Perry made a scoffing noise. “What makes you think the blonde is innocent? Did she bat her big blue eyes and tell you how much she loves her country?”
“No, I talked to her while we drove here. She doesn’t like to eat beef because she thinks cows are cute.”
“Cute?” Another scoffing sound. “Has she ever seen a cow?”
“Intimately.” More intimately than he ever hoped to be with the animals.
“Well, don’t rule her out yet. Sometimes the innocent ones surprise you.”
The wind picked up and the branches rustled, sounding like they were scolding him.
“What about the psychic?” Perry asked. “Any thoughts on that?”
Enzo’s mind flashed to the memory of Charity holding out the water bottle to him. Had she known they would need it or was she just the precautious type? He probably should mention the incident and yet couldn’t bring himself to.
“No. Nobody wore a name tag that read Hello, my name is psychic so you don’t have to tell me yours. I already know.”
There was a pause. “That mouth of yours will get you in trouble one day.”
“I thought it already had. Isn’t that why I’m here?”
“No, you’re there because you let a telekinetic get out of hand, and we had to shoot one of our own vehicles out of the sky. Do you know what a squad car runs these days?”
There was no point arguing about that either. Enzo swatted at a passing mosquito. “If I find out anything, I’ll call again. In the meantime, I need a favor. There’s a seventeen-year-old kid out here named Callum Newman who’s waiting for the Slavery Recovery Department to find his parents. Can you lean on them to speed up the process?”
“How will that help your mission?”
Enzo had expected the question. “I planned to call you earlier, but the kid saw me fiddling with my watch and asked what I was doing. I don’t know if he suspects me, but I’d feel safer if he was back home with Mom and Dad.”
“Fine,” Perry said. Enzo could almost hear his martyred intake of breath because Enzo had given him more work to do. “Anything else?”
“No.” More mosquitos returned, buzzing hungrily. The things would probably eat him alive before he finished this mission.
“Good. Keep working and observing. In a few weeks, we’ll have someone bring you supplies.”
“What sort of supplies? My backpack isn’t exactly secure out here, and I share a room with nine other men.”
Perry sighed. “We’ve taken that into consideration. We don’t want to tell you anything that a psychic could pluck from your mind. At some point, a contact will reach out. You’ll know what the mission requires when you see them.”
It didn’t take much imagination to know what the mission required. The only question was did headquarters want the Empowereds brought in dead or alive.
Another memory filled his mind—Charity sitting next to him in the Jeep, with one hand pushing away strands of hair that hadcome loose from her ponytail. Her expression was bright, and her voice soft as she told him about bottle-feeding a calf.
For her sake, he hoped headquarters wanted the Empowereds alive.
For the next week,Enzo spent his time picking raspberries, tomatoes, and peaches, as well as planting seedlings for the fall crop. He had met all twenty-six of the harvesters on the first day of the job. The group consisted of five married couples, two with young children, ten single men, and six single women.
On the second day, he’d hardly recognized most of the single women. Their ponytails were gone, replaced by shiny, curl-swept hair. They wore makeup and clean clothes. Four of them—the ones not already in relationships with other men—went out of their way to smile and talk to him.
The other men noticed this and resented Enzo for it.
Which just went to show that despite what Schmitt said, Enzo hadn’t been the right one to send on this mission. Too many people were watching him.
Fortunately, Charity was also one of the women who smiled and talked to him. At mealtimes, Gregor always invited Enzo to sit with him, and Charity usually joined them. She was always friendly, sometimes flirty, and every morning when Enzo first saw her at breakfast, he found his eyes lingering on her longer than they should.
During the day while he worked, he was constantly aware of where she was, and even though he knew Milo and Zia were more likely to have empowered abilities, he spent most of his time talking to her. She was more approachable, and he reasoned, still a good source of information.
Enzo couldn’t quite put his finger on why he found her so attractive. Yes, she was pretty, but he’d met plenty of beautiful women, many of whom were more striking than Charity and yet not nearly as compelling.