This is what you’re getting into. And not all haters are so easily cowed by a stern look.
It was his mother’s voice, warning him of something he would have loved to ignore. When they reached the place on the shore where the boat with the two victims had been dragged on land, Andi sat down on a piece of rock, dragging George next to him. For some time, they looked out onto the lake, watching the sun glinting on the water’s surface. It was so pretty, and George could see some boats in the distance, hear the laughter of the people in them, and he hesitated. There was something. An idea. It was slippery like an eel, trying to wiggle out of his grasp—a question, really, something important. He kept very still like a hunter not wanting to spook his prey. The thought was skittish, turning its back on him, and George had trouble keeping himself from reaching out because he just knew that it would be gone then. For a few precarious moments, everything seemed to be frozen and then reality set back in, together with the question slamming into his head like a golf ball splashing into the sand.
“How far away could you be to make the hornets kill?”
Andi flinched at his side, whether because of the suddenness of the questions or because it was invading, George couldn’t tell. It only took his partner a moment to understand what George was getting at.
“Depending on how much I value my sanity and the integrity of my mind, a few miles. I’d have to try it out.”
“Well, let’s not overtax you unnecessarily. Could you call the hornets from here?”
“Easily.”
“How far is it from here to the nest?” To answer his own question, George took out his cell to look at the geotags he still had saved. They were on a map where he only had to connect two dots to get a distance. “About a mile. So, you’d have to reach out, but it’s still within your comfort zone.”
Something they had worked on hard as well, expanding Andi’s comfort zone. He was still constantly receiving unconsciously within a half-mile radius, but they had managed to get his conscious radius before things got too dangerous up to one and a half miles. It was still a gamble, especially when Andi was drained already or simply exhausted, but George felt better knowing he had a certain handle—fragile and delusional as it might be—on what his lover did.
“Yes. During our first case, I expanded for almost ten miles to find Castain, which was dangerous and stupid. Also, I didn’t try to control anything. I was just looking for an image, which is easier than actively influencing them. I didn’t even know that was possible back then.”
They had come a long way since that first, horrific case where George had initially spied on the man he now protected.
“So technically, it would be possible from the other side of the lake or even farther away?”
“Technically.” Andi shuddered. “But I can’t imagine how anybody would be able to withstand being stretched so thin. Unless the killer knew exactly where the hornets were, they had to look for them, which is already taxing. Then establishing the connection while not getting sucked into their world and instead pushing something else on them, accompanying them to the lake, making them kill—I can’t see how that’s possible without losing yourself. And the killer was active again four weeks later.”
“So, we can assume the person was somewhere between half a mile and perhaps three miles away from the victims?”
“That’s a generous estimate, but yeah, better to err on the side of caution.”
“We have to see if there are any cameras within that radius around the lake. Perhaps we get lucky.” George didn’t hold much hope for that, but it was a good task for Officer Kaustrowitz. He texted their helpful rookie then stared back out onto the lake. From a distance, everything seemed so peaceful, so idyllic. One of the first things George had learned when he started his career was that something was always lurking and never to trust a shiny surface. There were times when he mourned his loss of innocence, the time when his brain had looked at boats on a lake and not seen several potential crimes in the making.
“What are you thinking? You’re…chrt, chss, waiting, for what, calm, on the surface, going under, so deep, her heart, thump, thump, so warm, so warm.” Andi was facing him, expression a bit strained.
George put his hand on Andi’s face, letting his warmth seep into his lover’s cold skin. Even though they were standing in the sun, Andi was cool to the touch, a sign that his blood sugar was dropping. “Let’s get back to the car. You need food. And don’t worry. I was just being philosophical about things almost never being as peaceful as they seem.”
“Ah, I understand.” Andi easily followed George’s lead back to the car. “I can ignore the blob side and just pretend things are fine. With them, not so much. Nothing is ever peaceful there, though on the other hand, it rarely pretends to be, just seems like it to our senses.”
They had just reached the car, and Andi was busy munching on some energy balls made from dates, coconut, and hazelnuts, when George’s phone started to ring. Eating in the car was only allowed under dire circumstances, so they were standing in the shade of an oak. George got his cell out and read the ID. It was Geena.
“Hi, Geena, we didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”
“Are you insinuating that I’m slow, Donovan?” Geena’s voice was tinged with laughter.
“I’d rather arm wrestle the devil.”
“Wise man. Is Andi with you?”
“Mpf.”
“As you can hear.”
“Wonderful. I have news for you. What you’re going to make of it is entirely up to you because I honestly don’t know what to think.”
“Consider us warned.” George winked at Andi, who was busy attacking his second energy ball. George made a mental note to stock up on them as soon as they were back in Charleston.
“So, Agent DeCapristo is quite an interesting woman. She studied criminal science and forensic accounting at West Virginia University before she went to Quantico. Had top grades, best of her year. She rose through the ranks in typical overachiever fashion, and everything she did seemed to turn into gold.”
“The way you’re telling the story makes me wait for the plot twist.” George watched as Andi licked a stray piece of coconut from his lips.
