{"id":2012,"date":"2013-01-25T08:30:36","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T13:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/?p=2012"},"modified":"2013-01-25T08:33:02","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T13:33:02","slug":"the-man-who-didnt-die-mindbenders-2-excerpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/25\/the-man-who-didnt-die-mindbenders-2-excerpt\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who Didn’t Die – ‘Mindbenders 2’ Excerpt"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Man Who Didn\u2019t Die<\/strong><\/p>\n

Diemerpark, Ijburg, the Netherlands<\/p>\n

November<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

De Jogt made for the ice, weaving among the black stone, aluminum and glass apartment buildings, pulling his collar tight against the wind. An early cold snap had frozen the bay end to end. Only the Dutch would build a city in the middle of an inland sea. But now that frigid landscape offered an insane, inviting escape route.<\/p>\n

The goons weren\u2019t far behind. De Jogt was a scientist, not an action hero\u2014the fact that he\u2019d thought of jumping from a second-story window into a trash bin and darting away through the shadows was as amazing as the fact that he\u2019d pulled it off. The idea of capture, of imprisonment, roused the animal in any creature that understood it\u2014whatever skills he possessed, De Jogt was rallying to the cause.<\/p>\n

The company had a \u2018red alert\u2019 phone number\u2014just call and Security would arrive in minutes. But his cell signal had disappeared at the same moment as the lights in the house. That had been the tipoff, the shivery indicator that had him at the back window when the scratching began at the front door. The good die young\u2014the paranoid survive<\/i>, De Jogt thought, ducking between thorn bushes and the few ancient elms this modern city hadn\u2019t disrupted.<\/p>\n

He was puffing already. He wouldn\u2019t outrun any serious opponent. It was possible this was just a burglar. A burglar might want his watch, credit cards, laptop\u2014nothing shattering. And if he really was pursued, the ice would even the odds\u2014neither of them would be quick.<\/p>\n

He skirted a toolshed and stepped onto the slippery surface. His shoes scraped against the ice as he pushed as hard as he could for the far bank. The lights were ten or fifteen minutes away, if he didn\u2019t fall. There would be a pay phone there, a police station, a bar with witnesses, something.<\/p>\n

A moment later, another benefit of the river became apparent\u2014he and his pursuers would all be out in the open. But what he saw in the open gave him no comfort at all.<\/p>\n

His pursuer was no burglar, that was certain on first glimpse. No burglar, no mugger, no amateur. Very fit, encased in a dark jumpsuit (Black? Blue? It was too dark to tell), a pair of very sophisticated night-vision goggles and what looked like a serious pistol (with silencer?) at his hip. But why was it still tucked away?<\/p>\n

<\/a>Page 2-<\/p>\n

\"diemerpark1\"<\/a>
\nThe only answer that made sense\u2014that they wanted him<\/i>, not valuables\u2014was no surprise. De Jogt had seen it coming the day before. Yet still, it chilled him to the bone. He tried the cell again but it was dead. Well, not quite dead\u2014it came on but made no connection.<\/p>\n

He ran harder, which didn\u2019t mean much faster. He slipped and scrambled over a hard high patch of ice onto a section milled by a hundred gleeful schoolchildren in skates. He saw to his chagrin that the ice wasn\u2019t the leveler he\u2019d hoped for\u2014the jumpsuit was gaining on him rapidly while a second had emerged from the houses ahead, moving quickly on a trajectory that would easily cut off his escape.<\/p>\n

He had to make a decision. De Jogt threw the switch on his belt and gave the mechanism a few seconds to charge. He felt the air around him tingle; his hair stood on end. He pointed ahead and below the first jumpsuit and squeezed together the wires in his palm. The surge ran through his forearm; he felt the searing in his fingers. A moment later, the ice split in front of the jumpsuit and he dropped into the icy water, splashing and coughing.<\/p>\n

De Jogt turned and continued as fast as he could toward the other side. The jumpsuit\u2019s cries tapered off as he faded into the distance. Glancing over his shoulder, De Jogt realized he was not going to shake his other pursuer\u2014this one was even younger, fitter and closing the gap quickly. He would surely cut him off in less than a minute. No<\/i>, De Jogt thought, snapping into the scientist\u2019s dispassionate regimen of weighing options, if I\u2019m to get away, I have to cut <\/i>him off<\/i>.<\/p>\n

