Hunted (Talented Saga # 3) (27 page)

Anya hugged Erik, too, then stood with one hand on the table for support and watched us as we departed.
Erik wrapped an arm around my waist, urging me to put one foot in front of the other as we crossed the food court. All the tables were full now, occupied by carefree teenagers throwing French fries at one another and laughing loudly. It was so unfair that they had no cares in the world while I was saddled with the knowledge that our government was more corrupt than I’d ever imagined.

Erik was practically shaking with rage from what we’d just learned.
His back teeth ground together as he clenched and unclenched his jaw. His demeanor was terrifying. I was only comforted by the fact it wasn’t directed at me. The bus ride back was strained. Every time I tried to start a conversation, he just shook his head angrily, causing me to snap my mouth closed. When I attempted to reach out to him mentally, I was blocked. I didn’t push. I wasn’t actually sure I wanted to be privy to his thoughts just then.

When we arrived back at the Hamilton, Erik’s mood flipped like a switch.
He was no longer tense and radiating angry energy. Instead, he was eerily calm and relaxed. His fingers weren’t digging painfully into my waist, but rested lightly – if not a bit possessively – on my hip. I was irritated that while I was still anxious and confused, he was confident and secure. He called out greetings to the entrance guards and even took the time to exchange easy banter. His nonchalant attitude irked me further.

Once on the elevator, he pushed the button for my floor and sagged against the mirrored wall of the car.

“Go to your room and wait for me. Don’t talk to anyone if you can help it. Dress in the most comfortable clothes you have with you,”
he ordered, his mental voice tired but determined.

“What are you doing to do?”
I asked frantically.

“I have a couple more things to work out before we leave tonight,”
he replied evasively.

“Leave?
Where are we going? What about your family? Erik, are you sure?”

“I have it all worked out.
Please just trust me, Tals,”
he urged, pulling me to him.

The bell dinged, indicating we had reached our floor.
I followed Erik off the elevator car. We stood in the hallway facing each other. He leaned down and put his forehead against mine.

“Do you trust me?” he whispered, cupping his hands on either side of my neck.

“You know I do,” I replied just as quietly.

“There isn’t time to explain right now.
Just do as I asked and I’ll come for you late tonight. Be ready. Pack your medicine.”

“No!”
I practically screamed at him, a little taken aback by my own reaction, but I was
not
taking that suppressant any longer. Toxic had made me this way and now I would be at my strongest to spite them.

“Tal, we don’t know how you will actually react without it.
You might have seizures. We don’t know. I need you well for what I’m planning to work. Please, promise me you’ll bring it. Once we’re safe, we’ll figure out whether you can stop taking it,”
he promised.

“Fine,” I said, turning away from him.

He grabbed for my arm and pulled me back until our lips met. I didn’t want to kiss him back because I was mad and felt like being childish. Then the full impact of everything he’d done for me since we met, everything he was still doing for me, hit home. He was risking his life, the lives of his family, and I was being ungrateful and ridiculous because he disagreed with me. Clearly, I needed more of that suppressant instead of less because I was becoming more unreasonable by the minute.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and he lifted me off the ground as we kissed.
Warmth and caring flooded through me and I clung to him with more urgency. I didn’t want to let him go.

“I love you,” I whispered breathlessly when he finally put me down.

“I love you, too.” He smiled and kissed the end of my nose. Then he waited until I walked to my door and entered my room.

The sun had barely begun to set outside my window and I had hours to kill before Erik would come for me.
My room seemed too small as I paced anxiously, turning over Anya’s outrageous statements in my mind. My head throbbed when I thought about how many things Mac had lied about, how many things Donavon had lied about. I wanted to confront him, but I couldn’t bring myself to pick up my communicator. What would I say? After all, hadn’t Mac used him, too, lied to him, too? Obviously, Donavon knew he wasn’t born with the ability to morph, but I doubted whether he’d had a choice in becoming Talented.

The more I thought about it, the worse I felt for him.
His own father had experimented on him. What kind of person could put his child in danger like that? How many others had been infected the way Donavon had been? The way I had.

You have no idea what your Agency does to innocent people.
Crane knew. He knew and he tried to tell me, but I’d been too proud and trusting to listen. Penny tried to tell. She gave her life attempting to uncover the truth.

Before long, I was fuming.
I stomped angrily between the bed and the bathroom, tossing clothes, books, and anything else that wasn’t bolted down against the walls. With every passing minute, my temper rose a little more. Deciding I needed a distraction, I rifled through the outfits I’d brought with me until I found black workout pants, a black tank top, and a black light weight jacket. I set the clothes aside and made my way to the shower.

