House of Cards (19 page)

“It’s not that simple.”

Rae stared at him in disbelief. “He tried to kill me! Not that simple my arse!” Her heart hammered at an erratic beat. Kraigan would hunt her down and finish what he started. He would never stop, and Carter was the one to let him out, the one who signed her death warrant. “Why?”

Carter folded his hands, his long fingers perfectly interlaced together.  “We don’t know how, but someone, or some
group, knows who I am. No one knows who the president of the Privy Council is… there’s either a mole within, or we’ve been infiltrated.”

“So how does releasing Kraigan from prison help?” Another thought crossed her mind. Carter’s tatù. “Why don’t you just check everyone here?
Your tatù would show if anyone has something to hide.”

“I can’t put our entire team in a line-up and interrogate them! It’s unethical.”

He’d used his ability on her, and now he wanted to say it was wrong?
Bull!
“You can do it without them even knowing.” Kraigan had taught her that. He had even showed her how to block memories she didn’t want Carter to see.

“How do you know that?” Carter watched her suspiciously.

Oops. How do I cover this one?
She faked a shrug. “I just assumed…”

“You’ve mimicked my tatù?”

Rae blinked.
Of course! Not that I’ve actually, really tried it.
“Yes.
That’s how I figured it out.”

Carter nodded. He pushed off his desk and began pacing. “I’ve tried to use my ability on Kraigan. I hoped to find out who had taught him everything and had my suspicions that he knew I was the PC president. He’s figured out how to block me. To prevent me from seeing anything in his past.”

“Everything?” Had his tatù disappeared the night she mimicked his tatù and took it away from him? “Does he still even have his tatù?”

Carter stopped pacing. “Why do you ask that?”

Kraigan obviously wasn’t saying anything to the PC’s. “I just thought I might have taken it away from him when we fought. I used his tatù last and mimicked it. He hollered and cried like a baby.” She shrugged, trying to play it cool. “I figured I stole it from him and he lost his ability.”

“I don’t know.”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t tried to test him to see if he is using his ability.”

Rae stared at him in disbelief. “Bullcrap! You were pretty much ready to skin my tatù when I got inked. There is no way you wouldn’t be doing the same thing to Kraigan.”

Carter had the decency to look guilty. “I’m sorry about that,” he said quietly.

“Sorry about what? Treating me like a lab rat instead of a human being? Or not getting the answers when you wanted them?” Rae’s hands planted fists on her hips, and she began tapping the toe of her sneaker against the floor. “What do you know about Kraigan? And tell me the bloody truth!”

“There’s not much to share. He won’t talk. You know more about his tatù than we do. You probably know more about him than anyone.”

Because I’m related?
Not by bloody choice!
“He’s just waiting for the right moment. Don’t let him out. No good will come of it.” She sounded like her Uncle Argyle.

“He’s already being transferred and the paperwork’s been filed now. It’s too late.”

Rae shook her head. None of this made sense. “I don’t get it. Do you want me to die? Is this because I was a brat at the debriefing last night? Talk about harsh!”

Carter walked around his desk and pulled a weird looking metal object out of a drawer. He set it on the desk and pressed the side button before checking his watch. “We have about a minute before they’ll figure out how to clear the scrambler. Listen carefully. I can only say this once.”

Rae leaned in as Carter’s voice lowered.

“Kraigan’s involved in whatever is going on. His tatù is still there even if he hasn’t used it. He knows something or will lead us to whoever took care of him before he arrived at Guilder. Someone like him didn’t plan his implantation into the orphanage and Guilder heist all by himself. He has connections. Those people are responsible for trying to assassinate me. They are trying to tear down this house we’ve built.”

Whoa, change gears.
“And expose us?” Her father was right, the Privy Council was like a house of cards. She had been so worried about whether or not to trust the Privy Council, she was starting to think like her father. She needed to choose to be with them, or against them. There was no way she would be able to sit on the fence for too long. At the least, she needed to figure out what the other side wanted from the PC’s… or her.

She needed to get back to her dorm and read that journal. There had to be something in there. Some kind of clue. She had let other things get in the way, but now, there was no more time to delay.

“That’s why we need Kraigan released. No matter the risk.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

Carter stared at her, his face solemn.

Suddenly Rae knew what he was thinking. A slight glimpse into the future with Julian’s tatù and she knew. “No! He won’t believe me.”

“He might.”

She shook
her head with emphasis. “No. He won’t. There’s no way he is going to believe I’d switch sides. That I’m becoming my father.” Her last words came out as a whisper, as if the mere thought of saying them aloud would jinx it and make them true. “I’m not going to have my friends think it might be true.” She couldn’t bear to hurt Molly, Julian or Devon – even for a short while. “There’s got to be another way. I’ll find it. I’ll figure something out.”

Carter sighed. “He’s being released tomorrow. Think it over tonight. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Need You

It didn’t seem possible that life could get more complicated. But it had. Rae left Carter’s office and walked across the cobblestones in a daze; buried in her own thoughts; trying to make sense of what Carter had just told her. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and partly on auto-pilot she pulled it out and answered it without checking caller ID first. She presumed it was Jennifer. “I’m on my way.”

“Really?” a male chuckled. “That’s impressive.”

“Luke?” She paused beside the iron gate that led to the training facility.
This is so not a good time
.

“Hey Rae. Whatchya doing?”

She smiled, despite all the stuff running through her head. “Not much.”

“How was school today?”

She laughed. School had been the easy part. “Good. What’re you doing?”

“
Working. Just taking a break at the moment.”

Rae didn’t know what to say next. She knew now was not the best time to be on the phone with a boy, but this little bit of normal felt like a lifeline. She wracked her brain and imagined seconds turning into moments. Molly never had this problem. “What do you do?” Lame, but at least it wasn’t silence.

