"Nothing," McDonald said. "You continue just as before. We're bringing in some of our own people. Bondurant can't handle this."
Kracowski said "You promised no meddling."
"We have a large investment to protect and we expect results."
"I'll share everything when the time comes. This is an incredible breakthrough. I'm not sure your people understand the implications of my work."
"Turning out happy campers." The man laughed Kracowski's jaw clenched. "This isn't the CIA and the KGB racing to see who can bend the most spoons with telepathy. This is bigger than governments. You work for the Trust, and don't you ever forget it."
"There might be more," Kracowski said. "There could be side effects that I didn't consider."
Swenson finally spoke. "Don't worry about the children. None of them have shown any long-term damage. Nothing that can be traced back to the treatments, anyway."
"I'm not talking about that." Kracowski stared off across me lake. "I'm talking about the old man in the gown."
Vicky swallowed a gasp, her heart pounded against her ribs. Freeman's face grew pale and he bit bis lip. So Kracowski knew about the ghost. Their minds hadn't been playing tricks on them.
"You don't believe those stories, do you?" Swenson said. "Bondurant's a drunken fool."
"Starlene Rogers isn't. And others have talked as well."
"You'd better keep your staff in line, or we'll have to take over completely," McDonald said. "You're not the only person who's worked on ESP techniques."
"Don't threaten me," Kracowski replied.
"Don't worry," the man said. "Wouldn't want anybody messing in your little sandbox, would we? Just make sure the Mills boy doesn't notice his puppet strings."
Kracowski reddened and stepped toward the man. Vicky thought Kracowski was going to throw a punch, but Swenson tugged his shoulder and pulled him away.
"Forget it, Richard," she said.
"Fucking spook," Kracowski muttered.
"You shouldn't hate me," the man said. "I'm the best thing that ever happened to you. You have a laboratory with the most advanced equipment that secret slush funds can buy and you've got an endless supply of guinea pigs. You've died and gone to mad scientist heaven."
"Actually, whenever you show up, this place feels a lot more like its opposite."
McDonald laughed. "I never thought Dr. Richard Kracowski would come off as 'holier than thou.' Save your bullshit for the kids. I've got a job to do, and it's getting done, one way or another."
The man's chilling smile dropped and his eyebrows arched, and suddenly he looked as if he could chew bricks. 'I know you're full of yourself, but you're just a little piece of a big picture. Daddy can cut off the sugar just like mat."
The man snapped his fingers for emphasis, and this time Vicky was sure that Kracowski would jump him. But he only turned away and looked across the lake again. McDonald glanced around one last time, and Vicky pulled Freeman deeper into the bushes. The man exchanged glances with Swenson, men went down the path and disappeared, headed toward me back fence.
Swenson went to Kracowski and put her arms around him. "They're just a means to an end," Swenson said. "We know it's about the search for truth. We're using them more than they're using us."
"They don't understand the implications," Kracowski said. "This is bigger than governments and politics and little boys with big toys. It's about the wall between life and death; between this world and me world beyond. It's about breaking down the ultimate barriers of the mind."
"But we need more evidence."
"I don't want the Trust to know too much. I've been careful to keep different parts of the research in different places. It would take McDonald's best hackers years to track down everything."
"You don't trust anyone, do you, Richard?" She hugged him more tightly.
"Trust. The one quality that Synaptic Synergy Therapy can't impart."
"What do we do now?"
"More research. More work. More patients."
"Do you really mink you're close to the answer?"
Kracowski nodded at the surface of the lake. "Ask him."
He headed back toward Wendover. After a moment, Swenson followed.
When they were gone, Vicky relaxed her stomach muscles. "What's going on?" she whispered.
Freeman shook his head. "Clint in Absolute Power. Double cover-ups."
Behind them, a twig snapped.
TWENTY-ONE
"You guys shouldn't be down here," Starlene said.
"It's okay, we've got our clothes on," Vicky said. Freeman swiped the air in front of Vicky as if feigning a slap.
Starlene wanted to ask them about Kracowski and Swenson, whom she'd passed on the trail, but she didn't think spying and gossiping, and probably mind reading, were proper Christian behaviors. Instead, she said, "You guys come looking for the old man?"
"You mean the one you don't believe in?" Freeman said.
"I didn't say that. And I didn't say your experience yesterday wasn't real."
"You just think I thought it happened, like a dream or something."
"We all make our own realities."
"Especially the people in the basement."
Starlene looked to Vicky for help. The girl lowered her eyes. She was allied with Freeman.
"There's no one in the basement, Freeman," Starlene said.
Vicky grew animated, her knotty elbows and hands moving as she spoke. "How do you know? You ever been down there?"
Starlene shook her head. "No, but the door's kept locked. Same with the stairwell entrances."
"You wouldn't believe all the stuff down there. Lots of high-tech equipment, tanks and tubes and generators and wiring. And some creepy old cells."
"What are you talking about?"
"Come on, I'll show you." She scrambled out of the rhododendron and led them up the trail. "I was there last night."
By the time they reached the open lawn, the bell sounded and the children gathered to go inside. Starlene waved to Randy. He'd be rotating off duty tonight. If Starlene wasn't so hardheaded, she would be off, too, and maybe they could have caught a movie together. Maybe Randy would kiss her without trying to ram his tongue all the way down her throat. Maybe he'd even talk with her about what was going on at Wendover.
But tonight, she needed to be here. Not only for the kids, but for herself as well. The old man wasn't just a figment of her imagination, others had seen him. Could mis place be the site of a miracle? Did visions come to those in the modern day? Did God still send messages to the people He loved?
Starlene saw Bondurant watching them from his office window as they approached the building. He didn't wave.
"Time to go inside," Starlene said to Freeman and Vicky.
"First things first" Vicky ducked under the stair landing and went down the steps leading to the basement. Starlene watched from the top of the steps as Vicky pulled and pushed on the door, then banged her shoulder into it.
"Dang," Vicky said. "I swear it was open last night." She pointed to a large, gleaming lock and hasp. "That's new."
"Come on up," Starlene said.
"You don't believe her," Freeman said.
"Are you reading my mind or is that just your opinion?"
"Just because you're a shrink doesn't mean you know everything." Freeman brushed past her and went down to Vicky. They talked for a moment in hushed voices. Then they ascended the stairs together.
"I'm sorry," Vicky said. "I made the whole thing up."
"Yeah," Freeman said. "We didn't see an old man walking on water and I didn't get inside the heads of people who live in the basement. But it's okay for us to be wrong. After all, we're troubled, right? We're society's mistakes."
The second bell sounded, meaning they were late for lunch. "Look," Starlene said. "You guys don't have to hate me. It's hard for me to stay clinical and detached but that's what I'm supposed to do."