It couldn’t be. But Omar cautiously sneaked behind one of the trees lining the path to the clinic. He paused a moment and then, cautiously as a predatory snake, moved his head slowly around the tree trunk so he could take an anonymous peek at the man.
What he observed was impossible. It couldn’t be true. He blinked several times to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him. How could anyone follow him all the way to Mexico in this short amount of time?
On closer inspection it was clear. The man standing at the door definitely was Professor Vincent Middleton. And with him was Rod Nakamura, the man Michelle proclaimed that she loved. Accompanying them was Michelle’s best friend, Heather, and that weather reporter from Hawaii, Mike Kapahu.
Omar could feel anger and rage building, his power accumulating and coalescing as he stared at the improbable group, carrying balloons and flowers, who were now entering the clinic. This could not be allowed. He would not have his careful plans thwarted. It could not be tolerated. His head was raging with anger.
He watched them through the glass doors, like observing fish swimming in a brightly lit tank. They couldn’t see him in the darkness, outside the clinic, and he moved from behind the tree, gathering his strength.
He watched as Dr. Franz came out of an elevator and went over to the four people in the lobby. The doctor talked to them for some time, evidently giving the news that Omar had forbade Michelle visitors. Omar felt a certain amount of pleasure that the four would be thwarted in their mission. Then an odd thing occurred.
Dr. Franz and the weatherman, Mike, left the others and went to the elevators. Omar could see the lights blinking up the floors. They were heading to the floor where Michelle and Leilanie were in patient rooms. Why would the doctor be taking that weather-prediction guy up there? Omar wondered. It was very strange.
Omar lifted his left arm, one finger pointing upward, and he made a circle with that finger. Nothing happened and he frowned. He had to cause chaos right now, but realized his celebratory Tequila at dinner this evening was messing with his abilities. He took several deep breaths and tried again.
Immediately, the trees around him shed bright green leaves in the wind that was generated around the magician. The electric street light closest to him sizzled, popped, and then went dark.
Omar opened up his keen sensor, the part of his brain that was attuned to electrical energy of any kind. Each person is like a little power generator, and Omar knew how to use this extraordinary sense of his. He felt the humming of electricity throughout his body, heard it as well, like a tiny high buzzing shriek; he even saw the tiny beaming lights, like squiggly glow-worms, that were traces of the bright molecules as they moved around frantically in the clinic that was so brightly lit up inside.
He located the electrical wires that circulated throughout the medical clinic. They formed a glowing grid throughout each floor of the whole building. He shut them down.
The whole building went totally black, all the light winked out, except for the people inside, whom he could see because each person is made up of energy. Electrical energy. He looked up at the tenth floor, where some patient rooms were located. There he could see the room where Michelle was located by the bright aura that surrounded her. He frowned. She was moving.
The lights in the whole clinic went on again, but Omar found the source, an electrical generator behind the clinic that was glowing with power. He projected his own powerful force, and shut it down. Again, the fertility clinic was without any light. He could hardly see the building, even from about twenty yards away.
He had a horrible thought. If the power stayed off long enough Michelle’s precious eggs would be destroyed. The refrigeration system had gone off along with the lights.
***
The elevator lurched abruptly and then stopped so fast that Dr. Franz fell down. Mike managed to grab the waist high hand-bar at the side of the elevator and was able to stay on his feet, but he felt disoriented because he couldn’t see anything. When the elevator abruptly halted the lights also went out.
“Are you okay,” Mike asked, wondering where the doctor was. He felt around with his hands and finally located the doctor’s shoulder near the floor and hauled him up to a standing position.
“Yeah. That’s strange,” Dr. Franz said. “Must be some kind of electrical short. It won’t be long. We have back-up generators that will kick in in about thirty seconds.”
They stood in the dark and waited. Finally, after what seemed like an inordinately long time, the lights went on and the elevator gave a sickening wobble and started going up again.
Luckily, Mike wasn’t taking any chances. He had held on to the hand bar that went around the elevator. There was another lurching jerk, the lights went out again, and the elevator stopped between floors.
From the thump he’d heard, he knew Dr. Franz was on the floor once more, and he pulled him to his feet for a second time. He was thinking that doctors don’t get to exercise much and maybe they don’t have very good balance. His was superb from all the surfing he had done throughout his lifetime and when he’d felt a strange movement in the elevator his knees automatically bent to take the jolt and keep him upright. Still, he found the blackness in the elevator disconcerting.
Dr. Franz was patting the wall and found the elevator emergency phone in a panel that he opened up. “I’ll just contact the staff that we’re stuck in here,” he said reassuringly to Mike, but when he tried to
