Chapter Twenty-Five
Schuldig groaned and looked around. The world was swimming. He didn’t have the faintest idea what had happened. One minute he had been walking towards the grocery store, and the next he had been unconscious. Whatever they had done, it had been quick and efficient.
He looked around. The room they were in was unmistakable; it was a room at a secure facility. It looked alarmingly like what Brad had described to him. Plain, light grey walls. No furniture. Nothing in the room of any sort except him.
He tested out his telepathy quickly -- or tried to. It didn’t take him more than a few seconds to realize that it was completely dead. “Oh . . . fuck,” he swore.
The door to the room opened. He was on his feet within seconds, but was knocked down again as a dark figure was tossed onto him. By the time he had recovered, the door was shut and locked again. He looked over at the other form and saw that it was Nagi. He lay Nagi down and checked to make sure that he was unhurt, which he seemed to be. Then he patted his cheek. “Nagi. Nagi-chen, can you hear me?”
Nagi groaned slightly, but didn’t really move.
Schuldig gave him a few minutes, but he was close to panicking, so he tried again. He hated the secure facilities, and he hated his telepathy being blocked even more. “Nagi, wake up,” he said, giving him a slight shake.
“Oh God . . .” Nagi pressed one hand against his forehead. “What the . . . hell . . .”
“Yeah, I think that sums it up,” Schuldig agreed.
Nagi struggled into a sitting position. “Where are we?” he asked. He felt fuzzy and dull, and his head was killing him.
Schuldig propped him up against the wall. “I think we’re in a secure facility. Where, I don’t know. I don’t know how long we were out. They just tossed you in here with me.”
Nagi glanced automatically down at his watch, but it was gone. “They don’t want us knowing how long we were out, either,” he said. “What happened to you?”
“I made the fatal error of going to get coffee.”
“Oh,” Nagi managed.
“You?”
“I don’t . . . it’s kinda fuzzy,” Nagi said. “Chien left. He said you had gone to do errands. I got nervous . . . but I couldn’t reach anyone. Your cell wasn’t working and neither was Crawford’s. Farferello was still unconscious. I . . . I e-mailed Omi, and then . . . a dart hit me. That’s the last thing I remember.”
“Chien went out?” Schuldig asked incredulously. “The little fucker set us up! Why am I not surprised?”
“Because we all knew he was there to be Esstet’s lapdog,” Nagi said.
Schuldig wilted. “What did you e-mail Omi?”
“I sent him my passcode. So he’d be able to hack into Esstet’s network. It was just on a whim, but . . . I guess it was a good whim.”
“A whim? I didn’t think you had whims.”
“Okay, a hunch.”
Schuldig managed a laugh. “That’s better. So what do you think they want from us?”
“I don’t know,” Nagi said. “I mean, we all knew that you were important and they were planning something, even if we didn’t know what. But I have to say I don’t have a clue why I’m here. Unless they just took the whole team. In which case, where are Crawford and Farferello?”
“Somehow, I doubt they need Crawford. Or they would have found some way to keep us from getting him back, or just taken what they needed for him when he was in Germany. And no one can do anything with Farferello.”
Nagi gave him a hopeful look. “Can’t your telepathy get around these walls?”
“This is different,” Schuldig said. “It’s me. It’s not the place.”
Nagi frowned. “So they gave us inhibitors as well as tranquilizers. Great.”
“Can you do anything? I’m assuming no, but we may as well check.”
Nagi closed his eyes and concentrated for a few seconds, then shook his head. “No. It’s gone.”
“Spiffy.”
The door opened and several people stepped inside. Three of them wore the regular uniform of the guards, and took up station just inside the door. The last was a tall, elegant-looking Hispanic man. “Good afternoon,” he said, speaking slightly accented Japanese.
“Is it really,” Schuldig said, in German, just to be a dick.
“For us, yes. For you . . . not so much.” The man switched easily to German, without seeming to care what language he was speaking.
“I hadn’t noticed,” Schuldig snapped in English.
The man cleared his throat. “I am Joaquin. Esstet has sent me to, shall we say, ask a favor of you.”
“Usually you don’t drug people to ask favors,” Schuldig said. “Unless it’s a happier drug than this.”
