A Long Time From Home

Author's notes:

I've been busy and the holidays are coming, so my initial plan of posting a chapter once per week might not succeed. Sorry about that.

About the language and notation:

The Baylon language is a predecessor to Latin, which is why it looks like Latin at a glance.

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings

:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. I haven't gotten an editor yet, so any mistakes are mine. Interested editors are welcome :)

P.P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

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Chapter 26 -- The Night of San Juan

Friday, 23rd of June 2000, Malaga, Spain

---------- Department 55 ----------

Myra Honeycutt was sitting in a chair in the shadow under a large umbrella, sipping cold lemonade while enjoying the summer, the warm air, and the feeling of being on vacation.

She hadn't realized how much she had needed a break, until she arrived in southern Spain from London, but the moment she had left the plane, it was like the air had been let out of a balloon and she had spent the two previous days doing as little as possible.

Fortunately, she had booked the hotel for two weeks, so the loss of a couple of days didn't mean all that much.

In the five years that had gone since her last vacation, she had gotten a new job, worked too much, slept too little, lost some weight, divorced her husband, moved to a new apartment in a new town and in general turned her life upside down. It was perhaps most telling about her new life, that she had chosen to go on vacation with her best friend from work instead of one of her few other friends.

The sound of feet approaching brought her out of her thoughts, and she looked up just as Sheena Rao, her work and vacation partner, took the last few steps to her chair.

Sheena Rao was of Indian descent and normally a young woman whose looks and easy smile turned more than a few heads when she walked down the street, but right now, her face was stern looking.

Maya sighed. She recognized that look and it meant that their vacation was over before it had even really started.

Sheena stopped right beside Maya and, without saying hello, leaned down and whispered. "The boss just called. We got an assignment."

With a sigh, Maya gestured to the chair next to her. "Sit down and tell me about it."

Sheena shook her head. "We need to go change. They've sent someone for us." She showed her teeth in a smile. "Most likely someone from the Department."

Maya nodded silently. They both worked for Interpol's Department 55 or '

The

Department' as most employees called it.

Dating back to the 1970's, Department 55 had started as a special branch under Interpol, specializing in investigating 'unusual crimes', but as time went by and more psychics emerged, it had become a small and secret, but well-founded international police force, dealing exclusively with psychics and psychic crimes.

Unfortunately, most psychics developed megalomania when they discovered that they had special powers and these people tended to be heavily involved in crime, as they ruthlessly used their powers to get what they wanted.

Not that there were that many psychics in the world, that was powerful enough to attract the attention of law enforcement. The Department only knew about seven hundred, which was a minuscule number compared to a total world population of six billion people. Then again, most of the psychics the Department knew about, were the criminals and there might be many law-abiding psychics in the world that just wanted to be left alone, which was a blessing as there were only twenty-five psychics in the Department and the number of Psychics were rising year by year.

Personally, Maya suspected that the various intelligence agencies all over the world employed psychics for their own use and since these were rarely discovered, it could push the total number of psychics as high as eight hundred.

On the bright side, psychic powers weren't the superpowers displayed in films and comics, so hunting the criminals down wasn't nearly as exciting or wild as outsiders would think. If somebody ever got around making a movie about her job, it would play more like a boring version of X-files, instead of a superhero film.

Besides investigating crime, one of the most important tasks for The Department had been to find any psychics they detected and tell these people, that just because they had special powers, they were not above the law.

"I guess we can kiss our vacation goodbye then." Maya said sadly. "Too bad... I've just realized that I need one."

"No worries." Smiled Sheena. "I already said that to the boss and in return for our services now, the Department refunds this vacation,

and

they'll pay for a new one, when the case is over."

That brought a smile to Maya's lips. "Nice. Go change. I'll be there in a moment."

The Indian nodded and walked in the direction of their shared apartment.

Myra drank the rest of her lemonade, placed the glass on the table next to her and was about to stand up, when she spotted a man walking towards her.

