Inescapable (Talented Saga #7) (22 page)

Shock paralyzed me for the briefest of
moments.

I was going to be executed?

No. That wasn’t right. Victoria wouldn’t
allow the council to kill me. Insubordination was a minor crime.
They council only handed out death sentences for murder and high
treason.

“
You’re lying,” I managed
to say.

My voice was so cold that I didn’t even
recognize it. Because I already knew that Konterra wasn’t lying.
That much was clear from her thoughts. She didn’t know the details
surrounding my execution—how, when, where, or even why, after a
month of being a good little inmate, the council planned to kill
me—but Konterra knew for sure that they had voted for my execution
that morning.

“
Am I? Bet you wish you
had your talents, don’t you? Then you’d know for sure.” Konterra
shook her head in mock sadness. “I hear being deprived of your
abilities is awful. Painful, even. Though I imagine being deprived
of your life will be
slightly
worse, Inmate Lyons. Just guessing, though. Too
bad you won’t be around to tell me for certain.”

“
Lynn, you’re out of
line,” Les interjected, his voice carrying an unmistakable warning.
Stepping around Konterra, he moved farther into my cell,
positioning himself between us. “The situation is more complicated
than you are conveying, and you know it.” He turned to me, his
voice softening from its sharp edge. “It’s only—” he started to
say, but Konterra drowned him out again.

“
Councilwoman Walburton
was the deciding vote!” she exclaimed, daring a triumphant look at
Les. “She’s the one who sealed your fate. All this buddy-buddy time
you two spend together? It means
nothing
. Not to her, and not to the
rest of the council. So, how does it feel to be betrayed,
inmate?”

Her words were like a physical slap,
stinging me to my core. Victoria had voted in favor of killing me?
I didn’t want to believe it. A part of me didn’t believe it; unable
to accept the truth I was hearing with my own ears and reading with
my own mind.

I stared numbly back at Konterra, much to
her satisfaction. In that moment, I wasn’t capable of speaking. One
word reverberated through my mind, ricocheting back and forth like
a bouncy ball: Execution.

Why?
Why did the councilwoman want to have me executed? Why had
she spent the last month pretending to be my ally? Why had she
given me this stupid research assignment that was supposedly going
to show the rest of the council that I was a team player? Why did
she even bother?

This must be how piglets
feel,
I thought,
right after they learn that the farmer has only been giving
them all that delicious food to fatten them up for
slaughter.

My temper was hard to control at the best of
times. Having someone deliberately and repeatedly stoking the fire
made it damned near impossible to keep in check. But emotional
pain, like the kind caused by learning a close friend had betrayed
me, made me helpless against the swell of power building inside of
me, desperately seeking an outlet.

The papers stirred on my bed as the still,
stagnant air in the cell began to swirl. A light bulb burst
overhead, raining filament and glass down around me. There was a
loud cracking noise as the plastic meal table splintered in half.
Even the hard flooring beneath my bare feet gave a low rumble in
response to my heartache.

Calm thoughts. Count to
ten,
I coached desperately.
Just breathe. There’s more to the story. There
has to be more. Let Victoria explain herself.

No. She’s a heartless
bitch,
I thought, my doubt overtaking the
voice of reason.
She used you, just like
Mac did. And now that she’s done with you, it’s game over. She’s
going to have you killed.

The warring voices in my head continued to
rage back and forth, and I didn’t know what to believe. Tears
threatened my eyes. I blinked them back, unwilling to give Konterra
the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

The wind and rumbling died down as quickly
as they’d come. But the damage was already done, both literally and
metaphorically; along with breaking several items in my cell, I’d
used my supposedly dormant talents in front of two guards.

Good going, Talia,
I lectured.
For your
next trick, why don’t you morph into a bird and fly around their
heads? You know, just in case they’re at all unsure about whether
you have your abilities.

