Gifted Connections: Book 2(66)

“They’re down the street, waiting for our call,” Marcel confirmed.

On the way over, I was filled in on how normal operations were done. Generally, two fifteen passenger vans were waiting for the Knights. One van had a medical team member on it and would head to the hospital. The other van generally had a gifted person that had the ability to block gifts. They generally weren’t as talented as Collin was, but for the close confines of the van their gift was sufficient. They commonly headed straight to the mountain facility two hours away from here. It was a high security facility and it had been years since anyone broke out and no one was senseless enough to try and break into it…yet.

We were all handed head sets and mics to communicate and it started to feel more real. The butterflies in my stomach took flight once more. When Jace gave me a questioning look, I shook my head. I instinctively knew I needed the edge. If I was too relaxed, I might drop down my guard and I needed all my wits about me.

I could feel sweat drip down my back as we stood there waiting for Jemmy’s cue to begin taking out the perimeter guards. The guards were ungifted, so they didn’t have any clue what went on in the brick building. We were told to neutralize them without killing them. I was fine with that. When my family wasn’t in danger, my blood lust wasn’t as high.

Finally, we saw Jemmy’s flashlight turn off and on. We all moved with caution but quickly to the fence surrounding the perimeter. I reached out to the closest guards to me and told them to go take a nap, that they were very tired. “Two napping in their shack,” I whispered in my headset depressing the button on my hip.

“One secured,” another voice chimed in.

“Two more secured,” Jaxson could barely keep the laughter out of his voice, so I could only imagine how he secured them.

“Last one, down,” Terrance informed us.

I hadn’t tried all my gifts since my last connection was made, so I was interested to see how this mission was going to be. I imagined the bonfire I once sat around, singing, feeling like a teenager for the first time ever. I remembered the heat and held my hands up against the fence. I almost gasped as the large beach ball size orbs, burst from my hands, melting the fence on contact. I looked over at Troy and saw the cocky little grin he shot me. All the teams squeezed through the two openings.

We split up into our teams once we got through the fence. I fell into step with Remy and Jace and understood now why keeping in shape might be of importance. It was important that we were fast, quiet and stealthy. The whole team could suffer if someone was trailing behind. I noticed Michael was behind us quite a bit. We had to wait for him to reach us when we got near our point of entry.

“I’m taking the door off. Jace, Blake, and Michael, be ready for any hostiles,” Remy whispered to us, taking point, and we all nodded in agreement.

Remy held three fingers up and slowly dropped them. He made a fist and dropped it at the same time he ripped the double doors clear off the hinges, throwing them across the way we had just came as if they were frisbees. My eyes widened, never seeing his gift in action. Jace looked at him with amazement as well; I guess he hadn’t been that strong before. Now I understood what they were saying when they said their gifts had gotten stronger.

Jemmy joined us right before we entered the building. She was a bundle of unfettered energy. She bounced up and down on the tips of her toes like she was chomping at the bit. I could tell the idea of finding the cameras and control room was one huge scavenger hunt to her, so we let her go do her thing.

Upon entering the building, I nearly doubled in pain feeling the pain, despair, and hopelessness.

Jace put a hand on my back. “You have to shut it out,” he said quietly. “Push it away. We’ll get them soon enough.”

As I began to clear my mind and try to push the feelings out, I saw two guards laughing as they rounded the corner. The anger within me rose. These men were laughing and having a good old time while people were suffering nearby. They saw us as we tried to melt into the shadows. They pulled out tasers as they brought walkie talkies up to their mouth. The anger within me wanted to set them on fire, but I didn’t want to make any unnecessary sounds.

“Shoot him,” I commanded them. When they opened their mouths, I knew they were going to scream as the bright bolts of current flickered off the ends of the weapons. “Silence!” I commanded them.



“What did you do?” Michael asked in awe as he looked at me. “You have more than one gift,” he said almost accusingly.

I laughed dryly. “Oh, they didn’t tell you.”

The men were convulsing on the ground at this point, so Remy and Jace rushed over to them and restrained them, stripped them of their socks to stuff their mouths, then dragged them to the nearest utility closet.

We proceeded down the hall where I heard the distinct sound of a woman sobbing. I held up my hand and pointed at the door. Remy put a well-placed shoulder to the door and his other hand on the door knob; he barely flexed as the door came clean off the hinges. He gently placed this one down as Jace ran into the room.

I watched in incredulity as Michael walked through the door across from the other one like he was a ghost, like the door wasn’t even there. He popped back out and looked grim. “We have one in here,” he whispered to me. “We need a key to open the door, it doesn’t have a lock.”

I held my hand out to the door knob and imagined it melting. The metal became a gelatinous mess as I heard the distinct click of the lock unengaging. Michael gingerly kicked it open, so he didn’t get burned and give away our location.