He maintained his course and even let himself slip a bit more than necessary. And soon the kidnapper\u2014for surely, that\u2019s what he was\u2014was in his face, offering a menacing gaze and reaching for his gun.<\/p>\n

De Jogt didn\u2019t give him the chance. He raised his hand, pointed the index finger directly at the man\u2019s chest and let go.<\/p>\n

\u00a0~~~~<\/p>\n

\u00a0Correction: Yesterday\u2019s edition reported the death of two men from lightning strikes on an otherwise clear night. This was in error. There was only one man involved, still unidentified, and he was apparently hit by a truck. He is in hospital in Diemen, in guarded but stable condition<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The day after this item appeared in an online edition of an Amsterdam newspaper, a sallow, cadaverously thin man appeared at the nurse\u2019s desk at the Hospital in Diemen in a deep green windbreaker, hair jutting from his head in an unruly clump. He inquired about the \u2018Jan Modaal\u2019 (the Dutch version of a John Doe) run over by a truck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hiking with my friend Mikal Groeten and lost track of him\u2014I fear this might be him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd your name, sir?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEmil Vogel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you family? Significant Other?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re sorry, sir, but the law requires\u2014\u201d the nurse began and immediately her mind filled with images of past lovers and friends, ministering to her in moments of need. She savored the memory of the help she owed to her old friends like Emil.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time,\u201d he said now\u2014were his eyes a bit misty?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has,\u201d she agreed, swamped with memories of love and intense devotion without entirely being able to pinpoint when and where they\u2019d occurred. It was such a joy to see him, the answer to her dreams of so many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u2014my friend\u2014his room number?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c736.\u201d<\/p>\n

A minute later, Max Renn let himself into Room 736, swapped his green windbreaker for the blue one hanging in the closet and verified that the man there had indeed been hit by a truck. Hit several times, in fact, almost certainly at high speed. The odds of this happening on a brightly-lit road in the middle of an Amsterdam suburb apparently hadn\u2019t worried the authorities but Renn pondered it for some moments.<\/p>\n

Ten minutes later, a man matching the nurse\u2019s description of Emil Vogel was seen rummaging through the properties room of the hospital\u2014specifically, the effects of the critical case in 736. By the time Security arrived, the man had disappeared.<\/p>\n

The only inventoried items missing were a small fragment of cloth and a portion of a business card. The man, who had identified himself as Dr. Villette, had spent considerable time examining the jumpsuit the victim was wearing, which was rimmed with scorch marks, not a common occurrence in pedestrian-car accidents. He\u2019d left a note behind asking how the man in Room 736 had fit into clothes that were obviously several sizes too small for him.<\/p>\n

The assistant overseeing the property room insisted that Dr. Villette had presented the proper paperwork and ID and inspected the box in front of him. When he was told that no Dr. Villette practiced at the hospital\u2014or indeed any other in the Diemen area\u2014the assistant recounted the man\u2019s entire job history and clear memories of two cocktail parties where they\u2019d argued about politics and religion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0~~~~<\/p>\n

\u00a0Kristina Gul pushed her cart to the dumpster outside the rear entrance of Forus Technologies. The \u2018paperless office\u2019 signs plastered around the place were a joke. Kristina routinely made three or four trips to the dumpster every evening before the place had even emptied out, just to give herself enough room to clean. The pushing should help keep off the extra pounds but of course it doesn\u2019t<\/i>. She could request a bigger wastebin but she\u2019d never lift a bigger one once it was filled.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me help you,\u201d said the man in the blue windbreaker, appearing suddenly at curbside. \u201cIt looks heavy.\u201d He didn\u2019t look healthy enough to lift anything but he grabbed the bin and shook the contents into the dumpster. As he returned the bin to its spot on her cart, his hand brushed her shoulder.<\/p>\n

