Brianna Acero and the Second One's Return

35. The perfect target

"It's like it sucked the life out of her completely."

I shudder at the image. Quinn, who had always been so full of life, lying dead on the floor, her pretty blue eyes staring at nothing. Who possessed such a horrible Gift? Why had we never heard about it?

"Did you tell Christian any of this?" Asks Kalen, voice softer than before, but with the same steely glint in his eyes.

Jack's mouth turns into a straight line, and his face hardens.

"Of course we told him all of this, what, do you think we don't want this jerk to get caught, after what he did?"

"That's not what I meant, I just--"

Jack shoots up from the table, shaking off Dean and pushing his way past us.

"We've had a pretty rough day already Halloran, we don't need any more judgment from you."

He levels his stare at Kalen, who just looks at him with pity. Jack is hurting, and he is taking it out on those around him. I just hope he'll be able to control himself around his team members. They also went through the same hell he did.

"Did you learn anything about this man?" Asks Mara, trying to get more information out of him before he turns to leave.

He hesitates but turns back to face us.

"All the men had been using code names, like Simon Says. Well when this guy showed up, they called him Second One."

He looks at us, gauging our reactions.

"I know it doesn't sound like much, but that's all we have to go on right now."

With that he turns around and walks into the hallway, leaving us in the common area.

Mara sighs, turning to Dean, Laura, and Adam.

"I'm really sorry guys."

Laura is still sniffling, but Dean smiles.

"Yeah, it's been rough," he hunches his shoulders and lets them fall again, as if he couldn't bear the weight of losing his teammate.

"Oh, and because we all want to find this sucker and put him where he belongs," he says, fire burning in his gaze. "The barrels those guys were loading into the truck? They were full, of RII."

Ruthenium II? Why would they need RII?

"I know it doesn't narrow down the search but..."

"Any information is welcome Dean," says Cassie. "Thank you"

He nods, and puts an arm around Laura to steer her out of the common room, Adam bringing up the rear. Now it's just us and a few stragglers left in the common room, and we decide to sit over on one of the orange sofas.

"So RII," says Cassie, folding her hands in front of her. Her blue hair dangles in front of her eyes, and she blows the strands away from her face.

"What would that be about?" Asks Mara, more to herself than anything.

"It is a fuel source, they might need it to power something."

"Yeah, but bucket loads?" Says Kalen.

"They must need it to power something big. And I mean spacecraft big. Just a few liters of the stuff could power a small city."

He's right, RII is powerful. And easy to come by nowadays. If they found it in an abandoned factory the place must have used to deal with some sort of radiation, maybe a medical facility? Anyways, if this guy was building something and he needed containers full of RII to power it, it couldn't be anything good.