Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park was a New Orleans staple and had been for a generation now. Set snugly against the waters of Lake Pontchartrain itself, the park was winding down the summer season, closing in the early evening as the days grew shorter. On this day, closing time came before sunset and and young families straining for that last bit of fun before winter began were long gone.
All that remained were perhaps a few stray security guards and maybe a janitor or two. None were to be found in the parking lot though and the few cars were mostly unoccupied. Mostly. The park itself was surrounded by a low line of bushes, kept neatly trimmed during peak season but now showing the effects of slowing attendance numbers and the knowledge that winter would soon thin them out without any effort on the part of the staff. A tall chain link fence behind the bushes rose ten feet into the air. The sun sat low on the horizon and the undergrowth was in deep shadow.
Cassie Reynold emerged from the small row of bushes beside the fence stepping out of the shadow and into the scattered light of the asphalt parking lot. Bits and pieces of plants clung to her hair, a mass of curls tied back with a yellow ribbon tied into a bow. She carried herself as if the weight of the world pressed down on her young shoulders, beaten down, dirty, and exhausted.
Haggard eyes looked out from a tear-streaked face. She took two steps and hesitated, looked left and then right to where an older man in a mid-size sedan spoke with a young boy. They both looked her way. The boy got into the car, the man following, passing around the hood and sliding into the driver’s seat, both sets of eyes fixed on the girl.
Across the parking lot, directly in front of Cassie, another man sat in a parked car. He was neatly dressed, the kind of man anyone passing on the street would ignore. He folded his newspaper when Cassie appeared out of nowhere, got out of the car and stood next to the open door. He watched her approach with surprise and no small amount of excitement, though neither emotion played across his face.
As if finally making some kind of decision, Cassie walked straight across the parking lot. Her gait was steady. Her eyes fixed on the man beside the car as he waited. The ribbon in her hair was neat and clean and somehow seemed out of place with her ragamuffin appearance, as if someone picked up a doll in a thrift store and brightened it up with expensive trappings.
Behind her, the lattice network of support pilings for the roller coaster cast a crisscross network of shadows across the lot. Her feet broke the pattern as she moved forward, shadow, square of light, shadow, square of light.
Her eyes remained fixed on the man ahead of her. He took a step back as she approached. She stopped, spoke a few words, hesitated, and stepped forward again. He smiled and after a moment patted his coat just over his left breast. The girl spoke again and pointed across the lot to the car parked at the end of the paved surface. Inside, the boy waited, door open and one foot on the ground. The man in front of her turned his head in that direction, decided the car offered no threat, and turned back. He found himself staring into the barrel of a pistol. Cassie Reynold, 13 years old, said “Gotcha.”
Then she pulled the trigger.
ORIGINS Description:
When CIA operatives discover that teens Cassie Reynold and Ronnie Gilmore possess uncanny psychic abilities, their seemingly normal existence is catapulted into a world of espionage,mayhem, and cold blooded murder.
Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, these two high-value targets are marked as prey for renegade agent Thorne. Capturing them will cement his position within a clandestine world, rife with danger at every turn.
The year is 1973 and the world has changed. The government is on edge, no one more so than rogue CIA operative Thorne. After discovering the pair of New Orleans teenagers and their paranormal abilities, he is determined to capture them and use them to further his own cause, but doing so will not come easily, especially when the pursuit unleashes the deadliest instinct of Cassie Reynold.
