Shade and Clearwater

Chapter Six

As my body hit the ground, my first thought was that I'd died. My second thought was, "Ow, fuck," and that's how I knew I was still alive. Miles' ballistic vest had done the trick, and instead of bleeding out, I was just lying on the ground, the wind knocked out of me and completely unable to move. I couldn't even see anything except the checker-patterned tile floor, since I'd somehow spun around and landed on my stomach.

This is it, I thought, remembering how Jon had told me that rogue telepaths were kill-on-sight for the Feds. He'll just walk over and put a bullet in my head, and that'll be that.

"Allie?"

The voice in my ear would've made me jump, had I been able to. Instead, I just groaned. "Miles?"

"What's going on, Allie? I don't have visual."

"I'm hurt, Miles," I whispered hoarsely. "There's a marshal... he shot me." A thought occurred to me. If Miles could patch himself into my radio, maybe he could get help. "Where's Jon?"

"He's busy, Allie," said Miles, and there was an odd note in his voice. "There's a couple of marshals outside, too. You're on your own."

"That's it, then. It's over." The skin on the back of my head crawled as I lay there, waiting for another gunshot to ring out and end my miserably short life.

"It's not, Allie. But you've got to do something."

"I can't, Miles. I'm tired, I'm hurt. I can't even move..."

"God damn it, Allie, you're a telepath! Figure it out!"

Miles' words hit me like a splash of cold water, brought me back to my senses. First, I had to figure out where the marshal was, and why he hadn't finished me off yet. A surface scan of the other people in the room told me he was standing a few paces away from me, gun lowered, one hand to his ear. Calling for backup? The confused look on his face told me he wasn't getting a response.

Next, I needed a way to distract him. That assistant bank manager - she struck me as a feisty one. I reached out, put myself in her head. She'd just been walking back from the vault, a large sack of money in her hands. But wait, what was going on? The lions and tigers had disappeared, but a woman, a customer, was lying on the ground, hurt. Who was that standing over her with a gun? A bank robber? A criminal?

The assistant bank manager, Claire - I'd have to remember her name, considering she was about to save my life - charged the gunman, yelling and swinging her sack of money at his head. The gunman turned in surprise, just in time to get clobbered. It hit with all the force of a pillow, but it was enough to get his attention off me. He was even more distracted when the entire bank full of customers and employees came running over to dogpile on top of him. They beat him, held him down, and stripped away his gun, and I gave them the idea to maybe keep him there until the "proper" authorities arrived.

I came back to myself, decided to give standing up another try. I hadn't even gotten off the ground when I felt an arm tuck itself under my armpit and help lift me the rest of the way. "Thank you, Claire," I said, and I meant it.

The assistant manager smiled at me. She had kind eyes, and I could tell she was one of those rare souls who actually gave a crap about other people. I decided to give her a little gift. Though I was pushing it, with how scragged I felt at that point, I reached over to the weaselly bank manager and planted a little seed in his mind, you know, maybe Claire deserved a promotion, and maybe he should step down after he had groomed her for his position. I mean, he obviously wasn't cut out for this line of work, was he? Look at how he'd responded in the middle of a genuine crisis.

"Can I help you to your car, miss...?" Claire was asking.

"Yes, please," I said, wincing as I allowed her to support me towards the front door. I could hear the marshal behind me, hollering to be let go. "And the name is Clearwater. Allie Clearwater, in case anyone asks." And the Feds would be asking. They would probably interrogate everybody who had been in the bank that day, but could they really blame anyone for being controlled by a rogue telepath? I hoped not.