“Sometimes I crunch numbers, or gather data. Mostly I try to make sense out of nonsense.”

Rae walked to the gate keypad and entered her number, the heavy
iron gate slowly opened. “Sounds like the most exciting job in the world.”

He chuckled. “I bet I can surprise you. Meet me for dinner tonight and I’ll tell you all about it. Even show you where I work.”

Dinner? Like a real date?
After her long day yesterday and then the crap news she had just heard? She didn’t think she could fake happy. She still had training with Jennifer to go through. “I’m not sure I can make it tonight.”

“How about just an ice cream cone then? Half an hour and I promise I’ll leave you alone.”

The slight pleading in his voice made her smile. “I’ll try. I have to meet some—I need to see a professor. I’m not sure how long the meeting will be. How about I text you when I’m finished?”

“Sounds good. I’m working a bit late so I’ll text you where to meet. Do you still have a car to borrow or would it be better if I picked you up at Guilder?”

“I think I can borrow one.” Julian probably wouldn’t mind if she borrowed his one more time.
I need to buy my own car soon. I can’t go on borrowing vehicles
. She slipped through the door that led down the hall to the gymnasium. “I gotta go. I’ll text you later.”

Rae pushed the door open to the gymnasium and stood watching several groups of people training. One group was scaling a crazy-looking wall with little knobs on it. Rae watched and realized they were throwing the knobs and then climbing on them.
Totally cool!
Behind them, partially hidden by the wall stood Jennifer. Her hands moved in simple motions as she spoke to someone Rae couldn’t see. She seemed pretty intense.

A gasp of surprise slipped out of her mouth when Rae moved past the wall.

Devon.
No, no, no, no, no! I can’t do this right now.

His head turned to shoot her a quick glance. He had obviously heard her before noticing her.
There might still be a chance to escape...
Then Jennifer paused and turned to follow his gaze.

Rae swallowed and tried to appear relaxed and normal. Devon must have been somewhere sunny. He had a good tan, which made his blue eyes even brighter. He smiled and quickly tried to hide it but not before Rae noticed his dimple. She wished she could make him smile again to see it one more time, and at the same time wished he wasn’t there.

“Hi,” she said, trying to not appear awkward. 

Jennifer looked at her, then Devon and back to Rae. “You spoke to Carter?”

Rae sighed and nodded once. “You know?”

They both nodded.

“You okay?” Devon asked.

Rae’s eyes snapped back to his face.
Why do you care?
As much as she wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment, she coached herself to act normal. “I guess.” She glanced behind her. “Can we not talk about this here?”
Please can we just make Devon leave? It hurts too much.

“We probably shouldn’t. It’s classified info.” Jennifer pointed to the doors that led to the offices. “We can talk in there if you want.”

What’s there to talk about?
Her feelings? She had spent enough time with a counselor back when her parents had died, to never want to go through that again. Plus, the thought of being in a room alone with Devon and Jennifer, seemed like the worst possible move at the time. “There’s nothing to say. He’s out.”

“We’ll stop him, Rae.” Devon said fiercely.
He’s not going to hurt you
.

She could almost hear him say the last words before he thought them. Shock ran through her.
How?
She realized Julian’s tatù had kicked in and given her a small glimpse. She quickly forced her body to switch to Jennifer’s tatù, anything so she wouldn’t hear Devon’s feelings; feelings he should not even have considering he had dissolved their relationship.
What right does he have to feel that? He can’t feel that!
Life was confusing enough at the moment. She didn’t need any more mysteries to solve. She was overbooked as it was.

“Do you feel like doing some training today?” Jennifer interrupted her thoughts.

“Is this a trick question?” Rae couldn’t be sure whether or not Jennifer was testing her, wanting to see if she would back down when things got tough.

Jennifer shook her head. “If you don’t feel like training, it’s fine. Yesterday was a long day. I’m impressed with how you handled yourself – at the museum and during debriefing. There are some who still aren’t a hundred percent sure whose side you are on. You’ll earn their trust and respect… they just don’t easily give it out these days. Old men, new tricks.” She shrugged. “You know how it goes.” She pointed at Devon. “He’s still trying to prove himself and he’s one of the best recruits we’ve had in years.”

Rae smiled automatically, because Jennifer and Devon were smiling. She felt nothing to smile about, but she needed to appear normal.

“How about we take today off? I have a feeling something will come up tomorrow and an early night might be a good idea.” Jennifer pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket as
it rang, checking the caller ID. “I need to take this. Devon, can you make sure Rae gets back to her dorm?”

“S-Sure.” Devon stuttered. Rae stiffened immediately.
I don’t need an escort. I definitely don’t need him.

Jennifer moved away from them and through the doors to the offices faster than any normal human being could move. Rae stood staring even after the doors had closed behind her. She just could not believe she had been stranded with Devon.

“Did you drive here?” Devon asked.

“I jogged. I haven’t bought a car yet.”

“Of course.” He slowly began walking to the exit doors, waiting for Rae to follow beside him. “Do you want to walk back or drive back to Guilder?”

Her phone vibrated inside her pocket, reminding her of Luke. “We should probably drive.”

“Okay.”

They walked out of the building and to his car in the parking garage in silence. She grudgingly admitted to herself that she missed this. She had always liked that Devon didn’t try to force the conversation or make small talk.
He always did know how to make me feel comfortable.
The anger and hurt churning in her gut started to subside a little. She took a few deep breaths as they settled in and he started the car. Rae leaned her head back and hoped for a quiet and quick ride back to the school so she could hurry up and be alone. She had a lot to process. He turned left out of the driveway instead of right, which would lead them back to Guilder. “Want to just go for a bit of a drive?”