Joaquin looked slightly amused at this comment. “Not to be rude, but you are a very dangerous man, Schuldig. We didn’t want to take our chances, given our doubt that you would accompany us willingly.”
“Thank you for the backhanded compliment. What the fuck do you want?”
“You are aware, I assume, that your Talent is rather . . . individualized?”
“You mean that I’m a crazy telepath?” Schuldig snapped. “Yeah, I had noticed.”
“Temper, temper,” Joaquin said, smiling. “I refer, more precisely, to the things you can do that no other telepath can. Such as getting through Esstet’s shielded rooms . . . using non-telepaths as relays . . . reaching halfway across the globe if it’s someone whom you know . . . and other such things that you’re probably not even aware of.”
“By all means, fill me in,” Schuldig said.
“Had you wondered why you could get around Esstet’s shields?” Joaquin asked.
“I always assumed because they were shit,” Schuldig said bluntly.
“You assumed incorrectly. In all reality, you can send and receive telepathic energy on more than one level. Most telepaths are confined to the most common. But not you. You can go through the shields because you send out your thoughts on a level that the shields do not exist.”
“Somehow I don’t think I’m happy about this,” Schuldig said. “I’ll refrain from pointing out the flaws in your shields in the future. How about you let us go?”
“I don’t think so,” Joaquin said. “We’re most interested in learning how you use those other levels. So you’re going to show us.”
Schuldig started counting on his fingers. “Well, first you start with some marijuana. Then you go through some clinically tested anti-hallucinogens. Then you try a nice heroin-cocaine cocktail. Then -- ”
“I meant on a more immediate basis,” Joaquin said dryly.
“Then you start by making nice to the guy who can do it and getting him some coffee,” Schuldig said.
Joaquin smiled slightly. Then he nodded to one of the guards, who left the room. “The inhibitors will take approximately four hours to wear off. If you agree to then let us examine how it works, nothing untoward will happen to you.”
“You also make nice to Nagichen,” Schuldig said. “And exactly how do you plan to figure it out?”
Joaquin raised an eyebrow. “We’ll need free access to your power.”
Schuldig laughed. “No.”
“But you had agreed. You’ll even get your coffee.”
“I changed my mind,” Schuldig said. “I don’t want my last meal before dying to be coffee.”
“I assure you that as long as you cooperate, you won’t be harmed.”
“You’re going to rape my mind and dissect my power. You call that no harm?”
“Let me rephrase. You will emerge whole and alive.”
“And here I thought you had studied me,” Schuldig said. “You go fucking with my head, and I won’t be whole, and I’d rather not be alive. So, no.”
“There are ways that we can make you. You must know that. It would be easier if you would simply cooperate.”
Schuldig just stared at him.
“Fine, if you insist,” Joaquin said. “We have plenty of time.”
The guard came back in with a Styrofoam cup of coffee. Joaquin took it and began to drink it.
“If that’s all, what do you want with Nagi?” Schuldig finally asked. He had a suspicion he knew, and from the look in Nagi’s eyes, he thought that Nagi did too. However, asking was the only way to find out. If they were lucky, it wouldn’t be confirmed.
“You have to ask?” Joaquin asked. He fixed Nagi with a piercing stare for a minute, then the younger boy flinched away from him, crying out. “He’s here to be your incentive.”
Schuldig pulled Nagi to him, into a hug, and glared at Joaquin. There was no way he could pretend that hurting Nagi wouldn’t hurt him, but he could always try.
“Believe me, you have been observed very carefully,” Joaquin said. “And we know from experience that you, Schuldig, are most difficult to convince to do anything. Your intractability is almost legendary. However . . .” He smiled at Nagi, who stiffened and cried out again. “He is much more pliant, and suited to such purposes. And we know how much you care for him.”
“Get out,” Schuldig said.
“You’re very much mistaken if you think there’s any way you can make me.”
Schuldig glared.
“You have thirty minutes to consider,” Joaquin said, and left the room. The guards followed, shutting the door and locking it behind them.
Nagi huddled, shivering, in Schuldig’s arm. Schuldig hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Nagi said, trying to calm his shaking. “And don’t give them what they want. No matter what. You know that as soon as they have it, they’ll kill us both.”
Schuldig nodded. “Think Brad’s still free?”
