Page 222 of Silver Elite

“How what?”

“How were you able to keep your mind controlled for so long? It’s extraordinary.”

“I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.” I try to keep my voice steady despite the fear coursing through me.

“Don’t lie to me, soldier. I might have erred during your interrogation, but I’m not a fool.”

We stare at each other. My stomach is churning, twisting with anxiety. I throw out a desperate link to Cross, who responds immediately.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need you. Now. Jayde Valence just had a vision of me aiding the Uprising.”

“Where are you?”

I give him my location and say,“Hurry.”

My fingers tingle with the urge to reach for the gun on my hip. But nothing’s happened yet. She isn’t reaching for her own weapon, and I don’t want to reveal my hand too soon.

Even more telling is that no one else is rushing into this room. No footsteps thundering in the hallway. I suspect there’s nobody outside the door. The question is, why didn’t she bring any backup? How the hell did that vision of hers end if she felt this comfortable coming alone?

As I watch her, my nerves are stretched taut like a bowstring, ready to snap at the slightest provocation.

“Normally I would dispatch a squad to collect you, but I had to see for myself.” She shakes her head again. Astounded. “The vision was so preposterous. Iclearedyou. And yet here you are.”

Hubris, I realize.

That’s why she’s alone.

She was so confident in her mind-reading abilities that she couldn’t fathom how she could’ve possibly been bested by me. She had to investigate. And maybe there’s some embarrassment driving her actions, too. She’d been so colossally wrong about me; would she really want an audience while her shortcomings are being aired?

Or—I wryly acknowledge, as she gets her hand on her gun so fast I barely have time to blink—maybe she’s a highly trained lieutenant colonel who trusts in her ability to take care of herself in the field.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” I protest as she points the gun at me. Its steel barrel is affixed with a silencer.

“Tell me how you did it. Who trained you? That kind of shielding requires extensive training. Years of it. Decades.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just have a regular shield that I learned in lower school and then shored up in the Program.”

Her lips curl in a condescending sneer. “Fine, then. I’ll find out for myself.” She jerks the gun barrel toward my hip. “Unholster your weapon. Lay it on the floor and kick it toward me.”

It’s clear she’s not playing around, so I follow her instructions. When I squat to put the gun down, my other hand inches toward my boot.

“The knife, too. Kick it toward me.”

Shit.

She chuckles. “My visions are very detailed, soldier. I know every move you’re about to make.”

“Cross. Hurry, damn it.”

“Trying.”

I’m weaponless as I rise to my feet. Keeping her gun trained on me, Jayde’s emotionless eyes seek out my gaze. I feel it the moment she penetrates my mind, but I don’t react.

“Fascinating,” she murmurs. “You don’t feel the shock?”

“No, I feel it.” I’ve officially given up on denying the truth. At this point I’m only insulting her intelligence.

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