Hunted (Talented Saga # 3) (4 page)

Chapter Four

While we waited for the hotel elevator to arrive, Erik and I held hands.
The steel doors slid apart, revealing a mirrored interior car. I stepped on and stared at my reflection. Chestnut brown hair fell in large curls down the back of my black velvet jacket. Mac had practically ordered me to wear color, so I had selected a dark gray cocktail dress to go underneath my black coat. The hollows under my eyes were dark from too many sleepless nights to count. Dull, lifeless irises sat like two purple marbles sunken into a face I barely recognized. The jacket had been specially tailored to fit my small frame before I’d come back to the school, but now it hung loosely on my too-thin body.

Erik’s reflection, on the other hand, revealed beautiful turquoise eyes over high cheekbones and tanned skin.
His almost black hair hung perfectly around his face and looked professionally styled even though he’d barely brushed it after his shower. The green dress shirt was tucked into the waistband of his khaki pants. His navy blazer was unbuttoned and the sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, the Agency logo embroidered on the breast pocket.

The fine lines around the corners of his eyes and mouth were the only outward sign of his inner stress.
He tried to keep his mental barricades up so the anxiety wouldn’t seep from his mind and amplify my own. I was touched by his concern, but hated that he thought me weak, felt sorry for me even. We weren’t equals in this relationship. He was a rock, all strength and power. I was fragile, spun glass, ready to break if someone looked at me the wrong way.

Apparently, there were also cracks in my mental armor, letting my thoughts leak out.

“You’re beautiful,” Erik insisted, planting a kiss on the top of my head.

I rolled my eyes.
“And you’re a bad liar.”

“Actually, I happen to be an excellent liar.”
I gave him a withering look in the mirrored wall. “Fine, you might be a little skinnier than I usually like my girlfriends, but I’m sure we can take care of that over the next three weeks.” Erik pinched my waist playfully.

I pushed him away, pretending his comment bothered me.
It sort of did. Erik grabbed me from behind, spinning me to face him. He pushed me hard; the handrail collided with my lower back, sending a jolt of pain up my spine.

“You want to know the truth?
You are one of the strongest people I have ever met. And you are definitely the most beautiful, Tal,” he murmured, leaning in so his lips moved against mine when he spoke. His kiss wasn’t gentle. If it were possible, I fell a little more in love with him in that moment.

The lobby of the Hamilton was lavishly decorated with blue and white wall hangings bearing the Agency logo and each Division’s emblem.
The couches scattered throughout the foyer were upholstered in deep red fabrics with gold throw pillows. Tuxedo-clad waiters waded through the crowds of already gathered Operatives and Congressmen, passing out drinks and finger sandwiches.

Several people turned and stared in our direction when we stepped into the grand room.
Their murmured conversations were like verbal assaults to my ears as they whispered to one another phrases like, “She was the girl’s friend”, “She caught that spy”, or “She had to relearn to walk.” Anxiety clouded my mind, and the urge to turn around and run and seek sanctuary in my room was almost too strong to ignore.

“They’re looking at me, not you.
Don’t worry.”
Erik smiled. I gave him another eye roll and tried to suppress the grin tugging at the corners of my mouth. I was
so
glad he was here.

“Natalia,” Mac called, coming over to greet me.
“I have plenty of people that I’d like for you to meet.” Then Mac turned his attention to Erik, pointedly glaring at our intertwined fingers. “Mr. Kelley, I am sure you can find a way to entertain yourself while Natalia mingles.”

Erik nodded curtly to the Director and gave my hand a brief squeeze.
“Call if you need me,”
he sent and disappeared into the crowd.

For the next three hours, I trailed Mac as he mingled and schmoozed with the plethora of politicians that had assembled in the Nation’s capital to celebrate the start of aptitude testing.
Many I’d met over the past eight years, some I hadn’t. All were eager to congratulate me on finding the traitor that had infiltrated our government. I kept a smile plastered on my face through the entire ordeal, never giving even the slightest indication that I was anything less than thrilled at the way things turned out.

When I grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waitress, Mac deftly removed the drink from my hand.

“Not tonight, Natalia,” he mumbled under his breath.

Relegated to drinking nonalcoholic beverages, I consumed glass after glass of ice water.
Thanks to Mac’s refusal to let me out of his sight for longer than a nanosecond, I had to use the bathroom so badly that I had to fight the urge to cross my legs like a child.

“I’ll escort you back to your room, Natalia,” Mac declared when the crowd started to thin.

“I need to make a stop first. No need to wait,” I replied, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

“Where do you need to stop?” he asked suspiciously.

I gave him a hard look before answering. “If you must know, I need to pee.”

“You’re an adult, Natalia.
I would think that you could manage to make it to your room first,” he stated, visibly relaxing at my benign answer.

“I’ve had like eight glasses of water, Mac,
I’m going to burst,” I whined.

“Fine, but please see to it that you find your way to your own room as soon as possible.
I would prefer you get some rest before tomorrow morning,” he ordered, his grey eyes boring into me. His unspoken command was crystal clear: Don’t go to Erik’s room.

“Of course,
Director
.” I smiled sweetly.

“Breakfast tomorrow, then?” he asked as though it was a question, but I knew better.
It was an order.

“I’ll see you at seven,” I responded, grateful for his dismissal.
Mac nodded curtly before heading to the elevator bank alone.

In truth, I genuinely did have to use the bathroom so bad it hurt.
But I wasn’t a child; I could have made the journey to my room without incident. However, I wanted to find Erik before heading upstairs.

