CerebralDebris

“It’s all slums. Look at this; it’s like a fucking rat warren.” Brian set a folder full of papers down on the coffee table. John took it, and flipped through it. Jen craned her neck, looking over his shoulder.

“These buildings should be condemned,” he said at last.

“I’m surprised they’re still standing,” said Jen.

“No kidding. I got those pictures off the net. By the way, mister senior sales associate, if you want to reimburse the poor CD salesman the ten bucks I paid to print that crap out, I wouldn’t complain.”

John handed Brian a ten dollar bill and said “We can’t go here tonight. I may be stupid, but I’m not an idiot. Last thing we need is to get shot by a crack addict while we’re avoiding being electrocuted by the human sparkplug or carved up by Dr. Jackal.”

“This is all still nuts. Just, you know, for the record,” Jen said.

“Duly noted.” John’s voice was dry, but he was smiling.

“I have work tomorrow,” Brian said.

“Me too.”

“Not me!” cried Jen. “I’m going to stay home, sit on John’s computer, and surf for porn.”

“Make sure to save the good stuff,” John said. He turned to Brian. “What about Friday?”

“Friday works. Suzie’s working ten to six, and then she’s going out with her girlfriends for a bachelorette party. I told her I’d probably be over here, hanging out.”

“How come you never bring her around, Brian?” Jen asked.

Brian shrugged. “She’s got a weird schedule, and she’s already got a big group of friends. Plus I think she’s still sort of embarrassed at how young I am.”

“Oh. Well, we’d like to meet her sometime.”

“Okay. We’ll work something out. John, do you think that kid’s sister is still alive?”

John shrugged. “No idea. I hope so. I think having a guard who can shoot lightning out of his hands is probably useful, so I expect so, but you never know. What I don’t get is why he doesn’t just fry Jackal himself, and rescue her. I didn’t have time to pick that out of his brain. Things happened too fast.”

“There’s gotta be a reason,” Jen said. “That motherfucker didn’t hesitate at all to blast you.”

“That’s true. He didn’t seem to give a shit at all about what kind of damage he might do,” Brian said.

John spoke up. “True, but I know enough to know that kid wasn’t Dr. Jackal, and wasn’t working for Dr. Jackal out of choice. He’s doing it because he’s being forced, and he’s not happy about it. That’s good enough for me.”

“Did Dr. Jackal know we were going to be down there, John?” Jen asked. “He can’t just have that kid guarding the subways all day…”

“No, he can’t. I was thinking about that while we were at the hospital. I bet we tripped some kind of alarm. I don’t think this guy’s stupid. I think he’s insane, but that doesn’t mean he’s stupid.”

“Most serial killers are pretty smart. You have to be, to not get caught right away,” Brian said. John nodded.

“Great, so once we track Einstein down, what’s the plan?” Jen asked. “How do we capture him and the… what’d you call him? The human sparkplug?”

“I have something I want to try with you, Jen,” John said.

“Should I leave the room?” Brian asked. “Or maybe get the video camera?”

Jen gave him the finger. John ignored him. “I have something I think might work.”

“And you’d rather test it on me than wait until you’re being zapped again to find out whether you’re right or not.”

“Yes. That would be highly preferable.”

“Fair enough. If you blow up my brain or something, though, I’m coming back to haunt you.”

“I’d expect nothing less,” John said. He stood, crossed to the bookcase — long since replaced — and retrieved a couple of paperback novels. He stacked these on the coffee table and sat down next to Jen on the couch.

“Knock the top one off,” he said, closing his eyes.

Jen flicked her finger, and the top book flew backwards, landing on the floor.

“Good,” John said. “Now the second one.”

Another flick. Another flying book.

“Whee…” Jen’s voice was less than enthusiastic. John grinned, but didn’t open his eyes.

“Third book,” he said.

Jen flicked her fingers again. The book jerked, but didn’t fall from the stack.

“Try harder,” John said.

Jen’s brow furrowed with concentrate. The book wiggled, then was still.

“Blow it up, Jen,” John said. His eyes were still closed.

“I’m fucking trying!” she snarled, staring at the book, willing something to happen. “Jesus, this is frustrating!”

“Good,” John said. “Stop.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to let you go.”

Jen took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. “Okay,” she said.

John opened his eyes. “That’s how I deal with the human sparkplug.”

Jen waved her hand at the book. It flew across the room in a shower of pages, twisting and turning, and rebounded off the wall.

“Better?” John asked.

“Better.”

“Good.”

“You sure you can stop him in the heat of the moment, John?” Brian asked.

John glanced up at Brian, his face serious. “I’d better be. I’m going to bet all of our lives on it.”

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