Echo Into Darkness: Book 2 in The Echo Saga (Teen Paranormal Romance) (31 page)

"Tell Keenan I want to see him," I said. He tilted his head at my odd request. "What are you, hard of hearing? Get Keenan for me." He left to fetch our boss.

"What's going on?" Connor asked.

"Why are you here?" I asked him.

"I don't get it…"

"You came here to rescue me, right? You defied your dad's orders, broke into the lab, and jumped time and where did that get you? Nearly killed."

"I'd do it again, in a heartbeat."

"That's the problem."

Suspicion dawned in him. "Where are you going with this?"

"Your dad will
never
come for me, and I'm sorry, but you've got to be a fool to think he would ever rescue me after I've endangered his son's life
again
. You're the next leader of a region!" I lowered my voice. "You don't belong here. You never should have come. And I don't belong in West Region."

Keenan came into the room. "You wanted to see me?"

"I want to make a deal," I said.

"No, she doesn't. Echo, listen to me."

I held his gaze. There were things he needed to know, things I could not communicate. Things he would never forgive me for:

I had to stop worrying about his safety.

I had to stop loving him.

Then I would have nothing left to fuel my ability. I would have nothing left to give the Mutila.

Keenan would either set me free or end my life.

That was my only way out.

Chapter 36

"Tell me about tomorrow's mission," I asked Keenan.

He cocked his head at my sudden interest.

"I don't need to know the details. Just tell me, do you expect me to hurt someone?"

"That is the idea," he said. "I expect your full alliance if you want to go home."
If you want to live
was what he meant.
If you want Connor to live.

"Yes," I answered. "Of course. But I need something first."

Keenan's mouth curled in amusement. "And what might that be?"

"Let Connor go."

Keenan chuckled.

"You've already got me, and I'm everything you want. Am I right?" I challenged.

Keenan didn't answer.

"You know it's true," I pressed. "I've proven myself and I know what happens if I don't follow orders. I still have skills that I haven't tapped into, and you expect me to develop them. Connor is no good to you. If I'm terrified you're going to torture him, I'm not as strong. I need a clear head. I can work better if he's not here."

"I'm to take you on your word?" Keenan asked.

"Of course not! You have my life in your hands, my parents' lives, and if you want Connor back, you'll go to his house and take him, right? That's what you do, take what you want when you want it. So why not let him go?"

Keenan considered this for far less time than I expected. "We all know what happens if either of you goes to the police or tells your family."

"Yes, of course," I answered robotically.

"All right," he said. "I'll send him now."

Connor cut his eyes to me, and the corner of his mouth twitched as if to say
nice acting
.

"No. This is it. I don't ever want to see you again," I told him.

"Okay," he agreed, still playing along.

He didn't get it. I was a bad person, a hypocrite. I'd used the most precious thing I'd ever had, his love, to commit atrocities, and this was just the beginning of Keenan's gruesome plans for me.

"I'm serious," I said, my eyes holding his. "Don't show up in my bedroom or in my house. Don't show up in my classroom, not anywhere. I don't want to see you again. Not in this lifetime."

His jaw fell. "Don't do this."

"Take him, Keenan."

"Echo!"

"Don't be an idiot, Connor. Go home," I said.

Tears stung my eyes.

Roth led him by the chains at his wrists. "You heard the girl."

Keenan pulled out his phone and dialed. "Take Connor to the dock on the other side of the river and have a car waiting. Drop him off wherever he wants."

Connor disappeared into the elevator, his unforgiving eyes pleading for chance to help me escape.

I had pushed Keenan further than I dared and won, but a single phone call from a man capable of cold-blooded murder carried no currency with me.

"I want proof that you're letting him go," I said.

"Instead of dumping him in the river?" Keenan chuckled like this was some sort of joke. "Take this." He punched a few buttons on his phone and handed it to me. The screen showed the Feller Industries driveway beyond the front doors.

A few minutes passed and the doors swung open. Connor stumbled into the rain.

Roth shoved him into a car idling outside the building. Exterior cameras placed throughout the property followed the car a quarter mile to the dock at the edge of the island. Instead of driving onto the car ferry, they climbed out. Connor began arguing. He pointed back at the Feller Tower. I didn't need audio to follow what he was saying. His lips formed my name more than once. His eyes blazed and his jaw grew tight from shouting.

"Go," I said. "Just get out of here."

Roth and a second handler pushed him toward the pier and restrained him enough to get him in a motorboat. They launched into the choppy brown Columbia River. A quarter mile later, they pulled to a pier on the mainland.

Another camera—did Keenan have eyes everywhere?—showed Connor limping out of the boat. The handler unlocked his chains and pointed toward the road.

"A car is waiting for him in the parking lot. He'll be taken wherever he wants," Keenan said.

Connor's green eyes stared back at the island, that mind of his ticking with alternate plans. The chip was still embedded in his wrist. I hoped he wasn't foolish enough to rip it out and try to rescue me. I hoped he'd gotten my message. I'd left no room for misinterpretation.

"That's enough," I said and handed the phone back. I hiccupped to keep from crying.

"Satisfied?" Keenan asked.

"Yes. Of course."

*******

I sat next to Ivan in the testing center, on the couches in front of what used to be Connor's cell. I told myself over and over that he was safe now, but that only reminded me that I had traded his safety for someone else's. Today, I was expected to cause physical pain to our target.

"Hold this for me," Ivan said. He was synching a set of cell phones to an earpiece that I would wear for the mission.

