Talent Storm (25 page)

She smiled and lay down next to me, her golden hair spilling about her. “I know.”

On my back, I gazed at the millions of stars in the night sky. Who knew what the future would bring? Looking over at Lilly’s cute red cheeks, I grinned. At this moment, I was happy.

I breathed out, relaxing my shoulders. “Let’s call it a night, Cutie.” I pulled her toward the tent.

“You think I’m cute,” she said while poking me. When she smiled, her plump lips thinned, her eyes pouring out warmth. “We’re going to be fine,” she said.

I almost believed her.

CHAPTER 12

The next morning Lilly and I woke up together. “How did you sleep?” I asked.

“Not very well. I dreamed that a two headed monster was torturing me with a hot poker and I couldn't escape.”

“Sounds intense but don't worry. It was only a dream.” I shuffled over and hugged her, careful to limit the pressure on my chest.

She laid her head on my shoulder. “I know. It just seemed so real. I woke up covered in sweat... it was a terrible night.”

“I won't let anything bad happen to you.” I hugged her tighter. We stayed there, holding each other for a while.

When we pulled apart, she looked up at me. “I feel so safe around you. I wouldn't want anyone else looking out for me.”

“I need to do a better job. You almost died.”

“I know. Don’t think about it now. Lie here while I go make breakfast.”

I lay down, imagining our future. At some point, I fell asleep. Waking up again after a while, I forced myself to crawl out of the tent to Lilly. A compressed bar of oats and honey sat on the other side of the table.

She turned, greeting me with a smile. “Morning again my Sweet Koala. Have some breakfast. You can also have the rest of my water, it's still half full.”

I smiled back, picking up the oat bar. “This is quite the breakfast you made.

She giggled. “I slaved over the stove all morning to make that.”

I scampered over to her. “I’ll slave over you,” I said, tickling her.

She laughed and squirmed. The moment was wonderful and freeing. She swatted at my hands but hit my ribs instead. I yelped.

“Oops. I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “It was my fault.”

“Have some breakfast. It will make you feel better.”

I grabbed one of the breakfast bars and began devouring it. They were surprisingly tasty for rationed military food.

After I finished, I decided to look around for the guard’s pack that I’d stolen.

“Looking for this?” Lilly held the single strapped black messenger bag out to me.

“You know me so well.”

I took the pack from her, unzipped it and began placing the contents on the ground in front of me. There were an assortment of papers, a few small throwing knives, medical supplies, and a few days’ worth of rations. I added the rations to our supplies. After putting away the useful items, I focused on the stack of papers. The front page was labeled ‘Confidential: The Underground: Rebel Dossiers’, which seemed to be a good start. I flipped through the pages. After the rebel profiles, there were four pages of general information.

“Hmm.”

Rebel Member Dossiers:

The Underground, a rebel faction, is talented and very dangerous. Use extreme caution if encountered. The rebels must be eliminated at all costs.

The Underground base location: Unknown

Rebel Leader
: Valleri Delven, telepath and manipulator with (Presumed) elite potential
Age
: Mid-forties
Height
: Approx. 5'10”
Weight
: Approx. 160
Hair
: Brown
Eyes
: Brown
Profile
: Valleri is extremely persuasive and has been known to coax high level talented to her cause. Any loyalist of level three clearance that is compromised by her must immediately self-immolate to prevent transfer of important state secrets. She was formerly a prisoner of Midtown Prison fourteen years ago, but escaped.

Rebel
: Kevin Kelsey, healer of unknown potential
Age
: Mid-thirties
Height
: Approx. 5'9”
Weight
: Approx. 160
Hair
: Black
Eyes
: Brown
Profile
: Is thought to have joined the rebellion upon meeting Valleri Delven in Midtown Prison. He escaped along with her fourteen years ago.

Rebel
: Sofia Kesari, emp of unknown potential
Age
: Approx. 19
Height
: Approx. 5'7”
Weight
: Approx. 135
Hair
: Brown
Eyes
: Unknown

Rebel
: Pavel Berzen, illusionist of unknown potential
Age
: Mid-forties
Height
: Approx. 6'7”
Weight
: Approx. 290
Hair
: Blond
Eyes
: Blue

Other Rebels
: Unknown

Lilly perked up. “What’d you find?”

“We’re not alone in our fight. There’s a group of rebels going by the name ‘The Underground’ that the government is aware of.” I read the profiles again. “Wait, look how huge this guy is.” I pointed to Pavel Berzen’s name. “I wonder if this was the guy who planted the explosives. He’s an illusionist. It must have been him.” I scanned the other pages. “Here it says that they struck four government facilities in the last few months. One was an explosion at the wall. Apparently it was a diversion for an attack on a prison.”

Lilly nodded. “So it was him.”

“They are believed to be held up in some underground facility. It also says that they are being supplied and supported by several civilian factions.”

“We need to get this information to our commander,” said Lilly. “An inside presence would bolster our chance of success. Maybe we can contact the telepath that surveys us somehow.”

I thought about it, then shook my head. “We’ll have to wait until we’re back. The high general said we couldn’t contact the telepath.”

“I guess you're right. It just seems important.”

“We'll just have to be successful then. I mean look at us... we're dominant.”

She giggled. “It's true. We are quite talented... at kissing.”

I cracked up, feeling all my tension fade. It felt good to joke around again. I missed the lighthearted carefree days with Ben. Everything was so simple then. It seemed like a million years ago.

“I'm worrying more and more about Rapid City,” she said. “I couldn't take it if something went wrong. All I can think about is my parents getting killed.”

I put my arm around her shoulders and softly kissed her cheek. “They'll be fine back home. It's probably the safest city left on the continent,” I said only half believing it. “Besides I happen to know one of the generals.