When I met Konterra’s gaze, all traces of
smugness had vanished from her gray eyes. Her fair skin turned a
startlingly new shade of white, as shock and alarm registered in
her expression. Her hands trembled so badly, she dropped her
weapon. The guard was poised to bolt, only confusion rooting her
feet to the cell floor.

Without thinking, I summoned Konterra’s gun
to me before it could hit the ground.

“
No. No. No.” Konterra
shook her head jerkily from side to side. “Y-y-you shouldn’t be
able to use your talents.”

The weapon was suddenly in my hand, but I
didn’t point it at either guard. Instead, I directed the barrel
towards the ground. The situation had escalated too quickly, and
aiming a physical weapon at Konterra and Les definitely wasn’t
going to help matters.

“
What’s going on, Lyons?”
Les asked, one hand moving towards the butt of his own gun. His
voice was steady, his movements controlled. Even his expression
remained neutral. It was the fear dripping from his glands like
sweat during a strenuous workout that belied his calm
façade.

“
Don’t,” I warned,
intensifying the word with a steady glare. “Just leave it in the
holster.”

Les held his hands up, palms facing me to
show they were empty, and then let them fall to his sides. His eyes
darted around the cell.

“
You might be able to
erase our memories of this little episode,” Les said evenly, the
voice of reason. “Or compel us not to report it, or whatever it is
you are able to do exactly. But you can’t reverse the damage to the
furniture.”

“
I know,” I agreed,
wondering about the odds of the destruction going
unnoticed.

“
Running isn’t an option
either,” Les continued, still speaking in a low, gentle tone that
people normally use on children and crazies. “Talia, no one has
ever escaped from Vault. I assure you, it’s impossible.”

That’s what they said
about Tramblewood,
I thought.
Yet I broke Erik out of there.

Of course, I hadn’t staged that prison break
alone. Ian Crane and his Coalition soldiers had been instrumental
in freeing Erik. Was I capable of defying the odds on my own?

The wheel in my head was spinning so
rapidly, a hamster would’ve been sent sailing through the air. I
was too upset, too blindsided by Konterra’s news, to think
straight.

What was my next move? I needed to make it
soon.

Altering the guards’ memories to forget this
entire exchange seemed like the best option, not to mention the
simplest and quickest way to go. Then, I could tell Yocum what had
transpired once he arrived in the morning. He wouldn’t be super
thrilled, but he’d help me figure out a way to explain or hide the
broken furniture. We were coconspirators after all.

Except, that still leaves
your neck in the noose, just waiting for the executioner to kick
the box from beneath your feet,
I thought
morbidly.

Okay, maybe that was a tad dramatic; UNITED
didn’t actually hang people. At least, I didn’t think they did.
Honestly, I had no clue what means they used to execute
prisoners.

Once again, the word began
bouncing rapidly through my mind, ricocheting off of logic and
reason.
Executed, executed,
executed.

“
Just because no one has
ever done it, that doesn’t mean escape is impossible.”

The words came from the doorway, where
Konterra was still standing. But when I spared her a surprised
glance, the guard was shaking pitifully and blubbering. A slim
figure stepped around the crying woman and into my cell, joining
our trio.

“
Anya?” I asked, both
grateful for her presence and confused as to why she was there.
Doctors usually returned to the residential islands at night,
unless they were called in for a medical emergency.

“
Dr. Pritcher, thank
heavens you’re here,” Les said, sounding extremely relieved and not
at all surprised.

That was when I realized my critical error.
The guards still had their communicators. One of them must have
sounded an alarm. As my doctor, Anya would have been one of the
first to receive the alert, so she’d be on standby to treat me
after the wranglers were done doing whatever it was they did to
unruly prisoners.

“
The wranglers will be
here shortly,” Anya said evenly. Her emerald gaze landed on me, and
her words were hurried when she continued. “There isn’t time to
explain. Please, just trust me. We need to go, Talia.
Now.”

“
What?” Les and I asked in
unison.

