Mind Sync Chapter Three

“Bree! Max! Where are you guys?”

“Shhtt-” Bree’s tongue, like a thick strip of leather, made it difficult for her to tell her brother to shut the hell up. With effort, she peeled one eye open, only to slam it shut again. Unfortunately, not fast enough to prevent the bright daylight from piercing her brain. Memories from the night before flooded her mind. She and Max, plus a few of his buddies and tequila. Lots of tequila. Margaritas. Shots. Ugh. Her stomach roiled and head pounded.

“There you are. Did you sleep out here? Jesus, this place smells like a distillery.” Jason plopped down in the leather chair closest to the couch, where Bree lay sprawled in their uncle Max’s living room.

With one finger held to her lips, Bree struggled to sit up. She blinked a few times, adjusting to the light. A bottle of water on the coffee table came into focus. She grabbed it and gulped half, appreciating the relief. Since it was still cold, she figured Max must have put it there recently.

“What…” Bree cleared her throat. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost eleven. Where’s Max?”

“Am I his fucking keeper?” She drank more water.

She looked around at the mess, remembering the night before. She’d gone to the store to get her favorite tequila, but another label had caught her attention. Karma Tequila. The irony had been too great to resist. She and the others had drowned their sorrows with Karma Tequila.

“You might want to be nicer to me since I brought you a Red Rocket.”

At the mention of coffee, Bree’s eyes widened, but Jason hugged it to his body.

“I’m so sorry, my dear sweet baby bro.” Bree plastered on a smile and blinked a few times. “I do not know where our illustrious uncle has gone on this fine morning. Would you like me to find out for you?” She looked around for her phone.

“That’s better, but how about you stop with the baby bro shit. I’m a man.”

The wonderful aroma of the coffee wafted toward Bree.

“Yes, Jason. You’re right. My bad.” She tried hard to keep the sarcasm from her voice and coughed to keep from laughing. She really wanted that coffee. No, desperately needed the coffee. With all the seriousness she could muster, she said, “You are the manliest man I know, Mr. Jackson. The most handsome, strongest man in the land.” She reached out for the coffee, but Jason clung to it. “And the most generous man.” She smiled.

After a moment, he smiled back and handed her the coffee. Bree grabbed a throw pillow and flung it at her brother. He caught it and threw it back.

Bree blocked the incoming pillow with her left hand and guarded the precious coffee with her right. “Oh, fuck me. My head hurts.”

“I bet. Looks like you guys partied hard last night. I’m sorry I had to leave early. Then again—” He looked her over and grimaced. “Maybe I should be glad I had to work.”

“Hey buddy.” Max came into the living room, breathing heavy. His sweaty tee-shirt clung to his body. He took a big gulp of water, then rolled the cold bottle over his forehead.

“Bree, you look like hell. You want me to make pancakes? The carbs will help you feel better. Bring up your blood sugar.”

“You’re a freak.” Bree almost threw up just thinking about running. She cocked her head.

“But, I could eat pancakes.”

“Sweating helps clear the system. You should try it. I’ll make breakfast after I shower.” Max headed back to his bedroom.

“This combo will cure any hangover.” Max took a swig from his protein drink and then returned his attention to his plate of pancakes.

“I sure as shit hope it helps mine, ‘cause I feel rough,” Bree grumbled.

“I laced the protein drink with some vitamins and herbs.” Max looked at Bree, then nodded toward her water bottle. “You need to keep drinking water today too.”

Bree rolled her eyes.

“I’m serious. You need to rehydrate.”

Bree eyed Max over the rim of her cup as she took a sip of coffee.

“With water.”

“Quit nagging. What, are you channeling my mother now?”

“No, but maybe I should.” Max let out a breath and looked away. “Maybe then you’d treat me with more respect.”

A pang of regret. But, damn it. He knew she wasn’t fit to be around people so soon after waking up. Especially with a hangover. She did respect Max, but he was only eight years her elder so she’d always thought of him more like a brother than an uncle.

“Did you guys hear about Ms. Worton?” Jason spoke around a mouthful of partially chewed pancakes, thankfully changing the subject.

“No. What happened to her?” Bree stopped eating and looked at Jason. Ms. Worton was one of her favorite teachers. She taught English at Red Rock High School and was an avid supporter of the girls’ sports programs, especially basketball. Her husband, Mr. Scholtz, coached her varsity basketball team.

“She went berserk yesterday and attacked the bagger at Basha’s when he was loading her groceries into the car. She got k-snagged and Mr. Scholtz is flipping out. He’s saying someone poisoned her or something.”

