Chapter 20
“The only thoughts I heard coming from your father were the ones I told both of you at the dinner table.” Landon and Lily were in the limo on the way to Mr. Turner’s office.
“That means that he either wasn’t thinking of any devious plans he has for you, or that he actually doesn’t have any. I have a hard time believing the latter, so I’m guessing he’s got his thoughts under complete control.”
“That’s the same conclusion I came to,” Lily said watching the busy strip from the dark, tinted window.
“I think we need to keep that in mind at all times. He knows your gift, and so he will control his thoughts to prevent you from hearing anything. I doubt he would have let the thoughts from last night slip, but I think he was testing you in his own sneaky way.”
“I hadn’t thought about that at the time, but you’re probably right,” Lily said, frowning slightly.
“We need to be extra guarded. He said he was going to make you an offer you couldn’t refuse, what do you think that would translate to? It could be money or travel, or something entirely different. What’s most important to you? What would he use to tempt you?”
“Hmmm,” Lily wasn’t really sure what would persuade her to work for him. “Well, money is nice, but I would say my family and friends are the most important things to me. As long as I have them, I’m happy.”
“Do you think he would know that?”
“I don’t see how he could.”
“Good, don’t let him know, because if you refuse his offer, he might use that against you,” Landon warned. She nodded her head making a mental note not to make any mention of it. She glanced at the rearview mirror just in time to see Mr. B. look back at her with smiling eyes. Mr. B. hadn’t said much to them during the drive. He looked very friendly, but he was a man of few words. Lily never once heard his thoughts, and she guessed that he was simply a driver and had no idea what was about to take place when they arrived at their destination.
When they came to a stop twenty minutes later, Mr. B. quickly got out of the driver’s seat to open the door for them. They were back at the office building they had found themselves in when they had first reached Las Vegas. Lily gave Mr. B. a wave before entering the large office building. In the small lobby they were greeted by a nicely dressed young woman. She wore a straight pencil skirt with a stiff, white button up shirt. She was all business when she walked toward them and shook their hands.
“You must be Landon and Lily,” she said unemotionally. “My name is Casey. I’m Mr. Turner’s personal assistant. Please come with me.” She made her way to the elevator expecting them to follow her. She took them to the seventh floor and escorted them down a wide hallway. Lily thought it was strange that there were no doors or windows at all. She knew it was a different floor than the one they were on two days ago, but it gave her the same feeling of being trapped. Her nerves began to get the better of her, and she reached out to take Landon’s hand for support. He gave her a small smile of reassurance, even though she knew he probably wasn’t feeling very confident himself.
When they reached the end of the hallway, Casey swiped an employee security card and then punched in a password on a keypad to the side of the door. After a small beep, Casey pushed open the thick, heavy metal door. She held it for them as they entered a luxurious lobby. It was larger than the one downstairs, and much fancier. The décor was exquisite. The floors were marble, and a modern chandelier sparkled from the high ceiling.
“I bet this room could have paid for my entire college education,” Landon whispered. His breath tickled her ear.
“Probably double that, depending on the school,” she whispered back.
They were led to a receptionist’s desk in the corner of the room. It was made of warm, dark mahogany. The woman who sat behind it was maybe in her forties. She was also sharply dressed and seemed just as uptight as Mr. Turner’s assistant. The older woman hardly acknowledged them before she picked up the phone and dialed an extension number she knew by heart.
“Mr. Turner? Miss Harrison and your son to see you, sir.” She listened for a moment before hanging up the phone and directed her attention to Lily.
“Mr. Turner is ready to see you now. He would like to speak with you alone.”
“Landon can hear anything Mr. Turner has to say to me. I would like to have him with me,” she responded. She didn’t want to be with Mr. Turner alone.
“I’m sorry, but that isn’t possible.”
“I will be joining Lily,” Landon demanded. The woman behind the desk sighed and cast an annoyed glance at the young assistant, who shrugged her shoulders in response.
“Mr. Turner,” the receptionist said into the phone. “Your son would like to join Miss Harrison.” The room was quiet as she listened to the man on the other end of the telephone. “Yes sir, I’ll see what I can do.” She hung up the phone and cast her frosty gaze at Landon.
“You will wait out here for ten minutes, and then you may join Miss Harrison. Take it or leave it.” Landon threw an irritated glance in the direction of the desk.
“I’ll be fine,” Lily said quietly to Landon who was growing more and more agitated as the seconds ticked by. “Really, it’s okay Landon,” she assured him hiding the anxiety in her voice the best she could. He nodded uncertainly and let go of her hand as she followed Casey though the large brown, mahogany doors to the right of the receptionist’s desk. For as large as the doors were, they opened easily and silently. The room on the other side was bright, but not as bright as it could have been had there been windows like any normal office building. Mr. Turner sat behind a large black desk. He waved her forward as if she were an old friend he hadn’t seen in years.
