Page 55 of Jon's Helter Skelter Cold Case

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After three interviews with Materializers, we had a good baseline of what they could and couldn’t do. It didn’t solve the problem, though, of how this particular Materializer was shielding against Grant and Carol.

Time to figure this out.

The entire Psy staff was called into the conference room because for this, the more brains, the better. Even Tyson washere, and normally he was out doing consulting work. He was looking sharp today, his greying hair in a new cut with a fade, wearing a blazer instead of his usual polo, so he might be consulting later today. We piled into the room, Sho getting both Gonzalezes on speakerphone. Jon kept firm hold of his coffee thermos as he settled at the head of the table.

I looked sideways at my fiancé, mostly in amusement. Did he think the caffeine boost would give him insight? Seemed like wishful thinking, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

“Before we bring this meeting to order,” Jon drawled out, “I’d like to make an announcement.”

Garrett put both hands over his mouth andsqueed, “Oh my god, you’re pregnant!”

“Shut it, you. Donovan and I managed to lock in a date and venue. Please save September 25th. We’ll get official invitations to you soon.”

Our parents had been both relieved and excited by our choice. Our mothers especially, as they’d been working hard trying to find a venue and hadn’t had much luck. When I’d explained to Mom what we wanted to do, she’d immediately been on board. In her own words, she thought the idea super fun and was already dreaming up her costume. Lauren was the same. All we had to do now was get invitations out and figure out decorations.

“Delighted to hear it,” Jim informed us, beaming. Whenever he smiled like that, he looked like an affable bulldog. His salt-and-pepper hair going steadily more grey didn’t help the impression. “We’ll put it on the calendar. This formal?”

“Think costumes,” I corrected him. “We’re renting out a pizza parlor with an arcade upstairs.”

“Ohhellyeah,” Garrett enthused. “Now this is my kind of wedding.”

Sho shot him a look from the side of his eye like he took note of Garrett’s reaction. Beside me, Jon choked a little and wastrying to hide a grin behind his coffee cup. He had without a doubt picked up something from Sho’s reaction, but I’d have to get him alone if I had any chance of prying it out of him.

“Any costume?” Sharon mused.

“Don’t dress up like a bride and we’re good.” Honestly, Jon and I didn’t care, we just wanted people to have fun at our wedding. “That’s all we wanted to say this morning. We can talk weddings later. Let’s figure out how this douchecanoe is blocking everyone from finding him.”

Carol crossed her arms over her chest, visibly fuming. “I’ve been trying off and on. I have no idea how Marc was able to locate him even for a brief second. It’s seriously pissing me off. I hate being thwarted.”

“I don’t think anyone enjoys that.” Jim rubbed his fingertips together, clearly thinking hard.

Sho checked his phone before grunting and putting it back in the EMP case. “Grant said he’d swing by in about an hour. He wants to help brainstorm. I think he’s taking this personal too.”

I was somehow not surprised.

Tyson, who was on the far end, requested, “Recap for us. Can a Materializer do any kind of shielding?”

“Not one whit,” I said. “They’re a purely physical type. They can create stuff, but anything like shields is way outside their purview. Even with creating things, it can’t get complicated. Anything over ten layers, and it’s increasingly difficult to make. Damn near impossible unless you’re very strong.”

From the speakerphone, Gonzalez’s voice came through clearly. “I doubt this guy is that strong. He’d be licensed if he was and easier to track down.”

“Good point. Unless he failed a psych eval.” Jon pursed his lips. “Which, if he’s kidnapping people and faking murder scenes, he probably did.”

My money was on that for sure. Although people could do some really wacky shit without actually being mentally unwell. Didn’t make them any less crazy, in my book.

“So we’re banking on the fact he’s mid-tier?” Abby had a notebook in front of her and was jotting things down. “Hmm. Okay, I don’t know where that leaves us.”

“Hear me out.” Sho lifted a finger, eyes narrowed in a way that indicated he had his thinking cap squarely on. “There’s two physical shielding systems we all know and use. First one is what the prisons use to keep psychics contained.”

I nodded, following along with this. It was true, prisons did have a separate ward for the psychics because of that shielding system. I forgot what it was called off the top of my head, but it was meant to dampen all psychic abilities and keep them from being able to break out of prison with their powers. The generators for it were absolutely insane, something you’d see at a high-security bunker, and not easy to duplicate. You had to have a master’s in engineering just to be able to operate it, or so I’d been told.

“I don’t think a Materializer could begin to duplicate the prison system,” Jon said, although he seemed intrigued by the concept. “Way too many layers.”

Sho shook his head. “If they were trying to create it whole in one shot, sure. But if you knew how it was put together, couldn’t you create each piece and assemble it?”

Damn. Man had a good point there.

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