Annela was completely on the wrong side of the track. She thought, meeting him, that he was just a simple human. And he proved himself to her as a Weak, only to pursue the same way and show her he was a Strong. He turned out to be full of surprises. She is sure he is withholding precious information, and he knows like her that she is a gold mine of information.

          Facing him on the sofa, she folds her leg under herself, her mind wandering off to a steamy imagination she knows she'll feel an utter most powerful disgust for. She knows that most of the attraction she feels is from his influence. But she feels it's a unique opportunity to obtain information from another mind reader, potentially weaker than her ; or stronger, but she tells herself the probability is infinitesimal.

          She unpredictably gives a powerful push into his head. His straight eyebrows jump up, in surprise.

          In his head she manages to get a blurry glimpse of his phone screen, through his eyes, as they were walking to her apartment. He was texting someone her address, in signs, such as underscores, or punctuation, and not letters. His thoughts echo her address as he types gibberish. He was communicating her address. She holds herself from gasping. He works for the Paradox. Her organization never mentioned any use of symbols for coded messaging. They privilege other techniques, but she for sure knows they don't use signs, because it is easily noticeable. Plain sight is more their tendency.

          Annela snaps back to reality. He almost immediately pushed her out his head. It's her turn to be surprised. She realizes she has no idea of his power, and someone probably followed them back to her address. Reinforcement is on its way and to support the other team. She prepares herself to push for further information but his quiet laugh attracts her attention.

          I'd be careful if I were you, he warns.

          He's un-normally confident. Reinforcement must be close. She doesn't know how to react at first but an idea starts forming in her mind.

          She defyingly keeps her eyes in his, letting the back of her hand brush his shoulder. She hopes she gives him confidence, making him think she is under his power. His chest rises higher as his breathing gets heavier at the thin cloth separating his shirt and her hand. Although nothing apparent on the outside shows, concentration reeks from the both.

          I'd be careful if I were you, she smirks repeating his exact words, emphasizing on the last word. Tim leans forward, reducing the distance to a mere ten centimeters from her face, still confident. They are so close she feels his nose breathing on her. His perfume is distinctively sweet, light and fruity, probably impregnated by his shower gel, or shampoo.

          Her hand continues her way sliding down his shoulder, and Annela starts barricading her mind with all her might, bracing herself for the physical contact. As soon as she touches his bare skin she is violently pushed out of his mind. But not only by him, she feels the effort coming from him as well as another individual, right outside her door. She mentally shakes her head, it's two against one.

          Completely knocked out, and before she gets the chance to assimilate the informations, she feels his lips collide onto hers. Her eyes widen.

          She reprimands her need to brutally recoil from the man, sign of weakness. She feels the two individuals pushing, trying to gain her deeper conscience. She closed her eyes, her focus tensing her body, her breathing accelerating faced to the effort of resistance.

          He continues sending his influence, making her feel the need to kiss him harder, press herself against him.

          She enjoys the sensation, she enjoys the moment, Tim makes sure she feels this way. She suddenly loses a little control, on her mind, as well as her breathing.

          Flashes of her intensive preparation at the training room of the agency fuse through her mind.

          The voice of an older man shouts at her not to give in. She knows that, but she doesn't hear him under her breathtaking efforts to keep him out her head. Every exterior sound is blurred. He's pushing and getting closer to a thought her goal is for him not to discover. In the small space, resembling a tiny interrogation FBI room, where only a simple metal table separates two chairs, she is on the floor and the man calmly sitting on his chair. The space between the walls is narrow. She tries to scurry further from the tutor, but her back hits one of the walls.

           She holds her head between her hands letting a scream of rage blow. With the last ounce of will power and strength she is capable to withdraw from the depths of herself, she wards him off. Just enough to pass the test.

           "A little disappointed," his voices echoes on the inner linings of her mind. "We'll double training tomorrow."

          Thin sweat pearls down her forehead.

          After the announcement, he leaves the room, leaving Annela panting on the floor, battling to regulate her breaths.

          The memory blurs. She knows Tim and the other individual she senses outside her door, accessed that memory. As in her past trainings, she repeats to herself she needs to make a last effort to pull herself out of the grasp of the intruder of her mind. But this time she doesn't need to scream. She breaths in deeply and manages to regain control.

          Are you done? She asks, although more feeble than what she would have liked to seem.

          He smiles against her lips before pulling away. She leans back, not leaving her threatening eyes off of him.

         "Thanks for the drink." He sighs, using his physical voice, a slight rasp in his tone. He stands up and she walks him to the door. Disgust fills the young woman facing the man her height, as he removes his influence.

          "Pleasure getting to know you and your associate," she haughtily articulates, judgmentally. His victorious smile fades away, his pride taking a blow.

          "Next time you should maybe bring more," she suggests the tip, shrugging while opening the door to a man's head quickly disappearing down a flight of stairs. She missed his face by a few milliseconds.

          "Maybe three men against a woman could crack some useful information," she reinforces.

          He takes a step outside.

          "Lovely evening Miss Morgan, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did," he politely salutes but with a slight colder voice. "Next time," he begins, "We'll be more prepared." And he strolls away, his hands in his pockets.

          Annela locks the door behind him. She goes to the piece of wooden furniture supporting the television and opens a drawer. From inside, she pulls a file under a pile of books and magazines and flops on her couch. Replaying the scenes with Tim in her head, she puts her head in a hand, closing her eyes and letting out a heavy sigh.

          There's going to be a next time... She tells herself.

          The young lady opens the file and starts reading the details of her mission, even if her concentration never ceases to bounce back to Tim Bailey. He is in the Paradox.

          He isn't as strong as her. She could overpower two of them. It'd astound her if they were on her side, no Controler from her agency would be let on duty at this low level. She wonders if he knows in which clan she is. She doesn't know for sure, but the probabilities are high that in some manner, in some code communication the organization uses, he could have determined her belonging.

          She now knew that members of the Paradox was also associated to this section of the country. The list of probable reasons wasn't long. Both agencies were racing against each other for the same goal : find the newborn mind reader.