“Really?”

“Yeah. My uncle.” Immediately after saying it, I knew I shouldn’t have told her and that I put her in more danger. I decided not to tell her about Ben’s dad.

Her eyes went wide in surprise. “I can’t believe it. I didn't realize how important he is.”

“If my uncle is good for anything, it’s keeping the Coalition safe.”

Her shoulders relaxed. “How did you know? Did he tell you?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “No way. I found an old letter that my dad sent to my mom. I wasn't supposed to know.”

“You have a knack for making me feel good,” she said.

I slid over and grasped her in a big hug. She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. I felt safe in her arms, like someone was looking out for me. After we separated, we gazed into each other’s eyes.

She smiled broadly, her rosy cheeks dimpling. “As long as we have each other everything will be all right.”

I returned her smile knowing she was right. We could get through anything as long as we had each other.

CHAPTER 13

The morning after a few days of recuperating and then scouting, I rolled my sore shoulders in the tent. Lilly had already gotten up. From our scouting missions, we knew that six guards typically manned the primary communications relay. Hopefully they wouldn’t increase the number due to our recent strike on the stationary gun platform. The relay was approximately thirty feet tall, with large dishes at the peak. It was located in the center of a compound and surrounded by a twenty foot electrified chain-link fence, topped with razor wire.

I exited the tent to find Lilly sitting at our camp table. Her golden hair shined in the sunlight, framing her high cheekbones. She stretched her arms over her head, and I admired her toned muscles. When I got closer, I saw that she was writing in a book. She flashed me a dimpled smile when she heard me approach.

I grinned at her, then eyed the book. “What are you writing?”

She shrugged. “I’m just writing about our time here.”

A frown grew on my face. “Honey, we’re on a secret sabotage mission. We can’t have a record of it. You’ve got to destroy it.”

She pouted, throwing her arms up. “Oops. Sorry. I can’t believe I didn’t think about that. I guess even I can make mistakes. I’ll take care of it.”

“It’s okay. You’re still perfect to me.” I sat cross-legged next to her.

She rubbed my arm with a big smile. “You are too. How did you sleep last night?”

“Not well,” I said. “I couldn’t help but worry about our final mission. I want things to go perfectly.”

“They will. No one can stop us,” she said, sounding sure of herself.

“I came up with a way around all of the security. We won't have to worry about the guards or fences.”

“Oh?”

“It’s simple. We sneak up close enough to the fence so that I can telekinetically throw the remaining two explosive devices at the communications relay. You’ll use your illusions to cloak us while making the explosive devices look like birds. We’ll set them to explode on contact. They already know that someone is destroying their facilities so the detected sabotage will not be a drawback. Then we only need to escape the city and head home. The telepathic watch will alert our troops as soon as the last objective is destroyed.” I beamed, lifting my chin.

“You are so clever. I like it. It is simple and safe.” She smiled sweetly and kissed my cheek. “I’m glad you took charge. I needed some time off from reality.”

“I hope that it works. I stupidly lost a whole night of sleep worrying—”

I froze, thinking I heard something. I placed my finger up to my lips. An instant later, the bells on our detection wire began to chime.

Lilly sprung to her feet, her weapons appearing in her hands. Quickly following suit, I bolted upright before pulling forth my massive iron mace.

Three infantry, marked with the red fist of Liberty, ran into our hideout with long swords drawn. Glancing back to our escape route, my heart sank. There must have been fifty more infantry crowding the exit and street. We were trapped and outnumbered.

“Lay down your weapons and come with us,” the lead man said. He was the only one with two red stripes on his arm and likely the commander.

Lilly lowered her weapons, but did not drop them. She moved closer to me. “Maybe we should surrender. There are too many of them,” she whispered.

Just as she said that, I recognized the probe of enemy illusions invading my brain. Pushing against them, all but five combatants vanished, three in front and two behind. I leaned in closer to Lilly. “Most are illusions, we attack. Follow my lead.”

“We're just travelers. We’ll lay down our weapons,” I said. Bending down, I slowly lowered my mace while surveying the scene.

“I know who you are,” said the commander, “and Goldwater is going to have fun with you.”

I grimaced, picturing the dead men and women hung on the wall. I didn’t want to kill them but didn’t see a way around it. “No he won’t.”

My emerald aura blazed and suddenly my hesitation disappeared. Lilly’s blades lit up and then ripped from her hands to speed toward the two men behind us. The weapons buried themselves in the men’s chests. The three men in front charged. Two of them took just three steps before they exploded in a flash of green light. Blood and gore sprayed their commander. His eyes bulged, and he dropped his weapons before turning to flee. I raised a hand, and he shot toward me, his feet skidding on the ground. When he reached me, I slammed my glowing fist into his head, crushing his skull like an eggshell.

My glow dimmed, and I grimaced at the pointless loss of life, feeling guilty. “I didn’t want to have to do that,” I said, rubbing my fist.

Lilly patted my shoulder. “I know, but it was necessary. Now let’s go. They’ll probably send reinforcements.”

Lilly ran over to the tent to pack emergency supplies, and after a silent moment, I followed suit. After we had the necessities packed up, we ran out of the building into the streaming sun. I flinched as I felt an explosion of air pressure next to me. A sharp and unexpected pain blossomed in my side. I threw myself backward, avoiding another strike from the unknown attacker. How did they get here? I didn’t see anyone. I spun to see a woman dressed in all black holding two blood covered daggers. A hood obscured everything but her green eyes.

“I'm Grand Duke Eris Horn. Come with me or die.”

I glanced at my side, seeing two blood red flowers blooming. Would I die here? No. I sealed my wounds with telekinesis, then shouted to Lilly, “Run, I'll catch up with you.”