Exiled (TalentBorn Book 2) Read online

  I tap on Ephraim’s door and wait to be invited inside, then push it to but leave it open the tiniest crack to make sure Mika can hear him.

  “Ah, Anna. Good to see you,” he says, rising to his feet with an amenable smile. “I haven’t had a chance to thank you for checking out the constitution a couple of days ago.”

  “No need,” I say, settling into my customary chair as he takes his seat. “Happy to help.” Ah crap, Mika will have heard that. I better try to stick to the truth, as much as I can. I might not have fully thought this idea through. My only hope is to get on the offensive and try to ask questions without answering any. And keep this as short as possible.

  “So, what brings you here today?”

  Well, not answering questions didn’t last long. Still, that’s as good an invitation as any. Mika will hear my deviation from the truth, but hopefully there won’t be too many more.

  “I was just wondering if there’d been any progress with the AbGen plan?” Ephraim exhales slowly – I get the sense he’s tired of me nagging, but he knows how to stop it: just deliver on his promise.

  “Indeed. I’d been planning to speak to you and Scott this evening. Alistair has been reviewing their security protocols, and he thinks he’s found a weakness we can exploit. It is not entirely without risk, but he believes it will work.”

  Damn, he’s good. Everything is ‘Alistair thinks’ and ‘he believes’ – no word at all as to what he thinks or believes. I guess it’s habit from spending so much time around Mika. It’s a starting point, though.

  “And Joe’s family?”

  “You said yourself it’s likely they’re holding them on site. If you’re correct, we could kill two birds with one stone.”

  Still nothing that could tie him down as being truthful or deceitful. I need to think carefully: I’m not going to get another shot at this. I lean back in my seat, playing for time.

  “Sounds promising. How soon do you think we could go in?”

  “Well, Alistair needs to iron out any wrinkles in the plan, and we’d like Scott’s take on it to be sure we haven’t missed anything, but theoretically we could be ready to move in a fortnight.”

  Alistair. Theoretically. Dammit!

  “That’s good news. And you’re happy for us to go ahead as soon as Alistair thinks it’s ready?”

  “Of course. That’s why you’re here, after all.”

  Got him. If that was a lie, Mika will have picked up on it. Time to get out of here before I can incriminate myself – or tip off the Ishmaelian leader.

  “Thank you. I can see you’re busy, I won’t take up any more of your time.”

  “Very well. I will see you both this evening.”

  He rises, and I escape from his office. Mika’s pacing the hallway, wearing an uncomfortable expression on her face. That’s all the proof I need.

  “Come on,” I tell her. “Let’s head up to the surface.” Where we can speak without worrying about anyone reporting back to Ephraim. I definitely want to hear what she has to say about that conversation.

  She nods, and we make for the lift. She seems to understand that I don’t want to speak about it here, although maybe she’s just worried that someone will accuse her of spying on her boss – I still can’t think of him as our boss – and get her in trouble.

  We emerge into the cold grey outside the barn, and pass Scott tossing Rohan into the dirt. The kid grunts in frustration and bounces back up. Mika’s eyes snag on him, and that red flush rushes across her cheeks again.

  “Things are going well with him, I take it?” I say.

  “Very.” She grins like a Cheshire cat and the red flush deepens.

  “Come on,” I grab her hand and tow her away. “You can drool over him later.” And I have a little drooling to do myself, once my handler has finished with his mentoring duties. Impatience gets the best of me, and as soon as we’re out of earshot, I plop down in the grass and turn to her expectantly.

  “Okay, so what did you make of that? Not all good, I’m guessing.”

  “He has a plan, that much is true.”

  “But?” Because there’s clearly a ‘but’ coming.

  “He wasn’t planning to speak to you and Scott this evening. That was a lie.”

  Oh. Well, that I wasn’t expecting. Interesting. I guess putting him on the spot bumped us up his schedule.

  “And the rest?” I press. She looks down at her hands, and I know it’s not good news. I also know how hard this must be for her. I take her hands in mine.

  “I’m sure whatever he was dishonest about, there’s a logical explanation.”

  “Lie,” she says quietly. I sigh.

  “Okay, maybe I’m not sure. But Mika, it doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy. You can still respect someone even if they’re not honest all of the time.”

  “You believe that,” she says, confusion crinkling her face and making her freckles dance.

  “Yes, I do,” I answer, even though it wasn’t a question. “People lie for all sorts of reasons – to protect other people, to make them feel better, sometimes because they’re scared of the truth – it doesn’t mean that they’re bad people.”

  Mika processes that, then nods and takes her hand back.

  “He isn’t happy for you to go ahead with the raid.”

  My hand balls into a fist around a handful of grass. I knew it! He’s just been stringing us along all this time, I can’t believe we fell for it. He’s never going to fight back against AbGen, just like he hasn’t this whole time he’s been amassing followers. The coward!

  “That doesn’t mean he was lying about letting you go, though,” Mika says quickly, watching my face with concern. I force my features to relax and smooth my fist back open. I don’t need to spook her right now. But…

  “I’m not sure how that can be true. You heard what he said.”

  She nods quickly.

