Chapter 15
Chapter fifteen
Raegan
The size of the group working on the GE attack plan has nearly doubled. We could all fit in one of the conference rooms, but for security and privacy's sake, Aiden agreed to have us meet in the Loft.
As soon as we’d dropped Alice off in her apartment, we reported to Aiden about the information she’d shared. We almost started planning then and there until a few of us started yawning, and he decided to postpone it until this morning, when we would all be more alert.
Now the Loft is a full house with Dane and Kellan sitting at the dining table, Aiden and Cibrina standing in front of the television where we can all see them, and Elias, Portia, Reid, Tinsley, Jackson, and I sitting on the U-shaped couch.
I’m leaning back against Jack’s side with his arm wrapped around my front as he teases small circles across my skin.
Tinsley is cuddled against Reid near one of the couch arms, while Elias is relaxed into the cushions near the opposite end of the couch with one arm out and another in his lap. Portia sits cross-legged between us.
Aiden begins, “With the last board members, we need to plan our attack. There’s a week until Charles’s deadline for the Guild, but I want to move as quickly as we can before that.”
Portia rocks forward. “We have some news, too.” She looks expectantly at Elias, who raises a brow. Was it something he hadn’t planned to share?
With all our attention on him now, he sighs.
“There have been rumors circulating in the gifted trafficking circles we’ve been.
.. monitoring.” Portia slides me a look that confirms it’s one of the ones nearby they’re trying to take down.
“One of the big money-makers for them is throwing a bunch of gifted into a locked down area—a cage, an arena, you name it—and betting on the one to survive. Use of gifts is expected, and lack of participation will get you killed within the first few minutes.” Disgusted, he describes the cruel and inhumane event.
“There’s a heavy buy-in, so only the wealthiest of people or other traffickers are usually in attendance.
And sometimes there’s a special guest. A VIP.
” He pauses, and dread pools in my gut. “It sounds like there’s going to be a very big event in one week.
And this time, the very special VIP is actually hosting all the others. ”
“While that all sounds terrible, what’s it got to do with us?” Kellan quips.
Portia shrugs one shoulder. “We just thought the timing was odd being the same as the Guild’s deadline with the GE Prez.”
Elias elaborates further. “There are a few things different with these rumors than the normal ones. The date, the secretive VIP, the VIP hosting, and the word that this event is going to be bigger than the rest. It’s a lot of hype that’s sure to draw more than the usual crowd.”
“I’ll bet some board members participate in shit like that,” Dane snarks.
“Are you trying to insinuate that our Guild members might be the planned participants of this upcoming event?” Aiden inquires.
Elias dips his chin. “It crossed my mind.”
Kellan and Dane both curse. The former speaks up first. “We’d better take them down first, then.”
Dane nods. “Give me an hour and I’ll have every house address, home security plan, and residents for the last two board members. It might take more time to figure out their gifts. And we’re still missing the gifts for four members, if they have any.”
“Joe, the congressman and board elect member I killed, didn’t have a gift,” I remind the others.
“He was an exception,” Reid states, matter of fact.
“Charles hates anyone who’s non-gifted. The fact that he made it to an elect status means he must have given Charles something he couldn’t have gotten elsewhere.
But I’m sure my father would have had him killed long before he ever made it to officially joining the board. ”
Aiden continues with the plan. “We’ll have to take the risk of facing them without that knowledge.
” His gaze swings toward Kell at the table.
“We’ll decide on the ten strike teams and match them to one board member per team based on their strengths and the member’s weaknesses.
” Kellan nods, and Aiden resumes regarding the rest of the room.
“The teams will attack their assigned board member simultaneously. I want them to train together over the next two days.”
“These guys are all over the country. How is everyone getting to their assigned target?” Dane asks.
“Your report showed a majority within a twelve-hour drive. The teams with those members will drive. Reid’s team can teleport—”
Portia excitedly throws her hand up. “Oh! We can fly and drop off the others on our way to ours. Elias has his own plane.”
Aiden’s expression turns to stone.
I touch her knee to get her attention. “You’re sure? Even just dropping the others off would be a huge help. You don’t have to volunteer to take a board member, too.”
She grabs my hand and pulls it up between us. “We’ve got a lot of strong people on our team too, remember? We’re helping you end this, Rae.”
Elias angles his head, his eyes focused on Aiden when he muses aloud, “Last night you mentioned attacking these people in their sleep.” There’s a slight edge to his tone that hints at disapproval of Aiden’s method. “Why undergo so much effort in research and training if that’s your plan?”
Aiden’s dark stare levels with Elias’s pale one.
If Elias hadn’t been in the office with Aiden last night, he wouldn’t be here now.
As soon as he heard what information we’d gotten from Alice, he insisted that he and Portia be included in the plans.
They offered their resources to assist, and surprisingly, Aiden didn’t refuse.
We’re at the point now where we’ll do anything to win, even if it means putting aside differences to accept help from outside the Guild’s resources.
Jackson releases a dark chuckle that sends shivers down my spine. “You underestimate them.”
