I hope nobody who knows me spots him.  Up till now, I haven’t worried too much about that.  New York’s a big town, and the odds were pretty slim that someone who knows me would happen to see one of us.  But what happened with Neal Hampshire shows that it can happen.”

“Don’t worry, Rol.  I thought of that, too, and did a little work on Daniel’s face, just a bit of latex to alter his features enough that he didn’t look so much like you.”

“Good thinking.”  Rollie turned to his spiritual father.  “So, Mangela, did you enjoy your own sightseeing tour?  Let me guess.  You never strayed from Central Park.  First, you went to the American Museum of Natural History.  Since you weren’t taking Dylan, you avoided the zoo like the plague.  You may have checked out the Metropolitan Museum of Art and were very unhappy that they have virtually nothing Aboriginal.  You then wandered among just about every tree, bush and plant you had time for.”

The Aborigine smiled.  “You know me well, Sonny Boy.”

“Yeah, well, I guessed that you’d have no interest in the concrete jungle.”

“Why would he have avoided the zoo like the plague?” Angie asked.

“Because Mangela doesn’t like to see animals in captivity.”

“Wild animals are meant to be free, not caged up for people to gawk at,” the Aborigine confirmed.

Rollie looked at his father.  “What about you, Dad?  Is Chet still among the living?”

Dingo smiled.  “He was still breathing when I left.  He said I did pretty good considering the time I’ve had to practice.”

“Uh huh.  And is he actually going to let you mix drinks your first day at work?”

“Well, um, no.  He said we’d stick to having me serve beer and the straight drinks.”

Rollie grinned.  “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

The Aussie went to fix himself a cup of tea.

‘Angie?’ he inquired silently as he stood at the counter.

‘Yeah?’

‘You didn’t tell them about what went on, did you?’

‘No, you said that those guys told you not to.’

‘Good.  I haven’t decided how much I should tell them.  I did agree not to mention ANSI by name, but, right now, I don’t know if I should tell Dad and Mangela anything at all.  I think I’ll tell Mangela.  He might be able to help me make a decision on this.  As for Dad, I think I’ll wait until after I decide what I’m going to do.  If I choose to work for the ANSI, I’ll tell him what’s going on.  Until then, he doesn’t have to know.’

‘But what about when the fabricated story of you being in the Witness Protection Program gets out?’

‘We can just say that the feds are helping us out and made up the cover story.  That’s the truth.’

“I guess I should contact Daniel and let him know that I’m awake,” Rollie said aloud.  ‘Hey, Bro.’

‘Hey, Rollie.  So, you’re back among the living.’

‘Yep.  I hear that you guys are doing the tourist thing.’

Daniel laughed.  ‘Sure are.  I was just about to contact you.  I sensed that you were awake.  Shall we come on over?’

‘Sure.  Any time.’

‘Okay, we’ll see you in a little while, then.’

“They’ll be heading back over here shortly,” Rollie told the others.

“You know, that thing you can do, talking with Daniel in your head, is pretty handy, isn’t it,” Dingo said.

“Yeah, it is.  And think of all the long distance fees we’ll save once Daniel goes back home.”

That thought dimmed Rollie’s mood.  Very soon, his brother was going to have to go home.  He was going to miss having Daniel there.  Though they could easily keep in touch telepathically, and they would continue to feel each other’s songline, it wouldn’t be quite the same as physically seeing him and being in his company.

Shoving the unhappy thought aside, Rollie talked with the others until he sensed Daniel’s arrival.

“They’re here,” he announced.

A minute or so later, the door opened and Daniel, Alex and Dylan came in.  The boy’s eyes immediately widened with wonder.

“Wow,” he said, awe in his voice.

“Didn’t we tell you it was cool?” Daniel said.

Dylan nodded, his eyes taking in everything.

A wicked grin spread over Rollie’s face.  “Blue, dragon.”

A second later, the dragon’s head suddenly swooped down, roaring loudly.  Alex let out a little shriek, and both Daniel and Dylan started violently.  Grinning broadly, Rollie ordered Bluey to put the dragon back in its resting place.

“Rollie, you jerk,” Angie said, trying not to laugh.  “What are you trying to do?  Give them heart failure?”

“Yeah, you might go back to being an only child if you do something like that again,” Daniel stated.  Then he laughed, shaking his head.  He, Alex and Dylan came up the steps.

“So, how do I take this stuff off?” the minister asked, pointing to the latex on his face.

Rollie smiled.  “In a hurry to get it off, Bro?”

“Well, it isn’t exactly comfortable.  And it itches.”

Chuckling, Rollie helped Daniel remove the latex, then gave him a tube of cleansing cream that would remove any traces of the adhesive used to affix the latex.  Daniel went to the bathroom to wash up.

Rollie turned to Dylan.  “So, you ready for the grand tour?” he asked.

The boy nodded enthusiastically.

“Great.  Now, it is only fitting that our tour start off with my crowning achievement in robotics, the fantastic, the amazing Bluey!”

Hearing his name called, Bluey barked and came forward, his tail wagging.

“Hey, Blue.  Say hello to Dylan.”

The robot looked at the boy and barked a couple of times, then whined.

“Wow, that’s cool!” Dylan said in delight.  “Can it do things by itself?”

“Oh, you bet.  Bluey here has an artificial intelligence program, so he’s got a will of his own.  In fact, I remember one time when he pulled the same practical joke on me that I pulled on you.  He made the dragon’s head pop out when I came home.  Unfortunately, at the time, I wasn’t in the mood to appreciate the joke.  Blue’s a handy guy to have around.  He has control of all of the electrical systems here in the loft, the lights, heating and air conditioning, stuff like that.  He also controls the security system.  We use him on the job, too.  And he can play chess.”

“Chess?” Daniel said, coming down the stairs.  “Too bad I didn’t know that before.  I’d have played a game with him.”

“Just as well you didn’t, Daniel.  He’d probably have beaten the pants off you.  I haven’t won a game with him yet, and neither has Leo.  Nobody has.  He’s undefeated.”

The “tour” continued.  Since neither of them had been shown the place in detail, Daniel and Alex joined in on it.  Rollie started with the first floor of the loft, showing them all of the equipment and explaining what it did.  He then showed off his collection of memorabilia, naming the movies each came from. 

“I will let the lovely Angela take you on the next leg of the tour, which covers what we call the cleanroom,” Rollie said once they’d seen everything on the first floor.

Smiling indulgently, Angie led the three up the spiral staircase.

“You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you,” Dingo said.

“Yeah, I am.”  Rollie spread his arms out to encompass the loft.  “This is my life, Dad.  It’s what I do, and I’m proud of it.  We’ll never be big like ILM, and we may never win an Oscar, but there isn’t another job in the world that I’d rather have.”

“I know, Son.  I didn’t understand that before, but I do now.”

A short while later, the “tour group” came back downstairs.  Rollie walked up to them with a grin.

“And now for the highlight of our tour.  Follow me.”

Rollie led them up to the VR chamber.  He motioned for the others to go in.  Standing just outside the doorway, he looked at Dylan.

“So, what do you think this is, Dylan?”

“Uh . . . some kind of ride?”

“Well, you’re partly right.  But it’s also Australia.”

“Australia?” Dylan repeated, puzzled.

“Uh huh.”

Forcibly making himself relax, Rollie entered the chamber and shut the door.  He moved over to the controls and punched in a command.  Australia surrounded them.  Daniel, Alex and Dylan all gasped, and Rollie immediately relaxed.  He knew that, as long as there was a program playing on the screen, he’d be fine in the chamber.

“Wow,” Dylan said in a hushed voice.

“Yeah, wow,” Daniel agreed.  Alex just nodded her head in wonder.

Rollie smiled.  “It’s also the Grand Canyon.”  He punched in a new command and the picture changed.  They soared slowly over the huge canyon like a bird.  “And it’s the Great Wall of China.”  The image changed again, and it was as if they were walking down the mighty wall.  “The Pyramids of Giza.”  Now, they appeared to be on the back of a camel, approaching the great tombs.  “And Hawaii’s Kilauea.”  They all gazed upon the awe-inspiring sight of the live volcano as it spat molten lava.

“This is amazing, Rollie,” Daniel said.  “I could spend hours in here.”

“I have spent hours in here,” his brother responded.

“How many different ones do you have?” Dylan asked.

“Dozens and dozens.  I add to my collection every chance I get.  These are just the scenic ones.  There are also the ones that use the full potential of the chamber.”

“Like what?” Alex asked.

Rollie smiled.  “You might all want to take a seat for this.  Alex, you and Dylan take the chairs.  Daniel and I can sit on the floor.”

Once everyone was seated, Rollie brought up another program, and they all found themselves on a roller coaster.  Soon, Daniel, Dylan and Alex were screaming and laughing as they felt like they were going through loops and plunging down steep drops.  Rollie watched them with delight.

As the ride ended and they approached the station, Alex patted her chest and took a deep breath.

“Whew!  I could have sworn we were really moving.”

“We were,” Rollie told her.  “The chamber is set on hydraulic arms that can move it up and down and from side to side.”  He punched in another command.  “Okay, everyone.  Fasten your seatbelts!”  An instant later, they were on a wild ride in the F-16.  Again, Daniel, Alex and Dylan were shouting and laughing with joy.

As the program ended, Rollie stood and went to the door, opened it and stepped outside.  “Ladies and gentleman, this completes our tour.  Thank you for visiting Tyler’s Land of Oz.  We hope you’ll come again.”

The others left the VR chamber.

“What’s that up there?” Dylan asked, pointing to the living quarters.

“That’s where my bedroom and the bathroom are,” Rollie replied.

They all went back downstairs.

“That was really fun.  Thanks, Rollie,” Dylan said.

“Yes, it was,” Alex agreed.  “Living in a place like this, who needs Disneyland?”

Rollie grinned.  “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“I’m hungry,” Dylan told his mom.

Alex looked at her watch.  “I didn’t realize how late it was getting.  I could definitely use some dinner, too.”

“Oh, that’s right.  I almost forgot,” Angie said.  She turned to Daniel.  “Your mom called while you guys were gone and asked if you were still going to have dinner with them.”

“I completely forgot about that,” the minister admitted.  “You know, I didn’t think about this before, but it probably wouldn’t be a good idea.  The press are really hanging around Dad right now because of the fair.  I wouldn’t put it past some reporter or photographer to follow them to dinner.  Even if I wore a disguise, I might end up with my face in the papers.  Then everybody would wonder who Mom and Dad were having dinner with.”

“Good point,” Rollie said.  “We need to start being really careful.”

Daniel called his parents and told them his concerns.  They both agreed it would be best not to take chances.

“So, I guess we’ll see you at the fair tomorrow,” Cliff said.

“Yeah, though you probably won’t recognize me by the time Rollie gets through with me.”

“Then you’re not going to wear the same, um, disguise that you did earlier today?”

The minister laughed.  “Not a chance.  You should have seen some of the stares I got.”

“Yes, I can imagine.  All right, we’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Okay.  Bye.”

Everyone began discussing what they were going to do for dinner.

“Too bad we can’t go out to eat,” Rollie said.

“Couldn’t you and Daniel both wear disguises?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, but Angie would have to wear one, too.  If somebody we knew spotted her, they’d probably come over to talk, and that could cause problems.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Daniel said.  “That’s too much trouble to go through.  We can just eat here.”

They all decided that Italian sounded good.  Angie called a nearby Italian restaurant that would do takeout, then Dingo and Mangela left to get the food.

‘Rollie, did you tell Dingo and Mangela anything about what happened this morning?’ Daniel asked a couple of minutes later.

‘No, at least not yet.  What about you?  How much does Alex know?’

‘Well, she was with me when you contacted me, so she knows that someone from the government came to the loft and took you someplace to talk to his bosses.  All I told her afterwards is that the feds want you to work for them and that I can’t say anything more because of the secrecy issue.  She understood.’

‘Good.  We do need to keep this as quiet as possible.  Besides, I did agree not to tell anyone the whole story, except you, Angie, Leo, and Francis, and that needs to extend to you guys not telling anyone either.’

Everyone enjoyed the dinner.  Afterwards, as Dylan played a game on Rollie’s computer, the adults talked.

“So, now that Rollie’s out of the hospital and this whole thing with Cromwell is resolved, I guess Alex and I need to think about getting back home,” Daniel said.

“Yes, we do,” Alex agreed.  “I can’t expect Molly and Boris to continue handling everything on their own for much longer.  Besides, we’ve got some serious wedding planning to do.”

Daniel nodded.  He looked over at Rollie.  The Aussie’s face was expressionless and he wasn’t meeting Daniel’s eyes, but the minister knew what his brother was feeling.  He was feeling the same thing.  He was going to miss Rollie.  They’d grown so close in the short time they’d had together.  He was just thankful that they had this psychic link.  Otherwise, he knew that they’d miss each other terribly.