  “Yes. You asked if he was happy for you to go ahead, and he answered dishonestly. Perhaps he is simply unhappy about the prospect of potentially putting people at risk. He may still intend to take that risk.”

  Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll have to stop thinking of Mika as a kid if she’s going to make a habit being so clear headed.

  “So, we’re right back to where we started, then?” I say. What a waste of energy.

  “Not quite,” she says with a sly grin. “Now Rohan won’t be busy with Scott this evening.”

  “Oh, don’t you even think about what I know you’re thinking about,” I admonish her with a playful smile. “You’re far too innocent to be having those sorts of thoughts. Besides, we’re not going to be gone that long.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Thank you both for coming,” Ephraim says to me and Scott as we settle across a table from him and Alistair. As if we’d have missed this for the world. For once we’re not in his office, but a small meeting room, occupied primarily by a large table running down the centre, which at this moment is covered by a handful of papers. We each have a manila folder on the table in front of us. I flip mine open.

  Inside are blueprints for Langford House – I won’t ask how they got them – and several other sheets. At a glance it looks like details of personnel and security arrangements. Scott looks up from his and nods in approval. Apparently his time spent with Alistair wasn’t wasted.

  “As you know, Alistair has spent considerable time putting together a detailed analysis of AbGen’s security protocols and weaknesses.”

  And we’ve spent considerable time running errands for Ephraim and training his rebels, I feel like pointing out, but I don’t. For now. But his attitude is beginning to grate on my nerves. All we’re asking them to do is hold up their end of the bargain, and we’ve done plenty for them in return.

  “We have here a plan of action to take control of Langford House, apprehend Pearce and free anyone being held there against their will.”

  I feel my eyebrows raise. That’s one hell of a goal: no half measures for the Ishm
aelians.

  “First, Anna will shift from here–” he pulls a map of the area around AbGen’s base and taps a point a short distance away, “–taking out power to the entrance to Langford House. This is one of the most heavily protected areas. Once inside the base, security is relatively low; their primary defence is deniability. With security offline, four teams will enter the building. You’ll need to establish contact with the m– with Joe prior to going in and ensure he doesn’t sound any alarms. Once he knows securing his family is one of our primary objectives, I assume he’ll be on board?”

  Ephraim raises a questioning eyebrow and Scott nods. Yeah, if Joe knows he’s got a chance of getting his family back, he’ll do anything they ask – no matter how dangerous. I’m glad they’ve involved me in this plan of theirs: I don’t plan on being sidelined while my friends are at risk. Alistair takes over talking us through his plan.

  “The four teams will split off – Alpha will take the ground and first floors, Bravo sub-level one where the training rooms are located, Charlie sub-level two which contains the labs and medical facilities, and Delta sub-level three where personnel quarters are located. They will move through the building, locking down any personnel they find and containing them in the key areas marked on the blueprints.”

  We all look to the blueprints, which are marked with a star on each floor – a meeting room on the first floor, the gym on sub-level one, the decontamination room in the labs, and the dining hall on sub-level three. Each area is large enough to hold a significant number of people, but has limited access. Easy to guard against people trying to escape. I push the thought aside – I don’t want to think about how these people are my friends, or about how Alistair intends to get them where he wants them. The thought won’t be silenced, though.

  “How exactly do you intend to ‘contain’ people in these areas?”

  “My men will be armed.”

  “You’re going to shoot them?” My mouth hangs open in disbelief. I mean, has anyone actually told him this is supposed to be a rescue mission? If he thinks I’m going to stand back and allow him to murder my friends–

  “We’ll order them into the rooms. With speed and surprise on our side, we’re not anticipating much resistance. The assault teams will be armed with tasers as well as standard firearms, and will be under strict instructions to use minimal force.” His face softens just slightly, perhaps in response to the horror etched on mine. Guns? Tasers?

  “The plan isn’t to use the guns, they’re just there for show.”

  I nod, but I don’t feel any better about it. Alistair continues.

  “We anticipate the majority of personnel to be located on sub-level one, in the training and comms area. Rohan will be on the team on that floor, holding all the doors shut until Bravo team are ready to raid each one.”

  “He can do that?”

  Scott nods, and I let out a low whistle. I knew the telekinetic was strong, but that’s insane.

  “That will minimise the risk both to our men, and the AbGen personnel. You two will take a small security detail and move around Langford House. Your objective is two-fold. You will attempt to make contact with any personnel you believe will be receptive to our mission. Show them a friendly face, ask them to make their way to the designated areas and wait this out. Once we have the base locked down, Scott, you will do a mental sweep of the base, and inform us of any gifteds you detect outside of the holding areas so the teams can bring them in.”

  Scott’s shaking his head.

  “I’m not happy about Anna being in the middle of that.”

  “Where you go, I go, remember?”

  He still looks unhappy, but doesn’t argue. Which is good, because he’s not going to win this one and I don’t want to fall out with him.

  “Go on,” I say to Alistair. He looks from Scott to me and back again, and ignores the tension.

  “It would be useful to have details of as many gifteds as you can provide us – what they can do, how powerful they are, how strongly indoctrinated they have been.”

  Scott nods.

