His heart pounded, and his earlier breakfast suddenly threatened to make an appearance. Fuck. What if he messed up? How important was this test? Was it written, or maybe physical? He swallowed.
“S’up, kid?” Talon stood, frowning at him.
Finn licked his lips. “What, umm, sort of test is it?”
Talon shrugged. “Basic behavioral insight, so they can see what you might spot automatically. Or more importantly what assumptions you have that you have to unlearn fast.” He looked assessingly at Finn. “It’s no big deal. I think you just read the questions and pick an answer. It’s timed, but it’s not like you get graded or anything.”
Finn felt sick. It was timed. He’d expected there to be tests at Quantico, but not on his first day, and not when every single person on his team wanted him to fail.
“You okay, kid?”
Finn looked up at Talon, who was looking puzzled, and gulped. He needed to calm down. “Yeah.”
“Good. Come on. Let’s get this over with, then.” Talon led him into yet another room and gestured to a chair next to a desk.
Finn could already feel his palms sweating and his heart pounding, and he tried to breathe slowly. He’d done all sorts of breathing exercises to prepare for his SATs and one of his interviews. He knew to start with the questions that had the most points attached. When he was younger, he made the mistake of always starting at the beginning, and because it took him longer to read the questions, he always ran out of time. It just seemed harder now that he knew the stakes and knew everyone wanted him to fail.
Talon didn’t seem to notice his anxiety, however, and picked up a folder from the table and dropped it on the desk. “There’s actually no right or wrong answers. We just need to get a feel for your thought process. So we know your starting point. Don’t forget we’re condensing eight hundred hours of training into four weeks.” Talon shrugged. “Some of the things I may ask you to do will seem difficult to understand.”
Finn looked blankly at the folder. Of course there were right and wrong answers. Even he wasn’t stupid enough to believe this wasn’t something else he could fail at.
TALON SAT back down and rubbed his face, trying not to hiss when he caught his lip. He didn’t know how he felt, and it was confusing the hell out of him. He was always convinced having enhanced and regular humans working together wasn’t a good idea. The basic tenet of his team was trust. Knowing each of his guys had his back and wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger to save his life. His first trainee didn’t even make it through the test Finn was currently looking at. Fifteen questions, all designed to see if the trainee would fail to respond as quickly if the victim was regular or enhanced, and not just that straightforward. Sometimes candidates would try to go the other way, be too preferential for enhanced to try to win favors.
That scenario didn’t cut it with any of his team either. None of the questions used the words “regular” or “enhanced.” The clues were more subtle, and someone a lot cleverer than Talon had put the questions together. He glanced at the clock. Twenty minutes for the first round of ten questions. Five pretty simple ones, and five that required a little more thought. Then there were some basic math problems as well.
He stood and wandered over to where Finn was sitting, then stopped in surprise. Finn was looking at the last page. Had he finished it already? Talon narrowed his eyes as he looked at Finn. His hand shook as he turned a page, and Finn hadn’t so much as picked up his pen. What was it? Nerves? Was that the reason Finn hadn’t done so well on his exams in college?
Talon absently filed the thought away. It wasn’t his business, and he wasn’t here to babysit someone he wanted out anyway. Served him right if he did fail the test. Talon leaned back against the wall and stared at the ceiling. He smiled a little as he remembered the vid with Finn’s voice declaring he was a federal agent. Even if he wanted him gone, he could grudgingly admit the kid had balls.
Talon glanced over at Finn again and was suddenly struck by the mask of desperation on his face. What the fuck was wrong with him? He knew he could read. There was no way he would have gotten through high school without that, and Finn had a fucking degree. Talon blinked. He’d read the glowing reports from his tutors. Finn’s dedication. His single-mindedness, almost. What he told him in the café. Why would someone put himself through all that and not study his ass off 24-7 to make sure his grades were good?
Unless there was another reason.
