Caged (Talented Saga) Read online

  I had ten minutes to make it across campus. I was still dressed in a robe, my hair a wet rat’s nest on top of my head. Grabbing the first clothes that I could get my hands on and the black jacket off the back of the desk chair, I set off at a jog across campus. My leg ached worse than earlier, and falling asleep sitting at my desk hadn’t done me any favors.

  The Director’s Office came into view with only two minutes to spare. When I tried to turn the door handle, it wouldn’t budge. Frantically, I looked around, and found a key pad staring back at me. One-by-one, I pressed my fingers, starting with my thumb, to the scanner. Two high-pitched beeps assaulted my ears, and then a glowing green light washed over my skin. I waited for the light to extinguish, and entered my ten-digit personal identification code. The lock clicked open, rewarding my efforts. The main lobby of the Administration Building was empty, so I opened my mind. A flurry of mental activity greeted me from the end of one corridor. I followed the buzzing to a door marked “Conference Room # 1”. I had hoped that this meeting was for just me, Mac, and Janet. Apparently, I was wrong if we were using the conference room instead of Mac’s office.

  Tentatively, I pushed the door open, cognizant of the fact that I was now officially late.

  Mac spared a moment to glance up from the stack of papers that he was rifling through. “Nice of you to join us,” he said dryly.

  I smiled apologetically, and scurried to take a seat. Three people sat around a large oval table with three additional chairs; one for me, one for Mac, and one for –

  “Sorry I’m late! I got held up.” The voice was so ingrained in my brain that I didn’t need to turn around to know that it belonged to Donavon. Great. After our fight, I had promptly run home and sobbed in the shower until the water ran cold. Then, I had sat at my desk, and cried myself to sleep like a child. My eyes were swollen reminders of the earlier breakdown, and if I’d looked in a mirror, I’m sure that I would’ve seen that they were red rimmed as well. Good thing I hadn’t found a reflective surface on my way here.

  Without turning to look at Donavon, I squeezed into the empty chair between Janet and the Agency’s Deputy Director, Mitch Rice. Mitch was older than Mac by at least ten years. He’d chosen the dignified route and shaved his head when he’d begun to bald. Since forsaking his Operative status, and becoming a Toxic figurehead, he’d let himself go. He was now quite rotund and jolly-looking. He offered me a warm smile that I returned, grateful to have another friendly face at the table.

  To my surprise, and relief, the third person was Penny. She, too, shot me a huge grin.

  “No, problem, Donavon. Take a seat so that we can get started,” Mac directed his son.

  Donavon scanned the group, pointedly skipping me. His face was an unreadable mask, but he was projecting his thoughts so hard that he might as well have spoken them aloud.

  The PG version? He still believed that I had coerced him into hurting me, so that I could, in turn, project the pain on to him. As if that weren’t enough, after my earlier display of nonsensical rage, he thought that I was coming unhinged. His condemnation invoked my earlier feelings of shame and anger. The anger won out, and before I could think it through, I forced his gaze to meet mine. I concentrated on the noise that bees make – an insistent buzzing. Slowly as though turning the dial on a radio, I cranked the volume louder. Donavon’s right eye began to twitch involuntarily and he tried to break the connection, but I was too focused. He wanted manipulation? I would show him manipulation.

  “Talia!” The tone of Mac’s voice indicated that it wasn’t the first time he’d said my name.

  I reluctantly severed the tie to Donavon’s mind and turned to face Mac. “Sorry, I’m ready to start whenever you are.” I smiled, doing my best imitation of innocence.

  Several minds pressed on mine, but I blocked them, not needing the mental chastising to know that I was being childish.

  One did break through my walls. “Jesus, Talia, act your age.” Trying to keep Donavon out was like trying to run between raindrops without getting wet – impossible. Yup, he definitely thought that I was losing it.

  Mac’s gray eyes narrowed, but didn’t comment on my silent torture of his son. Instead, he started briefing our small group on his current theories. He began by reiterating the theories that he’d expressed to me several days prior; he believed that we had a spy on account of Crane knowing that I was coming and knowing my identity. Mac explained that I was likely targeted because my mission involved Crane directly, keeping his speculation that the reason was more personal to himself.

  “What about the Cryptos who intercepted the original intel?” I interrupted, glancing side-long at Penny. She’d been one of the Cryptos who had intercepted the intel. Her face remained impassive. I almost felt bad about asking, but they would naturally be the first people I’d investigate if I were him.

  Mac gave me a hard look, annoyed at my disruption. “The Crypto team in question consisted of two Operatives and a Pledge. As you are well aware, Natalia, Ms. Latimore was that Pledge. She and the two Operatives have been questioned extensively by a member of our Psychic Interrogation Division. I was present during the interrogations as was Captain Alvarez. After an exhaustive investigation, we’ve determined that they were not involved. That is why I have asked Ms. Latimore to help with this inquiry. Does that satisfy you, Natalia?”

  “Just asking,” I muttered, appropriately abashed. He made it sound as though I was accusing him of not doing his job, but I wasn’t. I was just curious for goodness sake, trying to be thorough.

