by S M Olivier
“We’ll meet you outside,” Drake informed me before squeezing my butt.
I sighed in frustration as I finished getting dressed. I grabbed my medical bag for my antibiotics, ointments, and dressing. I gingerly made my way through the darkened room. By the sounds of the gentle snoring and breathing, I could tell a lot of people were still asleep. A handful of shapes were making their way out of the room in front of me.
I carefully exited the partially opened door and winced at the sudden brightness of the hall. “Coffee?” I asked hopefully blinking so my eyes could adjust.
I noticed Remy, Drake, Troy, Jace, Gavin, Sierra, Terrance, and surprisingly Lincoln were already out in the hall waiting for me. They looked as tired as I felt.
“Coffee yes,” Troy enthused. “I grabbed our creamers last night and put them in the reach in.”
‘Yay,” I cheered as I followed them towards the kitchens.
“How’d you sleep?” Jace asked me gently as he grabbed my hand.
I tentatively looked back at Lincoln. “Great,” I said brightly. “I passed out the moment my head hit the pillow.”
I was surprised to see Will, Paul, and Kirk were already up and sitting at one of the tables drinking out of their mugs.
“Coffee is on the serving bar,” Will called out to us.
The tables here were a hodgepodge of shapes; some were rectangular, others octagons, and a few were round. The room wasn’t as spacious as the room upstairs, but it would still fit all of us with ease.
“Thanks, Pops,” Troy called back. “I’m going to get our flavored creamer,” he told me as he veered towards the kitchen doors.
“I’m going to check on the staff, see how they're doing,” Drake added as he followed Troy.
“Me, too,” I volunteered.
“It’s okay,” Drake smiled fondly at me. “Go get some coffee. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” I shrugged. I knew resistance was futile, and it was way too early to argue. I headed towards the serving bar and grabbed two of the largest cups I could. I filled them and added the sugar, making sure I left enough room up top for the creamer.
I sat down, and Lincoln took the seat beside me, with Jace on my other side.
“Hello, Blake, it’s great to finally meet you,” Kirk said immediately as I sat down. “I heard so much about you from Rayce.”
It took me a second to realize he was talking about his younger brother Ford. I really needed to remember that most of them had first names.
Kirk turned to Lincoln then. “It’s great to meet you as well, Lincoln Hudgens. My wives are going to be so upset that I met you.” He smirked. “Can you take a selfie with me later on?” he asked hopefully but with some embarrassment.
“Nice to meet you, too,” I said as Lincoln chuckled.
He barely blinked at Kirk’s mentions of wives, plural. “No problem man, just let me get my coffee first.”
Kirk laughed. “I don’t function until my third or fourth cup myself.”
“Same here,” Lincoln stated as he took a sip of his black coffee. He grimaced slightly.
“I’m sure it’s not what you’re used to,” I gently ribbed him.
“It’s fine. Just strong,” he murmured back.
“Liar,” I teased him. I remembered his assistance last night, and I was going to try to get to know him. We really needed to make this connection. The sooner we did it, the sooner my life could return to normal and he could go back to California.
“Takes one to know one,” he said with a pointed look. “Why did you lie to Jace earlier? Is it a habit with you?”
I bristled immediately, so much for hoping a new day meant a fresh, clean slate. He was just so insufferable. “I generally don’t lie but when it comes to my well-being some of the guys are slightly overbearing,” I explained reluctantly.
Troy sat down on the other side of Jace and handed me the creamer as I gave him his coffee. He smiled his thanks to me, and I returned it.
“I don’t think I have ever seen that many people volunteer in the hospital wing as I did yesterday,” Pops said in amusement as he put his cup up to his lips. “I have a feeling we may need more people, though.”
“There are a lot of people camped out there,” Paul confirmed.
“More than we can handle at the moment,” Pops added.
I looked over at them. I had a feeling something was coming. I looked over at Will. He was looking at Lincoln and me in contemplation.