“Please, have a seat,” Mr. Turner said motioning to a chair on the opposite side of the desk. His assistant disappeared through the mahogany doors and shut them behind herself. Lily was trapped.
“I know you must be wondering why I wanted to talk to you alone,” he continued. Lily sat in a black leather chair as she watched Landon’s father cautiously.
“I’m not sure why,” Lily said crossing her arms. “You probably already know that whatever you tell me I will most likely tell to him, so I don’t see why it matters if he’s here or not.” The words flowed out of her mouth as if she had rehearsed it. She had never been very good at knowing what to say, but for some reason she was able to think clearly and know how to respond.
“I have my reasons,” Mr. Turner said reaching for a pad of paper and a fountain pen. “One of them is because I want to offer you a job, and I feel it is inappropriate to do so when another person is present.”
“I can see how you would think that, but I don’t really think that applies in this situation. First of all, I’m a minor who was brought here against my will, and I won’t hesitate to bring that to the attention of the authorities if I need to.” Lily was surprised at her own voice. It was so much stronger and resolute than she ever remembered it being in the past.
“I am the authority,” Mr. Turner said staring at her seriously. “If you go to the police it won’t matter. I work on a higher level than they do, and have numerous connections that will take care of anything that needs cleaned up. They can’t touch me. Besides, it seems perfectly normal for a son to visit his father with a friend, doesn’t it? I suggest you forget about any involvement with the police and consider what I have to say to you.”
“Which is?”
“Well to begin with, your ability.”
“What about it?”
“You can hear ill-intended thoughts, which means you can do a lot of good in this world, young lady. You can know exactly what a suspect is thinking. There would be no time wasted interrogating unwilling criminals, because as long as they don’t know what you do, you would be able to hear everything we needed to know.”
“So you want me to interrogate people?”
“That’s only the beginning, Lily. Just imagine having the ability to stop a terrorist in their tracks. If we could get you close enough, you could hear the exact plans of someone who might want to bomb a building, or murder someone. It could be any number of situations, but the point is that you would be saving lives. People who would have died or been seriously injured would be alive because of you. Can you see how amazing this is? How amazing your gift is? This could change the world. You could change the world.” She had never seen her ability in that light before. She had never dreamed any good could come of it, but Mr. Turner seemed to see her gift in an entirely different way than she did. He made it sound like she was a super hero sent to save the world. Lily was still guarded and hesitant to trust this man, but she couldn’t help feeling like maybe he was right. Maybe she needed to open her mind to using her gift to benefit others on a larger scale than she could have ever imagined on her own.
“So what exactly is it that you want me to do?”
“I want you to be available to hear thoughts. That’s all,” he said making it sound so simple. Although she couldn’t hear any of his thoughts, she felt like he was hiding something from her.
“Can you give me an example? What was the last assignment you had where my gift would have been useful?”
“All of them,” Mr. Turner said immediately. “Our last assignment was to track down and take into custody a drug dealer in New Jersey. The local cops hadn’t made any progress on him, and we had reason to believe he was planning on making, or had made a bomb. We knew where his location was, but he found out we were coming somehow and blew up his house, with himself inside. Luckily the bomb wasn’t as big as we had feared, and the damage only extended to his neighbor’s houses. That could have been prevented if we had had you with us. You could have known what he was planning, and even if we couldn’t have stopped him from blowing himself up, we could have evacuated the neighboring houses and saved those families. Six people died that day. That is a perfect example of why we need you. You can help us save lives.”
“I think you overestimate my gift, Mr. Turner. I have to be fairly close to a person to hear their thoughts. For instance, I couldn’t have been sitting in a house across town and heard what that guy was planning. I would have had to be within a few houses to hear.”
“Mack didn’t tell me that.” He seemed a little taken aback by the news.
“There isn’t any way he would have known.”
“In that case it will make things a little more dangerous for you. My plan had been to have you a safe distance away from all the action so you wouldn’t be in any danger, but that won’t be an option now, if you accept, that is.”
“How dangerous?” Mr. Turner took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering her. Lily’s head buzzed, but she heard nothing. No thoughts came to her mind.
“I would say in most cases you would be perfectly safe. Lily, if you choose to join the team, I will make sure every precaution is taken to protect you. You will have body guards and protective gear. You are our secret weapon, and a friend to my son and I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“What kind of commitment would being a part of your team require,” she asked as businesslike as she could.
“For the rest of my team members, I asked a five year minimum contract, but for you that won’t be necessary. You are of great value to me, and I would like to have you for as long and as often as you are willing to help.”
