Hostage by Kay Hooper Page B

foot, they’re the most negative places I’ve ever visited—and that includes psychiatric hospitals and trauma units. Even the federal country-club-type prisons where white-collar criminals are kept read as pretty damned negative, at least to somebody like me.”
    “And the most positive place you’ve read?”
    “So far, it was a monastery in Asia.”
    He blinked, thought about asking her, then decided that was an undoubtedly interesting story for later.
    Callie didn’t seem to notice. “So if Jacoby was able to open any kind of psychic door to his own mind in that prison, it’s dollars to doughnuts he let
something
in, and that was more than likely to be negative energy.”
    “Let something in before he was able to escape the prison.”
    “If he was practicing, especially something new to him, that’s a virtual certainty. We all tend to leave ourselves vulnerable when we use our abilities. We’re somewhat protected when we use them in a positive way. His way wasn’t positive.”
    “And whatever he let in, he wouldn’t be able to control.”
    “I wouldn’t think so. Not then. And I still think the more minds around him, the less likely he was and is to control a specific mind with any kind of accuracy.”
    Luther frowned. “Negative energy. If he started trying to control other minds there, in prison, and didn’t really know what he was doing because the abilities were new, or he’d never tried to use them before, then wouldn’t he have been affected
then
? I mean, wouldn’t he have shown signs of erratic behavior during and right after his escape?”
    Callie considered, then nodded slowly. “You’d think there would have been some sign. But I don’t know; if it was recent enough, he might have been able to hide what was happening to him. Especially if he was focused on escaping. If prison is where he first tried to control other minds, he likely would have failed except maybe in some really small way. But in just trying, and trying there, unable to protect himself even if he realized he should, he still could have . . . fed off negative energy. Even then. Unconsciously. Which could have given him more power, including the power to open a door in his own mind.”
    “And let in something darker than he expected?”
    “Maybe. Maybe he started shaping his mind, his abilities, and because he was in a negative place, that was the only energy he could use. He probably couldn’t tell the difference. Strong energy is strong energy; it takes experience to tell one from the other, usually.”
    “And,” Luther said, “however he experimented, whatever the results, there was enough to convince him he could control other minds, if the conditions were right. That he had a shot at using whatever it is to escape federal custody. Maybe he had a successful experiment or two, and the authorities just never noticed.”
    “Possible. Even likely. The paranormal tends to be the last possibility most people consider. Way easier to believe a sleeping guard just nodded off than that he was put to sleep by a psychic.”
    “Let’s assume,” Luther said. “That he practiced. That there was success. But maybe he realized there were too many people around, too many minds to control. He had to figure out a way to get himself alone with just one or two. He’d been inside before, he knew about prisoner transfers, about deals made. Also knew what bait was most likely to get him out of there.”
    “The money. No one knew where he’d hidden the rest of it. No evidence at all, and no sign of a partner.”
    “So just him. And feds eager to question him, maybe make a deal. They make deals with serial killers; Jacoby wasn’t dangerous, never had been, and they didn’t see him as a threat.”
    “Especially,” Callie agreed, “a psychic threat. Bishop was already suspicious, though I don’t think even he had any idea Jacoby was capable of escaping custody.”
    “Or he would have sent SCU agents?”
    “That, or made