Jacob looks up as the major enters the antiseptic room and shuts the door. ‘Hi, Jacob. My name is Major Phillips. I’m the guy the president told you about.’

‘You’re here to test me?’

‘You say it as if it’s a bad thing. Actually, remote viewing is a lot of fun. I’ve been doing this sort of thing for a long time.’

‘My first time was an accident.’

‘Which means you should respond very well to formalized training.’

‘What do I have to do?’

‘For one thing, relax. Your mom tells me you practice yoga. Focus on your breathing. Let your thoughts go blank. Computer, dim lights 60 percent.’

The room darkens.

‘Jake, I want you to turn to a clean sheet of paper. Write your name and the date in the upper right-hand corner.’ Major Phillips reaches into his breast pocket and removes six double-wrapped, opaque envelopes. Inside each is a folded piece of paper, with words written in ink.

‘There are six stages to remote viewing. We always begin with stage one. Do you know how telepathy works?’

‘One mind tunes to another.’

‘Correct. Remote viewing works the same way. Information, whether it’s in our past or future, is stored as energy in the psychic realm. To acquire bits of this information requires a clue or signal line. Your mind can be subconsciously tuned in to the meanings of these clue lines, or, in the case of you and your brother, your minds may be genetically enhanced to evoke, or call them up. Clues will come to you as sharp, rapid influxes of significance. Your preconscious nervous system will transmit these ideas through the muscles and nerves of your arm and hand and express them as marks on your paper. It’s very important that you not try to analyze these marks, just let them come. In the process, you might envision or remote-view different imaginary shapes for clues. When this happens, just tell me what you see. Again, don’t try to interpret anything. So? Sound like fun?’

The white-haired twin shrugs. ‘I can already do this.’

‘You can? Then this first coordinate should be easy for you.’

Phillips slides the first envelope in front of Jacob. ‘Interface with the object. Tell me what it is.’

The boy touches the envelope, then closes his azure-blue eyes. ‘This is too easy. It’s a beach, the beach in back of our compound.’

Phillips maintains his poker face, inside he is quite impressed. ‘Let’s try another.’ He skips the second envelope, jumping ahead to number three.

Jacob closes his eyes. ‘Man-made … bronze and steel … surrounded by water. I hear echoes of a city.’

‘Where are you?’

‘Statue of Liberty.’

Phillips says nothing, but his heart is pounding like a kettledrum.

‘Let’s try one more.’ He slides another envelope forward.

Jacob focuses inward.

A mountain … its volcanic peak rising higher …

The clue lines of Hawaii’s Diamond Head tighten in his mind—