Premonition (The Division Series Book 1) Page 5

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I don’t expect you to.”

  I blushed as I considered his dark-brown eyes. His eyelashes were thick the way only boys’ lashes were. My eyelashes felt jealous in comparison.

  “You’re a runner, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Want to go for a run before I make you start throwing weights around or stand on your head?”

  I exhaled in relief. “I’d love to.” I’d already run this morning, but it still sounded good. I itched to get out of the gym.

  Cranston appeared out of nowhere and stopped us on our way to the door. “Do you need backup?” he asked Finn.

  Finn snorted. “I think I can handle it. We’re just going to do the loop.”

  We started to jog as soon as we reached the sidewalk. “How long’s the loop?”

  “Six miles.” He glanced at me. “Can you handle that, Hanover?”

  I gritted my teeth. “It’s Riley, and I can handle it just fine.”

  He laughed. “All right then.”

  We ran in silence for about a mile, past another outdoor track and some buildings that looked like they were used for storage. Back here, the base was completely quiet. We couldn’t see the road or anything else—our own world. It was late morning, almost time for lunch, and the sun was climbing in the sky. Still, a faint sea breeze came from somewhere, which saved the day from being too hot.

  “You know Freel used to be a full-scale military base, right?” Finn asked.

  “Yeah, I read that. Wasn’t it closed for a long time?”

  Finn nodded. “There was a soil contamination problem back in the early nineties. They had to shut the base down. It hit the area hard and caused a recession. After they cleaned up the site, they re-opened for the airport, the trade port, and National Guard use. But there’s also a lot of retail space and offices, as you saw. Most of that’s new.”

  “And what about the building we’re in?”

  “It’s government owned. The whole base is. Our section is reserved, so no one will bother us.” Finn moved out in front a little bit, leading me down a wooded path. “How often do you run?”

  Was he changing the subject? “Every day.” I worked to keep up with him, but I controlled my breathing, refusing to let it show.

  “How far?” He hadn’t even broken a sweat.

  “Four’s my minimum. I’m on a schedule.”

  “Are you training for something?”

  “It’s sort of my thing. I’m not really good at sports, per se, but I like to work out.”

  “Why?”

  I shrugged as we followed the running path down next to a stream. “It helps me clear my head.”

  My dad had gotten me into running. Once middle school hormones hit, and I started having bad days, he bought me a pair of sneakers. “Best therapy there is, pumpkin.”

  “We’ll do a lot of running over the next few weeks. You’ll like it, at least that part.”

  “Huh. Sounds good.” I ran for another minute, processing, then I came to an abrupt halt. “Finn. Why are we running? And lifting weights and doing yoga? Any why does everyone know what’s going on besides me? Emma said I hadn’t been background briefed—”

  “She shouldn’t have said that.”

  “But she did, and I want to know what she meant.”

  Finn sighed, sounding frustrated. “Do you want to know the truth?”

  “Of course, I want to know the truth! That’s what I’ve been asking for!”

  “Do you have any guesses?”

  I watched the water gurgle in the stream, clear and cold. “No. I really don’t understand. My mother…”

  He looked at me sharply. “What about your mother?”

  “N-Nothing. Will you please tell me what this is? I feel like I’m going crazy.”

  He paced for a minute, looking as if he couldn’t decide what to do.

  “I’ll keep asking questions until you can’t take it anymore,” I threatened.

  “Fine—here goes.” He sighed. “You’ve been drafted to an elite government unit. You’ve been…activated into an American terrorist-fighting cell.”

  I burst out laughing, my sides shaking violently as I bent over.

  Finn watched me as I collapsed against a rock, still laughing. “What’s so funny?”

  I tried to catch my breath enough to respond. “That might be…the stupidest thing…I’ve ever heard.” I erupted into a fresh fit of hysteria.

  “I’m not kidding, Riley.”

  My laughter subsided, and I drew myself back up. “Well, that’s unfortunate because it means you’re crazy.” And you’re too cute to be crazy! “It doesn’t make sense on any level.”

  Finn stood very still. “It will, once I explain everything to you.” He spoke to me cautiously, as if I were an unpredictably rabid dog about to bite.

  My hysterics veered in a different direction, and I struggled to calm my ragged breathing. Everyone around me was acting crazy—seriously, certifiably crazy.

  He watched me carefully. “Are you okay?”

  “Of course.” I forced myself to calm down. I fully expected someone to jump out of the bushes, wielding a camera, informing me that I was being punk’d. “I’m just processing your ridiculousness and organizing my list of objections.”

  “Can we keep running while you go through your list? I have a feeling this could take a while, and I’m hoping the endorphin rush will help your hysterics pass.”

  We jogged as I collected my thoughts.

  Finn picked up the pace a little. Maybe he wanted to give me less time to talk. “I’m waiting. Bring on the list!”

  How could he sound so normal when what he’d said was so freaking crazy?

  “Okay…okay.” My mind whirled. “There’s a lot of insanity to cover.”

  “Then you’d better get going.”

