by SM Olivier
“What about all the children? “Draked asked. “We can’t let them know what’s going on, and we can’t really end the party now. We still have two more hours here.”
“So Remy and I load the people up into the bus,” I said. “And we leave for the base now. We need to find out the situation there.”
“You’re not leaving without all of us,” Jace stated and then paused. “Blake, make them show themselves.”
I did feel another presence nearby. “Show yourself,” I commanded the spies.
Victoria and Micah appeared, looking at me sheepishly.
“What if Micah were to drop them off in different countries? Preferably ones where they don’t speak English,” Victoria said boldly. “Blake should make them turn over all their money, identifications, and cellphones. That should hold them up for a little while.”
“The more dangerous ones can be sent to heaviest crime areas,” Greg smirked. “Or all of them can.”
Remy started to chuckle. “Let’s do this. One by one, let’s clear these people out.”
“Blake,” Gavin called out to me. “Lincoln just filled me in with what’s going on, do you need us?”
“Yes,” I said decisively. “I think we need Jemmy, you, and Sierra.” I then looked over at our little group. “Gavin, Sierra, Jemmy, Micah, Drake, Victoria, and I are going to take these people one at a time. It won’t raise too much suspicion, hopefully. Drake can keep us protected. Victoria will keep us invisible. Jemmy will short out the telephone lines. Sierra will boost us. Gavin will imitate as necessary.”
“We’ll start with Los Cabos, Mexico,” Drake said with a smirk as he looked up from his phone.
“The fake Troy is the most dangerous one here, but we should probably leave him last,” Greg stated with a smirk.
“Let’s get these passed out to the children and get to work,” Drake stated.
The first guy we got was reasonably easy. He was a level four and didn’t have a chance to react. We had the element of surprise on our side.
It wasn’t until we were on our fifth guy that I think they were finally getting suspicious.
“Where do you keep running off too?” Fake Troy asked as he cornered me near the arcades.
I should get an Emmy with the acting I was doing tonight. I pasted on a smile. “What do you mean? It’s Alex’s birthday, and we have a lot of kids here. I thought you were supposed to be playing laser tag with Kade? That’s all you kept talking about the last few days.” I lied.
Everyone was now on high alert. All the Knights and the other gifted people we brought with us were well aware of the situation right now. Only Alex and Ella were the only gifted ones shielded from the knowledge. We didn’t want to ruin Alex’s birthday party.
He shrugged before he attempted to embrace me. I barely repressed the shudder that threatened to course through my body.
“I changed my mind. I just want to be near you since I’ve been gone the last few days,” he crooned.
“Hey man,” Jaxson stated. “What are you doing? They’re waiting for you to play laser tag.”
“Nah,” Fake Troy shook his head. “I changed my mind.”
“Aren’t you feeling jet-lagged?” I asked him. “You’re feeling really really sleepy. You should go take a nap in the banquet room.” I compelled him as I looked deeply into his eyes.
Fake Troy yawned deeply. “I’m exhausted. I think I might go lay down.”
“I’ll go with you,” I guided him to the banquet room.
“Hey Troy,” a middle-aged man came sauntering up to us.
I paused. “Um, I’m sorry I don’t think I know who you are.”
“We’re old pals aren’t we, buddy?” the man stated exuberantly.
“Yeah, friends,” Troy mumbled. “So tired. Need to sleep.”
I felt the confusion and distrust rise within the man. “Stop,” I compelled him. “Go play basketball,” I said looking over at the basketball arcade game. One problem at a time.
“They know!” I heard Noah say in my head. “They are actively looking for their missing friends right now. We need to contain this situation before they call in back up.”
Suddenly I heard Nadia’s high pitched scream in the direction of their indoor playground. I quickly ushered Fake Troy into the banquet room, while Jaxson took off in the opposite direction.
“What’s going on?” Hazel asked in concern as she stood up from her seat at the table.
“I don’t know,” I said trying not to think that the situation had escalated. “Can you make sure he takes his nap? I’ll be right back.”
