Page 81 of Remnants
I sit up straighter. “Wait. You know all of GE’s Board members?” We could move on them as soon as everyone’s trained. Dane wouldn’t be stuck searching for them all day and night after training.
“Not all the current ones, no. I probably know more dead than alive.”
“What about electees?” I prompt, undeterred from that minor setback.
Reid shakes his head. “I never met those. Just the ones who met regularly with Charles.”
Swinging my hopeful gaze to Jackson, he adds one more question, “How many that you met are still alive?”
“Four.”
Four. If they overlap with the two members we’re already close to, then it’s still two more and confirmation on the original ones. If not, we’d be halfway there.
Jackson nods. “You’ll need to share everything about them with Dane and Aiden.”
“Why?”
“Talk to Aiden,” Jack reiterates, then looks at me with a single raised brow.
I snap my attention back to Reid. “Can you tell me more about Tinsley? You guys showed up together, and it’s clear you care about her, but I’m not sure where she fits in if you were with Charles up until you left.”
“She was one of the people in a special training program of older subjects I was assigned to monitor and report back to Charles on. The scientists still ran the program, but I was monitoring them as well as the gifted subjects.” He sighs and rubs the back of his neck, a tiny smile threatening the corner of his mouth. “She was a fighter. No matter what they tried, they couldn’t break her spirit. Her inner strength won against them time and again, and I don’t think I even had a choice when I fell for her. I tried to hide it, but Charles found out. He tried to convince me to breed her for offspring, thinking I’d get over her as soon as I had her. I helped her escape instead, and he punished me for it. Tinsley returned and pleaded for my life, which started a year of torture for the both of us.”
Reid clears his throat. “Anyway, that’s the gist of it. I heard when you’d been found and when you’d escaped the island again, but I hadn’t been able to find you. And then I saw you that night you fought the congressman, and I knew it was you. When Kellan offered us a way out with the Guild—where you were, and safe—I took Tinsley and ran. We stayed hidden for a while so Charles wouldn’t suspect we’d gone to you. And then we filled out the application.”
Wow. Everything he’s been through…fuck. And I thought my life was crazy.
“I swear, we’ll get her back,” I promise, meaning every word. “Aiden told you what she said?”
He huffs irritably. “He did. I’m pissed about it but not surprised. If she says she’s safe, I believe she is, but that doesn’t mean her circumstances won’t change. We still need to find her and get her back before that happens. And before Charles has produced enough gift-blocking accessories to control every gifted person in the world.”
My stomach drops. “You mean the cuff? Are you saying there’s more? It’s not just a prototype?”
“A prototype? They’ve been making things like that by the thousands every year for the last five years. Collars, chokers, bracelets, cuffs, anklets, shackles, rings…bejeweled or plain and in various sizes. Then selling them off to the highest bidder. It’s not just GE with those things now. There are tens or hundreds of thousands out in the world now with terrible people using them on people like us.”
Wait. Collars. Like the ones in that business room with Thorne that captured me and Jack dodged. And the one I’d worn on the island with Gordon. How hadn’t I realized there would be more of them?
“How? How do they have enough of Dane’s blood for that many?” I demand.
“You were on the island for eight years, right? One blood draw a week? What do you think they did with that blood?”
“I don’t know. Ran tests on it?”
Reid nods. “At first, maybe. But most gets stored away until theycan find the best use for it. And once Vera learned how to put his gift into objects that can turn it on and off with specific frequencies programmed into it, they’ve been making them ever since.”
“You mean the blood they’d taken from Dane on the island lasted them five years?”
“They still have some but it was starting to run low when I left. That means they’re not in an immediate rush to get Dane, but there’s a running clock. I expect that’s why Charles hasn’t shown up here to take him yet. He’s biding his time. But you can be sure when they’re down to their last batch, he won’t waste time with sending agents out for his prize. He’ll come for Dane and kill anyone who tries to stop him.”
Chapter twenty-two
Raegan
Threeshortbeepsjumpthe treadmill from walking to jogging, and I hurry to adjust to the speed.
“How’s that?” Dane checks in with me, his amber gaze scrutinizing me for a sign that it’s too much. It’s been two days since I overdid it with my gift, and Aiden finally gave me the green light to get back to training. Dane and Kellan both argued for me to take another day off, but thankfully, Aiden and Jack sided with me. We don’t have time to waste. Charles is coming for us whether we’re ready or not.
“Slow,” I tell him, even though my tied hair swings like a pendulum behind me with every step. “I can go faster.”
