Read Acheron Highway: A Jonathan Shade Novel for Free Online Page B
Authors: Gary Jonas
to be in better shape than all of them. He wore a wrinkled bowling team shirt and black slacks that exposed far too much of his mismatched socks, one white and one gray with a checkered pattern.
He had a firm handshake. “I want to be home in time to watch Leno,” he said. “Betty White is supposed to be on tonight. Va-va-voom !”
All of the members lived in the neighborhood except for Cynthia, who owned a house several miles to the west.
“Jonathan here doesn’t believe in remote viewing,” Walter said. “Shall we prove ourselves to him?”
“I’d rather prove it to James Randi and collect a million smackers,” Fred said.
“What would you do with a million bucks?” Lou asked.
Fred looked this way and that then grinned. “I’d travel the world and see all the mystical places from the pyramids to Easter Island.”
“You can view them from here and save time and money. Just send your spirit.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Let’s get set up,” Walter said.
“Where’s Ryan?” Cynthia asked.
“At work.”
“Little bastard owes me five bucks.”
“Good luck with that.”
We moved to the basement. Walter had three rooms set up side by side with one-way glass windows on either side of the center room so you could see into the side rooms. In the middle room, there were four chairs and a table that held an old computer with a dot-matrix printer. Walter caught me looking at it and he pushed my arm. “I don’t replace things unless they’re broken.”
“Yeah, but that’s from the eighties.”
“Still works. This is the monitor station. We keep records of all our excursions in the filing cabinets there.” He pointed to a row of five gray metal cabinets.
The side rooms each had a recliner and a table. A pair of headphones hung over the back of the chair, and a tape recorder sat on each table. Beside each tape recorder was a sketchpad with two pencils. There were small speakers set into the walls, but other than that, the walls were blank—just painted a light beige. No other furnishings.
“Lou and I will be the viewers. Cynthia is my monitor, and Fred will monitor Lou. You’ll stay in the center room with Cynthia and Fred. We’ll go into our stations and get ready. When it’s time, Cynthia and Fred will give us the number and we’ll project ourselves to the target. We’ll describe what we see and maybe draw it too.”
“Let’s get this shindig started,” Lou said.
He gave me a nod then disappeared into the room on the left. Through the one-way glass, I watched him take a seat in the recliner. He put on the headphones, leaned way back, flipped me the bird, then closed his eyes.
“Get ready to have your mind blown,” Walter said. He punched me lightly on the arm then disappeared into the room on the right. He settled into the recliner, slipped on the headphones, and gave us a thumbs-up.
Cynthia gestured to a chair, but I decided to remain standing. “It could be a while,” she said. She rolled up a sheet of paper from the printer and detached it. She peeled off the sides with the little sprocket holes and dropped them into a wastebasket then placed the paper on the table. She took a pen out of a drawer and handed it to me.
“Think of a person, place, or thing that you’d like them to go check out. Don’t tell us what it is. Got one?”
“You bet,” I said. I focused on Kelly. I figured it would be easy to verify and it wouldn’t be dangerous. For example, if I had them check on Sharon and it turned out they were telling the truth and could actually go and see her, then it could compromise her location. I knew Kelly would be in her dojo. She used to have a place on Colfax, but that place no longer exists, so she got a place on 32nd and Sheridan in a strip mall by a 7-Eleven. Parking sucked but rent was cheap.
“Choose a number. Doesn’t matter
He had a firm handshake. “I want to be home in time to watch Leno,” he said. “Betty White is supposed to be on tonight. Va-va-voom !”
All of the members lived in the neighborhood except for Cynthia, who owned a house several miles to the west.
“Jonathan here doesn’t believe in remote viewing,” Walter said. “Shall we prove ourselves to him?”
“I’d rather prove it to James Randi and collect a million smackers,” Fred said.
“What would you do with a million bucks?” Lou asked.
Fred looked this way and that then grinned. “I’d travel the world and see all the mystical places from the pyramids to Easter Island.”
“You can view them from here and save time and money. Just send your spirit.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Let’s get set up,” Walter said.
“Where’s Ryan?” Cynthia asked.
“At work.”
“Little bastard owes me five bucks.”
“Good luck with that.”
We moved to the basement. Walter had three rooms set up side by side with one-way glass windows on either side of the center room so you could see into the side rooms. In the middle room, there were four chairs and a table that held an old computer with a dot-matrix printer. Walter caught me looking at it and he pushed my arm. “I don’t replace things unless they’re broken.”
“Yeah, but that’s from the eighties.”
“Still works. This is the monitor station. We keep records of all our excursions in the filing cabinets there.” He pointed to a row of five gray metal cabinets.
The side rooms each had a recliner and a table. A pair of headphones hung over the back of the chair, and a tape recorder sat on each table. Beside each tape recorder was a sketchpad with two pencils. There were small speakers set into the walls, but other than that, the walls were blank—just painted a light beige. No other furnishings.
“Lou and I will be the viewers. Cynthia is my monitor, and Fred will monitor Lou. You’ll stay in the center room with Cynthia and Fred. We’ll go into our stations and get ready. When it’s time, Cynthia and Fred will give us the number and we’ll project ourselves to the target. We’ll describe what we see and maybe draw it too.”
“Let’s get this shindig started,” Lou said.
He gave me a nod then disappeared into the room on the left. Through the one-way glass, I watched him take a seat in the recliner. He put on the headphones, leaned way back, flipped me the bird, then closed his eyes.
“Get ready to have your mind blown,” Walter said. He punched me lightly on the arm then disappeared into the room on the right. He settled into the recliner, slipped on the headphones, and gave us a thumbs-up.
Cynthia gestured to a chair, but I decided to remain standing. “It could be a while,” she said. She rolled up a sheet of paper from the printer and detached it. She peeled off the sides with the little sprocket holes and dropped them into a wastebasket then placed the paper on the table. She took a pen out of a drawer and handed it to me.
“Think of a person, place, or thing that you’d like them to go check out. Don’t tell us what it is. Got one?”
“You bet,” I said. I focused on Kelly. I figured it would be easy to verify and it wouldn’t be dangerous. For example, if I had them check on Sharon and it turned out they were telling the truth and could actually go and see her, then it could compromise her location. I knew Kelly would be in her dojo. She used to have a place on Colfax, but that place no longer exists, so she got a place on 32nd and Sheridan in a strip mall by a 7-Eleven. Parking sucked but rent was cheap.
“Choose a number. Doesn’t matter