Page 28 of Empowereds

27

T he next morning, Enzo woke before Charity. He lay where he was for quite some time, not wanting to disturb her. He’d gotten some sleep before the soldiers found them, but she’d been up late.

He’d planned on telling her that he loved her only if she decided she wanted a future with him, if she agreed to stay in the city. Instead, he’d spilled everything while held at gunpoint by a group of soldiers.

He should’ve known nothing would ever go as planned with Charity.

But she’d said she loved him too. She loved him even though she knew who he really was. So they would find a way to make things work. He just didn’t know what that would entail. He finally got out of bed and flipped the lamp on its lowest setting. Charity squinted at him, turned on her side, and pulled the covers over her face. That was fine. He would let her sleep as long as she could.

He showered and ate some of their provisions for breakfast, all the while trying to come up with a plan. If Charity were anyone else, it would be easy. She could move into his apartment, meet his friends and family, and start acclimatizing to city life.

But as things stood, he wasn’t sure how to protect her, let alone explain her to his superiors. He’d been thinking of different options all yesterday and hadn’t liked any of them.

If the authorities knew her identity—and Schmitt had her picture—they’d question her. They might even arrest her. Harboring an Empowered was illegal, and Charity couldn’t claim she hadn’t known what her father was.

But hiding her would be hard. Maybe impossible now that the soldiers had picked them up. If Enzo’s superiors doubted anything he told them, they’d give him truth serum. And when they found out he’d not only withheld information about Ben Huntington but had married his daughter and tried to keep her a secret, he’d risk being arrested as well.

If Enzo came clean about everything, he might be able to convince Schmitt that Ben was harmless. His psychic abilities centered on helping his family, not coming up with classified passwords or codes to destroy satellites. Ben wasn’t a threat as long as no one else knew about his abilities. Enzo and Schmitt could agree not to tell anyone and drop the matter. Or perhaps they could strike a deal with Ben to let him live peacefully under government surveillance.

Maybe coming clean was the best option. In all likelihood, the government would never catch Ben, and Enzo’s biggest obstacle would be getting clemency for Charity for not reporting her father to the government. What leverage could he use to get Schmitt to pardon her?

The door swung open, letting in a stream of early morning light. Shreeve stood on the ramp outside. His gaze fell on Charity cocooned under the blankets, still sleeping, and he motioned for Enzo to step outside.

Once Enzo was on the other side of the door, Shreeve shut and locked it. “HQ ran a check on you and found out you’re missing and presumed dead. Everything else about you is classified. We asked HQ to tell the special ops office we located you.”

“Thanks.” Enzo tried to sound grateful instead of nervous. Had they said anything about finding his wife too? Probably.

“A call from Special Ops just came through. They want to talk to you.” Shreeve headed down the ramp, clearly expecting Enzo to follow. “You must be someone important. Makes me glad I didn’t shoot you last night.”

“You and me both.” Enzo cast a glance back at the door, then went with Shreeve. He didn’t have another choice.

The two weaved their way through the rows of green tents. Shreeve finally led him into one of the smaller ones. It was dimly lit, smelled of coffee, and the faint thrumming of a generator filled the air. A desk overflowing with tech equipment stood in the back. Several chairs surrounded the desk, but only one tech officer sat inside.

He handed Enzo the sort of headset used for classified calls. It had secure earpieces, and the covered mouthpiece would keep anything he said from being heard.

“They’re on the line now, Officer Vasquez,” the man said. He sat in an adjacent chair and busied himself talking to Shreeve.

Enzo put on the headset. “Hello?”

“I can’t believe you’re still alive.” Schmitt himself was calling. “I thought for sure we’d find you in that cabin with your throat slit and the girl long gone.”

“You know about the cabin?”

“We know it all. We captured Ben Huntington yesterday and used truth serum on him.”

Enzo’s stomach dropped. How was he going to break the news to Charity that her parents had been captured?

“Even for an Empowered,” Schmitt went on, “the man is crazy. I don’t know what he hoped to accomplish by making you marry his daughter. Even he couldn’t tell me. She’s still locked up, isn’t she?”

“Yes, but Charity didn’t hurt me. She immediately released me, and after I left and raiders attacked me, she let me back in. We only stayed at the cabin as long as we did because it wasn’t safe to leave beforehand. I was never in any danger from her.”

“You don’t know how glad I am the military found you in one piece. And that’s only partially because your mother has called my office every day to see if there’s been any news about you.”

