Talented (32 page)

I threw the knife back on the passenger seat.  I gritted my teeth, and looked down at the cut I had made, my head beginning to swim.  It was a good thing I hadn’t actually looked at the bullet hole in my back.  Pressing both of my thumbs to the bottom edge of
the tracker, I worked it out of my hip.  I sighed with relief as the slippery chip slid in to my fingers.

I looked through the windshield of the hover vehicle, just as I sped over the city border.  I entered my code into the tiny tracker and held my breath until it glowed green, letting me know that the signal had sent.  Glancing behind me, I was relieved to see that nobody was following me . . . yet.  I risked driving the hover vehicle all the way to the clearing where I’d been dropped off two days before.  Had it really only been two days?  I needed to get out of the air; I was mighty conspicuous flying a stolen Coalition vehicle.

Not so gently, I landed the vehicle on the edge of the clearing.  I crawled out of the car, towards the woods.  My hold on Crane’s mind was slipping; I couldn’t hold on much longer.  The tracking signal had sent, but I didn’t know if anyone would get here in time. I found a shallow hole and collapsed into the soft leaves.  My eyes were heavy and I wanted more than anything to close them, but I knew that if I did, I might never open them again.

When I couldn’t stand it a second longer, I did the only thing that I could think of to stay awake – I released Crane’s mind.  It would only buy me a couple minutes of consciousness at best.  I had lost – was still losing – too much blood to hang on much longer.  The pain washed over me, but I didn’t even have the energy left to cry.  The pain was so intense that it was only a matter of time before I passed out.  I held on to the pain as long as I could; as long as I could feel pain I knew I was still alive.

I reached for my small bag and fumbled around inside until my fingers closed around the edges of Erik’s letter.  I unfurled the blood-smeared pages and began to read.  The words swam in and out of focus, disbelief coloring my thoughts.  Too late, I realized I wasn’t ready to read the words on those pages.

Epilogue

Donavon McDonough ran at full speed towards the woods.  He held a tracking device in his left hand. 
Not much further now
, he thought to himself.  The green dot on his tracker grew stronger, the closer he came to its source.  He opened his mind, praying that she’d respond if he called to her. 
Talia!  Talia!
He mentally screamed.  No response came.  Fear propelled him rapidly towards his target.  He was nearly on top of her before his eyes found her small form.

Her body was obscured by leaves and he nearly tripped over her.  Relief washed over him.

“I’ve got her!” he yelled into his head set.

Donavon knelt in the leaves next to Talia’s limp form.  The foliage shrouding her was stained red with her blood.  Her normally olive ton face was pale and waxy-looking.  Her lips were dry and cracked.  Donavon probed her delicate neck, searching for a pulse.  Finally, his fingers registered the weak beat of her heart. 
She’s alive. 
He breathed a sigh.  He frantically peeled the leaves away and gathered her in his arms.  As Donavon stood with her limp body in his arms, he noticed several pieces of paper scattered underneath where Talia’s body had just been.  Taking care not to drop her, he bent back down and grabbed the pages.

“I need someone to come cleanse the area,” Donavon spoke into his headset again.

“Affirmative,” the voice on the other end replied.

Talia was small and weightless in his arms, like he was carrying a child.  Donavon ran out of the woods as quickly as he’d com, trying in vain not to jostle her still body.  Talia’s chest wasn’t perceptibly rising and falling, and he feared the worst.  Panic coursed through Donavon when he felt sticky wetness seeping through his jacket, her blood was already soaking through it.  She couldn’t die.  Her life was worth too much, more
than his own.  His father had never let him forget that.

Donavon reached the clearing and carried her aboard the waiting plane, full of medics.  They rushed over, and scanned for her vitals while she was still draped across his arms.

“She doesn’t have much time,” the medic declared gravely, “she’s lost too much blood.”

“Then you’d better make some time.  She
has to
live,” he snapped back.  The team of medics sprang to life around him, taking her small body from his arms.  Not caring if he was in the way, Donavon knelt next to the gurney.  He swore that he saw her eyelids flutter, and he grabbed her bloody fingers.

“
Hang in there, Tal.  Just hang in there,”
he sent.

“Move back, sir,” one Medic ordered, shoving Donavon aside.  He stumbled backwards, as the team of doctors converged on Talia’s nearly-lifeless body.  Donavon sank into a seat in the corner of the plane, the pages that he’d rescued still clenched in his fist.  A word caught his
attention:  Natalia.  Donavon smoothed the wrinkled sheets against his thigh, and began to read the contents.

