“I have a confession to make, George. I wasn’t entirely open with you and Andi.”
“In what way?” George was intent on not giving anything away until he knew more about Gelman’s angle. It was a trick his mother had taught him. If you’re on uncertain ground, let the enemy do the talking. Contrary to what Gelman had said, George wasn’t yet convinced he wasn’t an enemy.
“Like Andi, I’m not what I seem to be.” Gelman started tapping his fingers on the counter of the kitchen island. That got George’s attention.
“You’re like him?”
“No. No. I’m—” Gelman huffed. “I pretend to be from IA, but in reality, I work for a branch of the law that doesn’t exist officially.”
“Meaning?” George’s thoughts were spinning so fast, he almost felt smoke coming out of his ears.
“We don’t even have a name, just calling ourselves the Office. Our job is to find people like Andi and either try to convince them to work for the government or protect them from being detected.”
George’s thoughts came to a screeching halt. Out of all the things he had expected, some secret government operation was the last one on his list. “You’re doing what?”
“Looking out for people like Andi. And Tyler, apparently. Though Tyler’s talent is quite common, while Andi—he’s absolutely unique. I’ve never come across somebody like him.”
“You’re telling me there’s more people like Tyler? So many you think him talking to ghosts is common?”
Luke didn’t seem to be surprised in the least that George knew about Tyler’s gift. “Uh, I might have phrased that wrong. People with… talents are rare, very, very rare. As far as we know, and the Office was founded in the 1970s, only one in half a million people is born with an additional gift that can’t be explained rationally. Many of those who are born with such a talent never realize, because it’s either too weak to have an impact on their life or they never experience the kind of traumatic event it takes to awaken it. Of those, about a third can’t cope and commit suicide. Roughly another third hides it successfully from their environment, taking the secret to their grave. The remaining third start using their gift actively, either for good or bad, becoming mediums or going into some form of law enforcement. Apart from them, there’s another, miniscule group. We’re talking about roughly one in five million here. Their talent is active from birth and grows in strength the older they become. It’s typically passed on within a family, like with Tyler. Or Andi. With Tyler, we know his grandfather, Chief Norris’s father, had the ability to not only see ghosts but communicate with them up to a certain extent. He even worked with law enforcement on occasion. Was only called into the really bad cases because he was such an asshole. We looked at Andi’s family closely and have come to the conclusion that it has to be the German side of his family tree where his gift originates. Unfortunately, the German authorities are either not aware of the potential those with special talents pose, or they’re greedy, protecting what they think is theirs. Anyway, we couldn’t find out much about Andi’s mother’s family except that they’re from Bavaria and live in a remote part of it.”
George couldn’t suppress his grin. That sounded exactly like Andi’sOma. “I don’t know much about the family, but from what Andi has told me, they’re tight-knit. I’d be surprised if the German authorities knew anything about them.”
“Well, that’s one mystery solved, then.” Gelman accepted the mug George held out to him. “Where was I? Ah yes, the Office. Over the years, the specialists at the Office have come up with ways to find the people who have turned to law enforcement by going over cases. There are certain signs a trained eye can see.”
“I understand.” George did understand. He just wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or even more on alert. As far as he could see, this could go both ways. “When I contacted IA, you saw Andi’s case files and realized something wasn’t as it should be.” Knowing it was basically his fault that this ominous Office had set its sights on Andi was something George would examine later, when he was alone.
Gelman cleared his throat. “No. We’ve been watching Andi for a while. Actually, Chief Renard knew about the Office and was in contact with us. He kept an eye on Andi, protected him, and kept us in the loop. When he retired, he assured us he had impressed on his successor how important it was to leave Andi alone and that it was best to not approach him. Seeing as the chief’s father was… special himself, we didn’t expect any trouble from her. If we had known Chief Norris would take Chief Renard’s words as a challenge, we would have taken measures.”
“You can do that? What would these measures have been?” George took a sip of his coffee.
“We would have either installed another chief or approached Andi to change precincts. Whatever was easier.”
“Instead, he got me as a partner.”
“Which is a very lucky, very fortunate coincidence. I don’t have to tell you how taxing a talent can be. You already know very well.”
“I do. And Andi calls it hisgeschenk. That’s German for gift.”
“I’m not sure if I’d want a gift like that.”
George snorted. “Believe me, you don’t. Andi doesn’t want it either. But he’s got it, it’s not going away, and he has to deal with it. End of story.”
“He has you now.” Gelman’s tone implied he was trying to convey something without using actual words.
“I’m sorry, Luke. I had a few trying weeks and one hell of a day. If you want me to get something, you have to spell it out for me.”
Gelman chuckled. “Have I ever told you how much I like your bluntness?”
“No. I usually try to hide it. It’s not good for my career.”
“Speaking of which…. Well, you asked me to not beat around the bush.”
“I stand by that.”
“Another thing the Office does is providing the people with talent with somebody who looks out for them. Either as a partner in the field or some mentor who protects them from other authorities who don’t know about us. Sometimes, we give them both. You are already taking care of Andi. Perfectly, I might add. If I hadn’t known what to look for, you could have fooled me.”
“I can’t not take care of him. You’ve seen today how bad it can get.”