Tall and slim with the typical dark complexion of southern Spain, Myra recognized him as Hector Zavala, a Spanish police officer connected to Interpol and Department 55.

Like most people connected with The Department, Hector Zavala was a Psychic and as far as she remembered from his file, he had physical oriented powers and an incredibly tough mental shield. More or less the perfect guard psychic, which was exactly what he normally was.

"Hello, Mr. Zavala."

"Miss Honeycutt," He greeted and sat down in the chair next to her. Then he lowered his voice. "I'm sorry to interrupt your vacation, but there was an attempted kidnapping last night and the fingerprints we found belonged to David Curtis. Care to join in?"

Maya widened her eyes and nodded slowly. David Curtis was not only a Psychic, but also one of the most appalling persons she ever had the misfortune to pursue. Most undiscovered Psychics used their powers to gain riches, sex or both and David Curtis had been no different. A banker by education, Curtis had used his psychic ability to not only steal a lot of money, but also hide them so well, that nobody could trace them once it was discovered that the money had disappeared along with Curtis.

Unfortunately, for the rest of the world, his taste in sex had been molesting underage blonde girls and it had been by trailing that, that they had almost gotten him in England some years ago. He had slipped away by using his psychic abilities on some unsuspecting local coppers that had tried to make an arrest before the Department's people had arrived.

After that, he had disappeared from England for good. At least as far as they knew.

In short, the news that David Curtis had been found again was good news and one they needed to act on immediately.

Myra stood up. "We're wasting time here. There's a limit on how long I can look back in time, so tell me about the rest in car. I assume that you have one ready?"

Zavala nodded with a smile. "Yes, and Miss Rao is being briefed right now. She will talk with the victims."

"Alright, we're moving." Said Maya and walked towards her room. Despite the gravity of the situation, she couldn't help smiling to herself, when she felt someone looking at her body. Feeling sexy was nice and she knew that even in this tourist-ridden city, her red hair, and pale skin was exotic.

She glanced at a window, using the reflection to see if her admirer was the cute bartender, but instead she saw Zavala looking at her, while smiling in honest appreciation.

After a quick change to shirt and pants, Maya walked to the front of the hotel, where Zavala was waiting in his car.

The Spaniard sent her another of his charming smiles when she got into the passenger seat, but it disappeared from one second to the next, as he handed her a folder.

"Here's what we know so far." He said while pulling away from the curb and into the traffic. "David Curtis broke into a secluded house last night and tried to abduct a pair of twins. The twins are here on vacation along with their mother and two of her friends, all of them who are students from America. The pictures and info are in here."

Myra opened the folder and looked at the first sheet, which contained a picture of the twin girls. Being blonde, blue eyed and pretty, they fit right into the type that David Curtis had hunted in England, though his victims usually looked younger.

Next were pictures of the students, which caused her to raise her eyebrows in surprise. The three women were all extremely good looking.

A detail caught her eye and she looked at Zavala. "Two twelve-year old girls with a 25-year-old mother? Are they adopted?"

"No." Zavala grimaced. "I called a friend in California and had him look it up. An early bloomer, Miss Baker was drugged and abused by an unknown man when she was twelve. She became pregnant, but hid it and when the pregnancy was discovered, it was too late for an abortion. Her mother kicked her out, but Miss Baker managed to find a shelter run by a charity organization and stayed there until her twin daughters were born."

"Wow. That's one stubborn girl." Commented Maya. "But wouldn't the government give the legal custody of the kids to Miss Bakers mother?"

"I can't remember the American laws about that, but that wasn't possible." Said Zavala. "The mother died of a drug overdose while Miss Baker was pregnant and without any other family members, she stayed at the shelter along with her twin daughters all the way through her high school years. After that, Miss Baker worked for some years, but eventually went back to school, entering University of Southern California on a Volleyball scholarship." He glanced at her. "There's a lot more to the story, but that's the core of it."

"Impressive woman." Mumbled Myra and looked at the pictures again. "Back to the case. What happened? The short version, please."