“I want to get back before next Sunday,” Daniel said.  “Counting this weekend, I will have missed giving services for three weeks.  I don’t want to miss another one.  Since we’ll be spending a few days with Mom and Dad in California, I’d say that we should leave Monday or Tuesday.”  Daniel again looked at Rollie, who, this time, met his eyes.  He didn’t have to be psychically connected to his brother to know what Rollie was thinking.  He looked at Alex.  “Shall we make it Tuesday?”

“Sure, that’ll be fine.”

“I guess we should get busy on your disguise for tomorrow,” Rollie said, again pushing aside his sorrow over Daniel’s upcoming departure.

He and Angie took Daniel over to the mask making equipment.  The others followed them over, all of them curious about the process.

“So, how far do you want to go?” Rollie asked his brother.  “Do you want a full mask or just some latex like what Angie did with you?  If you’re going to be wearing the disguise all day, I’d recommend not going with the full mask.  They can get pretty hot and uncomfortable, especially on a warm day, and you were having problems just wearing that bit of latex.”

“We’d better not go with the mask.  I don’t know if I could take having my whole face covered with that stuff.”

Rollie nodded.  “Ange, bring up the most recent scan of me, and we can work from that.”

Angie brought up the three-dimensional model of Rollie’s head on the screen.

“Okay, widen the nose a bit and add some fullness to the jaw and cheekbones,” the Aussie instructed.

Angie did so, and they all watched the image change.

“Cool,” Dylan said.

Rollie examined the results with a critical eye.  “It’s not quite right.  Add a bit to the chin and put a cleft in it.”  Angie did so.  Rollie nodded his head.  “How does that look, Daniel?  It should be enough that nobody’s going to recognize you.”

The minister stared at the image on the screen.  “Yeah, that should be fine.  So, what do you do now?”

“We create the pieces of latex with the mask maker here, then I stick them on your face just like Angie did earlier.  We’ll make the pieces tonight so that they’ll be ready first thing in the morning.  What time do you need to get to the fair?”

“It starts at nine o’clock, so I was hoping to get there by eight.”

“Okay, we’ll need to get started pretty early then.”

The process of making the latex was begun, and everyone went back over to the lounge, except for Dylan, who asked Rollie if he could play something in the VR chamber.  The Aussie set the chamber up to cycle through several of the thrill ride programs, like the roller coaster and the F-16 flight.

They talked for another forty minutes or so, then Alex decided that she needed to get Dylan back to the hotel and to bed since they’d be getting up early.  The boy was pretty disappointed when Alex went and got him out of the VR chamber.

“That thing is so cool, Rollie,” Dylan said, his eyes bright.  “They should have something like that at the Pacific Science Center.  You should sell them one.”

Rollie chuckled.  “I’ll have to check into that.”

Everyone said goodbye to Alex and her son.  Rollie turned to Mangela.  “So, what about you?  When will you be heading home?”

“If Daniel is going to leave on Tuesday, then I will as well, if I can get a flight out.”

Rollie nodded.  “Um, I need to talk to you about something.  Let’s go up to the VR chamber.”

Rollie started the Australia program and sat in one of the seats.  Mangela took the other.

“Something happened this morning,” Rollie began.  “Someone from the government came here, the man who was asking questions about me at the hospital.  He took me to talk with his bosses.  They want me to work for them.  Not full time, just occasional jobs for them, using my abilities.”

“And you do not know if you should,” Mangela guessed.

“Yeah.  I found out that this government agency is the Harpy eagle in my Dreaming, and I think the shadow represents the overall national threat the U.S. and its allies face.”

“So, they are asking you to fight the spread of the shadow of evil.”

Rollie nodded.  “The thing is that, though these people claim that they want to do things the right way and avoid having to resort to assassinations and other things like that to protect the country, I can’t be sure that they’ll keep to that ideal.  Oh, they might try to in the beginning, but, sooner or later, it could change.  If that happens, I will never be sure if information I gave them wasn’t used to commit murder or some other major crime, and I can’t be a part of that.  But, on the other hand, I might be able to do things that will save a lot of lives.  Where do I draw the line?”

“I cannot answer that for you, Rollie.  That is a decision only you can make.  You must decide if the threat that your abilities may be used to commit an occasional act of evil outweighs the times that they will be used to do good.”

Rollie gave a sigh.  “It’s more than that, though.  I have to think of Angie, too.  I know that she’d be happy if I didn’t get involved in police cases anymore.  I know that she lives in fear that I’ll get killed because of something I got involved with through the cops or feds.  And, now, something comes along that would increase my involvement in such situations.  We’re getting married.  We’ll be starting a family.  I should be concentrating my attention on that and on my real job, not going off to play Rollie Tyler, Super Spy.  It’s not fair to Angie, and she is more important to me than anything.”

“That is something that you need to speak to her about.  I can only say that Angie does not want you to turn your back on the person that you are, to deny the true path of your songline.  She loves you too much to ask or expect that of you.”

Rollie looked at Mangela.  “Angie and I can speak with each other in our minds now, like Daniel and I can.”  He studied the Aborigine’s expression.  “You don’t seem surprised by that.”

“I have always known, from the time I first saw you with Angie when she was a child, that your songlines were bound together.  You were meant to be as you are now.  No, it does not surprise me that you can speak with her mind to mind.  I have no doubt that, in time, your link with her will grow even stronger than it is now.”

Rollie was silent a moment, then gave another sigh.  “A lot of things have changed in my life over the past few months.  It can be overwhelming when I think about it.  I guess what I need to do right now is just focus on getting my life back on track.”  He grimaced.  “That’s going to keep me busy enough as it is, what with the whole lovely chore of having me undeclared dead.”  He got to his feet and turned off the program.  The two men left the chamber and went back downstairs.

It was around ten o’clock when everyone began ‘encouraging’ Rollie to go to bed.  He insisted that, because of his long nap, he wasn’t tired, but it didn’t make a difference.  So, with a sigh, he finally surrendered at about 10:15.

“I feel like an eight-year-old being told it’s past my bedtime,” the Aussie muttered as he went upstairs.

Since Angie would once again be sleeping in the old storage room, Daniel made up a bed on the couch.  Mangela retired to his sleeping place on the roof, and Dingo went off to his trailer.

After getting ready for bed and turning off the light, Rollie lay in the darkness, staring up at nothing as the minutes ticked by.  His mind was crowded with all the things in his life, all the stuff that he’d be facing in the coming days and weeks.  A huge part of him just wanted to go away and hide for a while, escape for a few precious days from the madness, worry and pain.  Perhaps he and Angie could take a drive upstate or maybe even head up the Connecticut coastline for a ways, find a nice, quiet Bed and Breakfast on the water somewhere.  It had been a very long time since they’d had any kind of vacation together, and it was long overdue.  Holding off for just a little while longer the chaos his life was going to become wouldn’t hurt, would it?

‘Rollie?’ inquired a hesitant voice in his mind.

‘Ange?’

‘Wow, I did do it.  I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to contact you like this.  I figured you might be the one who had to initiate contact.  I’m not sure how this works.  I mean, I’m not psychic, so how can I talk to you telepathically?’

‘It has something to do with our connection.  It’s like there’s a . . . a telephone line left open between us.  Either one of us can talk to the other at any time.  We never have to ‘dial up’, so to speak.  The line is always open.’

‘Why is it that I can’t hear you and Daniel talk to each other?’

Rollie thought about that.  ‘Because it’s on a different line.  The connection I have with Daniel is normally separate from the one I have with you.  It’s the same way with Mangela.  He can’t hear my conversations with you or Daniel, and you can’t hear mine with him.’

‘Hmm.  I wonder if it’s possible to have a, um, conference call.’

Rollie laughed.  ‘Now, that would be interesting, holding a telepathic conversation with four people at the same time.  I’m not sure if that would be possible.  I guess I’d have to act as the nexus since I’m the one who has the connection with all of you.  Maybe, someday, we’ll test it out and see if it can work.’

There was a short moment of silence.  ‘Are you tired?  Do you want me to let you go to sleep?’

‘No, actually, I’m wide awake.  I told you that downstairs, but you guys wouldn’t listen to me.  I’ve just been lying here, staring into the dark.’

‘Sorry.  I guess we need to back off a little, huh.’

‘Yeah, just a little.’  Rollie paused. ‘What is it, Ange?  Is there something you want to talk about?  Do you want to talk about this thing with the ANSI?’

There was another pause.  ‘Can I come in there?’

‘Of course, Angie.  I’ll get up.’

‘No, don’t do that.  Just stay where you are.’

A moment later, the bedroom door opened, and Angie came in.  His eyes having grown accustomed to the darkness, he could see that she was wearing dark-colored pajama bottoms and a white tank top.  He could not stop himself from scanning her body from head to toe.  She came up to the bed and sat on the edge.

“I guess I feel better talking like this,” Angie admitted.  “It’s not that I’m uncomfortable with the telepathy.  I’m not.  I just want to see your face when I talk to you, hear your real voice.  All that time you were gone, I missed seeing your face and hearing your voice so much.”  Angie’s gaze fell to the bed.  “I lost count of how many times I played all the recorded bits of your voice that we had.  I played your greeting on the answering machine over and over again.  ‘This is Tyler FX.  Leave a message, and we’ll get back to you.  Thanks for calling.’”

Rollie reached out and pulled her down into his arms.  She snuggled up against him with a sigh.

“What’s wrong, Angie?” Rollie asked quietly, running his hand up and down her back.

“Nothing, really.  I’m just thinking about everything.  While you were asleep, Leo and I did some snooping on the computer.  Leo wanted to find out more about this David Rain.  I hacked into the FBI database and brought up Rain’s file.  You were right.  It is pretty impressive.  Two commendations for bravery and for actions above and beyond the call of duty.  He’s got a master’s degree in Criminal Science from the University of Baltimore.  The FBI recruited him straight out of college.”  Angie laughed.  “Even Leo was impressed, though he did make the comment that it was too bad Rain didn’t become a cop instead of a fed.”

Rollie chuckled.  “Doesn’t surprise me.”

“According to his file, David Rain is now on permanent assignment in what it called a special task force.  I tried to find out some stuff about the ANSI, too, but I didn’t have much luck.  Wherever the Internet trails are to them, they are very well hidden.  I could probably have found out more if I’d tried, but I was afraid to push it.”

“Angie, I don’t know yet what I’m going to do about the ANSI.  I’m going to try not to even think about them for the next few weeks.”  He tilted her face up and looked in her eyes.  “But, whatever I decide, you’ve got a say in it.  If you tell me that you don’t want me to do it, then I won’t.  It’s that simple.  We’re a team in this, too, Ange.”

Angie pulled his lips down to hers in a soft kiss.  As they drew apart, she gazed into his eyes.  “Could you, um, do what you did this morning?”

Rollie smiled and nodded.  He motioned for Angie to get under the covers with him.  Once she was back in his arms, he closed his eyes and heightened the strength of their connection as he did that morning.  They both sighed in contentment at the wondrous feeling.  Rollie drew her body even closer to his.

‘I want to be this close to you forever, Ange.  I want you to be a part of me, mind, body and soul.’

‘I want that too, Rol’

Feeling warm, safe and utterly content, Rollie and Angie closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

Rollie got started on his brother’s makeup early the next morning.  The whole time he was working, there was a soft smile on his face.  Noticing it, Daniel said nothing at first, but finally couldn’t stop himself from asking about it.

“You look especially pleased about something this morning,” he commented.

Rollie’s smile grew a little.  “Yeah, I am feeling pretty good this morning.  I slept very well.”

“You must have.”  Daniel’s smile turned teasing.  “I guess Angie must have slept very well, too, since I noticed the exact same smile on her.”

A faint flush stained Rollie’s face, and Daniel chuckled.  “Busted,” he said with a grin.

Rollie chuckled as well.  “Yeah, okay, so I admit it.  Angie and I spent the night together.”  He quickly added, “Not in that way.  She needed to talk.  One thing led to another, and she ended up spending the night sleeping in my arms.”  Rollie’s expression turned tender.  “I think that’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had, waking up with her there beside me.”

Rollie thought about when he woke up that morning.  Angie’s body had been partially draped over his, her head tucked underneath his chin.  As he had expected, he had not maintained the heightened connection to her in his sleep, but the feeling of her lying there, her body pressed against his, had still filled him with a feeling of closeness to her.  He could have lain like that for hours, just glorying in the joy of having her in his arms as she slept.

“You know, most guys, when they have dreams about women, they only dream about the sex,” he told Daniel.  “That’s not the way it was with me when I’d dreamed about Angie.  Oh, don’t get me wrong.  I definitely had my share of those kinds of dreams, but I also dreamed about just holding her, being with her.  I had dreams about her being pregnant with my child, us with our kids, doing family things.”  He paused.  “There’s one dream that is especially precious to me.  It started out with us making love,” he stopped, looking slightly embarrassed, “several times, in fact.  But then, it continued on to the next morning when I ‘woke up’ holding her in my arms.  I looked down at her there, sleeping beside me, and she was so beautiful.  The dream was so detailed, so vivid that I was certain it was real.”  An expression of sorrow flitted across his face.  “But then, I actually did wake up, and I realized that it wasn’t real after all.  It hurt so much that I started to cry.  It was later that day, after Angie went home and I was alone yet again, another lonely night looming ahead of me, that I decided to tell her that I loved her.  I just couldn’t take it anymore.”  He sighed.  “But then, I had the Dreaming, and I knew that I couldn’t tell her, not when I thought there was a good chance I was going to die soon.”  A smile returned to Rollie’s face.  “But, now, I’m actually going to get to live that dream and so many of the others I’ve had.  I sometimes feel like I’m still dreaming.”