  “First of all, why would a program affiliated with Hollingsworth actually be a cover for a government operation?”

  “The federal government gives Hollingsworth a huge subsidy to run the program through it,” Finn said, without missing a beat. “The government likes the cover, and Hollingsworth likes the money. The school would probably be bankrupt without it.”

  “That’s ridiculous. It has an enormous endowment—”

  “Courtesy of the federal government.”

  I blew out a deep breath as we rounded a hill. I didn’t believe this, but Finn seemed sure of himself. Perspiration ran down my back as I worked to get to the top of the hill. Finn looked as if this was easy for him. The only visible sheen of sweat was on his temples.

  “Moving right along,” I huffed. “I’ve never heard of a government agency that operates this way.”

  “That’s because it’s top secret—the most secret thing you’ve never heard of.”

  “You know it sounds like you’re making this up, right? Because you’re making this up. You’re being ridiculous!”

  “It would be ridiculous if it wasn’t true—but it is.”

  I watched him run. He seemed calm and confident, his impressive muscles rippling under his T-shirt. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I’m totally serious.”

  “Okay—then how about this: why, of all the people in this country, all the athletic, patriotic, willing people—why have I been ‘activated’ or whatever crazy thing you said? It doesn’t make any sense. The armed forces have people volunteering every week to serve. Why would the government trick me and smuggle me away from school to put me into some training program with a bunch of sociopaths?”

  “They didn’t think you’d come in on your own, and we need you.”

  I stopped running again. “That is frigging ridiculous! Need me for what?”

  Finn blew out a deep sigh. “This is where the debrief would’ve come in handy.”

  “Well…debrief me now. No time like the present.”

  He lifted up his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face, and I turned away, but not before
I glimpsed the chiseled lines of his six-pack.

  “I can only tell you about our group,” he said. “Your official debrief—about you, personally, your background and your history—that’s not my place.”

  “What is your place?”

  “I’m a member of the team. I’ve been active for a long time, and they usually put me with the new recruits to help break them in.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Seventeen.”

  “So you’ve been part of a special, secret unit for how long?”

  “Since a long time ago.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “What were you, some sort of preschool, special-forces ninja?”

  The muscle in his jaw jumped, and he didn’t look at me.

  “You said you were from New York, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “But you’ve been with this group since you were a kid?”

  Finn looked straight ahead. “Why are all the questions about me?”

  “Why won’t you answer any of them?”

  “There are other, more important things to talk about right now, like about what our group does.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “As I said, we’re part of an elite government unit. This particular group, our cell, has been activated.”

  “Not that I believe any of this—because I don’t—but what does that mean, ‘activated?’”

  Finn motioned for us to start running again and spoke after we settled into an easy pace. “It means that we’ve been called to duty. So we’re going to complete a course of training this summer, and we’re going on assignment later this fall. These next few months are crucial, making sure that our team is working together well and ascertaining our individual and group strengths.”

  I struggled to keep up with Finn, just as I struggled to comprehend what he’d said. I gave one last look around the bushes, to see if Ashton Kutcher was waiting to jump out at me.

  “So…do all the other kids know what’s going on?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m the only new recruit?”

  He nodded. “This year, yes. As far as I know.”

  We rounded a corner. The trail reached out for another visible mile. Good. I had about a thousand more questions, and I wasn’t ready for our run to end.

  “I know you have more questions. Bring it. I’m not afraid.”

  “What about my school? I applied to Hollingsworth because I wanted to go there. I don’t want to miss my senior year because I’m off…” I didn’t know how to finish the sentence. Miss my senior year because I was off fighting a war? Being indoctrinated into a cult? Drooling over Finn’s dimple and/or his chest?

  Finn laughed. “You’re funny.”

  “What? What’s funny?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You know, I’m not sure I like you very much.”

  He shrugged. “You will. I tend to grow on people, the longer they look at me.”

  I groaned, concentrating on running instead of his cocky attitude.

  “About school—you’ll still get your degree.”

  Panic rose. “But will I actually attend any classes?”

  He shot a look my way. “Probably not.”

  I stopped running again. “What if I don’t want to do this, huh?”

  “It’s not really a volunteer program.”

  “I haven’t even signed up for anything. If I was drafted, it was without my knowledge and consent. I think I need a due-process hearing or something. It doesn’t seem like I had proper notice about this, if any of this is even real.” I half-wondered if I was dreaming, but I could feel my heart thundering in my chest. “The government can’t just make me a soldier!”

  Finn looked as if he had something to say about that, but we were interrupted by the sound of tires squealing. Mr. Cranston hopped out beside a beat-up white truck pulled up at the end of the field.

  “Riley Payne,” he called. “Get over here. Your number is up!”

  8

  No Pain, No Gain

  I shivered violently, my mother’s words coming back to me. When your number’s up, it’s up!

  Finn came closer. “You all right, Hanover?”

  “Sure,” I lied. “I guess I should go.” I hustled to the car, not wanting to upset the older man.

  My thoughts swirled with everything Finn told me. My steps were unsteady.

