Caged (Talented Saga) (10 page)

She scrutinized my appearance.
“Do you know you’re wearing two different shoes?” she asked, her voice edged with both amusement and concern.

I looked down.
Sure enough, I was wearing one brown leather sandal and one black. “Oops,” I replied sheepishly. “It’s been that kind of day.”

“Come
on, let’s get over to the Crypto Bank. I got the file that you wanted on that Ernest kid. I also got your message about needing the profiles for the students in your Telekinesis class.” I’d managed to send Penny a comm sometime between my shower and crying myself in to exhaustion.

“Great, thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I haven’t gotten started on those profiles, I figured that we could do them together tonight.”

Penny and I made our way out of the conference room with no more than a wave to Mac, Mitch, and Janet, who were so lost in conversation that they barely noticed our departure.
We were halfway to the Crypto Bank when my portable communicator started beeping.

“Medical,” a mechanical voice said between chirps.
I’d forgotten. No wonder Mac had programmed it. I turned to Penny.

“Meet you there in five?” I said apologetically.

“Want me to come with you?” she asked, still looking concerned about my mental state.

“Nah, I’ll be okay,” I answered.
I really appreciated her offer, but I needed a few minutes alone to collect my thoughts; I was still reeling over Donavon’s statements about Erik. I hated myself for falling into Donavon’s trap. He’d been trying to cause me pain, wanted to hurt me. Donavon figured that I’d caused him physical pain earlier, so he would cause me emotional pain now.

Only, I wasn’t the only one of us who’d been emotionally stung by his words.
When Donavon had felt my reaction to his claims about Erik, he’d been hurt, too. The fact that I cared enough about Erik to be so upset by the thought of him with another girl tore Donavon apart inside. No matter what he said, or how he acted, Janet and Penny were right – Donavon still cared a lot about me. He knew that I’d been involved with Erik before I left for Nevada, but he’d assumed that it had been a rebound. He thought that I’d done it to get back at him.

Donavon hadn’t realized that I’d had real feelings for Erik that I still had real feelings for him.
As mad as I was at Donavon, his pain weighed heavily on my shoulders. What a mess.

“See you shortly.” Penny smiled before heading to the Crypto Bank alone.

Dr. Thistler not only took my blood and gave me my medication, but provided me with more painkillers as well. I was feeling much better, and kind of high, by the time that I entered the sliding glass doors to Penny’s home-away-from-home, half-an-hour later.

Chapter Ten

The next day, I vowed to get an accurate analysis of Cadence.
Once again I tried to engage her in small talk, but like my earlier attempts, she wasn’t receptive. We’d had enough interactions that I should’ve been able to read her mind, except she was fairly adept at shielding her thoughts. When I pushed harder, I was able to break through her mental barricades, but the only thing that she was concentrated on was class. I cursed her single-mindedness.

As was quickly becoming my daily routine, I ate lunch with Ernest.
We talked and joked easily, and the more time that I spent with him, the more that I liked him.

“Don’t you get bored here?” I wanted to know.
I was partially asking to get a feel for what he did in his free time, and if it included selling information to the Coalition, and partly because I was genuinely curious how a person survived sans entertainment at School.

After sitting alone in my bedroom for months on end, I’d thought that coming to the School and being around people would be exciting.
For the first day, it had been, but now, not so much.

“Not really,” he shrugged. “There are plenty of people to hang out with, and sometimes, I lend a hand in the Crypto Bank analyzing data.
That keeps me pretty busy.” My ears perked up at the mention of his involvement with the Cryptos; he might prove to be a promising lead after all.

“You can do that?” I asked.
“Like just go in there and help out?” Keeping my tone only mildly interested was difficult. I was nearly bursting with curiosity.

“Well, not just anybody can.”
His pale face colored slightly. “I’m an Elite-Level Higher Reasoning, and was actually offered placement with the Crypto Division, but I turned it down, but since I technically have the skill set, they let me fill in if they are shorthanded.” From anybody else, I’d have taken this disclosure as bragging, but Ernest was almost embarrassed to admit that he was a highly ranked Talent, and had been offered such a coveted position.

“Do you fill in often?” I pressed.

“Oh, not often, just every few weeks or so,” he replied.

I studied his mind; nothing in his brain suggested anything more than joy at getting the chance to do the work that he really loved.
After leaving Penny the previous night, I’d reviewed Ernest’s file and found no obvious red flags, but I also didn’t remember any mention of his moonlighting as a Crypto Operative. I’d have to double check on that.