"What exactly am I doing today?" I asked.

"Don't know. We get a GPS code at the last minute that tells us where to take you. Keenan'll stay here, at Feller Industries. This earpiece has a video component so he can see and hear everything you do. He'll give you instructions at the destination."

Ivan had to raise his voice for me to hear. Behind us, in the weight bay, Jaxon had cornered Keenan and was yelling at him for releasing Connor. Apparently Jaxon thought he had ownership over the recruits he turned in. From Keenan's unblinking pose, I'd say he was running out of patience with his foster brother.

"Jaxon's got cajones, I'll say that for him. Why does he care so much about your boyfriend?" Ivan asked.

"Beats me."

Ivan adjusted the earpiece until it fit snug against my head.

"Are you excited to go home?" he asked.

"I guess." After this mission my house, my bedroom, and school awaited, but also Kimber's wrath for leaving unexpectedly, and a new life that I would never come to terms with.

"It's hard at first, knowing someone is watching you all the time, but after a while, you don't even notice," Ivan said.

"So, you like being in the Mutila."

He kept his gaze on the phones, even though he no longer fiddled with them. "It's all I know."

I ran a finger along my cheek, signifying Ivan's burn. "And this?"

"I messed up a mission."

"What did your parents say when they saw what happened to you?"

He stiffened. "They're not around anymore. I live at Feller Industries." He tucked one of the transmitters into my back pocket. "All right, you're ready to go. The headset has a mic, so you can talk to Keenan if you need to. Someone on the team'll cuff you once we get there. Roth and Luma and some of the others'll be with you, too. If anything goes wrong, they'll help."

I huffed a laugh. "Yeah, right. They'll be there to make sure I do what I'm told."

Ivan cemented his brown eye on me. "We do watch out for each other around here. For some of us, it's all we've got."

*******

I rode with Ivan and Jaxon. Six other SUVs carried Luma, Roth, and a team of other soldiers. We drove into downtown Portland and then through a residential area two blocks from my house. My stomach cramped and I realized how homesick I was. I'd been gone for almost a week.

Ivan pulled into the parking lot at Lincoln High School. My pulse picked up. "What are we doing here?"

"This is the address we were given," he replied. It was Saturday, and the lot was empty save for a handful of cars parked near the gymnasium. Our army of black SUVs crowded the lot.

"This has to be a mistake. I go to school here," I said.

"Your principal had twenty-four hours to deliver the list. He hasn't, so we're kicking up the pressure a notch," Jaxon said.

Last night, I had agreed to carry out this mission in exchange for Connor's release. As we piled out of the SUV, the enormity of my decision set in.

"Listen for Keenan's instructions," Ivan interrupted my thoughts. "If we get separated, we communicate through him. In case you get any crazy ideas, you do not want to break away from the group."

For all their wild, paranormal expertise, I found it ridiculous that there wasn't a single telepath among them.

A voice came through my earpiece. "Echo, lead the team through the school's side entrance. When you get to the gym, don't go in. Keep to the hallway and stay out of sight of the people inside."

A buzz rippled through me. Not the kind that came as a precursor to my telekinesis. The kind that felt like impending doom.

Chapter 37

I yanked the heavy outside door open and was assaulted by the scent of sweat, rubber soles, and textbooks. I didn't know until then how much I loved the way my school smelled.

"Move it. I want you in and out in less than three minutes," Keenan said. He monitored our progression through the camera on my earpiece. "Take the hallway on the right. Yes, that way."

Inside the gym, Saturday basketball practice was in session. Fifteen or so boys ran up and down the court, doing passing drills. The coach and assistant dodged between them, hollering instructions. Mr. Lauer, my principal, watched from the bleachers. I remembered that his son was on the team.

Three rows behind Mr. Lauer, a girl with spikey platinum hair pecked at her phone. My eyes bugged. It was Becca. Why, why, why did she have to pick this day to watch Lucas practice?

"Are you listening, Echo?"

"I'm here," I said into the mic.

"Soldiers, get into place," Keenan instructed. The group imprisoned me in the center of a tight semi-circle.

Luma snapped the cuff over my wrist.

"She's ready," Luma announced into her mic.

"Echo, you are going to levitate everybody and everything in the gym that isn't nailed down. Do you understand?"

My voice hitched. "Um, yeah, okay."

Cool buzzing fanned over my forehead. Nerves in my arms and hands lit up. On the basketball court, Lucas arced a ball toward the hoop. The ball landed on the rim, spun, and stayed there.

"Hey, check this out!" Lucas yelled to his teammates. A second later, the other balls levitated, then all the boys' gear. They seemed more amazed than shocked.

"What the…"

"What's happening?"

"Dude, check this out! I'm flying!"

Becca screamed, and everyone realized they were rising off the floor.

"Good job, Echo. Take them higher," Keenan said.

"How high?"

"Until I tell you to stop."

There had to be more than a thousand pounds of people and stuff levitating. My strength wavered. I found my memory of Connor, and my heart swelled. Everyone in the gym ascended, their screams echoing off the cement block walls.

"Higher," Keenan said.

"I can't," I answered. I was breathing heavily to keep everyone at this height. The spot behind my temples throbbed.

"Find it in yourself. That's an order."

In my mind, I pulled Connor to me and relived our most passionate kiss. Our lips glided together, damp and insistent. I inhaled him, clung to him fiercely. It was easier to imagine this today because Connor was free. The portal would have found him shortly after the Mutila driver dropped him off in the city. He would be safe, far in the future.