Chapter 34

Lara didn’t just turn Crew’s phone on. She hit the SOS function that I had no idea she knew about, making it that much easier for Ev to find her. He sent us the coordinates and has been texting us ever since.

I should feel better. I know we could be scrambling right now with no way of finding Lara at all. If it wasn’t for her quick thinking, tracking her would have been impossible.

It doesn’t change the fact that I’m still pissed off with the woman, though. Why didn’t she hide? How could she put herself in danger like this? Did she even once think about how this would make me or Crew feel?

“Why do you look constipated?”

“Fuck you.”

Crew studies my profile before speaking again. “You’re mad at her.”

“Oh, I’m fucking furious. She’ll sacrifice everything for the people she loves, but what about her? She just keeps flinging herself into danger. I swear to God, I’m going to handcuff her to the bed when she gets home.”

“Well, you’ll get no arguments from me.”

My cell chimes, so I keep quiet while Crew reads the latest text.

“The Mayfield Farm.”

I look over at him briefly, but he’s still reading the message.

“That’s the name of the place where they took her. Or where my phone is, at least,” he mumbles before continuing. “Apparently, it’s owned by the Isaacs family and has been for the last five generations.”

“More gifted people?”

“Hold on, let me ask.” He types the question before sending it and continuing to read the previous message. “There are no cameras on or anywhere near the place that Ev can hack into, so we’ll be going in blind. He did say, though, that while he’s been researching, he had some of the others in to help. Avery spotted something.”

The phone rings before he can continue. He chuckles. “It’s Ev.” Answering, he puts it on speakerphone.

“Texting is taking too fucking long. Okay, so here is what we have so far. The Isaacs family was approached by land developers four years ago. They were offered a price for the land that was three times over the market valve.”

I whistle. “Damn, they really wanted that piece of land. Why there, though?”

“That’s what I wondered. I was even more curious to learn that the family turned the developers down. They wanted the property to stay in the Isaacs family.”

“Well, they sold out in the end. Not that I can blame them,” Crew states.

“That’s just it, they didn’t. Only, I can’t find a single trace of them. None of the kids are in school, and I can’t find anything to suggest homeschooling. The father didn’t turn up for work one day, but nobody’s been reported missing, and the property is still in their name. The bills are paid on time, but for all intents and purposes, they just up and disappeared one day.”

“People don’t just disappear. They could still be there. You never said if they were gifted. It would make sense if they were. They could have offered up their home to the Division.”

“I didn’t find anything to suggest they’re gifted, but you know, as well as I do, most people hide their gifts.” He sighs.

“Okay, let’s forget about the Isaacs for now. Why this property and not somewhere else?”

“Aside from the fact that it’s huge and isolated, it’s self-contained. There are animals for meat. They grow fruit and vegetables and even medicinal herbs, from what I found on an old website of theirs. The thing that clinched it, though, is something Greg stumbled across in a local newspaper article. The grandfather was interviewed about the area a year before he died. And during it, he mentions that he’s a prepper, like his father before him. And that under the house is a bunker.”

“A bunker, as in an underground shelter where people can live for years?”

“Yep.”

“Yeah, that would definitely make that property very attractive to the Division.”

“You said Avery spotted something?” I remind him.

“Right. The Division employs a lot of people. It’s impossible to keep track of all of them, but I do have most of their names flagged. Avery recognized a few. All of them are dead, and I’ve confirmed they weren’t onsite at the time of the bombing.”

“I don’t suppose we’re talking about natural deaths, are we?”

“In most cases, they look like accidents or suicide. If it had been only a couple, we probably wouldn’t have noticed, but…” His voice trails off as I look at Crew.

“Just how many are dead, Ev?”

“Fifteen that we’ve found so far. Interestingly, Avery says, to her knowledge, that the few dead she knew were non-gifted.”

“They knew about the gifted, though, right?”

“Oh yeah. There’s no doubt about that.”

