Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (55 page)

In addition to the stupid, albeit trendy,
hat, I was decked out in shiny silver leggings, an oversized lace
sweater, and matching lace wedges to give me height. I’d also
acquired a pair of colored lenses that turned my purple irises a
vibrant green. Like Riley’s banal appearance, my more elaborate
get-up was meant as a disguise, since many of those sitting at
nearby tables were similarly outfitted. Emma and Kip also both wore
the latest fashions all three of us had “borrowed” from Harrods
department store.

Like me, Riley was sensitive to other
Talents, which was likely how he’d recognized me beneath the haute
couture.

“
Is that him? He looks so
normal,” Emma hissed as Riley strode towards our table in the
corner.

Emma and Kip had been wary of my decision to
wait for Kenly’s emissary in such a populated location. I figured a
meeting between two fugitives was better done in a crowd, where we
were more likely to blend in. As opposed to a deserted park or
shady back ally, where our presence alone would mean we were up to
no good.

Neither of my companions was comfortable in
the presence of so many city dwellers, though. They both felt like
outsiders, which they were. Even in their new clothes, Kip and Emma
screamed rural. Between the way their eyes popped and mouths gaped
every time someone in a particularly London-y outfit walked by, and
the way they pointed at billboards and advo signs, it was a wonder
no one had stopped to ask where they were from.

“
That’s Riley,” I replied
in answer to Emma’s question.

Riley reached our table and swung the lone
free chair around so that he could sit with his arms folded over
the back. He scrutinized my two tagalongs, and then met my gaze.
Twisted blue flames swirled briefly in his irises, causing Emma to
gasp. At first I thought it was his strange eyes that gave her
pause, then I remembered that she was like Riley and me. She could
feel Riley’s power, and it was exponentially more intense than
she’d been anticipating.

“
This them?” Riley asked
me, cocking a thumb towards Emma and Kip.

I nodded in confirmation.

For reasons I had yet to wrap my head
around, the reception during the brief mental conversation between
Kenly and me had been spotty at best. It had been clearer than on
Pelia, yet still patchy and disjointed—almost as though the
island’s energy had screwed up my gifts indefinitely. This was a
thought I kept pushing aside. I didn’t want to consider a future
without my talents. Life was too uncertain these days without the
added worry of whether my mental abilities were losing their
efficacy.

I’d given Kenly the barebones version of my
escape and detour through Pelia, receiving short bursts of static
interlaced with her stuttered responses in return. Enough of her
words had gotten through for me to understand that she was sending
Riley to meet us. I didn’t need her to explain the reasoning behind
the decision. Riley was a proficient Morpher, capable of distorting
his human features without the aid of makeup or hair dye. He also
wasn’t a ranking member of UNITED’s most wanted list.

“
This is Emma,” I said,
pointing to my new friend. Riley’s gaze racked her from head to
toe. He drew in a deep breath, as if inhaling Emma’s scent. Keen
interest flashed across his expression.

“
Are you an Interceptor?”
Riley asked Emma.

“
A what?” I
interjected.

Interceptor was not a familiar term. But
Riley was from an area that referred to Talents as Chromes, so his
gifted vocabulary did vary from mine.

“
An Interceptor. Someone
who blocks a Chrome’s essence. Things are starting to make a whole
lot more sense, if that’s the case.” Riley turned to me. “I felt
you when I entered the cafeteria, but only just barely. I thought
maybe it was a side effect of the drugs they gave you in prison to
suppress your powers. But now that I’m sitting here, I’d say it’s
her.” Riley nodded in Emma’s direction. He turned expectant eyes on
Kip. “What do you do, mate?”

“
The name’s Kip,” Kip said
stiffly. “I teleport.”

Whistling appreciatively, Riley plucked a
fry from the pile on my plate. Kip had needed to replenish his
strength after our trip, so after stealing new outfits, I’d
suggested waiting in the cafeteria so that he could consume
calories. Using my own special brand of persuasion, I’d gotten all
three of us turkey wraps and fries. Kip was the only one who’d as
much as sampled the fare, though.

“
Spot on,” Riley said
around a mouthful of mushy potato. “That’ll come in handy to get us
back to the bunker.”

