Caged (Talented Saga) (29 page)

“We already gave full reports,” she snapped, defensively.

I locked her in a penetrating stare. Her right eye twitched nervously, and I invaded her consciousness.

“You did give reports,” I started, slowly.
“But not to me. You want to sit down for me now, and you want to tell me every excruciating detail about the intel that you verified about Ian Crane in Las Vegas,” I coaxed.

“Of course,” she said, her features going slack under my control.

Grace opened the door wider, gesturing me inside. The room was much smaller than the one that I used with Penny. There were only two large computer screens hanging on the wall opposite the door with the now-all-too-familiar scrolling lines of gibberish. Two high-backed, black computer chairs sat facing the monitors. The owner of the white hand – Rider, I assumed – was craning to look at me as I entered.

“Rider
Trindel?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said in a small voice.

I shifted my concentration to him.

“My name is Talia Lyons.
You know who I am, right?” Rider nodded, jerkily.

“Good.
I need you to tell me about the intel you verified regarding my assignment in Las Vegas ten months ago. Do you remember it?” I didn’t have the patience to establish a connection with each Brain so that I could read their thoughts. Actively controlling them would make me tired, but I didn’t care just then.

Rider nodded again.

“I remember,” he said slowly.

“Good.
Grace, why don’t you start? Walk me through everything from the beginning.” I used the most soothing, patient voice that I could manage.

Grace launched into her version of the events, speaking so quickly that I could barely keep up.
She explained that she and Rider were working the eleven-to-eleven shift in the main Crypto room that night, and Captain Anderson had called not long after they’d started. He’d told her that Cal Simmons’ unit received intel that needed verification. He sent over the request, and Grace and Rider decrypted the data and analyzed the results; they determined that the intel consisted of partial plans for Coalition President Ian Crane’s stay in Las Vegas, Nevada. Grace had then called Headquarters and reported the findings.

The next day, both Grace and Rider were ordered to abandon their normal assignments and focus solely on combing all electronic communications for information regarding Ian Crane and Las Vegas.
The duo spent the entire week gathering intel on both subjects. They also continued to verify the data found by Cal’s team.

While I was fairly confident that Grace was telling me the truth since I was compelling her to do so, I also searched her mind for any traces of fabrication.
I could tell that there was something she was holding back, but decided not to dig too deeply just yet; I wanted to see inside Rider’s head first.

Rider’s version of events matched Grace’s to the tee.
Still, I could feel that he also wasn’t telling me something. His guilt was stronger than hers, so I dug into his mind first.

“Rider, do you know Ian Crane?” I asked bluntly.

“No,” he stammered. “I’ve never met him. I just know about him.” Rider’s blue eyes were wide and innocent looking. I scoured his brain for any signs that he’d met Ian Crane. Finally, seeing nothing, I continued with my questions.

“Are you a spy for the Coalition?” I demanded.
I didn’t see a point in beating around the bush. Grace gasped behind me.

“What?!”
Rider exclaimed, his eyes lighting up with shock. “Of course not!” His tone was indignant, but the images in his mind were scared.

Rider imagined himself being dragged by two large, faceless men to stand before a judge while she declared him a traitor.
Then his mind jumped to scenes of himself strapped to a gurney while an executioner in a black hood injected a dark liquid into his arm.

I sighed.
I could take his morbid images as a sign of guilt, but I had a feeling that he just had an overactive imagination. “Rider, what aren’t you telling me?”

He hesitated.
I was tempted to regain control of his mind and force him to answer me, but images of Ernest in his hospital bed clouded my vision. I needed to be careful; I couldn’t handle it if I turned another innocent person into a vegetable. Gently, I probed Rider’s brain. At last I saw what he was hiding take shape in his mind.

“What about the encryption seemed off?” I demanded before he could decide whether or not to tell me the truth.
My throat felt tight; I
knew
that this was going to lead me somewhere.

Grace gave a strangled little yelp behind me, but I didn’t break my focus on Rider.

“Tell me, Rider,” I ordered. I took control of his mind, not caring about the consequences anymore.

Rider was weak-willed, thank God, and he relented quickly.

“The encryption was kinda low-level for that type of information,” he answered.

“What do you mean low-level?” I pressed, narrowing my eyes in concentration.

“Well, I’m a pretty strong Higher Reasoning Talent.” His blue eyes shifted over my shoulder to where Grace sat. “I mean, I
am
an Elite, so I can basically crack any code.”

“I know what it means to be
an Elite,” I snapped. I could feel the adrenaline starting to pump in my veins, urging me into some kind of action.

“Well, Grace isn’t,” he said softly.
“She’s actually an Extremely Low-Level Talent.” He gave her a miserable, apologetic smile, like he couldn’t believe what he was saying. Suddenly, I got it. The whole scenario flooded to the front of his consciousness.

Rider helped Grace cheat on her Placement Exams, so that she’d be assigned to the
Cryptos and they could be together – they were in love. They’d requested to work together, and volunteered for less-desirable assignments so that Rider could manage most of the workload. All they wanted was to be together, and they’d known that Grace would have been assigned to a remedial position if she ranked poorly on her Placement Exams. Both Grace and Rider knew that the encryption wasn’t very advanced because Grace had easily decoded the transmission.

Earlier, I’d misread Rider’s images of being branded a traitor; he
was
feeling guilty. He knew that if anyone ever found out he’d helped Grace cheat, there would be repercussions. Rider felt horrible because he’d chosen to keep their secret instead of admitting that there was something amiss with the encryption. The guilt was eating him up inside; he thought if they had said something then I might not have been sent to Nevada, and I might not have been hurt. He’d never imagined that his omission would have such grave consequences.

