Chapter 79 The Awakening
Evelyn's POV - Cole Enterprises, Adrian's Office - 3:17 PM
The voices were overwhelming.
Dozens of them, all at once, flooding my consciousness like radio stations tuning in simultaneously. Thoughts, emotions, sensations that weren't mine but felt as real as my own.
can't be real can't be real can't be
Finally awake finally free finally
What's happening to me what am I
She's calling us all calling we have to
And beneath it all, louder than the rest, clearer than should be possible:
Come to me, sister. It's time you remembered who you really are.
I pressed my hands to my temples, trying to block it out, but that wasn't how it worked. The voices weren't external. They were inside my head, part of my consciousness now.
"Evelyn!" Adrian's voice cut through the chaos. His hands on my shoulders, grounding me. "Evelyn, look at me. Focus on my voice."
I forced my eyes open. In the dim emergency lighting that had kicked in, I could see Adrian's face—concerned, frightened, but steady.
"The voices," I managed. "I can hear them. All of them. The activated operatives. They're—they're everywhere."
"Can you shut it out?" Dr. Hartley asked, moving closer. "There are techniques, shielding methods—"
"I don't remember how," I said, my voice rising with panic. "I don't remember any of this. I don't know what I'm doing—"
Hope's crying intensified, that strange, high-pitched frequency that made my teeth ache.
And suddenly, all the voices in my head went silent.
Completely silent.
As if someone had flipped a switch.
I looked at my daughter, still crying in her carrier, and realized with growing horror what had just happened.
"She did that," I whispered. "Hope. She—she blocked the voices. Somehow."
Daniel moved to the carrier, studying Hope with professional interest. "That's impossible. She's six months old. Even if she has latent abilities, they shouldn't manifest this young, and certainly not with that level of control—"
"Unless she's not latent," Dr. Hartley interrupted. "Unless she was born with her abilities already active. Which would make her—" She stopped, the implication too massive to voice.
"The first naturally psychic human born in recorded history," Daniel finished. "Not activated by trauma or surgery or conditioning. Just naturally telepathic from birth."
Adrian scooped Hope out of her carrier, holding her protectively. "We're not letting anyone experiment on her. I don't care what she can do—"
"No one's suggesting experiments," Dr. Hartley said quickly. "But Mr. Cole, if your daughter has active psychic abilities at six months old, you need to understand what that means. She's reading emotions, possibly surface thoughts, maybe even influencing people around her without knowing it. As she grows, as those abilities develop"
"She'll be powerful," Daniel said. "More powerful than any Operation Mindbreak subject ever was. Which makes her"
"A target," I finished. I looked at Adrian. "That text message. They've been monitoring Hope's development. They know what she is. They want her."
"They're not getting her," Adrian said flatly.
Marcus had been on his phone throughout this exchange. Now he looked up, his expression grim. "The blackout isn't just this building. It's spreading across Manhattan. Power grids failing in sequence, like something's moving through them. And reports are coming in of people behaving strangely staring into space, moving in coordinated patterns, all heading in the same direction."
"They're being called," I said. "The activated operatives. My" I struggled with the word. "my clone. She's calling them to her. And they're responding."
"Where?" Adrian demanded.
I closed my eyes, trying to sense the direction of that pull, that call I could feel at the edges of my consciousness.
"Battery Park," I said. "The waterfront. She's gathering them there."
"We need to evacuate," Marcus said immediately. "Get you and Hope out of the city before"
"Before what?" I interrupted. "Before forty-seven psychic operatives with unknown capabilities converge on Lower Manhattan? Before my clone—who apparently has all my abilities and none of my restraint does whatever she's planning? Marcus, evacuating won't help. If they want Hope, they'll find her. If they want me, they'll track me. Running just delays the inevitable."
"Then what do you suggest?" Adrian asked.