Kip squirmed in his chair.

“
We traveled a long
distance. Kip’s powers are burnt out right now,” I said to save the
poor embarrassed boy the trouble.

Riley waved a hand dismissively. “No
worries. I have our route mapped out. Do you want anymore of
these?” He pointed to the fries.

“
All yours,” I replied,
pushing the plate closer to him.

“
I thought you’d be more
interested in eating after a month on Vault. Food must have been
bloody awful,” Riley continued conversationally.

It was the second reference he’d made to my
incarceration. This was odd because UNITED had purposely kept it
under wraps. Given the frequent disruptions in our conversation, I
hadn’t told Kenly about my stint on Vault, only that I needed a
place to hide.

“
How do you know I was in
prison?” I asked.

A wide grin split Riley’s middle-of-the-road
features. “Our girl is quite the hacker. She’s been inside UNITED’s
system for weeks, feeding them false leads on her whereabouts,
siphoning info about the people in containment, and leaking inside
bits about the vote.”

One mystery solved. Kenly was the hacker
wreaking all sorts of havoc inside UNITED. Maybe my mentee wasn’t
the harmless kitten I’d thought.

“
She also found the
transcript from your disciplinary hearing. That’s how we know you
were incarcerated,” Riley continued, speaking fast and low. “She
also installed a program designed to flag mentions of your name,
and then send those files our way. That’s how we learned about your
escape. I have to say, nice work with the pods. That program you
wrote was brilliant. Even Kenly was impressed. And the telekinetic
bit you did—jumping down that shaft without a chute.” Riley hugged
himself and shuttered dramatically. “It gave me chills.”

I smiled in spite of myself.

“
You should have seen the
shenanigans she pulled to get us off Pelia,” Kip
interjected.

He didn’t sound nearly as awestruck as Riley
had when talking about my abilities. Then again, the earthquake I’d
conjured might have destroyed a large portion of Kip’s home.

So, yeah, there was that.

“
So I guess Kenly is doing
well,” I said, ignoring Kip’s commentary.

Riley shrugged. “So-so. Our bunker doesn’t
have windows, and she hasn’t seen sunlight in a month. Going
outside is too chancy. But we do have the satellite images from
around the world, so Kenly can virtually visit anywhere she likes.”
He rolled his eyes. “And she has James. The two of them have
settled quite nicely into domesticity.”

“
What about you and Willa?
Do you guys get out of the, um, bunker much?”

Willa was Riley’s longtime girlfriend. She’d
been with us when we freed Kenly from the Poachers.

“
Look, this catch up hour
is nice and all, but I don’t think sitting here, you know, in
public, is a great idea,” Emma interrupted. Her eyes panned the
crowded cafeteria nervously. A quick swipe of her emotions told me
that it was the sheer volume of people that made her uncomfortable,
more so than the chance that someone would recognize me. Emma was
definitely having second thoughts about her decision to come along
on what she’d anticipated would be an adventure. She hadn’t
appreciated the magnitude of the risk she was taking by coming to
the mainland.

“
You’re right,” Riley told
Emma. “We should get going.” He turned to me. “If you truly believe
that you can trust these two, that is. Without their last names,
Kenly wasn’t able to work her magic and learn any information about
them. She did find Pelia. Pretty secluded, isn’t it?”

“
I can trust them. I do
trust them,” I told him honestly.

“
Can’t be too careful,
luv,” Riley said. “I don’t suppose you watched the tele much in
prison, but the list of people who want the lot of us dead or in
captivity is longer than my leg.”

“
You know I wouldn’t bring
wolves into your henhouse,” I replied. “You can trust them, Riley.
And they won’t be here long, just long enough for Kip to regain
strength to teleport them back home to Pelia.”

“
Good that,” Riley said.
“What about you, Talia? How long are you thinking of
staying?”

“
I don’t know. If it’s too
big an imposition, I can be gone by nightfall,” I
answered.

I wasn’t sure where I would go, but I’d
figure it out.

