Unforgettable (Talented Saga #6) (27 page)

“
I promise,” I
repeated.

The other girl stiffened at first,
surprised and touched by a stranger’s kindness. But when I squeezed
her tighter, she relaxed and hugged me back.

“
Thank you,” she whispered,
her voice sounding dangerously close to tears.

Willa joined us, taking my place in
Honora’s arms when I pulled away. She offered me a tight smile that
didn’t reach her hazel eyes. As a parting gift, I sent one strong
burst of power towards both girls and watched as hope replaced
despair in their expressions. Then, I went to join
Frederick.

Penny and Brand were also riding in
our limo. We had no concrete proof linking our respective assumed
identities to one another, but the billionaire boys’ club in the
States wasn’t huge. It seemed reasonable that Gregory Bolt and
Lawrence Haines were at least acquaintances.

When first announced, the arrangement
had not thrilled me. I liked to spend the last minutes before a
mission relaxing, psyching myself up for what was about to come.
Brand’s presence usually put me in the opposite of a calm, rational
state of being. Having Penny there as an intermediary did help. And
noting the pinkness in her cheeks and the alertness in her gaze
gave me one less thing to worry about. A quick peek inside Penny’s
head told me her frame of mind had improved, too. She’d moved past
the previous night’s episode.

Frederick, on the other hand, was a
tightly wound ball of anxiety on the verge of unraveling. He’d been
holding it together in front of the others, but he dropped the ruse
once alone with us. Long, thin fingers raked constantly through his
carefully gelled hair, mussing the strands. Dark circles ringed his
under-eyes and I wondered how much sleep he’d gotten the night
before.

Technically, I was our team leader. A
concession Victoria had made when I agreed to be part of UNITED’s
special taskforce for hunting the Created. But Frederick was
actually much higher-ranking within the international agency. Most
of his time was spent by Victoria’s side, remotely viewing the
TOXIC officials we had yet to find. It suddenly occurred to me that
it was probably what he’d been doing in his downtime and probably
why he currently resembled a member of the walking dead.

I glanced across the limo, to where
Penny and Brand were locked in a staring contest. One look at
Brand’s bulging jaw and scrunched up eyes told me that they were
having a mental conversation. Erik was right, Brand really did look
constipated.

At the moment, Frederick was my
biggest concern.

“
Hey,” I said quietly,
touching the sleeve of his tuxedo jacket to get Frederick’s
attention. “You doing okay?”

“
Hmm? Oh, yeah, fine,” he
replied, sounding distracted. “You?”

“
Good.”

My response elicited a smile from
him.

“
Really, Talia?
Good?”

“
Okay, no, not ‘good’,” I
admitted quietly.

Suddenly, from across the limo, Brand
launched into a diatribe. It took me a minute to realize he wasn’t
talking to us, but rather the entire team. I hastily pulled my
earbud from the sparkly clutch in my lap and fixed the comm unit
into my right ear. Annoying as I found Penny’s worse half, I had to
admit Brand was a good leader.

“
This is all so messed up,”
I muttered, tuning out Brand’s rambling.

“
I know,” Frederick agreed.
“Like we didn’t have enough to worry about before this.”

His tone was bitter, the words acidic
when they left his mouth. Very un-Frederick-like.

“
Maybe he shouldn’t be
coming?”
Penny sent to me, obviously more
interested in my and Frederick’s conversation than her boyfriend’s
lecture.

“
I was just thinking the
same thing. Too late now, though.”
I
studied Frederick again, no happier with my second appraisal of his
frazzled state.
“He’ll be fine,”
I sent Penny, my thought meant to reassure us
both.

The partition separating the front of
the limo and our roomy compartment in the back was halfway down.
Chaz had been quiet so far, but finally spoke up to let us know we
were about five minutes from Andrew’s Rock.

“
We’ll arrive first.
Followed by O’Malley and Reich. Agent Canary her team will be
last,” Chaz said.

Frederick slid his earbud into place
with one hand, threading the fingers of the other with mine. He
smiled down at me.

“
Let’s crash us an
auction!” This time his tone was all false enthusiasm.

I was tempted to peek inside his head
to see what was really bothering him. Frederick wasn’t usually so
agitated before a mission—he had more composure and serenity within
his skinny limbs than the rest of us did, combined. Instead, I
smoothed his silky blonde hair back into place and concentrated on
the immediate issue: Kenly. I’d worry about Frederick after she was
safe. Besides, like I’d told Penny, it was too late for a last
minute roster change. Frederick sitting out meant I’d have to sit
out. And that wasn’t happening.

A LINE OF
ten identical limos stretched before us, all
waiting their turns to dispense men and women in varying degrees of
formal wear. Fascinated in spite of myself, I watched as buyers
from all over the world exited their vehicles. Some looked like us,
in their tuxedos and gowns. Others wore garb reminiscent of their
cultures: robes of gold, tartan kilts, rich crimson pajama-like
outfits embroidered with Kanji.

The last one brought to mind Mai Matsu
and the attack in Tokyo. That poor girl was fighting for her life
in a Swiss hospital, all because people thought she was Created.
Assaults similar to hers would become common place if the Treaty
failed. And without UNITED there to intervene, who would help
people like Mai Matsu? No one. It was a sobering
thought.

“
Focus, Tals.”
Erik’s voice filled my mind.
“Don’t get worked up over things you can’t change now. Slay
one dragon at a time.”

