Mindtease

Chapter 1

The car, a red subcompact, braked hard, skidded to halt alongside a winding highway. The engine shut off, and the car clicked into park. The driver was a young man, a "college kid" wearing a black T-shirt, long black cutoff pants. Despite his dark brown, almost black hair, piercing blue eyes, thick eyebrows and hirsute arms and legs, the pasty white body gave him the youthful appearance of a kid that avoided the out-of-doors. But looking at the seat next to him, the youth's wide eyebrows were furrowed in concentration.

Glancing up, the youth looked around, thinking, considering. Beside him was a map, and he moved his long, slender fingers gracefully, plotting his path, finding a destination.

Finally, frustration and exhaustion registered, and the youth sat back in the driver's seat, weary. Looking up, the driver put a pair of sunglasses on, making the youth appear more a tourist than a driver with a final destination.

After a few minutes of rest, the youth furtively searched around, and then started the car. He would find his ultimate destination, even if he did not know it himself...yet. He had to hurry though, for some reason the youth knew he did not have much time...for some reason, some purpose.

Sighing, the youth looked around, adjusted the rearview mirror, started the car, and drove off. 

The youth would not give up on his quest, and the looming, vague deadline only spurred him into action. He would succeed, he had to, it was life or death...not just for what he was seeking, but for himself.

The youth drove purposefully, navigating the road automatically, focusing on his goal that was a moving target...but he would find it, and had to...soon. The thought impressed the need for urgency, and the youth pushed his black sneaker sheathed foot down on the accelerator, and the car surged forward in a burst of speed.

Time was short, the youth had to hurry to find his rendezvous...with his destiny?

# # #

"Where is he now?" the man in the black suit asked a man in a grey suit. The man in the black suit looked in slight revulsion as the grey-suited man smoked a cigarette nonchalantly while reading a report in a black binder.

"The target?" the grey suit asked without looking up.

"Him" the man in the black suit said for emphasis. "Target, subject..."

"Driving erratically," the grey-suited man said looking up from the black plastic binder that held the report, briefing, or synopsis.

"Is he drunk, drugged, or psychotic?" the black suited man asked directly. "Meandering around from state to state without any purpose..."

"On the contrary," the grey-suited man said, closing the black binder, and putting it on the desk in front of him. Searching through the various binders, documents, and folders the grey-suited man found the one he sought, and took it from the desk, opening it, and reading quickly.

"What?" the black suited man asked impatiently. "What is it?"

"Hmmm..." the grey-suited man considered. "The target is behaving erratically and inconsistently, but..."

"But what?" the black suited man demanded.

They grey-suited man picked up a flexible plastic binder with another report nestled within. The title in large type proclaimed "PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS/STRATEGY Case 35798-584 Winters CLASSIFIED" as the content.

The black suited man sighed, impatient but waiting.

"This is conjecture and speculation from several forensic psychiatrists," the grey-suited man explained, "but it based on the subject's psychological assessment and evaluation, interviews with other patients, past history..."