The Killing
… Many months later…
As time passed, Carl Webb was almost able to get Skylar Adams out of his head. Several factors, such as Rosen revealing the existence of Alphas to the world, and the subsequent disintegration of Dr. Rosen’s Alpha team, kept Carl quite busy as he was forced to look for a new (although it turned out to be a temporary) job and looked in vain for another counselor that could help his son cope with his ability since Lee got himself thrown in prison. The Alpha spending more time with his wife and son, and many other things, kept his mind off the hazel eyed woman with the multi-colored hair. Even after Rosen’s Alpha team reformed, although the team dynamic was not the same as it had been before (since it soon became common office knowledge that Cameron had, stupidly, in Carl’s personal opinion, broken up with Nina for accidentally using her ability on Mr. Hicks during a moment of passion), Carl was able to keep his mind on his work or his family most of the time…Except on occasions when Skylar would text Gary (once a week or so) to tell Carl that she was still working on a device to help Charles manage his ability and that she hoped the father and son were both doing well and the transducer would relay that message to the father of the gifted child. Nina used every opportunity this state of affairs presented to “joke” that this was basically Skylar’s way of flirting with Carl, and making somewhat lewd insinuations that Carl should do something about this. This bothered Carl a bit, as these moments always briefly brought those old forbidden feelings for Skylar back to the front of his mind, but the “Tracker” of the group was usually able to chase such thoughts away quickly and write of Nina’s words as her trying to meddle with someone else’s love live since her own was pretty much wrecked at the moment.
And if, sometimes, Carl had some not-so innocent dreams involving himself and a certain technopath, well…Carl figured there was no harm in that. After all, a man couldn’t control what he dreamed about, right? Besides, Carl was still very much in love with his wife, the mother of his child, who was one of the kindest, most creative people he had ever met, and he knew he would never allow himself to be unfaithful to her. Besides, Carl honestly doubted he would ever see Skylar again (the agent expected Skylar would sent the device she was building for Charles in the mail or something), so he didn’t thinking dreaming about the technopath every now and again would hurt anything.
However, Carl was somewhat thrown for a loop one day when Rosen walked into his office and told Mr. Webb that he needed him to track down Skylar Adams…now. Remembering that Lee had promised he and the team would not ever go looking for Miss Adams again, Carl raised his eyebrow and asked. “Why would you want me to do that? You promised Skylar that we would leave her and her daughter alone after the last time we encountered her, remember? Why are you asking me to break that promise now?”
Lee sighed. “You remember that photic simulator that we recovered from that hospital? The one that Stanton Parish had developed and fast tracked through the FDA? Well, nobody I’ve contacted so far can tell me how Parish could be using it for his own ends, and they swear it is just an ordinary piece of medical tech. But I know better. I’m certain that stimulator is central to Stanton’s plans and I need to know what it can do to people’s brains! If anybody can figure out what the stimulator does, it will be Skylar. So I need you to locate her right now so she can help us with that!”
Carl resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This photic stimulator nonsense sounded like a waste of time to him, since every expert Rosen had contacted so far had insisted there was nothing sinister about that piece of technology, and Carl wasn’t about to break his promise to Skylar without a good reason. However, to appease Rosen, Carl closed his eyes and “got into his zone” again to find Skylar. Carl frowned when he instantly noticed from their strong Alpha signatures that the technopath and her daughter were somewhere in upstate New York, surrounded by other Alphas, but nothing he saw about Skylar’s location indicated she was doing anything wrong, so…
Carl opened his eyes and looked right at Dr. Rosen. “I can’t find Skylar, or her daughter. Skylar must have…”Mr. Webb shook his head as his mind scrambled for a good excuse, and his mind finally found one. “She must have created a device that can keep me from tracking her or her daughter’s Alpha signatures. I have nothing. I’m sorry.”
Dr. Rosen looked at Carl for several seconds, but eventually shrugged and sighed. “Yes. Miss Adams is both clever and paranoid, and that sounds like something she would do. But it is absolutely imperative that we find her. I’ll have to check if Gary and Nina can help me track her down. I’ll let you know if we find anything.”
Carl nodded as Lee started exiting his office. “Thanks. Sorry I couldn’t help you more, Dr. Rosen.”
Dr. Rosen just shrugged again and left the office while Carl privately hoped, for a variety of reasons, that Rosen would be unable to locate Skylar. Unfortunately, Carl’s hopes turned out to be in vain…
…..Sometime later…
Carl’s heart stopped for a second when Dr. Rosen’s team did eventually find Skylar due to a little trickery on Gary’s part. Even though he only caught a glimpse of her before Rosen’s team was surrounded by a bunch of angry, territorial Alpha’s, and Skylar’s appearance was drastically changed, as she had grown her hair out and let it go back to its natural brunette color, (evidentially) lazered off the tattoos that had been on her arms and neck, and she was now more modestly dressed then before, the technopath’s presence still took his breath away just like it had since the first time he had met her. Therefore, even after Skylar was able to make the angry crowd disperse, Carl knew that this mission was going to be trouble for him.
After parking the team van just outside the village full of Alphas were Skylar was staying, Dr. Rosen started to talk to Skylar. “I’m sorry I forced Gary to use the phone you gave him to trick you so we could track you down, but you left us with little choice. It was imperative that we secured your help to help us to ascertain how dangerous the object I’m about to show you might be. And Mr. Webb explained that he couldn’t locate you with his ability, and guessed that you must have used your ability to create a device negate his ability, we had no other way to find you…”
While Dr. Rosen was still talking and reminding Skylar she “owed him” for shielding her and Zoe from the NSA, Skylar cast a quick side-glance towards Carl, who was busy talking to Gary and Rachel nearby. The technopath mentally noted that she would have to thank Carl (something kept Skylar from thinking of the attractive man, who was now wearing a polo and a jeans instead of a suit, although he still wore a pair of shades, as “Mr. Webb”) for his attempt to keep his promise to her not to track her down again. But for some reason, Skylar was unable to completely take her eyes off of Carl the entire time that Dr. Rosen was talking to her about the photic stimulator, right up until the moment that Lee Rosen cleared his throat and said. “I actually do need to show you the device now, Skylar. Time is an important element here and…”
Skylar rolled her eyes and followed Lee to the van the device was currently sitting in. “Fine. I’ll help you this one time, Dr. Rosen. And then you and your team will leave this sanctuary, which is supposed to be for Alpha’s only, behind for good. After all, not only are you not an Alpha, you also have a lot of people here who hate you for broadcasting about the existence of Alphas to the world, since the people here really like their anonymity. So, I will help you, but only if you agree that you and your team will never, ever come back here or try to contact me again. Do we have a deal?”