Riley took my hand and squeezed. “You’re
welcome with us as long as you need.” Those blue flames lit up his
irises again. “I have a feeling you’re going to want to stay in
London anyhow.” He rose and motioned for Kip, Emma, and I to do the
same. “I’ll explain more about that once we’re at the bunker. Or
Kenly can, either way. Now we should make tracks. That kid over
there keeps eyeing you.”

I followed Riley’s gaze to where a boy of
ten or so sat with two adults, presumably his parents. Sure enough,
the child’s eyes were glued to me. Pulling the hat lower on my
forehead, I swallowed thickly.

“
Lead the way,” I
declared.

Riley spoke very little on the two-hour trip
to the mysterious bunker. Several times he insisted we switch tube
cars or depart a bus because he thought I was attracting too much
attention. I felt the eyes on me, watching me with too much fervor
to be chalked up to a passing interest. My sudden appearance in the
Pink Giraffe, followed just as suddenly by my swift exit, was
memorable, and I had little doubt UNITED was aware of my presence
in London. I was uncertain what, if any, information they had
leaked to the public. Regardless, they had spies everywhere, and
Riley’s paranoia was not unfounded.

Three buses, four tube lines, and a taxi
ride later, we ended our journey only four blocks from where we’d
started.

“
Didn’t we just pass
Harrods?” Kip asked, confused.

“
Needed to make sure we
didn’t have a tail, mate,” Riley replied.

The hover taxi deposited us in a back alley,
behind a main street with a variety of nightclubs, restaurants, and
theaters. Riley paid the driver, adding a handsome tip to the
already pricey fair. I took the liberty of altering the driver’s
memories, just in case. Now, if anyone asked, he would remember
only Kip and Emma, and even their images were now fuzzy in his
mind.

“
This is us,” Riley
declared, gesturing towards glass double doors. Between thick
panes, bubbles swam from the bottom to the top of the doors. He
inserted an old-fashioned brass key into the lock and twisted.
Shooting furtive glances up and down the deserted alleyway, Riley
motioned Emma, Kip, and I through the back entrance.

“
A nightclub, really?” I
asked as Riley led our group down a dark hallway with numerous
doors all marked Private. Ick, I didn’t want to know what went on
inside those dens of sin.

“
James’s family owns it,”
Riley called over his shoulder.

I stopped short, causing Emma to stumble
into the wall. She wiped furiously at her shoulder as though afraid
she’d caught cooties from the paint. So caught up in my own
thoughts, I’d tuned hers and Kip’s out. It was in that moment I
understood just how surreal this all was for them both. I thought a
nightclub a strange place for a bunker, but they found they idea of
a nightclub in general strange and a little disturbing. That
probably had to do with the advo signs we’d seen on the convoluted
journey to Pure Bliss, which had all promised that euphoria waited
within the glittering walls.

“
I’m sorry, you mean
James’s family, as in the Poachers?” I asked.

Riley turned and smiled. “That’s them. Not
to worry, luv. Thanks to Bryn, James’s sister, those wanker parents
of theirs are on the run. Last we heard, dear old mum and dad were
in Budapest. Bryn’s been managing this place, as well as several of
the other family businesses. She’s upped the wages for the Chromes,
found them decent lodging, and even given them a stipend from the
family coiffeurs to get the lot started. It was her who thought of
us kipping in the bunker. It was built ages ago as a hideout, you
know, just in case Chrome slavery ever became illegal and the
Wellingtons became outlaws. Come on, Kenly will have my nads if we
don’t hurry.”

I knew that Bryn had been feeding
information on the Poachers to Victoria and her people, but I
hadn’t been aware that UNITED was being proactive about hunting
down the organization’s ringleaders. If the poaching families
really were on the run, that meant I was wrong.

At the end of the hallway, Riley rounded the
corner and led us through a set of frosted glass doors. Inside was
Pure Bliss’s VIP suite. And it was bliss. Modeled after balconies
at opera houses, the lounge area was a mix of Victorian era
elegance and Ann Lisian modernity. Long, leather couches ran across
three of the four tiers. Chrome tables engraved in an old world
design sat in front of the bench-style seats. Frosted purple glass
buckets were strategically placed on the tables, just waiting for
bottles of champagne to be placed inside. The flutes surrounding
each bucket were the same frosted purple glass.