Untrained Eye (16 page)

Chapter 18

THREE WHOLE WEEKS passed before I had realized. I was so busy
working with my bunch of misfits that I hadn’t done anything but eat, sleep,
and drill my troops. Some of them were already starting to look better. Those
blessed with a jock gene had gotten tougher. I’d adapted Jed’s regime so that
he got fitter but not bigger. Doctor Andrews and Renee had said that he was a
bit of a bully so I weren’t gonna take no chances.

Problem was, Jed had more issues. I tried not to think of Sam and
“cover him in the same molasses,” as Nan would say, when his eyes kept drifting
to out the window. A pretty little girl with long brown hair had him gazing
with a longing in his eyes. I had to admit, I was kinda worried. To me, the
girl looked like your stereotypical nerd. She even had that bounce-walk thing
they often did. There was something different about her. An arrogance that came
from knowing that she was clever. A know-it-all.

I’d seen her strut past a few times, nose in the air, no time for
nobody. At least that’s what it looked like. The poor kid was under so much
pressure that she could have been carrying me on her shoulders. Dimmed burdens
or not, I could see past the outer shell and she was cracking under the strain.

It was the musician. One of the kids who Huber wanted. A kid worth
my weight in gold to Caprock. I didn’t know if she had any idea but she made
Renee look laid back. Anyhow, I didn’t miss the glint in Jed’s eye.

He wanted her.

That thought rippled through my mind when I was in the gym with
Miroslav one afternoon. I was pushing him to passing out point when a pain shot
up my arm. I gripped it, expecting Miroslav to be doing the same but he just
watched on with concern in his eyes.

Another pain shot up the same arm and I got up from the bench
opposite Miroslav. I went looking for the cause. Whatever it was. It hurt.

“You okay, Miss Samson?” Miroslav panted at me as I scoured out
the window. If I’d had my burdens properly, I would have known where the pain
was coming from. I would have known who needed help.

“Gut feeling,” I mumbled. The pain hit again. This time I yelped
with it. It was like being thrown into a wall. My brain fired into panic mode
with the thought.

“Do you need something?” Miroslav pulled himself up then wobbled
like he had Jell-O for legs.

“No. Sit. Someone is hurt is all. I need to find them.”

Didn’t that earn me a puzzled look. “Hurt? How do you know?”

“Hard to explain. I’m different. Now sit ’cause you’re giving me a
chest ache.” I was thankful it was the two of us. I wished I could get a
message to Renee or Frei but I didn’t have a phone. It was best I didn’t. I’d
blacked out the entire CIG base when I’d called home.

“Samson?”

Renee. I turned ready to hug her. Maybe that’s why she’d popped
into my head in the first place.

“Musician,” I blurted out, trying to show some restraint. Miroslav
was a cool kid but even he would notice if I squeezed the air out of a
professor I wasn’t supposed to know. “She’s hurt.”

“She’s missing.” Renee’s gaze flicked to Miroslav and back to me.

“Jed,” Miroslav and I said in unison.

I turned to him. “You know where he could be?”

Miroslav wrinkled up his brow like he was deep in thought. “I know
he likes her. He wants a chance.”

That didn’t make me feel better. “A chance?”

“I don’t know,” Miroslav said and chewed on his lip. “I know that
he’s been working on
something
for months but he says lots of things. It
is not the truth much of the time.”

“Samson, can you find her?” Renee sounded as concerned as I felt
but it wasn’t that easy.

I couldn’t track down people like that anymore. I couldn’t feel
anything to that level. I also couldn’t tell Renee that because she’d guess it
was from when I had helped her. She’d feel guilty and she’d tell my mother. I
didn’t want either conversation.

I shook my head. The pain made me wince and feel wobbly. “I can’t
get anything but pain . . . wait . . .”

The flash of a workshop, chisels, stone.

“Where do they make statues and stuff?” It wasn’t crystal clear
like it used to be but I’d go with it.

