Divided

by Alycia Linwood

  "Great!" I was just about to say goodbye to him when I remembered something else. "Did they deactivate your tracker?"

  "Yeah. They took it out actually. It turned out it was in my shoulder, and it was small. But something about it prevents the techs from figuring out how old it is. I don't remember when I got the tiny scar because it's barely visible. It could have been inserted when your father caught me. I wasn't conscious all of the time, so I can't tell."

  "My father didn't know where we were." He'd have sent someone to kill Adrian and made it look like an accident.

  "Maybe we deactivated the tracker when we exchanged elements in the lab. Your father might have believed the tracker was unusable, so he forgot about it. When we exchanged our elements for the second time, the tracker could have reactivated and Alan noticed it because he was in charge of finding us. He probably didn't tell your father about the tracker because he had his own plans."

  "Well, that's one option." Although my father's need for the tracker when Adrian was in the lab didn't make any sense. "Did my father think you could run away?"

  "It could have been for a test he planned to do with me. Sometimes scientists... " Adrian went quiet and I held my breath while I waited for him to continue. Only he didn't.

  "Sometimes scientists what?" I pressed.

  "Nothing. It's a long story."

  "Ok, we'll talk about it some other time." I hated it when he dropped such an interesting piece of information and then didn't want to tell me everything about it, but I understood that maybe it was difficult for him to talk about the time he had spent in the lab. "You talk to Paula, and I'll wait for Lily's men to come pick me up."

  "I'll send you a message if Paula tells me something important, but she'll probably want to check the theories with others."

  "Yeah, sure. See you later." I ended the call, willing the time to go faster. Sitting in the office was completely pointless, but Lily insisted the staff should see me working. Oh, well. I flopped into my chair and closed my eyes. Did napping count as working? I sure hoped it did.

  Someone knocked on the door and my eyes flew open. No one had fixed the locks on the door after they were destroyed in the shooting, so everyone could come in without me unlocking the door with my element first. I straightened in my chair, checking if everything was in order. "Come in."

  An elderly woman peered inside, a smile spread on her lips. Closing the door behind her, she looked around the office and settled herself in the chair opposite to me. Her long white hair and blue eyes were familiar, and I realized it was my vice president, Cassandra.

  "I remember you," she said, folding her arms in her lap. "You're Richard's daughter. I'm sorry I haven't come earlier to congratulate you, but no one informed me you became the president. Congratulations!" The expression on her face was identical to the one your favorite grandma would give you.

  "Thank you." She was the first one to congratulate me and it was kind of awkward. I was actually surprised the old woman remembered me. "I should have sent someone to tell you, but I was busy with everything. I'm sorry."

  "Oh, that's fine." She eyed the stack of papers on my desk. "I just wanted to offer you my help."

  I was about to tell her I didn't need anything, when an idea sprung into my mind. "You were one of the scientists working on magic disease, weren't you?"

  "Yes, I was." The smile faded from her face, her eyes wary.

  "Did you discover anything intriguing?" I couldn't ask her anything directly, so I hoped she would think I was only trying to make small talk.

  "Oh, we did." Her eyes got that far-off look that told me she was remembering the days when she was a scientist. "But I'm not supposed to talk about it."

  "Why not? You weren't doing anything illegal." I twirled a lock of my hair around my finger.

  Cassandra looked confused. "I.. I am not sure. Sometimes I have trouble recalling the past events."

  "Well, it doesn't matter." I smiled halfheartedly. "I'm sure our scientists will find a way to beat magic disease."

  "But that's not what they..." She clamped her mouth shut as if she had said something she wasn't supposed to.

  "Yeah, most of the scientists are busy researching more important things." The Element Preservers was supposed to take care of both elemental and disease business, but the organization's main goal had always been to propagate pure elements rather than cure the disease. I lowered my voice, giving Cassandra a conspiratorial look as if I were letting her in on a secret. "But we can't let the world know we're researching something else. The world would start a war for energy if they knew the truth. Not to mention the carriers would be upset that we weren't paying full attention to them."