Natalia,

A couple nights ago you asked about the circumstances leading to me going to the McDonough School when I was fourteen.  I know that you were hurt I wouldn’t share my story with you, but I’ve never shared it with anybody.  I’ve never trusted someone enough with my secret, I’ve never wanted to let anybody get that close to me.

I’m so sorry about what happened last night.  I’m sorry that I let things go so far with you, when I’ve known all along that you’re still upset over Donavon.  But you’re
right, I do know how you feel about me.  I’ve known for a long time how you feel, maybe even before you knew it yourself.  I feel the same way.  You’ve captivated me since the first time we met, during your placement exams.  I thought that it was just a crush, an odd fascination with a girl who managed to surprise me, but the more time I spent with you, the more I began to realize that what I’m feeling is so much more than a crush.  I’d known about Donavon and the girl – her name is Kandice – for a while.  I really wanted to tell you, but Henri persuaded me not to.  He thought my feelings for you were clouding my judgment, and was afraid that if I was the one to tell you, you might not have believed me.  He sensed that you were starting to realize I am falling for you.  I stand by my decision.  I wish that you hadn’t found out the way you did, but I’m glad that you found out on your own.  Honestly, I’m not sure you would have believed it otherwise.

I can’t put in to words how much it pained me to see you hurting so much, but slowly you bounced back, just like I knew you would.  You’re a fighter.  When you finally started to understand that what you’re feeling for me is real, I was elated.  I tried to hold back, tried to give you more time to grieve, but I was selfish.  I want you, so I started something even though I know that you aren’t really ready.  I was jealous again when I realized that you still think about him when we’re together.  I want all of you for myself, and when you thought about him last night, my temper got the best of me.  I said things that I can’t take back, but hope you forgive me.  If time is what you need, that’s what I’ll give you.

You wanted to give me something that you’ve never shared with anyone, and I want you to know that I don’t take that lightly.  I also want to share something with you that I’ve never shared with anyone.  Just know that once you’ve read what I have to say, you might not like it – or me.  That’s a risk I’m willing to take; I honestly think that you of all people, deserve to know.  So here it goes:

My parents are firm supporters of the movement to repeal the Talent Testing Act.  Both my brothers and I were born at home instead of in a hospital, because both of my parents are Talents.  They were confident that at least one of us would be born Talented, and they didn’t want our births on record.  I’m the oldest.  When I was three, my parents noticed that I was able to replicate both of their abilities.  It unnerved them, because mimics are so rare.  They knew that the Agency
would come for me if they ever found out.  Both of my younger brothers also exhibited Talent at a young age, although neither is very strong.  My middle brother is a mono-morph, and my youngest brother is a low level Brain.

We moved around a lot, staying off of Toxic’s radar. We lived mostly in rural areas and kept to ourselves. I grew up fearing the Agency, and what they stood for, but as I got older, I began to think that maybe my parents were paranoid.  I met a girl on one of my grocery runs when we were living in North Carolina.  We became close and I got cocky.  I told her all about my abilities trying to impress her.  She, in turn, told her parents.  Days later, Agency Operatives raided our home.  Ordinarily, the penalty for refusing to submit children for testing is jail time and a heavy fine.  But my parents were proud and fought.  My mother was killed in the raid.  My father and brothers probably would’ve been too, but I knew that Toxic hadn’t come for them; they’d come for me.  The man in charge of the Mission told me that I was in no position to bargain, but I could tell he was lying.  I surrendered myself, in exchange for the lives of my father and my brothers.

Mimics are so rare, and I could tell how badly he wanted me, so I called his bluff.  I threatened to take my own life if he didn’t agree to the terms of my deal.  In the end, he agreed.  I offered to go willingly to the School and take my “rightful” place within the Agency.  In return, my brothers would be free to attend regular school and live normal lives, and my father wouldn’t be penalized.  My father and brothers now live in Raleigh, and are closely monitored by Agency personnel.  Under the terms of my agreement, I’m not allowed to speak about what happened, visit my family, or step out of line.  They’ll all be executed if I violate any of these conditions.

I’ve been closely watched since my first day at School, and, truthfully, I’m shocked that the Agency allowed me to become a Hunter.  However, my willing sacrifice – and the constant vigilance of those in charge – has proven me to be a loyal Operative.  I don’t agree with the Mandatory Testing laws, and I don’t really care about the Coalition and their rebellion, but, I do care about my family’s well-being. If that means I have to fall in line and play my part, I will – and I do.