Daniel smiled.  “I can’t tell you how happy I am for you and Angie.  When Angie was on the island, she was so desolate.  She believed that she’d never have anyone to love, that she’d live the rest of her life alone.  I know it hurt her to see me and Alex together.  She was associating me so closely with you.  She probably didn’t tell you this, but it was Angie who spurred me into telling Alex I loved her.  We’d been dating for a few months, and I knew that was in love with Alex, but I never actually spoke the words.  When I admitted that to Angie, she. . . .  Well, she was suffering a lot of pain and regret over the fact that she never told you she loved you, and she just about begged me not to make the same mistake.”

It hurt Rollie to think about how much Angie had suffered during those months.  He wished so much that she could have been spared that pain, even more than he wished that he hadn’t been put through the agony he suffered.

Another thought occurred to the Aussie.  “Wait a minute.  If you only just told Alex you loved her during the time that Angie was there, how much time passed between ‘I love you’ and ‘will you marry me?’”

Daniel laughed.  “Not long.  It was, um, all of two days.”

Rollie could not stop himself from laughing.  “Well, you sure didn’t waste any time that time, Little Brother.”

“No, I didn’t.  But at least I didn’t do like I did with Stella and marry Alex the day I met her.”  Daniel grinned.  “Of course, she wouldn’t have had anything to do with me then anyway, so that wouldn’t have been possible.”

Rollie’s quirked an eyebrow.  “Oh?  You mean it wasn’t love at first sight?”

Daniel gave a short laugh.  “Not hardly!  Alex had definite issues about religion, and me being a clergyman did not endear me to her.  And, to add insult to injury, I was also a mainlander.  Alex was sick of mainlanders coming to the island and wanting to change things.  So, that was two strikes against me.  Strike three came when I made Dylan my acolyte.  Ho boy!  You know what they say about redheads and their tempers?  Well, you can believe it!”

Rollie chuckled.  “So, everything was not hearts and flowers between you two.  What changed it?”

Daniel thought about the question.  “There really wasn’t any one thing.  I mean, there was no big, momentous event that changed our feelings.  We just got past those issues and became friends.  Alex lost a lot of her hatred for anything to do with religion.  I think she finally began to lose her bitterness over her mother’s death, which is what had driven her completely from religion.  She also mellowed in regards to mainlanders, realizing that they weren’t all enemies.  Of course, she never thought of the tourists that way.”

“What about you?”

“Well, I was ticked off by her initial attitude toward me, especially when she disconnected a call to my father without even telling me first that I wasn’t allowed to make long distance calls on that phone.  But it really didn’t take me long to come to like her.  I admired her spirit and determination.  It’s not easy raising a child on your own, plus run a business.”

“When did you figure out that what you were feeling was more than friendship?” Rollie asked.

“That’s kind of a hard one to answer.  When we shared our first kiss, I definitely felt something spark between us.  It was a stage kiss.  We were rehearsing the annual Hope Island play.  When our lips met. . . .  I was pretty stunned by what I felt.  But I think it was when Steve Kramer, Dylan’s father, came to the island that I really began to realize that I was feeling a lot more for Alex than just friendship.  He wanted to pick up where they’d left off, get back together with Alex and stay there on the island with her and Dylan.  I was so jealous.  I was seething with it.  And then, I saw them kissing.  It really hurt.  I almost felt like I’d just gotten stabbed through the heart.  But, even after Steve left, I still wasn’t ready to commit myself to her.  I wasn’t ready to openly admit, to her or to myself, that I was in love with her.  I tried to convince myself that we were wrong for each other, that it just wouldn’t work out.”

Daniel’s eyes grew distant with remembrance.  “But then, Dad came to the island, asking me to join his ministry.  For so many years, I’d wanted to feel like I was a real part of his life, and being his partner in Cooper Ministries would have given me that.  It would also have allowed me to spread the word of God to millions of people.  But I loved Hope Island.  It was my home, and I didn’t want to leave it.  I really didn’t know what to do.  I did a lot of praying, asking God to let me know what I should do.  I think He did, in the form of a certain redhead.”

“What happened?”

“Alex came to the church, wanting to know if I was going to leave.  She was really upset.  She reminded me of what I had there on the island, what I’d accomplished, the friendships I’d made, the people whose lives I’d touched and who had touched mine.  I told her that I didn’t know what I was going to do, saying something like that, up until a couple of hours ago, the biggest decision I’d had to make was what shingles I was going to use on the roof.  Then she said something that I will never forget.  She said, ‘up until a couple of hours ago, I thought that I was going to see you every day for the rest of my life.’  That . . . that just blew me away.  I was floored.  She started to leave, and I chased after her.  I wasn’t going to let her walk away after saying something like that.”  A soft smile lit Daniel’s face.  “That was the moment we shared our first real kiss.  It was also when I knew, without doubt, that I was in love with her.”

Rollie smiled.  “Well, I have to say that you did good, Bro.  Alex is a great lady.”

“Yes, she is.”

Rollie resumed his work on Daniel’s face, taking extra special care with the application of the latex and makeup.  Finally, it was done.  He handed a mirror to Daniel.  “What do you think?”

Daniel looked at himself.  “Wow.  I don’t even recognize myself.  This is amazing.”  He touched his face carefully.  “And this will last all day?”

“It should.  You might want to hit the bathroom occasionally and make sure the makeup isn’t wearing off anywhere.  I’ll give you a little container of it in case you have to do any touch-ups.”

“Thanks for doing this, Rollie.  It’s a shame you can’t come to the fair.”

“Yeah.  I’d like to, but I don’t think it would be a good idea.  I’m not fit enough yet to spend hours on my feet, and, with the crowds, it would be easy to accidentally get an elbow in the ribs.  That would not be good.  I’ll just hang around here, maybe get some work done on a few projects I never had time for.  Actually, there’s some stuff that Angie and I need to do on the VR baseball game.  If Neal Hampshire is really interested in buying it, we should try to get it finished.”  Rollie looked at his watch.  “You need to get going if you’re going to make it there by eight.”  He scooped out a little makeup and put it in a tiny container, which Daniel stuck in his pocket.

The minister headed over to the fair.  He parked in the area that had been reserved for the volunteers and went in search of Mitch Dearborne.  He found him over by the stage that had been set up for the guest speakers.

“Hey, Mitch,” he said.

The jeweler turned to Daniel, looking at him with bemusement.  “Um, I’m sorry.  Do I know you?”

Daniel grinned broadly.  “Forgotten me already, Mitch.  I’d think that the guy you gave away a fifteen hundred dollar engagement ring to would be unforgettable.”

Utter confusion colored Mitch’s face for several seconds, then his eyes widened.  “Daniel?”

The minister laughed.  “That’s right.”

“But . . . but your face.”

“Rollie did a bit of makeup on me.  I told you that I was trying to keep a low profile.  Also, since the news of Rollie being alive hasn’t been released yet, we needed to make sure someone wasn’t going to mistake me for him.”

Mitch shook his head.  “Wow.  Well, there is no danger of you being recognized, that’s for sure.  Have you hooked up with your parents yet?”

“No.  Are they here?”

“Your mother is.  She’s over at the storyteller’s booth.  Your father’s not scheduled to arrive until just before his speech.  He didn’t want his presence to distract the crowds from the other speakers and attractions.”

Daniel nodded.  “So, is there something in particular that you’d like me to do?”

“Um, well, actually, we didn’t quite get one of the displays done yesterday, and they’re rushing like crazy this morning to get it finished.  Do you have much experience with a hammer?”

Daniel laughed.  “Mitch, you have no idea.  If there’s anything I have experience with, it’s a hammer, as my fingers will tell you in painful detail.”

The jeweler chuckled.  “Well, in that case, they’re working on it over at the south end of the lot.  Just ask for Dwayne, and he’ll let you know what you can do to help.”

“Sure.  I want to say a quick hi to Mom first, though.”

“Okay.  The storyteller’s booth is down that way on the right.  You can’t miss it.”

“Thanks.”  Daniel headed toward the booth his mother was at.  The booth was actually a tiny theater set up beneath a large canopy.  There were several rows of benches where the audience would sit.  Sitting before the benches was a big armchair that had a brightly colored cover draped over it.  A pile of books sat beside the chair.  Off to the side were two tables filled with books that were apparently for sale.  There was also a cash register and a couple of folding chairs.  A three-sided enclosure with dark red draperies separated the theater from the booths on either side of it and behind it.  Daniel’s mother was standing at one of the tables, organizing some of the books.  Her back was turned to Daniel, so he decided to have some fun.  He altered his posture, slouching so that it looked like he was shorter.

“Excuse me,” he said in a lower, gravely voice.

Bonnie turned to him.  “Yes?”  There was not a hint of recognition on her face.

“I was wondering if you could help me.”

“Certainly.  What do you need?”

Trying desperately not to smile, Daniel replied, “Well, you see, I’m really into older women, and I’d love to take you on a date.”

Bonnie Cooper’s eyes flew open wider than Daniel had ever seen them, an expression of total shock on her face.  “I . . . I, um. . . .”

Daniel couldn’t keep his serious expression any longer.  A gigantic smile spread over his face, and he started to laugh.  He hadn’t thought it was possible, but his mother’s eyes got even bigger.

“Daniel?!” she exclaimed.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Oh my goodness!  I cannot believe it.  Look at you!  I would never have recognized you.”  She touched his face tentatively.  “That is extraordinary!  And it looks so real.  Rollie did that?”

“Uh huh.  That’s one of the things he does, Mom.”

“Well, I have to say that he’s very good at it.  Your father is not going to believe it.  Where are Alex and Dylan?”

“They’ll be here a little later.”

“Are they going to help out?” Bonnie asked.

“Alex said she’d like to.  When she gets here, we’ll find out what she can do.”

“So, are you going to be working here with me in this booth?”

“I don’t know yet where I’ll be.  Right now, I’m going over to help finish one of the displays.”

“Okay, I’ll see you in a while, then.”

For the next half hour, Daniel helped finish the final display for the fair.  By some miracle, he actually managed to avoid injuring any of his fingers.  The activity did, however, aggravate his wounded arm, which, up until then, had been feeling pretty good.  Massaging the area around his injury, Daniel sought Mitch out again.

“What did you do to your arm?” the jeweler asked right away.

Realizing he was still rubbing his arm, Daniel dropped his hand.  “Um, nothing.  I received an . . . injury a few days ago, and the manual labor just aggravated it.”

“Well, why didn’t you say something?  I wouldn’t have asked you to help with the construction.”

“That’s all right.  It’ll fade shortly.”

“Would you like some aspirin or something?  I’m sure somebody around here has some.”

“No, I’m okay.  I wanted to know where you’d like me to go.  Mom wondered if I’d be with her in the storyteller’s booth.”

“Um, sure, that would be fine.  We’ve got a couple of volunteers who will be telling real life, fictional and biblical stories.  They’ve got printed sheets of all the stories.  I’m sure they’d be happy to have someone else give them a hand.  Either that or you can help your mother.  She’ll be handling the book sales.  They’ll be selling children’s books and some biographies and other books for the parents.  Like with everything else being sold here, all of the profits will be paying for the expenses of the fair and going to the community projects that we’re trying to raise money for.”

Daniel went back over to the storyteller’s booth.  There were now two other people there, a man and a woman.  Bonnie smiled when she saw him.

“So, will you be here with us?” she asked.

“If you’ll have me.”

“Well, of course we will.  Curtis, Jeanette, this is my--”  Bonnie coughed to hide her slip of the tongue.   “This is Daniel.”

Curtis shook the minister’s hand.  “Nice to meet you, Daniel.”

Jeanette shook his hand as well.  “Will you be helping us tell stories?”

“Sure.  That’ll be fun.”

The woman handed him a list.  “Okay, these are the stories we’re going to be telling.  We have printed copies of each story to read off of.  We glued the printed pages to the insides of some books so that it would appear that we were reading from the books.  We thought that would be nicer than reading off plain sheets of paper.”

“Great idea.”

“The names of the stories that are in each book are written with a felt tip pen on the covers of the books, and the page where each story begins is marked with a bookmark.”

Daniel scanned the list.  “Um, is it all right if tell some stories of my own?”

“No, that would be fine,” Curtis replied.  “You have something in particular in mind?”

“I’ve got a couple of stories, one of which is about a . . . very special person I know.”

