Gifted Connections 2

“He’s dead,” I told him urgently.

Troy looked at me in confusion.

“The guy that was with us.” I hated myself in that moment. He was a part of our team, and I never even bothered to remember his name. He died, and I couldn’t even give Troy a name. My throat was thick with tears. “We need to find everyone else,” I pulled my zip ties from my pack. I wove the zip tie through the handles of the double doors.

“Don,” Rachel whispered with tears welling in her eyes.

Troy took his own zip ties out, understanding what I was doing and added a few of his own. They wouldn’t be able to get out anytime soon, we hoped.

“How very smart of you,” I heard a vaguely familiar voice say with a gleeful, snarky tone. Then everything went dark.

I blinked sluggishly. I was lucid, barely. I tried to move but realized my hands and feet were bound and tied to a chair. My head felt heavy. I could barely lift it. My head throbbed and there was a ringing in my ears. I didn’t recognize where we were.

I gasped as more things came into focus. I looked across from me. Troy was sitting in a chair with his arms tied behind his back. His feet were bound to a chair. His blood trickled from his nose and mouth, and his left eye was swollen shut. He wasn’t moving, and I began to panic. I heard sobbing to my right and saw a disheveled distraught Rachel. She was bound as we were.

“He didn’t do anything,” she cried.

My blood ran cold, until I noticed her eyes were looking across from her, to my left. Steven was tied to the chair as we were, but there was a bullet hole in his head. I immediately threw up when I saw his brain matter on the wall behind him. I barely had time to empty the contents of my stomach on the floor beside me.

“Well, well, well look who’s finally awake,” Ned squatted in front of me with a sadistic smile. My eyes widened in surprise. “What’s wrong, Princess?” he asked with feigned sympathy. “Not so tough without all your men, are you?” he taunted me.

I glared at him and imagined him putting the gun he was waving in front of my face, into his own mouth and pulling the trigger.

He started to chuckle as if he knew I was trying to use my gift. “Ah, ah, ah,” he tsked as he shook his head and pulled one of the females I had carried outside to the van into his side. She smiled at him and gave him a lingering kiss. “My girl here is blocking you. Did you know Collin trained her? The same Collin you were so distraught over losing.”

“I would clap,” I said snidely. “But I can’t.”

He reached out before I could blink and slapped me with his gun. I saw stars behind my eyelids. I bit my lip to refrain from crying out. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “You think you’re so strong, you have all the Bell clan groveling at your feet and jumping to your every whim. Look at you now!” His eyes were almost maniacal as he grinned at me. “I deserved to stay on my team. They were my team for four years. You ruined that!” He screamed at me, spittle flying from his lips, hitting the side of my face.

“Don’t be delusional,” I said through clenched teeth. “You’re a coward. That’s what got you kicked off the team. If your team can’t trust you to help them when they are in danger, how do you expect them to want you to watch their backs? Look at you now. You have four of us tied to your…” I looked around the room. “Thirteen. You got your little feelings hurt and what…you turn. Just like that. So easily bought. Just like a common whore.” I spat out.

He reached out again and smashed a fist to the side of my face. I couldn’t stop the cry that left my lips. He laughed in satisfaction.

“Ned,” Michael’s voice said over my shoulder. “Knock it off.”

He walked around in front of me. My eyes widened in surprise when I noticed that he wasn’t tied up. “I’m sorry, Blake,” he said earnestly. “I had to do it.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t supposed to end like this.” He looked over at Steven. “We planned to detain you and secure you. That’s it. No casualties. He went rouge.”

“Why?” I gasped out with a dry throat.

“I had to,” he explained. “I have a mom who needs medical treatment. I don’t make enough money. It’ll take me forever to climb up the ranks to make that kind of money.”

“Did you tell Will? Did you tell Terrance? We could have helped you out." I had to swallow the tears that threatened to spill over as I looked over at Steven. “You played with his daughter. You were treated like family. How could you do this? Why?”

“When Horatio comes, I’m a free man. I never have to work ever again, and my mom can get the treatment she needs,” he explained passionately. I could see he was sincere, and he thought it was going to be an easy job, but I still felt betrayed. I knew Will would have helped had he just asked.

“So, Nadia has to grow up with no father. Dave’s wife will no longer have a husband. Lyle’s daughter will never know her father. Don doesn’t get to walk down the aisle with his fiancé this summer. What about Oscar? Were their lives less important than your own?” Rachel yelled at him hysterically. It didn’t surprise me that she had taken the time to know the members on our team.

Michael flinched with every word she said. “No, no,” he said with remorse on his face. “I’m sorry,” he stated before he pulled out his own gun and lifted it, pointing it towards Ned and his girlfriend. “Do it now,” he looked at me urgently, before I heard his gun go off.

“No,” I heard Ned yell as his girlfriend collapsed to the ground.

“Now, Blake!” Rachel yelled at me as I saw other girls and a few guards, rush towards their fallen friend.

I looked up as I saw a ball of fire soar across the room. Troy was no longer slumped forward and bound. He was now launching himself towards me as I heard a boom in my ears. I saw the others leap into action, and I imagined a force field around us, protecting us from the people now rushing us. I saw now that every female we came to rescue was in on this trap. My head ached but I needed to protect my family. I needed to snap out of the grief trying to consume me.

I saw Troy had created another diversion, lighting a fire in a pile of discarded skids in the corner of the room. Some girls screamed in panic, trying to get the fire out.

I was able to erect a force field, but not before blood began pouring from Michael’s ears and mouth. I could hear the sickening gurgle coming from his mouth. I looked up in shocked horror as I watched a woman looking satisfied at her work. She turned to glare at me.