Gifted Connections 4

“That can really come in handy,” Drake said with a satisfied smile.

“My thoughts exactly,” Darren stated.

The plans we were all given were the same. Where they placed their hostages and where they planned their attacks changed in every scenario. They didn’t want us comparing notes, not that any team was willing to divulge that information. The only chatter we had heard so far was the from the defensive teams who were playing to win.

“The intel given to us say that there is a total of fifteen hostiles,” Darren stated. “We have no further details on them. Further rules are located on the last page. When we get the green light, I’ll check to see if they have cameras inside the building replica. Go ahead and slip in your coms now, and we will do a radio check.”

We all grabbed our earpieces and did our radio checks.

“Mine isn’t working,” Jaxson frowned.

“Neither is mine,” Drake added.

“I suspected that might be one of their angles,” Darren had a self-satisfied grin on his face. “One of the teams we sent out last week never checked their coms before leaving, and it caused a lot of issues.”

“Good boy, Darren, good boy,” Jaxson said in a patronizing tone.

Darren held up his middle finger to Jaxson.

“Yay, I’m number one,” Jaxson cried out excitedly.

Over time, Jaxson and Darren had developed a relationship akin to siblings. Darren made dumb jock jokes about Jax and Jax made nerd jokes towards him. To me, their jokes were borderline cruel sometimes, but they both enjoyed their banter, so I bit my tongue.

“Darren, can you bring the plans back up?” Troy laughingly requested as he shook his head. “Okay, so they have a lot of places to hide.”

“I think that we should split up and divide and conquer,” Elvis, one of the Nons, said.

“I don’t think that we should,” Remy countered. “It didn’t work out for the team that failed, so I’m not repeating their mistakes.”

We had elected Remy as the team lead for this exercise, but we all knew it worked better when we talked things out as a team and came to a conclusion together. I knew Remy wasn’t trying to shut them down, so I’m sure the

re was a reason he didn’t want to split up. With the area, we had to cover I thought it was a great idea.

“If there isn’t a camera feed in there, I can jump our hostages,” Lincoln spoke up. “It looks like each room is distinctly decorated. Darren, once we get in there, I’ll describe the location I see. Could you point us in the direction we need to go in?”

“Um,” Darren cleared his throat. “Yeah, man, sure.” Darren was still slightly starstruck by Lincoln.

“I think we should have Jace, Lincoln, Drake, and Blake run the point,” Remy said after a few moments of contemplation. “You guys will be the first line of defense and offense for us. Lincoln, you jump. Drake keeps the forcefield on us. Blake is prepared to compel anyone we encounter. Jace, you can seek the people out to feel their emotions.

“Elvis, Troy, Cam, and Sylvia I need you to be our eyes at all times. You guys will shadow the lead team. Jaxson and I will bring up the rear. I can’t move walls, but I’ll use my brute strength when needed. Jaxson, you do your thing, and if you want to entertain the Judges while you do it, you have free reign. Anyone have questions or concerns?”

We all exchanged looks and shook our heads.

“Did you just give me free reign?” Jaxson asked with barely contained excitement.

Remy sighed deeply. “Yeah, please don’t make me regret this.”

Jaxson grinned like the Cheshire cat, and Troy, Drake, and I laughed. This should be interesting.

“Okay, I’m up,” Darren stated. “We’re live in three minutes.”

I almost felt anxious. I felt the butterflies unfurl in my stomach. It had been some time since we had to use our gifts together and work as a team. Adding four people we’d never worked with before didn’t calm my nerves any, either.

“We’ll be fine,” Jace reassured me as he pulled me in close and kissed the top of my head.

“Stop reading my emotions,” I said in a tone of disgruntlement.

He chuckled. “It’s been some time. You need to learn to block me again.”