Gifted Connections 4

“What did you do?” Jaxson asked in enthrallment. Up until this point, he only saw Darren as a nerd—not in the mean way, more in the ‘you can’t possibly be cool by Jaxson’s definition’ way.

Jaxson had a good working relationship with him and they constantly…teased each other, but he never volunteered to hang out with him. Remy, Noah, and Troy had been known to go down to Darren’s lair from time to time and play video games, but Jaxson never bothered to go. If he did anything on an epic hoax scale, Darren was going to gain so many points for it.

“Darren,” Paul said in warning.

“I only…borrowed one dollar from every bank account in the…world and transferred it to an offshore bank account,” Darren continued with a smile.

Paul sighed, and I heard surprised laughter scattered around the room.

“You’re lucky my friend caught it, and no one else did,” Paul said wryly.

“No way!” Jaxson gushed like he had a schoolgirl crush. “How much did you steal?”

Darren just gave him a mysterious smile.

“You let a criminal work for you?” The SC guy, Sherman, asked with a slight frown.

I had found out over the course of dinner that Sherman was Kirk’s right-hand man and could disappear like Victoria, but he had perfected his ability. He was also marked and hadn’t found his connected yet. He seemed like a decent guy, but he did seem a little…uptight. He was also a cop and had taken a leave of absence to be with Kirk.

“You’ll be surprised how many…criminals get a pardon from the government if they are proved to be useful, and he has been,” Paul stated matter of factly. “He is monitored and hasn’t strayed now that he has a place to stay; he’s with family and has a great income coming in.”

Alex jerked awake. “It’s time,” he said with a frown right before Harry started to stir fitfully.

Chapter 27

“This is so bizarre,” I said in mock exasperation as I watched everyone file into the school bus.

It was the afternoon of Alex’s birthday, and the bus had arrived right after our duty day had ended. The invitations had everyone meeting us in the parking garage so we could walk to the parking lot that was used for all our deliveries and such.

“This is amazing!” Jaxson laughed contradicting me. “This will be Alex’s best birthday ever, and one he’ll never forget.”

I nodded. “True.”

“Your Jeep’s ready and waiting.” Remy stated walking up to my other side.

“Have we heard from Troy?” I asked with a frown. He should have been back an hour ago.

After deciding that he was getting the larger helicopter, he left two days ago to go pick it up with his mechanic. The seller lied and said it was in perfect condition. Troy made him reduce the price significantly. Then his mechanic had to figure out the issues with it. Luckily, it wasn’t a huge matter and wasn’t too terribly time-consuming, but it was highly inconvenient. The parts had been ordered and arrived yesterday. The mechanic was supposed to have it completed by today.

“He said he’s running late and he’ll meet us there,” Remy explained. “Ready to go?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

Jaxson began to follow us, and Remy stopped short. “What are you doing?”

“Going with you.” Jaxson shrugged as if it was a given.

“Nuh uh.” Remy laughed. “You have bus duty.”

“Not fair,” Jaxson pouted. “How did I get the short end of the stick?”

“You’re the youngest,” Remy said smugly.

Jaxson mock glared at us and pretended to stomp off.

“See you there!” Pops pulled up beside us with Greg and Harry riding with him.

We were taking one of the larger SUVs and my jeep. Remy and I were going to stop to pick up the cake on the way in, and Pops was bringing the SUV for all the presents. The bus was almost packed full.