“Well, great.”  The man looked at his watch.  “Okay, it’s almost nine o’clock, and you can bet there will be early arrivals.”  He looked down the aisle between the booths.  “In fact, I can see a few people here already.”

As most of the volunteers had expected, the first half-hour of the fair was pretty slow.  But, by 9:30, things were starting to pick up.  It was not quite 9:45 when Daniel spied a familiar head of red hair coming slowly toward them.  Smiling, Daniel excused himself and headed for Alex.  As he reached her, she and Dylan were busy looking through some comic books.  Daniel snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Hey, sexy lady,” he murmured in a deep voice.  “Wanna go someplace and neck?”

Alex turned around in his arms with a smile then gasped and took a hasty step backwards.  Her eyes grew huge.

“Oh my gosh!  Daniel!  I just about had a heart attack there for a second.  I didn’t recognize you!”  She stepped forward and looked at him more closely.  “Wow.  If it wasn’t for the fact that I saw Rollie and Angie creating your disguise on the computer, I’d never have known it was you.  That’s incredible.”

Daniel looked down at Alex’s son, who was staring up at him, his eyes wide with awe.  “So, what do you think, Dylan?”

“Wow!  You don’t look like you at all.”

“That’s the whole idea.”

“So, where are you working?” Alex asked.

“Down at the storyteller’s booth with Mom.  Are you going to be volunteering?”

The redhead nodded.  “If there’s something for us to do.”

“Mitch can probably help you out with that.  I’m sure someone can tell you where he is.  Okay, I’ve got to get back to my booth.  See you later?”

“You bet.”

Daniel gave her a quick kiss then returned to the storyteller’s booth.  He took turns telling stories with Curtis and Jeanette, sticking to the ones they had printed up at first.  It was around eleven o’clock and they had a particularly large audience when Daniel decided to tell one of his own stories.  He settled on the storyteller’s chair and looked out across the young faces before him.  All of the children were sitting in the front rows while their parents watched from the back.

“The story I am going to tell you now is about a very special little boy.  It’s a true story, but it’s not one that you’ll find in any history book.  It takes place in Australia not so many years ago.  Can anyone tell me where Australia is?”

Three children raised their hands, and Daniel pointed to a young girl.

“It’s way down near the bottom of the world,” she said.  “It’s where they’ve got kangaroos and koalas and stuff.”

Daniel smiled.  “That’s right.  Australia is an unusual and magical place, very different from here.  The little boy of my story was born there.  When he was six years old, he and his parents moved to a place in the Australian outback.  The outback is sort of like a desert, except that it has trees and plants, and there are lots of animals.  The little boy loved it there, much better than the city they’d come from.  Not long after moving to the outback, the little boy met a special man.  He was an Aborigine.  Do you know what that is?”

This time, only one child raised their hand.  Daniel nodded his head at the boy.

“Those are the people who are natives of Australia, like the Indians are natives of America,” the child said.

“You are exactly right.  The Australian Aborigines were there in Australia thousands of years before white people arrived.  They have their own culture, beliefs and art.  They love to tell stories and sing.  They are proud of their heritage and their history.  Sadly, there are a lot of other people in Australia who don’t like them.”

“Why not?” one little girl asked.

“Because they look different, because they don’t believe the same things or live the same way that the other people do.  For a very long time, the Aborigines were hunted and killed or enslaved by white people.  They were treated like animals, worse than animals sometimes.  Many, many died.  There are some tribes of Aborigines that are gone forever now because of this.”

Daniel noticed that several of the younger children were crying and decided that he needed to cheer the kids up.

“But, in time, this changed.  It took a great many years, but the Aborigines finally started being accepted by the white people who had come to their land.  Things got better for them.  Unfortunately, not everyone came to accept the Aborigines.  There were still people who hated them.  Which is where my story comes in.  You remember me telling you that the little boy met a man who was an Aborigine?”

Most of the kids nodded.

“Well, the moment this Aborigine met the little boy, he knew the boy was very special, and he offered to teach the boy all about his people, their culture, their beliefs and rituals, how they hunted, the songs they sang, everything that his people knew.”

“Was the little boy white?” a boy of about eight asked.

“Yes, he was.  But, you see, the Aborigine didn’t see the color of his skin.  He only saw what was in his heart and soul.  It made no difference if the boy’s skin was white, or black, or brown . . . or purple or pink.”

There were a few giggles at Daniel’s last words.

“Because, inside,” Daniel laid his hand over his heart, “we are all the same color, and that’s all that matters.”  The minister noticed many of the adults nod their heads in agreement.

“Well, the little boy was very eager to learn all these things, so he said yes.  And so the Aborigine taught the boy what he knew.  He came to love the boy like his own child.  He called him Katja, which means ‘son’ in the Aborigine’s native language.  And that’s what we’ll call the boy in our story from now on.

“The years passed with Katja learning from the Aboriginal man and his people.  He learned many things, magical, secret things that only the Aborigines knew.  Katja also went to a regular school, where he learned the usual stuff, like reading, and writing and math.  But Katja didn’t have many friends at school.”

“Why not?” another child asked.

“Well, it could have been because Katja was very, very smart, much smarter than most of the other kids.  He could figure things out that they couldn’t.  Or it could be because the other kids knew that Katja spent a lot of time with the Aborigines and that they were teaching him all these special things that they didn’t teach other children who weren’t Aboriginal.  Whatever the reason, not many of the kids at school became friends with Katja, which made him feel sad and lonely.  But then, one day, when Katja was not quite nine years old, some new kids came to school, three brothers.  These three brothers made friends with Katja, which made him very happy.  They were a little older, a little bigger, but that was okay with Katja.  They asked him lots of questions about what he’d learned from the Aborigines.  Katja told them some things, but other things he kept secret because they were things meant for only him to know.”

Daniel looked about at the rapt faces.  He was enjoying himself thoroughly, really getting into the storytelling.

“Well, one day, Katja was walking through the outback, heading toward the village where the Aborigines lived, when he saw something terrible.”

“What did he see?” asked several children.

“He saw three white boys pushing and shoving a little Aboriginal boy, making the little boy fall to the ground, then pulling him up only to push him to the ground again.  The sight made Katja very mad, and he ran forward to stop it.  But, when he got closer, he suddenly saw who the white boys were.  They were his three friends, the boys who had befriended him when most of the other kids wouldn’t.  Katja didn’t understand why the boys were doing such terrible things to the Aboriginal boy.  They’d seemed so interested in the Aborigines.  Then Katja heard the things that the older boys were saying to the Aboriginal boy.  They were saying cruel, hurtful things, turning the beautiful things that Katja had told them about the Aborigines into jokes and mean words.  Katja felt ashamed and betrayed.  The boys had used him.  They never wanted to be his friends.  He’d been tricked.”

“What did he do?” one child asked.

“Well, he marched right up to the boys and told them to stop.  They just laughed at him.  ‘Go away, you little abo lover!’ they shouted, which is not a nice word to use for the Aborigines.  ‘No!  You leave him alone!’ Katja yelled back.  He wasn’t scared a bit, even though the three boys were bigger and stronger than him.”

“What happened next?” asked a couple of children when Daniel paused.

“Well, the three boys got mad and started pushing and shoving Katja, too.  Then they started hitting and kicking both him and the little Aboriginal boy.  Now, even though Katja was being hurt, he was more afraid for the Aboriginal boy because the boy was littler and weaker.  So, you know what he did?”

“What?” several anxious voices asked.

“He crawled over to where the Aboriginal boy was and wrapped his body around him, covering him up so that all the blows from the three boys’ feet and fists landed on him and none touched the Aboriginal boy.”

There were murmurs from some of the kids, as well as several adults.  Smiling faintly, Daniel continued.

“As Katja protected the Aboriginal boy, he closed his eyes and began wishing away the three mean boys as hard as he could, trying to make them go away with his thoughts.  Harder and harder he wished and thought as they kept kicking and hitting him.”  Daniel leaned forward in his chair, looking at the kids more intently.  “Then, all of a sudden, everything stopped.”  He waved his hands for emphasis, then paused a moment to increase the drama.  “There was no more hitting or kicking.  Katja looked up and saw the three boys just standing there.  Their eyes were filled with fear, and they were shaking like they’d seen a horrible monster.  Katja looked at them and said, ‘Go away,’ and all three boys turned around and ran away home, screaming and crying.”

There were gasps and sounds of amazement from the audience.  The eyes of many of the children had grown huge.

“What where they scared of?  Why did they run?” one of the kids asked.

“Katja didn’t know exactly what the boys saw or felt that made them afraid and run away, but he knew what had happened.”

“What?” a dozen eager voices asked.

“He had used some of the special magic that his friend, the Aboriginal man, had taught him.  With that magic, he made the boys afraid so that they would go away.”

Many sounds of awe rose among the children.  Their eyes had gotten even bigger.

“Even though he was all covered in bruises and was bleeding, Katja got up from the ground and helped the little Aboriginal boy up, then he took the boy home.”

“What about the three mean boys?” a girl asked.

“The three mean boys never came near Katja again, and they didn’t pick on any more Aborigines.  About a year later, they moved away, and Katja never saw them again.”

“What happened to Katja?” a boy asked.

“Well, Katja had other adventures in Australia, some good, some bad.  He eventually came here to America, where he had still more adventures.  He grew up to be a fine, brave man, who never stopped helping people.”

“Is that really a true story?” asked a boy who was a little older than most of the others.

“Yes, it is.  You know how I know it’s true?”

“How?” asked some of the kids.

Daniel paused, looking at all of them.  “Because that boy was my brother.”

Gasps of surprise and delight rippled through the audience, which had grown substantially larger since the story began.  Then all of the adults started clapping enthusiastically, many of the children doing so as well.  Daniel blushed faintly, thanked them and got up.  Giving him a smile of approval, Curtis took the storyteller’s seat and launched into another tale.  Many in the audience drifted away, other new people coming in.  Daniel walked over to where Bonnie and Jeanette stood.

“Oh, Daniel.  What a wonderful story that was,” Bonnie said.  There was moisture in her eyes.  “Your brother is a very special person indeed.”

“Yes, he is,” Daniel responded wholeheartedly.

“Then that really was a true story?” Jeanette asked.

“Every word.”

“Wow.  I’d love to meet him someday.”

The minister smiled.  “Maybe you will.”

Jeanette clasped Daniel’s hands in hers.  “Thank you for sharing your brother’s story with us.  You are a wonderful storyteller, and I can see that you’ve got a way with kids.  Do you have any of your own?”

Daniel smiled.  “Not yet, but soon.”

“Oh, is your wife expecting?”

“No, I’m not married yet.  The wedding’s next month.  My fiancée has a son, and I hope to officially adopt him.”

Bonnie looked at Daniel in surprise, then a happy smile lit her eyes and face.

“Well, congratulations,” Jeanette said.

“Thanks.  I need to go use the restroom.  Um, it’s almost lunchtime.  Can I get something for anyone while I’m there?”

“Nothing for me, thanks,” Jeanette replied.  “I brought my lunch with me.  I think Curtis did, too.”

“How about you, M--  Bonnie?”

“Yes, that would be nice.  A turkey sandwich on wheat bread would be good.  Shall I give you some money?”

“No, we can take care of that later.  Okay, I’ll be back.”

Daniel headed off to the café that was graciously allowing the use of their bathrooms to the volunteers.  Porta potties had been set up for the event, but they did not have facilities for washing up nor any mirrors, which is what Daniel really needed.

First ordering sandwiches for himself and his mother, as well as two cups of iced tea, Daniel went to the restroom.  After using the toilet, he checked his face in the mirror thoroughly, looking to see if he needed to reapply his makeup.  Finding a few spots, Daniel took out the makeup container and carefully did some touch-ups, feeling very odd about putting makeup on and hoping that someone didn’t come walking in right then.

Once Daniel was finished, he left the bathroom.  He picked up the food and went back to the fair.  If he had known where Alex and Dylan were, he’d have gotten something for them, too, but he hadn’t had the chance to go looking for them yet.

As he and his mother ate their lunch, Daniel thought about the story he’d told the children.  He had learned about the incident both from Mangela and Dingo, though it was not from Dingo that he’d found out about how Rollie had made the three boys stop beating him and the Aboriginal boy.  That had come from Mangela, who had clearly been very proud of the way his ‘adopted’ son handled the situation.  It was amazing to Daniel that, even at only eight years old, Rollie had possessed that kind of power.  It had not, however, surprised Daniel that Rollie had protected the little Aboriginal boy like that.  It simply proved that the courageous, caring heart within his brother was something Rollie had been born with.

Wondering what his twin was doing right now, Daniel finished his lunch and got back to work.

Rollie concentrated all his attention on what was on the computer screen.  He and Angie were working on the VR baseball game, correcting some minor bugs and adding a few things to its functionality.  He didn’t want there to be any problems with it when they officially demonstrated it to Neal Hampshire and the others at Eleco.