"David Curtis broke into the Baker Twin's bedroom, but Karen Chai heard it and interrupted him. Miss Chai happens to be an expert in hand-to-hand combat and kicked his sorry butt." There was a pause as Zavala steered the car around a cabriolet filled with tourists. "Curtis escaped, but in his arrogance, he wasn't wearing a mask and Karen Chai is working with a sketch artist right now, so hopefully we'll know how he looks now soon." He paused as he changed gear. "We caught another break, as he lost one of his gloves while fighting with Miss Chai. That's why we were able to get his fingerprints from the balcony railing."

Myra nodded slowly. "Two questions, Zavala. Why did you say that Curtis was arrogant? He picked a secluded house, inhabited only by women."

"According to the files, Curtis is 188 cm (6'2") tall, but he's thin and doesn't work out." Said the Spaniard and glanced over at her shortly. "Did you see the size of the women?"

"One moment." Maya opened the folder again and looked at the files. Then she read it again to make sure that she wasn't mistaken. According to their passports, Alice Baker was 191 cm (6'3"), Rita Meyers was 188 cm (6'2") and Karen Chai was 185 cm (6'1") tall. "Wow. These are some tall women."

"Yes, they're all about the same height as Curtis." explained Zavala and continued. "They all play volleyball on a high level for their university and are in excellent shape and yet Curtis walked into their house without a weapon."

"Well, as a psychic he would have the advantage not matter what."

"Unless he got surprised, which was exactly what I think happened. That's why I called him arrogant: He thought his mental abilities would save him, if something went wrong."

Maya nodded. "I see what you mean... Are we sure that the witnesses are protected? He will want to get rid of them if he can."

"They're under police protection and trust me when I say that not many of the policemen willingly would take their eyes of them." Zavala smiled. "But since it's Curtis we're dealing with, I've assigned Agent Rao to their protection detail. She should be able to withstand any mental attack he may launch. If we could join her when we're done here, that would be even better."

"Sounds like a plan." She paused. "I guess you want me to look at the crime scene first?"

Hector Zavala shook his head. "No. Miss Chai heard two people running away from the house and the sound of a car. The dogs found a trail and followed it for a while but lost it at the side of the road. Therefore, a description of Curtis, the other person and the car is my top priorities right now."

"Do you think he was arrogant enough to use his own car?"

"I hope so." said Zavala. "You said that you had two questions for me. What's the other one?"

"You said he broke into the children's bedroom... but how did he know it was their room?"

"I don't know." Said the Spaniard with a shrug. "But I assume that Curtis was able to detect where they were. He's a rather good psychic after all. He has also been known to stalk his prey, so he might just have seen it."

Maya nodded with a sigh.

Ten minutes later Myra was standing by the side of the road, focusing her mind, while Zavala kept watch.

At first it didn't seem like anything happened, but then the world started to slow down. The tall grass moved slower and slower in the wind until it stopped completely. Then it started to move backwards, like a movie played in reverse.

Slowly at first, but then it picked up speed.

The shadow of the sun became longer as Myra watched the day in reverse until night started. Then nothing for a long time until suddenly police cars went past. She kept watching until a slightly blurry van rolled backwards until it almost in front of her.

Knowing that the blur meant that this was almost on the edge of how far back she could see, Myra focused her attention on the plate for a moment and then looked up as the doors opened and two persons, a young and an older man, moved backwards out of the van.

Both were dressed in dark clothes, but none of them was wearing masks. The younger of them also moved with a limb and it looked like he was trying to protect his ribcage with his arms. Since she knew that David Curtis was about thirty years old, it had to be him, though he didn't look anything similar to the pictures in the file, but that only meant that he had plastic surgery done.

The older man looked ordinary, with glasses and a receding hairline. The image slowed down even more as Myra concentrated on the men, trying to remember every detail.

Then there was even more blur and the image disappeared as the normal world returned, causing her to stagger.

"Are you okay, Honeycutt?" said Zavala's voice behind her.