I told you that I’d tell you all of this when you were ready to hear it.   I don’t really know if you are ready now, but I wanted to share something with you.  I also want you to understand that the Agency isn’t all that you believe it to be.  There are many within it that are corrupt, and the system in general is incredibly flawed.

You had a choice about whether to join this organization.  I know that you see it as a chance to right the wrongs in your past, but just remember that the rest of us weren’t given the same option.  The Agency is responsible for the wrongs in my past.

I feel the deeply-buried doubt that you keep bottled up inside of you.  I’m not saying that you should leave the Agency or anything like that, I just want you to keep your eyes open, and hang on to that doubt.  It’s unlikely that Donavon is the only one who’s lied to you.

I gave this to Henri because I trust him for reasons he’ll have to explain to you some day.  I gave it to you now, because I wanted you to have a chance to read it away from the ever-watchful electronic presence of Toxic’s prying eyes.  I that know you’re too curious to not read this before you return, so we can talk about it when you get back, if you want to.  If you don’t, well that’s fine too.  I hope that you’ll understand how much trust it took for me to write this, and, even if you believe nothing I say, I hope that you won’t share its contents with anybody.

E.

Donavon carefully folded the pages and shoved the note in his jacket pocket. 
Decisions, decisions,
he thought, processing the ramifications of giving the defamatory document to his father.  There wasn’t really a choice in the matter.  His family came first; Donavon knew what he needed to do.

Caged coming
Spring 2012 . . .

Read the First Chapter NOW . . .

Chapter One

The knock at the door came again.  Just like the last three times he’d tried to get my attention, I ignored his appeal.  Instead, I continued to stare at the metal lock that was barring him from entering.

“Nat
alia, open the door,” his deep voice demanded.  Concentrating harder, I watched as the latch switched from the locked to unlocked position.  The sound of the lock engaging and disengaging was barely audible to me, but I knew that he heard the click loud and clear.  Confirming my thoughts, he quickly tried turning the knob again, just as I re-engaged the lock.

“
Natalia,” he warned.   His exasperation made me smile.  “I will break this door if I have to,” he said, his voice low and threatening.  The harsh tone left little doubt that he would do just that if I didn’t quit playing games.  With a heavy sigh, I finally relented, disengaging the lock and leaving it that way.  He turned the knob so hard the metal screeched in protest – I thought that it might break off in his hand – and then Danbury “Mac” McDonough burst into the room.

I sat on my king
-sized bed, propped against the fluffy pillows, my arms crossed over my chest, my legs crossed at my ankles and a smirk on my face.  Mac, the Director of the Talented Organization for Extremely Interesting Citizens (aka TOXIC), stared at me disapprovingly.  “Are the games really necessary?” he demanded, clearly annoyed.

“
Am I not allowed any privacy?” I retorted, not bothering to hide the irritation in my own voice.

“No, you are allowed all the ‘privacy’ you like, but you are not allowed locked doors
,” he said with mock patience.

“Locked doors, privacy, what’s the difference?”

“The difference, Natalia, is that if you have a seizure and the door is locked, these seconds that we lose could prove lethal.”  His voice was hard, but the tenderness in his eyes touched me.  The steely reserve that I’d been holding on to faltered a little, but I quickly recovered.

Pasting on a small
smile, I said, “I’m fine, see?”  I spread my arms wide to prove my point.  He studied me carefully through narrowed gray eyes, inspecting every detail of my appearance for signs of damage.  I felt like a child under Mac’s hard gaze, but refused to avert my eyes.  In addition to my seizures, Mac feared me so depressed that I might injure myself.  His unsubstantiated anxiety had landed me in weekly therapy sessions with the Head of Psychoanalysis for the Agency.  “You wanted to talk to me?” I prompted, when I couldn’t take his scrutiny any longer.

“How are you feeling?”
he finally asked.

How was I feeling?  Where to begin?  Expressions like ‘lab rat,’ ‘caged animal,’ and ‘prisoner’ came to mind, but Mac wouldn’t appreciate those responses.

“Fine,” I replied shortly.

“Fine?” he repeated lightly, raising one bushy eyebrow in challenge.

“Fine.  Just like I felt fine yesterday.  Just like the day before that.  And exactly how I felt the day before that.”  My voice raising an octave as I punctuated each word.

