Unforgettable (Talented Saga #6) (16 page)

Unsure how to finish the sentence, I
trailed off.

“
I know,” Penny said. “I
agree. We have to try.”

While Angus stepped away to call
Victoria, the rest of us began talking strategy. Being
military-minded, we all had the same plan: brute force assault. We
wanted to storm wherever the auction was being held and rescue as
many Talented and Created as possible. The finer details, like how
UNITED would handle the influx of Created into containment, were
dismissed in favor of the more immediate issues. Rescue. As far as
I was concerned, dealing with the refugees was UNITED’s problem,
not mine.

Unfortunately, all of our strategic
planning went out the window as soon as Angus reported back from
his conversation with Victoria. Apparently the councilwoman thought
storming in was too obvious. She’d made it clear that it should
only be used as a last resort. Instead, Victoria wanted us to go
the undercover route, posing as buyers at the auction. Angus also
passed along an irate message from Victoria to me about not
ignoring her messages, and an order to call her
immediately.

That was sure to be a fun
conversation.

Because I did need Victoria’s help to
pull off the mission, I slid off my barstool to step aside and obey
the summons. Surprisingly, the councilwoman did not bite my head
off the moment she answered. Instead, she instructed me to take the
team to a safe house and await further instruction. Evidently some
lackey of hers was sending the coordinates to my communicator as we
spoke. Then she bit my head off. With a sigh, I braced for her
barrage.

“
I am giving you a lot of
leeway, Agent Lyons,” Victoria barked. “A decision that not every
member of the council agrees with, as you well know. Not to mention
the fact that you have Agents Kelley and Crane with you. They are
both supposed to be under close,
reliable
supervision. I do not think
I need to tell you—”

Though I’d planned to let her spout
her tirade without interrupting, we were wasting valuable moments.
With my nerves already frayed from my impatience to find Kenly
before she was sold as a Talent slave, my temper was shorter than I
am.

“
I get it, Victoria,” I cut
in. “I was in the middle of an interview. I am sorry I ignored your
call. I’d say it won’t happen again, but we both know I can’t
guarantee that. You put me in charge because you believe that I am
capable of handling things, so please just let me.”

No reply came for several
long moments, making me check to see if the connection was still
intact. It was.
Crap
. Silence from Victoria was never a good thing. Had I
overstepped my bounds? Had I finally pushed her over the edge? Was
a team of UNITED agents about to shoot me full of tranquilizers and
haul me off to Vault?

“
You know, Agent
Lyons…against all odds, I do believe I was right about you,” the
councilwoman began.

That was probably not a good
thing.

“
You are proving to be a
more than adequate leader. It pains me to admit it, but you have
real potential.”

I snorted, picturing Victoria choking
on the compliment she’d just paid me.

“
Now, take your team to the
safe house. There is a large wall screen in the conference room. As
soon as you arrive—and I do mean as
soon
as you arrive, not after you’ve
had time to explore, raid the kitchen, or feed Erik’s libido—you
and every member of that team are to call me so that I can brief
you on the plan.”

Most of what she said faded
into the background, but the comment about Erik reverberated.
Hating myself for giving in to embarrassment, I blushed what was
surely a deep shade of crimson. Seriously, every drop of blood in
my body seemed to pool in my cheeks. Victoria acted like Erik and I
were just some ridiculous teenagers who found it impossible to keep
our hands off of each other. That was
so
not the case.

Erik was barely even a teenager
anymore.

“
Natalia?”

Lost in thought, I’d tuned out
Victoria and the rest of her directives. She’d obviously said my
name several times, since she rarely called me Natalia. Victoria
only resorted to my first name when she was exasperated.

“
I’m here,” I said quickly.
“Sorry.”

The councilwoman’s eye roll
transcended the vast physical distance between us.

“
I will call you the moment
we arrive.
We
will call you the moment we arrive. I was planning on taking
Riley and his girlfriend, Willa, with us. I think they can help
with the rescue.”

“
Fine. Just remember they
are civilians, not trained fighters. Their safety will be your
responsibility,” Victoria said.

“
I understand.”

“
I am also sending another
team to the safe house, other members of the taskforce. Do you have
any requests? They will be part of the covert operation, and
therefore working closely with you and yours.”

“
Whoever you want is fine,”
I said, attempting to be agreeable until I thought better of it.
“Just not Olenginski, if that’s okay. That guy has no love lost for
the Created. He might screw up the mission on purpose.”

“
I do agree with you there.
Agent Olenginski is not quite right for this assignment. In fact,
after his little outburst this morning, I am reconsidering whether
he is right for the taskforce at all. I will make my selections
shortly and the agents will be at the safe house by late this
evening.”

“
Sounds good. Talk to you
soon,” I replied.

“
Goodbye, Agent
Lyons.”

In anticipation of a reprimand from
Victoria, I’d stepped outside to call the councilwoman. Being
chastised in front of my friends didn’t bother me—if I was being
honest, it happened rather frequently—but I hated giving Brand the
satisfaction. If he’d heard Victoria’s side of the conversation,
there would have been no room on the hovercraft for Riley and Willa
with Brand’s big head along for the ride.