Dr. Rosen just nodded, and with a sigh of resignation, Skylar Adams followed Dr. Lee Rosen toward the photic stimulator….
Three hours later…
After hours of working with the photic stimulator and finding nothing interesting so far, Skylar decided to call it a day and look at the device again in the morning. It was dinner time at the Alpha commune, which some residents referred to as “Alphaville” and everyone there was invited to eat the food that had been prepared by the Alphas who had been assigned cooking duty tonight. Even the Alpha’s from Rosen’s team, who had been already been briefed by some of the locals about how things worked at this sanctuary away from “neuro-typical people”, were invited to dine at the long wooden picnic table near the center of Alphaville. The only person that had trouble getting served food was Dr. Rosen himself, for various reasons, but the doctor was also eventually served after Skylar asked the cooks to do so.
There was a jovial atmosphere at the picnic tables, even among the members of Rosen’s team, who were currently busy eating, talking and laughing amongst themselves while still mingling with some of the Alphaville residents. Except for Nina. Nina decided to spend her time talking to Skylar as she ate, and the two old friends, who had a small, out of the way table all to themselves, since Skylar didn’t feel comfortable sitting too close to Carl, talked about how things had been for both of them since they had last met. However, Skylar was not as focused on the conversation as Nina was, since her gaze kept alternating between her daughter, Zoe, who was busy playing with some older kids just outside the picnic area, since she was the youngest child in Alphaville…and Carl. Carl was seated at another table as he kept trying to convince Bill Harken that it would be okay to eat the green algae the people her had grown as food. The technopath noted that Carl only looked her way once when she had diverted her eyes in his direction, but the man’s eyes, hidden by his sunglasses, looked away from Skylar after she looked right back at him, and the technopath could have sworn that the man in shades actually looked guilty when she had caught him staring in her direction.
Finally, after that awkward exchange of gazes occurred, Nina waived her hand in front of Skylar’s face. “Earth to Skylar!”
Skylar actually blushed as she looked down at her half-eaten food before she rolled her eyes, even while Nina continued speaking. “Why don’t you just take a picture of him, Skylar? It will last longer! Or better yet…”
Nina lowered her already low voice to a whisper. “At least one of the cabins around her must be deserted. I could arrange for Carl to ‘accidentally’ meet you in one of them for a little while. I wouldn’t even have to push the man. I could just tell him Rosen wants him there, and you could be there instead to have your wicked way with him while I look after Zoe for you for an hour or two. After all, I happen to know he is interested in you, and you certainly look like you could use a little fun in your life right now. How long has it been since you’ve gotten laid?”
Skylar hesitated for several seconds, then glared at her friend and whispered right back. “None of your business, Nina! And that is not funny! You know I don’t do married men! I just…I don’t need the complications, okay?!” Truthfully, that wasn’t the only reason Skylar didn’t want to make a move on Carl right now. It was true that Skylar didn’t involve herself with married men, because that was one of the few moral lines, alongside killing people, that the rebel didn’t feel comfortable crossing. But the technopath also guessed, from how guilty Carl had looked after staring at her only once, that he would reject an advance on his person by Skylar, or probably anyone that wasn’t his wife, and that the tracker Alpha would avoid her Skylar like the plague forever after if she tried to make any kind of move on him.
That didn’t mean that Skylar hadn’t briefly considered taking Nina up on her offer though. The truth was, the technopath had thought a lot about Carl since her brief encounter with him and the rest of Rosen’s team many months ago. About the man’s emerald eyes, which had almost seemed to gaze straight into her soul. About how good the man had looked in that suit. How the man had, along with the rest of the group, voted to let Skylar and her daughter escape the U.S. government. And finally, Skylar couldn’t help but think about the tender looks Carl had shot in her direction when he saw the technopath playing with her daughter, or the way the man had talked about his own son, which made it seem like Carl loved his Charles just as much as Skylar loved Zoe. Or how good it had felt to hug Carl, even if hug that had been a ruse to get close to him and whisper her encouragement for Carl to leave Rosen’s group ASAP. And as much as Skylar tried to blame boredom (since she had little to do, other than watching Zoe, since moving into Alphaville over a month ago), or that it had just been too long since she had been with a man, the technopath couldn’t quite bring herself to believe that her nearly year-long fascination with Carl Webb could be explained away that easily, especially since Skylar hasn’t felt the kind of intense, desperate longing that Carl brought about in her person since…well, since before Zoe’s father had died in a car accident. A longing that only got stronger when Skylar found out that Carl had recently lied to Dr. Rosen to try to protect her and her daughter’s location. But still, Skylar knew that she shouldn’t be thinking this way about a married man, much less about the naughty dreams she had about Carl over the past few months that had just poped into her traitorous mind, or entertain any wild notions about trying to come onto the Alpha-tracker…
Thankfully, Nina rescued Skylar from her racing thoughts when the mesmerizer let out a nervous (the one Skylar knew Nina only used when she was lying) laugh and another whisper. “I was just joking, Skylar! Obviously, I knew you wouldn’t try to seduce a married man! Besides, shades over there is way too much of a tight pants to do anything dishonorable at all, and I’m sure that he loves his beloved wife, whom he talks about all the time at the office, way too much to…”
“Can we talk about something else, please!?”
