Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (32 page)

“
Erik? It’s me,” Penny
announced, her voice reverberating throughout the apartment. I
heard a noise like crinkling paper. “I brought
breakfast.”

Right, because food is
going to help find Talia,
I thought
bitterly.

“
Oh, hey, Miles,” she
said. “I didn’t expect to find you here so early.”

Coffee pot and an extra cup in one hand, my
mug in the other, I returned to the living to find Penny sitting
across from Miles at the small dining table. She was pulling what
looked like wrapped breakfast sandwiches from a greasy paper
bag.

“
I got two for Erik, so if
he doesn’t mind sharing—”

“
Take it, man,” I
interrupted. “I’m not hungry.”

Penny and Miles exchanged glances.

“
Erik, you really
should—”

I slammed the stainless steel coffee pot
down on the table. The wood groaned, then cracked beneath the
violet tablecloth.

“
Don’t,” I snapped. “Don’t
either of you tell me what I should or shouldn’t do right
now.”

Neither of them spoke, both afraid of
stoking the flames of fury burning hot and fast inside of me. Penny
tried to diffuse the situation by sending calming vibes my
direction. It was a tried and true method that rarely failed to
help me regain control when my temper spiked. This was one of those
rare exceptions.

I did not
want
to calm down. I
wanted an outlet for my anger. No, I needed one. And I didn’t
really care who or what it was.

I met Penny’s terrified gaze, feeling the
fear she was trying desperately to suppress.

In the time we’d known each other, Penny had
experienced a colorful array of my many moods, most of which were
at the red end of the spectrum. Never once had she so much as
hinted that she was scared of me. Even Miles, who was able to
maintain a placid exterior in the face of my temper, had worried
for his safety on occasion. But never her.

So when I felt the first cracks in Penny’s
emotional armor, the effect it had on me was more profound than
anything she could have said or done.

Carefully, I placed my coffee cup on the
table and eased into a chair. Like a white flag, I pushed the extra
mug I’d brought for Penny across the table to her.

Penny sighed, her shoulders slumping as the
tension building inside of her dissipated.

“
I’m sorry,” I told her.
“I know you’re just trying to help. And I know I need to eat. I
know the best thing I can do for Talia now is to keep my strength
up. You don’t need to remind me, Victoria has crammed all the same
advice down my throat already.”

Penny reached over and placed a hand on
mine, her fingers cold and clammy against my skin. This time, the
vibes she sent were sweet and syrupy and reeked of sympathy. Penny,
of all people, came the closest to understanding my pain. She, too,
loved Talia. And she was almost as worried about my girlfriend as I
was.

Miles unwrapped one of the breakfast
sandwiches, gave it a sniff, shrugged, and took a large bite.

“
Look, I’m not gonna
pretend to understand what you’re going through, kid,” he said
around a mouthful of egg and cheese on a kelp biscuit. Swallowing,
Miles wiped the grease from his fingers on a cloth napkin. “But I
do know this: You need to keep your head. Yell and scream all you
want at me and girlie over here.” Miles cocked a thumb in Penny’s
direction. “Throw shit. Go a few rounds with a punching bag. Do
whatever you need to do to burn off that rage.”

Miles paused, hesitating.

“
Just remember—not
everyone at UNITED is looking to bring your girl back because they
miss her. Talia Lyons is dangerous.” He held up a hand when I
opened my mouth to argue. “You know that’s true. She’s dangerous
just like you are dangerous. You need to keep your head around
everyone who’s not us, to show them that your danger can be reined
in. Because, right now, your girlfriend is also an escaped
convict.”

“
Right, but the orders are
to bring her in alive,” Penny stated firmly. “I spoke to Victoria
and Brand before I came over here. Victoria assured me that under
no circumstance was Talia to be harmed. And Brand said that my
uncle has given the same orders.”