Mac
continued to look me up and down, as if the only way that he would believe my words was if he couldn’t detect otherwise.   Returning his stare, I tried to match the cold glint of his gaze with my own.  He was careful to avoid direct eye contact, afraid that I might read his thoughts.  As if I needed such contact to access his mind.  We both knew better, but we also both knew how much he hated the intrusion, which is why I normally refrained.

“I have been thinking
, maybe you would like to help out with some of the classes at school?” He said it like it was a question, but I knew that he wasn’t really giving me an option.  Mac wasn’t in the habit of offering choices; he was more accustomed to barking orders, and few people had the nerve to disobey.  I used to be one of his sheep, his approval and praise had meant the world to me, but over the last nine months I’d distanced myself from the flock. Despite that, option or not, I was eager to do something – anything – besides sit in this room.

“Really?”
  I replied, almost ashamed by how excited the prospect of leaving my bedroom made me.  I tried not to let the excitement show, but I could barely contain myself.  I had been locked up in this room, in this house on the same grounds as the McDonough School, for months.  The only time that Mac permitted me to leave was to make the short trek to the School’s medical facility for my daily blood drawing and injections with Dr. Thistler.  Even my therapists, Drs. Wythe and Martin, came to Mac’s house for our sessions.

Well
, maybe locked up was a
slight
exaggeration – the door was only actually locked when I locked it from the inside.  And the room wasn’t exactly small; it was bigger than most accommodations for teenagers, even bigger than some families’ entire homes, and lavishly decorated.

My large
bed was covered in a burgundy down comforter with silver embroidered swirls and occupied a space in the middle of my bedroom.  One wall of the bedroom was glass, and covered with draperies the same burgundy and silver pattern as the comforter.  A mahogany dresser stood about waist high, extending almost the entire length of the wall opposite the bed, and a wall screen for watching movies stretched above it.  A third wall contained a roll top desk made of the same mahogany as the dresser.

Huge black-and-white paintings
of icy lakes and snow covered mountains, painted by a well-known artist, hung on the three true walls. Next to the desk were giant French doors, made of the same mahogany with an intricately carved design.  Behind the wooden doors sat a walk-in closet that stretched nearly half the width of the room itself.  Most of the clothes in the closet hadn’t been touched in years (two years to be exact).

The she
lf that ran around the top of the closet held many shoe boxes, filled with pictures of me as teenager.  My curly, chestnut hair highlighted my purple eyes and framed my small face.  My smooth olive complexion was marred only by a smattering of freckles across the bridge of my slightly upturned nose.  Beside me in most of the pictures was a slightly older boy, a comparative giant, with shaggy blonde hair and clear blue eyes, his skin as light as mine was dark.

The pictures used to decorate the walls and the bedside tables
; when I’d moved back into this room I’d packed them all away, not wanting to see them every day.

“I thought
that it would be good for you to get out and rejoin the living,” Mac said dryly, interrupting my thoughts and bringing me back to the present.

“
Funny, considering you’re the reason that I’ve been denied access to the ‘living,’” I snorted.  The fact that our house was so close to hoards of students and teachers, but I was barely allowed to interact with them seemed almost cruel.

“Yes, well your health has been much better in the recent weeks, and Dr. Wythe seems satisfied that your mental state is stable.” 
Great
, I thought,
the man who overanalyzes everything has decided that I’m not crazy – that’s reassuring.

“
I could go back to Elite Headquarters,” I replied, hopefully.   I knew that Mac approving my return to the Hunters was about as likely as me rehanging those photos, but I had to try.

“You h
ave not been cleared by Medical,” he stated, the annoyance from earlier returning.  Lately we’d been having this conversation a lot.

“Medi
cal doesn’t seem to be any closer to
clearing
me than Medical was nine months ago,” I snapped angrily.  Toxic had access the absolute latest and best medical research, yet somehow the exact cause of my seizures still baffled them.

Nine months I was a Hunter Pledge, living at Elite Headquarters, located in beautiful Brentwood Springs, West Virginia.  The Hunters are a division within a government bureau called TOXIC, simply referred to as the Agency.  The Hunters devote most of their time to collecting information about the Coalition, the largest threat to national security.  My solo mission, the culmination of the Hunters’ Pledge program, had brought me in contact with Ian Crane himself, President of the Coalition and my parents’ murderer.  Even though my official assignment hadn’t been to kill Crane, I hoped to do just that if the opportunity presented itself.  When I finally did come face-to-face with him, things didn’t go exactly as planned; I’d been injected with an unidentified chemical and shot while trying to flee.  The drug lingered in my bloodstream, now causing me agonizing – and, at times, embarrassing – seizures.