He and Angie actually hadn’t been working for very long, however.  They had been completely alone since shortly after Daniel left.  Dingo was back over at Chet’s, getting some more bartending training.  Rollie didn't know where Mangela was.  The Aborigine had only made the comment that he’d be out and about so that they could get some work and “other things” done.

Deciding to take advantage of the time alone, the couple had spent the first three hours after everyone’s departure curled up on the couch together, discussing the wedding--in between kisses, that is.  Since it was going to be a double wedding with Daniel and Alex and almost everything for the wedding itself was being paid for by Cliff and Bonnie, they had determined that, with the exception of a few things, like the invitations, everything for the wedding would have to be coordinated with Daniel, Alex and Bonnie.  Rollie and Angie had, however, made some decisions on what they did and did not want in the wedding.

Blue’s barking alerted Rollie to the arrival of someone.  A moment later, there was a knock on the loft door.  The camera feed showed that it was Agent Conway.  Rollie went to the door and opened it.

“Rollie!  It’s good to see you on the mend,” the agent said with a smile, shaking Rollie’s hand heartily.

“Come in, Adrian.”  Rollie stepped back to let the man in.

“So, how are you feelings?”

“Pretty good.  Still quite sore.  But I’m healing.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t come see you after you woke up.  I did come to the hospital while you were unconscious.  Did Angie tell you?”

“Yes, she did.  Thanks for stopping by to see me.”

“I was so sorry to hear you got shot, Rollie.  That was a bad situation with your brother getting kidnapped.  Looking back on the whole thing, I’m mad at myself for not suggesting that you be put in a safe house.  I should have known that Cromwell might try something.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Adrian.  Even if you’d put me in a safe house, Daniel would still have been in danger.  Cromwell grabbed him because he thought Daniel was me.”

Adrian nodded.  “Yes, I know.  We found that out from Cromwell’s men.”

Just then, Angie came down from the cleanroom.

“Hi, Angie,” Adrian greeted.  “So, are you trying to keep Rollie from getting into more trouble?”

Angie laughed.  “I can try, but I doubt I’ll succeed.”

The agent smiled.  He turned back to Rollie.  “Well, anyway, I just wanted to stop by and say hi.  I’m working today.  A new case got thrown in my lap, which is why I didn’t come to see you in the hospital again.”  The agent’s smile grew bigger.  “And I’m working it without Ashby.  The assistant director wasn’t surprised when I requested a new partner.  In fact, what did surprise him was that I’d managed to work with the guy for as long as I did.  Ashby goes through partners faster than a chocoholic goes through a one-pound box of Swiss chocolates.”

Rollie and Angie laughed.

“Did they saddle some other poor, unfortunate agent with Ashby?” Rollie asked.

“Not yet.  For right now, he’s working solo on routine cases as they try to figure out what to do with him.”

“What about you?  Do you have a new partner?” Angie asked.

“Yeah, I do, a new kid not long out of the academy.  He seems like a nice sort, even if he is really wet behind the ears.  You’d probably like him, Angie.  He’s a firm believer in alien visitors from outer space.  He’s probably seen every science fiction movie ever made.”

“Ah, just your kind of guy, Ange,” Rollie said teasingly.  His smile disappeared as a sudden thought occurred to him.  “Um . . . before you go, Adrian, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

The Aussie paused, not sure if he should approach the agent about this.  “You need to keep this under your hat.  You can’t tell anyone I asked you this.”

Seeing the seriousness of Rollie’s expression, Adrian knew this was something important.  “All right.”

“What do you know about the ANSI?”

The fed’s face showed surprise, then caution.  “Where did you hear about them?” he asked cautiously.

“Someone from the agency approached me.”

Adrian paused.  “I see.  Not many civilians know about them yet.  In fact, virtually none.  They just came ‘out into the light’ a few weeks ago.  I should imagine that some of the news magazine will be publishing something about them soon, but, until then, people in the federal law enforcement and intelligence communities and some other branches of the government are pretty much the only ones who know about them.  You say that one of their people approached you?”

“Yeah.  I can’t say any more than that.”

The FBI agent nodded.  “Well, this confirms a suspicion I had.”

“What’s that?” Angie asked.

“I knew that someone pretty high up was asking questions about the Cromwell case, interrogating Cromwell’s people.  A lot of people suddenly clammed up about some things,” Adrian looked at Rollie closely, “particularly in regards to you.  It was obvious that somebody got to them.  I just didn’t know who it was.  I really knew something was up when my boss informed me that I was not to divulge certain aspects of the case to anyone.  I found out that even my official report had been changed.  Again, all the things that I was to shut up about and that got omitted from my report was the stuff about you.”  He paused.  “What’s going on, Rollie?”

“I really can’t tell you, Adrian.  I was asked not to,” Rollie replied.

The fed scanned the Aussie’s face.  “I don’t think you have to,” he finally said.  “I think I can guess.  It’s regarding your paranormal abilities, isn’t it.”  When Rollie didn’t reply, he continued.  “It doesn’t surprise me.  When I heard about then saw for myself what you could do, I knew that someone in the government would take an interest in you.”

“So, what can you tell us about these people?” Angie asked.

“Not a lot.  Most of it is still classified or need-to-know.  I can tell you that they have a great deal more power than the organizations they were created from.  Combining the FBI, CIA and NSA into a single agency gives them an unprecedented level of knowledge, skills and power in the law enforcement and intelligence community.  That could be both very good and very bad.”

“Why very bad?” Rollie asked.

“Because power like that can so easily be misused.  There aren’t many secrets that could be kept from these people.  You need to be careful, Rollie.”

“So, you think that Rollie should steer clear of them?” Angie asked, concerned.

Adrian shook his head.  “That’s something I can’t say.  Rollie’s abilities could be invaluable in the protection of the U.S. and our allies.  Every one of us who works for the FBI, CIA and NSA knows that the threat of a major terrorist attack in this country grows daily.  We do all that we can to prevent it, but our power is extremely limited when it comes to obtaining intelligence on planned terrorist activities.  We rely on spies, surveillance and informants, which, many times, is simply not enough.”  He looked at Rollie.  “With your ability, you could dramatically tilt the scales in our favor.  However, on the flip side of the coin is the danger that your abilities could be used for some pretty nasty stuff.  Black Ops would love what you could give to them.  If the ANSI does want you to work for them, you need to think long and hard about it before you give them your answer.”

Angie stared at the agent.  “If Rollie said no, do you think his life would be in danger?  Would these people kill him just to be on the safe side?”

Adrian thought about that for several seconds.  “I can’t say for sure, but I’d guess that they wouldn’t.  They wouldn’t throw away a valuable asset like Rollie unless they felt they had no choice.  Only if it looked like your abilities were going to be used against the country would they resort to that.”

Everyone fell into a sober silence.  Adrian was the first to speak.

“I need to get going.”  He shook hands with Rollie.  “Take care of yourself, Rollie.  And remember, you still need to come to dinner one of these days.  My wife hasn’t forgotten.”

The Aussie smiled and assured him that he’d remember.

After the agent had left, Rollie and Angie looked at each other, then, by unspoken agreement, they both got back to work.  They hadn’t been at it for very long, however, when Leo and Frank showed up.  Rollie could tell by the look on the older cop’s face that he was not happy about something.

“So, what’s the matter, Leo?” the Aussie asked.  “You look like you just ate something sour.”

“Yeah, the sour taste of feds, that’s what,” the detective replied.  “We just found out that Joanne Carfield no longer exists.”

“What?” Angie said, confused.

“Everything about her arrest and death is gone, covered up.  It’s like it was before we found and arrested her, her trail ending after she and her brother closed the adoption agency.  All the lab work, arrest records, everything have disappeared.  Her body was even taken out of the morgue.  Everyone’s been ordered to shut up about the whole thing.  Francis and I just got through talking to VanDuran, who told us to forget the case, to forget that we ever even heard of Joanne and Frederick Carfield.”

Rollie sat down, a distant expression on his face.

“You don’t look all that surprised,” Leo commented.

“I guess I’m not, not really,” the Aussie admitted.  “They’re covering all the tracks, Leo, completely hiding mine and Daniel’s connection to the Carfields.  Think about it.  If they didn’t do those things, when Joanne Carfield’s arrest became public knowledge, there would be more investigations launched into the adoption agency.  The St. Louis P.D. would become involved since it all happened over there.  People would want to know why she was lured over here to New York instead of being arrested in Baltimore.  And they’d want to know why she was arrested.  Then there would be the questions about her murder and the reason for it.  The chances of someone finding out about Daniel would have been pretty high.  And if the story about Daniel came out, so would the fact that I’m his brother, which would turn unwanted attention on me.  The easiest and safest thing for ANSI to do would be to wipe everything clean, erase it all from the system.”

“But won’t people who knew her by her alias wonder what happened to her?” Angie asked.

“We thought of that, too,” Leo said.  “The records of her taking the flight to New York are also gone.  The official report is that Jacqueline Reese died from a heart attack while driving her car on a lonely stretch of road.  The car went off the road and down into a ravine and wasn’t found for several days.  Oh, and there was also a fire, which badly burned the body.”

“Which would help to hide the fact that she was dead long before the car crashed,” Rollie said.  “Even so, a good medical examiner would have been able to figure that out.”

“Yeah, but you can bet that they’ll make sure nobody digs into her death that deeply,” Angie stated.  She shook her head.  “So, no one will ever pay for her murder.”

“They’ve already paid, Angie,” Rollie said quietly, a slightly haunted look in his eyes.  “Cromwell may not get charged for his sister’s murder, but he’s got so many other charges hanging over his head that it really isn’t going to matter.  But then, we all know that he won’t be going to prison anyway.  He’ll be spending the rest of his life in a full care nursing home.”

Angie took Rollie’s hand, offering what comfort she could with the touch.  “But there is the person who injected her with the toxin,” she said.  “What about him?”

“We found out who it was,” Leo told them.  “We went through all the footage recorded by the surveillance cameras at the station that day and found one of Cromwell’s men on the tape.  His name was Carlos Santos.  I got a hunch about him, so I checked something else out.  You know how you said that the chip inside your head was turned off, but that something must have turned it back on?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I got to thinking that maybe it was someone who turned it back on, which would have meant that they had to go to the hospital to do it.  I showed Santos’ face around to some of the people at the hospital and, sure enough, someone recognized him.  They remembered him because it was so late at night, and they were curious about why he was there.  It looks like this Santos was Cromwell’s assassin, the guy who did the nasty deeds so that Cromwell didn’t have to get his hands dirty.”

“So, where is he?” Angie asked.  Then she remembered something.  “Wait a minute.  You said his name was Carlos Santos.”

“Yeah.  He’s dead.  He’s one of the guys who chose to shoot it out with the cops at Cromwell’s house.  Took a bullet in the chest and died instantly.  Oh, and one more thing.  You know how the press got wind of the fact that someone was being held captive in Cromwell’s complex?  Well, it has now been ‘revealed’ that it was false information.  There was no prisoner.  You were never there, Rollie.  I’d bet money that all references to you that were in those computers at the complex has been deleted.”

“But that means they won’t be charged with what they did to him!” Angie exclaimed angrily.

“No, they won’t, but they are going to be charged with the brutal torture and murder of seven other people, the test subjects that they used that machine on.  All the records of those tests were on the computers.  We don’t know who the people were yet since they were only referred to as Test Subjects Number One, Two, Three, etcetera, but we do know where the bodies were dumped.  All we can hope is that it will be possible to I.D. them, though, considering that they were homeless people, the odds aren’t great.”

“What about the man who pretended to be me, the one who was blown up in my car?” Rollie asked.

Leo shook his head.  “We don’t know who he was yet, but we do have a lead.  There were a few people who, according to Cassandra Electronics’ employment records, quit their jobs suddenly.  My guess is that he’s one of those people and that’s how his sudden disappearance was covered up in the company.”

“But what about the guy’s family and friends?  Wouldn’t they have put out a missing persons report?” Angie asked.  “It’s been four months.  Somebody must have missed him by now.”

“There’s been no missing persons report filed on any of Cromwell’s former employees.”

“Which means that Cromwell must have somehow invented a cover story to explain the guy’s disappearance,” Rollie said.

Leo nodded.  “Yeah, that’s my guess.  The thing is that this is all part of the stuff that we’re supposed to be steering clear of in the investigation since it’s linked to Rollie.  For all we know, everything about Rollie’s ‘stand in’ is being covered up even as we speak.”  He saw the expression on his friend’s face.  “Don’t worry, pal.  We’ll find out who he was.  Then we can put everything to rest.”

“No, not everything,” Rollie responded.  “There are still people out there who haven’t been caught, some of the psychics who worked for Cromwell.  We may never know how many there were.  And there’s also Doctor Brier, who was involved in Daniel’s abduction.  The only person who may have known what happened to him can’t tell us.”

“Well, if Cromwell held true to form, he probably killed him, too,” Francis said.

“That’s possible.  We’ll probably never know.”

Rollie’s mind went through the case, thinking of the questions yet unanswered.  He was thinking about Joanne Carfield when a thought abruptly hit him, something that he couldn’t believe no one had thought of before.