Anya directed her next statement at Les.
“Slowly remove your gun from the holster, put it on the ground, and
slide it over to me. Now, or Talia will shoot you. Then, cuff
yourself and Agent Konterra to the bed.”

Noticing the slight tremble that crept into
Anya’s voice, Les decided to call her bluff. “I don’t think so,
sweetheart. The only way you’re getting this gun off of me is if
I’m down for the count.”

“
Okay.” Anya nodded
jerkily. “Talia, tranq him.”

Utterly stunned by this turn of events, my
reaction time was slower than usual. My slight hesitation before
pulling the trigger gave Konterra an opening. She rounded on Anya,
drawing her fist back in the process.

Without thinking, I fired three darts into
Konterra’s chest just as her clenched hand connected with Anya’s
jaw. The doctor’s head snapped back, and she cried out in pain.
Konterra swayed on her feet. Her hateful gray eyes rolled around in
their sockets, unfocused and erratic.

Then, she folded like a house of cards.

No going back now,
I thought.

“
Are you stupid?” Les
screamed at me. “Do you know how much trouble you’ll be in
now?”

I swung the gun towards him. “No more than I
already am.”

“
Tranq him, Talia,” Anya
repeated anxiously, rubbing her jaw.

“
You don’t want to do
this, Lyons. I called for the wranglers to help you. To prevent you
from doing something stupid, like running. You will die if you
attempt to escape.”

“
I’m going to die either
way,” I replied. “I’d much rather go out fighting.”

I pulled the trigger. Several times in rapid
succession, just to be sure.

Being considerably larger than his female
counterpart, Les remained on his feet a few moments longer than
Konterra had.

“
The situation is
complicated,” he slurred, fighting the drugs threatening to put him
into a near-comatose state. The guard fell to his knees, head
drooping to one side, but didn’t lose consciousness
immediately.

At Anya’s feet, Lynn Konterra began to
seize. Her chest rising and falling in an unnaturally fast
rhythm.

Watching his fellow guard convulse must have
frightened Les badly, because he started swatting and head-butting
the air, as if sparring with an invisible opponent. When he lost
all control of his arm muscles, Les twisted violently from the
waist, attempting to gain enough momentum in his spaghetti-like
limbs to continue the match.

“
No. Please, no. I didn’t
mean to. Please. Please,” he moaned piteously.

Finally, he face-planted, cracking his
forehead against the hard floor of my cell.

Stepping over Konterra, Anya grabbed ahold
of my arm and tugged. “Come on, there isn’t much time.”

“
Is it true?” I asked
Anya, gaze fixed on the two agents convulsing on the ground. “About
the execution? Is the council really planning to kill me? Did
Victoria really cast the deciding vote?”

I had no doubt about the answers to my
questions, at least from Konterra’s perspective. Still, I needed
confirmation from a trusted source. I needed to hear the words
spoken aloud.

Sympathy softened Anya’s expression. “I
promise to explain it all. Right now, we really need to go. I was
able to delay the wranglers, but it won’t take long for them to
figure out what I did.”

“
Is it true?” I repeated.
“Just tell me that much. Tell me that Konterra didn’t trick me into
flying off the handle.”

Somewhere in the distance, an alarm started
blaring. The noise grew steadily louder as speakers began playing a
message loop: “Code Ten on Level Five. Code Ten on Level Five. All
guards are to report immediately. Code Ten on Level Five. Code Ten
on Level Five. All guards are to report immediately.”

“
It’s true,” Anya
confirmed, shouting to be heard over the noise. “I’m so sorry,
Talia.”

I nodded slowly, my heart breaking as I
willed myself not to cry again. This time, when Anya pulled my arm,
I didn’t fight. Escape was a Hail Mary, but it was my best chance
at a future. I wasn’t going to stay on Vault and wait for my
execution.

I simply couldn’t.

At the door to my cell, I paused and gently
pried Anya’s fingers loose. I glanced back at the guards who,
despite being shot up with enough drugs to drop a rhino, were not
at all sedate.