Talon stood. “How are you getting on? Halfway through,” he added in case Finn just needed a kick up the ass to get started. He’d also seen some trainees overthink things to the point that it nearly paralyzed them. No decision because they were frightened of not making the right one. That was sometimes even worse. Being an agent meant split-second choices. Talon looked at the clock. Eight minutes left. Eight minutes and Finn would be gone, and they wouldn’t even need all the scenarios the team would put on for him this afternoon. Eight minutes and the brass might concede to what he’d been telling them for months—that the unit should be enhanced only.
He glanced over to see what Finn was writing and frowned. Absolutely nothing. Talon took a step and fisted his hands. Don’t fucking ask, Talon, he told himself sternly. Then the defiant voice of Finn challenging the bastards who attacked him yesterday came into his head, and he sighed. What the hell? He could ask, right?
Talon sat on the desk and picked up the paper. “Your pen not working, kid?”
Finn pushed himself upright. “I’ll go.” He lowered his eyes, but not before Talon saw the frustration and disgust darkening them. He looked at the question that had gotten Finn so worked up. It was a scenario that subtly lead the trainee to favor the enhanced over the human. Not because it was the right thing to do for the situation, but to weed out reverse favoritism.
Talon read the question out loud and lowered the paper. “Why are you having problems with that?”
Finn jutted his chin out. “I’m not,” he said, and he reeled off the best answer.
Talon narrowed his eyes. “Then why didn’t you put that down?”
Finn shrugged.
Talon took a breath as a thought filtered into his mind. “What about this one?” He read off the next question, and Finn answered it promptly and correctly. Talon nodded to the typed instruction fixed to the bottom of the portable scanner cart. “What does that say?”
Finn looked over, and a dull flush crept over his cheeks. “I can read,” he ground out.
“What does it say?” Talon repeated. “Count to ten in your head and then tell me.”
Finn blinked at him, puzzled.
“Take three deep breaths first,” Talon instructed.
Finn did as he was asked and then calmly read, “Please put the power cable away after use.”
Talon scowled. “Why the fuck did you not tell any of us you are dyslexic?”
Finn scowled. “I’m not.” He turned to the door.
Talon nodded. “Let me guess. You anticipate. You find some fonts much easier to read. That’s why your course work was so much better than your written tests.”
Finn stood still, feet planted, hands shoved in his pants pockets. He didn’t turn around.
“Text to speech? It’s an allowed resource,” Talon continued.
Finn turned slowly. “How—how do you know all that?”
Talon debated for about ten seconds. He didn’t share, ever. “Because my little brother’s dyslexic. And when I say little, I mean by one year. He’s currently a prosecutor in the Washington DA’s office. A successful prosecutor,” he added.
Talon picked up the test and started reading the questions. Finn rattled off most of the answers, and by the time they were halfway through the last section, he was writing his own.
“You’re actually better than Sam,” Talon said. “He wouldn’t be able to work out the last question even with his breathing techniques.”
Finn looked up, and Talon’s belly squeezed a little at his eagerness. “It only bot
hers me when I’m timed or under pressure most of the time now. Even then I can anticipate the simple stuff. We had an old computer in the library at college that had a darker screen than the rest. Everyone hated it, but it was the easiest one for me.”
Talon nodded. “It helped Sam if we overlaid the screen with a blue tint.” He sighed. “I don’t get how I missed your diagnosis, though. I read your file and….” Understanding slammed into Talon. “You’ve never been diagnosed, have you?” He shook his head. Of all the stupid, irresponsible….
Finn’s smile faded.
“You could easily have put your teammates’ lives at risk by not declaring this,” Talon ground out. It was incredibly selfish, and as far as Talon was concerned, the last nail in the coffin.
“I thought once I got into Quantico, I could find someone to talk to about it,” Finn mumbled, and Talon opened his mouth to rain down a world of hurt on Finn.
Then he stopped. Because the fact that Finn wasn’t at Quantico wasn’t his fault. He would have had twenty weeks to sort it out. It wasn’t Finn’s fault they only had four.