“
Yeah, Victoria said the
same thing to us,” I said. “But it’s easy for Victoria to give that
order. It’s not going to be so easy for the agents to follow it.
Talia will fight them. If it comes down to a choice between her
life and one of UNITED’s agents, she will choose her own. Every.
Single. Time. If that happens, no one will care that Victoria
Freaking Walburton wanted Talia alive.”

“
You’re right,” Penny
agreed sadly. “Which is why we need to find her first. It has to be
someone she knows and trusts.”

I snorted derisively. “And then what? We
bring her back here so they can execute her?”

“
Victoria promised to keep
Talia safe,” Miles reminded me.

“
Yeah, but she’s
one
council member. And
she did vote to execute a ton of people, including my girlfriend.”
I held up a hand, anticipating Miles’s argument. “I know. Victoria
has it in her head that she can save Talia from the blanket order.
Forgive me if I don’t trust the word of a woman who would give such
an order in the first place.”

“
Uncle Ian won’t let
anything happen to Talia,” Penny said quietly. “Don’t trust
Victoria, that’s fine. Trust my uncle, though. He’s proven the
lengths he is willing to go just to make Talia happy. Don’t for a
second think he’ll sit by and let UNITED kill her.”

I did believe Ian Crane would do everything
in his power to help Talia. But would it be enough? Like with
Victoria, Crane was one individual. How was he going to protect my
girlfriend from the rest of the council?

An awkward silence settled over the room. I
assumed Penny and Miles were wondering the same thing, neither
daring to say it aloud.

“
Brand told me that UNITED
has deployed teams to locate all of the pods,” Penny spoke up after
several long moments. “Talia was smart, though. She programmed each
one with a different final destination, and even mapped out really
roundabout paths so that none traveled directly to the end
coordinates. It’s quite remarkable, really.”

Shaking my head, I remarked, “No way that
was Talia. She didn’t have the resources to pull off something like
that. Not to mention, my girl is more brute force than quiet
intellect. That deal with the pods had to be Anya’s doing.”

“
So you don’t believe she
was a hostage?” Penny asked.

I’d taken a sip of my coffee, and choked on
the hot liquid at Penny’s ludicrous statement.

“
Who told you that?” Miles
asked, seeming just as surprised.

“
Oh, well, no one. I just
sort of assumed…” Penny trailed off. “I mean, why would Anya help
Talia escape?”

I shrugged. This was something I’d been
curious about as well.

While on my political goodwill mission, I’d
had barely spoken to anyone outside of Penny, Victoria, and my
protectors. The last time I’d seen Anya, she’d been incredibly
grateful for our intervention at the auction. But was that
gratitude enough for her risk everything to help Talia escape? Had
the two been planning this for a while?

Somehow, I doubted that.

“
Isn’t it obvious? Anya
felt she owed Talia for saving her from that creepy slave auction,”
Miles chimed in, licking the last remnants of his breakfast off of
his fingers. “Not bad for fish food.”

“
Maybe…” I
hedged.

A kernel of uncertainty formed in the back
of my mind. The feelings leaking off Anya when last we spoke were
laced with something bitter. I’d gotten the distinct impression
that, though grateful to her, Anya didn’t like my girlfriend much.
But that might have changed over time. Last I’d heard Anya was
Talia’s doctor on Vault. Maybe they’d become friends in that time
together.

I shook away my misgivings before they could
blossom into full-on suspicion. Anya was one of the good guys.

Miles leaned back in his chair, tossing the
wadded up sandwich wrapper towards the wastebasket in the corner of
the room. The makeshift ball dropped neatly into the center of the
trashcan.

“
Does it really matter why
Anya helped Talia?” he asked. “She did. That’s the end of the
story. Now we just need to find your girl.”

“
I’m not actually sure
that she did Talia any favors,” I replied, recalling Victoria’s
news about Nightshade.

“
No, probably not,” Miles
conceded. “But it’s not like Anya knew Nightshade was after your
girlfriend.”

“
Of course not,” I agreed.
“I just wish they’d both stopped to consider how much worse of a
position this puts Talia in. I mean, okay, maybe before the escape,
Victoria could have convinced the council to spare Tals. But now?
Now they just have more ammunition against her.”

