Page 88 of Iridian

Taland put his fingers under my chin and raised my head. “It’s temporary.”

“I know that, but they’re already becoming too much, Taland. Remember how I found you last night?” He’d been out there, carving their names on trees, and he had no idea he was even doing it. “There’s a reason why we decided to try to release them right away.”

“Sweetness, I don’t think it’s a choice anymore,” Taland said, his voice soft, gentle. “We’re not going to let them kill innocent people in a fit of rage. Look me in the eye and tell me you can live with yourself if we do nothing right now.”

Goddess damn him.“I can if it meansyouget to be free, too.”

Except it was a lie and he knew it. “Sure—for one day and two and three, but what about the fourth? What about the first week and month and year?” His sad smile said it all. “I know who you are, and you know who I am.”

Yes, I knew. And I was well aware that neither of us was ever going to be happy if we walked away now.

Here I was, thinking I’d pull Taland aside and he’d convince me to stand back, give me all the reasons why it was a better idea to do nothing, when I knew thathewould be the first to refuse.

“We’re fools—that’s what we are,” I said, and I was crying now and laughing when he wrapped me in his arms again.

He laughed, too. “I think we’re worse than that. We’re foolsin love.”

That we would be for as long as we lived.

Everything changed so suddenly again. We invited the others inside the safe house, into our living room, and Taland told them that we’d decided to fight. Seth wasted no time in grabbing our laptop and pulling up a news channel, where they were talking about the number of people that had been imprisoned without trial in the past three days.

Fifty-seven people—that’s what the news said. Fifty-seven people were put behind bars for no reason and no trial or chance to prove their innocence, and Seth insisted that twice that many were already dead in the past week alone.

The Council wasn’t planning to stop. Apparently the IDD had started a systematiccleanseof Baltimore first, and then they had plans to expand through the whole country. They were the Council—they called the shots here. The IDD was under their orders—Headquarters and all offices throughout the States.

“We have word that every CEO of every IDD base around the country has been invited in for briefing in person. They’ve been assigned roles and numbers, have been ordered to see their new program through step by step,” Radock said as he drank the wine Taland had offered him.

“Which basically is to wipe out third- and fourth- degree casters completely. Those who resist, die. Those who don’t, go to jail for one charge or the other. They’re bringing people in for parking tickets—any reason goes,” Aurelia said.

“Is this information coming from Cassie?” I asked because the idea that she was still inside Headquarters when the Council had lost control like this freaked me out.

“It is,” Zach said. “She’s chosen to remain inside. Said that she could help us a lot more by feeding us whatever information she could, rather than be out here.”

“She also said to tell youhi,” Aurelia said.

I swallowed hard and drank from my bottle of water, urging myself not to start cussing—or worse,cryin anger. It was Cassie’s choice. She knew what she was doing. She was a smart woman—one of the smartest people I knew.

“I’m assuming you have a plan,” Taland said from where he stood behind the couch where Aurelia, Seth and I were sitting. It wasn’t a big room, our living room, but it fit us just fine.

“We do. Go to the Council’s chambers and kill them,” said Zach, raising his wine to us, and Radock, who sat beside him, nodded.

“Exactly. There really isn’t much more wecando. We could organize small attacks and push back soldiers when they come for certain areas we have people in, but that would just make them double their forces and come back twice as hard,” he said.

“We have to uproot the Council from their position completely. We have tokillthem all,” said Zach. “That’s the only way to stop them. The IDD soldiers and agents and every other employee they have is loyal to the Council. They are not going to abandon them because being in the IDD provides them and theirs safety from this cleanse.”

I believed that with all my heart. Every person who worked for the IDD was loyal to a fault to it—and to the Council.

“So…that’s it? We show up to their chambers and we kill them—that’s it?” Because it sounded so…simple,but I also knew that when dealing with situations like this, nothing ever truly was.

Look what happened last time when we all went after David Hill.

“If you have a better idea, Agent La Rouge, we’re all ears,” Radock said, and I knew he called me that to try to get under my skin. I wasn’t about to let him.

“Just La Rouge to you, Radock,” I said, and his smile only grew. “And because I am aformerIDD agent, I know what they’re capable of. I know that if the Council is using even a quarter of their forces to protect themselves, it’s going to take a lot just to get to them—assuming we make it to their chambers.” Which also reminded me, “Do you even know where they’re located?”

“We do. They’re no longer keeping it a secret,” Aurelia said. “But you’re right—it’s a damn fortress, that building. Full of soldiers and agents, not to mentionthe Councilthemselves.”

“How many people do you still have?” Taland asked them, and Radock looked at Aurelia first, then Zach.

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