“It sounds like a culling,” I tell them both quietly.

Crew curses.

“That’s what we were thinking too,” Ev admits.

“He’s getting rid of the non-gifted people who have knowledge of the gifted. Why now, though? Astrid already announced to the world that she’s gifted, and others have followed suit. There is no putting the rabbit back in the hat now.”

“At first, I thought the bombing had just rattled him. And he’d change locations and pick things up where he left off,” Ev says.

“But you’re thinking like a rational, sane man, and I’m not sure this guy fits the bill,” I admit.

“Lara told us about him and his gift. And after hearing this, I can’t help but feel like he’s even more dangerous than she realizes.” Crew states.

I hesitate for a moment, not wanting to break Lara’s trust, but Ev and the others need to know. If there is any anger, they’ll have time to get over it before they see her again.

“Lara’s telekinesis is her secondary gift.”

Crew whips around to look at me. His jaw ticks as he grinds his teeth, but he doesn’t stop me from explaining further.

“Her primary gift is the same as her father’s. Only she can turn her gift on and off, unlike Penn. From what she described; it makes me think of it like having dozens of neighbors with their radios on playing constantly in the background. It got to the point where Penn couldn’t hear his own radio, so he turned it down low and only listens to theirs. The kicker is he can control what they listen to now that he’s not focusing on his own radio.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that. I don’t want to feel sorry for the man, but that’s fucked up. Wait, so Lara’s an empath too?”

“Yeah, but she can shut out everyone else’s radio at will.”

“The radio analogy is killing me,” Crew complains.

“She’s an empath and a telekinetic? Jesus. I knew she was strong, but damn, color me impressed.”

I don’t say anything, and neither does Crew.

“Ah fuck. What did you guys do?”

“Let’s just say we didn’t take the news of her gift well,” I admit.

“For fuck’s sake. Why do none of you assholes ever learn? Let me guess, you accused her of manipulating your feelings for her, even though most of the time she tried to avoid you.”

I wince because he’s right. Having it said back to us just makes me feel even more stupid.

“We fucked up, we know. But we’ll fix it,” Crew says solemnly.

“I just hope you get the chance.” Ev hangs up, his ominous words floating in the air.

“Tell me she’s gonna be okay, Crew. Tell me, we’ll get the chance to make this right.”

“She’s far stronger than we’ve given her credit for. I’ll be damned if we give up on her now.”

“You’re right. I need to calm the fuck down. I swear I’m going to have a heart attack before the day is over,” I grumble.

He doesn’t mock me because I’m pretty sure he’s feeling the same way. It’s hard knowing she’s out there facing God knows what without us there.

I think back to the scene at the cemetery and frown. “Did Lara tell you she stabbed that Giles guy?”

“No, I got that from the knife wound in his throat.”

“She didn’t have enough blood on her,” I murmur before smiling. “You know what? I have a feeling our girl’s going to be fine.”

“Okay, I’m lost. Care to share with the class?”

“I think Lara used her gifts on Giles. I think she either got him to turn the knife on himself, or she used her telekinesis to stab him.”

Absolute silence fills the cab before Crew bursts out laughing.

“You’re right. We’d be fucking idiots to underestimate her. She’s a fighter, and now that she’s had a taste of freedom, she’ll fight tooth and nail to keep it.”

“Good, because once we get her back, we’re never letting her out of our sight again.”

We park the truck a mile down the road from the farm and spend the next hour doing recon.

The farm is hidden behind a line of trees, with half a dozen armed guards patrolling the perimeter.

A few other people walk around between the buildings, but otherwise, we haven’t seen much. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Lara either.

“We’re going to have to go in blind,” I say to Crew. We had been hoping Ev would come through and find blueprints and layouts of the buildings, but so far, he”s had no luck. It seems that other than the information he found online, there are no records. Even the flash drive had minimal information. The Division has gone to great lengths to keep this place a secret. The question is, why?