Thankfully, Nina heard the edge in her friend’s voice telling her that this was not just a polite requests, and that Skylar might storm off in a huff if she didn’t change the subject. So Nina did so with a forced smile. “Right. How about your tattoos, or lack thereof? I can’t believe you actually got them lazered off!”
Skylar smirked, glad for both the change in subject and the chance to show off, as she wordlessly pulled out a UV light out of the pack of gadgets that she brought everywhere with her and showed Nina the tattoos that she still had, which had been inked onto her arm with invisible ink, before she explained. “This says I’m a rebel…”
The technopath pointed the UV light away, making her tattoos invisible again. “And this says I’m a mom. I had to give up my old…distinctive look to hide from the feds, but I wanted to keep some of my individuality, so I thought this was a good compromise.”
“That’s really cool.” The voice of a third party listener to the woman’s conversation, who had silently walked behind Nina a short while ago, made himself known by speaking.
Nina jumped up a little with a start and playfully smacked Carl’s arm for startling her like that, while Skylar gulped and said. “How long have you been standing there and listening in on our conversation, Carl?”
The technopath shoot a mild glare at Mr. Webb and added. “Eavesdropping is rude, you know?”
Carl shook his head vigorously. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but…I just walked over her about a minute ago, just in time to see you show off your invisible tattoos with the UV light and I wanted to hear your explanation about what they meant to you before interrupting you. Sorry. But like I said, I thought those tattoos looked really neat and I think it’s very impressive you were able to think to do something like that to express yourself and still stay hidden.”
Skylar actually smiled at that while Nina just smirked knowingly as the technopath finally managed to speak after a long moment. “Oh. Thank you, then.”
Finally, after several seconds, Carl coughed and said. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something important Skylar. Alone, if you don’t mind…”
Seeing that Nina had that look on her face that suggested she was about to say something sarcastic or laced with innuendo, Carl quickly clarified his words. “You know…as one parent wanting words another.”
Skylar smiled, then frowned, then forced herself to smile again due to Carl’s words choices before she replied to him. “Of course.”
Carl and Skylar took a brief walk to a part of the woods that was far enough away from the picnic area not to be overhead (by anyone except Rachel, anyway), but close enough that the technopath could still watch Zoe. For several seconds, neither of the Alphas said anything, as Carl looked down at the ground and scuffed his hiking boots against the ground repeatedly, while Skylar worried on her bottom lip with her teeth, until the latter finally spoke. “So…first of all, I just wanted to thank you for not telling Dr. Rosen where I am. I know he and Gary still managed to find me, but I appreciate that you weren’t the one that helped him do that,”
Seeing the confused look on Carl’s face, Skylar clarified. “Dr. Rosen told me that you told him you couldn’t find me with your ability and that you suspected that I had created a device that could hide me from you. And I think we both know that’s not true. Not that I didn’t try to make a device like that, but I haven’t succeeded in building such a gadget…well, not one that wouldn’t hamper my Alpha ability, which I really wouldn’t know how to live without…”
Seeing Carl’s smirk, Skylar took a deep breath. “My point is, I’m grateful that you tried to cover for me and didn’t tell Dr. Rosen where I was.”
Carl shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I promised you that I wouldn’t look for you again unless there was an emergency. I didn’t think there was an emergency, so I didn’t look for you. It’s as simple as that. The only thing a man has in this world is his word, after all.”
Skylar nodded but said. “Be that as it may, I’m grateful. So thank you. And speaking of keeping promises….”
The technopath smiled and pulled a small plastic bag with two clear, thin strips of material, with all kinds of circuits running inside of them, out of her bag. “These for your son. His name is Charles, right?”
Carl just nodded, so Skylar continued talking. “These strips of material can be places on both sides of your sons head, under his ears however they fit him. I’m afraid they probably won’t block everybody’s thoughts from your son’s head completely, but they will still lessen the intensity of those thoughts enough that Charles should be able to ignore them if he wants to. And I just want to say that I am so sorry it took me this long to finish this, but until lately, Zoe and I had been on the run all the time and…”
Carl took the offered devices from Skylar’s hands and smiled before he interrupted the technopath’s words. “No. Don’t apologize. If this does everything you says it will for my son, then you will have helped my son more than over a year of Dr. Rosen’s therapy sessions have. And that would be a miracle I could never repay you for. Thank you so much!”
Skylar’s smile widened. “It was no problem at all. You helped me and my daughter, so I thought it was only far that I helped you and your son.”
Thinking that the device for Charles was all that Carl had wanted to talk to her about, Skylar turned to go back to the picnic tables, until Carl spoke again. “Wait! That wasn’t actually all that I wanted to talk to you about.”
As Skylar turned around with a curious expression on her face, Carl quickly added. “I also wanted to ask you a question. I was wondering…In your opinion, is this…Alphaville a good place to raise an Alpha child? Because it actually looks peaceful, and I was wondering if Charles would like it here.”
Skylar slowly nodded. “Absolutely…Zoe is very happy here because there are other gifted people that don’t judge her for being different. And this is a relatively safe place for Alphas because the government never comes around here and everyone looks out for each other. It gets kind of boring at times for adults, to be honest, but it’s safe!”
“I also think…” Skylar paused for a few seconds before continuing. “That your son would like it here. There aren’t as many people here as there are in the big city, so there would be less…thought pollution, I guess, that would be able to mess with your Charles’ head. And…how old is your son again? Because Zoe is six now, and I know she would enjoy being able to play with someone closer to her own age. Next to her, the youngest person here is 12 and…”
Carl smiled and interrupted Skylar. “My son is 8 years old, and I’m sure he would love to have someone like Zoe to play with but…”
The man with the shades sighed. “I don’t know. It does sound like this may be a good environment to raise Charles in. But…Do you think the people here would let Charlotte live with Charles and me here?”