“Follow me.” Renee strode off without looking back. She was all
Commander Black now.

“Miroslav, stay here, okay? Don’t tell nobody just yet.”

He nodded as Renee turned at the door, her eyes narrowed like
she’d fire a “move it, Lorelei” at any second.

I kept my eyes on Miroslav. I didn’t want to leave him alone in
the gym. He didn’t even have his chair. “Drink your water. Don’t get up too
fast. Slow, deep breaths, okay?”

He saluted me with a grin.

I laughed. Yeah, I was a sucker. Even Renee flashed a smile at me.

“I need some way of getting in touch with you,” I whispered as we
hurried across the quadrant to her block. “I know the weird telepathy thing is
fun but I ain’t sure it’s always gonna work.”

“No telepathy,” she whispered back. “I was on my way to you to ask
for your help.”

“Right, well . . . not so much unless you count yelping like a
girl.” I rubbed my arm. I felt like I was being hurled into objects at random.

“You
are
a girl. It’s allowed.” She let me into the air
conditioned building. Lockers lined the halls, doors with glass panels at the
top. Like my building it screamed high school. A fancy one but high school none
the less.

I’d hated high school.

It was hard not to glance around for a hiding place in case I
needed to escape from a pack of bullies.

I said a silent prayer, thanking God I wasn’t a kid no more.

“Are there workshops nearby?” I asked, trying not to turn and run.
The pain was getting worse. I was hobbling because my shin hurt. My head felt
fuzzy, my stomach rolled, and I had trouble walking in a straight line. I was
worried that she had some kind of head injury but tried not to let it show too
much.

“Yes, they’re just—”

“Professor Worthington?”

Renee’s shoulders hitched at the sound of a very soft, smooth
female voice. She took a breath, glanced at me with a “let me handle it” look,
and turned around.

I followed her gaze to Professor Owens strolling up the corridor
like she was on a catwalk. Her charcoal suit and white top against her tanned
skin made her look Italian, suave, and, well, she irritated me. I didn’t know
why but I didn’t like her all that much.

“We don’t have time for this,” I muttered through gritted teeth.
The nausea was getting stronger.

“Who’s in charge?” she fired back.

“Frei last time I checked.” I flashed her a smile. “Two minutes
and I’m leaving Professor Fancy-Pants to find our POI.”

Renee’s eyes twinkled. I knew she was half-ready to laugh and
half-ready to throttle me. She focused on Owens who was eyeing me like she
might tell me to step outside any second. Guess the dislike was mutual.

“Nikki, can I help you?”

Nikki? They were on first name terms? Chump.

“You seemed in a hurry. Is there anything I can help with?” Owens
looked me up and down with unguarded hostility. I flexed my biceps at her which
cut the appraisal short. She wasn’t pulling that arrogant crap on me.

“Lost one of my runts,” I snapped. “Likes to play with chisels.”

Renee glared at me. I didn’t care. I had somebody to go save from
an unhinged admirer.

“Then shouldn’t you call security?” Her demeanor showed she’d
figured me for a nasty piece of work. I was happy to go along with her theory.

“Shouldn’t you run off and play with your books?” I tried to keep
myself upright. Not quite the razor reply I was going for but my head felt like
it might fall off any second.

“I’m not the criminal here, Samson.” She put her hands on her
hips, I half-expected to see a camera flash at the pose. “Or should I say,
Riley.”

That just made me snort. We were a “dum, dum, dah,” short of a
Saturday morning matinee.

“If you think I’m going to let you hurt another person, you have
another thing coming.”

Huh? What mental institution had she broken out from?

“Really?” I stepped forward. If I
was
mean, her comment
would make me meaner. “You want to find out why your threat is so dumb?”

“Ladies,” Renee muttered in such a way that we both stopped and
stared at her. Either she was about to pull her gun with that tone or make me
do push-ups. “We have to find Jed. Samson is going to return him to his dorm.
She has no intention of harming me.” She glared up at me with her clear gray
eyes. “Do you?”