“They’d be stupid if he was,” Nagi said, then added gloomily, “He’s probably dead.”
Schuldig hugged him closer. “Well, they are stupid.”
“True,” Nagi said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be all right,” he added, but Schuldig thought he saw different words in Nagi’s eyes.
^^^^
“You should’ve heard Manx yelling at us,” Ken remarked, as Brad pulled up to the curb and Omi got out. “Shrieking and flailing. We blamed it all on you like you said we could.”
“Okay,” Omi said. “Remind me to wear Kevlar.”
Ken laughed. “I’ll let you borrow my vest. Did you get everything you need from Nagi and Schuldig’s?”
“Yup,” Omi said, gesturing to the computer safely packed in the back of the car. “Did you finish packing?”
“Yeah. We’re efficient. Aya’s and Yohji’s cars are both full. I’m gonna ride on my bike. Are you going to take yours, too? That’ll be fun. We can caravan across the country.”
“Across the country? Where are we going?”
“Manx gave us directions. She said it would be about forty-five minutes.”
“Do we have more than one copy?”
“Yohji’s running them off as we speak. Although it’s hard to read directions while driving a motorbike.”
“But if we get separated, we can always pull over.”
“Right. We’ll meet you there?”
“Got it.”
^^^^
Nagi pressed himself into the wall as Joaquin came back inside and tried to look nonchalant. He failed miserably. Schuldig scowled at Joaquin. “Have you considered?” the man asked. “Will you cooperate?”
“I’m going to kill you as soon as I get the chance,” Schuldig snarled.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“Oh, you’re smart.”
Joaquin shrugged and glanced at Nagi, who was trying to look small. “Naturally, we’re not barbaric enough to resort to physical torture,” he said. “After all, he wouldn’t last nearly as long that way. No, this will all be in his mind. Of course . . . that, too, can be dangerous.” He shrugged slightly. “Oh well. Your choice.”
Nagi whimpered, curling into a ball and pressing his face into his legs. His small form started to tremble.
“I imagine it’ll take quite some time before we see much of a reaction,” Joaquin said. “He’s a very tough kid, even though he doesn’t look it. But I’m sure his own memories are more than enough to overwhelm him eventually. I don’t suppose you have much of an idea of what happened to him?”
“He chose to keep his privacy,” Schuldig said through clenched teeth.
“I see,” Joaquin said. “Well, I’ll give you another hour to consider. I expect he’ll be screaming by then.”
He left, closing the door behind him.
Schuldig went over to Nagi and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. “Hey. Hey, Nagi-chen.”
Nagi stared up at him with wide, blank eyes. Then he started trying to squirm away. “No . . . please don’t . . .”
Schuldig let him go. “Nagi?” he whispered.
Nagi flinched away from something only he could see, curling up again. “Please leave me alone,” he said, wrapping his arms around his knees. Schuldig tried to pull him into a hug, but Nagi jerked away violently. At that, Schuldig backed off. If there was no way he could break Nagi out of the telepathic loop, it would be better to not disturb him and not make it worse.
He looked up at the ceiling and swore. “Brad, where the hell are you?”
^^^^
Omi waited impatiently through five minutes of Manx’s rant about using Kritiker resources that he wasn’t even supposed to know about before he cut her off with, “We’re wasting time. And if you didn’t want me finding out, you should have made your network better.”
He walked away. Manx had given them directions to a large complex about forty-five minutes outside the city. Once there, they had been shown to a set of apartments inside. Brad had immediately started setting up Nagi’s computer in one of the rooms while Omi got yelled at.
Yohji got rid of most of his nervous energy helping Ken and Aya move everything inside, but after a few minutes, resorted to pacing instead. He hated waiting.
“Is everything set up?” Omi asked Brad briskly. He had written the password down on a piece of paper that he was carrying with him. His own computer hadn’t been set up yet. When Brad nodded, he sat down and turned it on. He was unsurprised when the computer did nothing until he entered the password -- not even display a screen requesting the password.
Brad sat down to wait, making himself available if Omi had any questions.
^^^^
Joaquin did not come back in an hour. He didn’t come back in two. Schuldig suspected this was because he was annoyed about the fact that Nagi held up much better under mental torture than expected. At the end of the third hour, he was still curled up into a ball, whimpering. But he hadn’t made a noise other than that.