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth.
The desire to lash out at both of them was so strong that I wasn’t sure how much longer I could suppress it. I wanted to scream obscenities, let them know just how much their love affair had cost me. Did they really think that keeping their secret was worth risking my life?

Taking control, I tried to swallow my anger.
I needed to stay focused right now. Screaming at them wasn’t going to help. I didn’t know what the punishment for cheating on your placement exams was; but if I had to guess, it was probably a stiff reprimand and reassignment to a more fitting division. Neither penalty was sufficient in my opinion.

When I looked from Grace to Rider, I saw unbridled fear.
The terror emanating from them was palpable. While the prospect of being separated worried them, it was the fear over the punishment that terrified them. Although I was confident that they wouldn’t be declared traitors to the government and executed, I had to wonder if maybe the consequences were more severe than reassignment.

“I promise I won’t tell.”
The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Was that really a promise that I was prepared to make? Their lie had cost me my future with the Hunters, and nearly cost me my life. If I hadn’t gone to Nevada, I wouldn’t have been injected and I wouldn’t be plagued by seizures now; I didn’t want something like that to happen to someone else.

When I saw the grateful looks that they gave me – and the lovey-dovey eyes they made at one another, the fear hovering right below the surface – I knew that I couldn’t expose their secret.
I would figure out a way to ensure that they weren’t assigned any more high-profile cases, but I wouldn’t tell. Briefly, I considered willing them to forget my interrogation, but I decided against it; I wanted them to remember how scared they were, how close they’d come to being discovered. I wanted them to know better next time.

Heading back to my room, I pondered the level of encryption.
I couldn’t explain how I knew that it mattered, yet I was certain that it did.

I’d just finished gathering my belongings to leave for the hover hangar when I heard a knock on my door.
I opened my mind – Penny.

“Hey,” I called brightly.
“You’re just in time to walk me to the hangar.”

“I got your message.
Where are you going?” she asked curiously.

“Headquarters,” I answered.
“I’m going to interview the other two people who were working the night that the intel came in about Crane.”

Penny’s face fell.
“Why? Haven’t they already been interviewed? Submitted full reports?” She seemed a little jittery.

“Well, yeah, but not by me.
I want to dig around a little bit, see what I can find.” I smiled at her.

Penny frowned.

“Tal, look. I know that you’re really trying to figure this out, but the Director brought me here to go through the personnel files and look for a hack in the network because all of the intel checked out. It was legit. Ian Crane was in Nevada just like we thought he’d be. Nothing at all was unusual about the intel.”

Her voice was firm, and I suddenly felt silly for getting so excited about the low-level encryption.
Her features softened when she saw the dejected look on my face.

“Tal, you know that I want to find this person just as much as you do.
I want them to pay for what happened to you, but I just don’t really think that this is productive.” Her green eyes shone with unshed tears.

I was so touched by her concern that I almost told her that she was right, that I wouldn’t go chasing wild theories.
But I couldn’t; I
knew
that the encryption was important. I felt it with every fiber of my being. I just needed to connect the dots.

My brain was murky, but I had this feeling that something important hid beneath the surface.
Something good? Something bad? I didn’t know. I just knew there was something.

“I really value your opinion, but I know that this is going to lead somewhere.
I can feel it.” A thought struck me. “Penny ...you didn’t tell Harris about my mission, did you?”

Penny fixed me with a steady gaze, full of hurt that I would even ask.
Shame clouded my brain.

“I would never have done that!” Penny exclaimed, sounding truly wounded by my inquiry.

“No, of course, you didn’t. I just wanted to cover all my bases,” I replied lamely before letting the subject drop. I was relieved that she hadn’t. Harris had been a good friend to Donavon and Erik for years, and I hated the thought of having to question him.

“Why don’t you at least let me fly you out there?”
Penny asked hopefully.

“Thanks, but Mac already arranged someone.”

When we got to the hangar, I instantly regretted not taking her up on the offer. A small two-seater hover car was pulled out of one of the hangar bays, and a tan, broad-shouldered guy with shaggy blonde hair stood next to the opened driver’s side. He was dressed casually in dark jeans and a white t-shirt tossing the keys lazily in the air. Crap. Donavon.

“Tal,” he greeted me coolly, but gave Penny a dazzling smile.
I wanted to kick him.

“Donavon,” I matched his icy tone.

Penny gave me a quick hug, which I returned without taking my eyes off of Donavon’s. “Call me if you need anything,” she whispered.

“Thanks,” I whispered back.

Penny moved away from the plane, but didn’t leave. She watched as I slowly walked over to my side of the vehicle and hoisted my bag, then myself into the passenger seat. I gave her a small wave while Donavon made a great show of clamoring noisily into the driver’s seat. Once he was settled, I risked stealing a sidelong look at his face. His jaw was clenched, the muscles in the back moving almost imperceptibly as he ground his teeth together. A white, gauze bandage was wrapped around his right hand. As soon as I noticed it, the earlier shame and humiliation returned. I had bitten him. What was wrong with me?

He turned the key in the ignition with way more force than was necessary.
The engine gave a loud, screeching whine in protest of the display of strength. He jammed his right foot down so hard that the vehicle shot forward, sending me flying back against my seat. I grumbled audibly. Donavon didn’t acknowledge my presence, let alone say he was sorry. This was going to be a
very
long ride.