Gifted Connections 4

Things had escalated quickly the moment the three officers entered the apartment above the garage. Several more squad cards have arrived. The firemen came and took Hale down, and he was immediately cuffed. Hannah was taken away because the cops didn’t believe she was unaware of her husband's activities. CPS came, woke three children from their slumber and took them away as well.

My heart hurt when I realized those three innocent children lives were going to be forever flipped upside down because their father was a sick man. Their life was going to become a three-ring circus. Their whole lives were going to be splashed all over the news, and no matter how far they moved, they could never run far enough away.

News vans had already pulled up and were setting up camp outside. More neighbors were hanging out in the park across the street as they tried to figure out what was going on.

Lincoln and I had grabbed the children to let them see the man being hauled away. We thought they needed to get the closure.

“Let’s go,” Lincoln murmured.

“Wait,” we heard someone hiss from behind us.

We turned to see Perry a few feet away from us. He looked nervously around, as if he didn’t want anyone seeing him talk to…thin air. Because no one else could see us. We had tried.

“Who are you guys? Are you guys real? How did you know and how am I supposed to explain to the officers inside about a red book in a bookshelf?” Perry queried.

“Yes, we’re real,” I laughed in surprise. “And it’s not important who we are, Officer Perry, but we’ll reach out to you soon. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, and we’ll see if we can answer most of them. Tell them the wife told you she wasn’t allowed to enter the office. Tell them to search the bookcases and desk. We’ll talk later, Perry. You did a fine job tonight, Officer.”

“Wait!” he called out again. “I would have left if you wouldn’t have told me to stay.” He looked ashamed. “She could have died. She would have,” he suddenly shook his head.

“Where are you going?”

Lincoln chuckled. “But you stayed, and we have two boys to put to bed.”

“Wait,” Perry said again in shock as we entered the light of the porch. “Your Lincoln Hudgens!”

Lincoln grinned and shrugged. “So I’ve been told. Alex, take us home.”

“Okay, Linc,” Alex smiled up at him with an impish grin. “Night, Officer Perry.”

Chapter 25

“Blake Thomas,” Mr. Bates called me.

I looked up from the couch I was sitting on. The beauty of our learning environment was the laid-back atmosphere. We weren’t confined to our tables or an assigned seat. Just as long as we were working, Mr. Bates didn’t care where we sat or who we sat next to. I was in the middle of writing a paper, and I did my best crea

tive writing in comfort and not sitting at a desk.

“Yes, Mr. Bates?” I asked as I noticed a younger looking Asian man standing beside him.

“You’re excused from class for the rest of the morning to go to your appointment with Dr. Wong,” Mr. Bates explained.

I was confused. Dr. Wong was a shrink. I didn’t have an appointment with him. I stiffened and looked at Jaxson and Rachel who were sharing the couch with me. From their looks of confusion, I could see they were just as mystified as I was.

“I don’t have an appointment with Dr. Wong,” I insisted.

My eyes swung to the Asian man standing next to Mr. Bates. He didn’t look like a shrink. In fact, he looked like he was barely older than me. He also didn’t wear the stuffy suits I was accustomed to. Instead, he wore a simple button down shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of casual laced-up shoes.

He smiled at me. “Did you read your email today?” he asked.

Jaxson sighed beside me as he pointed to the laptop. I leaned over, and sure enough, it was an email to all the operatives in the program informing us that a mental wellness check would be commencing immediately, that if we wanted to remain eligible for active status, we were required to go to a quarterly checkup.

“Flipping great,” I muttered. “I’m coming,” I griped.

I was already cranky enough as it was this morning. I was tired from our trip out last night, and then my nightmares plagued me for the rest of the night. We had preemptively gone to Greg and Miranda’s last night to help Harry fall asleep again. Last night we were able to stop a mentally unstable woman from kidnapping her children from her ex-husband and his new wife. She didn’t plan on just taking them. She was determined that, if she couldn’t have them no one could.

“Hey, hon,” Jaxson called out making me turn once more. He held out a coffee cup, and I grinned at him.

“I love you,” I murmured as I took the cup from his hands.