by SM Olivier
“Hello, Blake,” the man in the suit smiled warmly at me. He reminded me of a younger version of Robert DeNiro. “My name’s Paul.”
I heard the click of the door shutting behind me. I leaned against the wall, warily eyeing him. “Are you one of Horatio’s minions? He’s dead you know,” I said snidely.
Paul frowned as his ‘body guard’ snorted. “I wish that were true,” I thought I heard him mutter before he indicated the seat across from him. “Please sit, there’s a bottle of water right there. If you’re hungry, I can get you some food,” he grimaced slightly. “Our operative had the wrong tranq in his gun, so you’re probably parched.”
I stared at him with a deadpan expression, making no move to sit down.
He sighed. He was looking at me kindly, but I didn’t trust him. How could I trust anyone that took me against my will? “Well then.” He cleared his throat. “Stand if you like. I don’t work for Horatio. I own a private company contracted out by the government. I’m sorry if you feel we can’t be…trusted, but you must understand that you were in danger and we had to remove you before Horatio got you. We thought if we helped you and your family out of your situation, you would be able to help us out. We didn’t have time to call you in or ask. As it was, we barely extracted you in time.”
“Horatio’s dead,” I stated again. “Where’s my family? I want to see my family.”
“I will take you to them shortly. I assure you, they are safe. I wanted to talk to you and see if you would be willing to help us out. They are talking to some of my men at the moment, too,” he explained. “If what I have heard is correct, I know that if you’re willing to help us, they will agree to it as well.”
“Prove it,” I stated.
He turned on the screen, and I could see Rachel, Jemmy, Gavin, and Sierra on split screens. Each one of them were talking to men in the black uniforms. He pushed another button, and I was able to see Jaxson, Troy, Remy, and Noah. He pushed the button once again, and I saw Terrance, Will, Jace, and Drake. They all looked fine, although some of them had belligerent, angry expressions. I was surprised to see Will. I had never heard him come back to the house. I also noticed I had migrated closer to the table.
“I’m a 17-year-old girl, how can I possibly help you big bad men?” I asked suspiciously as I played naïve.
He gave me a long-suffering look. “We know you are gifted, and we have a common enemy. I figured with our efforts combined, maybe we can finally put the rabid dog down before he further hurts your community and hurts innocent people. The government is now aware of your community, and I would like to diffuse the problem before it escalates.”
“I think you have me confused for another person,” I tried to act bored with the whole conversation as I picked my nails of the nonexistent dirt under them.
He sighed once more as he picked up his remote. I gasped, and my eyes widened as I saw Troy, Micah, Sierra, Rachel, and I on the screen. We had just appeared at the building, and Troy and I were setting the building on fire. I watched as we disappeared once more. Then moments later, I saw four men running from the building. The video was paused, and then Paul zoomed in on the faces of the men.
It was definitely Horatio. He had gotten out. I stifled the tears threatening to spill. I thought I had avenged the people he had wronged. I had failed once more.
“What can I possibly do?” I asked again, feeling the numbness within once more. I was sitting now. My knees clasped to my chest as I sipped on the bottle of water.
“We would like it if you would help us. We have battle-ready men and woman, but they don’t have the gifts you do. We need people like you and your boy—" he squirmed in his chair, searching for the right words.
“Men, boyfriends, connections,” I supplied dryly.
“Right,” He cleared his throat with a blush. “We need people like you and your men to help us. Horatio’s becoming a thorn in your side, and believe it or not, we want to protect your community, too. We’ve been aware of your activities for some time now, and every successful mission with low to no casualty rates have involved you and your team.”
I felt a sharp pain within my chest. I would have preferred no casualty rates. I narrowed my eyes on him. “How can I trust you? Even if I could, you realize you went about it the wrong way. You came into my home. You drugged me. You took me away from my family. Even if I had the power to sway them, like you think I do, I couldn’t or wouldn’t make any decisions without them.”
