Free Deadly Powers (Tapped In Book 2) by Mark Wayne McGinnis

beings I had never looked directly at, ensuring they’d stay faceless and leave me alone. Now, heads turned and dark-shaped bodies scurried out of our way. I tried to pull away—to free myself from the being’s grasp. We moved faster as an increasing warble sound pulsed around us; there was a red glow somewhere ahead of us. I reached a hand out in front of myself and felt something thick and viscous, as if we were moving through molasses, and more dark shapes began converging there. And then, suddenly, I no longer noticed others around me here in these blurry surroundings. I realized the pair of tightly gripping hands were now gone. Something in front of me moved—it was getting closer to me. It looked human … no … maybe not human.
    Help me, Rob … oh God … help me!
    What do you want? What do you want from me?
    Look at me.
    I am looking at you.
    LOOK at me! Really look at me … you must look at me!
    He was in my mind … or was it my own mind speaking? My heart continued to race. Why am I so afraid? I wanted to leave this place—get away from this … this being. I turned my eyes away from the approaching dark shape. Instinctively, I knew not to look into his eyes. How do I know that?
    I have waited so long for this, Rob.
    What do you want?
    You know.
    Who are you?
    You know who I am … I am Darwin.
    You want your freedom … you want to leave this place? I questioned.
    Yes … will you help me?
    The shape, now mere inches in front of me, shifted position. For a fleeting moment I saw enough detail through the viscous surroundings to make out something: it was an eye. I looked away.
    You cannot deny what you already know, Rob.
    Stop! Get out of my mind.
    It’s only a matter of time, Rob … for the transference. You’ll find someone, just as I found you. It is the way. It is time.
    No! My thoughts flashed to Pippa, near death, desperately struggling for life. Suddenly, anger rose up in me; fury consumed me. I felt my hands tighten into fists and I stood up tall. I no longer feared this being, this thing that wanted to trade places with me. I would die fighting anyone, or anything, that kept me from rescuing Pippa.
    Clarity. The viscous surroundings were taking shape. The being before me was taking shape. I no longer struggled to turn away. I glared at him, my eyes wide open. I moved closer, towering over him. The being looked left and right, and then stepped back.
    It is my turn, Rob.
    Find someone else.
    I have tried … I cannot—
    I reached for the being that was not human. I wanted to tear its strangely shaped head from its strangely shaped body. I wanted to kill it.
    It is my turn, Rob.
    I awoke out of breath, my fingers still wrapped around the red-painted metal pipe. Anger still seethed in me.

Chapter 12
     
     
     
    I was in my seventh floor hotel room, overlooking Sixteenth Street NW and busy Washington, D.C. beyond. I showered, shaved, and dressed in the starched white shirt I saw hanging in the closet, and a dark gray suit. Polished shoes had been lying side by side beneath. Everything was impeccably tailored to my build. I checked the inside jacket label but didn’t recognize the Italian designer’s logo. Apparently, the powers that be at SIFTR had other plans for me today … above and beyond using a leaf blower and digging trenches. I decided on an old-fashioned Windsor knot and adjusted the light blue and yellow striped tie beneath my collar. Looking in the mirror, my eyes held fast on my forehead. Who … or what is in there ? Something from my past, or perhaps something looming in my future … was wrangling for my very existence. Would I have to confront this entity every time I tapped in? Would it even be me emerging the next time?
    There was a brown paper bundle, lying on the vestibule, with a blank envelope affixed to it. I opened it and read the enclosed card:
    Rob: Inside you will find a wallet, holding credit cards and one thousand dollars cash. You have a license and passport