  Mac continued, effectively dismissing me. “As you are all aware, we have two Crypto facilities. One is located here, and the other at Elite Headquarters. The information about Natalia’s mission would have been logged in to our system, and only someone extremely adept with computers would have been able to access it.” He paused, meeting each of our eyes in turn before continuing. “Naturally, I have had Raj Anderson, Head of the Crypto Division, identify any of his personnel that accessed Natalia’s file. We have come up empty-handed thus far, but we are still pursuing that avenue. In light of our lack of progress, I have decided to take more aggressive measures and launch a full investigation of every person at both locations. Operative Latimore is combing the network to determine if the data was hacked while also aiding Natalia in identifying suspicious individuals. Janet identified several Instructors here at the School that have family members that are known associates of the Coalition.” Mac paused to take a breath, and I jumped at the opportunity to interrupt asking another question that had been plaguing me.

  “Why is Donavon here?” I blurted out.

  Janet coughed into her hand, but when I glanced in her direction, I saw that she was trying to suppress a snicker. Mitch shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Donavon gave me an exasperated look. Only Mac looked unfazed by my question; I think that he’d been expecting it. To my surprise, Donavon was the one who answered.

  “Because up until very recently, Talia, you’ve been indisposed, and my father needed someone who could pose as an Instructor to keep his ears open for any rumblings that would lead us to the spy.” Donavon enunciated my name, his voice like a razor. The only word that I really heard in his rant was “indisposed”.

  “Indisposed?” I shrieked, swinging my chair around to face him for the first time since he’d entered the room. “I was shot, you ass. I almost died. I had to relearn to walk. Sorry that my torture inconvenienced you.” My temper rose with each word, like mercury in boiling water. Donavon at least had the decency to flush and shrink back slightly in his seat at the venom in my voice.

  “Your personal conflicts aside,” Mac started to say, but I interrupted him again.

  “We don’t have personal conflicts,” I spat, my palms slapping the top of the conference table.

  Janet couldn’t suppress her snort of laughter this time. Mac shot her a warning look, but Janet just shook her head as if to say, “I told you so.”

  “Fine. The reason that D
onavon is here is because I knew that he wasn’t the spy. Vetting another Operative to come in and play Instructor would’ve taken too much time, and time is not something that I want to waste. We need to find the leak before another Operative is hurt or killed,” Mac said shortly. His tone had a note of finality and his eyes blazed, warning me that he had nothing further to say on the topic. I wasn’t ready to let it go.

  “What about Erik or Henri?” I insisted. “I’m sure that you’ve vetted both of them since they knew about my mission?” I met Mac’s eyes dead on, daring him to contradict me even though I regretted the words the moment they left my lips. Taunting Mac was kind of like baiting a hungry tiger – never a good idea.

  Donavon scoffed and shook his head. “Really, Talia? Erik? He’d just sleep with all of the students. We’d never find the spy if he went undercover.” Donavon sneered. His words were meant to hurt me, and they did. I bit my lip, fighting the stinging in the corners of my eyes at the thought of Erik with another girl.

  “Enough!” Mac shouted, banging his fist on the pile of papers in front of him. “Natalia, yes, both Mr. Kelley and Mr. Reich have been vetted. I am confident that neither of them is the spy. While it is not any of your business why I chose Donavon, I’ll tell you. He is my son, making him the Operative who would draw the least amount of suspicion here. Satisfied?” I flinched as Mac fixed me with his cold stare, his eyes boring holes in my head. I sat up straight and nodded my head that I was indeed satisfied with his explanation. In truth, I was. It actually made perfect sense; Mac was nothing if not logical.

  “And Donavon,” Mac continued, training his hard gaze on his son. “Stop baiting her. You two could at least act like professionals instead of petty children.”

  “Sorry, Dad,” Donavon muttered, embarrassed by his father’s reproach.

  If I were a bigger person, I might’ve felt badly for him since, after all, I was actually the one being petty and baiting Donavon. His comment about Erik was a low blow, but it paled in comparison to some of antics I’d pulled in the last couple of days. Despite admitting the truth to myself, I wasn’t the bigger person, and Mac’s admonishment of his son gave me a perverse sense of satisfaction.

  “Now that we are all on the same page, let’s get back to what is important. Natalia, it is imperative that you are keeping your mind open. I want you looking in to the head of every person that you come in contact with. I want to know the minute that you feel something is off. I don’t care if you just have an inkling; I want to know. Are we clear?” he asked me. I swallowed hard and nodded, afraid to speak again.

  “Penelope, I want you to do everything in your power to determine whether the system has been hacked. I want you and Natalia to look through every Operative’s file, and if you find anything that seems off, I want to know.” Penny nodded, her eyes wide. She also appeared to be too afraid of Mac to speak.

  “Donavon, continue to become friends with as many of the other Instructors as you can. Keep your ears open and let me know if you hear anything that needs further investigation.”

  “Yes, sir,” Donavon replied quietly.

  “Janet, Mitch, and I will continue to follow up on some leads. I want daily reports, and we will have weekly status meetings. I want this matter to be taken care of as quickly and quietly as possible. Are we all clear?” We all nodded. Then, mercifully, Mac dismissed us, not a moment too soon. The tension between me and Donavon was palpable, and the conference room had quickly become too small to hold us both.

  Donavon made a run for the door as soon as Mac dismissed us. I remained firmly planted in my chair until I was sure that he was out of the building. I didn’t have the energy to go another round with him.

  “You look like death warmed over,” Penny said, leaning towards me.

  “I’ve had better days,” I replied softly.

  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 burst
ing 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.