“The Academy pretty much stocks the high places with former cadets.”
A quake of fear shook me again; the confirmation of my suspicions rocked my world. “So, what’s next for the Connelly family?”
“I’m not sure,” he answered truthfully, then paused. “Nothing I hope . . . although they still have a lot of surveillance in the house.” He studied my face to see how I was taking the news. Apparently, I looked like I was holding it together, because he proceeded. “And they asked me to procure your standardized tests—see if I can find a pattern similar to the one I found with Andrew.”
I tried to picture unknown people, clinical CIA types, sipping burnt coffee and listening in on our mundane domestic life. What exactly had they gleaned from our conversations?
“Where are they exactly?” I tried real hard now not to freak out.
“There’s one in the living room and dining room, one in the boys’ room, and I just added one more recently—to your room.” He said this as if he were listing the number of phone jacks instead of really invasive spying devices.
Something twisted inside me. “When you asked to see my bedroom . . . ?”
Pete nodded. That one hurt. It must’ve shown because he took my hand, as one does when delivering bad news. Which kept on coming. “And the phone is tapped.”
“Is that why you didn’t call?” I asked.
“Precisely why.”
While I slowly started to process, Pete examined the blood-drenched rag. He wasn’t kidding around when he said he was going to explain everything. I wondered what else there was to find out and shuddered at the thought that, like the Titanic, we’d only hit the tip of the iceberg. I decided to put that on the other back burner to focus on what else he’d just said.
“Wait. You said they wanted to look for a testing pattern with me, similar to the one you found with Andrew—you told them about that?” I withdrew my hand so fast my elbow hit tree, jangling my funny bone.
He breathed in deeply as one does before an admission of guilt, but no apology came out with his exhalation. Instead, he said, “If I didn’t cooperate with them . . . at least to a certain degree, then they were going to make things very unpleasant for me, my parents . . . Reese. Then send Ranger— who is lead officer in charge of this mission, by the way—to finish the job.”
The thought of him and his hatred coming for me made me shudder again.
“It’s been a tough balancing act for me—giving them enough accurate, new information so as to appear that I’m doing my job well, and hiding the other truths I’ve discovered along the way.”
“What truths?” I asked.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know, Kate. I thought we were done pretending.” Pete looked me in the eye.
Oh that. It was hard to think of myself as gifted per se. It was really just a lot of strong feelings about things I usually tried to tune out. “Does-does this mean they know about me?”
He sighed, propped his arms on his bent knees, looked up at the crescent moon as if it had all the answers. “I have a hunch they do. . . . As a matter of fact, I think part of this mission was to access whether I could recognize giftedness when I see it. I suspect the powers-that-be already knew going in that Andrew wasn’t the only gifted Connelly kid—even though he blatantly embodied all the usual markers.” He gave me a strange, sad smile. “You did a much better job of hiding your gifts.”
Pete continued on with things that continued to chill me, one vertebrate at a time. “They still had me monitoring you even after we found out conclusively that Andrew isn’t gifted. You see, The Academy’s filled to the brim with kids like him—myself and Ranger being two examples. Like I said, they’ve turned more towards flushing out these other enhanced abilities like yours . . . like—”
“Wait!” I flung off the coat. “You were listenin’ in?”
He put his hand on my thigh as though to keep me in place. “It was part of my job, Kate. But they have access to the surveillance tapes—no telling how long until they listen in on you talking about your strong feelings.”
“Speakin’ of strong feelin’s . . . why does Ranger hate me so much?” I wasn’t sure why this was such a burning question. But it was.
Pete puffed out some air. “That’s a really good question,” he said. “I’ve been wondering the same thing.” He was quiet a moment, lost in his own thoughts.
“I mean . . . if y’all were so keen on signing us—Andrew and you say possibly me—then why was he so hateful to me? Wouldn’t that go against the mission?”
“Don’t take it personally. Ranger’s an asshole . . . even amongst cadets, and we already despise each other. So naturally, he wanted to give me a hard time on my first mission. Plus, he disdains all civilians in general. He sees them as being inferior and not worthy of his time. I don’t think he’s even aware of your potential for giftedness. Like I said, you were pretty good at hiding your light under a bushel. We looked at your school records during preliminary meetings—you keep your average at a solid A-minus, making sure you never make higher than a 92 or lower than a 90. I suspect that’s no accident.”
Pete stared at me until I gave in with a little shrug. “I suspected as much,” he said. “But that’s nowhere near good enough to be considered for The Academy, so he most likely quickly dismissed you . . . and I think we can only be grateful for that.” He sighed. “But The Academy will most likely see that as the pattern it is before too long. I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before they’re onto you. Didn’t take me very long to figure it out.” He frowned and drew me back into the shelter of his arm. “. . . And when they do, they’ll most likely send Ranger in to access you. He’s been chomping at the bit since day one.”
I shook my head. “I can’t fathom him being here this whole time instead of you.”
Pete gave a little huff, then looked at me with a peculiar expression. “He almost was, but he failed the first test . . . the one I passed with flying colors.”
“The first test?” I asked and watched as his mouth quirked, his face telling of some inside joke I wasn’t privy to. “Pete? What was the first test?”
“To see which cadet you would be most attracted to,” he finished with a smirk-smile.
“What? You mean at Norma’s when y’all came in that afternoon? Ranger was being a world-class ass! I can’t believe he’d think anyone would find that attractive.”
Pete shook his head then winced, reminding me he was in pain. And it was my fault—again. “No before then.” My face was a blank slate, so he prompted, “Remember the church camp you attended over the summer?”
I nodded, realization slowly dawning on me. “You mentioned earlier . . . you mentioned the name Reese. That wouldn’t happen to be . . .”
He looked into my eyes, and killed me with the answer. I was too thunderstruck to speak, staring at him while he worked over the bloody rag in his hand. This was by far the most surprising news. I guess because I’d already guessed at most of the rest. But this . . . this I’d had no idea about.