“Now you can tell her yes.”

“I’ve instructed the unit to lend you a vehicle and any assistance you need to bring Charity in. You can leave today.”

Bring Charity in. Those words sounded ominous. “She can’t tell you anything that her father hasn’t already. If you’ve questioned him, you must realize he’s never broken any laws or hurt anyone.”

“Except when he kidnapped one of my officers.”

Enzo tried to make his point another way. “You asked him what his core goal is, didn’t you?”

“It’s to keep his family safe. I’ve got to say, I never thought I’d see a psychic who didn’t want some sort of wealth or power. He’s an odd one in many ways.”

“Right. So you know he’s not a threat.”

“They’re all threats, but this one can help us.”

Enzo relaxed a bit. The government would be reasonable and cut a deal to let Ben live. “He’s willing to work with us? Good. I’d hoped as much.”

“He hasn’t agreed yet, but he will once we have his daughter.”

That made sense. Ben wanted to make sure Charity was safe. “Tell him she’s fine, just like he knew she’d be. She’ll be happy to see her parents again.”

“We only have Ben. We tracked him and his wife driving toward the breakaway states, but when we closed in on him, he was alone. We stupidly didn’t bother to keep searching for Maretta. We didn’t know then that we’d need his family.”

A prick of warning went up Enzo’s back. “What do you mean, you need his family?”

Schmitt huffed. “Haven’t you thought through the implications of a psychic whose main goal is to protect his family?”

“Yes, and he wouldn’t pose any danger unless a terrorist got hold of someone in his family and threatened them. To protect them, Ben’s visions might provide him with information they want.”

“Exactly.” Schmitt’s voice turned soothing. “We can’t allow that to happen. So we need his family. For their own protection.”

Typical government thinking. They assumed they could do a better job of keeping Ben’s family safe. “If you let him go with his family, he should be able to keep any terrorists from capturing them. That’s the whole point of his visions.”

“Maybe he can. Maybe he can’t. I, for one, don’t want to take that chance. After all, we managed to capture Ben.”

“You captured him because he was protecting his wife. He knew you wouldn’t keep searching once you had him, and she’d get away.”

Schmitt’s voice turned sharp. “It’s not your job to argue with me, Vazquez. We need the daughter.” A pause. His tone softened. “Don’t worry. We’ll take good care of her. It’s for her own protection.”

A cold chill ran through Enzo. If the government actually intended to keep Ben’s family safe, his visions would have told him so. He wouldn’t have sacrificed himself for his wife’s freedom if he knew the government was going to protect them. Ben would willingly tell Schmitt how to find his family so they could all be together and safe.

Terrorists weren’t the ones who wanted to threaten the Huntingtons to get information from Ben. It was his own government.

And Enzo’s boss had just ordered him to bring Charity in.

Well, that wasn’t going to happen.

Turned out, Enzo hadn’t considered all the options before. He’d never considered running. Now it seemed the only choice left.

“I’m sorry for speaking out of line,” Enzo said. He’d had a lot of practice apologizing to superiors when he didn’t mean it. The sentence sounded sincere. “I know you have the country’s best interests in mind.”

And Schmitt probably did. He thought that locking Charity up and starving her, or torturing her, or whatever he planned, was for the best. The ends justified the means, after all.

Enzo shifted in his seat and cast a glance at Shreeve and the tech officer. They were still deep in conversation and not paying attention to him. “I’ll work out our travel arrangements with the unit. Mostly they have tanks and some armored trucks that need a few repairs, but they said they could have a vehicle fueled and ready in three hours. Are you holding Ben in the Federal Detention Building? Is that where you want me to take Charity? Or should I bring her to your office?”

“Let me know when you’re approaching the city. I’ll give you details then.”

Schmitt gave him a couple more instructions, then ended the call.

Enzo took off the headset, handed it to the tech officer, and turned to Shreeve. “I understand you’re lending us one of your vehicles for our trip back to the city.”

“Yes,” Shreeve said. “We’re also prepared to send another truck to escort you, and an additional soldier to ride with you.”

“No need for that. I’m a pretty good shot.” Enzo added a smile. “Which is why I’m glad I didn’t shoot you last night.”

Shreeve laughed appreciatively. “If you’re sure.”

Enzo sauntered toward the tent door. “You need your vehicles and men here to fight. But I want to leave immediately. That’s not a problem, is it?”

“No problem,” Shreeve said.

Good. They could be far away before Schmitt started to wonder why Enzo hadn’t called.