“You do know that I’m only seventeen and that I’m not out of high school yet, right?”
“Of course,” he responded agreeing with her whole heartedly. “You need to finish high school, and go to college if that’s what you want. Until you’re done with whatever schooling you desire, you can work during summer breaks. If you are willing, I could also fly you in for a job on the weekend every now and then. This is very flexible and will work well with your school schedule. Although I would prefer that you live with the team during the summer as much as possible, I can arrange for you to fly in for jobs instead if you would like to spend more time with your friends.” He made it sound like the perfect summertime job, but she knew there had to be more than what he was saying.
“So is there anything else I should know about this before I make a decision?”
“All you need to know is that we need you, Lily. If we have you, it not only makes every team member’s job easier and safer, it would save lives. You should also know that you will be generously compensated for your work with the agency.” He wrote a long number on the pad of paper he had been fiddling with in his hands.
“We are prepared to pay you this amount for each job you assist us with,” he said as he handed the pad to Lily. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the large number scrawled on the paper.
“That’s for each assignment,” she asked incredulously. She was having a hard time believing the number was real even though it sat there on the paper in front of her.
“Yes,” he said smiling at her. “That will be your pay for each job. We will also pay for all transportation, hotels, and other services you may require while on a job.
“This is a really big decision,” Lily said trying to absorb everything he had told her in the last ten minutes. “When do you need to know my choice?”
“It is a very big decision,” he said agreeing with her. “One that I don’t expect you to make any time soon. I want you to take your time and really think about what this would mean for you, your family, and for all the people you would be able to help. In fact, I don’t even want you to make a commitment until you’ve had a trial run. We have an assignment up in New York the week of your Thanksgiving break. I’ll fly you and a couple friends up to New York, and you can help us on a small job to see if it’s something you would be interested in. Then when the job’s over you can go have some fun. See a show, eat some famous New York pizza, or go sightseeing. Let me treat you and your friends to a week of fun in exchange for your help on this job. Then you will have a better idea of what you’ll be doing if you choose to join our team.” Lily had a hard time focusing as soon as he mentioned New York. It had been a dream of hers and Malaya’s to go to New York together. It looked like they might get to go much sooner than they had thought.
“Sounds fair,” she said trying not to sound excited about the prospect of going to the Big Apple. “I’ll help you with your job in New York as long as you do everything in your power to keep me safe.”
“Good,” Mr. Turner said smiling. “I can assure you, I will keep you safe. Like I said, you are of great value to me.” One of the large doors pushed open behind from them and Landon walked in.
“It’s been ten minutes,” he said firmly.
“You have perfect timing son,” his father said pleasantly. “We just finished. Lily, it was a pleasure to speak with you this morning. I will contact you and make all the arrangements for Thanksgiving break.” He reached out to shake her hand firmly as they both stood.
“It was nice to see you son,” Mr. Turner said to Landon from his place of power behind the wide desk. “I’m not one for good byes, and I’m sure I’ll see you again very soon,” he said winking at Lily. She gave him a smile knowing he was referring to New York City. He knew she would bring Landon.
“Good bye Mr. Turner,” Lily said as she gently pushed Landon towards the door. Mr. Turner had made it clear that their conversation was over, and she didn’t want to be cooped up in the windowless building any longer. She also wanted desperately to talk to Landon in private.
“I’ll see you both in New York.” Mr. Turner sat down in his large leather executive chair and busied himself with a stack of papers. Landon’s face scrunched up in irritation and confusion but submitted to Lily pushing him through the door.
***
“I don’t like it,” Landon said putting his arm around her shoulders protectively. They were seated on a luxurious sofa in the seating area of Lily’s suite.
“You’re going to have to trust me Landon,” she insisted looking into his eyes searching for the support she needed.
“I trust you. It’s my father I don’t trust. I don’t trust him as far as I could throw him.”
“I know,” she replied snuggling deeper into the strong arms that held her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. “I don’t trust him entirely either, but I have to do this. What if this is what I’m supposed to use my gift for? What if I can save lives? I have to give it a try. If I don’t I’ll always be wondering if I made the right choice. Besides it’s just a trial run. I haven’t committed to anything.”
“I guess I would probably feel the same way if I were in your shoes. At least Malaya and I will be with you. You finally get to go to New York,” he offered trying to look at the bright side.
“I am so excited about that,” Lily admitted. “I’m even more excited that you’ll be with me.” Smiling she reached up to give him a quick kiss before pulling herself off the sofa and grabbing some money out of a dresser drawer.
“I’m ready for lunch. Are you,” she asked fanning herself with the bills in her hand.
“If you’re ready, I’m ready,” he said following her out of the room and down to the café for lunch.