Fuck.
This was his excuse. This was exactly what he had wanted. The perfect reason to get rid of the regular human and push for a solo team of enhanced. Finn was handing him the reason on a plate.
Sam’s face swam into his head. How Talon found him in their tree house, crying his eyes out because some dick of a kid called him a retard because he couldn’t read when it was his turn at school. But Sam had their family behind him. He had a huge support network, and what did Finn have? His brother sounded like a complete lazy asshole. His mom, on the surface, not too bad, but at the same time, if she’d let Finn go through school without getting any help….
And his dad. His dad who came home from Vietnam in a wheelchair and finally blew his brains out. And Finn found him.
Talon grimaced. He’d give him a week.
Chapter Five
TALON SHOVED yet another bottle of water in Finn’s hands, and Finn quirked his lips. “This is your secret ploy, isn’t it? You need me to fail the physical tests because I’m going to be holed up in the bathroom?”
Talon grunted. “You have some basic stuff to go through next. A video, some history of the enhanced.”
Finn looked up as Agent Fielding let himself into the room and smiled at him.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” Talon said before retreating.
“So I hear you had some excitement last night?” Drew said, looking eager.
“It wasn’t exciting at the time,” Finn countered mildly as Drew grinned. “What are we doing now?”
“You’re going to watch a boring-ass video.” Drew thumped him on the arm.
Finn followed Drew back to the room they were in earlier, when he met the team, and decided to risk a few questions. “I hadn’t realized you already had enhanced working for the FBI.”
Drew gestured for him in to take a seat. “It’s new. We’ve got five of them at the moment. Talon, Vance, Sawyer, Eli, and Gael.”
“And they’ve all been through Quantico?” Finn asked in disbelief.
“Hell no.” Drew shook his head. “Everyone needs this kept quiet. They’ve all had training at our outside facility over the last few months, and Talon’s the leader because of his brothers. He also has a background in private security.”
“His brothers?” Talon said one was a prosecutor, but that wouldn’t get him any preferential treatment, surely.
Drew sighed a little and sat down. “Confidential?”
“Of course,” Finn responded, a little worried about what he might be agreeing to.
“Talon comes from an influential family. Four brothers altogether, and one sister. One of them is an agent, and two work for the DA’s office in Washington. Hell, even his sister is married to an attorney.” Drew lowered his voice. “Talon’s the only one who’s enhanced.”
“Wow!” Finn murmured appreciatively. He would love to have come from a big family. Sheer statistical chance would have meant he’d have had at least one brother he would get along with out of four.
“I know. Crap, isn’t it?”
Finn looked up from the blank TV screen. “Crap?”
“Yeah, I mean, can you imagine having all that to live up to?” Drew shuddered. “Makes me glad to be an only child.”
Finn stayed quiet, not wanting to openly disagree with the first guy who had tried to be friendly. “So Talon’s got a security background?” he asked casually. He didn’t want Drew to have any inkling that he had any interest other than simple curiosity.
“Yep,” Drew said succinctly. “I’m sorry you drew the short straw on that one, although all of them are pretty much badasses.”
“I would imagine some sort of trained background’s good, though?” Finn said tentatively, not really understanding why Drew didn’t seem to be a fan.
Drew raised his eyebrows. “Oh yeah. Working with people who already know a zillion ways to kill you, and that’s even before their abilities are included?”
Finn shifted uncomfortably, and then a shiver ran down his neck and he turned around quickly. The room was empty, and he scanned the corners for obvious cameras. It was as if someone had been watching him. Though just because he couldn’t see the cameras didn’t mean they weren’t there.
He decided to change the subject. “So what’s the video, then?”
“Boring crap about how the FBI was set up.” Drew sighed. “I’m going to get a coffee. Seen it a million times. Do you want one?”
