Gifted Connections 01

by S M Olivier

  “Do you remember what hospital you went to? Do you think you can point him out if we showed you a picture of him?” Troy asked quietly as he turned in his seat.

  “I don’t know the hospital, but I can remember the guy,” Alex said confidently.

  “Do you know how long it took to get to the hospital from your house?” Troy gently prodded. “How about your address?”

  “I lived at forty-two Front Street Apartment B,” he continued to rattle off his complete address. “The hospital was near my school: Woodburn Elementary. You’re not taking me back are you?” he asked worriedly. “My dad likes to hit me, and I don’t want to go back.”

  “No,” Jace stated emphatically. “We’re not taking you back.”

  Alex visibly sagged with relief.

  Troy immediately picked up his phone. “Hey Leo, yeah I know. I’m sorry. I know it’s late, but can you do me a favor and find out who lives at this address? Yes. Yes. I’ll pay you for your time,” he rattles off the address. “And I need you to find out what hospitals are located near Woodburn Elementary and I need pictures of the staff.” There was a pause on his end of the phone. “Yes as soon as possible. Thanks, man, talk to you later.”

  “What happened to your mother?” I asked Alex tentatively.

  Alex looked up at me. “She split when I was a baby. Dad says I look a lot like her, you must too,” he said intuitively.

  I laughed despite the gravity of the situation. “You see too much don’t you?” I ruffled his curls.

  It was a bit of a shock to know my mom may still be out there and she had given birth to another child. A child that should have been near impossible. If the gifted generally birthed no more than two children, it was hard to believe I had at least two siblings. Well, by blood.

  He smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “There’s more you know,” he whispered conspiratorially. “We have two more brothers out there. The man in the suit was really happy when he found me. Before we got to the trailer he made a lot of phone calls. He has someone looking for them. He says Horatio would take care of him for life if he found all of Miranda’s children.”

  I felt like I had been socked in the stomach and my heart was in my throat. “Who was the man in the suit? Did you hear where they may be?”

  My mind was reeling in shock and I felt the tenseness radiating from Jace, Troy, and Jaxson as we all looked at each other. It was like Pandora’s box had been opened. We knew we had to find my other brothers before Horatio did. He already had my older sister on his side. Alex already showed promise of being powerful. Who knows how strong the other two were?

  “He’s the man who hurt you,” Alex said with a frown. “I’m not sure where they’re at. But they’ve been talking to me lately, like you did.” He said hesitantly.

  The guys looked at me questioningly. “Before Pops went into the bedroom, where they were kept, I heard Alex tell me that they weren’t alone. Whoever let us know there were only two people watching the children was incorrect. He was able to show me what he had seen and transfer my thoughts to Zach Young. I think he was in deep, but I don’t think he knew that the children were kept in those conditions.”

  “So, someone fed us the wrong information,” Jaxson muttered.

  “It was a trap,” I stated. “They wanted Pops and I.”

  “Micah’s afraid,” Alex suddenly spoke up. “He says he’s in Baltimore. He’s living under an overpass. He had to run away from home.”

  “Hey, Remy,” Troy called out. “Can you drop me off at the airport?”

  “What’s up?” Remy asked as he took a hard left. It was convenient that we were less than two miles from where Troy kept his helicopter.

  “No time to explain,” Troy stated. “They’ll fill you in,” he pointed at us as he got on the phone to get the required clearances to take off.

  When he got off the phone he looked at Alex. “Tell Micah to look for a twenty-four hour diner near him. Tell him I’ll be wearing a red baseball cap. Let him know we’re coming for him and not to be afraid.” Then he looked at me. “Let me know what diner he ends up in and what he looks like.”

  I nodded in understanding as we pulled up in front of the helicopter hanger.

  Troy ran out of the truck with a quick ‘see you later’. I blinked not believing how quickly that all just happened.

  “He has green eyes and red hair,” Alex said. “He says he’ll let us know when he has found a place to wait for him.

  “How old is he? How tall is he?” I asked urgently.