A moment later, she was standing among the cubicles, in the midst of cluttered aisles overflowing with printouts, piles of backup discs and almost-new technology\u2014iPods, laser pointers, entire videogame systems\u2014sitting unplugged and unused alongside confidential memos and reams of code in hieroglyphic streams.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s talk about the man who\u2019s missing,\u201d the voice startled her. He was inside with her, the man in the blue jacket. He was inside past Security. How did she not remember passing Security?<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you with the company?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name\u2019s Emil Vogel. I\u2019m trying to help locate the man who\u2019s missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just clean the place up. You should talk with\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re the one I want to talk to. You come in the evening while they\u2019re leaving and you pay attention. You know who\u2019s having affairs, who\u2019s cheating on expenses, who\u2019s stealing coffee from storage. You\u2019ve decided who\u2019s decent and who\u2019s scum. And you know who\u2019s missing\u2014even if no one in the office will talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristina felt a chill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not lying to you. They\u2019re lying to themselves. They\u2019re telling themselves he\u2019s taken a couple of days off or \u2018gone flaky again\u2019\u2014they remember a past episode which may or may not have actually happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no past episode, not Meneer<\/i> De\u2014\u201d and she stopped short.<\/p>\n

Vogel glanced furtively in both directions and flashed a crooked smile. \u201cThere\u2019s no one here,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can say his name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMeneer<\/i> De Jogt!\u201d she burst. \u201cHe\u2019s not a man who disappears! He never<\/i> takes days off! The police should be called! Are you the police?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not. But I can help find him. I need to see his lab.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristina pulled up taut. \u201cI can\u2019t show you that. This is\u2014\u201d and again, she hesitated.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2014a NATO security contractor. A restricted area. You had to get a security clearance to take this job emptying trash cans and dusting. I know. But Meneer<\/i> De Jogt would want you to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was too absurd. \u201cEasy to say\u2014he\u2019s not here to tell me,\u201d she said with Dutch rectitude.<\/p>\n

Vogel pulled a piece of material from his pocket and showed it to her. \u201cI know he let you in. You know what this is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristina\u2019s eyes widened.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now,\u201d he added, \u201cI do too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTake me to the lab and I\u2019ll show you,\u201d he said. \u201cOr I could show you right here\u2014but you wouldn\u2019t want to have to clean that<\/i> up, would you?\u201d<\/p>\n

She considered this\u2014apparently for too long, because Vogel took off in the direction of the lab. She trailed behind him, waiting to see if he would stop at the right door. He did, waving his hand over the magnetic lock several times and frowning, frustrated. Finally, he held a finger to the box\u2014a spark jumped the gap and the door fell open.<\/p>\n

Kristina was open-mouthed. \u201cHe\u2026did that, too,\u201d she choked.<\/p>\n

The room inside was divided into a large chamber and a smaller control room divided by an insulated wall with a large window. Stone tablets of immense size and weight ringed the big room; the walls were covered with flash burns.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe worked here alone?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll sorts of people came in to answer questions or get research assignments but he was the only one who knew what was going on,\u201d she said. She was aware that she should not be talking about these matters but somehow, when he asked, she felt she must. It\u2019s like my father asking what he needs to know<\/i>, she thought.<\/p>\n