Seeing the confused look on Skylar’s face, Carl rubbed his forehead and added. “Right. I didn’t tell you. Charlotte is my wife’s name, and like I said before, she’s not an Alpha. So I was just wondering if you think they would let her move here with Charles and me if we decided to…”
Skylar raised her eyebrow and interrupted Carl. “Wait. You’re telling me that your last name is Webb and you married a woman named Charlotte? That you’re married to a woman named Charlotte Webb?”
Seeing that Skylar was now smiling wide and holding her sides, Carl frowned and said. “Yes. A lot of people have made remarks on her name in reference to that book and movie, but I don’t think it’s that funny…”
But when Skylar finally lost control and burst into a fit of laughter, Carl’s frown relented and turned into a smile as he said. “Fine. It is a little funny. I guess. But obviously, her last name wasn’t Webb before we got married. Although…even when she and I were still dating, people would go around calling me ‘Charlotte’s Webb.”
If anything, that information only made Skylar laugh harder, which even made Carl chuckle a little, and the two Alphas were only able to stop laughing when they noticed that several people from the picnic area were now staring at them. After getting her laughter under control, Skylar nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m sure your wife is a wonderful woman. It’s just…you have to admit that’s a funny coincidence.”
Carl continued to smile. “You’re right. On both counts. But back to my question…”
Skylar’s own smile quickly turned into a frown when she remembered Carl’s question and replied to it. “I don’t think they would let your wife live here, Carl, even if you and the son you had with her are both Alpha’s. This place is supposed to be an Alpha’s only sanctuary, and the people here are very strict about that rule. Hell, I had a hard time convincing the people here to let Rosen stay here overnight. I could put in a good word for your wife, if you like, but I don’t think it would carry much weight. Zoe and I have been living her only a little more than a month, after all”
Skylar bit her lip again. Part of her wanted to suggest that Carl and his son should move here without Charlotte, both because she honestly thought Alphaville would be a better environment for a telepathic Alpha than a big city…and for other, more selfish reasons. But the technopath remained silent on the matter instead, knowing she had no right to interfere in the lives of the Webb family. This had to be Carl’s decision.
Carl sighed. “Thanks, but it sounds like that idea was a bust. There is no way that Charles and I would ever live anywhere without Charlotte. She, Charles and I are a family, after all, and family sticks together. Sorry for wasting your time on this subject, Skylar.”
Skylar shrugged, trying to ignore the feeling of her heart sinking to her stomach as her hopes of Carl living near her disappeared. And even thought the technopath told herself that was a very selfish line of thinking, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed as those selfish hopes were dashed. And the female Alpha began to feel even more disappointed as Carl said he would “See her around” and began to walk back to the tables. Therefore, not knowing what to say, but knowing that she didn’t want this conversation, the last conversation she may ever have with a man she had so suddenly developed intense, nonsensical feelings for, to end, Skylar said the first think that poped into her head to keep Carl from walking away. “Say, I was wondering, Carl. What’s the downside to your Alpha ability? Because Dr. Rosen says every Alpha has one, and according to him, mine is that, the way my brain is wired, it’s very easy for me to understand machines, but harder for me to understand human social interaction. I’m not sure if I buy his theory, but I will admit that I sometimes find other people…difficult. So I was just wondering, what’s the downside to your ability? Besides the fact that you can’t look at me without those shades on because I look bright enough to you that it must seem like I’m on fire…”
Carl turned around and after only a second of wearing a confused expression on his face, he began to smirk. “Actually, you look more like a supernova when I don’t have my talent finder ability dialed down. And only one other person’s energy signature stands out to me as much as yours does, even though she isn’t an Alpha…” Given the smile on his face and the wistful tone of Carl’s voice, Skylar guess that the other person was his wife even while Carl continued speaking.
“But it’s easy enough for dial my abilities down, or zone out, enough, to keep that from being a problem.” Carl took of his shades and smiled at Skylar while looking right at her with his emerald eyes in order to prove his point, but then quickly looked away for reasons that had nothing to do with his Alpha ability and everything to do with how looking at Skylar’s eyes made him feel….things he knew he shouldn’t.
Skylar’s own eyes widened as she seemed to recognize that moment for what it was, but both Alpha’s choose to ignore the feeling they both felt when their eyes met as Carl continued speaking while putting his shades back on. “Anyway...since you were kind enough to tell me the downside of your ability, I will tell you mine. But honestly, I would think that’s it would be rather obvious. I mean, my ability is pretty much its own downside….I’m constantly surrounded by people who are way more talented than me, and I know it! So basically, the only thing I’m good at is finding other people who are better than me! I don’t even think I have any real talents of my own, really…”
Skylar shook her head. She understood now. Carl suffered from what Dr. Rosen would probably describe as an inferiority complex as a result of being able to see the talents of others at all times…but not his own. But the technopath knew that Carl was wrong about having no real skills, and Skylar really hoped she could convince him of that. “I know I haven’t known you very long, but I’ll have to call bullshit on that self-assessment, Carl! From what I’ve seen, you are a good father, who cares a lot about his son, a decent person, for letting me and Zoe go before and trying to keep my location secret, a supportive teammate and friend, from what Nina tells me, and you seem like you are very good at talking to people. After all, you and I were able to have this whole conversation without you pissing me off…right up until the moment that you started saying bad things about yourself. And even Nina well tell you that it takes talent to talk to me that long without making me annoyed! You are a pretty cool person, Carl. Not just for your Alpha ability.”
There was a long pause, during which Skylar worried if she had said too much, before Carl nodded his head and said. “Yeah. Charlotte says that too, all the time. That I’m special even without my Alpha ability. I wish I could believe that. Thanks for trying though, Skylar. I…better get back to my team to see where we are sleeping tonight.”
It was only then that Skylar looked back at the picnic tables in time to notice that almost everybody had left and where returning to their cabins, and that Zoe was now playing by herself, before Skylar could act on this information though, Carl quickly spoke. “Oh, by the way. I know you shut down the phone you gave Gary shortly after he tricked you into revealing your location, and it probably serves him right, but….he’s going crazy out here without any electrical or radio signals to follow. Do you think you could turn the Wi-Fi on his phone back on before he loses it completely, please?”