He grimaced suddenly. “I called for backup, Blake,” I nodded at him in contemplation. It seemed odd that he was singling me out with the news. “We need more healers. Stacey has volunteered to come. Would you like me to tell Beau she’s not needed?”
I pushed my hair back. I hadn’t had time to pull it back yet, and it was already in my face. “I can put aside my personal feelings aside for the good of the group. Like you said, we need more healers. How does Noah feel about it?”
Stacey held animosity towards me—justifiably so, in some ways, since I essentially took her boyfriend away from her. My only issue was that, even after finding out I was Noah’s connected, she was a bitch to me.
“I haven’t told him yet,” Will said slowly.
“Noah’s going to take his cue from Blake. If Blake’s fine with it, he will be too,” Jace said confidently.
“You seem to have issues with a lot of females,” Lincoln said quietly in my ear.
“Would you believe me if I said it’s not me, it’s them?” I asked sarcastically.
I couldn’t hear his response, as Drake came back with a metal cart stacked with trays. “They’re almost ready to serve breakfast, but I figured I would bring ours out now,” Drake said as he passed out the trays of breakfast burritos, hash browns, and fruit.
Everyone thanked him and immediately started digging into the food.
“How long have you been doing martial arts?” Kirk asked, looking directly at me.
I looked up from spreading some sour cream packets and hot sauce on my burrito. “A few months,” I stated.
“Really?” Kirk asked in shock. “You have great instincts, and you’re formidable on the mats.”
I smiled and shifted, slightly uncomfortably under his praise. “Thanks. I have a great teacher,” I pointed towards Troy. “He’s been practicing for many years now.”
“I teach her, but the natural talent is all hers,” Troy said immediately with a fond smile at me.
“Impressive,” Kirk smiled. “Will we include her in our offense?” he asked Will and Paul. “Rayce said I haven’t seen anything yet until I’ve seen Blake in the field. Along with her connections.” He looked over at the guys inquiringly and then Gavin directly. “Gavin, it is my understanding that you are a mimic.”
Gavin chuckled uneasily. “I’m not one of them, and neither is Terrance, but yes, I mimic people’s gifts.”
“That’s right,” Will cleared his throat. “We really hadn't made formal introductions among the chaos yesterday. Lincoln, this is Paul, the owner of this fine establishment. And this is Kirk, he just joined us from the South Carolina team.”
I knew Noah had filled Lincoln in on a lot yesterday when they had been working together. I imagined there were things he hadn’t told him, though.
Will continued. “Kirk, these are my son’s Jace, Remy, Troy, and Drake.” He pointed to them individually. “Jemmy, Jaxson, and Noah were given leave to join us later. This is my daughter’s connected, Gavin, and his other connection, Sierra. Terrance there, is one of the best team leads I’ve ever had, and you already know Lincoln.”
Will paused then. “But back to what we were saying, Blake and her connections are unable to be part of the offensive maneuver today.” He looked at me inquiringly as if he expected me to refute it.
I could feel my face turn hot, and I ducked my head and shook it. It still embarrassed me to have anyone privy to my intimate life. I know he was hoping I made the connection, but I hadn’t. I was still struggling with th
e actual deed. In theory, it sounded fine; in practice…not so much.
“She hasn’t been feeling well lately, and she was recently shot,” Jace stated diplomatically as he put an arm on the back of my chair.
Kirk frowned, clearly confused and displeased by this news.
“Greg will be working with Blake, Jace, Gavin, and Lincoln to help determine what gifts we’re working against since the sun will be up shortly,” Will explained. “Terrance, Drake, Remy, and Sierra, can you go through all the gifted people we have here and comprise a list of their abilities? Troy, are you still okay with making sure order remains out here with Leo?”
Troy nodded as he wiped his mouth. “That was the plan, and Leo’s cool with helping me. I’ll send Jaxson to you when he wakes up, and Noah plans on returning to the clinic.”
I was surprised how quickly Leo had bounced back from his shock. He went from shock to annoyance at Troy for keeping it from him for so long, then awestruck to the point of engrossment, asking a million questions. Lucky for Troy, he still had his right-hand man.