The Coalition doesn’t believe that being Talented is a good thing.  They believe that me and people like me, those with gifts, are unnatural.  Their sole mission is to bring down the Agency and put an end to the training of special children.  If Crane gets his way, Talents will be ostracized, forced to return to the days when we had to hide our abilities or face ridicule.

“Nat
alia, we have been over this, we are doing everything we can.  I just need for you to be patient.  It is best for everybody if you stay here until Medical can isolate the compound in your blood,” he said with exaggerated patience.  “Besides, even if Medical clears you, there is no guarantee that the Placement Committee will make you a Hunter.”

Mac’s not-so-subtle reminder that, in addition to nearly bleeding to death, I’d pretty much botched my solo hunt stung.  The solo hunt was a necessary mission that each Hunter Pledge needed to complete to actually become a Hunter.  Mine had gone less than stellar.  I knew that there was a very real chance that my performance would prevent the Placement Committee from actually assigning me to the Hunters.  Despite that, I was counting on my team captain, Henri, going to bat for me when the time came.  Henri would, hopefully, assure the Committee that I’d done very well on all of my group missions, and that I was ready to be a full-fledged Hunter.

Still, my proverbial ace in the hole was Mac.  As Director of the Agency, he was an important member of the Placement Committee – as far as most were concerned, his word was gospel.  If he voted to place me with the Hunters, the others would likely fall in line.  At one time the mutual confidence that Mac and I shared would’ve left me with no doubt that he would sway the vote in my favor, but the current state of my mental and physical health made it uncertain.

“Fine,
” I snapped, when it became clear that he wasn’t going to give me any good news.

“Fine you will help out
with the classes at school?”  He clarified.

“Fine I will help out
with the classes at school,” I answered grudgingly.  Not that helping students at the McDonough School for the Talented was high on my to-do list, but it sure beat twiddling my thumbs in my bedroom.

“Glad that we settled that.
” He sounded relieved.  “Oh, and Natalia?  Keep your senses open,” Mac added, seemingly as an afterthought.  I could tell that this was his real reason for sending me to the school, and now I was intrigued.  Maybe this was more like an assignment than a way to get me to stop brooding.  At least, I hoped that was the case.

“Why?” I asked suspiciously.

“I am not sure yet, but I think that we might have a leak in the Agency . . . a spy.”

“
A spy?” I asked stupidly, my mouth gaping.  How could there be a spy in the Agency?  Didn’t we take extreme measures to prevent things like that?

“After studying your official report from Nevada, I can only conclude that we have a spy.  Your identity was compromised.  Crane knew who you were and, based on the events in his home, I believe that he was tipped off by an Operative on the inside here.  I have been quietly investigating this theory, but have not made any progress.  I think that it’s time that we took more aggressive measures.”
He paused, waiting for my reaction.  I kept my face impassive while I mulled over his words.  I had entertained the notion that my identity was leaked to Crane, but I hadn’t really considered that it might be from someone within the Agency.  Now that I thought about it, Mac was probably right.  Crane had clearly known who I was, and it’s not like I carry identification on me.  He’d also been prepared for my arrival.  I guess we really did have a spy.

“Are you thinking
that one of the teachers or administrators is selling the information?” I asked carefully, gauging his predictably guarded reaction to my question.  If Mac had planned to fill me in on all the details he wouldn’t have broached the subject the way that he did.  Ordinarily he was so direct, that he was beating around the bush could only mean that he was intentionally hiding important details from me.  When his expression remained unchanged, I once again considered reading his thoughts.  After all, the spy – the traitor – who had compromised my identity had nearly cost me my life.  Mac’s refusal to divulge details infuriated me.

“
Could be.”  He shrugged noncommittally.  “Honestly, I’m not sure.  Like I said, I’ve been quietly investigating this using only a handful of trusted Operatives, those that I am positive are not involved.  I think that your specific Talents could be useful, since I have all but exhausted my other options.”

Great, I’m a last resort.
  This time I did read his mind.

His mental barricades were firmly in place, but since I was the one who’d taught him to build the barriers, they were easy for me to knock down.  Mac was telling the truth, he really didn’t have any idea who the spy was.  His inability to make any progress in his search frustrated and scared him.  He was afraid that if the traitor wasn’t found soon, we would lose more Operatives.  But he was most terrified by the certainty that if the interloper got another chance, this time he would make sure to kill me.