Brianna Acero and the Second One's Return

61. We give the President a ride

"Once we make it to the compound we will start interrogations, Christian is going to want to speak with him himself," says Daniel from the driver's seat of our van.

Anna and Asher had been taken by the helicopter to the nearest hospital, which meant we needed to make it to the compound another way. It's a bit crowded, seeing as we are ten people in an eight-seater vehicle, but we made do.

Daniel's right about one thing though, Christian would be dying to get his hands on the President. He wasn't able to come on the mission himself, he said he had important things he had to do at the compound, ad so he sent Danie in his place. I ignored how strange it was that, whenever we seemed to need him, he disappeared, and just brush it off at it being his position at the compound. As director he must have things going on constantly, and so I let it go.

"I refuse to be taken against my will," says Khan from the back, where we've tied him up along with his bodyguard, who still refuses to say a word. Unlike his employer, who doesn't seem to want to shut up.

"If you are going to be taking me anywhere, I suggest you take me back to the Mar, that way you people can see that you are making a grave mistake."

He keeps trying to convince us that he is innocent, that he had nothing to do with the killings, but his words mean nothing to us.

"I didn't see a black string," said Anna, lying on the floor of the helicopter as tears of blood ran down her cheeks. "I didn't manage to find it before he... before..."

That was all she managed to get out before another sob wracked her frame. She didn't even manage to get a good look at her attacker before he rendered her Gift useless, but she said he was wearing that strange suit that all the reports said he had on during the time of the murders. For some reason, he decided to spare her. She said he could have killed her if he wanted to, she had nowhere to go, he could have just pulled off one of his gloves and touch her skin, and that would be the end of it. But instead he took out a knife, faster than she could react, and did something far worse than killing her.

"You heard your friend. He had special gear and a knife, does it look like I have any of those?"

The president is dressed in a gray suit, similar to the one his bodyguard is wearing, only three shades lighter and covered in dust. I look at him, trying to tell if he is being truthful or not.

"You could have hidden them before we got to the factory, got rid of the knife you used to torture our friend." Snaps Kalen, looking over his shoulder to stare daggers at the president. The front of Kalen's shirt is soaked in Anna's blood, and the sheer amount of it makes me want to throw up.

At Kalen's words the man doesn't shrink back in fear, instead it makes him sit a little bit taller.

"I keep telling you, I don't know what happened to that poor girl, but I had nothing to do with it. Take me to the Mar and I can prove to you that I am innocent!"

I try to block out the persistent little voice that keeps telling me that we've made a mistake, but eventually its whispers get to be too much. I start to doubt myself. What if Khan is telling the truth, what if we got the wrong man?

"Daniel," I say, pulling against my seat belt to whisper in my mentors' ear.

"What if he's telling the truth? What if he isn't who we've been looking for? Shouldn't we let him try to defend himself?"

Daniel doesn't take his eyes off the road, but I don't miss the way he clenches his jaw, grinding his teeth together. Okay, so my mentor isn't in the right state of mind right now and is too mad to listen to what I'm telling him, but the voice in my head is screaming at me to convince him, and so I continue.