Read Online Vortex by Ray Garton - Free Book Online Page B

assignments for him back then. This is my second since he left the CIA and started working for Km.”
    Gavin was impressed. She was about thirteen years old but sounded older. Her eyes were older, too. He got the feeling they’d seen far more than the average 13-year-old girl. “Who do you work for, Penny?” Karen asked.
    “Work for? I go to school. At Aquino Academy. You’ve never heard of it. I don’t think anybody has. It’s a boarding school for kids like me. Kids who have... unusual abilities.” Karen tossed Gavin a glance that said, What did we step into? When she turned to Penny again, her expression softened and he saw compassion in her eyes.
    Gavin was tempted to ask more questions but decided it might be a good idea to let Karen take over the dialogue with Penny.
    “What kind of unusual abilities, Penny?” Karen asked. The girl looked Karen square in the eye and said, “You realize that I’m not supposed to be talking about any of this. To anyone. By telling you this, I’m putting you in danger.” She shrugged one shoulder and sighed. “You’re in danger just for being here with me. They’ll want me back and they’ll do anything to find me. And they don’t want anyone knowing about me, about Aquino Academy, or about what they’re doing out at Gertie’s place.”
    Karen nodded. “I understand that. We’ve been in similar situations before. Go ahead, Penny.” She smiled. “What unusual abilities do you have?”
    “I’m telepathic.”
    “And the others at your school?”
    Penny blinked. “You believe me?”
    Karen hesitated before saying, “I don’t dis believe you. What about the others?”
    “They can do all kinds of things. Move objects, start fires, heal wounds. All with their minds.”
    “Where is this school?”
    “It’s in the mountains. But... well, this sounds weird, but I don’t know where. Only that it’s in the mountains.”
    “We’re in the mountains now. Is it nearby?”
    “No. I was flown here.”
    “Then you don’t know what part of the country it’s in?”
    “There’s a military installation not far away. Sometimes we go there for outings. To a movie, or to shop at the store, or have a picnic in the park. Just small groups of us, never very many at a time. When I have an assignment, I’m taken to the installation and put in a plane, then flown to wherever the assignment is.”
    “Do you know the name of the military base?”
    “It doesn’t have a name. There are no signs. Everyone just thinks of it as The Base. There are no roads that lead to it. You have to fly in and out. I don’t know how big it is, but... it’s big. I only know what I’ve... learned. From others.”
    “Learned? Have they told you these things or have you taken this information from their minds?”
    “I took it. In bits and pieces. I have to be careful there because they know what I am, what I can do. They’re ready for me to try to read them. They expect it and they’re looking for it. They don’t like it and they get angry if they catch you doing it. It’s, um... not a good idea to make them angry.”
    Karen turned to Gavin with a look that silently asked if he had any questions.
    “What about this assignment, Penny?” he said. “What were you doing?”
    “I was communicating with Pyk. That’s why they brought me in. He doesn’t speak English. Well, he doesn’t speak much at all, really. His people communicate telepathically. Mr. Ryker wanted me to—” She searched for the right word. “—I guess I was kind of an interpreter.”
    “How did Km Services learn about this, uh... this creature?” Gavin said.
    She looked at Gertie and said, “She can tell you.”
    Gertie squirmed when she became the focus of attention again. Her hands trembled as they fidgeted with each other.
    “I found him,” she said. She told them about her first encounter with the creature, then rolled up the sleeve of her flannel shirt and showed them the rose-colored scar left by the bite.