When did your father die?

Long time ago. Before I was born.

My father’s in prison. He killed my mama when I was born.

Geez …

Jacob, when we’re together in the nexus, it feels like our souls are one.

He’s hurting you again, isn’t he?

Yes.

You should tell the cops.

I can’t.

Why not?

I just can’t.

He said he’d hurt you if you told, didn’t he?

If I tell, they’d take him away, then I’d really be all alone. Unless I can live with you? Can I?

No, Lilith. I wish you could, but it’s dangerous around here too.

Do you love me, Jacob?

Yes.

You wouldn’t ever hurt me, would you?

Why would I hurt you?

Just promise me you won’t.

I promise.

*

‘Jake?’

Dominique enters the pool area. Sees the figure lying motionless on the bottom.

‘Oh, shit—’ She dives in the pool. Swims to the bottom. Drags her son and the weight plate to the surface.

‘Jake! Jake, wake up!’

Jacob’s consciousness is hurled out of the white haze of the nexus into bright sunlight, his mind awhirl, fighting to catch up with what just happened.

‘… insane? Answer me?’

‘Huh?’

‘I said, are you insane? Are you trying to drown yourself?’

‘No. I was … I was just training.’

‘Don’t ever let me catch you doing this again? Do you understand?’

‘Yes, ma’am. You’ll never catch me again.’

‘Don’t sass me, young man. You know what I mean.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

Dominique climbs out of the pool, the sudden rush of adrenaline causing her muscles to quiver. ‘Get dressed. Your godfather flew in to see you.’

Dripping wet, she heads back to the house, her nerves shot.

The Faraday chamber, located in the basement floor of the Gabriel twins’ training facility, is a metallic enclosure, its wall-embedded circuitry designed to scramble all incoming electromagnetic signals. Soundproof and windowless, the chamber is painted in a neutral color, its softly diffused overhead light panels rigged to a voice-activated dimmer. Inside the room is a rectangular steel table, with two matching chairs positioned at either end. A video recorder and closed-circuit camera are positioned inconspicuously along the ceiling.

Jacob Gabriel sits at the far end of the table, facing the closed door. He doodles on a legal pad with a blue ink pen, waiting for the session to begin.

Chaney and Major Phillips watch him on a monitor from another room.

‘Okay, here’s the drill,’ Phillips says. ‘While I’m working with Jacob, you keep the other twin occupied in the SOSUS lab.’

‘You think these two can communicate telepathically to one another?’

‘It’s definitely possible. One thing I know from personal experience is that remote viewing across inter-dimensional lines is very frequency-oriented. Since tapping into wavelengths of a similar consciousness can affect the believability of the session—’

‘I understand.’