Erik’s refusal to let me in on his master plan stung and all I could do was sit and ponder the possibilities, each idea more absurd than the one before it.
Would we live in the woods like animals? Make our way to the ocean and hitch a ride to Europe? Continually move from one place to the next, constantly looking over our shoulders for Toxic Operatives? We would never be safe. They would hunt us. If I knew nothing else, I knew that.

I was fairly confident wherever we were going that showers and other luxuries I’d become accustomed to would be scarce.
I savored the feel of the warm water against my skin. I thought about Alex and Kandice and I hoped she would at least find some peace in the fact her son wouldn’t succumb to the fate she’d given her life to prevent. Although, for that to be true, we had to succeed in getting him out of this hotel and somewhere the Agency wouldn’t find him. A sense of dread filled me. The Hamilton was under heavy security with guards at every entrance and exit. If it were just me and Erik, we stood a chance of getting out without drawing too much attention. Taking Alex would raise suspicion.

I had no clue how Erik planned on getting past Mac’s watchdogs.
Assuming we made it past the guards, we still had to find a way out of the city. The security at the border would be even more intense than at the Hamilton. Not to mention, how were we going to get Alex away from Cadence? She’d been increasingly friendlier to me in the previous couple of days, but I doubted her good will would extend to handing the boy over without a fight.

By the time the water was cold, I felt we were about to embark on a suicide mission, but my resolve didn’t waiver.
After everything I’d learned, I was even more convinced that Alex needed to be kept safe.

I dried my hair and took pains to straighten every strand until not so much as a wave was visible.
The effort would be wasted once we were out of the air conditioning and in the humidity, but with an abundance of time and no other way to fill it, I figured why not. I stuffed the most necessary of my toiletries into one of the cases with my medicine and set them neatly by the door. I looked at the clock. It was only ten.

I climbed into my bed, fully clothed, and pulled the covers over my head.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but I couldn’t stand the mess that I’d made any longer. My mind contemplated all the horrible scenarios that we might encounter and the very real possibility we’d be caught. Any trouble I’d gotten into over the years, Mac had come to my rescue. But now, he would be the one leading the charge against me and Erik. We would be hunted like game and likely killed. The thought terrified me, but was also oddly invigorating.

For years, I’d sat idly by while Mac and Toxic took measures I’d known were wrong.
I had even participated in some. Not anymore. I couldn’t right the wrongs that I’d caused. I couldn’t return the children to their parents. I couldn’t help the people I’d put in jail. But I could help Alex. For Donavon’s sake, I hoped Mac never learned the truth about Alex and that I could finish what he’d started.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Just after midnight, the door to my room creaked and someone slipped quietly inside.
I knew without him speaking that it was Erik. I threw the covers back and could make out his oddly shaped silhouette moving in my direction.

“You ready?” he asked anxiously.
When he moved closer, I realized the reason his outlined was so distorted. He was carrying two large backpacks. One was snuggly fastened against his back while the other was slung over one shoulder. I scurried out of bed and he handed me the one from his shoulder. I silently slipped into the straps.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I muttered.

Erik smirked. “Are you supposed to be a ninja?” he asked when he noticed I was wearing all black.

I shot him a dirty look; we were making an escape, for god’s sake.
What was I supposed to wear? Erik was wearing jeans and a dark colored t-shirt, blue or green, I figured.

“I’m trying to blend in,” I shot back.

Erik chuckled and I soon found myself giggling a little, too. Only he would make a joke at a time like this. The tension ebbed slightly as we slipped into the hallway. I immediately registered the lack of neon glow; the lights were out.

“Erik, what’s going on?” I hissed.

“I called in a favor. I have a friend who is an Elite level Electrical Manipulator. He shorted the power to the entire hotel,” he whispered, reaching back for my hand.

“Seriously?”
I asked, both stunned and impressed at his ingenuity.

“Yeah, it’s the only way I could be sure there wouldn’t be any security footage of us leaving the building,” he said, leading me down the corridor to Cadence’s room.
“We don’t have a lot of time, though. Most people should be asleep, but any one awake will notice. Soon, Operatives will be crawling all over this place trying to figure out what happened.”

Erik knocked lightly on Cadence’s door.
Then, to my astonishment, he entered without waiting for her answer, pulling me in after him. Cadence stood, bathed in the silvery moonlight streaming through her window. She looked anxious, but determined. I glanced between her and Erik, confused. Alex was sitting on the floor next to Cadence. His mop of blonde hair turned white by the pale glow. Unfocused milky eyes stared in our general direction and his small mouth quirked into a smile when he felt our presence. Alex leapt to his feet, raced across the room, and threw his arms around one of my legs.

