Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (57 page)

The fear I felt was not my own; it was
Emma’s, and it was crippling. Using the table to steady myself, I
erected reinforced mental shields to block her emotions. I did send
calming vibes Emma’s way, though. Judging by her level of anxiety,
she needed all the help she could get.

“
Now would be a good time
to go back to the beginning,” I told Kenly. “Tell me everything you
know about Nightshade.”

Between Kenly, James, and Riley they wove a
tale of corruption, kidnapping, and murder that spanned centuries.
Thanks to Kenly’s hacking abilities, there were pictures to
accompany the acts my friends described.

“
This is the youngest son
of Holo Fantasy Games CEO Bret Canter,” Kenly explained as she
brought up an image of a young, terrified boy holding up a sign for
the camera. The message “Withdraw your bid on Universal Fortune by
midnight, or I die” was written in block letters on the piece of
cardboard clutched in the child’s hands. “Nightshade kidnapped the
child to force his father to recant his offer on Universal Fortune,
and it worked. Mr. Canter did withdraw his bid, and another gaming
company, Surreal Entertainment, swooped in and purchased Universal
Fortune for a steal.”

My mentee’s tone was dispassionate, but I
wasn’t fooled. Kenly was more bothered by the images than I was.
She was just trying to put on a brave face in the hopes she
wouldn’t break down in tears. James continued to rub her back
soothingly, a gesture that did relax Kenly some.

A new image replaced the one of Bret
Canter’s son. This one was of a candid shot of woman with an
immaculate blonde bun and shrewd brown eyes shaking hands with
well-wishers at some sort of campaign rally.

“
This is Henrietta Karmine.
She was favored to win the U.S. presidential election,” Kenly told
the group. She tapped the tabletop. The same woman was now engaged
in naked twister with another woman nearly half Henrietta’s age.
Both women were clearly enjoying their time together. “This is just
one of over a hundred photos Nightshade released after Henrietta
refused to pullout of the race. All of her financial backers
withdrew their support after the pictures went viral, and Henrietta
lost the election anyhow.”

“
I get that the pictures
are sort of scandalous,” Kip said. “But, I guess I don’t see why
people wouldn’t vote for her because of them.”

“
The other woman isn’t her
wife,” James said darkly. “She was Henrietta’s children’s nanny.
And she was only nineteen at the time.”

“
Oh, wow.” Kip’s expression
was stunned as he angled his head to really study the
photograph.

Kenly tapped the tabletop again to switch
images. The man on screen was much older, and smiling dazzlingly
for the camera. His arm was around a beautiful woman with
startlingly green eyes that were focused solely on the man. Kenly
cleared her throat and pointed at the man. “This is Jose
Rodriguez.” She pointed at the woman. “This is Juana Rodriguez. She
was the youngest ever female gymnast to win all-around gold in the
Global Games, as well as individual gold in each event. She
repeated the feat three more times in three consecutive Games. She
married Jose shortly before what would have been her four Games,
where Juana should have set a world record for the most gold medals
ever by a female gymnast.”

“
That didn’t happen,” I
guessed.

“
No.” It was Riley who took
up the story now. He reached over and tapped the tabletop to switch
to the next image. I recoiled. Jose’s gorgeous face was slashed
with razor-thin lines of red, with blood trickling from the cuts.
But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was the message
carved into Jose’s bare torso:
Hope the
medals keep you warm at night.
“Nightshade
contacted Juana prior to her fourth Games, demanding she throw the
competition or harm would come to her husband. Since Nightshade
didn’t abduct Jose before making the threat, Juana called their
bluff. She was leading the field after her first day of
competition—that’s when the mercenaries took Jose. They didn’t send
a second warning. They just killed him. Juana did pull out of the
Games after that, but it was too late.”

Before anyone could show another graphic
image, I held up my hand. “I think we get the point. I don’t want
any more images burned into my mind.” This was true. But my concern
was more for Emma than my own not-so-delicate sensibilities. I’d
seen death. I’d caused death. So the images, while troubling,
weren’t all that much worse than some stuff I’d seen in person.
Emma, on the other hand, was verging on a nervous breakdown, even
with my calming vibes wafting her way. “How do you know for sure
Nightshade is looking for Kip and me?” I asked Kenly.