\"Excerpt<\/a>

Excerpt from ‘Mindbenders 2: Under the Radar’ – coming soon!<\/p><\/div>\n

Vogel stepped into the control room. A very expensive 3D printer stood attached to a computer in the corner. Several odd electrical switches sat haphazardly on a desk, wearing belt clips. To one side, small sheets of some metallic substance stood in a stack; on the other, a smaller stack of the woven fabric Vogel had shown her. The rest of the room was crammed with a jumble of turbine-like rotors and wires leading to a tray mounted between two tall silver antenna out of a Frankenstein movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were\u2014?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been here before,\u201d Renn answered her question before she finished it. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s changed,\u201d she said, looking around and he made it his business to remember the alignment she saw in her head. \u201cIt\u2019s not the way I remember it.\u201d Renn immediately captured the layout in her head and committed it to memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid he move things around often?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever,\u201d she said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t allowed to touch anything because nothing could be moved a millimeter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Renn flicked the switch on the Frankenstein suite. Things started whirring and buzzing\u2014a Tesla-like ray of electricity jumped from one antenna to the other and enveloped the tray. Kristina jumped at the sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToo late.\u201d He moved his hands around the poles, frowning as though the air there offended him in some way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHmpph!\u201d he turned the machine off and stood for a solid minute just looking back and forth. He fingered a digital stopwatch that was swinging slowly from a shelf. \u201cTen minutes,\u201d he mused, staring at the alarm set on it. \u201cDoes it take ten minutes?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was never here when he did this.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stared at the metallic sheets, picked one up and flicked it onto the tray. He flipped on the machine again and started the stopwatch. Then he stalked the main room, inspecting the blast marks on the walls, while Kristina waited in the control room. When the stopwatch buzzed, he returned. The metal was now white-hot mesh\u2014 insulated gloves stood on the sideboard but he decided to let the thing cool before trying to handle it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to try this on,\u201d he told Kristina, who started as though she\u2019d been sleeping.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you?\u201d she said, eyes widening, \u201cHow did you get in here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2014what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is restricted! How did you\u2014?\u201d He touched two fingers to her temples and she stopped talking. He thought carefully for a moment and lessened his grip. Her eyes were still glassy but she seemed aware enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is your name?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKristina Van Tassel.\u201d Her voice was disinterested, distant.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy own name? Of course<\/i> I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen you before! What game is this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to help find Meneer<\/i> De Jogt\u2014do you remember that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her face showed a sudden concern. \u201cIs he missing?\u201d He touched her forehead and she went slack again.<\/p>\n

What the hell had happened? This was curious but Renn had a growing feeling he wouldn\u2019t have time to find out.<\/p>\n

He led her into the main portion of the lab. \u201cI want you to try this on.\u201d He took the material from the tray and pulled the mesh around her hand, snapping the notched ends together. He slid the electric switch onto her belt\u00a0 and found a small metal conductor on the shelf above, placing it over the tip of her index finger and connecting the wire at the end to the mesh. It\u2019s a jury-rig<\/i>, he thought, still<\/i> a prototype. He hasn\u2019t got the kinks out yet.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cHold your hand out,\u201d he coached and she did. The metal fabric began to glow and then, all at once, it peeled upward and began to melt. Kristina yelped and he pulled the thing off her before she was seriously burnt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you?\u201d she repeated, alarmed. \u201cWhat are you doing to me?\u201d Renn ran through three semi-plausible explanations, rejected them all and, sighing, touched her temple again to render her passive and silent.<\/p>\n

He walked quickly into the control room and closed his eyes, calling up the picture he\u2019d seen in her mind of the original configuration of De Jogt\u2019s equipment. He focused on the details of the layout until he heard scraping. Then he darted from place to place, steadying tubes and beakers as the pieces of the apparatus moved, reassembling themselves into their earlier state.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack here,\u201d he snapped his fingers, summoning Kristina back into the control room. He placed another piece of fabric into the machinery and flipped the switch. Then he left the room until the process was done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the way I remember it,\u201d she said calmly as he joined her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou remember me now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course. We just came in a few minutes ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curiouser and curiouser but no time to ponder. A new piece of mesh nestled in the tray; he lifted it out and offered it to her. But he had to show her where it went, as though the last time had happened without her. He felt his hair standing on end as soon as he flipped the belt switch, confirming his suspicions.<\/p>\n

She held her hand out and, this time, a bright ball of electricity jumped off her finger, throbbing and growing as it leapt, wobbling and veering from side to side, to the stone tablet opposite. The concussion came with a blinding light and a thundercrack, shaking the room and shearing apart the tablet like it was paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cWha\u2014? How\u2014?\u201d Kristina exclaimed. Renn ripped the conductor off her finger and the mesh off her hand. He dumped the clothes from his backpack on the floor and began stuffing the finished mesh, conductors and belt switches in their place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not yours!\u201d Kristina yelled, pulling at him. He grabbed her forearm and pulled her around in front of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet everyone out of the building,\u201d he told her. \u201cDo it now. Anyone working late, security guards, all of them. Get them out now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2014I can\u2019t\u2014you can\u2019t\u2014!\u201d<\/p>\n

His voice got softer, which only made it more menacing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who took him,\u201d he warned, \u201cthey\u2019re coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her fear instantly switched targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kind of people who would know about this work\u2014who would know what to do with it. Think about it\u2014they can\u2019t leave all this behind.\u201d He pulled the memory card out of the 3D printer and stuck it in his pocket. \u201cGo!\u201d he ordered. \u201cBe safe!\u201d As she ran from the room, he began bashing at the apparatus, the printer and computer with a fire extinguisher.<\/p>\n