  “I didn’t work with all of them, but I can give you a list of at least half. Specifically, you should watch out for Helen – she can alter people’s perception of her and intimidate or coerce them into doing what she wants.”

  Alistair looks disturbed by this, as he should. Helen’s talent is kick ass, and I’ve seen it in action. It’s one of AbGen’s most formidable weapons.

  “She’s sympathetic to our cause,” Scott says. “If we can get word to her, she can help. Her handler, too.”

  Alistair nods, and scribbles a note on his pad.

  “Any others?”

  “Megan. We believe AbGen to have recently re-programmed her.”

  I think back to the scared girl in a cage, and the formidable soldier she transformed into when we tried to help her escape. I don’t know what her talent is though. I guess I was so busy hating on her for almost getting Scott killed that I never got around to asking. Looks like I’m about to get my answer.

  “She can project electricity through her hands.”

  That’s odd. Well, mostly terrifying, but also odd: she never used her talent on us when we were over-powering her in Gardiner’s office. Then I recall the little spark of static that passed between us when I tried to help her out of her cage. A failed attempt? Maybe my EM Pulse threw her talent out of whack when I shifted down into the basement? Interesting. I’ll bounce it off Scott when there aren’t so many prying ears.

  “Mickey can temporarily blind people. He can’t hold it long, but he could take out a small team. Sarah has echolocation – if you don’t pick her up on your first sweep, she’ll be able to get past your teams. And Jon can project a poison over his skin. It won’t kill, but it will disable anyone who touches him. Those are the most dangerous ones, but it’d be a mistake to underestimate any of the absas on the base.”

  Alistair nods and continues scribbling, and Ephraim picks up where he left off.

  “Once we have control of the base, I will interrogate Pearce and learn which AbGen personnel were aware of his agenda. Mika will be in attendance to ensure his answers are truthful. Those people will be separated out. The rest will hear the truth of the situation, and be free to leave, or join us, in accordance with their preference. Anyone being held prisoner will be freed and receive medical assistance.”

  “And what happens to Pearce?”

  There’s a heavy silence in the room, and I look between the three faces watching me.

  “You can’t just kill him!” I hate Pearce. Hate him like I never thought it was possible to hate another person. Like I never wanted to be able to hate another person. But even so, some part of me objects to his murder on the deepest level. It’s wrong. It’s not for us to take justice into our own hands.

  “Anna…” Scott takes my hand. “There’s no other way. If we let him live, he’ll go to ground and create a new AbGen.”

  I shake my head fiercely.

  “We have the footage I took of the basement. You’ve seen it. It’s enough to get him sent down.”

  “What do you think will happen if the police get wind of what’s been happening right under their noses?” Ephraim asks. “And the press? Do you think the general public will be accepting of our kind? No, there is simply no choice. We cannot involve outsiders, and so long as he lives, he will continue to be a threat to our peaceful existence.”

  “And what about Fitzpatrick? Are you going to kill him too?”

  Ephraim regards me silently.

  “You are! Some ‘peaceful existence’, built on assassination and murder! Scott, you can’t be happy to go along with this?”

  I turn to him in disbelief – why isn’t he backing me up? How can he possibly think that going around indiscriminately killing people is okay?

  “He’s right, Anna. We don’t have a choice. There’s too much at stake – every absa who crosses their path, and everyone on this base. If he lives, he’ll come after them.
After us.”

  I push my seat back and get up. Scott rises and reaches for me, but I hold my hand up, warning him back.

  “I can’t deal with this right now.”

  I rush out of the room, letting the door slam behind me. Has everyone in this entire world taken leave of their senses? I follow my feet and find myself on the surface. I hate being cooped up inside the subterranean barn, flooded with artificial light and heat. Sometimes you just need to be in the open air, under the sun. I squint up at the sky. Under the clouds, anyway. The wind’s picking up – a storm, probably – and my hair whips around my face, making it hard to see where I’m going. Doesn’t really matter, I don’t have any place in mind. I just need to keep moving.

  “Anna, hold up!”

  I turn around and see Mika hurrying after me.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Just taking a walk.”

  She doesn’t respond for a moment, and I wonder if she’s reading a lie. I turn my attention inwards and try to feel for if I had some plan other than walking. I don’t think so, but then I’m not in the habit of listening to myself. Or anyone else. I stop, and sigh. I shouldn’t have taken that out on Scott. He’s just trying to keep me safe. He’s much better at this whole ‘good of the many’ thing than I am. Because I’ve met the few, and I’m not sure I can write them off so easily. Even if they do deserve it.

  “What’s wrong?” she asks.

  Everything. Not least, me. But I know one thing. I should be in there sorting it out, not out here running.

  “Sorry, Mika. I’ve got to go.”

  I close my eyes, gather my terror, and aim for the meeting room.

  My head swims, and I reach a hand out to steady myself – and suddenly an arm is wrapped around me. Scott’s.

  “What, can’t use a door like the rest of us?” he mutters in my ear. I open my eyes.

  “That’s… quite something,” Alistair says, staring at the spot I’m now occupying. “Nice gift.”

  “Talent.”

  “If you prefer.”

  I do. But that’s not what I’m here for.