Page 13 of Empowereds

13

E nzo marched down a corn row, berating himself. What had he been thinking? The most important part of going undercover was having a plan and sticking with it. His plan for the last five days had been to gain Milo’s trust and get whatever information he needed from him. If Enzo couldn’t do that, he’d work on Zia. Charity should be his last option.

In order to bring criminals in, especially Empowereds, an officer had to keep emotionally distant from them. Once you started sympathizing with the criminals, you made mistakes and made exceptions. You forgot the importance of your mission. Charity had already tangled up his sympathy too much. Her and her innocent blue eyes.

It didn’t matter that the Empowereds here were lying low and hadn’t been caught breaking the law yet. They always broke it eventually, and they always hurt innocent people in the process. Absolute power corrupted absolutely.

Besides, the Huntingtons were not what they seemed. They had secrets, some plan that simmered just below the surface. Even if Enzo hadn’t learned concerning details about the Huntington men from the other harvesters, he would’ve still sensed they had a hidden agenda. It was there in the knowing looks they sent one another, in the careful way they chose their words, in actions that didn’t quite make sense.

The other workers had told Enzo that although Ben was a successful co-op leader, he never bought anything for himself. His money went somewhere, but not into machinery that would make the co-op’s job easier—which showed Ben didn’t plan on his family staying harvesters for much longer.

Also concerning were the people who disappeared. The best, most responsible workers had a tendency to suddenly leave the co-op. That wouldn’t normally raise red flags, except that after they left, their phone numbers never worked. No one heard from them again. They were either afraid to have contact with anyone from their old co-op or something unfortunate had happened to them.

It was more proof, if Enzo had needed it, that normal people would always be in danger as long as Empowereds roamed around. So he’d made the logical choice to concentrate on Milo and ignore Charity. Charity wasn’t an Empowered. She didn’t have their reckless confidence or disregard for life.

But when Enzo had seen her dancing, lithe and beautiful as a mythical fairy, his plan had pivoted. He’d decided to dance with her in order to gain her trust. If he established that she could touch him without fear, she’d be more likely to do it again when he actually had truth serum with him. She might not be an Empowered, but she knew whether her family members were.

He’d made mistakes right off. When she first refused to take his hand, he said, “Why would I be wandering around an empty cornfield with truth serum on my hands?” Classic avoidance. The type of statement guilty people made. Most people would’ve said, “Of course, I don’t have truth serum. Where would I get that?”

Enzo hadn’t asked that question because he hadn’t wanted her to consider why he might have serum or where he’d get it from. Too implicating.

She hadn’t noticed anything amiss with his answer, and he’d thought his secrets were safe. Then, like some sort of fortune teller from the old stories, she’d rattled off a list of qualities about him. All of them were correct except the one about him not holding grudges. He held them to a fault. Enzo wouldn’t mind taking Milo in at all.

The night had darkened to the point that Enzo needed to increase his flashlight beam. He couldn’t afford to do something foolish like tripping on the uneven ground and injuring himself. He’d already done enough foolish things for the night.

He hadn’t meant to kiss Charity, but once her lips had been on his, for some unfathomable reason, he hadn’t been able to stop kissing her. Well, perhaps his actions weren’t exactly unfathomable. Charity had many qualities that made her kissable. A face like an angel, soft inviting lips, and those long legs which curved into a perfect waist.

She’d been so eager and so obviously inexperienced. Kissing her had awakened some long-dead part of him. He’d wanted to show her with every caress how it was done. He’d wanted to do things that would’ve definitely made her brothers hurt him. He’d only pulled away because he knew his emotions were getting too involved. He cared too much about her. That could only lead to trouble.

Ending the kiss like he’d done was also a mistake. If he’d been thinking of his mission, he would still be back there kissing her. Once he had that sort of relationship with her, using truth serum on her would be easy. Instead, he’d abruptly broken things off and warned her away.

That had probably been his sense of integrity rearing up when it shouldn’t. A part of him had been compelled to give her fair warning. Well, now he had.

The wind rustled through the corn making the stalks lean and sway. Shadows flicked ominously in the row.

Regardless of anything else, Enzo had to put his country first, which meant he ought to try and repair things with Charity. Under other circumstances, he wouldn’t be averse to kissing her again. But he’d never been the sort who took advantage of women, and that’s what this felt like.

Whatever he did, he’d have to be more vigilant around her. She’d been looking at him with stars in her eyes tonight, but she was more observant than he’d realized and might notice something was off.

A sort of weariness that felt too much like regret washed over him. The sooner he finished this mission and got away from her the better. He didn’t want to get any more entangled than he already was. He stopped, checked to make sure no bobbing flashlight indicated that Charity was nearby, and sent a message to headquarters.

I’m still waiting for supplies and instructions. You might want to give them to me sooner rather than later .