  "Of course," she said uneasily.

  "That doesn't mean we have completely forgotten the disease." I waited for her reaction, but this time her face was blank when she met my gaze.

  "I should probably go. I don't want to bother you. If there is anything I can do..." She started to get up, and I lifted my hand to stop her.

  "There is one thing."

  "Yes?" Cassandra looked eager to do something. I could bet my father didn't really have any serious tasks for her.

  "I want you to oversee the work of a small group of scientists researching the disease." If Cassandra had a chance to see Lily's scientists and their work, maybe she'd spill out some interesting tidbits from her old researches. Hell, maybe she'd even come up with a new perspective. I doubted she would stay quiet if she knew something. She had to feel relaxed and safe, so I couldn't outright ask her to help with the research itself because that would awaken suspicions.

  "I'd be honored," she exclaimed, looking genuinely happy for the first time.

  "Great." I made a mental note to tell Lily to gather some of her scientists and set up a laboratory somewhere in the city. It was of utmost importance that Cassandra didn't find out that the scientists didn't belong to the Element Preservers. "I'll send someone with the details when I finish negotiation with the lab."

  "Thank you." Cassandra headed for the door. As I watched her leave, I couldn't help but feel like I had finally accomplished something on that lame job of mine.

  Chapter 22

  It didn't take a long time until rogue magic disease carriers or, how media liked to call them, terrorists contacted me and demanded me to meet them outside the city. According to the maps, they invited me to the middle of nowhere, but their hiding place had to be somewhere on or under the vast land. They wouldn't exactly put a big X in the middle of the map and write, 'Terrorists here! Come and get us'.

  "Ria, Brad and Airel will go with you as your guards," Lily said, crossing off a couple of things on her notepad. "Marco and Sandra will be the sacrifices you're supposed to hand over to the carriers."

  I glanced at the four people getting ready in the corner of the room. The guards were wearing the usual black clothes and the supposed sacrifices were dressed in casual clothes. However, all of them had weapons hidden somewhere because we weren't planning to hand over anyone to the terrorists. "Are you sure the carriers don't have weapon detectors?"

  "We'll try to mess up their signal if they have. Don't worry about that. We have everything covered." She patted my shoulder and walked away, giving orders to the people. I made a few tentative steps, stretching out my skintight black suit which was supposed to protect me from elemental attacks and bullets. I wasn't sure how something that looked so flimsy could protect me, but Lily insisted it could, so I trusted her.

  "You look good," Adrian said, carrying a silver box in his hands. "You should wear this more often. It makes your curves look absolutely delicious." He made a show of licking his lips.

  "Shut up." I rolled my eyes, suddenly self-aware, but I couldn't see the coat I was supposed to be wearing over the suit anywhere near me. Lily's techs were probably working on it to include some sort of eavesdropping devices or trackers. They'd wanted to put those in my suit, but I didn't want to go around in my underwear if the terrorists figured ou
t I was bugged. At least the coat would be easy to take off.

  "It was a compliment, Ria. You should thank me." He put the box on the table and pulled me into his arms, his hands roaming down my back until he cupped my ass. My lips found his, and I plunged my tongue into his mouth, deepening our kiss until we were both breathless.

  "Is this good enough for you?" A smile tugged at my lips as I stepped back, studying him under my lowered lashes.

  "I suppose it is... for now." His voice was full of dark promise and suddenly I didn't want to go anywhere, especially not to a mission in which I could die.

  "What's this?" I pointed to the box to push away the naughty thoughts from my mind.

  "This is a gift for you." Adrian pressed two latches on the side of the box and it opened with a click. I peeked inside and saw two identical guns, elegant and sleek. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

  My throat constricted as he held them out to me. The faces of the guards I'd killed, the woman frozen in ice, the dying woman whose element I'd taken... All these images played out through my mind in quick succession. Adrian must have seen something in my face because he put the guns back into the box.