At the end of the fourth hour since their arrival, the door opened and a man walked in. It was not Joaquin, it was just a regular guard holding a medical kit. “Time for your shot,” he said, sounding amused.
“Eat me,” Schuldig said, prepared to fight and hopefully get himself killed and end the whole mess.
The guard shrugged and stepped forward. Schuldig found himself unable to move. He swore viciously and struggled against the telekinetic hold. He could move in small amounts; the man was nowhere near as powerful as Nagi, but not enough to fight. Once both shots had been administered, the man left the room.
Joaquin stepped inside. “Those inhibitors take effect immediately, of course,” he said. “Each shot lasts about six hours, so you won’t need another for a while.”
Schuldig mentally made the tally. It had taken them about two hours to reach wherever they were from the city; he knew that because Joaquin had mentioned that it would take four hours for the inhibitors to wear off when they’d gotten there.
“That, of course, means it’ll be six more hours before you can cooperate,” Joaquin said. “Which I imagine is a shame for your little friend here.”
“Not only are you going to Hell, but you’re going to burn,” Schuldig stated.
“Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, Schuldig.”
“Good thing I don’t,” Schuldig said with a sneer.
There was a pause. “Shame about Chien,” Joaquin said.
“Whatever it is, if it involves him, I’m sure it is a shame,” Schuldig said, wondering if he could manage to rip the man’s throat out without getting himself killed. Probably not. Joaquin probably wasn’t worth it anyway.
“Actually, he found himself most killed,” Joaquin said.
“In that case, it’s a shame I wasn’t there to pull the trigger.”
“Quite,” Joaquin said. “Perhaps you would have survived.”
Schuldig felt his stomach clench. He steadfastly ignored the possibility that Brad could be dead. He wasn’t going to think about it. “I don’t want to talk to you,” he said.
Joaquin shrugged. “You don’t have a choice. How long do you think Nagi-chen here can hold out?” He reached over and nudged Nagi with a boot. Nagi flinched away, letting out a small yelp.
Schuldig was on his feet in an instant, aiming a punch directly at Joaquin’s jaw. It connected, throwing the man back against the wall. Before Schuldig could move again and press his advantage, he felt himself held in place by the telekinetic guard. He snarled at Joaquin, trying to get free.
“That,” Joaquin said, getting to his feet, “was not wise.”
“Felt good,” Schuldig snapped.
Joaquin raised an eyebrow at him. Behind Schuldig, Nagi let out another loud cry, pressing himself against the wall. “You have six hours to consider,” he said coolly, then he turned to the guard. “Restrain him. I don’t want him causing any more trouble.”
“Or bruising your pretty face,” Schuldig sneered.
Joaquin left the room without another word. The guard stepped forward and held Schuldig still while he fastened chains around his wrists, and then to the wall. Schuldig pulled at them, but it was no use. He was not going to escape any time soon.
^^^^
“Okay, I’ve got the list of secure facilities,” Omi said, hitting the print button. “But there’s no real way of knowing which one they’re in, is there.”
Brad didn’t answer the question. He picked up the list and studied it intently. Each facility had a short list of statistics after it. Brad picked up a pen and started to cross some of them off.
“What’s the difference?” Omi asked.
“Some of these couldn’t hold Schuldig and Nagi together. They’ll need ones that are secure in every way possible. That narrows it down to three.”
“And you’re sure they’re together?”
There was a pause. “No,” Brad finally said. Then another pause. “Yes,” he corrected himself.
“Which is it?” Yohji asked impatiently.
“Yes,” Brad said. “Try as I might, I can’t find any reason for them to have taken Nagi. There’s nothing that they want him for. It’s Schuldig that they want. Which means that they took Nagi for leverage, and it doesn’t do any good if they’re not in the same place.”
“Oh goody,” Omi said, frowning at the thought of Nagi being used for leverage. “Where are these places?”
“They’re all within a few hours of the city.”
“So there’s basically no way to differentiate.”
“No,” Brad said. “There isn’t. Damn, I don’t know why Schuldig hasn’t gotten a message to me yet. Their shields can’t hold him in. He should have let me know that he’s okay by now.” Brad started to pace up and down the room.