Skylar sighed. “Alright. I’ll see if I can catch up to Gary before he goes to sleep tonight and turn the Wi-Fi back on his phone, but only because you asked nicely, and because I would hate to feel responsible for driving an autistic individual insane.”
Carl nodded. “Thanks. I think he would really appreciate that. I think he likes you, you know? He may even have a small crush on you, based on the way he looked at you the first time he met you in person at that gas station a while back. Just keep that in mind.”
Skylar frowned at the thought that Carl might be trying to deflect whatever feeling he may have for her (that Nina swore he did have) for her by steering her in the direction of Gary, of all people. Still, Skylar tried to keep an angry edge from entering her voice when she honestly said. “Thanks, but…Gary seems like a nice guy and all, but he isn’t remotely my type. If he comes on to me though. I’ll let him down gently.”
Carl just shrugged at that before he spoke and departed back toward the picnic area, where Nina and Rachel where still waiting for him. “Oh, okay then. I guess I’ll see you around then.”
Skylar sighed and spoke to Carl’s retreating form before walking towards Zoe so she could take her little girl to the cabin she shared with her and get her ready for bed. “Yeah. See…you around…”
…. The morning of the next day….
Skylar ran out of the cabin where she had just finished restoring and improving the photic stimulator for Dr. Rosen, and there was currently only one thing on the technopath’s mind as she began darting from place to place around the Alpha compound. She had to find Zoe right now! The brunette Alpha cursed herself over and over for the careless words she had spoken to Dr. Rosen and Rachel about how it was easier for her when she didn’t have Zoe around…words that Zoe herself had overheard before running away with a sad, betrayed look on her face.
So right now, consumed with both guilt and worry, all that Skylar could think about was finding Zoe and apologizing to her daughter for the terrible thing she had said. Skylar was so consumed by her current state of panic, in fact, that the technopath barely noticed Gary Bell, who tried to stop her and ask if he could book a cabin in Alphaville so he could stay here, as she ran right past the transducer Alpha. And as she neared an area in the woods at the edge of the compound, the technopath also very nearly missed seeing Carl Webb, who was just coming back from a short walk in the woods back to Alphaville, until the later party stopped the clearly agitated Skylar with a shout. “Skylar!”
Skylar turned around and sighed with relief when she saw Carl, and before the man in shades could even ask if Skylar was alright or why she was running, the technopath started speaking in a hurried tone. “Carl! Thank god I ran into you! I need your help to find Zoe right now! I said something really stupid and wrong, and she heard it and ran away and now I can’t find her and…”
Carl put his sunglasses away, then put his hand on Skylar’s shoulder to calm her down. “I’ll help you find her. Try not to panic. Zoe is going to be okay, all right?!”
Skylar looked at Carl’s mesmerizing emerald eyes and just nodded, while she mentally nodded that the combination of the slightly older man’s words, his hand on her shoulder (the technopath knew she would be complaining to, if not outright hitting, most people if they touched her that way, but it felt kind of nice when Carl touched her) and Carl’s green eyes looking at her hazel ones did make her feel…not quite calm, but certainly better, and less panicked, then she had a few moments ago. But then, as if noticing for the first time that he was touching Skylar’s bare skin, Carl slowly withdrew his hand away from the technopath and looked away from her while Skylar tried not to be too disappointed that the moment, whatever it was, between her and Carl had passed before the green eyed man spoke again and began walking deeper into the woods and the technopath followed him. “It feels like Zoe went this way…”
Skylar followed Carl for over a minute, noting that the man seemed more at ease in nature, with his hiking boots on, than she did in her sneakers, before she finally found the nerve to speak. “What’s taking so long?! Do you know where my daughter is or…”
Carl rolled his eyes and interrupted the technopath as both Alpha’s kept walking. “It’s not that simple. I can sense approximately where Zoe is, get in the ballpark, but…there are so many Alpha signatures around her that it’s difficult for me to get an exact location of your daughter right now. But I can tell you that Zoe was definitely on this trail a few minutes ago, and she is still somewhere nearby…”
Skylar nodded. “Sorry for snapping at you, Carl. I know you are trying to help. I guess I’m just really nervous that something will happen to Zoe while we are looking for her and…. I still feel really guilty about what my daughter overheard me say to Dr. Rosen, that things were easier for me when I didn’t have Zoe around! I mean, how could I say something like that?! What kind of mother says something like that about their own child?!”
After a few seconds, Carl just shrugged. “It probably wasn’t the most prudent thing for you to say, but it doesn’t mean that you weren’t right. Your life was probably easier to manage when Zoe wasn’t in it…”
Skylar glared at Carl. “How could you say something like that?! I love my daughter and…”
The male Alpha cut Skylar off. “You didn’t let me finish. I said things might have been easier for you when you didn’t have Zoe. Easier. Not better. My life was easier when I didn’t have a psychically sensitive Alpha child to raise…but I wouldn’t trade Charles, or one moment I’ve spent with my son, for anything, much less an ‘easier’ existence. That’s why I tell him I love him every day. And I’m sure you feel the same way about Zoe. That you wouldn’t trade your daughter for anything. You should tell her that when you see her again.”
Skylar nodded. “I will do that. And that…actually makes a lot of sense. Zoe is the most important person in the world to me, and I love my daughter with everything I have. I guess I just don’t tell her than nearly often enough. But I will start doing that from now on….”
Skylar sighed. “I wish I was as good at this parenting stuff as you are. I’m sure you would never have lost track of Charles, for one thing…”
Carl laughed. “Please! I don’t have parenting even remotely figured out, and a lot of what I’ve learned about being a good dad has come from trial and error! I’ve made a lot of parenting mistakes with Charles! And I actually did lose him in a mall once, although that only lasted for about a minute because I was able to find my son quickly using my ability, but still…I’m still learning how to be a good parent one day at a time, just like you are! The key is, when you make a mistake, you learn from it, and don’t do it again! If you do that, and try to watch out for Zoe as best as you can, I’m sure your daughter will always think of you as a great mom! Besides, I’ve had it easy, compared to you. I was twenty when my son was born. I’m guessing you were in your late teens when you had Zoe?”