“Hey, sweetie,” I said, patting him nervously on the top of his head.
I looked at Erik for some indication of what I was supposed to do, but he just shrugged.

Erik quickly worked his arms out of the straps of his backpack and set it on the floor.
He withdrew a strange looking mess of thick, black ropes and began untangling it.

“What is that?” I asked a little alarmed.

“Sling. I’m gonna have to carry Alex. This will be the easiest way,” he answered, deftly unknotting the cords. “Put his stuff in Talia’s pack,” Erik ordered Cadence.

“Is she coming with us?” I demanded, nodding to Cadence.

“Yes,” Erik replied calmly, not looking up from his task.

“Why?” I wanted to know.

“Because we need her, Tals. She wants to help.” Erik gave me a small smile.

I didn’t like it.
The more people involved, the more likely we’d get caught. And I didn’t trust her, not with this. She might have been nicer lately, but that didn’t mean I was ready to put my life, or Erik’s and Alex’s, in her hands.

“You can trust me, Talia,” Cadence said softly as though she’d been reading my thoughts.

Maybe she had been. I hadn’t taken any measures to prevent projecting my incredulity. The look on Erik’s face said he’d already made up his mind, so there was no point in arguing. I sighed, resigned that she would be tagging along. Once Erik removed all the kinks from his sling, he started fastening it to his back. I lifted Alex and tried to figure out how to secure him in the contraption. When he was safely nestled against Erik and all his belongings were stowed in my bag, Cadence grabbed Erik’s discarded knapsack.

“Stay close together.
We’re going to take the stairs to the back exit. The elevators aren’t working anyway,” he said, assuming control of the situation.

Cadence and I silently followed Erik down the dark hallway to the stairwell.
I wasn’t surprised to find the passage pitch black, as well. Mine and Erik’s eyesight was good enough to navigate the steps without much difficulty, but Cadence stumbled and clung to the railing for support. Reluctantly, I reached for her hand to guide her. The last thing we needed was for her to fall and break something. Her palm was sweaty and trembled in my own and my irritation lessened. I wasn’t sure why Erik thought we needed her or why she wanted to help, but if Erik was willing to trust her, so was I.

With me guiding Cadence, we made it to the exit without incident.
Erik paused briefly in front of the door.
“Tal, there is a guard outside. Just one, I think. Can you take care of him?”
Erik sent.

“Got it,”
I sent back, moving in front of him to assume the lead.

Erik was right.
There was only one guard. I could feel his mind buzzing through the door. I noiselessly pushed the door open and slid through. The guard didn’t see me right away and I took the opportunity to cold cock him. He was a stocky guy and the blow only stunned him. He turned toward me with his gun raised. I yanked it from his hands using my telekinetic abilities and sent it flying across the alleyway. Cadence had followed me. She used the guard’s brief moment of disorientation to kick him in the stomach. He groaned and doubled over. I closed in, bringing my knee into first his groin and then his chin. He fell to the pavement, moaning.

Not to be outdone, Cadence used the heel of her hand to slam his head into the brick wall of the hotel.
The guard landed in a motionless heap. I breathed a sigh of relief, one obstacle down.

“Clear,”
I called to Erik. Erik trotted to join us in the alley, Alex’s hand clinging with a death grip to his neck.

“Damn,” Erik whistled when he saw the guard.
“Remind me not to get on the wrong side of you two.”

I smiled weakly.
“Where to now?”

“We need to get to the Metro Station,” Erik said softly.

“The Metro Station?” I asked, unsure I’d heard him correctly.

“Yeah, we can follow the tunnels out of the city,” he replied.

So this was his master plan? I trusted him implicitly, but it was a maze down there. How did he expect to find our way to the other end? I didn’t have time to question his strategy outwardly, though, because he was already making his way to the street. I looked at Cadence to see if she was anymore clued in to the logistics of Erik’s scheme, but she appeared as doubtful as I felt. There wasn’t time for argument, so I followed him.

Apparently, Erik’s Electrical Manipulator friend was stronger than Erik had let on.
Not only was the Hamilton bathed in blackness, the street lights were out, too. Sounds of commotion and frantic conversation wafted from the front of the hotel as we crossed K Street. I held my breath, waiting for one of the guards to spot us.

The whistle of air hissed in my ear when the first bullet whirred past.
I heard the second when it left the barrel of the snipers gun.

“DUCK!”
I screamed. Unfortunately, I yelled the word in my mind, and only Erik heard it. I realized my mistake in time to leap on Cadence, knocking her to the ground as the second bullet soared over us.

“Talia, do something!” Erik exclaimed.