Paul grimaced. “I’m sorry. We just didn’t have the time to explain it in your environment. You really pissed Horatio off this time. The moment after you were extracted, he blew up your home.”
I was taken back to my room and brought a lunch tray. They promised me that they would take me to see my family once they were briefed of our situation. I didn’t understand their tactics, but they must have a reason for it. I still didn’t know if I could trust them. The door opened once more.
A woman and two men stood in the door.
“Hello, Amanda,” the woman softly spoke to me. “I’m sorry you’re here under these circumstances but we needed you all to come with us quickly.”
She was a beautiful woman with her long black hair and cornflower blue eyes. She was dressed in a smart three-piece suit. If I had to guess her age I would put her in her early thirties, but the laugh lines around her eyes indicated an older age. She seemed so familiar to me. When she smiled at me, I felt a memory try to push through.
“I know no Amanda,” I stated coldly as I stumbled back to the bed. I sunk down on it and braced my head against the wall.
I was back to being belligerent. Paul seemed sincere, and I truly believed he wanted our help. He had told me about his operations. He said he had roughly eighty people in his fighting force. Each one of them had military or law enforcement history. They also knew, or was related to, a gifted individual. Even with his apparent friendliness and earnest expressions, I still felt leery of the whole situation.
I was brought out of my musings as the woman advanced into my room.
The woman smiled at me as she tsked at me. “You always were such a stubborn girl. You go by Blake now, right? If you like, I’ll call you Blake.” Her eyes were kind as she was looked at me, but I couldn’t trust her.
“That would help, since it is my name,” I sneered. “I’ll also like for you to bring me back to my…family,” I rolled my eyes as I looked over at the two burly men behind her.
She sighed as she turned into the hallway.
I noticed she had left the door open and I started to creep towards it. I stifled a shriek of surprise as she popped her head back in. “Come on now. I have some people waiting for you.”
I followed her through the long white halls, constantly looking for a way and opportunity to escape. I was starting to feel defeated as we came to double doors at the end of the hallways. Finally, I was met with color once more. I was standing in a wide-open room. Two men stood near a half wall looking down.
I could hear grunting and laughter below me and I peered over the edge. I saw close to fifty people (more men than female) below me, sparring each other. It reminded me of the sparring we did at the academy, but more intense.
They were dressed much like the men leading us down the halls. I knew I wasn’t physically capable of running from them or overtaking them, so I acted complacent for now.
One of the men turned and looked at me. He smiled when he saw me. “You must be, Blake. I have heard so much about you.” He came over to me and held out his hand. He was slightly taller than me, but his build reminded me of a bull dogs. He was built, but stocky. He was bald and attractive. His brown eyes danced when he smiled.
I looked at him coolly. “I’m sorry I can’t say the same about you.”
“Oh, of course,” he chuckled. “I’m Leo. Troy’s right-hand man.” He held out his hand.
I took a step back and glared at him. He had betrayed Troy. Why were we constantly bringing people around us that was
betraying us?
“I think she will be more receptive once we take her to her family,” the woman chuckled at me.
His eyes widened. “Of course. They’re waiting for her in there.”
They began walking once more, and I followed them to another set of doors. It looked like a large conference room. A large table dominated the room with several chairs surrounding it. I saw all my guys and Jemmy, Gavin, Will, Beth, Cora, Rachel, Terrance, and Sierra. Beyond them I could see the children playing in an enclosed courtyard. They all seemed relaxed as they ate at the table and talked quietly.
Jace saw me first, pushed his chair back and closed the distance between us. He picked me up and brought me close.
I laughed and felt the tears threatening once more. Two things happened at once. Jace stiffened, and the room suddenly became still and quiet. I looked around in confusion. Will and Jaxson were now standing side by side, looking at the woman behind me like they had seen a ghost.
“Megan,” Will finally said quietly.
We were all sitting at the conference table after I found out that the children were fine happy. Other children were playing with them, and their ordeal had been forgotten. Will had left the room with Megan, so that left us trying to make sense of it all.
