Author's note.
When I was considering the number of people involved in this chapter, I looked up the Oregon State Police missing persons list. It contains over 1200 names, mostly young people. I filtered down to 2023, and found that over 500 of those names were from last year alone. I was surprised at how many people could go missing in a single state in only a year, and not generate some kind of massive outcry. I'd originally put in some numbers, but after seeing this I increased them.
It might be unrealistic to hope that they all return safe, but I hope that at least some of them find their way safely back to their loved ones.
PM
Caleb 92 - Rosie
I was on my way to the airfield for my flying lesson when my phone rang.
"Hello?" I answered it.
"Caleb?" a woman's voice that I half recognized.
"Yes?" I replied.
"It's Martha," she said. "We...er met the other week."
"How can I help you?" I asked, guardedly. Although I was no longer enraged about what she'd done to Sarah, and I could kind of understand it, she'd still attacked my baby sister. I wasn't best disposed toward her.
"Ah," she said. "You're still mad?"
"Let's just say," I told her, "that it's probably good that we're having this conversation over the telephone. I know you thought that you were doing the right thing, but you attacked my sister and then, when you couldn't breach her shields, you tried to set your goons on her. What would have happened if she'd have fought back?"
"They'd have contained her," she said. "They're trained mental health professionals used to taking people down without injury. I'm still not clear on what Sarah did. I thought she didn't have TK."
"Obviously," I told her, "your information was flawed in more than one respect."
"I guess." She said. "Look Caleb. I'm really sorry that..."
"And what about the drug you tried to give her?" I went on. "How did you know that you weren't going to overdose her instead of just knocking her out?"
"That wasn't a sedative," she said. "It was a power suppression medicine. It's what all LEO's take when they go to arrest power users. It's completely safe, although it does have some unfortunate side effects. If she'd drunk it, then the boys would have simply wrapped her up. We'd have taken her to our facility where we'd have looked after her until we could have figured out the truth."
"Terrifying her in the process," I said. "Why the fuck didn't you come and talk to us in the first place? We could have saved all of this? As I thought, it was the Empathic attraction that had affected Connie, so I really understand why she did what she did. I also kind of understand how Brian could get bullied into going along with it, but you're supposed to be professionals at this. You didn't even know who I was. Surely that information would have been the minimum to find out before blundering in like you did."
"You're right," she said. "I should have done my due diligence better. If its any consolation, I've completely updated all my processes for taking such cases on. But you have to understand that sometimes we have a limited window of opportunity, and we have to move. I know we got it wrong with Sarah, and I'm sorry for that, but we've helped so many more kids, some of whom would have suffered terribly or even not survived. I also have a filing box full of cases where we failed to move in time and the results of that are more heartbreaking than you can imagine."
I considered that, admitting that she probably had a point. I only saw the one case, and I was on the wrong end of it, and probably not best placed to make an objective judgement.
I sighed.
"So did you call me for my forgiveness?" I asked sarcastically, guessing that she had another motive for contacting me.
"Not exactly," she said. "I've spoken to Vince about you, at length. He told me that he thought so highly of you that he brought you into our family."
I was puzzled about that for a second until I realized what she meant.
"He's a good friend who helped me when I needed someone," I told her.
"And you more than repaid him," she returned, "by getting the Healer network to finally agree to heal him and carried out a lot of the healing yourself."
"Is this going somewhere?" I asked.
"I was hoping to ask for your help," she said. "And maybe to show you what we do, so that perhaps you might not be so angry with me in future?"
"Why does my opinion of you matter to you at all?" I asked. "We'd never met before, and it's highly unlikely we'll ever meet again."
"Not true," she said. "I work closely with the FBI, and I'm sure that we'll cross paths again, but more importantly you're family, and I can't be at odds with my family."
"But..." I began.
"You've seen Penelope," she said. "You showed us the love that her father had for her. We felt it, all of us. I don't think you can imagine how much that piece of history from our heritage means to our family."
"I'm kind of tied up today," I said. "What exactly did you need help with?" I still wasn't sure about the 'family' thing, so I was using the question to divert her.
"There have been a number of young people go missing," she said, "in Portland. Mostly in their late teens and early twenties. Most of them had already left home, and were making their own way, so it took a little time for people to notice they're missing.
"However, a young man who, although he's twenty two, still lived with his parents went missing last week. Don't ask me about the family dynamic, but they not only had location sharing on his phone, they had a tracker on his car, and they were both traced to a property outside of the city. His phone has since gone offline, but his car is still reporting in. I doubt that they even considered it would be lowjacked, it's an oldish beater so not a model to be connected to such systems.