“Rollie, what’s wrong,” Angie asked, seeing the look on his face.

“I just realized something.  I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before.  We know that Cromwell had his sister’s phone line bugged, and that’s how he knew she’d booked a flight to New York.  So, why didn’t he know about the trap we were setting for her?  Angie gave her the fake telegram over the phone.”

An expression of surprise passed over the faces of the others.

“That’s right.  I can’t believe I didn’t think of that either,” Leo said.  “That doesn’t make sense.  If he had someone listening in on his sister’s phone line, they would have known about the bogus telegram.  But if they had known, there’s no way that Joanne Carfield would have been allowed to go to New York.  Cromwell probably would have had her killed immediately.”

“Could it be a simple case of one of Cromwell’s men screwing up and misplacing the tape with the telegram call on it?” Frank asked, thinking, even as he said it, that such a thing was pretty unlikely.

Rollie shook his head.  “No.  I don’t think so.  Something’s wrong here.  I don’t know what it is, but I suddenly have a feeling that there is something that we know nothing about.”  He paused.  “I need to go see Cromwell.”

“What?!” Angie exclaimed.  “You can’t go see that man, not after what he did to you.  Besides, what good would it do?  He can’t talk.”

“No, he can’t, but there is another way for me to get information from him.”

“You mean touch him?!  Rollie, you can’t be serious!  What if something happens like what happened when you touched Joanne Carfield’s shoe?  You could experience what Cromwell did when. . . .”

“When I virtually destroyed his brain,” Rollie finished, a touch of bitterness in his voice.

“Rollie. . . .” Angie began, but the Aussie wouldn’t let her finish.

“I know, Ange.  I had no choice.  I did what I had to do.  But that really doesn’t change what I did, does it.”  He sighed.  “Well, this is something else I have to do.  There are things that only Cromwell can answer, and this is the only way we can get those answers.  I’ll try to keep control.  I won’t go near the time of the shooting.  I’ll be digging farther back than that.”  He looked up at her and took her hand.  “I’ll be fine.”

This time, it was Angie who sighed.  “Since I’m obviously not going to be able to talk you out of this, I guess the only thing I can do is go with you to pull your butt out of the fire if you get in trouble.”

Rollie smiled.  “Like you have so many times in the past, huh?”

“Yeah, you can say that again.”

“And we’ll be there as backup,” Leo said.  “So, when do you want to go?”

“I guess now is as good a time as any,” the Aussie replied.

The four of them got into Leo’s car and headed for the hospital to confront the man who was responsible for the hell they had all lived through, wondering what that confrontation would lead to.

CHAPTER SIXTY

At one o’clock, Daniel took a break and went wandering around the fair.  His father was scheduled to speak in an hour.  He wanted to attend the speech, but since his mother had helped in writing it, the minister had decided to let her take her break then so that she could watch her husband.  One of Cliff’s men was going to be recording the entire speech on video, so Daniel would have the opportunity to see it later.

The fair was proving to be a huge success.  The attendance so far was even higher than anticipated, and most of the volunteers were reporting that the sale of merchandise was high as well.  They were all preparing for an extra flood of people to come in when it came time for Cliff’s speech.  Daniel couldn’t be happier that things were working out so well.

“Daniel!” called a voice.  The minister turned with a smile to see Alex and Dylan up ahead in one of the booths.  He strode up to them.

“Well, here you are.  I’ve been wondering where you were,” he said.  He noticed what it was that they were doing in the booth and grinned.  “Let me guess.  You mentioned to Mitch that you own a restaurant back home.  Oh, wait.  You didn’t have to mention it, did you.  I think I told him that when I first met him.”

Alex laughed.  “And he remembered.”  When Alex had found the jeweler, introduced herself, and told him that she and Dylan wanted to volunteer, Mitch had immediately asked if she could work at one of the food stands.

“Well, they’ve been a blessing to me,” said the other person in the stand.  The woman came forward.  “Hi, I’m Rachel.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Rachel.  I’m Daniel, Alex’s fiancé.”

“Good to meet you, Daniel.  As I was saying, it’s been a blessing to have Alex and Dylan here.  There’s no way I could have run this thing by myself.  There was supposed to be two of us, but the other person started getting sick just a few minutes after everything started.  He had to go home.  These two rescued me from a nervous breakdown.  The fact that Alex has restaurant experience was like a gift from God to me.  And Dylan has been a whiz on the soda machine.  Hasn’t made a single mistake yet.”

Dylan grinned at the praise.

“Are you taking a break, Daniel?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, for a little while.  I’ve got to be back before two.”

“If you’d like to take your break now, Alex, that would be fine with me,” Rachel said.  “I think that Dylan and I can handle it alone for a while.”

“Thanks.  That would be great,” Alex told her.  “Let me just wash up and get this apron off.”

As Alex got cleaned up, Daniel scanned the crowds.  All of a sudden, he went absolutely still.  His jaw dropped open.

“I don’t believe it,” he said.  “I do not believe it.”

“What?  What is it?” Alex asked.

Instead of replying, Daniel just started to laugh.  “God must have a sense of humor.  There is no doubt about it.”  Then he took off into the crowd, heading for the familiar figure he’d just seen.  He came up behind the man.

“You still looking for that deli, Greenburg?” he asked.

There was a gasp, then Rabbi Arnie Greenburg spun around.  “Da--”  His voice halted abruptly upon seeing the face of the man before him.  “W-what . . . who. . . .”

Daniel laughed in absolute delight.  “What?  You don’t recognize the man who’s been your best friend since the ninth grade?”

Arnie’s mouth opened and closed a few times.  “D-Daniel?”

The minister grinned.  “That’s me.”

“Bu-bu-but your face.  I don’t understand.”

“I’m here incognito.  It’s a long, long story that I’d love to tell you about, but not right now.”  He held out his arms.  “So, where’s my hug?”

Giving himself a little shake, Arnie smiled and gave Daniel a big hug, the men patting each other on the back.

“So, what are you doing here, Arnie?” Daniel asked.  “Here in New York, I mean.”

“I’m here visiting my cousin, Abraham.  I’ve been meaning to come see him for ages now, and I just suddenly decided to go ahead and do it.  The decision came right out of the blue.”

Daniel grinned, thinking that the Man Upstairs might have had a hand in Arnie’s sudden decision.

“Arnie!  Hey, I thought that was you!” exclaimed Alex as she came walking up.

“Alex?”  The rabbi laughed and hugged her.  “So, you’re here, too?  Hey, does this have something to do with the fact that your father’s speaking here today, Daniel?”

“Um, not really.  Like I said, it is a very long story.”  Daniel lowered his voice.  “You need to keep my identity under your hat, Arnie.  With the exception of my parents, Alex, Dylan and one other person, nobody here at the fair knows who I really am, and it needs to stay that way, okay?”

Seeing the seriousness in his best friend’s eyes, Arnie nodded.  “Sure, Daniel.  I won’t say anything.  But I hope you’re going to tell me what this is all about soon.”

“I will.”  He looked down at Alex and smiled.  “But, first, I’ve got some other news to tell you.  Let’s go someplace where it’s not so crowded.”

The three wove their way through the crowd, heading for the edge of the fair.  The fair had been set up in the parking lot of a vacant store.  They went over to the wall of the store, where there was hardly any people.

“So, what’s the news?” Arnie asked.

“Well, I need to ask you a question,” Daniel replied.  “How would you feel about being my best man?”

The biggest smile Daniel had ever seen on his friend’s face blossomed forth.  Arnie immediately engulfed him in another tight hug, laughing happily.  Then he hugged Alex.

“You sneaky devil you,” he said to Daniel, shaking his head.  “The last time we talked, you only told me that you and Alex had started dating.  Why didn’t you tell me it had progressed this far?”

Daniel grinned.  “Well, I would have if the progression hadn’t happened so suddenly.  Things kind of moved very fast all of a sudden.”

“Really.  That sounds like another story I’ll want to hear.  So, when’s the wedding?”

“August 26th,” Alex replied.

Arnie blinked.   “August 26th?  Daniel, you’re not just moving fast.  You’ve reached Lightspeed.”

“Oh, now, come on.  We’re not moving that fast.  You remember Darren and Connie Wright?  They got married a month after they met.”

“Yeah, and broke up a year later.”  Arnie held up his hands.  “Whoa, now I’m not saying you guys are moving too fast.  I don’t think that at all.  How long have you known each other?”

“By the date of the wedding, it’ll be almost a year and a half,” Daniel replied.

Arnie grinned.  “Well then, that’s plenty enough time for Alex to know what she’s getting herself into.  I admire her courage.”

“Well, thanks a lot, pal,” Daniel said with a laugh.

Arnie put an arm around each of them.  “Married.  Man, that’s great news!  If you guys were Jewish, I’d throw you the biggest Jewish wedding party in the history of Judaism.  I might still do that.  To heck with the fact that you’re not Jewish!”

Daniel grinned hugely, then looked at his watch.  “We’re going to have to be heading back soon.  Alex and I are volunteers, and we need to return to our booths.  The fair ends at five o’clock.  We’ll be helping with the tear-down and cleanup, but we’ll try to get out of here by seven.”

“Well, how about if we go to dinner?” Arnie suggested.  “I can give you the number of my hotel, and you can call me when you’re through here.”

“Normally, I’d say yes, but there are a lot of things I need to tell you.  How about if, after we’re done here, we come over to your hotel?  There’s someplace that I need to take you.  We can grab some takeout on the way.”

“Sure, okay.”  Arnie looked at his friend closely.  “Is this something serious, Daniel?”

“Yeah, pretty serious, but also really incredible.  It’s going to blow you away.”

Daniel found out where Arnie was staying, then they all returned to the fair.  The two men said goodbye to Alex, Arnie saying a quick hello to Dylan, then he and Daniel continued over to the storyteller’s booth.  Bonnie’s eyes widened in surprise when she saw the rabbi.

“Arnie?  My goodness.  What are you doing here?”

“Hello, Bonnie.  I’m in New York visiting a relative.  As for what I’m doing here at the fair, it sounded like a great event, so I decided to come, especially when I found out that--  Um, that there were going to be some good guest speakers.”

Daniel relaxed, thankful that Arnie had caught himself before mentioning Daniel’s father by name.  “Speaking of guest speakers, you’d better get going, Bonnie, or you’re going to be fighting your way through a sardine can full of people to get a good view of the stage.”

“Yes, you’re right.”  Bonnie quickly headed for the stage.

Just then, Jeanette finished the story she was telling.

“You want to take the next one, Daniel?” Curtis asked.

“Sure.”

Arnie watched as Daniel told the story to the audience of children, smiling at seeing his best friend’s natural rapport with them.  The minister made the story come alive, frequently asking questions of the children, getting them involved in the tale.

After Daniel was finished, he came back over to Arnie, who patted him on the back.

“One of these days, I’m going to get you to come to my hospital and read to my kids,” the rabbi said.

“I’d like that, Arnie.  Um. . . .”  He glanced at Jeanette, who was busy helping some people with a book purchase.  “Alex, Dylan and I were actually planning on stopping off in California before going home,” he said in a low voice.  “I wanted to tell you about the wedding in person, and Mom and Dad also wanted us to spend a few days with them.  Since you’re here, I’m not sure how our plans will change.  How much longer are you going to be here?”

“Actually, I’m booked on a flight out tomorrow morning.  If I’d had any idea you were here, I’d have arranged to stay an extra couple of days.  I could postpone my flight, but they’re expecting me back at the hospital on Monday.  I’d love to spend some time with you, though.”

“Yeah, me too.  Alex and I were planning on leaving here Tuesday morning.  I was thinking of spending three days with Mom and Dad, then head for home early Saturday morning.  We can just get together then, like I was originally planning.”

“Sure, that would work.  It would give us a little bit of time to catch up.  Obviously not enough, judging by what little you’ve told me, but, hey, a couple of days is better than nothing.”  Arnie looked at his watch.  “I need to get going, Daniel.  I’ll see you tonight.”

A little while later, after he’d finished taking his turn at reading, Daniel walked off to the far side of the booth and contacted Rollie.

‘Hey, Daniel.  How are things going?’ his brother asked.

‘It’s going great.  What about you?  Staying busy?’  There was a long pause that instantly told Daniel something was wrong.  ‘What is it, Rollie?  What’s wrong?’

‘We’re, um, on our way to see Cromwell,’ his brother said after another moment of mental silence.

‘What?  Why?’

‘Because there are things that I need to know, stuff that we have to find out.’

‘But how are you. . . .  No, Rollie.  Please don’t tell me that you’re planning on using your ability on him.’

‘I have no choice, Daniel.  It’s the only way,’ Rollie said.

‘I don’t like this.’

‘I know.  I don’t like it either.  I hate the idea of delving into that man’s past, actually witnessing the things he’s done.  But there’s no other way.’

‘Do you want me to go over there?  I can make some excuse and head on over.’