\u00a0~~~~<\/p>\n

\u00a0As he reached his rental car, Renn could sense the kidnappers nearby. They were camped in an SUV along the courtyard across the street from the office, camouflaged behind a ring of fountains. Renn could feel them blocking in all directions\u2014they weren\u2019t expecting a threat, it was just routine self-protection. They\u2019d waited patiently for the \u00a0building to clear. They most likely didn\u2019t know the police had been called but it didn\u2019t really matter\u2014their intent, surely, was to get in and out with what they needed and they would surely be done with that long before the police arrived. Especially once they got inside and realized it was already gone.<\/p>\n

Two shooters jumped from the SUV and headed for the side entrance. There was some yelling back and forth out the truck windows\u2014no surprise, given that it was all improvisation. That left three in the car\u2014De Jogt, hulking in the back seat, the driver and a slim man with a goatee, straw hat and revolver pointed directly at De Jogt.<\/p>\n

Renn had planned to follow when they left but suddenly they were down to two and right in front of him. These odds were as good as he was likely to get.<\/p>\n

He waited till the shooters were inside, put the car in gear, gave it a little gas and tossed himself out the door. He rolled twice in his heavy winter coat on the cobblestoned street and was up and running through the courtyard, hidden from the SUV by the same fountains they used for protection.<\/p>\n

The rental car gathered speed on the downhill slide. Renn saw the passengers in the SUV sitting up sharply as it rolled past them and straight into a Mercedes on the far side of the street.<\/p>\n

While they were turned away, Renn charged the car.<\/p>\n

His hand was through the back window before anyone saw him coming, grabbing the gun by the barrel. As soon as he made contact, the thing sizzled and zapped. Straw Hat howled and released the revolver, which fell to the floor. The driver turned and threw his door open\u2014Renn laid two fingers to the back of his neck and he slumped out onto the street.<\/p>\n

What happened next took him entirely by surprise. De Jogt burst from the car screaming, running in panic toward the office, calling loudly for help. Renn stopped dead, focusing all his concentration on stopping the man but he ran to the door without a pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t bother,\u201d laughed Straw Hat, settled now in the back seat. \u201cHe\u2019ll run till he reaches our protection\u2014till he hears our password. If anyone gets too close, he\u2019ll kill himself.\u201d Renn turned in disbelief. Straw Hat only laughed harder. \u201cNo shit\u2014we gave him a gun. I\u2019m only a Level Four but I can do that much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLevel Four?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMindbender,\u201d Straw Hat answered. \u201cWe\u2019re a bureaucratic organization, dude, we\u2019ve got levels. You\u2019re Renn, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Renn nodded\u2014there wasn\u2019t much point denying it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, you\u2019re like Level Twelve. Level One-More-Than-Anybody-Else. Not many of you out there. But give us six months and there\u2019ll be dozens<\/i> like me.\u201d He grabbed at his gun suddenly but it sparked and he dropped it. He laughed again, holding his wrist like it was broken. \u201cIs it true that when you kill someone, you find out everything about them in their last couple seconds?\u201d<\/p>\n

Renn\u2019s expression soured further. \u201cNot everything,\u201d he said. \u201cYour life doesn\u2019t really flash before your eyes. Only what you really care about at that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStrange shit?\u201d Straw Hat asked.<\/p>\n

Renn nodded. \u201cOften.\u201d<\/p>\n

Straw Hat stared at the gun and his useless hand; the smile on his face grew. \u201cYou going to kill me?\u201d he asked. \u201cI\u2019d do you, given the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to know you that well,\u201d Renn said. He turned to go, just as the two shooters returned to the doorway across the street and opened fire.<\/p>\n

Renn ducked behind a fountain as bullets ricocheted and marble shards flew everywhere. Police sirens sounded in near distance. Now<\/i> they were coming. Rescuing De Jogt was a dead issue. The next objective was to survive and get away, preferably in one piece.<\/p>\n