Skylar laughed. “Please! I’m not that young! I was 20 as well when I had Zoe.” But the smile on the technopath’s face gave away that she was flattered, rather than insulted, that Carl had believed her to be younger than she was.
Carl looked down and blushed, but his voice remained even as he spoke “My mistake. But still, I haven’t had to raise my child alone, as I heard you say that you have had to do for all of Zoe’s life. I had Charles’ mom, my wife Charlotte, helping me the whole time, while you’ve had to be a single parent to a second generation Alpha for six years! That has got to be tough, and quite frankly, I admire you for doing it. Not matter what you might think, from what little I’ve seen of Zoe and her interactions with you, your daughter really loves you, and I think you are doing an amazing job at raising her by yourself. Heaven knows I would be completely lost if I didn’t have Charlotte helping me raise Charles!”
Skylar smiled, but before she could reply that she thought that Carl was probably selling his own parenting abilities short, she saw something that almost mad her heart stop, Zoe’s stuffed animal, the one she never went anywhere without, was lying on the ground in a ditch!”
The technopath turned to Carl with a look of pure terror on her face. “Carl, I think something might have happened to Zoe…”
Carl held his hand up. “I know. And what’s more there are three Alpha’s closing in around us.”
Skylar’s eyes widened. “What?!”
The green-eyed Alpha frowned. “I think we are about to be ambushed!"
Sure enough, within seconds, three men, one of whom was holding a knife and spinning it around in his hands, walked out of the woods and stood around Carl and Skylar, effectively blocking all routes of escape for the two Alphas. Carl took on an aggressive fighting stance, but Skylar put her hand on Carl’s shoulder and shook her head, and the green-eyed man took on a more relaxed stance while still glaring at his and Skylar’s pursuer’s before saying. “I’m guessing you three are Stanton Parish’s men, right? What do you want?!”
One of the men, who Carl remembered had the last name Scipio, laughed. “From you, little G-man? Nothing! We didn’t know that Miss Adams would even come looking for little Zoe with a bodyguard, not that it would do any good, but we decided to bring Bruiser here…” Mr. Scipio pointed to a tall, bald, broad shouldered Alpha, who just grunted in reply, before the shorter man continued speaking. “When we saw you were with Skylar, in case you gave us any trouble! But we are here…” the man pointed to Skylar. “For you. Well, for the device you were working on.”
Skylar shook her head. “It’s not mine to give.”
Scipio chuckled again while looking at Carl. “It doesn’t belong to you government types, either, does it?! You stole it! But…” The man turned back to Skylar. “You are going to get it back for me. Otherwise something real bad is going to happen to both your daughter and your bodyguard here!”
….Sometime later…
Skylar walked into the barn carrying the photic stimulator in her hands, sparing a worried look at Carl Webb, whose hands and feet were currently tied to a chair near the middle of the small building, before she turned to Mr. Scipio. “Untie that man and tell me where my daughter is right now!”
Scipio laughed. “That’s not how this works…”
But Skylar interrupted the Parish sympathizer as she pulled a high tech stun gun out of her pocket and growled. “90,000 volts! That’s how this works! Now give me back Carl and my daughter!”
Right about that time, Dr. Rosen showed up and began to speak to Skylar. “Skylar, please don’t give Mr. Scipio that device! He works for Stanton Parish…”
Carl ignored the rest of the short conversation between Dr. Rosen, Skylar and Scipio while he focused on untying his bonds, a trick he had learned when he was a boy scout and the rest of his troop had tied him to a chair as a prank several times, since Scipio’s attention was currently not on him. Unfortunately, by the time that Carl was able to get free, Scipio was struggling with Skylar to get the stun-gun device and when Carl was finally able to pull the .32 pistol (which Bill had given him for his birthday last year and personally taught Carl how to use at a firing range) out of one of his boots, which Scipio and his men hadn’t even bothered to search, in order to threaten Scipio into submission, the Parish sympathizer was burning Skylar’s skin with his Alpha ability!
As Skylar screamed in pain and dropped her stun-gun, something snapped inside of Carl.
Before the tracker Alpha could even register what he was doing, while a red haze settled before his eyes as every other sense but his eyesight became dull, Carl found himself automatically aiming and firing his gun several times, as he had done many time before at the firing range, while barely hearing the loud BANG! sounds coming from his gun. But this time, Carl realized with horror after the fact, he had not been shooting at lifeless targets, and the tracker Alpha could only gasp as his now empty gun and Scipio’s lifeless body dropped to the ground simultaneously, while the Parish sympathizer’s head and torso, which were now riddled with bullet wounds, bleed out profusely. Carl started to shake then, and there were a few tears in his eyes when Dr. Rosen and Skylar Adams looked at Carl with shocked looks on their faces. “What have I done!? I didn’t mean to kill him! I swear it! I just saw what he was doing and…” Carl was hyperventilating now “I just wanted to stop him! I didn’t even think about it and…Oh my god! I’ve never killed anybody before! I don’t like this feeling! ”
Carl was actually sobbing now as he continued his rant. “I’m never killing again!”
Skylar put a comforting hand on Carl’s right shoulder, and the woman’s touch instantly calmed Carl down as the man unconsciously leaned towards Skylar’s hand while the technopath dried Carl’s tears and began speaking to the traumatized Alpha as Dr. Rosen simply picked up Carl’s gun and looked on in interest at the way that Carl and Skylar responded to each other. “Hey. I believe you. Okay? I believe that you didn’t mean it. I know you are a good person and that you do not have the heart of a killer. But you need to calm down now, okay? I need you to help me find my daughter!”