I threw all my concentration towards my mental abilities, searching for the shooter. It was a lone sniper. Tt had to be. Shots were coming too far apart. I heard the third crack and followed the noise back to its source. I froze the bullet, guiding it harmlessly to the ground. The sniper was close enough for me to latch on to his mind. I took control, forcing him to drop his rifle and curl into a harmless ball.

“How many are there?” Cadence asked fearfully.
She was still underneath me on the pavement.

“Just the one, but we need to move in case he radioed in our location,” I replied, getting to my feet.
I offered Cadence my hand. She gripped my wrist and I hauled her to her feet.

“Come on.
This way,” Erik called, taking off at a slow run.

We jogged the block down K to Fifteenth where Erik cut across a small grassy area that was supposed to be a park.
Our footsteps seemed to echo off the tall buildings on either side of the street. I prayed it was just my superior hearing that made them sound so loud. As we approached I Street, Erik came to an abrupt halt.

“Shit,” he swore under his breath.

“What?” Cadence whispered.

“The guard at the Metro Station.
It’s not Harris,” he replied softly. He sounded a little frantic and for the first time, unsure of himself.

“There’s only one.
Cadence and I can handle him,” I assured him, putting my hand on his arm.

“We can’t take him out, Tal.
If we do, they’ll know where to start looking for us,” Erik replied, the wheels in his head working double time to adapt to the unforeseen development.

“Then I’ll take care of it,” I said pointedly.
“I am a master manipulator, remember?”

I didn’t wait for his answer before jogging across I Street.
I recognized the guard immediately. It was Desmond. He pointed his weapon in my direction when he heard my feet pounding the pavement. I held up my hands to indicate that I wasn’t a threat. Slowly, Desmond lowered his rifle.

I locked his eyes with mine and bore into his mind.
“You’re going to let us pass. Then you’re going to forget you saw us,” I ordered. He never stood a chance. His expression went slack and he bobbed his large head up and down stupidly.

“Come on, Erik,”
I called. Erik and Cadence sprinted across the street to join me.

“Unlock the gate,” I ordered Desmond in a clear confident tone.
He complied without so much as a sliver of hesitancy. Erik rushed past him and began descending the metal stairs. Cadence quickly followed, but she paused and stared at Desmond with an awed expression.

“Go,” I urged when I thought that she might not move.

She nodded and disappeared into the abyss beyond the gate.

“Lock up behind us,” I ordered.

Desmond jerkily shook his head up and down to indicate that he understood. I waited at the top of the nonmoving escalator until I heard the snap of the padlock.

Cadence had only managed to make it a quarter of the way down when I caught up with her.
I grabbed ahold of her arm and steered her the rest of the way, urging her to move her feet faster. Now that we were actually out of the hotel, the full weight of what we were doing settled on top of me. We were actually doing it. We were running away from the Agency. Fear made my chest tight and my stomach squirm. But the exhilaration of finally defying Mac, finally standing up for what I believed in, propelled me faster toward the landing.

Erik stood at the bottom, whispering soothing words to Alex, who gave no indication he grasped what was happening.

“There’s a flashlight in your pack, Cadence,” Erik said when he noticed her clinging blindly to me for support. “It should be safe to turn it on now.”

I became impatient as Cadence rummaged through her bag for the light.
When she finally found the device, she turned it on and a thin beam illuminated the path in front of her. She looked relieved to be able to see again.

Erik led us down the second, shorter set of steps that went to the train platform.
The sound of our feet against the cracked stones reverberated off the rounded ceiling. We crossed the length of the platform before Erik climbed over the edge and lowered himself on to the tracks. Carrying Alex on his back didn’t encumber his movements in the slightest. Less gracefully, I clamored down behind them, my own bag swinging wildly on my back and throwing me off balance. I landed hard, one of my knees banging painfully on the rails.

Learning from my mistake, Cadence smartly threw her pack down first and then jumped.
She landed with a soft thud next to me. Squeaking and scratching met my ears as we set off into the tunnel. I tried not to think about the rodents that were causing the noises, hoping Cadence’s light would scare them off.

“Erik, these tunnels are complex,” I began once we had walked for several minutes in silence and was confident it was time to voice concern.
“Do you know where we’re going?”

Erik snorted humorlessly.
“I’ve spent a lot of time down here, Tals. Trust me, there are few people who know these passageways as well as I do,” he replied.

I tore my eyes away from my feet, where they’d been carefully monitoring the cross beams to ensure that I didn’t trip and land on my face.
Alex’s small head bobbed up and down with each step Erik took. I wanted to question him further, but was reluctant to make it seem as though I doubted him. He had gotten us this far, which alone was a minor miracle. I returned my gaze to the ground just in time to see a furry shape scurry across my path. I yelped and jumped, what felt like feet, but was really only several inches.