I came to a skidding halt as I ran back into the central part of the facilities. Almost everyone was frozen in place except for our gifted.
Marcel and Terrance were carefully extricating Nadia from the webbing of the play structure. It appeared that Remy and Lincoln were trying to remove a hysterical Nadia from a whitish, thick, sticky substance. It almost looked like that fake spider webbing you strung up at Halloween, but I knew it wasn’t supposed to be here. I continued to look around in shock as I advanced forward.
I shuddered as I drew closer. I wasn’t afraid of spiders, but they did give me heebie-jebbies. The thing in Drake’s forcefield was what nightmares were made of. It was a six-foot-tall spider with multiple eyes and legs. I bit back my shriek as it charged the forcefield. Its large fangs were excreting a massive amount of greenish yellow venom.
“Who’s next?” I asked as I walked up to Micah, Victoria, Gavin, and Greg.
“Oymyakon, Russia should be beautiful this time of year,” Greg said with a glare at the spider.
Victoria pulled out her phone and showed Micah. She shivered. “It looks icy and−” she looked over at Greg and gave him a wicked smiled. “−spiders typically go dormant in cold weather.”
Greg chuckled darkly as he looked back over at Nadia. She was no longer shrieking, but the fear was still in her eyes. As Terrance handed her over to Jace, I finally saw her visibly relax.
Chapter 28
“I found a hotel twenty minutes north of here,” Will stated as we loaded up the children. “It has an indoor water park, and I was able to talk to the manager to keep it open for us until midnight. There are rooms already reserved in my name.”
“We’ll be okay,” Beth reassured Will. “You guys just focus on getting rid of those snakes in our home.”
“Here’s my card,” Greg commented as he pulled out his black card. “Get all the children new swimsuits, and we’ll let you know when the danger has passed.”
“We’ll be okay,” Rachel reassured them.
Beth, Cora, Megan, Rachel, Mr. Moore, and Hazel had volunteered to take the children. It took us a little bit longer than we wanted to get rid of the people that were sent to attack us. Currently, Fake Troy was still with us.
“Let’s go.” Beth looped her arms through Victoria’s and Micah’s.
“We want to stay and help,” Micah insisted. He looked over at Will and Remy pleadingly.
“I think we still need them,” Will said slowly.
“Look at them, though.” Megan frowned. “They’re exhausted.”
“Do you think you have one more jump in you?” Will asked Micah. “If you don’t, it's not worth risking the safety of everyone.”
“I have a few. I promise Pops,” Micah maintained. “I know how important it is to let you know if I can’t handle it.”
I knew I should feel fatigued by now, but I wasn’t. There was still a lot of adrenaline running through me. It also helped not having to take all the leaps with Micah.
After we found our rhythm, we started to switch up who went with Micah. Miranda and Ben were able to tag Drake and Victoria out. Lincoln was able to tag Gavin and me out. Then everyone else was able to fit in as needed.
It was especially tricky to convince a room full of people that they hadn’t seen a man transform into a spider, who then pinned a girl to the side of the play place with his web.
Jemmy f
ound it disgustingly easy to sneak into the manager's offices and erase the three minutes of recording, on the other hand.
“I’m not tired, either,” Victoria asserted.
“I’m going too,” Patrick said mutinously.
“Absolutely not,” Cora said resolutely. “I know you want to be with your friends, but they need to focus on the task at hand and not worry about you.”
“I’m older than Vick, and I should be able to go,” Patrick contended.
“Patty,” Victoria said gently as she placed a hand on his arm. “I know you're worried about me, but you should go with Nadia. You know we would feel safer by your side. Plus−”
I didn’t hear the rest of her words as I looked at the hand that was now placed on Patrick consolingly. The sleeve on her right arm had risen, revealing her inner wrist. The angry red was unmistakable. I remembered receiving my mark like it was yesterday; it had looked just as blistered and red as hers did. With time, it had faded to a pinkish white looking scar. Victoria must have gotten hers recently.