Elias turns his gaze to Jack. “I disagree. I have experience with Gifted Enterprise and am well aware of their abilities. As well as their numbers.”
This time, Aiden replies, “Then you should understand that we have to be prepared regardless of the plan. And if you’re too squeamish to get the job done, then you’re free to leave.
This isn’t a fight where we wait until the enemy is ready before we attack.
This is a war. Every board member has blood on their hands for what’s been done to gifted and ungifted alike.
They kill without conscience, brainwash and torture for their gain, and imprison others for their research.
Leaving even one alive risks the resurrection of GE after Charles’s death. ”
“It’s also going to be a huge blow to his ego and operations when his board is gone,” Reid tags in.
Dane scoffs. “Maybe the smiling psycho will finally make some mistakes.”
Aiden nods in agreement. “Every target will have an invisible spy with them—one of Harvey’s siblings. The teams will bring them back to the Tower. Our team and Reid’s team will meet back here, and after confirmation that the entire board is dead, we’ll go after the GE president.”
“I’ll be on standby here with the rest of the Guild members should we need to evacuate,” Cibrina chimes in. If we fail or we don’t act soon enough, the Tower is the first place Charles will strike to retaliate.
“What is the plan for Charles?” Reid questions.
“We have a few ideas,” Cibrina answers, and Dane scoffs, running his hand through his blond hair.
“All of them have weaknesses. The guy’s too powerful with all his gifts. Even if we try something, one of his gifts will somehow get him out of it.”
Reid nods. “He curated the gifts he has for that reason. At least until he finds immortality.”
“Wait. You said all his gifts. He has more than one?” Portia asks, confused. “How is that possible?”
“He can copy gifts from people with the same blood type as him. By licking it,” I add with distaste, and her face scrunches with disgust. “So far, he can teleport, put people to sleep through touch, use telekinesis, and he copied Kell’s gift.”
“You forgot frequency manipulation,” Reid adds.
“Oh, right. I haven’t seen him use that one yet.”
“It’s not anything you can see.”
“What does it do?” I prompt, and Tinsley squirms closer to Reid. A bad memory?
“The simplest usage is to block or manipulate communications.” Okay. That’s not... terrible compared to his other abilities.
Reid goes on, “He can also use it to alter the speed of an object or person. Usually, he uses it on himself. He hasn’t mastered using it on more than one thing at a time.
Or maybe that’s one of the copy’s flaws.
But the reason I’ve never been able to beat him is that he’s found a way to use frequency to affect my gift.
He can block spatial travel, like mine and Bea’s.
It affects him too, but he has enough other gifts to still put me at a disadvantage.
I also believe it’s a combination of this gift and Dane’s that enables the gift-blocking jewelry to work,” he finishes.
Superpowered freak.
“Sausage and rice!” Portia exclaims, and everyone pauses.
It takes me a second before it clicks. “Did you mean cheese and rice?”
She frowns. “No. I meant what I said.”
Dane chimes in, “It’s cheese and rice because it sounds like Jesus Christ.”
“No, it doesn’t,” she counters, chest puffed in her confidence. “And I really like sausage.”
Dane spews orange juice across the table and chokes on the rest. Kellan whoops with laughter and slams his fist on the table, making the dishes rattle.
I check on Elias, who’s sitting motionless on the couch with a blank expression.
I’m sure he heard her, but it looks like his mind has chosen to go elsewhere rather than join or react to the conversation.
Cibrina hides a smile behind her hand while Aiden frowns.
“What am I missing?” Tinsley murmurs to Reid.
He drops his chin to whisper in her ear.
She slaps both hands over her mouth, and her face heats from zero to one hundred in three seconds until she’s as bright as a firetruck.
I’m waiting for the steam to spout from her ears with how red she’s become, and when Reid withdraws with a smirk, she has nothing further to add to the conversation.
“As Cibrina was saying,” Aiden continues, his tone stern to get everyone back on task.
“We have a few ideas. The best-case scenario would be getting him to purge one of his gifts for a dud, but that involves risking letting him copy someone’s gift.
” He lifts his hand, revealing the cuffs we’d last used on Thorne before he killed Gordon.
“We also have these, but with his gifts of teleportation and telekinesis, getting close enough to get them on will be difficult.”
“It’ll be easier for me to grab him,” Dane offers, but Kellan snorts and speaks up.
“So he can teleport away with you? How did that work out last time?”
“If you remember anything at all, he couldn’t teleport because of my gift. He had to drag me through a portal,” Dane argues.
“Bea is another problem if she’s around,” I mutter. She’s a backup escape route for Charles, and worse, her portals tend to appear with legions of GE agents pouring through them.
“I’ve got her,” Reid says. “She escaped on me at Royce’s place, but I think I know how to get to her now. Leave her to me.”
“What is the plan if you’re unable to block his gifts?” Elias inquires.
“Crush him,” I volunteer. “If he’s too crushed to move, then his body won’t regenerate. And if it knocks him out, then we can kill him.”
There are still flaws in that plan and too many what-ifs, but it’s the best we have at this point. Pin him down, block his gifts with the cuffs or Dane, then kill him.
Hopefully, it will be enough.