Mind Control: A Science Fiction Telepathy Thriller (Perceivers Book 2) by Jane Killick Read Free Book Online

sounded loud to him because he was close to it and trying to be quiet, but Stephen must have heard because he turned his head in Michael’s direction.
    Realising he’d been spotted, Michael called out: “Who are you waiting for?”
    Michael stood up from his hiding position behind the car so he was in full view. Patterson turned to look, his reproachful thoughts strong enough to bypass Michael’s filters. Michael blocked them out to concentrate on the images whirring through Stephen’s mind: white men in grey suits with white shirts, a Japanese woman in a cream skirt and jacket, a white woman in a red blouse with a bow …
    … delegates …
    “Michael!” Patterson spat in an urgent whisper. “Get back!”
    Michael ignored him. If Patterson wasn’t getting Stephen to think the right thoughts with his negotiation, then he had to.
    “Are those the people you want to kill?” said Michael. “The delegates?”
    Stephen’s eyes widened, staring at Michael with incomprehension.
    Ignore him … wait … wait until they are here …
    “They’re not coming back,” said Michael. “Everyone’s been evacuated from the hotel. It’s just you, me and the police.”
    Stephen turned away from him and stared out ahead at nothing. His fixed, open eyes were the only part of his body that wasn’t shaking.
    I’m ready … just a gentle squeeze …
    “It’s like Sergeant Patterson said,” Michael called out to him. “We can help. If you just tell us why you are doing this.”
    It was the question Michael wanted the answer to. Somewhere inside of Stephen’s mind there had to be a reason he was prepared to blow himself up, some cause deep down that he was fighting for.
    Michael concentrated. Patterson, the alley and the armed police were all banished from his mind: there was only him and Stephen. He pushed deeper than his surface thoughts, searching for his motivation. The more he found nothing, the more he pushed, getting deeper and deeper into the blankness of Stephen’s mind.
    He’s in my head! A stab of desperate panic speared through the centre of Stephen’s consciousness. So loud, it bounced Michael out of his mind.
    Suddenly, Michael was aware of his surroundings.
    Stephen’s head whipped back in Michael’s direction with angry, accusing eyes that burned into him.
    “Perceiver!” Stephen shouted.
    His hand reached behind – with no conscious thought – and pulled out a hand gun.
    Gun! cried the thoughts from all the policemen at once.
    Stephen swung the gun in Michael’s direction, his finger on the trigger. Kill the perceiver .
    A shot echoed off the walls of the alley.
    Michael expected the pain of a bullet in the chest. But his lungs let out only a gasp as he saw a spurt of blood fly out of Stephen’s stomach. The pain he felt was Stephen’s pain: a searing hot stab through his body with a wave of shock and incomprehension that swelled in a moment and instantly cut to nothing—
    An explosion – so loud it hurt – engulfed Stephen in a flash of flame. His body burst like a balloon filled with blood, throwing bits of his red-soaked flesh into the air.
    The shock wave knocked Michael flying backwards. He landed on his back as bits of skin, muscle and bone fell onto him in hot red splashes.
    Michael automatically blocked off all his perceptions. He lay on the ground with only his own terrified thoughts. He wiped something soft and squidgy from his eyes. It was a piece of Stephen’s flesh, fused to a scrap of his green, quilted jacket.

CHAPTER FIVE
    “WHAT THE HELL happened to you?” said Alex as Michael collected his meal of white fish hidden under a cream sauce, with chips and peas on the side, and joined him at the dining table.
    The paramedics had patched him up the best they could, but he still looked a mess. Flying debris from the bomb, including (he overheard one of the bomb squad say) shards of Stephen’s exploded bones, had scratched his face and arms. His back and bum ached from bruises