Carl just nodded and dried the last of his tears out of his eyes as he, Skylar (who was once again holding the photic stimulator in her hands), and Dr. Rosen broke out into a run as soon as they left the barn to get to the van and continue to search for Zoe using Carl and Rachel’s alpha abilities…
…Some time later…
After Dr. Rosen’s team, sans, Nina, Gary and Rachel, stormed the compound and took out the Alphas who had been assigned to guard Zoe, Bill started getting Cameron’s wounds patched up and Skylar quickly ran up to Zoe and hugged her while speaking to her daughter as tears of happiness streamed down her face. “I’m so glad I found you! I’m sorry for what I said, Digit! I should never have said that! I love you so much so don’t go running away from mommy again, okay?!”
As this scene was unfolding, and everyone else on his team was distracted, Carl walked out into the woods by himself as Skylar continued talking to her daughter and the rest of Dr. Rosen’s team huddled together to talk about what their next move against Parish should be. Finally, Carl sat down on a large, smooth rock about half a mile away from the house where the team had rescued Zoe, and the man tried to focus his senses on the sounds of animal noises and leaves falling and trees swaying in the breeze, on anything but his own tumultuous thoughts and feelings at that moment. But the peace that being alone in nature had given when he was a child alluded him now, and Carl couldn’t help but think about the lifeless look in Scipio’s eyes after he had killed the pyro Alpha.
After about half an hour of dwelling on the guilt he felt for what he had done, however, Carl saw and felt two familiar Alpha presences nearby, and five minutes later. Skylar, with her stun-gun in her hand, and Zoe found the man in shades sitting on his rock with his back to the technopath, who began speaking to the tracker Alpha. “Carl?”
When Carl didn’t respond to Skylar’s voice after several seconds, Skylar tried again. “Carl, you need to come with me. We, and by we, I mean me, Zoe, and everyone on Rosen’s team, have been looking for you for a while. Dr. Rosen was worried…I was worried, that you had gotten lost in the chaos. Alphaville is gone now. Claude shut it down and everybody is scattering to the four winds now that the war between the U.S. government and Parish’s people has come here. Carl. Please say something!”
Skylar turned back towards her daughter, who was playing a few yards away. “Digit! Don’t wander off too far while mommy is talking to her friend, okay?”
Carl smiled and began speaking when Skylar turned back in his direction. “You called me your friend. That’s new. I thought the only person in Rosen’s group you trusted that much was Nina. And by the way, don’t worry about your daughter. I can sense exactly where she is at all times now that most of the Alphas that were in the area have left. I know about the scattering already. And I know that Rosen has been looking for me. I can feel my teammates all around me and see their Alpha signatures. But I wasn’t ready to be found yet. Not until you got here about a minute ago. Believe me, Skylar. You wouldn’t have found me if I didn’t want you to.”
The technopath just nodded, unsure about what to respond to first, until she simply said. “You earned my trust and friendship when you helped me find my daughter and…when you defended me from Scipio…”
When Carl flinched at the mention of Scipio, Skylar tried to change the subject. “But we really should go now, Carl. Everybody is worried about you after you just wandered off. Especially Rachel…”
Carl shook his head and interrupted the hazel-eyed Alpha. “In a minute”
The man took off his shades, allowing Skylar to see his green eyes, which had a far-away look to them now. “All people have energy signatures….essences, souls, whatever you want to call them, I call them lights. Do you know that, Skylar? Most people can’t see them, but I can. And I feel them. Anyway, every living human on this planet has lights coming out of them. Some are brighter than others to me, but everyone, whether they are Alpha or not, young or old, poor or rich, fat or thin, white, black, any race really…everyone has them. Lights of talent, and power, and personality, whether they are good or bad… and they are all amazing to behold. I can’t even describe how amazing they are.”
Carl sighed. “Even Scipio had lights. But after I pulled the trigger, his lights all went out, one by one. I watched it happen. I felt it happen. I made it happen…”
Carl didn’t seem to be able to complete that sentence, and Skylar’s heart broke at the despondent look that was in the green eyed man’s eyes as he mourned the death of his enemy, which he had caused. Finally, Skylar found her voice enough to speak. “I’m sorry, Carl. I’m sure that was hard for you to experience. But I’m also sure that you were only doing what you thought was right when you killed Scipio. You were protecting me. Scipio might have killed me if you hadn’t shot him, after all.”
Carl shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe he would have killed you, and Dr. Rosen, and me. Or maybe he wouldn’t have. And maybe I killed Scipio to protect us all, and maybe I did it because I was just mad at him for hurting someone I care…someone I consider a friend.”
Skylar let Carl’s verbal slip go as the green-eyed man kept speaking. “I guess we’ll never know now. But a man is dead because of me. And I have to live with that.”
Carl got of the rock he was sitting on and stood up after a long moment of silence. “I guess it’s time for me to go back to the group now.”
Skylar nodded, not knowing what else to say, and called to her daughter. “Digit! Come on, it’s time for us to go!”
Zoe quickly climbed down from the tree she had been climbing on and ran to her mommy before giving Skylar a hug. The little girl then turned towards Carl, who she had seen before, but not formally met, as she, Skylar and Carl all started walking back to Dr. Rosen’s van. “You’re mommy’s friend, right? What’s your name? My name is Zoe!”
Carl smiled and held his hand out for Zoe to shake. “Yes I am a friend of your mom. And it’s a pleasure to meet you, Zoe! My name is Carl!”
After the little girl shook the man’s hand enthusiastically, Zoe turned towards her mom and said. “I like Carl! He seems nice!”
Carl blushed slightly when Skylar smiled at her daughter and said. “I like him too, Digit!”
Over a minute later, Carl turned to Zoe and said. “I was wondering, Zoe. Do you like puzzle books? Because there are a few Mensa level ones that I have seen in book stores that I think you might find interesting….”
A little while later…
Skylar and Zoe stood outside of Dr. Rosen’s van, which had the doctor’s entire team inside, while Carl (who was now wearing his shades again), Nina and Rachel looked at the mother and daughter Alphas through the van’s open windows. Nina frowned at Skylar. “Are you sure about this? You and Zoe, going off on your own again?”