Finn shook his head and turned around as the TV came on. He heard the door close behind Drew and then shivered slightly and whipped his head around. The room was still empty. It was Drew’s fault; he must have gotten him spooked. Finn settled in to watch the video as J. Edgar Hoover’s face came on.
TALON LOOKED up as Sawyer appeared next to him and Gael. Gael jumped and cursed, but Talon knew Sawyer was there. The slight blurring around the edges of a notice about the fire evacuation procedure clued him in to his presence. “Well?”
“Drew’s currently giving the kid the 101 about the team. Your name was mentioned.”
Talon didn’t move. He was expecting it. “He knows about Sam already.”
Sawyer raised his eyebrows, but he made no comment.
“We still all on the same page here, Talon?” Gael asked.
Talon glanced at him. “Meaning?”
“Meaning do you still want rid of him? Meaning you still want the group enhanced only?” Gael nodded at Sawyer. “If anyone knew the shit that Sawyer can do, they’d have him strapped to a gurney and wheeled into a lab faster than you can say ‘experiment.’ You know that.”
He did. No one, not even Gregory, knew about Sawyer. For all intents and purposes, Sawyer’s ability was metalworking, and he didn’t mean sharpening knives or making fancy statues. Sawyer could deconstruct any metal and render it useless. When Talon first met Sawyer at the gun range, some proby swung his gun around carelessly as he walked in. The gun immediately dropped to pieces in the guy’s hands. Talon had Sawyer signed up and on his team three days later.
Talon glanced in concern as Sawyer sagged a little by the door. “You didn’t have to do that.” He knew it took it out of him.
Sawyer shrugged and sat down. “I’ll be interested to see his situational awareness skills later.”
Talon groaned. “He doesn’t have any.”
“I think you’re wrong, boss,” Sawyer said. “He couldn’t see me, but there was something telling him someone was behind him. It’s the first time I’ve noticed that in any regular.”
“That’s impossible,” Talon scoffed. “Finn never even woke up when I carried him to bed.” He winced as the silence in the room thickened as his team took in the implication. “It was after the attack in the parking garage. The kid insisted on waking me every hour to do dumb head-injury checks. I woke up to take a piss around five, and he was passed out in the chair. I just took him to bed because I felt a little sorry for h
im. It’s not his fault he’s being set up to fail.” Talon glanced when Sawyer gave a low whistle. Shit. “I took him to bed on his own, Sawyer. And left him there. You know what I mean.”
“So let’s review the evidence,” Gael drawled and started counting off on his fingers. “He’s had a spectacular first day so far. Whatever spin you put on it, he saved your butt in the garage. The only red flags he’s showing are his dick for a brother—” Gael ignored the slight stiffening from Sawyer at that word. “—and his crappy test results.”
“He’s dyslexic,” Talon said immediately. “Seems to manage except when he’s tired or stressed.”
Gael grinned. “Find that out while you were putting him to bed?”
“Well, that’s it, then,” Sawyer interrupted. “He won’t have passed the initial written assessments you just gave him. So how come he’s still here?”
Talon had the grace to look a little uncomfortable. He shrugged. “I read them. It’s only the same as text to speech. That’s approved, and he aced the math questions.”
“How is that possible if he can’t read properly?” Sawyer asked doubtfully.
“Different brain strategy,” Talon explained.
“Which brings me back to my original question. Are you sure?” Gael asked slowly, and Sawyer frowned.
“Of course he’s sure,” Sawyer snapped and looked at Talon for confirmation.
Talon sighed. “You’re right. I do owe him for the garage. Do I think he’d make it on the team—no. Do I think regulars partnering with enhanced is a good idea—no.”
“But?” Gael asked.
“I’m gonna give him a week and see if my brother can pull any strings to get him into Quantico. If we throw him out now, he won’t get another chance.”
Sawyer didn’t say another word, and Gael just grinned. “So we can still have fun with our new toy this afternoon?”
“Yeah,” Talon sighed. “But for fuck’s sake, don’t break him.”
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