Free Telepath (Hive Mind Book 1) by Janet Edwards Page B

Tactical, Liaison, and Strike are the operational teams.”
    “What do they … I … do?”
    Complex sentences
involving incomprehensible words flashed through Lucas’s mind, but I didn’t
need to ask him to explain what they meant. He knew I wouldn’t understand psychological
definitions, and was trying to rephrase them in simple terms.
    “The biggest problems come
from those who have no concern for the wellbeing of other people. They feel that
indulging their own wishes is far more important than the rights, safety, even
the lives of everyone else. The only thing limiting their behaviour is their fear
of harmful consequences to themselves. They cautiously push the limits, testing
how much trouble they can cause without their behaviour being challenged by a
nosy patrol. The Liaison team monitors the Hive, feeding information to the
Tactical team who analyze it for a whole range of early warning signs. Things
like complaints about unsociable behaviour or harassment, patterns of suspicious
accidents, or outbreaks of vandalism.”
    I thought of Reece’s behaviour
on Teen Level. “Or bullying?”
    Lucas nodded. “There’s often
an obvious guilty party. If they’re identified before the behaviour pattern
becomes too established, then the Tactical team can simply arrange for a nosy
patrol to intercept the culprit and frighten them into better behaviour. More
entrenched cases have to be referred to specialist units for treatment.”
    He paused. “Where there’s
no clue to the identity of the wild bee, a true telepath is needed. As your Tactical
Commander, I’ll decide an area needs checking. You’ll go out with the Strike team,
and identify the target wild bee among all the tame ones. Liaison get data on
the area, evacuate bystanders if appropriate, and tell creative lies to cover
up what’s happening. The muscle-bound heroes of the Strike team go in to
collect the target.”
    He paused again. “The Strike
team will divide into two at that point. Chase team will go after the target.
Bodyguard team will keep you safe from trouble. Wild bees may fight when
cornered. You’re irreplaceable, and mustn’t be stung. When …”
    He broke off, and turned
his head to look towards the door. I realized that Megan had come back in and
was watching us. She had an odd expression on her face.
    “Is there a problem?” I
asked.
    “No,” she said. “It’s just
that this has been taking a very long time. I came to see if you were all
right.”
    “I’m fine,” I said. “Lucas
has been explaining how Telepath Units work.”
    Megan gave me a bewildered
look. “But he was just gabbling a list of random words. Divide. Target. Trouble.
Irreplaceable.”
    Lucas laughed. “Megan, you
know that I sometimes miss out the obvious, trivial words in sentences to save
time.”
    “Yes,” she said bitterly,
“but what’s an obvious word to you isn’t necessarily obvious to other people. As
I keep telling you, it doesn’t save time if the rest of us don’t understand
what you’re saying.”
    “But Amber does understand,” said Lucas. “I tried abbreviating sentences further, and she still
understood. I found I could go right down to using the occasional key word to
anchor my mental logic train.”
    He turned to give me a
joyous grin. “I’ve never been able to talk to someone this way before. It’s incredible.”
    I couldn’t help grinning
back at him. “Surely you could talk to Keith in the same way?”
    Lucas and Megan exchanged
glances. “The situation with Keith was different,” said Lucas.
    “So you’re happy with
Lucas as your Tactical Commander, Amber?” asked Megan.
    “Definitely,” I said.
    “That’s good.” She gave
Lucas an oddly doubtful look, and went back out of the room.
    Lucas turned back to me.
“You understand what a true telepath does now?”
    “Yes, but there are a
hundred million people in our Hive, and only five true telepaths. That’s twenty
million people each.”
    He nodded.
    “What