  Alex took my hand and I was seeing Micah through his eyes. He was standing in a mirror, looking at us. Micah smiled and waved at me, but I could see he looked scared and he had been living on the streets for some time. He looked roughly twelve or thirteen years old and he was tall and skinny.

  “Hi, Micah,” I stated. “I’m your…sister, Blake. Troy’s on his way to get you right now. He’ll help you. He has dark hair and light brown eyes. Alex and I will be seeing you soon.”

  He nodded and smiled, tears coming to his eyes. “Good, these guys showed up today and they’ve been following me. I’m just quicker. I can sense that they aren’t good.” He blinked out and showed up in another mirror, another public bathroom.

  I giggled. “That’s a neat trick, I can’t wait to meet you.”

  “You too,” he said. “I’ve…I’ve been alone for a while now, but I knew someone was out there. Something better.”

  With that we backed out of Alex’s ‘eyes’.

  I explained to the guys what had just happened and leaned back into Jax’s arms, tired, excited, and scared.

  Chapter 32

  Drake, Jemmy, and Rachel were awake when we got home, despite it being nearly midnight. Drake had some sandwiches and fresh cut French fries waiting for us.

  Ella came barreling out of her room and smiled at Alex, like she was greeting a long-lost friend. “Alex!” she cried, launching herself into him and hugging him.

  Even though they were the same age, you could tell the differences in their care.

  “Hi Ella,” Alex smiled a little shy and embarrassed.

  We all looked at each other in wonder, then realized that we were looking at two extraordinary children, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that they somehow met.

  “Alex can go in people’s heads,” I explained to Remy, Will, Drake, Jemmy, and Rachel.

  They all looked at him in wonder. As far as they knew, Horatio was the only other person that had that ability.

  I grabbed two paper plates and added some sandwiches and fries to them and sat the kids down at the island. “Are you hungry?” I asked Ella belatedly.

  She shrugged. “I can eat,” she giggled. “When you’re done eating do you want to watch a movie with me?” she asked Alex excitedly.

  He smiled and nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Good,” she smiled and they both started eating.

  “Maybe after showers,” I stated, but then remembered we had no clothes for Alex and he was in desperate need of a shower and clean clothes. I frowned. “Maybe we can find him something to wear temporarily.”

  “Rachel and I can run to the Walmart down the street. It’s open twenty-four hours. Can you wait for story time?” she begged. “It looks like you’ve had an…adventurous day.”

  I laughed despite feeling emotionally, mentally, and physically drained. “Yes, I’ll wait.”

  I started a pot of coffee knowing I needed a little help tonight. There was no way I was going to sleep before I met my other brother. “Can you grab me a red bull or monster?” I asked her retreating back.

  “You’re not going to bed soon?” Jemmy asked then she looked around. “Where’s Troy?”

  “We’ll explain,” I shooed her out the door.

  Drake gently pushed me out of the way. “Go eat, I’ll bring you a cup of coffee.”

  I smiled and reached up to kiss him on his cheek. “Thank you,” I murmured before heading to the dining room table.

  T
he guys were quietly talking to each other as I got to the table, mindful of the children. “We’ll have the doctor come over tomorrow morning to check Alex over,” Will frowned in concern at Alex.

  “He was sold to Tom,” I shuddered, my stomach hurting suddenly. “What happened to him?”

  I looked over at Remy, noticing he had been silent since we got home, and I know something he had seen or done triggered something within him. The guys looked at each other hesitantly as Remy stared down at his food.

  “He won’t be buying, selling, or abusing any children anymore,” Will finally said tentatively.

  I felt a heaviness settle in my stomach, but then I felt a feeling of being set free. “Good,” I nodded, and I saw shock ripple across some of their features. I guess they didn’t expect me to be so blood thirsty, but I knew that young girl and I hadn’t been his only victims. He had been a predator and with the job Horatio had for him, it was his own playground, for goodness knows how long. “Was he gifted? Is that why he found Heidi, to get to me?”