‘No.  Angie, Leo and Frank will all be there.  I’ll be fine.’  There was another pause.  ‘So, what was the purpose of this call?  Or are you just checking in with me to make sure I’m still all in one piece?’

‘Oh, um, I wanted to let you know that we’re going to have company tonight.’

‘Who?’

‘Well, you’re not going to believe it, but my best friend, Arnie, is here.’

‘You’re kidding.’

‘Nope.  He came to the fair.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw him.  He’s here in New York visiting a cousin.’

‘Wow.  Now, talk about an unbelievable coincidence.’

‘Well, I happen to think it’s no coincidence.  I’m certain God had a hand in this.  Anyway, I told him about the wedding, and he’s thrilled.  But I haven’t told him anything else yet.’

‘Ah, and you want to bring him over to the loft and blow his socks off by introducing him to your long lost twin brother.’

Daniel laughed.  ‘Something like that.’

‘So, are you going to tell him the whole story?’

‘Yeah, or at least most of it.  I’ll only tell him what you want me to in regards to your abilities, though I guess he’s going to have to know some of it since he’s bound to ask why you were abducted and held for so long.  You’ll like Arnie, Rollie, and I know he’ll like you.’

‘So, what time will you be getting over to the loft?’

‘I’m going to try to get out of here at seven and pick Arnie up at his hotel.  We’ll stop to get some takeout on the way.’

‘We can get the food.  It’ll save you some time.  Just let me know about forty, forty-five minutes before you’re going to get here.’

‘Will do.  I’ve got to go now, Rollie.  Please be careful with Cromwell, okay?’

‘I will, Daniel.  See you tonight.’

Daniel broke off contact and headed for the storyteller’s chair, his mind full of concern for his brother.

Rollie stared at the buildings they were passing by, his thoughts on what they were heading toward.  What he’d told Daniel was true.  He really didn’t want to do this.  But there was more to it than simply not wanting to be a witness to the things Cromwell had done.  He didn’t want to see the results of his handiwork, to see what his ability had done to the man.

Sooner than he would have liked, they arrived at the medical center.  Instead of going to the hospital where Rollie had been a patient, they went to the Neurological Institute.  The facility was an internationally recognized center for the treatment of brain disorders.  It was one of the largest in the country.  Cromwell had been transported there once the full scope of his brain trauma was discovered.

Using his badge, Leo managed to get them in to see Cromwell.  However, the doctors on duty absolutely forbid all of them to go in the room at once, so it was only Rollie and Angie who went in.

Rollie stared down at the man who had torn his and his family’s lives apart, the man he’d hated more than any other.  The man hardly appeared to be the same person Rollie saw in Mount Vernon.  He looked . . . broken, smaller, an old, shrunken shadow of the man he was.  Cromwell had paid for his crimes in just about the worst way possible.  While Rollie would go on to live a happy life with a family and loving friends, Cromwell would live the remainder of his days like this, a broken shell of a man.

The Aussie felt a gentle touch on his arm.  He looked down and met Angie’s eyes.

“You okay?” she asked.

Rollie sighed and nodded.  He then turned back to Cromwell.  He reached out and touched the man’s shoulder and closed his eyes, summoning yet again the ability he had been born with.  Quickly he began searching Cromwell’s past going backwards in time, looking for something that would tell him the identity of the man who had died in his place.  Since he didn’t know exactly where to look, he was force to search through all the events leading up to his kidnapping.  He witnessed bits and pieces of the plotting that took place, saw the arrangements being made, Cromwell’s cold-hearted planning on the best way to arrange Rollie’s ‘death’.

All at once, the Aussie found what he’d been looking for.  A man of about the same age, height and build as him was brought in to see Cromwell.  Cromwell explained to the man how he’d been chosen for a special job, one that would earn him quite a bit of money.  Totally unaware that the ‘job’ would end with his death, the man eagerly accepted.  Rollie learned that the man’s name had been Lloyd Tanner.  Rollie looked upon the man’s face, which bore only a superficial resemblance to his, and felt sorrow that this man had died simply because he had the bad fortune to look somewhat like Rollie.

With the knowledge of the man’s name now in hand, Rollie went forward in time, looking for the reason why Cromwell had not stopped his sister’s trip to New York.  His search finally showed him one of Cromwell’s men informing the man of Joanne Carfield’s sudden call to book a flight to New York.  No mention was made of the telegram.  Rollie tried to find out why, but couldn’t, which confirmed something he’d wondered about.  When searching through a person’s past, he could only see things that the person knew about and were directly connected to.  So, this meant that Cromwell had never known about the telegram.

Knowing that he’d be unable to learn anything more about that, Rollie delved back into the past again.  This time, knowing exactly when and where the event he was seeking took place, it was easy to find.  He saw a much younger Cromwell, then named Frederick Carfield, hurriedly shutting down the adoption agency with his sister.  Hundreds of documents were shredded or burned, only a few being spared from destruction.  A third person was with them, and Rollie soon learned that he was the missing Doctor Brier.  Moving forward, Rollie came to a time when Brier and Cromwell were alone.

“So, what now, Frederick?” Brier asked.  “We disappear?  Flee to other countries?  Start over?”

“Yes.  We have no choice.  It may only be a matter of days before the authorities in Australia identify Patterson and trace him back to us.”

Brier shook his head.  “Damn it, Frederick.  I should never have told you about the twins.  We should have stuck to our research and experimentation.  We were making real progress.  Now, it’s all for nothing.  Everything we did will be lost.”

“You and I both know that it could have taken years to achieve our goal,” Carfield argued.  “Those twins might have made it all unnecessary.”

“That was always your problem, Frederick.  You have no patience.  You can’t play with genes and expect instant results.  Such things take time, time that we’ve now lost.  Besides, your interest may have only been in paranormal abilities, but I was looking at far more than that, a major leap forward in the evolution of humankind.  That’s now lost, too.  Years of research gone.  So, what are you going to do with the test subjects?”

“We’ll dispose of the brain damaged ones and those with birth defects like we always do.  As for the others, I’ve already arranged for families to take them.  If I can someday return to the States, I’ll check to see if any of them show indications of paranormal abilities.”

Without warning, Rollie’s vision abruptly leapt forward, out of his control, to a scene more terrible than he could have imagined.  Overwhelmed by the horror of what he’d learned and what he was witnessing, he recoiled violently, snapping out of the vision.  Nausea welled up in his stomach, and he dashed for the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before the contents of his stomach were ejected.  As he coughed and wretched, he felt Angie’s hands on his back and shoulders and heard her soothing voice.  Finally, his stomach was empty.  Angie handed him a wet paper towel and left, saying she’d be back with some water.  Rollie remained there on the floor, trying to recover.  The vomiting had caused the pain in his chest to flare up with a vengeance, but it was nothing compared to the emotional pain he was feeling over what he’d seen in the vision.

Rollie stood on shaky legs just as Angie returned with a glass of water.  He took it silently, rinsing the foul taste of vomit from his mouth, then taking a few swallows.  He then stood bowed over the sink, clutching at the rim with white-knuckled hands, the memories of what he’d seen burning into his brain, replaying over and over again.

“What is it, Rol?  What did you see?” Angie asked.

“I-I-I . . . can’t. . . .”  His voice broke on a sob.  “Oh, God, Angie.  I thought that what Cromwell and Kessler did to me was bad, but this . . . it’s . . . it’s. . . .  I can’t even imagine anyone being so utterly inhuman.”  Rollie lifted his eyes to Angie.  “They were doing experiments on the babies, Angie.  They were doing things to them while they were still in the womb.”

“My God,” Angie whispered, feeling sick herself.  “Why?”

“They were trying to create people with paranormal abilities, screwing around with genes to develop psychic powers.  A part of me has wondered for a while why someone like Cromwell would get into the adoption business, and, now, I know.  It was a way to gain access to pregnant women so that they could conduct their experiments.  I-I saw. . . .”  Rollie swallowed heavily and shook his head, unable to continue, unable to blot out the images he’d seen.  “I-I have to get out of here.”

Rollie left the bathroom, heading toward the door.  But, as he reached it, a small sound from the bed drew his attention that way.  He saw Arthur Cromwell open his eyes.  His hands tightening into fists, Rollie slowly walked up to the man and met his gaze.  For a moment, there was no spark of recognition in the dull eyes of the man, then, all at once, they widened.  Sheer terror filled them, and Cromwell began making intelligible, frightened sounds.  The reading on the heart monitor skyrocketed.

“You remember me, don’t you, Cromwell,” Rollie said, his voice ice cold and full of loathing.  “I’m the one who put you there, the one who tore your brain to shreds and left you like that forever.  Up until a few minute ago, I was sorry for what I’d done, but not now, not after finding out what you did to those babies.  You deserve what I did to you.  You deserve worse.  I only hope that hell does exist, because that’s where you belong.  I hope you get there really soon.”  He leaned forward to within a few inches of Cromwell’s face.  The terror on the man’s features increased.  “If you weren’t in this condition, I’d send you there myself.”

Turning on his heels, Rollie left the room, just as a nurse and doctor rushed in to check on Cromwell.  The doctor glanced at the monitors, then grabbed Rollie’s arm.

“What’s going on here?” he demanded.  Rollie spun around and glared at him, rage blazing in his eyes.  The doctor gasped and paled, taking a hasty step backwards, fear on his face.  Not answering the question, Rollie marched out of the room, Angie scrambling to catch up.

Leo and Frank rose from the chairs they’d been sitting in.

“Rollie, what. . . .”  Leo stopped as his friend blew right past him and kept on walking.  The cop turned to Angie.  “What went on in there?”

“I’ll tell you later.  We need to stay with Rollie.”  Angie was scared and worried.  She’d never seen Rollie so full of fury, so out of control.  She was afraid that he’d injure himself.

She, Leo and Frank hurried to catch up to Rollie, who was at the elevator, viciously stabbing at the down button.  The doors opened, and he stepped in, instantly hitting the button for the first floor, then the button to close the doors.  The others barely managed to make it to the elevator before the door closed.  They went inside, all of their eyes focused on the Aussie as the elevator headed down.

“Rollie--” Angie began.

“Don’t,” he snapped, his voice as tight as a bow string.  “Just don’t, Angie.  Don’t say anything.  I can’t take it right now.”

Angie fell silent.

As soon as the elevator stopped, Rollie was out the doors and heading for the exit.  His chest was burning like it was on fire, every breath he took feeling like a razor blade was being sliced through him, but he didn’t care.  He had to get out of there and as far away from Cromwell as he could get.  He wanted to kill the man, to choke the life out of him for what Cromwell had done, and Rollie was afraid that, if he didn’t get away from here, the killing power dwelling within him would break free and destroy what was left of Cromwell’s mind and body.

Rollie had just made it to the car when his legs abruptly gave out, and he went to his knees.

“Rollie!” Angie cried.  She, Leo and Frank dashed forward and went down beside him.  Angie grabbed hold of her fiancé.  His body was shaking, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps.  His face was chalk-white, lines of pain, both physical and emotional, etched into it.

Terrified, Angie looked at Leo, also seeing fear there.  “We need to get him back to the hospital.  His lung might have collapsed again.”

“No,” Rollie said in a whisper.

“Rollie, you need a doctor!” Angie said.

“No,” he repeated, more firmly.  He took a deeper breath, though it sent more pain spearing through his chest.  “I’m all right.”

“Like hell you are,” Leo said roughly.  “Angie’s right.  You need to see a doctor.”

Rollie shook his head.  “My lung hasn’t collapsed.  I just--”  He broke off abruptly.  His eyes lifted to the cop’s.  “Please, Leo.  Just take me home.  Please.”

The expression of haunted torment and pain in Rollie’s eyes hit Leo almost like a physical blow.  He paused, then nodded.

The three of them helped Rollie into the back seat of the car.  Angie climbed in beside him and told Rollie to lie down with his head in her lap.  Saying nothing, the Aussie did as she asked.  The two cops got into the car, and Leo headed out of the parking lot.  Making a sudden decision, he put the flashing light on the hood of the car, turned on the siren and took off toward the loft as quickly as possible.

Daniel watched Curtis reading to the kids.  He was reading one of the fictional stories, one about a bunch of birds all fighting with each other just because they weren’t the same color.  It demonstrated in an amusing way the ludicrousness of hating another just because of their color.

Curtis was just finishing his story and Jeanette was walking toward the chair to start the next one when Daniel was suddenly hit by the feeling that something was terribly wrong with Rollie.  He gasped, his body stiffening, as a wave of intense emotion slammed into him through the link.  Horror, anguish and then a feeling of white-hot fury bombarded him in an almost overpowering barrage.

“Daniel, what is it?  What’s wrong?” he heard his mother’s anxious voice say.

“Something’s wrong with Rollie,” he replied in a harsh whisper.  “Mom, I need to go.  I need to find out what’s wrong.  Tell Curtis and Jeanette that I . . . I had to take a break.”

Not waiting a moment longer, Daniel took off through the crowd, heading toward the closest place where there were no people.