“Do you think he will get a message to you?” Omi asked.
“I haven’t the faintest,” Brad said. “If he hasn’t already, it means that somehow, they’ve cut his telepathy off completely. That or he’s still unconscious, or dead. But he’s not dead,” he added quickly, as Yohji let out a squawk. “They still need something from him, and he wouldn’t give in this quickly.”
“That’s comforting,” Yohji snapped.
“It buys us time,” Omi said. “Now give me that list. I’ll pull up the schematics and we’ll plan a mission for each one. Hopefully Schuldig will contact you and let you know which one he’s in.”
“All right,” Brad said, handing the list back. “However, the less we plan, the better. When you’re dealing with precogs, the best weapon is unpredictability.”
“Can they read our intentions if we’re planning inside a shielded . . . whatever you people call these things?”
Brad’s lips twitched. “A secure facility. And no, they can’t read us now. But we’ll have to leave to get there. And as soon as we’re there, they’ll know our every move, and be able to predict from there. That’s the only reason I’m still alive -- I was unpredictable. They didn’t think I would kill Chien, mostly because I really shouldn’t have.”
“So what do you suggest?” Omi asked.
“Let’s pick our entrances, and let Farferello get out some aggression. Not only is he a nutcase, he’s a blind spot to most Talents. They can’t predict him at all.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” Omi said. Farferello had been perched in a chair in the corner of the room for this entire discussion, watching without saying a word. Omi found it rather creepy, but he wasn’t going to say anything.
Brad glanced over at Farferello. “You up to some artwork?” he asked.
“I am Van Gogh,” Farferello stated. “But with two ears.”
“But one eye,” Yohji remarked, laughing. His laughter did not sound healthy. “I need a cigarette. Or a pack.”
“Your laughter sounds hysterical,” Farferello observed. “That’s never a good sign.”
“I’m going out to smoke,” Yohji said, and kicked his way out of the room.
“So we just have to wait?” Omi asked Brad, not liking this idea.
“I can’t think of any other way to figure out how they are,” Brad admitted.
“Do you think they’ll be okay until then?” Omi asked.
Brad closed his eyes for a few moments. “I don’t know. Schuldig is incredibly stubborn. He’d let them torture him to death without a second thought, but Nagi? I don’t think he’ll let it go that far with him. They must know that; that’s why they took Nagi too.”
“What the hell do they want?” Omi burst out.
“I wish I knew,” Brad said, sitting down with a thud. “I know that Schuldig can do some amazing things. I know they manipulated the circumstances around him his entire life, but they had given up on him as a loss. I don’t know why they suddenly need him again. He was my project. They didn’t even care if I left him to die on the streets or not.”
Omi gave this due thought. “Are you the best precog they have?”
“Not the best. One of the best, but the three who run Esstet are the strongest at their Talents, which not-so-incidentally mirror my team’s. Precognition, telepathy, telekinesis.”
Omi sighed and turned back to the computer. “I’ll look into it,” he said. He doubted he would get very far; Esstet had the best security he’d ever seen. But he needed to kill the time somehow, and this would be the best way to do it.
^^^^
Schuldig waited for the inhibitors to wear off. He didn’t know if Joaquin knew how strong he was, or how fast his metabolism was, or how high a drug tolerance he had. Every minute that passed, he tested his telepathy to make sure that it was still gone. It was boring, and made the minutes pass by slowly, but it gave him a way to try to avoid looking at Nagi.
The teenager was starting to cycle now. At times he would be quiet, then he would scream and fight against something no one but him could see. Then he would cry and curl back up into his little ball, and go quiet again. Schuldig guessed that each full cycle took about an hour.
His telepathy was starting to come back by the end of the fifth cycle. It wasn’t strong enough for him to do anything with it, other than sense Nagi’s immense fear and pain. He put up some shaky shields as best he could. The more time passed, the stronger it got. He tried to scan the minds around him, but most of them were shielded fairly well. He had no idea if he would be able to get in touch with Brad, who was hours away, with the current amount of strength he had.
It didn’t help that he was getting tired. He knew it had to be late, probably past midnight. He was going to need to sleep before he could do anything.
He waited until the man came in with his two syringes. Joaquin was behind him. “Have you decided?” he asked coolly.