  “I think he was,” Will nodded slowly. “But what he could do was beyond me. I have someone investigating him right now. If my assumptions are correct, he used his position as a lawyer to find these kids and delivered the children to Horatio. We found a card in his wallet and it looked like he specialized in family law, so it’s not too far of a leap.”

  I finally felt full enough for now. My anxiety and hunger warring with each other.

  Drake gave me my coffee and I smiled up at him and I brought my knees to my chest and hugged them.

  There was a lull in conversation as everyone was deep in their own thoughts. I had a lot on my mind and I knew I still needed to fill everyone in, but I didn’t want to repeat myself.

  “Gavin is Jemmy’s connected,” I blurted out in the silence.

  I heard a cup clatter to the table. “Who’s Gavin?” Drake asked.

  “The guy who was protecting the kids,” I explained. “Apparently, he worked at the shelter downtown and he took special interest in the children that he suspected were gifted. He said he witnessed a few guys snatching one of the older girls and followed them to the trailer park. Since he’s gifted he knew calling the cops would be pointless. He was sneaking in the room when Mr. Young and two other guys came to spring the trap.”

  “You’re going to have to start at the beginning,” Drake said, looking all types of confused.

  “Hey, hey,” Jemmy said as she came into the room. “I said wait for me for story time.”

  We all exchanged looks, deciding if we should break the news to her now or wait.

  I stood up and clapped my hands and painted on a fake smile. “Shower time, Alex,” I said brightly.

  “But you’re a girl,” Alex stammered.

  Jax laughed and said, “How about I show you where you can shower and sleep tonight?” He winked at me and lowered his voice. “I can miss some of the story time.”

  Alex seemed fine with that and he already taken a liking to Jax. He got up and willingly followed Jax.

  I shifted through the bags and found some clean underwear and pajamas for now. Jemmy and Rachel did good picking out a few pair of jeans, socks, underwear, t-shirts, button ups, and shoes. I noticed she had picked out clothing the guys normally wore. I giggled but breathed in sharply when the movement hurt my ribs. “Thanks, you’re the best,” I tried to smile through my grimace.

  “Did you get hurt tonight?” Jemmy asked sharply as she came around the corner.

  Before I could stop her, she had the hem of my sweater in her hands and she was yanking it up. “Holy crap, Blake,” she frowned.

  “Where’s Noah?” Remy asked with a deadly quietness as he came around the table to look at the few ugly bruises covering my ribs.

  Jemmy looked down and shrugged. “We haven’t seen or heard from him since this morning.”

  Remy pulled out his phone and immediately started calling Noah.

  “I’m fine,” I insisted. “It’s late. I can wait until the morning.”

  “He knew about the mission, he should have been on standby,” Jace detailed with a scowl as he looked at the bruising. “How did this happen?”

  “There was this girl that had super strength,” I explained.

  “I’ll run this upstairs,” Drake stated with a frown as he grabbed the pajamas and underwear for Alex.

  Ella was worriedly staring at me and I tried to feign a smile. “It’s okay, sweetie,” I tried to reassure her. “Let’s put on a movie for you guys, so it’s ready when Alex gets back.”

  She nodded and followed me into the living room.

  “I’ll get you some blankets and pillows,” Jemmy said brightly.

  “I’ll make you some popcorn,” Rachel added.

  “How about a bowl of ice cream, pumpkin?” Will asked gently.

  She seemed to brighten at this. “Is there any chocolate with the peanut butter cups in it?”

  He smiled at her indulgently. “I’m pretty sure I saw some of that in the freezer.”

  Will went into the kitchen to search for the ice cream.

  Remy came striding over to me and pulled me into his arms. He carried me over to the table and sat down, keeping me in his lap. “Noah’s not answering the phone,” he growled lowly. “So, you’re not doing anything else for the rest of the night. If you want anything or need anything tell us.”

  “Remy,” I said gently. “I’m not an invalid,” I insisted.

  He didn’t say anything merely pulled me closer.