“
UNITED’s files,” she
replied guiltily. “I found a report the cryptos sent Victoria
Walburton, alerting her to the fact that Nightshade was targeting
you. That’s what got me started on their trail. Using the acts
UNITED knows for sure were perpetrated by Nightshade, I wrote an
algorithm that identifies other incidents throughout history that
fit the group’s M.O. From there, I hacked my way into the victims’
personal records and communicator logs to see whether Nightshade
ever contacted them with demands. When I did find communications, I
attempted to back trace them to the source.” Kenly paused to catch
her breath. “No luck so far. I’m so sorry, Talia. Without that
information, I can’t figure out who hired Nightshade to capture
you, Kip, and the others.”

“
You have no reason to be
sorry,” I told her, still digesting this information. “Wait—others?
How many other people are they currently after?”

“
Ten in total,” James said
softly.

“
Who else is on that list?”
I asked, my voice flat and emotionless. The answer was going to
upset me further, and I needed to steel my emotions preemptively.
Otherwise, I’d be as close to a panic attack as Emma currently
was.

James took Kenly’s hand and squeezed. “Tell
her.”

Erik. Of course. They were going to tell me
that Erik was a target.

“
Erik, for one,” Kenly
confirmed.

I exhaled slowly. No surprise. He was
probably a high priority target for any number of groups, same as
me. But Erik was under UNITED’s protection. It would be damned near
impossible for Nightshade to reach him. Or, it would have been
before my escape. Now that I was out on my own, the chance I’d be
captured was exponentially higher than when I’d been imprisoned on
Vault. If Nightshade caught me, Erik would gladly go with them out
of some misguided notion of chivalry.

What have you done?
I wondered for the umpteenth time.

“
Penny for another,” Kenly
continued when I didn’t freak out over the news about
Erik.

Again, I wasn’t surprised Penny was a
target. Her natural ability to mimic other’s talents made her
valuable. The fact she was Created and knew how to use all twelve
of her gifts made her worth unquantifiable. And, of course, she was
Ian Crane’s niece. Penny’s safety was Crane’s number one concern.
If someone held Penny hostage in order to persuade Crane to take,
or not take, a certain action, he would capitulate.

Kenly continued reading off names, some of
which I recognized and some I did not.

“
Winter Rossi, Beth Larson,
Kumiko Tao, Miguel Sanchez, and Ida Sawakski.” My mentee paused and
looked over at me with sympathetic eyes. “And Alexander McDonough,”
she finished quietly.

My heart stopped. No. No. No. No. Not Alex.
He was a child, little more a baby. They couldn’t have him. I
wouldn’t let it happen. I’d give myself over first.

Calm. I needed to be calm. Losing my head
wouldn’t help Alex. Besides, he was on Eden. Victoria wouldn’t let
anything happen to him. Even with the councilwoman’s betrayal fresh
in my mind, I truly did believe that she would protect Alex. The
way she’d spoken about Alex and her personal interest in his
education were genuine. That knowledge did lessen the constrictive
feeling in my chest some.

As if sensing I needed something to focus on
besides Alex, Kenly hurried forward with the scant information she
had on the other targets. “Beth Larson was at the McDonough School
briefly.”

“
I know. I was the one who
handed her over to Mac,” I replied.

“
I know.” Kenly smiled
sadly and clicked on another file folder. This time, the incident
report on Beth’s collection came on screen. I didn’t read it. I’d
been there; I knew what had happened.

“
Winter Rossi is any
interesting one,” Kenly continued.

I quirked an eyebrow. “Interesting how?”

“
For what we can tell,
she’s a Separator,” James said.

“
A what?” I asked,
confused.

“
She can separate her
essence from her physical body, like numerous times. The bizarre
thing is that her physical form can’t do much, while her copies can
do all sorts of stuff,” Kenly replied.

“
Like what?” I asked, dread
filling me.