I spotted him by the bar, sipping amber colored liquid from a large mug engraved with the Toxic logo.
He was chatting easily with Cadence Choi. Unlike me, Cadence had chosen to don Agency issued black slacks and a fitted black jacket with the McDonough School’s emblem embroidered over her left breast. Her short black hair was styled neatly just above her shoulders. I’d noticed throughout the evening that I was one of the few Operatives that had forgone the uniform-like attire in favor of a more cocktail appropriate dress.

Having no desire to get close to Cadence and doubting that Erik would leave without finishing his beer, I found the lobby restrooms.
When I was finished, I returned to find the two still engrossed in conversation. Irritated, I wound my way to the bar.

“Hey,” I said, placing my hand possessively on Erik’s arm.
Even as I did it, I felt petty, but I didn’t like how chummy he was with Cadence.

“Hey to you, too,” he replied, a smile lighting up his entire face.
The tension I’d felt building in my muscles all evening eased as I basked in the warmth of his affection. Erik slipped his free arm around my waist, kissing the top of my head softly.

“Hello, Cadence,” I said politely, acknowledging the slightly older girl.
Her scrunched features hardened when she turned her attention away from Erik and fixed me in her beady black eyes.

“Talia, it’s so nice the Director let you accompany him.
I’m sure you’ve just been itching to get off school grounds,” she replied, sneering.

“Oh, I’m not accompanying Mac,” I shot back, trying to keep the animosity in my voice to a minimum.
“I’ve actually been assigned to help administer the aptitude tests.” Erik’s arm tightened around my waist when he felt my temper begin to flare.

“Really?”
Cadence raised her pencil thin eyebrows skyward. “I wasn’t aware Medical had cleared you for active duty.”

“Medical hasn’t, but Mac thought my abilities would be extremely helpful for the testing.”
I tried to keep my voice even as I spoke, but couldn’t quash the urge to rise to the challenge in hers.

Since our first encounter, Cadence had been hostile.
Not that I was exactly Susie Sunshine, either. I hated the joy my failure elicited in her and used every opportunity to remind her that, no matter what had happened, I was still the Director of the Agency’s favorite, that he still treated me like a daughter, and that I had connections and status in our world that she would never be privy too.

Sure, I knew that it was childish, but the satisfaction it gave me, no matter how small, was worth it.
And, honestly, the events of the past year had cooled my relationship with Mac significantly, but he and I were the only ones who knew that. Our private conversations were often strained and combative. Yet in public, I worked hard to maintain the status quo and never let on that we were constantly at odds or that I’d come to doubt that I knew him as well as I thought. While I was confident that Mac was aware my trust in him was fading, he never gave any outward indication, either in public or private.

“It was nice to see you again, Cadence,” Erik said, offering her a gleaming white smile and effectively putting an end to our less than friendly exchange.

“You, too, Erik.” She returned his smile easily. I was shocked that she could proffer positive emotions toward another human being, seeing as she was always so frigid to me. “Maybe I’ll take you up on the offer to help me train for my tryout next month.”

“
What?!?!?”
I demanded mentally, rounding on Erik.
“She’s been granted another tryout for the Hunters? And you offered to help her train?”

“Definitely,” Erik agreed, rubbing my back to calm the anger growing heavy inside of me.
“You know where to find me.” With that, Erik steered me away from Cadence Choi before I could say something aloud that I might regret later. He led me through the elaborately decorated foyer of the Hamilton Hotel, through the double glass doors that marked the entranceway, and out on to the deserted sidewalk that ran along Fourteenth Street.

Four armed Agency men dressed in black and gray fatigues stood alert in front of the hotel’s entrance.
Each Operative carried a large black automatic weapon against his chest. Four sets of dark, intense eyes snapped in our direction.

“Erik, what’s up?” The shortest of the four guards called, his large coffee colored face breaking into a huge grin.

“Desmond? How are you?” Erik called back, surprised.

“Doing well, man.
Got pulled off guard duty at Tramblewood to come down here. The city’s been crazy since they caught that chick spy,” Desmond responded, shaking his head.

I stiffened at his reference to Penny, promptly forgetting all about Cadence.

“Yeah, I bet,” Erik said neutrally, pulling me closer to his side. “What’s the deal with the curfew?” The normally lively city streets were empty, devoid of the usual teenagers and twenty-somethings that frequented the downtown bars.

In the wake of Penny’s sentencing, riots broke out all over the nation.
Many citizens had even protested her execution. The discord people felt towards the government, and the Agency in particular, reached an all-time high. Apparently, traitor or not, the majority of the population had reservations about executing a teenage girl. I knew that Mac feared there would be trouble during the aptitude testing.

Mac hadn’t explained the state of the nation to me prior to our departure from school.
In the weeks since Penny’s sentencing, he’d become visibly more stressed. He began taking daily work trips into Washington and other key cities throughout the country. When he returned at night, he looked every one of his fifty years. Since Mac was less than forthcoming, I probed Donavon for details. He had been the one to tell me about the riots and extended curfews.

For as long as I could remember, I’d respected Mac and understood that his position came with some hard decision making.
However, learning of his intention to keep the mandatory curfews in effect until further notice made me question his judgment. Imposing such restrictions on people’s freedom was extreme. The regulations wouldn’t alleviate the dissonance. They would only make it worse.

“The Director wants to maintain the curfew in all testing cities for the duration of the exams,” Desmond was telling Erik.
“People have been losing faith in the Agency ever since they learned we let a spy infiltrate our organization. And then there are the conservatives that think the Mandatory Testing Act should be abolished. They protest every year anyway.”

“Bummer.
We were hoping to get a drink before bed,” Erik answered shaking his head regretfully. Were we? I’d figured that Erik had led me outside because it was the fastest way to get me away from Cadence.