A bit more from Wayward

She was looking out the window at the lake with fireworks lighting the distance sky. From where she sat there was a splendid break in the trees, if she cared to watch she wouldn’t be missing a moment of the pyrotechnics. Frustrated she tossed down the dish towel and walk away to the other side of the cabin away from her friend and the sleeping children. Opening the door, she walked out on to the deck and right in to Wolfe.

“How are you holding up? I know that this isn’t the same as what you are used to. I still think it is best for us until it is all sorted to keep you out of the public eye at all costs.” Wolfe put his hand on to Olivia’s shoulder.

Flinching away anger boiled up in her that had been building for weeks. “What’s best for me? You dare try that line of crap with me? I am sick to death of hearing what is best for me. Best for me would be the fact I am not in hiding from some deranged killer who is likely Program trained. Best for me would be my husband would still be alive. Not blindsided and killed by someone and I couldn’t even warn him. I should have buried him two weeks ago. My child lost her father, and neither of us could be there to bury him. Best for me my ass! The Program best be getting its shit together, I failed. I couldn’t riddle out the fact it was one of my inner circle that was behind the string of murders. I was too close, hell you were to close too! Tell me you are doing what is best for me, ha! You are protecting The Program as well as your own standing within it. Now, I am standing out in the middle of nowhere with my best friend, her kid and my own. All of us are scared, and miffed as to what exactly is going on.” Across the deck a flower pot skidded off the side and crashed onto the ground.

“I don’t have the answers. But, I would advise against going all Carrie on us right now. This is neither the time nor the place. No need to let Drea in on anymore about us than necessary. We need to regroup; this was the newest safe house I knew of. As soon as we know Drea and her kid are safe, we can send them off, and back to some semblance of a life.”

“How very noble of you, you will dump them off as soon as you get clearance to do so. She lost her husband you know; I am not the only one.”

“His death is still under investigation. Whether or not he was the one killing all those women is a hot topic in the think tank right now, all the evidence says yes, all the top intuitives are saying the pieces don’t fit. I can’t get a feel for it either way. I cannot see who killed the women at all. I can see him hitting Cade in the head, grabbing the wheel and driving it off the road. But I don’t see Ben’s face as he does it, it’s blurred. I know he was murdered and so were two innocent EMT’s that pulled him from your husband’s car. I don’t believe in coincidences.”

Olivia gasped. “You didn’t say anything to me about this. It may have been my husband killed initially, but I could have told you that Ben would never hurt Cade unless he his mind was being swept. They were so close. Is the person who killed Ben and those EMT’s the one who swept his mind? Who are the members of the think tank? Do I know them? Does---"

Wolfe put his hand up to shush her, knowing doing so would either give him a chance to explain what he knew (and could tell her), or set her off again. “The girls are on this. Your Mommy-CON friends are the think tank. When they heard what happened they joined up via The Programs tele-conference link to brainstorm so we decided to use them. Like I said they are confused. They want to come out to us, but till we are sure that no other member will be harmed in this we have to let it all play out from a far. Erin Desiree, and Heather have all felt like something has come back to haunt The Program.” Olivia snorted at the unintended pun. It was Wolfe’s turn to get defensive. “This is not funny; you of all people should know that! Desiree has said she has never felt anything this dark since she was in Columbia with dealing with Dathian. When they hit your house yesterday, they were worried they were in danger and spread out. Don’t worry. Erin got the dogs and puppies out safe she is laying low. Heather of course is trying to divert attention away from your tragedy by trying to convince the city to agree allow her production company to film some movies out there. She is also leaking it to the media, attention is already shifting.”

The fireworks lit up the sky behind him. They were coming to their conclusion he was guessing with their hissing and booming coming to a frantic peak. He looked out toward the darkest part of the woods so she couldn’t see the sadness in his face. Here is was totally dark, and the only light was that of the fireflies. The guilt about what he couldn’t tell his protégé was echoing in his head. What Wolfe couldn’t tell her was that the woods were crawling with The Program’s best non psychic soldiers. Or what they found in the house of the man who physically ended her husband’s life could very well have ended hers instead.