I sighed, disappointed that the news wasn’t better. But really, what had I expected? The fact that he’d gotten out safely was the best-case scenario.
“Frederick, is he okay?” I asked.
“Fine. He was still in Gatlinburg when we left, looking for Henri. When he saw him get shot, and the three of us board the hovercraft, he jumped on the last plane to get out of there.”
I sighed. All my friends were accounted for.
“What about all the people we left behind?” I asked, hating how small and childlike my voice sounded to my ears. By the time Crane and I had reached the escape crafts, only two had been left. I didn’t know how many others there had been originally, but probably not enough for the droves of people I’d seen running through the camp.
Crane didn’t answer right away, and when he finally did, he wouldn’t meet my gaze. “There are caves in the woods about two miles from the camp. The caves have enough food, water, and medical supplies to last several months. There is also a fair amount of weapons, so they’ll be able to protect themselves in the event TOXIC pursues them.”
“What about the ones who didn’t make it to the caves?” I asked, dreading the answer.
“The survivors will be taken into custody,” Crane replied evenly.
So, they would be arrested. Their homes were destroyed, their families torn apart, many were killed, and even more were injured, and it was because of me. TOXIC came for me, and all those people paid the price.
“The members of the Underground know the risks, Talia. They understand the consequences if they’re caught. You can’t blame yourself. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.” Crane slammed a closed fist into the armrest, and I jumped at the rare display of emotion. “When the doctors on the first hoverplane told me they hadn’t found one, I should’ve insisted they keep looking. McDonough is too methodical, too cunning to leave anything to chance.”
Crane’s guilt magnified my own. We were both partially responsible for the tracker debacle. Both of us should’ve known better. I closed my mind off completely. There was no use lingering on things that couldn’t be changed, and doing so would only sink me into despair. Forward. I needed to just keep moving forward.
“Where will all the refugees go?” I asked to change the subject.
With the critical patients on their way to the cottage, plus Brand and the other soldiers, Coalition Headquarters – Crane’s home – had to be nearing capacity. Even with all of the sublevels, there wasn’t anywhere close to enough room for everyone.
“There are temporary facilities where they can stay until we find them permanent housing. Doctors can treat their injuries there, and they can be assessed for compatibility with the Coalition,” Crane replied.
Compatibility with the Coalition? That sounded ominous.
“We can’t be too careful, Talia. I have spies all over the eastern half of the United States, and some placed in high government positions within TOXIC. McDonough isn’t stupid; he’s done the same. Anyone seeking refuge in the Coalition’s territory has to be thoroughly evaluated before being allowed in.”
“I see,” was all I said. His reasons made sense, but I didn’t want to think about the little boy with the burned arm being “evaluated.” It brought to mind the images of those lines of children that had been forced into my mind on the ground in Gatlinburg. I shuddered. That Manipulator had controlled me as easily as a puppet. I didn’t appreciate that. No, I hated that. I was done with blind subservience.
“Our procedures are painless, I promise,” Crane continued, as though reading my mind. He wasn’t. I’d made sure of that. But I was doing little to keep my emotions out of my expression.
“How long before we’re back at the cottage?” I asked abruptly.
I wanted nothing more than to see Erik. To sit with him, and hold his hand, and tell him everything was okay. I wanted to tell him about flying to California, convincing Crane to help us, and the rescue mission. I wanted to tell him Penny was alive, and that together the three of us would provide UNITED with the proof they needed to take action and stop Mac and TOXIC.
“A couple of hours. We need to drop the refugees off at one of the induction facilities, then we’ll fly straight home. Don’t worry. He’s in good hands until you get there. My doctors are top notch. I have a feeling Penny will personally take charge of his care in your absence. And God help him if he wakes up before we get there and Marin takes responsibility for his care. She is quite the force to be reckoned with.” Crane’s eyes crinkled when he talked about his supposed housekeeper.