“
Victoria promised you
that as long as she was head of UNITED, Talia was safe,” Miles
interjected.

“
Right. But after this
epic fiasco, don’t you think there is a very real chance Victoria
may not be the head of the UNITED council much longer?” I pointed
out. “I mean, I don’t think they’ll lock her away on Vault or
anything. But I do think they might replace her. If so, Victoria
won’t have the resources to protect Talia.”

I paused, wondering whether to voice my next
thought out loud. I looked at both Penny and Miles.

You can trust them,
I reassured myself. I took a deep
breath.

”
When Talia contacts me,
I’m going to tell her to keep running.” My jaw clenched with
resolve. “And then I’m going to join her. It’s the only option we
have left.”

A full minute passed in tense silence.

“
Look, Erik…” Miles began
finally. The uncharacteristic use of my actual name told me that
whatever Miles said next would be serious, and he wanted me to know
it. “I’ve dealt with Nightshade before. They are seriously nasty
people. If they’ve been hired to kidnap Talia, this is the safest
place for her. She can’t fight them alone. I’m sorry, but not even
your girlfriend is powerful enough for that.”

“
She won’t be alone.
She’ll have me,” I protested.

Miles shook his head. “You don’t get it,
kid. The people they send after Talia will be seasoned bounty
hunters. I guarantee they’ve done their homework on not just her,
but everyone associated with her. Which includes you. They will
know her weaknesses and won’t hesitate to exploit them. Which,
again, includes you.

“
And Nightshade won’t send
just one or two or even ten hunters after her,” he continued,
“they’ll send twice as many as they think they’ll need to subdue
her. You being with her when that happens might slow them
down—hell, it might even stop them the first time around. But
they’ll just send more and more and more men, until they succeed.
Nightshade is relentless, kid. And when they do manage to send
enough hunters to subdue you—and it will be
you
they target—Talia will go with
them gladly. Her antics at that TOXIC prison proved that her life
matters a whole helluva lot less to her than yours
does.”

I hated to think of Talia out there alone,
facing an enemy she wasn’t even aware that she had. More than that,
I hated knowing that Miles was right.

Not about Nightshade, necessarily. Miles
might have experience with the ruthless mercenary organization, but
I had experience with my girlfriend; Talia had a big heart, but she
could also be ruthless when warranted. No, what worried me was that
Miles was right about Talia valuing my life above her own. I was
her greatest weakness. And she was mine.

When I didn’t respond to his lecture, Miles
threw his hands up in the air, exasperated.

“
Come on, girlie, talk
some sense into him, will you?”

Penny’s hands were clasped tightly on top of
the table. In her mind, thought bubbles formed and popped so
quickly that it was impossible to know what she was really
thinking. I tried to get a read on her emotions, but those were
also all over the place.

After a long hesitation, Penny exhaled
slowly.

“
I don’t know much about
Nightshade,” she began, twisting her hands nervously. “But I do
know that Talia loves you. She wants you safe, no matter the cost.
Together, out there,” she gestured vaguely towards the world at
large, “you are
both
in danger. So…I’m sorry, I agree with Miles. Joining Talia
isn’t the best option. Not when you’re both being hunted by rogue
mercenaries.”

Miles smiled smugly and Penny held up a
finger, wiggling it back and forth as if to wipe the expression
from his face. Her next words did just that.

“
But, I don’t entirely
trust Victoria,” Penny continued. “Not in this situation. She is a
politician, responsible for a lot of different people. One girl’s
life can’t be spared at the expense of so many others without
repercussions. And if Victoria is removed as head of the council,
her replacement is likely to demand Talia’s head. Literally.
Regardless of the outcome of the vote, returning to the islands
could be a death sentence for Tals.”

A single tear fell from the corner of
Penny’s eye. She squeezed her lids shut, sending several more tears
down her cheeks.

“
I just can’t…” she began,
a quiet sob cutting off her words.