Brianna Acero and the Second One's Return

37. I receive a present from the past

"Brianna?"

The buzzing vanishes, and I'm left with a feeling of... something, surging through my body.

I spin around to find Christian observing me. His large brown eyes move above my shoulder to the picture I had been admiring. Today he doesn't wear his usual Green colored suit, instead he chose to dress in casual pants and a T-shirt. It's strange to see the director of the compound looking so normal. Christian has the kind of presence that draws all eyes to him when he enters a room. He's almost regal in the way he carries himself, always calm and collected, but calculating every movement. Sometimes I see him as a tiger, so smart and cunning, that he ensnares everyone who looks upon him. Even dressed in this unusual choice of clothing, he still looks every bit the director that he is.

"Would you care to join me?" He steps aside and motions for me to enter his office.

I move to join him, the small heels I decided to wear today clicking hollowly against the tiled floor. They were specially designed for undercover missions where there wouldn't be many places in one's attire to hide weapons, so the heels could be taken off the shoe and used as blades. Mara showed them to Cassie and me when we were passing by the costume shop, as she likes to call it. Part of the lab crew works specifically in designing outfits to be worn during any kind of operation. Be it a jacket that could turn into a parachute, a bulletproof dress, or a necklace made with little white smoke bombs to imitate pearls. They had it all. Because her parents were friends with the lead designer, they let us take something from the section we were visiting. None of the new equipment was to be touched, it still needed to be tested out, so we chose from the "used" items. I got the shoes, thinking they were an interesting choice of weaponry and liking the way they fit. Cassie got an escape ring, equipped with a handcuff shim pick and a small diamond-lined saw that is hidden on the inside of the ring that can cut through any material. It looks like any other ring when she wears it, just a plain silver band, so nobody would know what it hides on the inside. And Mara got a bracelet, that when twisted the right way would make a poison lined needle stick out. They were little tools, but they might come in handy one day.

I snap back to the present once inside Christians office, but to my surprise we don't sit at his desk, instead, he leads me into an adjacent door, into what looks like an enormous library. Digital readers, paper books, even some that look like parchment, all lined up on ceiling-high shelves, with desks running the entire length of the room. He leads me to one of the tables and we sit across from each other. Without a word, he reaches for a book on the side of the table and hands it to me.

It's a leather-bound book, small, and by the looks of it, old. I flip it open to the first page, where the title stares back at me like a beacon. "The secrets to the future and how to find them"

"That," says Christian, when I look up from the cover, "is a journal, written by your three times great grandfather, when he discovered his Gift."

At his words I clutch the book tighter. This was written by family, by someone like me. I trace the cover, running my fingertips along the initials carved into the leather.

C.A.

Well, I know what the A stood for.

"Why are you giving this to me all of a sudden?"

This book had probably been in here for years, and Christian is just telling me about it now?

"Because of recent occurrences, I thought it would be best if you took a look at this. See if any of the ideas your grandfather had could help you control your Gift."

"You want me to use this to trigger a vision to find Quinn's Killer?"

He rubs a hand through his short-cropped hair, and gets up to pace the space in front of me.

"He is not just Quinn's killer anymore."

He looks at me, and something dark flickers in his eyes.

"He is the man that murdered the Dall compound's best team, he is the man that kidnapped the Alpha division's head of security, he is the man that tortured the second chairman of the supreme council."

My eyes go wide at this last bit of information. He went after the council?

Holy shit. What kind of a lunatic would go after the council?

They run the world, they control everything and everyone on this planet. Going after one of their main representatives is a death sentence. And yet, whoever this guy is, did it. And the second chairman no less, the right-hand man of President Khan himself. How was the council not sending out hunting squads to find him?

"We need to know who this man is Brianna, and right now, you are our best hope at doing so."

I swallow past the lump in my throat, and look down at the leather-bound book. No pressure there.

But deep down I know he's right. It's about time I start taking action and playing the role I was put here for. I need to find our rogue Elite ASAP, before he hurts anybody else.

"Thank you, Christian, I won't let you down."

His eyes soften at my comment, the wrinkles at the corners making him seem older than he really is.

"I know you won't."

I smile and pick up the journal, getting up and staggering out of the library and through his office. I clutch the leather tightly between my fingers.

I know you won't.

If Christian believes in me, the head of the Landa compound, then I should be able to believe in myself as well.

I wander back down the hall filled with pictures and remember the pull I felt before I had my talk with Christian. I feel nothing now, but I still stop in front of the picture, trying to figure out what had drawn me to it in the first place.

Nothing happens as I stare at the old photograph, so I shrug and carry on down the corridor, into the training hall where the rest of my team should be waiting.

I guess I must have imagined it, but I could have sworn I felt something pulling me back towards the wall.