Unforeseen Dives – 33b – Causes

<< 33a – Causes

The whole task force sat in front of me. All the apartments welcoming the psychics “out on vacation” were on this floor and shared a common lounge. Everyone answered to my call to meet me here. Daniel and Aaron were no exception. The FBI team leaders reluctantly joined us. Their presence was good enough for me.
“The mastermind made a mistake.” I stated. I stood in front of the massive TV screen since every couch was already oriented to face this way. “As you know, there was an attack on the Prompt Diving Training School last week. No whirlpool hid the building. It was a rush operation to hide something from us.”
Rebecca shifted her weight a few steps behind me. Daniel concentrated on my voice as most of the agents. The FBI seemed to expect only trivial details.
“He took a risk and lost. Before he intervened, one prompt diver had already created a whirlpool.” The readers gasped.
“How?” The leader of the research team asked.
“Apparently, prompt diving repeatedly to alter a limited future causes a weird looping of causes and consequences.”
“Playing with the future too much jumbles it.” Daniel translated for the FBI agents. Their lost face cleared and they nodded to thank him.
“That makes perfect sense!” The team leader smiled. “But the school had about twenty patients. Creating  numerous whirlpools of the size we’re facing would require a massive team.”
“Or a single person doing it over a long period of time.” Rebecca commented. The squints already calculated the possibilities while the investigators pondered the ramifications. An FBI agent’s cell phone rang and he stepped outside to answer.
“We can reproduce a whirlpool to hide this task force.” My affirmation stopped my audience’s internal computation. “I’ll need the whole psychic team and we have to do it fast. We can hide us from our enemy before he even knows we exist.”
“The humans who attacked the school have been found.” The FBI agent reported as he walked back in after hanging up his cell phone.
“That was fast!” Rebecca exclaimed.
“Their bodies were discovered by golfers in Anacostia Park. Forensics are on it but it’s likely a dead end.”
The bad news dimmed the shine of my discoveries. I scrambled for something to occupy the FBI.
“Can you tell me your name?” I asked to the psychic team leader.
“James Avery.” He replied with a smile. I ought to remember it and get acquainted with my team a little more.
“James, do you think you can have the Psychic Research Department release their list of psychics with the prompt diving gene?”
“Probably. It’s only a partial though.”
“It’s a start.” Anything would work. Besides, the FBI agents assigned to this task force hardly had anything else to do. Better keep them busy than have them second guess my team. “There’s a good chance the person we’re looking for is a prompt diver or is in contact with at least one.”
“I’ll put a team on it.” Aaron confirmed. Apparently, the other FBI agents were too confused to talk.
“You should try to cross reference the list with pharmaceutical companies. I suspect most of the criminal’s team is drugged with adrenaline inhibitors. They need large amounts of it to blur their tracks.”
“How could we miss that? That explains why they’re so hard to detect!” James exclaimed. “Limited emotional imprint in the Ocean.”
“Exactly. The Bureau also needs to put a list together of the people they want us to hide. Please keep it as short as possible. We already have this building to put inside a whirlpool.”
“Won’t that reveal our position?” A special agent asked.
“It may but with our without the whirlpool our position is bound to be compromised. At least this way, they won’t be able to listen in on our plans.”
The meeting wrapped up quickly after that. Everyone was eager to finally dig in some tangible leads. The sense of direction worked wonders on the team’s spirit. Only the psychics and their telepath partners remained in the room with me.
“I didn’t want to question you in front of non-readers,” James revealed, unconsciously shifting his weight, “but we’re not prompt divers.” I smiled. The guy stressed too much for his own good.
“I manipulated the facts a little.” The team looked at me quizzically. Rebecca laughed. “I didn’t want to get into the details with our doubt-filled associates.”
“Any dive can mess up the future.” James completed. I nodded.
“But it’s nearly impossible for a standard psychic to achieve a phenomenon this big with meditation or tarot cards.”
“They would need a chair.”
“Exact. I want the FBI to concentrate on the most likely scenario for now. I’ll put the rest in my report.” The team agreed in a harmonious manner.
I explained my plan in about ten minutes. Each psychic requested to rest before launching the whole thing. I authorized it. Once the future would begin to be scrambled, the best tactic would be to use the momentum to multiply to effect until we had a stable whirlpool. The process would be easy on me. Dipping in and out of the Ocean through the chair would be tiresome for the other psychics.
We couldn’t wait too long though. Every passing minute left this task force, its members and its location wide open to discovery. If we crafted the whirlpool perfectly, all that information would be hidden. The only thing the bad guys would be left with is the knowledge that someone else knew how to create whirlpools.
We agreed on taking the rest of the afternoon and the evening off. Most psychics were tired enough from the morning research to get some sleep now. Rebecca and I headed to our dinner with Casey. I hardly slept these days and keeping my moral up mattered a lot. The whole team had a rendezvous at midnight. They all signed up to work around the clock until the whirlpool leveled the playfield. Besides, the witching hour seemed the best starting point for our crazy mission.
As Rebecca drove us to the restaurant, I prompted dive to confirm that Casey remained oblivious to our secret for the evening. Apparently, my fake work memories would do their job.
This was a good day.

34a – Consequences >>