“Are they still camped out there?” Drake asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
Knowing Will and Paul, the first thing they did this morning would have been to see if the enemy still resided right outside our doors. They would have been debriefed with the situation, and I was sure we’d find out our new assignments soon enough.
“They are,” Paul confirmed. “They are trying to figure out how to breach our main entrance and the helipad. Unless they have someone that has the equivalent gift of a nuclear bomb, they will be unable to breach it. Marcel and Yaris are on duty up top with ten other operatives. Spencer and Ford and another team are in the stairwell of the helipad.”
“Is there a way to activate or allow them entrance at those points?” Jace asked apprehensively.
“There is,” Paul answered with a perplexed expression.
“If Horatio enters the fight, then he can easily make them open the doors,” Jace informed him.
“I don’t think Horatio will join the fight. Ever since his last attempt to abduct Blake, he hasn’t been seen in public. He nearly lost his life that night, and he’s not brave enough to put himself in the middle of a battle anymore,” Paul stated.
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Greg said as he came to the table. I was somewhat surprised to see Harry strapped to his back in a carrier, sound asleep. “It was a rough night,” Greg explained wryly. “Randy’s sleeping right now, so I have Harry duty.”
“Your dad tried to kidnap you?” Lincoln asked in confusion in my ear.
I nodded, figuring I could explain it to him later. “Dysfunctional.” I reminded him softly.
“I’m not sure if we should have anyone operating the doors,” Will said returning to the original issue. “We can always have someone operating the cameras and have a response team nearby.”
“I’ll put Darren on the cameras with a few others,” Paul reluctantly nodded. He was apparently not crazy about the idea, but he liked the idea of Horatio controlling someone to open the doors and allowing the enemy to enter even less.
“Good morning, everyone,” Georgia said cheerily.
I looked up and realized she had a tight, red halter top on, with her generous bosom on display, a short leather skirt, and black stilettos. I almost choked on my coffee I was so surprised. I looked over across the room and noticed with exasperation that most of the girls were coming into the dining room wearing clothing more befitting a night club. They had their hair carefully done and makeup heavily applied.
“Is there a lock on the war room door?” Remy asked in dry amusement.
Will, Kirk, and Greg seemed equally amused as Paul let out a growl. “I’m having key cards made as we speak,” Paul said in exasperation. “Only the people with keycards will have access.” He then stood. “Okay ladies,” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “Your duty day starts at 0700, most of you are out of uniform. You have fifteen minutes to get within regs.”
Georgia made a sound of disappointment but still turned to leave the room, along with over sixty percent of the girls. The rest had second shift today.
“Make sure you let the other girls know that, too!” Terrance added as he bellowed across the dining room with laughter lacing his voice. He then gave Lincoln a smirk. “Somehow I don’t think they were dressing up for us.”
“Me neither,” Lincoln muttered with vexation before taking a large bite of his breakfast burrito.
“Bet you fifty, Jemmy will be out of uniform,” Troy leaned behind Jace towards me.
I rolled my eyes and smiled. “I really don’t want to lose money by gambling on a lost bet.”
Darren gave Lincoln and I a quick rundown on how to use the computers to access the cameras mounted outside. Jace and Gavin were already proficient with the security systems, so they didn’t need the tutorial. We were able to zoom in, freeze on a person, and then print it out. Then we took it over to Greg who would write their gifts on the photos. It impressed me that he was able to read a gift just from an image.
Jace already explained to Lincoln and me that he was the only reader they knew that could do that. Most readers could just sense the presence of the gifted, like Herman. Some of them were even able to tell you what the gifts were. But no one but Greg was able to see it through an image.
Sierra, Terrance, Drake, and Remy were going through our database and printing the pictures of the gifted who were currently residing in the facility, writing their gifts down as they went through each one.
Jaxson had finally woken up. He and Kade were carefully hanging all the pictures on the whiteboards. One whiteboard was filled with the images of our attackers, and the other board was used for our people.