“Blake?” Noah called my name.
I looked up at him and noticed almost everyone in our circle was looking at me expectantly. Victoria must have finally realized that I was closely scrutinizing her mark. She hastily pulled down her sleeve and looked at me with something akin to panic. I mentally told myself that I would talk to her later. Now was not the time or place to question her.
“Did you want me to let the kids know they’re not going back to base with us?” Jaxson asked.
“No, I’ll do it,” I volunteered. I tossed my keys to Gavin. “Be nice to my baby,” I warned him.
He nodded with a raised brow. “I’ll treat her right. Ready, girls?”
Jemmy and Sierra nodded.
“Let’s go,” Dawn stated.
Gavin, Sierra, Jemmy, and Dawn were driving my Jeep back. Since our last attack, we found out there were other entrances to the mountain that we were unaware of. They were headed to another access road. We weren’t going to the main entrance. We only hoped that the second guard shack hadn’t been discovered from the back entrance.
“New plans,” I shouted cheerfully as I hopped onto the bus. “I know most of you thought we were finished here, but we’re not. Drumroll please.” I waited for the sound of open palms slapping the seats and their laps. “I bet you didn’t know that this was an overnight trip. You’re now going to an indoor water park!”
Most of the bus erupted in cheers. It was so deafening, I nearly had to cover my ears. The poor bus driver did.
“Blake,” Tyra Henderson raised her hand.
“Hmm?” I tried to keep my smile in place. Tyra was in middle school. She was also one of the brightest kids in her class.
“My mom and dad aren’t answering their phones, and the base is in lockdown,” Tyra said with a worried frown.
Nervous chatter erupted on the bus. I looked over at Jace, who had followed me up on the bus.
His look was full of meaning. “We’re well aware of that,” Jace said clearing his throat. “But everything is going to be okay.”
“I want to go back,” Tyra stated resolutely.
A few voices piped up in agreeance.
“You can’t,” I told her firmly with an apologetic look. “I know you might be worried, but we’re going to take care of this, and we’ll let you know the moment we find out everyone’s okay.”
“We don’t have our swimsuits or PJs,” one of the little girls in Alex’s class called out.
“We’ll get them there,” Megan chirped.
“Can I get a two piece?” another girl asked hopefully.
“Would your mom let you?” Megan countered back.
Megan had made it her mission to get to know everyone in the compound. She just didn’t just know who they were, she got to really know them; their history, their background, what drove them to come to the compound, and more.
“No,” she grumbled honestly.
“I’m sure we can find a cute tankini or one, piece though,” Rachel enthused.
“Okay,” the girl beamed.
Somewhere along the way, Rachel and Jemmy garnered a little following. Rachel had continued keeping her hair bleach blonde since Halloween. However, like Jemmy, she had added more colorful highlights to them. She was currently rocking purple highlights while Jemmy had blue.
It was hard not to notice when some of the little girls started to put the temporary sprays in their hair as well.
“Be safe,” Alex insisted in my head.
“I will,” I told him. “Have fun and enjoy the rest of your birthday.”
I sought him out and found him sitting in the back next to Nadia. He smiled and waved at me. I was glad he was taking it better than I thought he would.
The SUV had barely rolled to a stop before I was launching myself out of it and running toward the coffee shop. I didn’t know why we thought it was okay that Troy left by himself. He could have been hurt, if not worse, killed. The idea of losing him had been too much.
If Fake Troy had known Troy well enough to imitate his mannerisms or was a better actor, we never would have known a thing, and stopping any kind of attack would have been too late.
I stuttered to a stop when I saw Troy. His build was unmistakable in the back corner of the room. He had a black hat pulled down low over his forehead and a pair of dark sunglasses on. Even with his disguise, I could see the left side of his face was one big bruise. When he reached for his coffee cup, he grimaced and switched to his left hand. His mouth was busted, so he winced when he sipped the hot liquid.