“Is our home really gone?” I asked quietly from Jace’s lap. He had refused to let me go once I was returned to them.
“Yes,” Troy finally said. “Leo showed me the pictures.”
I looked over at him. “How do we keep allowing people that may harm us into our lives?”
Troy shook his head. “I still trust him with my life. He’s been running my company in my absence, and he got intel on the possible attack on us. He couldn’t reach me, since my phone was taken. He goes way back with Paul Keebler. He contacted him. Apparently, Paul had already been watching us.”
“He had to see if you were to be trusted,” Megan said softly from the doorway.
I could clearly see the family resemblance now. Jace and Jaxson’s looked exactly like her. I imagined she looked a lot like her sister.
Will followed her in the room and took a seat, after pulling a seat out for her. She gave him a warm smile before sitting down. She looked directly at Jaxson and Jace. “After I left your father and mother, I joined the Air Force. I thought if I was busy and flitting across the globe, I would be able to forget you guys.” I thought I saw a look of sadness crossed her face before she looked down. When she looked back she looked composed once more. “I was constantly deployed once my training was complete. I met Paul through my travels. He was a private contractor. He told me if I ever separated from active duty, he wanted me to give him a call. When I… had enough, I left active duty and gave him a call.
“Somewhere along the line he figured out I was gifted. His mother had been, but he isn’t. He works a lot of missions we can’t discuss. I ran one of his teams, but recently he asked me if I would move up in the ranks.
“Horatio has exposed our community in so many ways. He needs to be stopped before they can no longer ignore us. Some people are already wanting us to register ourselves. They want to experiment on us. They want to put us in camps. We have been able to coexist peacefully for thousands of years, but now our way of life is being threatened.”
I looked over at Will. “How do we know if they’re telling us the truth?”
Rachel cleared her throat. “They are,” she stated. “Horatio has my dad and brother. I’m staying here and helping them.”
I looked at all the guys, they looked back at me. Jace squeezed my hand. “It’s your call, sweetheart. They have the same mission we do. They have better resources them we do. They can help us in many ways, and we can help them.”
“What about the rest of our team?” I looked over at Terrance and then Sierra, Cora, Beth, and Gavin. “We can’t very well speak for everyone. Everyone needs to make their own decisions. They want us to move in here. We’re going to be cut off from the outside world for…awhile.”
“We’re staying here,” Beth stated. I noticed she looked like she had lost her normal sparkle, and Cora was sightlessly staring at the wall. My heart sank. This was a lot for them to take on now. They should be grieving their loss of their connection; instead, they were being forced to make decisions.
“I have to stay with my family,” Jemmy looked over at Gavin. From her defeated look, I knew she expected him to cut his losses and leave.
Gavin gave her a warm smile, before kissing her cheek. “And I belong by your side.”
She beamed at him as tears filled her eyes.
“I’m staying,” Sierra stated resolutely as she looked over at them.
I looked over at Jaxson.
They’ll figure it out, soon enough, he said to me.
I nodded wordlessly.
Terrance looked at Will. “I would like my whole team to have the right to decide, but I would like to stay with you here. I feel like I already started this, and I need to see it through.”
“Then I guess we’re all in,” I decided as I looked at the guys. They all nodded at me and I knew I had made the right decision.
Authors Note
I want to thank everyone that decided to continue my journey with Blake in Gifted Connections Book 2. I live with my husband, two children, and 3 fur babies. I love cooking, reading, and dabbling with photography.
I’ve loved writing ‘stories’ since I was ten years old. I remember starting many stories in my spiralbound notebooks. I’m pretty sure if I was to go through my parents’ house I would still find some of them.
As an adult, I traded my spiralbound notebooks for a laptop. In between my book hangovers, I started many stories. One day, my husband told me if I wasn’t going to do anything with my ‘stories,’ what was the use of them? So I took a leap of faith and released Gifted Connections.
It has been a learning experience for me. I’m still learning as I go. Thank you for the readers that have encouraged me through this process. It helps knowing I have an audience that loves this book as much as I do.