Paul, Kirk, and Will had already told us they wanted the element of surprise. They wanted to make sure we had a definite game plan in place before we launched our own attack.
There was a knock on the war room door, and most of us groaned. It was irritating the number of times we had to turn people away− mainly females. I was surprised that Lincoln was just as annoyed by the attention as we were. In true Jaxson fashion, he decided to alleviate our frustrations by laughter. I hadn’t seen this side of Jaxson in some time, and I was happy to see him like this once more. He started to post notes on the door with witty remarks, false facts, and whatever else he found amusing.
It didn’t take long for others to join in his antics, and soon they were writing notes as well.
Lincoln didn’t like their game at first since he was the butt of most of the jokes written. He had initially shown his displeasure until he realized that they were like sharks. He grasped the fact that he needed to stop showing them his blood. He learned how to become impervious to it all.
Pops, Paul, Lincoln, and I weren’t joining in; just watching it all unfold from the sidelines.
“My turn again,” Jaxson stated with a gleeful smile as someone knocked on the door. He had a stack of notes in front of him waiting to be posted.
“Hey,” I heard a feminine voice say when the door opened. “I was wondering if you needed any more coffee?”
“Please refer to note six,” Jaxson said in a cheerful voice as he slapped his new note on the other side of the door. Then he shut the door in her face as she peered into the room.
“What did that one say?” Troy asked with a chuckle.
Jaxson cleared his throat and smiled wickedly. “Note twenty-one: Do you want to know Lincoln Hudgens’ favorite position…quarterback. Go, Cowboys!”
Most of us laughed, even Lincoln. “FYI, funny man, I dislike the Cowboys, and don’t get me started on the Patriots,” he added with a smile.
“Same here!” Jaxson said with enthusiasm before getting back to work.
“I have the next one,” Terrance called across the room with a wicked smile.
The door now currently had twenty-one notes posted on it. Some of my favorites were;
Note One: Lincoln is a Leo, loves long walks on t
he beach and writing in his diary.
Note Six: No, we don’t need coffee…seriously we’re already tweaking.
Note Eight: Please don’t offer us food, we’re like cats. Once you feed us, we’ll never go away.
Note Eleven: This is a private party. If you’re not in here, you weren’t invited.
Note Fifteen: Yes, Lincoln is in here. No, you can’t come in.
We didn’t have to wait long for the next knock on the door.
Terrance hopped up with his paper in hand. “Note Twenty-Two,” he announced gleefully before answering the door. “What do Lincoln Hudgens and a roller coaster have in common…you wait hours in line to get a ride, and when it’s over, you realized it only lasted for less than three minutes.”
This time, Will and Paul couldn’t stop the surprised laughter that escaped them. They had tried to discourage their antics at first, but then they realized it helped relieve the tension in the room and let them be. They tried to pretend like they weren’t amused several times, but I saw the hidden smiles and heard the stifled laughter.
Some of the guys were almost crying, they were laughing so hard at Terrance’s new note. I couldn’t help but laugh myself, ducking my head as I attempted to focus on the task at hand.
Lincoln was a good sport and laughed along with everyone else. I didn’t even notice when he rolled his chair beside mine. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard his voice in my ear.
“When he says hours in the line, he means hours of foreplay and the only one lasting less than three minutes is you because that’s how quick I can give you an orgasm. I have no problems with my stamina,” he said huskily in my ear.
I inhaled deeply. Damn my overactive imagination. He was arrogant, insufferable, and uncouth− well to me, because he was pleasant to everyone else. I shouldn’t imagine myself naked in a sizeable sumptuous bed as his bronze body pleasured mine. My heart wasn’t big enough to catch feelings for him, and my body was a traitor.
“I don’t understand why I can’t come in,” Jemmy’s voice carried into the room, and I realized Terrance had answered the door.
“I’m the wrong person to ask,” I heard Terrance murmur. “I’m just enforcing the rules.”