“
Morph, become invisible,
use telekinesis. I’m pretty sure they can’t do telepathy, though.
Or control minds. Or teleport. Or remote view. Or future gaze,”
Kenly said pointedly.

Right, which were all the talents that Beth,
Alex, Kip, and I possessed individually. Great. “Can her copies
mimic other Talents’ abilities?” I asked.

“
Not that we’re aware of,”
James answered.

“
Which obviously makes her
different from both Penny and Erik,” Kenly added. “She’s strong,
too.”

I’d figured as much. “And the others—Kumiko
Tao, Miguel Sanchez, and Ida Sawakski—what can you tell me about
them?

Kenly and James both shook their heads.
“Nothing. We can’t find so much as a mention of them. It was the
same with Kip, until he showed up with you.” Kenly smiled sadly
over at Kip, who was only half-listening to the conversation. His
focus was mainly on Emma. “I can only guess that Kumiko, Miguel and
Ida must be from really remote regions, just like you two. It’s
possible one or more of the three lives on Pelia. Didn’t you guys
say something about rival tribes?”

“
Yeah,” Kip agreed. “I
don’t recognized their names, but that doesn’t mean anything. I
know so few people from the other factions personally.” He squeezed
Emma’s hand. “What about you? Are any of those names
familiar?”

Emma shook her head, keeping her gaze
downcast.

“
Is it possible Nightshade
has already acquired Kumiko, Ida, and Miguel?” I asked.

“
Possible,” Kenly
confirmed. “They might have Beth, as well. I can’t be sure. But no
one else.”

“
You’re positive? Alex is
safe?” I demanded. Even though I knew getting him off of Eden would
be a epic endeavor, I was still worried. That child had been
through so much. He deserved to be left alone to grow up like a
normal child. Well, as normally as a Talented child with a rare
ability could grow up.

Once again, Kenly’s fingers flew across the
keyboard. Alex’s adorable little face came into focus on the center
wallscreen. Beside him sat a blonde woman, and they were playing
with a set of blocks. Kenly unmuted the volume, and I heard Alex’s
soft voice calling out numbers as he traced them on the blocks with
his chubby finger. My heart melted at the sight. I missed that
little boy so much it hurt.

“
Is this live? How are we
watching this?” I asked around the lump in my throat.

“
I hacked Eden’s security
feeds,” Kenly replied sheepishly. “And yes, this is a live
stream.”

I laughed and tears fell down my cheeks.

“
Winter isn’t so easy to
find usually,” Kenly said. “But I’ll give it a try.”

She left the feed with Alex and his tutor on
the big screen, using the one to the right of it to scan faces for
Winter. It took several minutes, but finally Kenly found the
Separator on a bus in Istanbul.

“
That’s her, right there,”
Riley said, using a laser pointer to indicate a girl around twenty
on the monitor. She sat alone on a bench at the rear of the bus,
bobbing her head in time to music streaming through tiny buds
tucked inside her ears. Ordinary was the only way to describe her.
Dishwater blonde hair framed an oval face with narrow hazel eyes
and a small mouth. Simple silver hoops were threaded through her
lobes and a delicate star hung on a chain around her
neck.

“
She’s so normal,” I
said.

“
Not always,” Kenly
replied. “This is just her everyday look. One of them at least.
Much like Riley, she’s a chameleon. That’s what makes her so hard
to find with facial recognition.” She enhanced the image on screen
until only the side of Winter’s neck was visible. There was a
smattering of freckles down the side of the girl’s throat. At
first, I didn’t see the significance, after all freckles weren’t
unique; I had freckles. But when Kenly literally connected the
dots, I saw it: Not 2 B Duped.

“
I can only guess that it
stands for: Not to be duplicated. Anyway, that’s how I keep finding
her. No matter what appearance Winter takes on, as long as she’s
human, she has that tattoo.”

“
Are you sure it’s a
tattoo?” I asked.

James, Kenly, and Riley stared at me
blankly. Kip had once again tuned out of the conversation, and it
had been a long time since Emma cared too much about what we were
discussing.