My bond is also hungry right now, which makes the irritation a million times worse. “I’m more help out there than I am in this stupid house!”
North shakes his head and Gryphon just turns on his heel and moves to stand with Kieran, the two of them disappearing with a pop.
I want to scream.
“We’re all staying here for now, Oleander, but you can all come to my office and watch the reports come in until we decide what the plan of action will be.”
I share a look with Sage and we both nod, following him out without another word. Everyone chooses to come as well and when we get there, Sawyer is already set up at North’s desk with a laptop, tapping away furiously. North grabs one of his spare chairs to direct me into with a hand to my shoulder, giving it a squeeze as he gets his phone out and starts texting someone.
“What's happening? What are you doing?” I murmur, nosy and grumpy at being left behind in this freaking house, but he’s good about it.
“I’m calling Bassinger down to watch with us. He has been very good about giving us information, and there might be something here that flags with him. I’ll use every resource at our disposal if it will keep you safe.”
My cheeks heat and Sage perches on her chair, holding a hand out to me for comfort. I take it, giving her fingers a little squeeze. When North finds an extra chair for himself, he pulls it up to my other side. Grey stands behind Sawyer and watches him work, while Gabe and Felix both grab chairs from the dining room to sit by the wall together, murmuring quietly about what this all means for us. I try not to think about it too much.
Atlas arrives after a few minutes, ignoring everyone and making a beeline for me. The office chairs aren’t really big enough for the two of us to share one, but when I stand up to give him a hug, he just maneuvers us around until I’m perched in his lap.
North gives him a very unimpressed look. Atlas just shrugs it off, drawling, “You’ve kept her as far away from me as you can manage without it hurting her, you can get over it for now.”
Sage bites her lip to stop herself from smirking and then Sawyer clears his throat. “I’ve got it. I’ll get the streams on the big screen. Shore, Black, and Rockelle are all wearing cams, so we can see what they’re seeing. They all have comms as well, so if you need them to backtrack on something, just tell me.”
Atlas nods and North shoves his phone away to watch as the large flatscreen on the wall lights up and we can see the footage of three cameras up there.
The area hasn’t just been raided…
It’s a massacre.
We all sit there in silence as the three operatives walk around the area and we see the carnage. There are bodies everywhere. Top Tier Gifted and the lower families alike, there are corpses littering the streets for everyone to see. Kieran walks past a Non-Gifted reporter trying to get past the barriers and talking a whole lot of bullshit about the situation, not surprising, but the Tac guys there won’t let her through.
After a few minutes of watching, North says to Atlas, his voice low, “Do you see anything?”
I feel Atlas shrug. “I can only guess for most of it… except the scorch marks. That’s absolutely Peter, one of my sister’s Bonded. The patterns? A dead giveaway for his gift. Wait! That, there. Sawyer, can you pull it back? Three seconds. Yeah, pause it. That injury? That’s pretty specific. My father was definitely a part of this too. Fuck. Okay, that helps. He has a team of people he won’t work without, so that narrows the list down greatly on where they’d be taking people. Dad only works with three camps. Oli took out one of them, and I can make an educated guess on which of the other two he’d pick.”
I lean into him. “Has your mom told them? That you’re in this Bond Group yet?”
He glances at me and shrugs. “The last I heard from her before I gave up my phone, she hadn’t. Things could have changed. North would know more if she attempted to contact me about it.”
We both glance at him, and he shakes his head. “She hasn’t sent anything through. If we all go to the camp for a clean out, you’ll have to be prepared for them to know.”
“Can’t we just… keep Atlas here? Won’t they change things up if we go now?”
North shakes his head. “We’re already about to change everything around, this raid has just sped that process up a few weeks. As long as Bassinger is sure he’s given us all of the information we need, then it’s a risk we’re taking.”
Atlas nods. “It’s everything I had stashed away as important and everything else you’ve asked for. If I think of anything else or something comes up, I’ve already said I’ll give it to you. Whatever keeps Oli safe, it’s yours.”