Bree tried to ignore the display of partially chewed pancakes as Jason talked. “Shit.” Her insides twisted as fear and rage battled. As usual, fear lost out. Fear was stupid and weak. Anger, she could deal with.

“Dude, that’s not all. Mr. Scholtz said the same thing happened to Cody Sidwell. He’s the geek who flipped out and shot his mom. When the KGs came for him, his dad attacked them. The KGs took ‘em both. Freakin’ nuts.” Jason took a swig of protein drink to wash down the mess in his mouth.

“What the hell? Are you sure?” Bree fired her questions at Jason with more intensity than she meant to. “How do you even know this?” And, more importantly, how the fuck had she missed this news? Oh yeah, she’d been hiding out and staying in a drunken stupor.

“Are you kidding? This is the most action Slow-dona’s probably ever seen. Everyone’s talking about it at the coffee shop this morning. You know word travels faster than fire around here,” Jason said, proud to be the one in the know.

Bree looked at Max. He’d stopped eating. His stoic jaw line twitched.

“What the hell’s going on?” A disturbing thought popped into her mind. “I saw Rick the other day and he said that there’ve been pockets of violence springing up around areas in this part of the state. Apparently people who had no history of violence are randomly acting out. You hear anything like this, Max?”

“I’m out here in the middle of nowhere for a reason.” Max downed the rest of his smoothie and avoided eye contact.

After an abrupt retirement from the military, Max had built a partly underground house and fully underground bunker outside of Sedona.

“I know. Me too, but I think something weird is going on.” A prickly sensation tickled Bree’s gut. She kept her eye on Max, but he didn’t look up.

“Whaddya mean?” Jason’s eyes crinkled and his nicely groomed eyebrows knitted together.

When had he started grooming his eyebrows? Bree couldn’t stop staring at them, but she did her best to stay focused. “I’m not sure. Something feels off. I don’t think Ms. Worton has a violent bone in her body. What about Cody? Is he prone to violence?” Bree looked at Jason.

“Nah. He is… er, was a total nerd. President of the chess club and member of some weird peace group. That’s what makes it kinda funny.” Jason giggled.

“Nice, asshole.” Bree swatted her brother’s arm. “People’s lives are destroyed, and you think it’s funny?”

Jason frowned and got up to clear his plate. As much as Bree loved her baby brother, he could be inappropriate at times. The doctors said it was due to his brain-trauma-induced ADD and problems with impulse control, but sometimes she wanted to smack him upside the head and see if she could jiggle his brain into a new pattern. Apparently hangovers interfered with patience as well as tact.

“I’m sorry, Jase, come on back!” Bree yelled so Jason could hear her over the running water.

He stuck his dishes in the dishwasher and turned around.

Bree patted the chair next to her. “Come on, sit back down. I didn’t mean it. I’m just cranky.”

Jason sat. He pouted, but he sat.

“What else have you heard?” Bree rubbed her shoulders and neck muscles, trying to release the knots.

Jason shrugged. “A few people coming into the cafe seem like they’ve taken some kinda happy juice. Summer said that her neighbor stopped leaving his home. He just sits on his couch with a creepy smile and looks like he’s stoned or something, but she doesn’t think he uses drugs.”

Max finally joined in the conversation. “Any tourists or just locals? The happy people?”

“Locals.”

“Hmm… so some people are getting violent for no reason and others are going the opposite way?” Bree asked.

“Yeah, I guess. I mean, they were decent before, but not all weird like this. Kyle wanted to ask if they found some new strain of weed.” Jason laughed.

“Hardly likely that someone would get a hold of a new type of pot before Kyle.” Bree smirked. “When did you start noticing this change?”

“I don’t know. I guess a few days ago.” Jason shrugged and his legs started bouncing.

“What are we doing today?”

Typical Jason. He couldn’t sit still for too long.

“What do you want-“

“Wait a minute.” Bree interrupted Max. “Don’t you think we should try to figure out what the hell’s going on around here?”

“No.” Max made eye contact. “I think we should let it go and stick with the plan to do something fun today.”

“But-“

Max gave Bree a look of warning, then flashed his eyes toward Jase.

“Okay, fine. I’ll drop it. You two decide what we’re gonna do. I’m gonna go shower.” Bree cleared her dishes and headed to the bathroom. Something was wrong. She cold feel it in her gut. And Max was acting weird - like he knew something. Given his former connections high up in the US government - despite the fact that it no longer existed - he probably did know something. She’d always trusted Max, so she decided that if he felt okay to go hang out, then she’d let it go. At least, she’d try.