Bryce hesitated and he stared deep into Jesse’s eyes. He was looking for something, and Jesse would do anything to know the right words to say. The moment passed, and so did any chance of prying loose Bryce’s defensive shield. From the way Bryce held himself, he had made up his mind and found Jesse lacking some unnamed quality.
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” Bryce said. “We don’t know where this is heading, or what could happen. This isn’t like putting your life on the line for your country. Every day, this job asks for everything you could ever give and sometimes it demands more. Walk away while you still have the chance.”
“I’m not afraid,” Jesse replied.
“And that’s the problem.” Bryce shook his head. “You need to be.”
The only sound in the room was Lawson’s continued muttering.
This was bullshit. Absolute, complete bullshit. Jesse could handle whatever the DWO investigated. Bryce had no idea what Jesse already knew about the nightmarish threats that faced the world. He wished they knew each other better, that Bryce believed he was more than capable of dealing with anything thrown his way.
But Bryce also didn’t look like he was willing to listen to any argument. Jesse groaned. “We need to have a longer conversation about this.”
“He said no. Deal with it,” the other agent said. “Alex, grab the statue. Let’s go.”
Alex reached for the statue, and Lawson stopped muttering. Instead, he perched at the end of his seat, holding his breath and smiling gleefully. Almost like the statue.
Then Jesse remembered what Lawson had said, asking him if he wanted to see. The strange feeling that the statue was waiting and watching intensified.
So far, the only way anyone had touched the statue was through a plastic bag, in order to preserve it for evidence. In an effort to make Lawson talk, Jesse had placed the statue free of its bag on the end of the table.
Alex made to grab it without any protection. When Alex had touched Lawson in the park, both of them passed out. Something psychic had happened. The statue was psychic. A warning klaxon went off in Jesse’s mind.
Jesse lunged toward the end of the table. Lawson threw himself backward, and knocked into Jesse hard, sending him into the wall. Alex’s hand closed around the statue.
A tidal pulse surged out from Alex. Jesse had swum in the ocean and played along the beach, feeling the tide come in. This was like standing ankle deep in water, and the next wave crashing over his head. He stumbled as he pushed Lawson upright again, and fought to take a deep breath. The chilly feeling kept coming.
Alex stood stock-still with his head tossed back. His lips trembled, but Jesse couldn’t tell if that was fear or an attempt to say something. Either way, the statue was doing something to him and Jesse needed to stop it.
“He sees,” Lawson whispered, the awe in his voice throwing another layer of chill over Jesse. “And they will see him. And he will worship. And become atoms within atoms.”
“Get him out of here,” Bryce told the other agent.
“Gladly.” The other agent grabbed Lawson and pulled him from the room.
Jesse should worry about that, but he caught the distressed look Bryce was trying to hide. They neared Alex together, but when Jesse reached for him, Bryce grabbed his wrist. “Don’t.”
“We need to separate them.”
“This thing operates on touch. I’m not risking you, too.” Bryce turned to Alex. “Alexander, shut the gates and lock them. The metal is sunlight warm.” When nothing about Alex changed, Bryce took a deep breath and repeated, “The metal is sunlight warm.”
Still nothing changed.
Jesse was an investigator longing to find the bizarre and he’d wandered straight into the deep end of weird. “He’s some kind of psychic.”
“An empath. He picks up the resonance of feelings,” Bryce said.
“This doesn’t look like empathy,” Jesse said. “And that’s a statue, not a person.”
“It’s producing a psychic field. Acting like a tuning fork. The people who experimented on Alex were trying to heighten his powers. Expand them and maybe use him in the same way. That’s how he knocked out the man in the park. He sent out an emotional frequency of exhaustion.”
Jesse snapped his fingers as a thought came together. “Renee Valless said her statue held her room in balance. Something about waves cancelling each other out. And I swear this thing’s been staring at me.”
“You’ve felt it?” Bryce asked.
“Yeah. So, this thing really could be broadcasting a psychic wave.” Jesse didn’t like how much Alex was sweating. He couldn’t stand seeing the kid in distress. There had to be something he could do to help. “But what’s it doing to him?”
“Impossible to say. He could be trapped in his own hell or another dimension.”