That afternoon, I took advantage of Ursula’s talkative nature to question her more closely.

“I forgot what it was like to be at school,” I began as we watched the students practice using their minds to throw knives at a target.

“You were at Elite Headquarters before this, right?” she responded.

“Yeah, it was so much better. I mean we were allowed to go into the city, and the rooms are so much better than the dorms here.” I rolled my eyes.

“I bet.
But weren’t you just there for your Pledge year? I thought that Pledges weren’t allowed in the city?” I winced; apparently, her propensity for over-sharing was contagious.

“Not normally, but there are always ways to sneak off,” I replied conspiratorially.
There, maybe if she thought that I was rebellious, she’d trust me enough to confide in me.

“I’ve heard that.”
She nodded. “A couple of my friends from school became Hunters.”

I relaxed; she’d bought my lie.

“Have you ever been to Washington? There are so many cool bars and stuff,” I said.

“Yeah, on the weekends I meet some friends down there, if I’m not on duty.”
She smiled mischievously. “City boys are so much fun to flirt with. They get a kick out of seeing me take shots without using my hands.” Ursula winked; Telekinesis came with some fun perks.

I laughed. I bet they did.
That sounded like something Erik would do if he could.

“Do you travel much other than that?
Like go home to see your parents or anything?” I decided to test the bond that we were forming, and see if she’d tell me the truth about her family.

Ursula’s lips pursed together in a thin line, and her body went rigid next to me.
“No, I rarely see my parents. They aren’t supportive of my decision to join Toxic,” she replied thinly.

“That sucks.
Mine weren’t really either,” I empathized. That wasn’t exactly a lie; my parents hadn’t encouraged the use of my abilities, but only because they just hadn’t wanted me to make people uneasy. My admission seemed to calm her.

“Weren’t?
Are they dead?” she asked bluntly.

I blanched at her harsh words.
Apparently, tact wasn’t in her repertoire.

“Yeah, they are,” I replied evenly.
“That’s when I came to the School, after their deaths.”

“Really?
So you weren’t five when you came here?” she asked, seeming interested. Her mental guards were coming down, and I could tell that she liked the idea of bonding with someone who hadn’t been a conventional student.

“Nope, I was ten, actually.
You?”

“Thirteen.
Best thing that ever happened to me.” She smiled fondly. She really believed that coming to the School was good fortune. Like me, she’d felt normal for the first time in her life once she was surrounded by other Talents.

“Yeah, me too,” I agreed.
At one time, I’d really felt lucky that Mac had been the one to find me. Since my incident in Nevada, I wasn’t so sure. Ursula also was falling lower on my short list of viable suspects.

After Ursula’s class, I set off for the dorm.
My path took me past the targeting range. To my surprise, I saw a small black-haired girl surrounded by an assortment of weapons, practicing – Cadence.

Standing out of her line of sight, I watched her run through a litany of simulation firing drills.
Cadence was actually pretty good. Her mental focus was amazing; I could feel the concentration. Cadence was determined to persuade Captain Alvarez to let her tryout for the Hunters once again. She was convinced that if she demonstrated how great her combat and weapons skills were, she would be able to make up for the fact she wasn’t an Elite. If Cadence hadn’t been such a heinous wench, I might’ve even felt bad for her. There was no way that Cadence Choi would ever become a Hunter.

“You’re really good,” I called out when she paused to reload a handgun.
Startled, she glanced in my direction. Realizing who’d praised her abilities, she rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the bulls-eye. I ignored her uninviting attitude and walked closer to where she stood.

“I know,” she snapped.
Really, would it kill her to be pleasant once in a while?

“Are you trying out for the Hunters?” I asked, hoping that if I brought up the subject, she might be willing to talk.
She lowered the weapon and turned to face me.

Cadence studied me for several long moments.
“Yes, I am,” she answered finally.

“Would you really want to go through another Pledge year?” I probed.
Usually when an Operative transferred Divisions, they only went through a brief training period. But the Hunters’ missions were so intense that transfers were required to complete an entire Pledge year prior to receiving a permanent placement. Suffice it to say, there were few who transferred to the Hunters.

“The Hunters are the most highly regarded division of the Agency, it would be well worth it,” she answered shortly.
I might not like her, but I did admire her intensity.

“Well, if you ever want a shooting partner, I’m always eager for more practice,” I offered in what I hoped was a friendly voice.
Not that I was keen on the idea of spending more than the ninety minutes a day that I already did with Cadence Choi, but maybe if we found common ground, she’d open up.