Myra turned around. Zavala was leaning against the car, looking slightly worried as he studied her.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Because you have been standing there for about half an hour."

"Sorry about that, but retrocognition takes time." Said Maya. "Your witness was right: There were two men and one of them looked beat up." She removed a lock of her red hair that had blown into her eyes. "Karen Chai must be really good at Martial Arts, because it looked like Curtis had some broken ribs and was limping."

"That fits perfectly with what Miss Chai said."

"Yes, and it looked so serious, that it would be a good idea to call the doctors and hospitals in the area and see if anyone comes in to have their ribs or knee taken care of."

"Good point and I'll do that in a moment." Said Zavala. "What about the vehicle? Anything special about it?"

"Not really. It's a dark grey Ford E-150 van. My guess is that it's about five years old. The plate number is MA 7862 BL".

Zavala looked pleasantly surprised, as he smiled widely. "That's a Malaga number." He said and took his cell phone from a pocket. "Hold on, I'll have it checked."

Myra nodded, took a protein bar from her bag, and wolfed it down. Using her mental powers always caused her to be extremely hungry and protein bars helped.

"No luck so far." Said Zavala as he closed the phone. "The plates were stolen from a carpark near the airport some weeks ago, but at least we know what we're looking for now and they're also contacting the hospitals." He paused and looked at her. "Miss Honeycutt, I've met a few others with your talent, but they rarely get any details. This is a pleasant surprise and I understand why Mr. Newport said that you were the best."

Mr. Newport was the leader of Department 55 and the unexpected compliment from both men caused Maya to blush, but she managed to say, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Said Zavala with a slight bow. "Now, do you want to take a look at the house?"

Maya shook her head. "Too late, I'm afraid. This event was right at the edge of how long I can look back in time. Five-ten minutes more and it would have been too late. Add the thirty minutes we have been standing here and the only thing we'll see at the house is the police arriving."

Zavala accepted that with a nod "Okay. Then it's back to the station. We need to have a sketch made of the other guy... oh... and could you please take a look at the sketch we already have and see how accurate that is? We really need to get a precise drawing of David Curtis out there, so he doesn't slip away again. You can tell me about the rest on the way."

Maya nodded her agreement. David Curtis had escaped once and that was more than enough.

---------- Ivan ----------

A voice saying, "You better wake up, dude, or you'll be looking like a fucking lobster." woke me up.

I opened my eyed and discovered that the sun had moved. Now it was shining on my face and while I'm more resistant to sunburns than most light-haired people are, I'm not immune to them.

I looked in the direction where the voice came from and saw a man in a sun lounger a couple of feet away. The first thing that caught my eye was the fact, that he was wearing a wide brimmed hat instead of those caps many people used. Dark brown hair showed beneath the hat, along with a pair of friendly brown eyes and a smile in a face that would have been ordinary if he weren't about two days overdue for a shave.

Sitting up in the sun lounger, I turned away from the sun. "Thanks for the warning."

"No problem, man." He answered and lifted an almost empty glass of beer. "Cheers."

Seeing him drink, made me realize that I was thirsty, so I waved to a waiter and ordered two beers. Giving the guy next to me a beer was the least I could do, since he spared me sunburn.

Reaching into my backpack, I found a tube of sun lotion and applied it to my face.

"Two beers? You must be mighty thirsty." The other guy commented as I paid the waiter.

I chuckled and looked up "One is for you and thanks again for the warning."

"Well, let it never be said that I turned down free beer." He said with a friendly grin and took one of the beers. "What's your name, friend?"

His accent was fun listening to, I decided. There was a twang to it I had never heard before.

I took the other beer. "I'm Ivan."

"Julian." His eyes shifted to my backpack. "Nice sword. Good craftsmanship on the hilt."

I looked at the backpack and discovered that, taking out the sun lotion had exposed the sword, so I put the bottle back in the pack and covered up the sword again. "Thanks, I'm rather proud of it."