  "The people you're going to face won't hesitate to kill you." He placed his hand on my cheek, his gray-blue eyes boring into mine. "They are killers who have stolen many elements, and they are nothing like us. You and the team aren't going there to talk them to death. You know that, right?"

  A bit of tension seeped out of my shoulders, and I pulled away from him. "I know we're going to capture them or kill them if they resist, but I can't stop thinking about the day we attacked the Element Preservers' building."

  "This is different," he said. "I'm not asking you to kill someone. I only want you to come back to me alive."

  "I'll try to stay out of the line of fire. Lily doesn't want me to linger once the shooting starts." There was always a chance Lily's elaborate plan would go wrong, but I couldn't allow myself to think about that.

  "I'm coming as soon as Lily gives out the order for the team to move."

  I turned to look at him, my frown deepening. "No, we didn't agree to that! You're supposed to let the team do their job, not go with them."

  He stared at me as if I were insane. "So you can go risk your life and I can't even accompany the team? Are you fucking kidding me? I won't sit here and wait to hear if something happened to you or not."

  "Ok. Fine." I raised my hands up in defeat. Lily planned to have a team ready somewhere nearby to jump the terrorists when they least expected it, so Adrian would probably come when everything was over. My two guards, two fake sacrifices and I would have to stall the guys and start the fire until the rest of the team managed to arrive. Lily couldn't set up the team earlier because we didn't know the exact location, and the team was afraid the enemy would spot them too early.

  "Good. Now that we solved that, come here." Adrian motioned for me to step forward, and I did. He took out one of the guns and a black holster, going down on one knee in front of me. I put my hand on my hip and waited to see what he was going to do. Looking up at me with a big grin on his face, he tied the holster with the gun around my right thigh. "How does that feel?" His fingers brushed my leg gently as he got up.

  "Umm... I feel like a superwoman." I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling like an idiot. "Don't you think the holster is too noticeable?"

  "No one will see it under the coat. Just keep it tightly around you and open it when you need the gun." He grabbed the other gun. "This one will go inside of your coat."

  "What if they search me first?" I was sure they wouldn't let me stroll around with guns.

  "Then you'll fight them with your elements, just like the guards."

  Oh, right. The guards had to have elements so the rogue carriers wouldn't suspect anything. I was glad I had other options besides guns. But sometimes guns seemed better because you could more or less control where you shoot, unlike with elements which could go all wrong. "I just hope I won't use the wrong element. You know, dousing someone in water when I want to set them on fire, or blowing a bit of wind in their face won't do me much good."

  "Let's hope the guys are stupid enough to think you're harmless."

  I innocently batted my eyelashes at him and he laughed.

  "Don't forget this," my brother's voice startled me because I hadn't even seen him coming. He held a silver bracelet in his hand, offering it to me.

  "Is that...?" I inspected the bracelet, tracing the intricate design etched into it.

  "It's a fake element-blocking bracelet. You told the RC you'll be wearing one. We don't want them to know you're a carrier too." Oliver looked slightly bored.

  "Oh, right. Thanks. So you're calling the rogue carriers RC now? That's very creative." I hadn't talked to my brother since we moved from Lily's old compound. Was he pissed off at me that I hadn't transferred the presidency to him? I slipped the bracelet around my wrist and nodded at Adrian, who gave me a small smile and left me alone with my brother.

  "And what should we call them? A bunch of crazies?" Oliver snorted. "Look, I've been extremely patient. When are you going to give me the presidency?"

  "I will do it when things calm down," I whispered.

  "Things would calm down if I was the president!" he hissed, his dark eyes flashing with fury. "No one would think I'm too young to lead the organization."

  Yeah, except you'd ruin any chance of preserving elements and collecting their energy. "People would be suspicious if we kept transferring presidency every twenty seconds. It's better if everyone thinks I gave you the presidency because I broke down under pressure, and it's too early for that." Actually, if I could help it, my brother would never become the president.