“You want the whole truth?”

Renee’s eyes hardened. We both knew she could kick my butt from
here to Dakota but Professor Smarmy pants didn’t. “Try me.”

“I hate doctors of any kind.” I shot that at Owens for good
measure. I was pleased to see her flinch.

“Beware a woman who can finish a dissertation. The pen is mightier
so they say . . .” Renee ripped open the door. “In.”

“I don’t take orders from you.” I folded my arms. A shot of pain
zinged its way up my leg. I hurled myself through the door and sprinted up the
stairs while yelping like an idiot. They were little stairs with not enough
space to fit my colossal feet. My calves burned, my arm and leg hurt, and my
heart clattered in my chest.

Renee caught up to me as I reached the door at the top and tapped
in a code.

“How would Jed know it?” I asked as I braced myself. I could hear
myself wheezing.

“He doesn’t or at least shouldn’t. Maybe he forced Miranda to tell
him?” She held open the door and glanced behind before taking my hand. “Rooms
are this way.”

I limped along behind her. “But he’s been working on it for months
remember? He knows the code somehow.” I gripped my leg as another shot of pain
hit me. “And
who
is Miranda?”

“Our POI, Dimwit.”

Ah, right. I smiled at the teasing and squeezed her hand. “Any
ideas?”

“If I told you to wait outside and not charge in, would you
listen?” she asked.

We both knew the answer to that so I just cocked my head at her.

“Exactly,” she muttered. “Jed is a bully, so you do the math.”
Tetchy, and combined with a grimace. Commander Renee Black was on duty.

“I had to be nasty to her . . . and you,” I mumbled as Renee led
us up another set of stairs. I didn’t like her getting mad at me.

“I know.” She squeezed back, dragging me up the last few steps.
“It’s just alarming how good you are at it.”

I knew that tone. She’d used the same one back in Serenity when
she’d asked me to help out Aimee by causing chaos. My ability to do it all with
style freaked Renee out and she’d got real mean.

I’d reacted by freaking her out a whole lot more. I’d have been
lying if I said I didn’t want to do the same now.

“I’m not Yannick. I’m not a killer.” I yanked my hand free. The
irritation at her doubt overrode the symptoms from Miranda or whoever was hurt.
“You know me, so quit the snarky crap.”

Renee glanced my way but kept on walking.

“Owens is brave,” I muttered. “Dumb but brave. It takes guts to
stand up to who she thinks I am.” I hoped that would calm Renee’s temper and my
own.

“I’d call it a screw loose,” Renee muttered under her breath but
not too quiet I couldn’t hear. She ripped open another door.

“Ah, so you’re mad at her?” I weren’t sure how I felt about that
and it took me a second to shake it off. Renee was always mad at
me
.
That was our thing.

“I’m just worried about Miranda.”

“Uh huh.”

We got to a room that had “Studio” written in big letters over the
door.

“Stop digging,
Samson.
Who gave you that ridiculous name
anyway?”

I opened my mouth but she held up her hand. “Frei.”

I nodded.

“Remind me to step on her sunglasses next time I see her,” she
muttered.

“What
she
do?” Renee was grouchier than I’d ever seen her
and that was saying something.

“Locks,” she snapped then sighed. “Either way that’s between me
and her.”

Good luck, Frei
, I thought. She’d need it.

Renee pulled open the door, her hand ready at the gun stowed under
her suit jacket. She stopped and I clattered into her.

“What the—?”

We both stood there, staring like fools as Miranda and Jed were
locked in a battle alright but not the one we were both expecting. There was an
empty contraband bottle of whiskey beside them. Miranda was giggling as Jed
slurred something into her ear.
When
they’d come up for air.

I’d never seen Renee so shocked. I nudged her and nodded to the
defaced sculpture of the principal. “Guess they thought he rocked a moustache,
huh?”