I smiled. My boyfriend, the voice of
reason. Two times in one day, in fact. That had to be some kind of
record.

“
You guys are
on.”

Chaz’s warning came only a split
second before the car door was yanked open.

A man in his mid-thirties greeted us
with a clinical smile and monotone that suggested he’d said the
same lines several dozen times that day already.

“
Welcome to Andrew’s Rock.
Please have your invitations ready to show at the door.”

With that, he held the door open and
gestured for the four of us to exit.

“
Showtime,”
Penny sent.

I met Chaz’s gaze in the rearview
mirror. He nodded subtly and tapped his ear, a reminder that he,
and the rest of our backup, were waiting in the shadows.

Clinging to Frederick’s hand, I
scooted across the bench-style seat and stepped out into the bright
sunshine. Penny and Brand joined us a moment later.

Our greeter indicated a short line of
people entering through large double-doors.

“
This way, please,” he said
cordially.

Withdrawing several folded bills from
his pants’ pocket, Frederick smoothly slid the money into the man’s
hand as we passed by.

“
Thank you,” he told the
man, tone clipped, as if he’d already dismissed the
underling.

“
My, my, you’ve got this
whole rich-guy act down,” I muttered as we joined the end of the
line.

“
I’ve been playing various
roles most of my life, this one is pretty easy,” Frederick said
with a wink. The earlier distress was gone, along with his real
persona. Frederick really was a good actor, I realized.

As if to emphasize this point,
Frederick turned to look at me. Warm brown eyes raked me from head
to toe, the act sensual. Even knowing that my girl parts held no
interest for Frederick, I found his admiration for my barely-there
cleavage genuine.

I beamed, pretending to be just as
enamored with his attention as he was with my appearance. Adding to
the ruse, I tilted my head, offering my powdered cheek for a kiss.
Frederick didn’t disappoint. He placed impossibly soft lips near
the corner of my mouth.

“
You don’t have to sell it
so well, Tals,”
Erik said.

“
Are you spying on
me?”
I sent back, stifling a
smile.

“
Invitations, if you will,”
a woman’s voice interrupted both my mental conversation with Erik
and my pretend lovey-dovey act with Frederick.

Frederick whipped his communicator
from his pocket, while I reached into my clutch bag for mine. Heart
pounding, I presented my pilfered invitation to the doorwoman. She
scanned the communicator’s screen and frowned.

We weren’t even inside yet, and
somehow I’d already screwed up.

“
This is a plus-one
invitation,” the woman said in heavily accented English, one I
hadn’t noticed when she first spoke.

“
That’s correct,” Frederick
interjected. “She is my plus-one.”

He thrust his communicator under the
doorwoman’s scanner, and her frown quickly morphed into an
embarrassed smile.

“
My sincere apologies,
Monsieur Bolt. We are so pleased to have you. Both of you,” she
added, eyes flitting briefly to me before returning to Frederick.
“We have some beautiful pieces for sale today, it is our hope that
you will find your heart’s desire.”

It took everything I had not to punch
her in the face, right then and there. Beautiful pieces? Heart’s
desire? Those were people she was talking about. Disgust made my
stomach churn and a snappy retort perch on the tip of my tongue. A
subtle elbow jab from Frederick made me clench my jaws together to
keep it inside.

“
Thank you, that is my hope
as well,” Frederick replied curtly. He returned the communicator to
his pocket, then took my hand and began pulling me forward before
the woman could say anything else.

Beyond the doors lay a short hallway
lined with guards. Frederick practically dragged me through the
crowd milling about, straight into the large room beyond. It was a
lounge, with several bars, numerous wallscreens, and couches and
tables where other attendees were already sipping champagne and
colorful cocktails.

At the first empty table we came
across, Frederick nudged me into an armchair, and then sat
himself.

“
Talia,” he admonished,
voice just above a whisper. “You have got to stay calm. Or at least
pretend like you’re calm.”

“
What? I
am
pretending,” I
snapped.

His expression was
incredulous.

“
Really? That is your calm
face? I’m shocked that woman’s skin didn’t split from the daggers
you were glaring.”

Fuming, I glared at
Frederick. He was right, of course. In the abstract, I’d understood
how difficult being surrounded by all of this debauchery would be.
Being here, though, was a hundred times harder than I’d imagined.
Seeing the men and women laughing and joking, as if they hadn’t a
care in the world. Hearing the doorwoman refer to people like
Kenly, like
me
,
as if we were inanimate objects. It all was making me physically
ill. And very, very angry.

“
This is about Kenly,”
Frederick said, the hard edge from a moment ago gone. “You want to
help her, right?”

“
Right,” I conceded,
feeling like a naughty child being reprimanded.

Out of the corner of my eye, Penny’s
lemon-yellow dress caught my attention. She and Brand had made it
past the doorwoman without issue and were now on their way to the
bar.

“
Come on, let’s get a drink
so we blend,” Frederick muttered, getting to his feet. Ever the
gentleman, he offered me his arm. I looped mine through his and let
him lead me through the crowd.

While we elbowed our way to the bar,
Penny and Brand were being handed their drinks. I kept track of the
pair more through my ability to feel other Talents than physical
sight. They joined the throng of attendees filtering through an
archway at the far end of the room. Even though we’d arrived
together, the plan was to spread out and cover as much of the
auction house as possible.