The Talented by Steve Delaney Page B

strength. Focusing my mind, I became one with the house and the fire, all of it now just an extension of who I am. All at my command. With a flick of my wrist the flaming debris flew aside and crashed into the nearby kitchen.
    “Not again!!” screamed a voice from the dark stairwell. Probably Ashley. Up from the darkness rose Tracy and the twins, ducking below the smoke and holding scraps of Travis’ shirt over their mouths. Travis’ bare torso looked red, but maybe that was a reflection of the flames around us. Hopefully. Crying out at the pain in my head, I used my Talent to reflect as much heat from them as I could, then I lead them toward the front door.
    As soon as we stepped out of the building, the heat around us turned to intense cold, so I released my hold over the temperature. That reduced my headache to merely intolerable, as opposed to excruciating.
    The four of us collapsed at the circle drive, gasping and coughing. Lots of that going around that day. Over our coughing we could hear the sound of the flames sucking oxygen and glass breaking from the heat. The sound of a man clapping slowly caused us to look up.
    “Well done. Very brave. Too bad it was all for nothing.”
    The man who spoke was slightly taller than me, but whereas my build resembles that of a boxer, his frame carried the bulk of a power lifter. His cropped black hair turned mostly gray where it met his closely cropped beard. I was overwhelmed with an intense feeling that I knew this man, but could not remember who he was for the life of me….which might be literal in this case. For some reason he reminded me of Captain Nemo from the old Jules Verne novel that I would occasionally read to Gus. He was dressed in black and gray camouflage like the other attackers but didn’t carry a weapon that I could see. His black eyes were clear and intelligent. The three men I saved earlier now held their weapons at the ready, with Stuart and Kate handcuffed on their knees before them. The pure hatred that emitted from Stuart was more directed at me than at our enemies. Kate just seemed groggy and scared. Both of them were fitted with strange leather headgear that resembled old time football helmets. The last soldier had snuck around us and was busy handcuffing Tracy and the twins, fitting them with matching headgear.
    My head pounding, I stalled for time to get myself together. “Ooh, I love football, can I be quarterback? Are you the cheerleaders?”
    Undisturbed, Nemo said, “Didn’t know you were recruiting, Stu. Who’s the new guy?” Stuart remained silent for a moment, then answered, “He is not one of us, and has no stake in the company. In fact, he is nothing but a juvenile pest who failed us at the most critical time.”
    “Failed you?,” I stammered as I rose to my feet. “Not hardly. Just because I wasn’t going to let you kill anybody isn’t a failure in my book.”
    Tracy chimed in, “Stu, he saved us.”
    Stuart snorted bitterly, “Saved you? He practically hand fed you to Harrison here.”
    Ah. Captain Nemo is named Harrison. I liked Nemo better.
    “Enough,” Kate said hoarsely, “Stuart, would you please explain to me what the hell is going on here?”
    Looking uncomfortable, Stu reluctantly replied, “Harry here was the star of the Program before I showed up, weren’t you? He was a few years out of the academy when the fire struck.” Turning to Kate, he continued, “You were too young to know him, or the slut he ran around with in those days.”
    Nemo/Harrison ran ten feet faster then I could turn my head and clamped his huge hand around Stuart’s fragile neck and lifted him clear off the ground with one arm.
    “One,” he said calmly, then punched poor Stu in the face with a crushing blow. “Her name was Clare. Two.” He delivered another punch followed by a spray of blood from Stuart’s nose. “She was not a slut.” Then he cocked his arm back, and I could feel the power building in his fist just like I do it.