"I suggest," Dr. Hartley said, "that we call in reinforcements. The DIA has protocols for this. Countermeasures against psychic operatives. We can"
"No," Daniel interrupted sharply. "The DIA protocols are designed to neutralize threats. Which means capturing or killing the operatives. Some of those people down there are victims, not villains. They were conditioned without their knowledge, their abilities activated against their will. We can't just"
"We may not have a choice," Dr. Hartley said. "Daniel, you know the risks. If even one of them loses control, if they start influencing masses of civilians"
"Then we stop them without killing them," I said firmly. "We find a way to block the activation signal, break the connection between them and my clone, give them back their free will."
"How?" Marcus asked. "Dr. Grant, with all respect, you've been conscious of your own abilities for approximately five minutes. How are you planning to counteract an organized group of trained psychic operatives?"
"I'm not," I admitted. "But I know someone who might be able to help." I looked at Dr. Hartley. "The others. The ones who survived Operation Mindbreak and went into hiding like I did. How many are there?"
Dr. Hartley exchanged a glance with Daniel. "Seven that we know of. Scattered across the country. Living under assumed names, their abilities suppressed or controlled."
"Can you contact them?" I asked.
"Yes, but"
"Then do it," I said. "Tell them what's happening. Tell them we need their help. Because right now, they're the only people in the world who understand what we're dealing with."
"And what exactly are we dealing with?" Adrian asked. "Evelyn, I need you to explain this to me in terms I can understand. What can these operatives actually do?"
I took a breath, trying to organize information I was only just beginning to remember. "It varies by individual. Most have telepathy to some degree reading surface thoughts, sensing emotions. Some have precognition seeing possible futures. A few have telekinesis, but it's weak, limited to small objects. And then there's" I paused. "there's influence. The ability to suggest thoughts, plant ideas, manipulate perceptions."
"Mind control," Marcus said flatly.
"Not exactly," I corrected. "You can't make someone do something completely against their nature. But you can nudge them. Make them think an idea was theirs. Amplify existing emotions. It's subtle, but effective."
"And your clone?" Adrian asked. "What can she do?"
"Everything I could do," I said. "But stronger. Because while my abilities were suppressed, hers were cultivated. Enhanced. She's had eight years of training while I've had eight years of forgetting."
My phone buzzed. Another text from the unknown number:
Unknown: Impressive that you managed to block my voice, sister. Hope is stronger than we anticipated. But that just makes her more valuable. Come to Battery Park. Alone. Or I start demonstrating what forty-seven unified psychic minds can accomplish. The body count will be on you.
I showed the message to the others.
"It's a trap," Marcus said immediately.
"Obviously," I agreed. "But it's also our only option. She wants to talk. That means we have time. Time to understand what she wants, what she's planning. Time to find a weakness."
"You're not going alone," Adrian said.
"I have to—"
"No," Adrian interrupted, his CEO voice emerging. "We do this together. All of us. Dr. Hartley, how quickly can you get your Operation Mindbreak survivors here?"
"Four are within driving distance," Dr. Hartley said. "I can have them here in two hours. The others—"
"Then we move in two hours," Adrian said. "In the meantime, we prepare. Dr. Hartley, I need everything you have on Operation Mindbreak. Every protocol, every weakness, every piece of research. Daniel, you've been tracking this what do we know about the buyers? Who took over the program after Stirling?"
"We have suspicions," Daniel said. "But no proof. The trail goes cold at a shell corporation registered in the Cayman Islands."
"Then we follow the money," Adrian said. "Jennifer!" He called toward the door where his assistant had been hovering. "Get the forensic accounting team on this. I want to know who owns that shell corporation by the end of the day."
"And what about me?" I asked.
Adrian looked at me, and something in his expression softened. "You focus on Hope. On learning to control whatever abilities are waking up. Because Evelyn if we're walking into a confrontation with forty-seven psychic operatives and your clone, we need you functional. Not overwhelmed. Can you do that?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "But I'll try."