  Cranston motioned to the passenger door. “Let’s go.”

  I turned to wave at Finn. He watched us with a sour look on his face. I didn’t want to get in the truck. I wanted to go back to Finn. “I’m not finished with my run, sir,” I told Cranston.

  “You are now.” He slammed his own car door, not waiting for me to argue further.

  “What about Finn?”

  He rolled his eyes. “He knows the way back.”

  We drove the few miles back to the base in silence. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t know Cranston’s role in all of this, and what—if anything—he knew or believed of Finn’s story.

  He put the car in park and unfastened his seat belt.

  “Wait. Mr. Cranston, I’ve decided I don’t want to be here anymore. I’d like to go home.”

  He turned, his ice-blue gaze flicking over me. “Is that so?”

  I shivered, thinking about what Finn had said. “Yes. No one’s explained to me why we’re really here, and I’m not…comfortable. I’d like to go back to Hollingsworth and ask to be reassigned to a different group.”

  He crossed his arms against his chest. “You would, huh?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, tough.” He opened his door and hopped out.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Get out of the car, Riley. You’re no special snowflake. You got assigned this unit, and you’re staying until I say otherwise.”

  My heart pounded in my chest. He couldn’t keep me against my will. Could he? The keys were still in the ignition. I didn’t have my license, but I knew how to drive…

  The passenger door opened, and Cranston stuck his face in. “Don’t even think about it.” He jerked his chin toward the keys. “Get out of the car. I’m not going to tell you again.”

  Afraid, but also genuinely curious, I asked, “What if I say no?”

  His face was inches from mine, his jaw taut. “Then I’ll pull you out.”

  Finn ran up to the building in a flat-out sprint. He leaned over, breathing hard for a second, then looked up at Cranston. “Leave her alone.”

  Cranston whipped around. “Really? You’re going to start with me? You know why I came out to get her?”

  Finn shook his head, still trying to catch his breath.

  “Because her monitor was going off. Do you want to explain how that happened, soldier?”

  They kept talking, and I sat there, listening but not comprehending. One part of my brain wondered, what monitor? Meanwhile, another part was desperately trying to figure out how Finn had gotten back here so quickly.

  That had to have been three miles. He got here in five minutes.

  Being both a runner and a terrible geek, I knew that wasn’t possible. A Moroccan runner currently held the fastest mile record, clocking in at three minutes and forty-three seconds.

  Finn couldn’t run three miles in five minutes or whatever it had been. But he was here. I watched him catch his breath and stand up, facing Cranston. He didn’t even look winded.

  “Riley.”

  I jerked my head. Cranston was staring at me, annoyed.

  “What?”

  “I said, if you don’t pass the challenges I have set up for you over the next week, you’re free to join another group. Understand?” Cranston asked.

  I looked at him, but I couldn’t focus. What the hell was really going on here? Finn couldn’t have been serious about what he’d said…and he couldn’t have run back here that fast…

  But Finn stood right in front of me, and he wasn’t even sweating.

  “Did y
ou hear me, Riley?” Cranston asked.

  I nodded, but the ground seemed to spin beneath me. “Sure.” I’d thought living with my mother had been crazy. But this…

  A week. I could survive anything for a week.

  I hoped.

  In a further slide toward rock bottom, I got assigned a bunkmate: Emma. We were in a room with the twins and Rachel, the dark-haired girl I hadn’t met yet. Right side up, Rachel was stunning, with long legs, silky black hair that cascaded over her shoulders, dark-brown eyes, and flawless, caramel-colored skin. I didn’t bother introducing myself to her or chatting with anyone.

  I would be out of here in a week. I didn’t need to make friends.

  The other girls chatted, brushed their hair, and generally ignored me, until everyone left the dorm except Emma and me. Busy pretending to read a book, I didn’t look up when she sat on my bed.

  “Riley.”

  I peered at her over the top of the pages. “What?”

  “Stop pretending to read. I need to talk to you.”

  I sat up straighter. “Are you going to say something that actually makes sense?”

  “I can’t say a lot, but I can confirm what Finn’s told you. It’s true.”

  My eyes filled with tears. My shoulders shook.

  Emma looked horrified. “Are you crying?”

  “No.” I wiped my eyes roughly. “But why are you all lying to me like this? What’s the point? Is it some sick game, like, ‘Let’s Scare the New Girl to Pieces?’ Because it’s not funny, and I’ve just about had it—”

  “Riley, you need to calm down. I know your monitor went off earlier. Getting upset isn’t going to help—”

  “WHAT FREAKING MONITOR?”

  “Riley, Jesus, stop. I can’t talk to you if you’re acting like this. It’s not safe.”

  I took several deep breaths, trying to calm down even as questions swirled in my mind: Not safe, how? What f’n monitor? And how did Finn run that fast? Why would you all lie to me?

  “Riley. Open your eyes.”

  I took one last calming breath then faced her. “Please tell me something true that also happens to make sense.”

  “You have a test now. Cranston’s waiting for you.”

  I leaned forward. “I need something more than that.”