  "Alright." He pressed his lips together into an angry line. "I'll wait, but don't think I won't do something extreme if you don't give me what I want."

  "Don't threaten me." My temper flared. "It would be unfortunate if my gun fired."

  Oliver glanced at the weapon Adrian had left on the table and at the holster strapped to my leg. "Don't die tonight. It would be unfortunate if someone random got the presidency."

  "I'll try not to." I snatched the gun off the table and strolled off.

  My heart was beating rapidly in my chest, and not even slow breathing could calm me. The RC had sent me the last instructions on how to reach them, so Airel was driving our jeep closer to the danger. I could feel the elements of the four people with me so strongly that I wasn't sure whether I should be relieved they were scared too, or worry that I would go for their elements.

  "We're almost there," someone stated the obvious, but I couldn't tell who it was in the dark. I hadn't even had time to memorize the people's names and match them with faces. Part of me had wished the RC would request a meeting during the day, but no such luck. An abandoned and half collapsed house came into view, along with a large, gray construction that looked like a bunker. I had no doubts the RC would be waiting for us in there.

  A man dressed completely in black appeared out of nowhere on the dusty road and the driver had to step on the brakes so hard that we all lurched forward. Our sacrifices bumped their heads against the door and the seats, their tied hands making it hard for them to get a hold of something. The blindfolds over their eyes didn't help either, even though all their binds were so loosely tied that they could get out of them in five seconds. But we couldn't exactly bring them free to the RC, so that would have to wait.

  "Park the car in the yard. Drive slowly," the mysterious man in black yelled, stepping off the street so the car could pass. When the car stopped again, I tried to see as much as I could of our surroundings, but it was too dark to see any people. Too bad I couldn't feel carriers like I could people with elements.

  "Get out of the car! Hands in the air," a voice said from the dark, but I couldn't see the person who was talking. This definitely wasn't like I'd imagined. More doubts flashed through my mind, my palms sweating, but I got out of the car an
yway, raising my hands up. The two guards stepped away from the car too, hands up.

  "I brought you presents," I said, swallowing past the lump in my throat. "But they are all wrapped up, so they can't raise their hands." I didn't want the RC to shoot the rest of my team because they couldn't raise their hands.

  "You're funny. I like that." Bright light shone into my eyes, blinding me for a moment. Then a tall, black-haired man came into view, his piercing dark eyes meeting mine. I stood there, dumbfounded, my mouth hanging open. He was the leader of the RC? But he had a face of one of the hottest models and he was young, maybe in his thirties. Why couldn't the true monster be ugly?

  "I don't care what you like," I said when I could finally form a coherent sentence.

  "So you brought two elements as we asked. They feel strong and pure." He came closer, so I had to look up because even in my heels I wasn't tall enough. "I can't help but wonder something, though. Why do you hate those two so much that you want them dead? What did they do to you?"

  "That's none of your business. They won't be missed." Lily and I had gone over the details and stories I'd give to the leader if he asked questions about the supposed sacrifices, but that didn't mean I had to spill everything to him immediately. "Can I at least know your name?"

  "You can call me Parker," the man said, taking my hand. The sudden motion surprised me so much that I stumbled back, barely catching myself before I fell down. The guards tensed behind me, but more men came out of the shadows, pointing their rifles at the guards' heads. Oh, crap. Parker brought my hand to his lips, and my eyes widened in shock. A killer with manners. How cute. As soon as he released my hand, I pulled back as if he had cooties.

  "I wish you didn't have that bracelet," Parker said. "I'd love to get a feel of your element. It's fire, isn't it?"

  "I am not taking off my bracelet. It's very rare." It wouldn't mean much if the guy found out about the element-blocking bracelets when he was going to die tonight, but just in case he survived, it was better he thought the bracelets were something out of the ordinary.