“Don’t hold your breath on that,” she muttered.

“Well, the offer’s on the table,” I said pleasantly before turning to leave. The rapid fire of bullets hitting the target provided a soundtrack for my retreating footsteps.

During my nightly session with Penny, I finally had a chance to review the tapes of Ursula’s visits with her parents.
I found nothing exceptional on the recordings. Mostly, they talked about innocuous topics like the weather and what Ursula had planned for her birthday which had coincided with one of her trips to Affelwood. I briefly entertained the notion that they were talking in codes. If they were, I wasn’t really the right person to be analyzing the tapes.

“Penny?
I doubt that this will lead anywhere, but could you listen to these tapes and see if maybe they are speaking in code? Or maybe I could ask Dr. Wythe if he could observe the interactions and give me his take?” I asked, removing the headphones that I’d been wearing to listen to the audio that accompanied the security footage.

“Yeah, I could take a look.
Unless......” she let her voice trail off, and nodded to where Gemma sat on her other side. I shrugged. Gemma had been given clearance to help me and Penny. I couldn’t see a reason not to assign her the task.

“Hey, Gemma?”
Penny called loudly. The older girl removed her own headset and looked at Penny expectantly. “Want to help us with something?”

“Um, sure.
If you think that would be okay, I’d love to,” she replied, pleased at the opportunity.

“Yeah, it would be okay,” I confirmed, making an executive decision.
Then, I explained what I wanted her to do. Gemma began scrutinizing the same footage that I’d just watched, right away. Once she was engrossed in her assignment, I decided to ask Penny about Ernest’s claim that he “filled in” when the Crypto Bank was short staffed.

“Hmmm, I wasn’t aware that was a normal practice,” Penny narrowed her eyes in thought.
“We should probably say something to the Director,” she advised. I nodded my agreement, hoping that Ernest wasn’t involved with anything treasonous.

Over the course of the next week, I fell into a routine.
Every morning, I woke before the sun and either ran or went to the gym to train with a punching bag. If I ever got the chance to plead my case to the Placement Committee, I wanted to be in tip-top shape.

I dutifully assisted in all my assigned classes, keeping my mind open for any signs of plotting.
Ernest became my regular lunch companion, and I found myself looking forward to the time that we spent together. He was easy to talk to and, despite the fact that I was supposed to be investigating him, I found his company calming and uncomplicated. For one hour every day, I was able to pretend that I really was an assistant Instructor and not a disgraced Operative with questionable health.

My evenings were spent with Penny and Gemma, tirelessly working through electronic files for other potentially untrustworthy Operatives.
The task was tedious and unproductive.

Most nights, I didn’t go to bed until well past midnight, but could never seem to sleep more than a few hours.
With the exception of my morning sessions with Donavon, the majority of my day consisted of delving into the minds of others, which, in turn, kept my own thoughts from obsessing over Donavon or – even worse – Erik. At night, alone in my room with nothing to distract me, they were the only thoughts that crossed my mind.

As far as Erik was concerned, to call or not to call, that was the question.
If I did call, would he talk to me? If he did talk to me, what would he say? What would I say? Would he tell me what I wanted to hear? What exactly did I want to hear? Did I want him to say that he was sorry about what happened between us? I already knew that he was. Did I want him to say he missed me? Would I believe him if he did? Surely, if he did miss me, he would’ve called.

With Donavon, the question was to hate, or not to hate.
Sometimes, I definitely hated him. Like when he accused me of manipulating him into kicking me just so I could transfer my pain back to him – what a convoluted theory. And he thought that I was the unstable one. Other times, I knew that I didn’t hate him at all; I was just still hurt by his betrayal. Unfortunately for him, the former usually outweighed the latter.

What.
A. Mess.

The more time that I spent with the Instructors, the more convinced I became that Mac was having me bark up the wrong proverbial tree.
Sure, they all had some, albeit tenuous, tie to the Coalition. But honestly, with Crane’s influence spreading eastward, infecting the Nation like the plague, there were a lot of Operatives with extended family in his employ. The only difference between my suspects and the other Operatives was that my suspects happened to be in close proximity to a Crypto data bank. As far as I could tell, not one of them had the wherewithal to infiltrate our encrypted records, except one – Ernest.

Ernest lacked the motivation though; nothing about him suggested that he was involved with the Coalition.
If he couldn’t handle the stress of his previous post, then there was no way that he could handle the stress of being a double agent. His story could be a lie, but if it was, then he was a better manipulator than me.