Skylar nodded. “I’m sure. This is the only way Zoe will be safe.”
Carl frowned and said. “I’m not so sure about that. You two could come with us, and we could all help you look out for Zoe. I could even arrange some play-dates between Charles and Zoe, if you want.”
Skylar’s frown deepened. As tempted as she was by Carl’s offer. She knew she had to decline. Zoe would never be safe around Rosen’s group. Today’s events had been proof enough of that. “I’m sorry, Carl. Dr. Rosen gave me a similar sales pitch about joining your team, but I can’t. Today’s events have shown me that my child isn’t safe around Dr. Rosen. So Zoe and I will be striking out on our own again. But before we go…”
Skylar walked closer to the van and whispered in Carl’s ear. “Do you still have the device I gave you for Charles?”
Carl just nodded before Skylar continued speaking. “Good. That means you don’t need Dr. Rosen to help your child any more. Word of advice? Get as far away from that man as you can, as soon as you can, before someone in your family gets hurt. Oh, and take these.” Skylar handed the tracker Alpha a small plastic case.” They’ll block out Nina’s mesmerizing abilities without you having to wear shades all the time like some kind of weirdo. And I can leave you messages on them if I need to. Goodbye, Carl.” Skylar leaned closer to Carl, as if she was about to kiss the man on the cheek, but the technopath evidently thought better of it as she pulled away from Carl with a sad smile on her face before She and Zoe walked away towards Skylar’s vehicle just before the van drove off.
Everyone in the van, except for Bill, who was driving, was looking at Carl now and Dr. Rosen sighed as he looked towards the tracker Alpha. “Carl, would you mind telling us what Miss Adams just told you, or what she just gave you?”
Carl just smiled, quickly looked at the anything but ordinary contact lenses in the case Skylar had just given him, without letting anybody else see the contents of the small plastic case, looked right at Dr. Rosen and said. “Nothing important on both counts, Dr. Rosen. Nothing important at all.”
…..Later that night…
Bill Harken confronted Dr. Lee Rosen several hours after everyone else on the team went home. “So, I’m guessing that you are going to tell the FBI that the photic stimulator was destroyed by Scipio when he was trying to retrieve it from Miss Adams?”
Lee smirked and said. “It was a real tragedy.”
Bill shook his head and replied. “You know one of these days all of this crap is going to come back and bite you in the ass right?”
When Dr. Rosen didn’t say anything for several seconds, Bill spoke again. “Stanton Parish knew we were going to be out there today.”
Lee sighed and said. “I know. Somebody has been feeding him information about our team. Someone close to us. I want you to do in-house investigation, Bill. On anyone who works with us, FBI, NSA, DCIS…everyone.”
Bill nodded. “I’ll bring Gary and Hicks up to speed…”
Lee interrupted the black man. “No. I want you to keep this investigation just between us.”
Bill sighed, then said. “What about Carl? He killed Scipio, so I sincerely doubt that he’s working for Parish. And I could really use his expertise to track the movements of the rest of the team….”
Lee shook his head and said. “No. You’re right about one thing. Carl is definitely not the mole. But…I’m not sure how long we can count on him being motivated to stay with this team and help us. I believe Miss Adams has been a bigger influence on Mr. Webb’s behavior than I would like as of late, and that may cause Carl to do something foolish…like trying to leave the team.”
Bill raised one of his eyebrows and replied. “I know that I like to joke that Carl is attracted to Skylar…probably more than a married man has any right to be, but if you are really suggesting that the most full-on family man in our group would up and run out on his wife and kid to pursue her, I really don’t think you know the man as well as I do.”
Lee shook his head and spoke again. “I don’t think anything of the sort. In fact, of all the people that I have ever met, he is one of the least psychologically capable of cheating on his wife or abandoning his children. No, I believe Miss Adams influence on Carl is a lot more subtle than that. Gary told me that, while he and Skylar were still talking, she told him to relay messages to Carl about a device she was building for Charles. A device that would allow Charles to control his abilities without any negative side effects…thus, negating any need for me to help Charles manage his abilities. And I think we both know Carl was lying to us today when he said that Skylar didn’t give him anything, or say anything important earlier this afternoon.”
Bill nodded and said. “I see. So you think Skylar gave Carl this device for Charles…and maybe even told Mr. Webb that he should stop working with you now that his son may not need your help to manage his telepathic ability? And you think Carl might actually try to leave the team because of that?”
“Yes.” Dr. Rosen confirmed. “That state of affairs is exactly what I think…what I fear…may be the case. Mr. Webb has always made clear that, while he cares for all humans, Alpha or otherwise, his primary concern will always be for his own family, and the primary reason he is working with us is because I am helping his son manage his Alpha ability. If he no longer thinks he needs me for that purpose?”
Dr. Rosen shrugged. “Who knows what he might do? But I think you and I both know, Bill, that the government would never let Carl just walk away from the team. He’s one of our most vital assets to monitor and track down Alpha threats, and I’m afraid the FBI or NSA may try something drastic, like locking Mr. Webb in Binghamton, in order to keep him under control and out of enemy hands. And I don’t think either of us wants that to happen to Carl. So…I will talk with Mr. Webb myself. Remind him why what we are doing…trying to stop Parish, is so important for the future of the human race. Try to get Carl to stay with DCIS of his own free will.”
Bill nodded, then hesitated several seconds before he asked Lee a question. “And if Carl doesn’t choose to stay with us? You know you can’t make Nina push him. He’s far too careful to let that happen.”
Dr. Rosen sighed and said. “I don’t know. We’ll confront that problem if and when we come to it. In the meantime, I want you to monitor Carl…along with everyone else who has worked with us in the last 6 months. Watch Carl and find our mole. And when you find the mole, report his or her identity to me, and then I will decide what to do with them.”
Bill had a stoic expression on his face as he replied. “Consider it done.”