“Once we get past the guards, we split up. We don’t know if she’s in the main house or one of the barns. We’re going to have to try and blend in a little, see if we can get a feel for what’s going on there. We’re trained for this shit, and those people seem like regular Joes.”

“Regular Joes that might be able to turn our brains to jelly with a flick of their wrist,” Crew reminds me. Though they might not be soldiers, it doesn’t mean they don’t know how to kill.

“Good point. Alright, we stick together.” I look down at my watch. “We have about an hour until it gets dark; we’ll wait until then.” It’s too open to go in now, even with so few people. We don’t exactly blend in. Plus, tight-knit crews will all know each other.

“We’ll take Rufio with us. He’ll scent Lara, no problem.”

“Keep him with you. I don’t trust those assholes not to shoot him, and Lara would be devastated if he got hurt,” I warn him.

“Agreed. We go in armed. If we’re spotted, we won’t get a second chance. Normally, I’d say if they’re unarmed, shoot to injure, but everyone here could have a dangerous gift, and we wouldn’t know until we’re dead.” I nod at that. Dead would not be good.

“We don’t know how many people are here willingly,” he continues. “So try to avoid it if possible. Incapacitating them, though, won’t be enough. We’ll need to, at the very least, knock them out so they can’t use their gifts at all. Our aim is to retrieve Lara. That’s it. I know she wants her father’s head on a platter, but she’s too soft-hearted. I don’t think she’ll be able to kill him, and that’s not because I believe she’s weak. It’s because she feels remorse. And that’s what separates him from her.”

I blow out a deep breath. “I’ll message Ev, get him to send someone with the chopper now that I know we’re not facing an army. Once we have Lara, I want to put as many miles between us and this place as possible.”

“Agreed. We can arrange to have the truck picked up later.” Crew nods, so that’s what we do.

While we wait, we eat the energy bars from our backpacks and drink some water. It’s not the most appetizing dinner, but we’ve had worse. Right now, all I’m concerned about is keeping our energy levels up so we don’t make mistakes.

“Did Lara take any weapons with her?” I ask.

“No, but like you said, she doesn’t need one. Besides, she might have assumed they’d search her. It’s what we’d do if we were grabbing a high-profile target hell-bent on escape.”

“We know what we’re doing, though, for some reason, this all screams amateur hour.”

“Don’t be so sure about that. It could all be an act to draw us out. Getting overly cocky will be our downfall.”

Once the sun’s set and we’re dressed in dark clothes that will help us blend into the night, we begin arming ourselves while Rufio watches on from inside the truck.

Crew shoves a gun into the holster at his back before looking at me. “You ready?”

Before I can answer, my phone chimes.

I look down at the message and see that it’s from Greg and smirk.

Look behind you.

I spin around and search the darkness just as I see a figure move towards us.

“Thought I better warn you. Getting shot is such a ball ache,” he calls, making Crew snort.

“What the fuck are you doing here? You shouldn”t be here. You”re still healing.”

”Fuck you. I”m exactly where I”m supposed to be. That girl is just as much mine as she is yours.” I don’t say anything to that because he’s right. Penn may be Lara’s father by blood, but Greg is her dad in every other way.

“Greg, good to see you, man.” Crew greets him.

“You too. Now, you find her yet?”

“No, but Ev says the SOS came from inside. If she’s there, Rufio will find her.”

Greg frowns. “Rufio?”

I let Rufio out of the back of the truck, and he runs over to Greg, who pats him.

“Ah, the dog. Welcome to the team, buddy.” And with that, Greg just gained a new friend.

“Right, well, the chopper is a twenty-minute run from here. I couldn’t risk putting her down any closer. When we get Lara out, head back to the truck. We don’t know what state she’ll be in, so it’ll be easier to drive over.

I grit my teeth at Greg’s words, but I know he’s right. We have no clue what those assholes could have done to her.

“Alright, I’m done waiting. Let’s go get our girl.”