He ran swiftly to his right, taking cover behind one fountain after another, changing his speed to throw off their shots. After three fountains, he got the result he wanted: one of the shooters split off to get a better angle on him. The man went door to door, taking cover, heading straight for the rental car, still embedded in the fender of the Mercedes.<\/p>\n

Renn waited until the man took cover behind the cars. Then he fastened the mesh around his own hand and placed the conductor on his fingertip. The apparatus was totally erratic\u2014useless to try to hit a person but two cars locked together at close range made a pretty big target.<\/p>\n

He held his hand out. His hair stood on end, he felt the spark travel up his arm to his hand\u2014and stop dead. What was wrong?<\/p>\n

Marble splintered all around him. His forehead went hot as it took a sliver and began to bleed. They had him in a crossfire. This has to work<\/i>. Why wasn\u2019t it? He\u2019d conducted electricity through his fingers his whole life, not always willingly; this contraption should only concentrate it. Through his fingers<\/i>\u2014the phrase echoed in his head. He pulled off the conductor and suddenly felt the electricity running to the end of his fingers. He held out his hand again.<\/p>\n

CRACK!<\/p>\n

A bolt of lightning spit through the air into the mangled mess of cars across the street. The rental jumped into the air, ripping the front fender off the Mercedes and landing squarely on top of it. Both cars burst into flame and the shooter blew across the sidewalk, his coat on fire. The man dropped his gun and started rolling in the snow, screaming. Renn fired again, in the direction of the second shooter, but this time the blast wobbled and wavered totally offline, smacking into an old elm tree and a newsstand, setting them ablaze but missing the shooter completely.<\/p>\n

Straw Hat had regained his gun now. He began firing\u2014the two shooters had Renn boxed in. And the sirens were loud now. He jumped to the next fountain, where he had the SUV at point-blank range.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey\u2014Straw Hat!\u201d he yelled.<\/p>\n

After a few moments, he saw Straw Hat motioning out the car window and the shooting stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTruce!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMeaning?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMeaning none of us can be here when the police arrive. I may not be able to get your man there but I won\u2019t miss your car at this range and you have to get out of here every bit as much as I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c So I say, we both accept half a loaf: you\u2019ve got De Jogt and I\u2019ve got his equipment. Truce and we escape to fight another day. Yes?\u201d<\/p>\n

The sirens were very loud. Straw Hat didn\u2019t wait long.<\/p>\n

\u201cI accept.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do I know I can trust you?\u201d Renn said and unexpectedly, he felt Straw Hat\u2019s mind open to him, the blocking fading away. Julian Congreve, who\u2019d read Literature and Philosophy at Cambridge, spent a year in debauchery in Thailand before meeting Pietr Volkov and joining L Corp. Crazy for American football and boys with tattoos\u2014and thrilled like a child at the old mindbender stories. Thrilled to have met Renn and looking forward to beating him decisively on a better day.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, now, Renn, you know me better than you want to,\u201d Congreve yelled.<\/p>\n

Renn said Yes<\/i> in his own head and sent it back.<\/p>\n

The car rushed to the front door. \u201cLet\u2019s go!\u201d Congreve yelled and his men piled De Jogt into the car and away.<\/p>\n

Renn was left marveling at the subtlety of the Level Four. He hadn\u2019t dropped his shield really\u2014Renn had read minds long enough to know the sound of chaos that was inevitable when the door was truly open. Instead, Congreve had pretended to let his guard down, while crafting every thought he \u2018revealed\u2019. It was a good trick, Renn thought. One he might have to develop.<\/p>\n

But by then, he was running fullspeed into the building along the courtyard, across the lobby and out onto the ice of the canal on the other side, slipping and sliding in the direction of the next town, the next step, whatever it would be.<\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Man Who Didn\u2019t Die Diemerpark, Ijburg, the Netherlands November   De Jogt made for the ice, weaving among the black stone, aluminum and glass apartment buildings, pulling his collar tight against the wind. An early cold snap had frozen …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,198,3,1],"tags":[254,15,51,200,196,94],"class_list":["post-2012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-e-books","category-mindbenders-2","category-my-books","category-uncategorized","tag-e-books","tag-fantasy","tag-mindbenders","tag-mindbenders-2-2","tag-mindbenders-sequel","tag-thrillers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2012"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2018,"href":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012\/revisions\/2018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tedkrever.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}