Chapter 13
“There in that building right there,” Neville stated his eyebrows knitted in confusion.
We had a quick strategy meeting once we returned to base.
After focusing on Tracey’s gift, Neville was finally able to pin down her location.
Unfortunately, Jemmy’s signature still seemed to be pinging off these metaphorical towers.
We had to debate whether to wait until we discovered her location down or take the second-best option of apprehending Tracey in the hopes of finding Jem.
In the end, we chose having Tracey in custody was the best course of action.
We were determined to ensure that justice was served for Drake’s dad.
Neville warned us that she was surrounded by gifted people. Thus, the reason why we decided to bring Herman, Greg, Miranda, Pops, Micah, Shiloh, Alex, Ben, Victoria, Kade, Sierra, Gavin, Bentley, and Mercedes. With the increased manpower we believed we would have the upper hand.
“What’s up?” Jace asked, seeming to notice Neville’s expression as well. “Is Jemmy still with them?”
I shifted slightly attempting to alleviate the tension vibrating through my body.
While we assessed the situation, we were congregated in an abandoned building directly across from the luxury apartments that had recently been erected.
The location Tracey was currently residing with an unknown number of enemies.
Herman frowned, answering first. “It’s like the gifted are jumping. A second ago, there were fifteen people occupying the penthouse. Now there’s only three.”
“And Jemmy’s no longer with them.” Neville rubbed a weary hand over his face.
I had to give it to him because he had worked tirelessly for us to discover Jemmy and Tracey’s whereabouts. The issue was that he was having was nailing down Jemmy. We suspected they had a shield of sorts over her.
“So, they have someone like Bentley and Mercedes?” Micah asked.
Neville let out a sound between a snort and a laugh.
“Nah, they’re unique in their abilities.
I’ve only met one other gifted that had a gift similar to them and even then, they could only build a portal in a specified location.
For instance, if they’re in a house, school, mall, etc.
they can portal only in that limited capacity. ”
Bentley made a sweeping motion with his hands—like he was brushing away dirt—over his left shoulder. “I am pretty unique and awesome.”
“Pfft,” Mercedes exhaled. “Like you would be able to use your gift without me.”
Bentley narrowed his gaze at her. “Respect your elders.”
“You’re only nine minutes older than me. Let’s not forget we rely on each other, and we wouldn’t have gotten stronger if it wasn’t for me.”
Pops and Greg had met other siblings that had gifts that seemed to go hand in hand, but not on the scale of the twins.
Yes, they could work separately from each other but nowhere near the capacity they could together.
The portals they could open separately worked well with small items or objects like a chair or smaller.
It was only when they worked together that they were able to transfer humans.
Jaxson and Noah snickered while Victoria made a fake gagging noise. It took me a moment to understand why they had reacted to Mercedes statement. Then her words finally sunk in and I whirled on Gavin. He had his hands shoved in his pockets and was looking down at his feet.
The condemned and derelict apartment building we congregated in was poorly lit, but I could still see the blush staining Gavin’s cheeks. His inability to look at me and Mercedes half bemused, and half satisfied look spoke volumes.
“You finally sealed the deal?” Troy snickered.
“You leveled up!” Noah added.
“Connection powers activated,” Jaxson crowed.
I had to cover my mouth to muffle the surprised bout of laughter that erupted from my throat.
Admittedly this part of the strip was sparsely populated at this time of night, but it wasn’t completely deserted.
Just as I had that thought a group of college-age students came strolling by laughing and joking around.
They were dressed like they were headed to one of the clubs.
The area was a strange mixture of clubs, bars, restaurants, unleased buildings, and high-end apartments—as well as low-end.
Some of the establishments looked recently renovated or built.
On the other hand, some of them quite frankly looked in desperate need of renovations or even bull dozed down.
Luckily, we had Miranda and Micah to keep our movements undetectable.
“And I thought we were best friends,” I teased Gavin gently bumping my shoulders against his.
“When have we had time to talk?” he mentally chaffed.
I took a second to mull over his words and saw the validity of the statement.