He looked up suddenly and shuffled to his feet. He embraced me and immediately sagged against me. “Oh honey, I love you,” he mumbled under his breath.
I staggered under his weight. “I love you too. What’s wrong?” I asked in alarm. “Those five men did this to you?”
He laughed and then gasped sharply in pain. “I may have exaggerated slightly. There may have been more than five men.”
“Let’s get to Noah,” I asserted. “He’ll fix you up in no time.”
“What’s happening at the base, and why couldn’t I go to the birthday party?” Troy continued to lean on me.
“How about we fix you up first?” Noah insisted before he placed an arm around Troy’s back.
“Away from here,” Remy maintained as he looked around the coffee shop. It wasn’t busy by any means, but everyone was nosey in this small little town.
It was hard not to notice my guys. Especially when they were together. I still couldn’t believe that they were mine. Well, nearly all of them. I still expected Lincoln to cut bait and run.
As I looked over at him standing in line, I wondered if he realized he still wore a bright red mask around his eyes and a red cape. It worked for most of the night. We only noticed a few people showing a little more than a casual interest in him tonight.
“Let’s go,” I finally agreed. “We can catch up on the way there.”
“Come on, Jax, let’s go help Linc get those coffees,” Drake said. “We’re probably going to need them.”
“Should we order some food?” Jaxson asked as they started to walk away.
Jace started to laugh. “We just had ice cream and cake a couple of hours ago. You cannot possibly be hungry again.”
“One, as a matter fact I am. Two, I need to bulk up more. Three, we might want them later on. Four, it was more of a rhetorical question, not an actual question,” Jaxson said with a smug smile.
“I can go for a banana nut muffin,” Remy stated with a small smile.
“Ohhh yes and a blueberry muffin.” Jaxson snapped his fingers.
“Let’s get them and get out of here,” Drake said in exasperation.
“Please do,” Troy grunted in pain.
The way back to base was a lot longer than usual. We had to head east and approach the base from the opposite mountain. The road had ended and turned into dirt. We found the track through the woods and pulled onto the one lane path. It was
rough and bumpy, but it was the only access we had to the second mountain.
We were relieved to see the guard still at the shack. The shack was less a shack and more like a glorified She Shed. They had access to television and computers, even had a little mini fridge.
They never made us operate them, but I had seen them. The back shack wasn’t that strict. All they had to do was make sure no one entered without the proper credentials, and they weren’t allowed to sleep.
“Hey, Masters,” Remy said as he leaned out the window and showed his badge.
Masters was one of the Nons we trained with from time to time and a likable guy. He was generally quiet and kept to himself.
“Hey Murphy,” he replied back. “I’m glad to see you guys!”
“Thanks,” Jace said from the front seat. He leaned across the center console. “Did you already give my dad all the info you could?”
“I did,” Masters said with a grimace. “I got a call from Darren right after everything started going down. He said to remain silent until he let me know the situation was handled. However, I know he manually unlocked the entrance from this side.”
“Hopefully they didn’t find out about it…yet,” Jace frowned.
“Hopefully.” Masters echoed.
“Want a coffee or a muffin? Maybe a bagel or a pastry?” Jaxson leaned out of the back window.
“A coffee and bagel sound great,” Masters smiled. “They didn’t send me out any dinner, and I skipped lunch.”
Drake rustled around the bags as Lincoln poured some coffee in a disposable cup.
“Cream, sugar?” Lincoln asked.
“Both please,” Masters nodded.
I reached into the bags of cream and sugar and withdrew some. Then handed it to Jaxson.
“Thanks, guys,” Masters held up his bagel and coffee.
“No problem. See ya later,” Remy said before he put the truck in drive.
“See ya later, go kick some ass,” Masters grunted.
“We plan to.” Remy laughed before pulling away.
We drove a few more miles before I saw our other vehicles. Ben was framed in the hidden doorway, and he waved at us as we pulled up. Remy cut the engines off, and we got out of the vehicle quietly.