He boarded a public floater and started the trip north toward his home. Before he got there, he found that security floaters had the area around his house blocked off. He was stuck in traffic and could see his home two blocks over. While he was watching, he saw his mother and father taken out of the house in hand restraints by six security officers, placed in a security floater, and then taken away. With that event, taking Leilas test assumed a cost that was too high. Now he was anguished over what he had caused to happen to his parents. He watched the floater disappear into the city with a heart that was broken. He considered turning himself in, but that would only cause three to disappear instead of two. He thought about contacting Danielle to see if she could help them, but he knew that by the time he reached her, it would be too late. He did not see his parents again. He would occasionally go by their old house, but a new family had moved in, and he knew they would never be back. After a year he quit looking. After a while, he eventually quit blaming himself, reasoning that the two attacks were not the real reason his parents were taken. It was just a matter of time until he was placed in a situation where he would have used his skills, and the same thing would have happened. If he had known that his parents would disappear as a result of his actions, he probably would have never taken Leilas test. The price would have been too high. It was too late to change what had happened, but he could try to make up for it by helping a family that was doomed without his help. He had made a huge impact on Richards family. By providing the credits they needed to survive, Richard no longer had to take risks that could cause his family to lose him. With Tag tutoring the children, they began to exhibit much higher performance in school and their test grades were the best in their classes. And by getting treatment for Maggie, he gave the family heart to endure. It had been a good three years.
There wasnt a day that went by that he didnt think about Danielle. He felt his loss of her was his punishment for what had happened to his parents. He still missed her. He thought he could feel her, even though he felt like he was just fooling himself.
Maggie, Im going out for a while. Call me when Richard gets home.
Sure, Daniel. Dont go too far.
Tag went out, walked across the street, and sat down on a bench. It was a nice neighborhood and he enjoyed watching the children play. Some of them were very good at tag. He wondered if any of them had his gift, then dismissed the thought. The chances were remote. Tag liked sitting on that bench across from the building Richards family lived in. It was backed up to a stone wall and had a small hedge of blooming flowers in front of it that had a wonderful fragrance. It reminded him of Danielle and her perfume. He sat and thought about her and how much he missed her. He looked up the street and suddenly saw all the psychic shadows disappearing in a line moving toward him from north of the building. It was like a cloud moving overhead blocking the sun. All the psychic shadows were disappearing as that line moved toward where he was sitting. Someones watching, Tags thought as his inner alarm went off. Theyre not alone. Tag was sitting in psychic shadows so he knew he had not been seen yet, but that line was moving closer. He got up and moved over behind the bench where there was some shrubbery along the stone wall. He sat down between the shrubbery and the bench against the wall. Whoever it is, they cant see me here, he decided. He then closed his eyes and tried to feel where they were. He determined that two were overhead in a floater and one was moving down the street toward a bench next to the building. Who are they looking for? he wondered. Then he saw Richard and his four kids coming home from the park, and they were on the edge of the line where the psychic shadows were disappearing. Suddenly the man on the bench stood up and moved forward as the floater overhead dropped in front of the small group. The man from the bench pulled out a stunner and shot Richard in the chest, and he fell immediately to the ground. The two men from the floater gathered up the four screaming children and took them inside. The man that remained outside placed restraints on Richard and loaded him in the floater. The man totally ignored his surroundings, placing all of his attention on Richard, and Tag thought that he was being careless. Then it dawned on him that the man was probably inviting him to come and try to help his friend. Tag considered going to try to release Richard before the other two came out, but his body would not move. Suddenly, without knowing why, he rolled quickly under the stone bench, and all of the psychic shadows disappeared around him. Tag closed his eyes and then he sensed that there were others overhead scanning the street. After a few minutes the two men came out and talked with the man that shot Richard and then bordered the floater, lifted, and flew away towards downtown with Richard aboard. The man that had stunned Richard stood across the street and was talking into his com as he looked in both directions. Tag could see that there were no shadows around the Wiseman home; the house was being watched electronically.
Why did I roll under this bench? Tag thought. He closed his eyes again and then he knew: ten armed military floaters roared in from overhead and landed on the street in front of the building, and a company of naval marines in full battle armor jumped off and formed up. Tag sensed that both north and south of the building other companies were landing and their floaters were lifting and scanning the ground for body heat that humans give off. One floater passed directly over his bench, but the stone prevented them from seeing him. He was surrounded, and if he moved away from the bench the scanners would see him. He focused his mind and thought, I cannot be seen. He repeated the phrase over and over, and when he opened his eyes he saw a dark shadow surrounding him. He immediately knew that it was the psychic field he would often see around himself during moments of stress. The entire area under the bench was black, and Tag thought that anyone looking at the bench would have to see it, but he dared not move because the company of marines was spreading out and using portable scanners to look for anyone hiding. One of them came over to the bench and pointed a scanner directly at him and then turned back toward the street.
The man that had shot Richard came over sat down on the bench and started speaking on his com. No, Inspector, we have not found him. We may have just missed him or he is not staying here anymore. There was a pause and then he said, We are going to move north and south to meet the other two companies and make sure hes not hiding in the area. After another pause he said, Im going to stay here in front of the Wiseman building and see if anything turns up.
For the next two hours Tag listened to the reports from the various units reporting in to the man sitting above him about the various people they had stopped and questioned. Tag could tell that the man was starting to get frustrated. Finally the company of marines arrived back in front of the building, and the man told their commander that they had missed the one they were looking for and ordered them to board their floaters and report back to base. One of them came up and said, Do you want to go back with us, sir?
No, Im going to stay here a little longer. Leave one of the floaters and dismiss the company when you get back to base.
After all the floaters had lifted, Tag reached into his back pocket, took the red-covered test book, which he always kept with him, and slowly and silently tore a sheet out of the back that was blank on one side; he then took a felt tip, wrote on the sheet, and then reached up and slipped it into the mans belt as he was leaning forward. Tag then moved back under the bench. Finally, the man got up, looked around, boarded his floater, and flew north toward the central part of the city.