Helen studied the building. Yeah, that part had cleaner lines and looked different from the rest of it.
“I agree. The roof shingles are different. They look like a different brand,”she noted. Another wave of amusement slid subtly through her and she briefly closed her eyes to savor the maleness in it. When she focused intently like that, she discovered she could discern feelings that weren’t hers. This was too cool.“What’s so funny?”
“And since when did you become an expert in roof tiles? I didn’t know GEM operatives were assigned roofing jobs. Did you have to translate for some roofers’ treaty?”
The amusement became more pronounced at each question. Helen grinned back.
“You mean you guys didn’t have to learn roofing and carpentry during spy training? Tsk. COMCEN’s spy courses need revamping.”She looked at the roof line again.“My next-door neighbor did his roof one summer and it just so happened I was on vacation, so I helped him. He’s a contractor, so I got to learn a couple of things about building.”She patted her hair airily, and added,“Just call me supersoldier-spy builder.”
“What about race cars? Flyboy tells me you know quite a bit about them. Another vacation friendship?”
Now it was her turn to be amused.“Hades,”she said teasingly,“are you probing me? You know T has taught me better than that. You’ll have to be a bit more subtle.”
Had he been asking Flyboy about her? Or was Flyboy reporting back to him? There was a difference. And why did he bring this up in the middle of their RV session?
“I just find your tidbits about your past fascinating, that’s all. But back to our current mission, yes, I do know the location of this place. I’ve been here before the addition of that new wing where we came from. Since our universal agreement brought us inside that building, I’m assuming our intruder comes from there.”
“You going to tell me where this place is?”Helen scanned around again.“No one around. The antiseptic smell from that wing suggests that it’s a medical center of some sort but it seems an awfully quiet place to be one.”
“It was a different kind of medical center when I last saw it. I’d call it a place for convalescing. I’ll give you more details later. Just to make sure, go through the front. It’s probably going to be different from the way I remember it but the layout should look familiar.”
“All right.”
The entranceway looked like someone’s grand mansion, its brick façade laid in a geometrical design. The double doors, however, seemed out of place, made of glass and with the modern look that reminded her of a bank. Her phantom form floated through. The inside was very pretty, decorated in warm colors, with plush sofas and chairs scattered around. She noticed a huge fireplace and even a piano. There was no one there.
“Convalescing, huh?”She glanced around curiously.“It’s a very nice peaceful scene, but how come I feel constricted and even...hmm...pain? I don’t like it.”
“You feel pain?”Surprise tinged his voice.“Interesting. The place looks more or less the same. Different furniture. There used to be a counter there to check in visitors but that’s gone now. Look to your right. There should be a wall at the far end. Tell me what you see.”
She was getting very curious about the place. Hades seemed to know a lot about it. She had questions, but decided to leave them until later. In remote viewing, a monitor guided for information, not questions, and it was her job not to contaminate her perception with too many personal details. If done incorrectly, the remote viewer would muddle up what she was viewing with what she thought her monitor wanted her to see.
The wall was there, just as he’d told her. A fleeting sensation invaded her, too vague to define. Again, she had the feeling that it wasn’t hers.
“I see pictures. Photos of various sizes. Let me focus on them.”The wall was filled with numerous photo frames, too many to really take it all in. Mostly men standing around what she assumed were various rooms in this building. Some were taken outside.
“Way to the right, about tenth row, around there. What do you see?”
Helen obediently counted. The frames weren’t arranged in neat rows, so she stopped about where she thought the ninth or tenth row was, then looked carefully at each photo in that area. Her hand flew to her mouth. Her eyes widened as she drew closer to a black and white photo.
“Holy batshit. Is that you?”The silence that followed was telling. Helen cocked her head, all her attention on the photo, taking in the fountain, the familiar tall hedge in the background. Theyoung boystanding in front of it, with another older man. She momentarily forgot their little role playing game, her voice a mere whisper.“Jed?”
The silence was maddening. That feeling that wasn’t quite hers slid through her being again, like the smooth side of velvet, just enough to tease but not enough to discern exactly what it was. She just knew it was not her feeling it, that she had invaded some private space.
Tough. He’d better get used to it. He certainly had no qualms doing it to her.Hertidbits about her past fascinating? Well, ditto his tidbits.
She put her hands on her hips and glared at the picture, as if that would convey her irritation to the man she was addressing.“You’re not going to say that’s not you, because I’m not believing that. Brother? Cousin? Son?”
“That’s me. Go back to the first place we started at. I’m curious now what it’s for.”
Oh, wait a minute. He wasn’t going to leave it just like that, was he? No explanation of this photo at all?“Jed...”
“Not now. We’re looking for an intruder, Elena, not taking a tour.”
She bristled at his sudden coolness. He had mentally shut a door and shefelthim doing it. It was like a slap to her face. She considered going somewhere else in this building to look for answers to the new questions in her head. Like, what is this place to Jed McNeil? That it was the same place the intruder was at made it doubly tempting. Was Jed—
A gasp escaped her lips as a sudden image loomed up in her mind; she was lying on her back in her quarters at Center. She saw a pair of male hands tear the thong she was wearing and her legs were firmly parted. She was seeing herself through his eyes.
She heard him say something softly and the sudden swift kick of desire overtook her senses. How was this possible?