That was how she’d been introduced to me, as Crane’s housekeeper, the official headquarters cook, and unofficial Coalition manager. I wasn’t fooled. The way Crane and Marin looked at each other, all soft and sickeningly sweet, made it obvious the separate bedrooms were purely for show. And I’d taken the liberty of reading Marin’s thoughts, just to be sure I was right – know thy enemy and all that. Neither Crane nor Marin was my enemy, but they were unknown entities, so I thought the proverb still applied.
“What about Henri? Are you going to make him go to an induction camp?” I really hoped not. He was already wary of Crane and after being shot, I didn’t trust his wellbeing to strangers.
Crane scrutinized my face as I gave him, what I hoped, was an earnest smile. I thought about summoning the strength to compel him to agree, but I wasn’t sure I had it in me. Old-fashion begging, however, I was plenty capable of.
“He’s Frederick’s partner, right?” Crane asked, clearly stalling for time.
“Yes, and he was my team captain when I was with the Hunters. You can trust him.”
“Trust is a strong word, Talia. You shouldn’t use it lightly,” Crane replied, giving me one of his penetrating gazes.
“I don’t,” I snapped, suddenly irritated that he was treating me like a child.
“Do you trust me?” he asked, surprising me.
Did I trust Ian Crane? I knew he hadn’t killed my parents and he’d helped me rescue Erik. But did that mean that I trusted him? So many people had violated my trust. So many people had lied to me. Some had done it to protect me, others not so much. Crane wasn’t one of those people.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I think I do.”
Pure relief flooded Crane’s features, causing the iridescent blue-black irises to swirl. He cleared his throat loudly before speaking. “If it means that much to you, then Henri may come back to the cottage. But I’m warning you, if he turns out to be a spy, you’ll be answering to Brand.” Crane was at least partially teasing me, but the thought of being at Brand’s mercy made me shiver.
I elected to return to the main cabin after my talk with Crane. I didn’t want Henri to be alone, and wanted him to know Frederick was safe.
The steel flooring of the cabin was uncomfortable and my butt soon went numb. I insisted Henri lie down, and had him rest his head in my lap while I applied a wet towel to his clammy forehead. I relayed the good news about Frederick, and it went a long way towards relaxing him. He slept fitfully for the remainder of the journey. I felt horrible for him. In one week, his entire world had been turned upside down. He’d been hurt rescuing Erik’s family, and then shot in the raid on the station. He had really believed in TOXIC and what they stood for; he was loyal through and through. Yet, his loyalty to the Agency had been usurped by his friendship with Erik. He’d risked his life to help Erik save his family, and he was paying dearly for it. Henri would never be able to go home again, never see his sister, or his parents.
At some point, a young girl with sloppy pigtails and wide-set eyes brought me damp rags and insisted I tend to my feet. In caring for Henri, I’d forgotten how beat up they were. I thanked her, and wiped them clean as best I could manage without jostling Henri. Thankfully, the scratches were all superficial. As long as they weren’t already infected from stepping in so much grossness, I’d heal quickly.
The stop at the induction camps to drop off the refugees was short, and I declined Crane’s offer to in
spect them for myself. I knew he only suggested it to allay my fears that the process was unpleasant. Admittedly, I was extremely curious. I was also extremely tired, to the point that even the slightest movement was a chore. Every inch of me, from my eyeballs to my pinkie toes ached with fatigue. Lack of decent sleep was the biggest contributor, but using my talents repeatedly hadn’t helped either.
The little burned boy’s mother thanked me for helping her son before deplaning, and it took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to blather on about how sorry I was that I’d brought the war to her front door.
While Crane talked to the soldiers at the facility, I helped Henri lie down on one of the vacated benches so that he could stretch out. When Crane re-boarded, he handed me a paper bag and two bottles of fresh water.
“You both need nourishment,” he told me.
I hungrily dug into the paper bag and discovered two sandwiches. The meat was from an animal I couldn’t identify and the bread was grainy with an odd consistency, but I devoured mine in three bites, and then drained half my bottle of water. I woke Henri, and insisted he try to eat his meal. He only ate half of the sandwich, which didn’t appear to sit well with him. I worried that maybe I hadn’t cleaned his wound well enough, and infection was already setting in.
