He smiled and nodded, but his thoughts saddened me. 'Says I should speak up, but tried that. Told her my feelings, and she rejected me. No point.'
He'd always been so sweet to me; I wished it could've gone differently between us. Maybe if he'd spoken up sooner—before Drake and the baby—but now it was too late. Even if I never trusted Drake again, I doubted I could ever love someone else.
I dug deeper into his mind and saw the place where his grief lived, where he mourned the loss of his best friend. He'd never expressed the depth of his pain—not to me, not to anyone. "I'm sorry about Kyle. I didn't know him well, but he seemed like a great friend."
"He was. He always made me laugh." His voice thickened. "I get it, you know? What it's like for you with Drake gone. It's almost the same for me, in a way."
True. We'd both lost someone close to us. But Drake was still alive, and we had a baby together. I thought about Susie's words. Maybe I could find a way to forgive him, to let him redeem himself. He hadn't died like Kyle. We could still make things right.
"I miss him so much," I admitted. "I never thought he'd leave. I thought we'd raise our baby together. And Ana, I have no idea who took her. No one remembers. What do I do now?"
Darren put his arm around me, and I didn't pull away. "It'll be okay. You have people here who care for you."
Maybe. No one cared about Ana the way I did, except maybe Drake. He should have been the one holding me, the one I shared my heart with.
But he still hadn't shown up. So where did that leave me?
***
Out of leads and out of time, I searched my phone for Agent Morrison's number. Luke and Lucy would be with him, and maybe they had information that could help. The call went straight to voicemail, and I left an urgent message begging him to get back to me immediately. I then called Agent Simmons.
She answered on the third ring. "Agent Simmons here."
"Hi, this is Sam. Sam Smith. We met the night of the Rent-A-Kid escape."
"Sam. The mind reader, right?"
"Yes. I'm calling to see if you've heard from Luke or Lucy. My baby's been kidnapped, and I need to know where Steele is keeping all the young kids and what the status is on the mission."
Her silence stretched out, punctuated only by her irregular breathing. She spoke, her voice hesitant. "Sam, I'm sorry to tell you, but there was an accident. Their plane went down on an island in the Pacific. They survived the crash, but in the course of rescue operations, we lost them again. We're not sure if they're still alive."
I nearly dropped the phone. This couldn't be happening. First my baby, now my best friends? "I want in on the mission. Tell me where to meet you."
"It's not that simple, Sam. We'd have to train you, teach you the protocols. Luke and Lucy prepared for this. We can't bring a civilian in at the last minute. It's a danger to both you and my team."
"Just tell me where the base is, then. Where are they keeping the kids? He had to have taken Ana there."
"No doubt you're right, but I can't release that information to you. I'm sorry. I'll call you if we hear more."
"But—"
She hung up on me.
I seethed and ground my teeth in anger, resolving to connect to Ana and Tommy and all of those other kids. I would make my powers work. I would find them, and I would rescue them, with or without IPI.
Chapter 96 – Lucy
The day dawned bright and cheerful for Lucy, who felt well-rested and optimistic for the first time in a long time. She pulled the braid out of her hair, brushed it out as best she could, and re-braided it down her back. Short hair wouldn't have been so difficult, but she wasn't about to hack off her hair out here. She'd wait until they got home, and she could go to a real stylist.
After grooming, she walked to their campfire and found Hunter lost in thought. "Good morning."
He grinned and winked. "Good morning, Lucy."
Luke popped from behind a bush, wrapped his arms around her and swung her around. "Happy birthday, Sis!"
She laughed at his antics, then frowned. "What? It can't be."
He gave one last rib-cracking squeeze, then let go and counted on his hands like a grade-schooler. "Yep. It's the first, second, third, fourth day of June. We are now, officially, adults."
Lucy stood, stunned. How had she lost track of that much time? "No way."
"Way. At least, if my phone's correct. I keep checking it from time to time to see if there's a signal." He pulled it out and showed her the date: June 4.
The days had blurred by, even before they left for this assignment. Between setting up the new school, nursing the injured back to health and coordinating with IPI to initiate this mission—which had taken forever—she'd long ago forgotten about her birthday. And of course, some time had gone missing here in the valley, like when the lizard nearly killed her, and she'd passed out for days.
"Guess you're right, Bro. Happy birthday."
Lucy squeezed her twin tight, and he whispered in her ear. "I'm sorry for last night. I was a jackass. Forgive me?"
She would have forgiven him for anything, just to have happy Luke back. "Of course. Love you, Bro."