“You can eat me for at least another six hours,” Schuldig said.
Joaquin shrugged. “We have time, you know. Your friend . . . not so much.”
Schuldig didn’t dignify that with a reply. He settled for glaring. He continued to glare while the inhibitors were administered. Nagi very much did not like getting a shot, and for a few seconds, the walls seemed to tremble.
“Odd,” Joaquin said lightly, “we figured with his smaller build, the inhibitors would last longer for him. Apparently not. We’ll have to keep that in mind.”
Schuldig said something vulgar and unrepeatable.
“I’ll see you around dawn,” Joaquin said, and left the room.
Schuldig leaned against the wall and tried to sleep. Despite the fact that he was standing up and trying to not listen to Nagi whimper, he did manage to drift off. Years of training had gotten Schuldig used to sleeping whenever possible.
He jerked awake a few hours later to Nagi screaming. The teenager was huddled in a corner, trying to make himself as small as possible. Schuldig winced, but there wasn’t much he could do. He carefully tested his telepathy and gauged that at least four or five hours had passed.
He tried to not stare at Nagi. It was getting harder to block out the emotions and images that the teenager was radiating. Schuldig tried to close off his mind to Nagi individually, but it was hard when he was trying to scan the guards for information. The noise alone was enough to get to him.
For the next hour, he carefully flexed his mental muscles, trying to build up enough strength to get to Brad. It wasn’t hard to get their location; the guards did not have the best of shields. But he knew the moment he had enough strength to actually slide underneath the walls surrounding the facility, they would be in here to give him another shot.
That meant he had to say yes, which meant that he was going to have to give Joaquin free access to his mind. That was something Schuldig really did not feel like doing. He didn’t know how long it would take Brad to get there.
Joaquin walked in about a half hour later. “How’s Nagi-chen?” he asked, smiling.
“Do you really have to use that name?” Schuldig asked.
“No. How’s Nagi-chen?”
“He’s fine. You win.”
Joaquin raised an eyebrow at him. “You agree to give us access?”
“If you’ll leave him alone, yes.”
There was a pause, then Joaquin nodded. Nagi’s shaking eased, and he closed his eyes for the first time in hours. “I believe he’s still all right, despite how long you took to make your decision.”
“You’re a big fucking dickhead,” Schuldig stated.
“Of course.” Joaquin lifted a hand to one of his other guards. Schuldig tested his telepathy for the fiftieth time that hour. He wasn’t sure it was strong enough, but he was going to have to try. He waited until the other telepath had slid into his mind, shuddering, then closed his mind’s shields around him, mentally crushing him. The man began to scream, trying to pull away and break off the psychic contact, but Schuldig held him fast. He pulled out every bit of information he could and sent it all in a wordless burst to Brad. He was fairly sure it reached him, but then stronger shields slammed up around his mind, and he wasn’t able to double check.
“That was foolish,” Joaquin told him. One of the guards picked up the telepath’s body and carried him out of the room.
“But I had so much fun killing him,” Schuldig snarled.
“Indeed?” Joaquin asked. “Then imagine how much fun I’m going to have.” He lifted one hand at Nagi, whose body stiffened and flinched. Nagi began to scream again, pressing his hands against his face.
“Fine. Fine.” Schuldig closed his eyes.
“Oh, I don’t trust you now. I’m going to go in myself -- and keep in mind, Schuldig, that I’m the only one who can release the telepathic loop I have Nagi in. If you kill me, he’ll remain this way forever.”
Schuldig had no idea if that was true, but it was a chance he couldn’t take. However, he knew -- or at least could reasonably hope -- that Brad was on the way. If he could stall, he might be able to keep Joaquin from digging around and getting in his mind. He knew he was a stronger telepath than Joaquin, even in his current condition. The only thing he had to worry about was whether or not Nagi could stand up to a few more hours of mental torture.
However, Nagi had said to not give them what they wanted. No matter what. He would respect that.
If he didn’t let Joaquin in, he could conceivably make things even worse for Nagi. But if he let him in and then just didn’t let him have the information, a tug of war like that could go on for hours. Schuldig closed his eyes and prepared to make Joaquin fight for every inch.
He just had to hope that Brad would get there quickly.
^^^^
Chapter Twenty-Six
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