  “Is it story time yet?” Jemmy asked as she sat down. Everyone else, except for Jax, sat down too.

  We all looked at Will expectantly since he was the patriarch of the family.

  “Well, I got a phone call tonight stating that Horatio was moving kids and Mo seemed to think there was at least one or two children of interest in the group. One of them had to be Blake’s younger brother,” Will explained.

  “I told you he had to be Blake’s brother,” Rachel playfully hit Jemmy.

  “But I thought your mother was dead…and that makes three of you,” Jemmy said. “What is up with these gifted people giving birth to more than two?” she frowned as she looked at Will.

  Will shrugged, his expression perplexed as well. “Until I met Rachel, I never personally met any gifted with the capabilities of having more than two children.”

  “There’s five of us, that I know of.” I stated quietly.

  I knew I shocked Drake, Will, Jemmy, Rachel, and Remy.

  “Alex was able to reach out to my…brother, Micah. He’s living on the streets and he noticed today he was being followed,” I added.

  Will rubbed a weary hand over his face. “And no one went with Troy?”

  “He said he knew a few guys in the neighborhood and he was taking them,” Jace reassured his father.

  “Micah can…teleport,” I explained further.

  “All from your mother?” Jemmy asked in wonder.

  I nodded. “That I know of. Alex seemed really confident in it and Micah seemed to recognize me immediately.”

  “You saw him, and he saw you?” Will clarified with a look of disbelief.

  “Yes,” I nodded. “Alex touched my hand and he ‘took’ me too him and were able to talk to each other too. That’s how I saw Mr. Young and those two guys in the trailer. Alex reached out to me and showed me them.”

  “Mr. Young was there?” Jemmy gasped. “I knew he was a rat, just like his daughters. Did you pick up his whole family?”

  “His connections are in questioning right now,” Will confirmed. He leaned back and looked at me. “Horatio isn’t even capable of doing that. He can go into a person’s mind, but he can’t have people see what he sees or take people to see and talk to other people.”

  “Maybe it’s because they are related,” Drake said tentatively.

  “That can be it.” Will slowly nodded in consideration. “Years ago, Horatio took an interest in Blake’s parentage, but I never knew why or to what ext
ent, maybe he knew her mother was capable of producing powerful offspring.”

  Jax came back downstairs carrying a very sleepy, very clean Alex, but he perked up when he saw the junk food and me. “He’s safe,” Alex cried happily. “He’s with the man in the red hat.”

  Seconds later our phones went off and we all opened our phones to see a picture of Micah and Troy sitting side by side in Troy’s helicopter. They both had wide grins on their faces.

  We spent the rest of the time filling Drake, Jemmy, and Rachel in on our night. We tried to figure out what our next steps should be, but we knew it was all a waiting game.

  I had to wait for Alex to locate my other brother. Hopefully, before Horatio found him. We had to wait for Troy’s guys to figure out what doctor may be helping Horatio with these ‘mentally’ ill children. We were planning to locate Alex’s father and have him placed in Will’s custody. I was okay with this decision.

  We had to wait for the interrogators to get done with the Young family to find out how deep the betrayal went in Will’s community. Rachel seemed hell bent on interrogating Tamara, believing she knew more. Will hadn’t ordered any of the girls to be picked up, but after Rachel argued her culpability, he decided to allow Rachel to question her in the morning.

  We were waiting for Troy to come back with Micah. Will already had a team dispatched to make sure they made it back to the house safely from the airport.

  We were waiting for Gavin to get here so we could figure out if he could assist us further and maybe finally break the news to both him and Jemmy, that they were connected.

  And we were waiting for Noah to return one of our phone calls.

  Waiting, waiting, waiting.

  At some time during the waiting game, we all made it to the living room, so we could wait in comfort. Remy still hadn’t let me up from his lap and I was okay with that. I felt warm and secure and felt myself drifting off to sleep. I just wanted to close my eyes for a moment. I knew someone would wake me up when my brother and Troy got here, or Gavin. Someone would.