It was late afternoon, West Coast time, when we finally landed at the cottage. My bones creaked when I moved, my vision lacked focus, and I was practically sleepwalking, but the moment my scratched feet hit the pebbled driveway, I knew I was home.
Chapter Six
“Talia, thank god you’re alive!” Penny cried, bursting through the front door and flying at me in a blur of bright red hair and pale limbs.
The heaviness surrounding my heart lightened at the sound of her voice. I returned her tight embrace, still finding it hard to believe she was alive herself.
“Penny?!?” Henri exclaimed.
When I turned to look at him, he was pale as if he’d seen a ghost. In a way, he had, I supposed. “You’re … alive?”
“It’s a miracle, I know!” she replied, releasing me in favor of him.
Henri awkwardly returned the gesture the best he could with only one working arm. His torso was still bare except for the gauze I’d wrapped across his chest and injured shoulder. When Penny stepped back, he reached for her again with his good hand, lightly fingering her bright red hair as if checking to make sure she was corporeal and not a hallucination.
“What? ... How? ... They said that …” Henri seemed at a loss for words.
Not that I blamed him. My reaction at seeing her in the flesh that first time had been nearly identical.
“Not that Talia didn’t do a great job patching you up, but I think one of my doctors should take a look at you right now. I’m sure one of the girls will explain everything after you’ve had some rest,” Crane interjected, steering Henri towards the door. He didn’t protest, but kept stealing glances at Penny over his shoulder.
Penny linked her arm through mine and led me inside the cottage. I leaned gratefully into her for support, more emotional than physical.
“What happened?” she asked as we walked. “Brand got back and said you guys had to stop so that Erik could get medical attention, and then Erik and like three other people showed up on a hovercraft. The pilot said something about the Underground station being raided? And then we started to get all this chatter about it. The word on the airways is that there are a ton of casualties, and that both you and Uncle Ian had been spotted! And why aren’t you wearing shoes?” In typical Penny fashion, she didn’t take a single breath. I smiled, the familiarity of it easing a little of my tension.
“How’s Erik? After I see him, I promise I’ll tell you all I know,” I said.
“Oh my god! I’m such a bad friend. Of course you can see him first!” She squeezed my arm affectionately.
“You’re not a bad friend, Penny. You’re the best friend that I could ask for,” I told her, meaning every word of it.
We’d fallen back into our friendship easily. I’d apologized for exposing her as a Coalition spy and she’d apologized for not coming clean with me. Each of us had insisted the other had nothing to be sorry for. I truly believed she didn’t. Sure, I wished she’d told me who she was and why she was there. And no matter her proclamations to the contrary, I knew she wished I hadn’t outted her as a spy.
Over mugs of orange blossom tea, Penny had told me exactly why she’d been sent undercover at the school.
The Coalition had spies all over TOXIC. From prison guards to the unseen cafeteria staff at school to medics at Elite Headquarters, Crane had eyes and ears nearly everywhere. His spies had watched me and reported their findings to him. So Crane knew Mac kept me close to him, and dating Donavon brought me closer still. He knew Mac had given me a pseudo family, a boyfriend, and a facsimile of a normal life – normal for a Talent, anyway. What Mac hadn’t given me were friends. Besides Donavon, I was close to no one my own age. Crane had thought filling that gap with Penny would prove easy. He’d overestimated how much I cared that it was empty.
Penny told me she’d tried to get close to me while we were both still at school, but despite being almost friendless, I was also almost never alone. We had none of the same classes, and I spent my weekends with Donavon, and after he’d left to pledge the Hunters, Gretchen and Mac.
The day she’d approached me in Hunters’ Village was fortuitous, Penny had said. It had been the opportunity she’d been waiting for. She’d been excited she was finally making progress on her mission to befriend me. Once she did, however, she realized convincing me to leave TOXIC wasn’t going to happen. She saw how loyal I was to Mac, and knew I wouldn’t believe her if she told me that Mac, not Crane, had killed my parents.
