Gifted Connections 4

Everyone gaped at him by his revelation. It was typical Jaxson ‘make a joke to cover up the truth’. Act flippantly to cover up the vulnerabilities lurking beneath.

“Yes, Dr. Wong,” Noah said in an innocent, unassuming voice. “My parents died giving medical aid to other children, but they loved me and provided for me. They knew I was in an amazing boarding school, and by then I already met my two best friends in the whole world, and Pops always treated me like one of his own, so even though the news of their death was hard, I knew I was never alone. I had found another family to soften the blow.”

I started to giggle. I wish I had thought of that at the time. If I would have gone on the offense instead of the defense today maybe I would have been cleared as well.

“Cut it out you two,” Jace nearly snapped. “You guys can handle your issues by whatever means necessary, but we all need to face reality, and we all know that Blake isn’t getting any better, she needs the help.”

If he would have physically slapped me, the blow would have not stung any differently. “That’s not fair,” I said in a small voice.

Jace stood up and rounded the corner of the table. He framed my face with his hands. “Sweetheart, you know I love you, but we all know you haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in a long time. Last night you spent most of the night whimpering and crying out, and that’s with me pushing comfort on you all night.”

“I don’t even think you realize it yourself,” Troy added quietly as he lifted his shirt and revealed bruises along his ribs.

I gasped. “Who did that to you?” I whispered in shock even though deep down I knew the answer.

“You,” Troy said in a gentle tone. “You get in the grips of your nightmare, and sometimes you start thrashing out. It’s getting harder and harder for us to pull you back.”

“So everyone thinks I should talk to him?” I asked glumly as I picked at my salad. I looked around and noticed they all nodded in agreement. I sighed. “Fine, I’ll talk to him,” I muttered. “After I eat… but so does Remy.”

?

I tried to go see Dr. Wong a few times, but his office door remained s

hut, so I just left a message with the assistant that worked with Pops, Dr. Wong, Paul, Greg, and Kirk. Training was grueling today, and I had been counting down the minutes until we left.

“After dinner, I think I’m going to lay down for a little bit until Greg or Miranda come by with Harry,” I stated to Jace and Remy as I toweled down my face.

“Dad said dinner at the new conference room tonight,” Jaxson stated as he joined us. “He wants all of us to be there including Terrance's team, Gavin, and the girls.”

“I wonder what that’s all about,” Remy stated. “I guess no nap for you,” he gently ribbed me.

“Why do all these evil people only come out at night?” I groaned.

“That’s what I don’t understand about it all,” Jace commented. “I know we’ve only helped Harry a few times, but even his parents stated that he’s most troubled at night. Why? I mean, evil exists in this world twenty-four seven.”

“He’s three,” Drake remarked as he came up from behind us. “I think we are more suspectable and open to our gifts in different times of the day. We all know emotions trigger most of us but some people, when it comes to seeing things? It’s all timing. Hazel told me she was aware of her gift as a young girl when she touched her grandfather’s pocket watch. We all know our minds are most vulnerable at night maybe that’s when the door is opened. Until he gets older and learns how to control it, I have a feeling we’re facing years of helping him every night.”

“Not unless we hook him up with one of those halos that Darren invented for our prisoners,” Troy stated pragmatically.

I looked over my shoulder and noticed that all the guys were behind me. “No!” I immediately exclaimed. “I know in theory it sounds amazing but in practice it’s barbaric. It is new technology that has recently rolled out and hasn’t been tested enough for use on a three-year-old.”

“Shouldn’t Greg and Miranda be given the option though?” Noah said hesitantly.

“No,” Remy stated immediately. “I honestly wished it never been invented. I know it helped immensely with our prison transport, but I’m with Blake on this one. Imagine if the schematics were to get into the wrong hands. Today it’s a tool we can use, and tomorrow it could be a weapon turned against us. Say the people who want to lock us up and throw away the key were to get their hands on this technology. We’re all screwed.”

“Who says they don’t already have it?” Drake asked quietly.

“Do you think they do?” I asked in surprise.

“We’ve been having issues with a lot of cyber attacks,” Jace admitted with a frown. “Darren, Gavin, and the team have caught several of them before they could do any major damage or obtain too much data, but whoever's been doing this is good, really good. We don’t know what they're looking for or what they’ve already seen.”

I felt nauseous at the thought. I wondered why I was just now hearing about this. Suddenly an idea struck me. “Before Jemmy started to struggle with her connection, Gavin hinted at the fact that she was able to manipulate computers. Why haven’t they been training her? With the right training, can’t she learn how to trace their activities?”

Drake smiled at me. “That’s a brilliant idea, Blake! She should probably get started on that right away.”

Chapter 26

“Wanna take a shower with me?” Noah asked with a wagged of his eyebrows.