Scott! He was there!
At first, Jamie didn’t recognize him. Scott was sitting so still. And he was pale, as if the life had been sucked out of him. His hair had been cut short in a style that didn’t suit him and he was too smartly dressed in a black jacket, black trousers and a shirt that was a brilliant white. It was Scott but it wasn’t him. Jamie had never seen him like this before and he was suddenly afraid.
He noticed the woman sitting next to him and knew her instantly, even though he had only ever seen her once – and then very briefly. She was part of Nightrise. She had come out of the Los Angeles office when he was there. Her eyes, behind the oversized glasses, were fixed on Scott. She was like a mother who was overly proud of her son, but – Jamie could see it in her face – this was a son who was about to do something horrible.
“Jamie!” Alicia had called out a warning. The policeman who had seen them drive down the ramp was searching for them. He was in front of the filling station – and would have spotted them if it hadn’t been for the crush of people between them. There were three more policemen with him.
“Ladies and gentlemen. It is my very great honour to welcome a fine politician and a fine man back to his home town on this… his big day!”
The mayor was speaking. His voice was being amplified by speakers positioned all the way up the street. Jamie saw him, standing on a platform in front of a bank of microphones. Senator Trelawny was next to him.
The crowd burst into applause.
Scott was staring at something, deep in concentration. Jamie couldn’t run over to him. He would have to push his way through four lines of people, climb over the barrier and cross the road. He would never even get close. There was only one thing he could do.
Scott…! He projected his thoughts over the crowd, directly into his brother’s head.
And reeled back, stunned.
It was as if he had run into a brick wall. He actually felt it, a physical blow. His head snapped back. He tasted blood.
“Jamie? What are you doing?” Alicia had managed to reach him. Daniel was with her. But Jamie couldn’t explain it to her. Not now.
“Fifty years old today – and before he’s fifty-one, he’ll be the next president of the United States.” The mayor grinned and put an arm around Senator Trelawny. The crowd applauded again.
Scott! It’s me! Jamie tried again. Once again, he was rocked backwards. His brother had built a sort of force field around himself. It had never happened before. Scott wasn’t letting him in.
“Mum…!” Daniel pointed. The policemen had seen them.
What was Scott doing? His eyes seemed to be fixed on the senator. No. It was the big fair-haired man next to him. The security chief. What was his name?
Warren Cornfield removed his sunglasses. Jamie saw him drop them on the ground as if he no longer cared about them. Then he took out his gun.
Jamie understood exactly what was happening. He could see it in the eyes of the grey-haired woman, her expectant smile. This was her doing. It was all happening exactly as she had planned.
A presidential candidate may feel safe, but he is always surrounded by men with guns – and one of those men had just been turned against him. Scott’s powers must have grown stronger than ever. He was giving orders telepathically, without opening his mouth. Jamie could see it happening now.
He was ordering Warren Cornfield to assassinate his boss.
And standing next to him, Susan Mortlake felt the power flow and almost wanted to laugh out loud. How ironic it was that it should be one of the Five who should be instrumental in creating the new world – one that would have President Charles Baker in the driving seat. It was perfect. The blond-haired man would kill Trelawny. There would be two thousand witnesses. Nothing would connect him with Nightrise. Later on, they would assume he had gone mad. And she and the boy would slip quietly away. It was almost too easy. And this was just the beginning…
Jamie was sweating. There was nothing he could do. He couldn’t break through the crowd. He couldn’t connect with Scott. But now he could see the gun in Warren Cornfield’s hand. The security man was staring into space, unable to stop himself. Nobody else had seen him. Everyone was watching Trelawny and the mayor.
“Ma’am – I want you to come with us…” The policemen had reached them, the crowd parting to let them through. The officer who had seen them on the bridge was leading them. He was short and plump with brown- tinted glasses and a moustache. Alicia turned to argue with him.
Warren Cornfield aimed his gun at Trelawny.
Jamie was still fighting, trying to reach Scott. But the wall was solid. There was no way through.
It was over.
No.
There was another way…
Jamie turned away from his brother and focused all his mental energy on Cornfield. He sent his thoughts across the street, through all the noise and the confusion, the cheering and the applause, and immediately it was as if he had broken into a private room and Scott was there with him, inside the security man’s head. Jamie heard him giving the orders that were forcing Cornfield to commit murder. At the same moment, he felt the gun in his hand, his finger tightening on the trigger and knew that it was already too late, that he couldn’t stop the man firing.
The secret-service men closest to the platform saw the gun.
Somebody screamed. The policeman had taken hold of Alicia but now he turned to see what had happened.
Jamie did the only thing he could do. He knew he was about to make the most terrible decision of his life but he could see no other option.
He gave the order.
Not Trelawny. The woman!
Warren Cornfield fired.
But at the very last moment, he swivelled round and shot directly into the bleachers. His bullet hit Susan Mortlake in the centre of her forehead. She was thrown backwards. And at once everything changed as the crowd went crazy, screaming and struggling to get away, and the entire parade exploded into chaos.
The secret-service people had acted too late but now they moved fast. Two of them threw themselves on top of Trelawny, dragging him to the ground. Two more dealt with Warren Cornfield. If there hadn’t been so many people around, he would have been shot and killed. Instead, they tackled him, knocking him down and disarming him. He didn’t even try to resist. All the life had gone out of his eyes. He didn’t seem to know where he was or what he had just done.
The policeman let go of Alicia. He suspected that she was part of what had just happened but he couldn’t be sure, and his job right now was to try to bring the crowd under control before anyone else was killed. There were people running everywhere, screaming, trying to protect their children. The barriers were being knocked over. The bands had abandoned their instruments and were trying to get out of sight, afraid that there might be more shots. As Jamie watched, Senator Trelawny was led away and thrown into a car as if it was his turn now to be kidnapped. But of course his safety was the first priority. His wife and children were also being bundled out of their seats. The whole family had to be removed from the scene before any more shots were fired.
And what about Scott? He was sitting in the same place and looked dazed, as if he couldn’t quite understand what had happened. Susan Mortlake was next to him, her head flung back, her legs apart. She was quite spectacularly dead. Jamie took advantage of all the confusion around him. The way ahead was clear. He ran forward, leapt over a barrier and crossed the road. A moment later, he was climbing up the bleachers. There was a doctor crouching next to the mayor’s wife, who was screaming, in hysterics. A few people were still in their seats, traumatized, blood-splattered. Jamie ignored them.
Finally he had reached his brother.
“Scott!”
Scott turned but didn’t recognize him and that was when Jamie knew how much had been done to him, how badly he had been hurt.
He didn’t know what to do. He felt a burning in his throat. He had dreamed of the moment when he would find his brother again but he had never expected it to be like this.
And then a woman he didn’t know came up to him. Jamie glanced at her only briefly, taking in her dark red
