Chapter 1

Cameron Lancer had given up. Five years of the same boring desk job (albeit for the Federal Bureau of Investigation; a desk job is a desk job), of living in the same small apartment, of walking the same route with her Great Dane Apollo every day. Her life used to be exciting: a new phone call every day from a different agent with the need of her, well, unique abilities; traveling to exotic places in order to complete these assignments, and being well compensated for it. Of course, the money wasn’t everything, and she was still pretty well off due to her consulting business. 

But why did all that change, damnit? she thought to herself as she did every morning, putting on one of her many colored Oxfords, then a blazer and slacks to match. It was a thought that plagued her, but also one she knew the answer to; whether she could admit it to herself or not. So, knowing this, she faithfully took her dog outside before she left for the day, slipped on her heels, and climbed into her Jeep to make the commute to the office. 

As she took off her heels, belt, and jewelry to go through the metal detector at work, she was once again reminded of the monotony of her current situation. I didn’t used to have to go through this every day, she reminisced as the guard patted her down to make sure there were no concealed weapons on her person. I used to carry a Beretta on my ankle and a Glock on my hip. None of this “no weapons” business. 

Before a traumatizing case five years ago, Cameron had been one of the most desired agents within the ranks of the FBI. She was assigned to no particular unit, but was a floater due to her ability to sense the brain waves of others. She could not read thoughts, exactly, but could tell from what direction a person was coming, and what the mood of that person’s thoughts were. Particularly in hostage negotiations and kidnappings, she was the most useful agent available, and so she was flown all over the country to help in these delicate situations. During those 10 years in her career, Cameron was perfectly happy with her lifestyle and work. But due to that one case, due to that one man who knew how to guard his thoughts against her, everything had changed. 

Oh well, here I am now. She resolved herself to make the best of her situation, even though she was beyond bored. 

“CAM!” exclaimed Tracy, the extremely bouncy secretary that been hired recently in Cameron’s division. Currently, Cameron had been assigned to train new agents in hostage negotiations, partly because she had conducted so many herself, and partly because her supervisors had been tired of her sulking in her previous assignment in Counterintelligence Division.

“Cam, you won’t believe what happened last night! No, seriously, you won’t!” Tracy almost shouted, waving her arms in excitement as Cameron approached the door to her office. She had been hoping to slip quietly into the private space and not have to hear about Tracy’s escapades of the previous weekend, but she wasn’t always so lucky.  Tracy’s brainwaves attacked her with their eagerness. 

“What happened, Trace?” she asked politely but tiredly, hoping that Tracy would pick up on the fact that she wasn’t in the mood. As a matter of fact, she really was never in the mood, but Tracy wasn’t particularly perceptive. 

“Some girl got arrested at the club last night! They stopped the music and everything!” Tracy said excitedly, running her hand through her short red hair. “I couldn’t believe it!” 

“Tracy, you do realize that you work for the FBI, right? That’s what the people whose lives you organize do. You know that, right?” Cameron asked kindly. Tracy was a very organized young woman, but she wasn’t the brightest. Cameron knew for a fact she had applied to become an agent but was hired as professional staff instead because what she lacked in book smarts, she made up for in enthusiasm. 

“I know that! But it was like work interrupting my outside life! I even knew some of the agents who were there! Obviously I didn’t say so to my girls, neither of the agents was cute, it was Hall and O’Brian. Can you imagine?” 

Cameron chuckled and shook her head. “No, Tracy. I can’t. Now can you make sure to hold my calls for the next couple of hours? There’s a new training class coming in and I need to revamp hostage negotiations...I always get ribbed by Simpson and Giles when the class falls asleep.” With that, she was finally able to slip into her office, shut the door, and block out the noise of the other agents who used to depend on her and look up to her; but now she was just another desk monkey. 

As she was leaving work, Cameron managed to avoid conversation with the other agents. Normally she wasn’t so antisocial, but thinking about her past career had just put her in a bad mood, and she hated answering the questions of others when she was perturbed, because she could pick up on whether they really cared or not; usually the answer was not favorable. She parked her Jeep in the lot beside her building and trudged upstairs where Apollo greeted her frantically. 

“Apollo, no. No, I mean it...get down...fine. Fine! We’ll take a walk,” she muttered as the Great Dane leaped up to lick her face, and then ran around her in circles. “Aren’t dogs supposed to sense feelings? Shouldn’t you know that I’m upset and all I want to do is eat ice cream and drink wine?” Apollo cocked his head slightly, as if considering her, then once again leaped up to lick her face. “Ugh! Fine! Where is your leash?” 

Cameron changed out of her work clothes and into sweatpants and her favorite Northface; she hated the winter, particularly in Washington D.C., but she did love wearing jackets. She struggled to get the collar and leash on her overexcited dog, but finally managed and they made their way to the park. 

It wasn’t as cold as she had expected, so after they finished their usual two-mile route, she decided to walk over to the dog park and let Apollo run free for a bit. As she sat and watched her pet chase rabbits and squirrels, she suddenly got the sense that something was off. She quickly stood up and looked around, but saw nobody in the clearing other than an elderly lady with a small Schnauzer. Apollo spotted this dog as well, and bounded over to greet it. Noticing the great dog’s fervor, the Schnauzer and its owner hurried off to a different path. 

There’s something odd, she thought. It was almost a familiar sense of strangeness, something she had been around before. Almost like...no. It couldn’t be. There was one time when she had dealt with a person whose brainwaves she couldn’t sense, and it was almost as loud as actual brainwaves; sort of like a deliberate silence. 

As she was pondering, James approached. 

Author's Note

I know this isn't nearly as interesting as the prologue, but I had to have some background information for there to be any sense of plot.

Reviews

[soliloquy]

Well done. It sounds very realistic and interesting as well.

[Fréyjä Helv..]

Bummer! I want to know more! who's James?

[Pax]

good job, i enjoyed it. keep it coming.

[T. Logan]

I still have questions! Which is good. What is she that she has these powers? And what is James?