I had been busy getting schoolwork completed and he had been preoccupied by creating his business plan with Sierra, Remy, and Pops.
When we arrived at band practice the night before our time was immersed in working on our set list and ironing out and collaborating a new song Ben had created.
We had completely lost track of time, and Remy had to demand that I get some sleep bringing us back down to earth.
So, in short, we had been too busy with life to catch up on current gossip with our personal stuff.
I mockingly narrowed my eyes on him before silently responding. “I’ll let you off the hook this time. So…how was it?” I teased him further.
A satisfied smile curved his lips for a brief moment before he seemed to become his normally reserved self. I could see that he was prepared to give me a smart-ass retort, but his words were cut off when Alex reminded us of his presence.
“What’s seal the deal mean?” Alex innocently asked.
I couldn’t believe I had forgotten my youngest brother had accompanied us—especially since this was his first real world mission for him outside of helping Harry.
It was a test of sorts for him. We also believed that with all of us present he was more than protected.
He had been doing exceptionally well in all his training exercises and with the intel we were able to gather we were confident that he wouldn’t have to actually engage with any of our enemies.
Kade clapped his hands over Alex’s ears as if it would prevent him from probing the other’s minds. “Put your shields up!”
Troy realized his faux paus and shot Pop’s an abashed look as if he was afraid of his reprimand.
Pops tried to explain to Alex that sometimes adults said things they shouldn’t in front of “young sponges,” it wasn’t anything he needed to know quite yet.
While the others tried to back up this theory my mind realized the implications of Gavin and Mercedes making their connection.
I’m positive Jemmy wouldn’t like this new development once she returned.
Gavin looked over at me and silently informed me.
“I’m no longer walking on eggshells when it comes to Jemmy.
I miss her and I wished I hadn’t hurt her, but you know as well as I do I have no control over our connections.
It wasn’t fair to Mercedes to keep her in limbo while I attempted to respect someone who didn’t respect me enough to have a discussion or try to make things work before she left.
“Sierra encouraged me to finish my connection with Merci. I know it was hard on Sierra to discover what Merci was to me, but we discussed it like adults. We found a gifted couple’s therapist. We’ve been attending meetings every week to learn how to communicate better with each other and help us tackle any other obstacles that may rise in the future.
“We’re all on the same page and I was given tools to ensure that I never make any of the women in my life feel less than. They both understand that the scales will be uneven at times but if it seems like a continuing issue, I’ll listen to their concerns with an open mind.”
I nodded and smiled; happy he was making things work for his family unit. My smile slipped away when I thought about Jemmy. “And Jemmy? Where does she fit in all this?”
Gavin sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “That’s a tough question. I know I love her but I’m not sure I want someone like that in my life. She needs to attend therapy, and I may be willing to do couples therapy with her as well, but I won’t welcome her back with open arms.
“Sierra let me know how much she appreciated her presence while I was gone, but she’s leery now.
She realizes that Jemmy needs a lot of help outside of what we can give her.
She doesn’t want her to be a part of our family until she makes some positive changes in her mental health.
We must think about Lexxus and our baby.
Jemmy’s already proven she’s willing to lash out at those who can’t protect themselves and the children are the most important people in our lives. ”
“I don’t blame you.” I agreed. “I thought when she first started to see Dr. Wong that she was making strides in a positive direction. I understand that it must be hard to discover your connection had another one out there and I don’t think it helped in her mental and emotional recovery.
However, she began to self-destruct again and after we forgave her the first time, I had hoped she would realize she couldn’t become unhinged again over her own insecurities and misgivings.
“I can’t deny that she has suffered a lot in her life, but there has to be a time she no longer treats herself like a victim. She needs to recognize she’s a survivor and grow from it. I hope—” my words were cut off by Herman’s sudden exclamation.
“Shit they know we’re here! There’s ten of them total. Two are going up. Three are heading to the side entrance. Two are going to be coming out the front. Two are headed out the back alley. And—” he rolled his eyes. “Tracey is hiding.”
“I’ll jump Tracey and bring her here,” Lincoln stated.