‘Rollie!’ he called in his mind as he wove among the fair attendees.  ‘Rollie, what’s wrong?’  Instead of getting an answer, Daniel felt the equivalent of a steel door slam shut between him and his brother, cutting off everything except the feel of Rollie’s songline and presence.  The shocking sensation alarmed Daniel even more than what he’d felt before.  What was going on?  Why was Rollie deliberately blocking him?

Daniel increased his speed as much as possible, heading out into the parking lot for the volunteers.  He went to where two large SUVs were parked side-by-side.  In the space between them, he stopped.  He leaned against one and closed his eyes, reaching out to his twin.

‘Rollie, what’s wrong?  What’s happening?’  Getting no reply, he tried again, harder.  ‘Rollie, please answer me!  Don’t block me out!’  Still, there was no answer, and the barricade between them remained up.

Daniel didn’t know what to do.  He knew that something was horribly wrong with Rollie, something that his brother was trying to block from him.  What had happened?  Was it something to do with Cromwell?  The minister felt helpless.  He had no idea how he could break through the wall his twin had erected between them.  He didn’t even know if it was possible.  Rollie was far stronger than him and possessed a much greater knowledge and skill in regards to his psychic abilities.

But perhaps greater strength and skill was not what Daniel needed.

The minister slid to the ground, resting his back against the tire of the SUV.  He concentrated his whole attention on the connection with his brother.  Not really knowing what he was doing, Daniel began pouring feelings of comfort, love and peace through the link, attempting to somehow reach Rollie through the wall his brother had built.

‘Rollie, I don’t know what’s happening, but I can sense that you’re suffering.  Please let me in.  Please, Rollie.  I love you and I want to help you.’

For several minutes, there was no response, then Daniel sensed the barricade being lifted.  ‘Rollie?’ he inquired gently.

‘Daniel,’ said his brother’s mental voice.  With his voice came feelings of revulsion, pain, fear, rage and terrible anguish and sorrow all mixed together.

‘Rollie, what is it?  Please talk to me.’  A horrible thought hit Daniel.  ‘Is it Angie?  Did something happen to her?’

‘No.  Angie’s . . . Angie’s all right.’  There was a mental sob.  ‘Oh, God, Daniel.  What I saw.’

‘What?  What did you see, Rollie?’

‘I know the whole truth now, Daniel,’ the Aussie said, not answering the question.  ‘I know everything, and it’s more horrible than we could ever have suspected.’

Daniel guessed that his brother must have seen something really terrible while attempting to get answers from Cromwell’s past.  ‘Tell me, Rollie.  What is it that you saw?’  He paused, making a sudden guess that Rollie had the ability to do more than just tell him.  ‘Show me what you saw.’

‘No!  I can’t show you that.  I can’t let you see that.  I’ll have those images in my head for the rest of my life.  I can’t let you go through that, too.’

‘Then tell me about it.  What did you see?’

‘I can’t, Daniel.  Not now.  I just can’t.’

‘All right, Rollie,’ the minister said gently.  ‘Where are you now?’

‘We’re on our way back to the loft.’

‘Okay, I’m coming right over there.’

‘But what about the fair?’

‘Forget about the fair.  It doesn’t matter.  It’s more important that I be there with you.  I’ll just make some excuse to the people I’m working with and tell Alex and Dylan, then I’ll be right over.  You just hang tight.’

Daniel returned to the storyteller’s booth.  He met his mother’s eyes, then looked at Jeanette.  “I need to leave.  There’s been a family emergency.”

“Oh no!  Is it something serious?” the younger woman asked.

“Yeah, pretty serious.  I’m sorry to leave you like this.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Bonnie said, her eyes filled with concern.  “You go be with your family.”

Daniel nodded.  “Say goodbye to Curtis for me.”  He clasped Jeanette’s hand for a moment.  “It was nice meeting you.”

“It was nice meeting you, too, Daniel.  I hope everything’s going to be all right.”

“Me too.”  Daniel turned to his mother.  “Um, I’ll call you later, Bonnie.”

“Please do, Daniel.  I’ll pray for your family.”

“Thank you.”

Daniel went over to Alex’s booth.  It only took a moment for his fiancée to tell that something was wrong.

“What is it?  Has something happened?” she asked in concern.

“It’s . . .” he glanced at Rachel, “it’s my brother.  Something’s happened.  I need to leave.”

“Oh no!  Do you want me to go with you?”

The minister shook his head.  “Um, could I talk to you in private for a moment?”

The redhead immediately left the booth, and they went to a place that was a little less crowded.

“Daniel, what happened?” Alex asked in a hushed voice.

“I’m not sure exactly.  Rollie went to see Cromwell to attempt to find out some things, and something he saw really did a number on him.  He wouldn’t even talk to me at first, completely shut me out.  I finally got through to him, but he’s in bad shape.  I need to be with him.”

“Of course.  What do you want to do about Arnie?”

“I don’t know yet.  I really wanted him to meet Rollie, but with what just happened, I don’t know if it’s a good idea.  Could you call me from Arnie’s hotel room when you get there?  I’ll be at the loft.”

“Sure, I can do that.  I really hope Rollie’s going to be all right.”

“So do I.”

Daniel gave her a kiss then made his way to his rental car, driving as quickly as he could toward the loft.

Angie looked up at the living quarters for about the twentieth time in the past five minutes.  Rollie had gone straight up there the moment they arrived at the loft.  The first place he went was the bathroom.  Angie had stood outside the door for a very long time, listening to the water in the shower running.  When the water finally stopped, she had left the living quarters, sensing that Rollie needed to be alone.  Since then, she, Leo and Frank had all been downstairs, waiting.  The two cops had asked Angie what was going on, but all she said was that they should wait until after Daniel arrived.  The only reason she knew that Daniel was on the way was that a concerned Alex had called a few minutes ago, asking if Daniel had gotten there yet and how Rollie was.  Apparently, Rollie had talked with his brother telepathically and Daniel had decided to come over.

A couple of minutes ago, Mangela had also arrived, saying that he had sensed Rollie’s distress.  He revealed that he’d tried to contact his spiritual son, but that Rollie had shut him out in the beginning, only letting him in on the drive back to the loft.

Just then, Bluey let out a bark and Daniel walked in.  “How is he?” he immediately asked.

“We don’t know,” Angie replied.  “He’s been upstairs since we got home.”

The minister came into the lounge.  “Angie, what happened?  Do you know what he saw?”

“Not really.  All I know is--”  She halted as she and the others heard a noise from above.  They looked up to see Rollie on the landing.  He stood there a moment, then came down.  Not meeting any of their eyes, he went to the refrigerator, pulled out a beer and gulped down half of it.  He then set the can down and took a deep breath.  He was silent for several seconds, then he began to talk.

“I went looking into Cromwell’s past to try and find out some of the things we didn’t know,” he said, his back still turned to them.  “I found out who it was that pretended to be me.  His name was Lloyd Tanner.”

Leo nodded, recognizing the name as one of the employees who had supposedly quit Cassandra Electronics.

“I then found out that Cromwell never knew about the telegram.  He was never notified,” Rollie told them.

Daniel looked at Angie questioningly, and she mouthed to him that she’d tell him later.

“Then I. . . .”  Rollie’s voice trailed off for a moment.  “I went back to when the Carfields were shutting down the adoption agency.  I was trying to find out what became of Doctor Brier.  But I . . . I found out something else instead.”

Rollie hands curled around the edge of the counter, holding onto it tightly.  His head had bowed, and he was staring at the counter top.  Angie got up and went to him.  She laid her hand over one of his.  Swallowing, Rollie continued, his voice now low and strained.

“They were doing experiments on babies, the unborn fetuses, trying to create children with paranormal abilities through gene manipulation.  But, instead, they. . . .”  His eyes at last turned to Angie.  “God, Angie.  I saw the babies.  Their bodies were all twisted and deformed, the most horrible birth defects you can imagine.  And then I saw. . . .”  His voice caught.  “When they closed the agency, they got rid of the babies.  The healthy ones they gave away to families, but the others. . . .  They killed them, injected them with something.  Then they . . . they stuck them in trash bags like they were garbage and burned them.”

“Dear lord,” Daniel whispered in a choked voice, feeling nausea roil through his stomach, accompanied by rage and anguish over the inhuman acts perpetuated by the people who had abducted him as an infant.

“For as long as I live, I’ll never forget seeing those babies, their little bodies all twisted and in pain, being murdered and stuffed in trash bags then thrown in a furnace,” Rollie said in a ragged whisper.

Angie was crying, thinking of what had been done to those poor, tiny, innocent lives.  How could anyone be so monstrous, so utterly without conscience or compassion?  She was also crying for Rollie, for the new pain that had been heaped upon him.

“Do you know what happened to Brier?” Leo asked, his voice almost shaking with the anger he was feeling.

Rollie shook his head and finally turned around to face them.  “But I’m certain that Carfield didn’t kill him.”

“Which means that he might still be out there, free,” Frank said, his eyes full of tears, thinking of his own precious children.

“If he’s still alive,” Rollie said.  “He’d be in his mid-seventies now.”

Leo stood.  “Well, if he’s alive, I’m going to find him,” he swore.  “I don’t care if this is part of the case we’re supposed to keep out of.  There is no way that man is going to remain unpunished for this.”  He came up to Rollie and laid a hand on the Aussie’s shoulder.  “Are you okay, pal?”

Rollie sighed quietly.  “No, not really.  But I will be.”

Leo gave his shoulder a squeeze.  “We’re going to get going.  I want to get started on this right away.  Give me a call if you need me, all right?”

Rollie nodded.

Mangela went to his spiritual son, his dark eyes filled with worry for Rollie and with sorrow and rage over the crimes committed against those infants.

“Go into the Dreamtime, Rollie,” he said.  “Go into the Dreamtime to heal.”

The Aussie met his eyes, then nodded.  He slowly made his way upstairs.

“Why is this happening to him?” Angie asked angrily after Rollie disappeared into the living quarters.  “Why does he have to keep suffering this pain?  What did he do to deserve this?!”

Daniel took hold of her shoulders.  “He didn’t do anything to deserve this, Angie.  He’s not being punished.  Rollie was chosen to have these abilities, but with them there is bound to be pain and suffering.  There is no way to escape that.”

“I wish he didn’t have these abilities.  They’ve done almost nothing but hurt him right from the beginning.  I wish he could just be left in peace.”

Daniel said nothing in response.  What she said was true.  So far, Rollie’s paranormal abilities had caused him far more pain than joy.  Yet the fact remained that, if it was not for those abilities, Daniel would not be here.  He and Rollie would never have met.  Not only that, but there were a lot of other good things that would not have come about if Rollie did not have those abilities--and a lot of bad things that would have happened.  But he still wished that Rollie could find some joy and satisfaction in these abilities that God had given him.

Since he would not be going anywhere else today, Daniel removed his disguise.  He had just finished removing the last of it when Dingo came in.

“Hello, everyone,” he said cheerily.  Then he got a good look at the expressions on everyone’s faces.  “What’s going on?”

The others all looked at each other, then began telling Dingo what happened.  The Australian was hit with the same emotions they had been, but also with the horror that his baby son had been in the clutches of those monsters.  He thanked God that Daniel had come to no harm.

“Is Rollie going to be all right?” he asked.

“In time,” Daniel replied.  He shook his head.  “I don’t even want to think of what it was like to actually see that.  I know that I could never forget it.”  He looked up toward where Rollie was, praying that God would bring some peace to his brother.

Rollie lay on the bed, his arms thrown over his face in a vain effort to block out the images replaying repeatedly though his mind, the tiny infant bodies, so many of them cruelly twisted into forms barely recognizable as human, their piteous cries of pain ringing through the room.  Then Doctor Brier with his needle, going to them one by one.  The cries fading to whimpers, then silence as their little chests took their last breaths.  And then, the black trash bags, three or four bodies shoved into each one and taken down to the furnace in the basement to be burned like rubbish.  No funeral, no loved ones to grieve over the murder of innocent lives created then slaughtered because of the obsession of one man.

But Rollie grieved for them.  He felt their deaths in a deep part of his soul, felt the pain that they had lived with every moment of their all too short lives.  It rose to drown him, to swell over him like a tidal wave.  He tried to escape into the Dreamtime, but it was impossible.

“Oh, God,” he cried, curling up into a tight ball.  “Please help me.  God, please help me.”  He felt a scream clawing its way out of him, ready to rip out of his lungs.

Then, at the very moment when he knew he couldn’t take anymore, he felt something touch him.  Something warm, and tranquil, and incredibly powerful enfolded him in a loving embrace, just as it had that moment in Cromwell’s complex when he felt himself dying.  Rollie surrendered himself to the feeling, opening himself fully to it with no fear, no amazement, only acceptance and gratitude.  He felt rather than heard someone speak his name in a voice full of love.  And then there was light and more warmth, suffusing his body and soul.  For a moment, he saw a pair of eyes that struck a familiar chord in him, then it all faded, and Rollie fell into a deep, healing, dreamless sleep.