Instead of scrapping the mission altogether, Penny and Crane had devised an elaborate plan to bring me face-to-face with Crane. Once I talked to him, they thought, surely I’d see the truth. And, eventually, I had. Just not soon enough.
“Stop, you’ll make me cry,” Penny teased, pulling me back to the present.
I smiled at her, and suppressed the urge to apologize for the umpteenth time.
At first glance the cottage Crane and Penny – among others – called home was an adorable rustic cabin. Built on the very edge of cliffs that stretched one hundred feet above the Pacific Ocean, the one-level structure boasted an impressive view of the beautiful body of water. The lush redwood forest surrounding the cottage on the other three sides provided protection from prying eyes. Of course, the heavily armed soldiers patrolling that forest also prevented unauthorized individuals from getting too close.
The single above ground level was Crane’s living quarters. It had a small foyer, a small study to the right of the doorway, a short hallway with three small bedrooms to the left of the doorway, and a ridiculously large kitchen occupying the entire back half of the cottage. In the center of that small foyer was a trapdoor, which led to the first of ten subterranean levels built into the cliffs beneath the cottage like an inverted skyscraper. Those subterranean levels – sublevels – made up Coalition Headquarters.
Penny accompanied me through the trap door, down the metal staircase, through the atrium, to the elevator bank, and finally to sublevel five: the medical ward. The air in the corridor was chilly on account of it being so far underground. The walls were smooth stone, and the electric lights looked modern and out of place in comparison. I worried about Erik being down here in the drafty space.
Brand stood, surly as ever, outside the door to Erik’s room. He looked bored until his piercing green eyes caught sight of me – he gave a whole new meaning to the phrase if looks could kill. Despite my exhaustion, I straightened my spine, rising to my full sub-five feet, and met his challenge head-on.
“What, are you guarding him?” I demanded. “He isn’t a danger to you.”
Brand gave me an exaggerated eye roll. “No, I’m babysitting him. Ian wanted to be informed the minute his condition changed, so I’ve been re
legated to sitting in his room watching him sleep. The doctor is in there now, and he asked me to wait in the hallway.”
“Oh,” I said, the fight going out of me. “How is he?”
Sympathy flashed across Brand’s face, but it was gone in an instant and I thought I might have imagined it. “You’ll have to ask his doctor,” he said.
I looked from Penny to Brand. “Can I go in?” I wasn’t sure since Brand had said the doctor asked him to leave.
“Probably. I assume you’ve seen him naked, so it won’t be an invasion of his privacy.”
I let the barb go. I had seen Erik naked and didn’t care if Brand knew it.
“Brand, be nice,” Penny chastised him. “Go on, Tal. I’ll wait out here,” she said to me.
I slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open, trying to make as little noise as possible. My fears about Erik being uncomfortable down here were put to rest immediately. The room had the same stone walls as the corridor, but the floor was covered in soft white rugs. A bamboo dresser sat on one wall, a matching desk on another. A comfortable-looking overstuffed couch lined the third. And the fourth wall was entirely glass and overlooked the ocean below. I’d been down to the beach several times since my arrival at Casa de Crane, and knew the exterior of the windowpane was coated with camo spray to make it indistinguishable from the rock face surrounding it.
A dark-skinned man in a white lab coat stood next to Erik’s bed. He used an electronic pad to record all of the vitals from the monitors hooked up to Erik. The doctor looked up when he saw me, the irritated expression he wore quickly melted into a kind smile.
“Ms. Lyons, I presume?” he said. His accent was thick, but his English was perfect.
“Um, yeah,” I replied, surprised he’d addressed me by name.
The doctor waved me forward, and I slowly crossed the stone floor to join him at Erik’s bedside.
“Dr. Patel,” he said, offering me his hand.
Tentatively, I shook it. The doctor radiated warmth and caring, and I was immensely grateful that this was the man treating Erik. All of my doctors were cold and impersonal, and I rarely got the impression they cared about me so much as they were fascinated by me. But Dr. Patel was not like that at all.
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