"When his parents went to the property, they spoke to the boy. He told them that he'd joined the commune there, he was happy, and he just wanted to be left alone. He was accompanied by another man, who wore what looked like a monk's robes, who told them that her son was with their commune now and he'd decided he no longer wanted to be a part of the twenty first century rat race. They were all going to live a far simpler life away from the pressures of the modern world.
"They were then escorted off the property and asked not to return. When the police were called, they interviewed the young man who repeated his wish, so they had to leave. His parents received notification in the mail that a restraining order has been issued against them. They're not allowed to contact him or approach within five hundred feet of him. He, apparently, also signed over all his possessions to the commune, including his savings. His parents fortunately had some access to his bank accounts and have moved most of his money into an account that he has no access to. They also know that it's only a matter of time before another court order comes through ordering them to hand over the money. The commune seems to have excellent legal representation."
"So what are you going to do about this?" I asked. "Surely this is bigger than a single person being inducted into some kind of cult. Even if you do manage to kidnap this kid and remove whatever conditioning they have on him, what then? Won't you have the hounds of hell chasing you through the courts?"
"That's why we need your help," she said. "We can't grab the boy. He's on the compound and, despite their 'rejection of the modern world', it has state of the art security and armed guards. They are fully licensed as a religion and state that they need the level of security because of religious persecution."
"Can't the FBI help?" I asked.
"They won't," she said. "There's been no crime committed, and until there is it's just a gathering of people. They are constitutionally protected by the first, second, and fourth amendments."
"I'm still not seeing how I can help," I said.
"I'm not strong enough," she said, "to go in there alone. I need someone with real power to back me up, and Vince said you were that man."
"I can't just walk in there and start waving my dick around," I said. "I'll be the one locked up by the FBI. Like you said they're protected by the Constitution. I've already sworn an oath to protect that, and I can't go against that."
"I was hoping," she said, "that you could go in, undercover, and maybe find out how they are controlling these kids."
"They're not kids," I said. "They're adults, making their own decisions. Are you sure they're not just making decisions that you don't agree with?"
"They are definitely doing that," she said. "But my concern is that they are not making them of their own volition. If you get in there and find that these kids are free to choose and are just making what we would consider to be unwise decisions, then I guess we're done. I'll back off and tell the parents they should do likewise. But if, as I suspect to be the case, there is some form of control, either powers, coercion, or something else, then we need to know about it, so we can take them down and make sure that no more people are taken in by them.
"According to records, that property has been there for five years. This year alone something like five hundred people were reported missing in the Portland area alone. How many of them ended up there? When I was there, aside from the guy in robes, I never saw anyone over the age of twenty five. I'm wondering what has happened to the older ones. Where are they going? Are they moving to other areas, being sold off, killed, what?"
"And you've approached the FBI?" I asked.
"I spoke to Maggie. I already told her what she told me. She said we needed more proof, and she couldn't spare anyone for an investigation."
"And she told you to speak to me?" I asked.
"No," she said. "Vince told me to speak to you."
"I'll need to speak to Maggie about this first," I said. "If she says to stay away then, I'm sorry, I can't get involved."
"I understand," she said.
"I'll call you back after I have," I said. "But I have other stuff on today, and Maggie is not always available. Don't expect an immediate answer."
"I'd ask you to hurry," she said. "I have no idea what's going on in that enclave. People could easily be getting hurt."
"Understood," I said.
"I have some images of the compound, and some of the people that are living there," she said. "I'll send them through to you."
"Images?" I asked.
"We've been watching for a few months. We've seen maybe four or five 'new recruits' brought in. They all seem happy to be there, but there's something about this that raises my hackles."
"Okay," I said, "I'll take a look, although I don't know what I'll get from the pictures."
"Just look at their faces, their eyes just look strange to me," she said. "It's subtle, but I think it's relevant."
"I'll take a look," I said again.
"Thanks Caleb," she said, "I'll wait to hear from you."
A short while later, my phone beeped to inform me an email had arrived but, since I was in the air, and having fun in the Robinson R44, I ignored it. I'd take a look when I finished my lesson and see what I could see. I'd also try contacting Maggie and see what she had to say about things.
After my Rotary wing lesson, I was going to log a couple more hours in the Cessna 150 before flying the Baron just to keep sharp. I had another check ride booked for the next week to cover my advanced certificates. Once that was done, I just needed to log hours before I could move on further.
"You fly like you've been doing this all your life," Joe said, as I brought the helicopter down on the apron, and shut it down. "If it weren't for the fact that you need to log certain hours, I'd be recommending you book your check ride. When do you want your next 'lesson'?"
He actually did the air quotes motion with his fingers, since he'd not taught me a thing, just asking me to carry out certain manoeuvres and watching me do them almost flawlessly. I had the memories, I was still building the muscle memory.
"Can I call you?" I asked. "Something's come up that I might need to see to. Once I know, I'll let you know."