When I turned around to head back
inside, though, I had an audience. Janelle, Henri, Frederick,
Angus, Brand, Riley and two girls were huddled by the door to the
Giraffe, all staring at me with obvious curiosity. Penny and Erik
were also with the group, wearing matching smirks. They’d evidently
heard both sides of the conversation.

“
How much time do you think
Victoria spends wondering about our sex life,”
Erik sent.
“Must be a
lot
if she knows how
often my libido needs to be fed.”

My blush returned with a
vengeance.

“
Yeah, well, looks like
you’re going to be hungry for a while, buddy. I have strict orders
to put you on a diet.”

Erik laughed out loud and
my heart melted. It was so rare for him to laugh these days,
genuinely
laugh, that
the sound was music to my ears. Humiliation was a small price to
pay if it meant I heard that melody more often.

IN ADDITION TO
Riley and his girlfriend, our group gained a
third newcomer. Her name was Honora Sands, a ghostly pale girl
around Talia’s age. She was shy and a little in awe of us UNITED
agents, as if we were some sort of fabled superheroes her parents
had read her bedtime stories about. Only, in reality, we were a lot
scarier than Honora had envisioned.

Spending so much of my life at the
McDonough School, I often forgot how off-putting others found some
of us. Even those who were our kind. More so than the others in our
group, Talent like mine, Talia’s, and Penny’s was something many
found intimidating. Even if they didn’t understand why. Others
found the abundance of raw Talent alluring, wanted to be close to
us as if some of the power might rub off onto them. The latter was
understandable to me, since I craved the closeness of other strong
Talents. As did Talia. It was that desire, that calling from
other’s gifts, which allowed us to recognize Talent in
another.

Reactions like Honora’s usually
bothered me, but today I found her fear sort of heady. Maybe that
made me a weirdo. Maybe all of the physical power that came along
with my Created Talents had finally burned enough holes in my brain
that I was losing it. Nonetheless, it eased the feelings of
helplessness.

The short flight to the safe house was
filled with one rapid-fire question after another, lobbed in quick
succession at our three new British friends. Riley, the
self-appointed spokesman for the trio, provided most of the
answers, with the girls chiming in to fill in the gaps.

While listening to the horror story
from the beginning, my mood grew shadowy very quickly. As much as I
found Kenly’s actions at the Hamilton inexcusable, no one deserved
the experience she’d been having. And yet, my misery was deeper
still than the empathy I felt for the girl. Hearing what Kenly had
been through while in London made me feel like a piece of shit. It
was my fault. I’d told her to run. I’d told her to go somewhere no
one knew her. At the time, I’d figured she’d just choose some
obscure state to hide out in. Like Idaho. After all, that was how
my parents kept me out of TOXIC’s hands for so long. We’d hidden in
small towns and stayed off the radar. That was what I’d assumed
Kenly would do.

Part of me knew I was
taking responsibility for something I’d actually held no control
over. A whisper of logic deep within me tried to battle the
darkness.
How was I supposed to know that
Kenly would cross an ocean because of me?

No matter the number of times I asked
myself that very question, the guilt refused to abate.

“
Stop beating yourself up,
Erik. Please. It isn’t your fault,”
Talia’s mental voice broke in through my self-reproach as the
hoverplane began to descend in the English countryside.

My mental walls were down and she had
a clear picture into my mind. The look of concern in her eyes and
the paleness of her complexion made me wonder how much snooping
she’d done while I was brooding.

“
Is that a castle?” I asked
aloud, pointing out the hover’s window at an enormous stone
structure below.

Yes, I was trying to change the
subject. Yes, it was like latching on to the first shiny object
dangling in front of me. But the damned thing really did look like
a castle. Like something from a book about knights and
ladies-in-waiting and other crap. Maybe there would even be swords
on the walls.

“
It’s Walburton Manor,”
Angus answered from the front. “Councilwoman Walburton’s family
home.”

I whistled. This was not what I was
expecting for a safe house. TOXIC’s safe houses had been
dilapidated barns.

“
Impressive,” I
admitted.

“
I’m sorry, I seem to have
missed the part where this was a luxury getaway. Is she royalty or
something?” Penny asked, practically crawling into Brand’s lap to
get a better look. He didn’t appear to mind one bit,
either.

“
Not technically speaking.
But her roots do trace back to the current ruling family, I
believe,” Angus replied.

Talia and I exchanged a glance. And
then Talia asked the question that was on both of our minds. One
that she shouldn’t have said out loud.

“
Please don’t tell me that
it’s through King Jensen. It’s not, is it?”

“
Possibly. I don’t recall
offhand,” Angus said.

As if it was no big deal.

“
You don’t think she’s
related to the Poachers, do you?”
Talia
sent.

“
Maybe. If so, she might
know more than she’s telling,”
I sent
back.

Talia nodded in agreement.

We didn’t get another chance to talk
about the theoretical link between Victoria and the Poachers just
then, though. Before all of us had finished deplaning, two men
dressed in UNITED flak jackets and black cargo pants emerged from
the enormous front doors of Walburton Manor. Angus greeted them by
name, calling one Chaz and the other Viktor. Brief introductions
were made all around, then we were asked to follow them to the
conference room.