THIRTEEN JAY #2
“Did they just say a tsunami type wave happened out of nowhere?” Parker asked.
Micah and I looked at each other, knowing that the only person who could make that happen was Hudson.
We’d heard in history books how the past Water Elementi could do such things but Hudson had never been that strong.
Although, there hadn’t been much chance for him to try his powers out to that extent since he bonded with Lailah.
“Should we find a way to contact them?” Micah asked.
“If they were taken and needed to fight back, I don’t think they’ll be able to take a call from us,” I responded, sarcasm thick in my voice. “Now it’s even more important to get to the base so we have backup. We don’t need to worry about the police coming after us to pin the bombing on.”
“No need to be an asshole about it, Jay,” Micah muttered.
Opening my mouth to respond to him, I felt my powers explode inside me to the point I couldn’t see; the light was so blinding.
“Pull over, now!” Parker yelled, lunging forward and grabbing the wheel. “Take your foot off the gas, Jay. You’re going to get us killed if you don’t slow down!”
I could feel when we moved off the smooth asphalt of the road and hit the rocky terrain.
Using the last part of my willpower, I let off the gas and pressed on the brakes, trying not to bring us to an abrupt halt.
When the car finally stopped, Parker shifted it into park and I could lose myself to whatever the hell was going on with my powers.
It was like I got pulled under in a sea of white light only to have bursts of green and gold popping off like fireworks around me.
What the fuck was happening?
I caught images of Brayden and Lailah but they happened so fast I couldn’t figure out what was happening.
While I might not be able to see with my eyes, I could feel what was happening.
Lailah was terrified and feeling trapped.
Sensing she needed my help, I sent my power to her, letting her take what she needed.
Just when I didn’t think I had more to give, I was slammed with a return of power.
It was intermixed with all our powers, as if she’d pulled from all of us and was giving us back the extra.
Soon, the moment ended, and I was able to see the world around me once again.
My heart was hammering in my chest like I’d been given a shot of adrenaline.
“What in the holy hell just happened?” Micah rasped, looking as bewildered as I did.
“I don’t know, but I’m betting it had something to do with why Hudson needed to create a wave that big,” I answered. “Parker, I think it’s better that you drive since you don’t have to worry about anything happening to you.”
Parker grimaced at the reminder that he wasn’t attached to Lailah in any way. “Yeah, fine, it’s better we live to find out what’s going on than to die a sudden and horrible death, crashing into a mountain.”
“You acted fast and kept us alive,” I pointed out as I slid into the back seat. “Good work.”
“Wow, your gratitude is so touching. What will I ever do with all these warm fuzzy feelings?” Parker muttered as he got the car back on the road. “How much farther do I take this road?”
“Take this all the way until you hit a town. That will be Paarl. Then we’ll have to ditch the car somewhere and make our way to the base on foot. Can’t have the cops finding a stolen car on their property,” I said, resting my head against the window, still feeling unsettled by what just happened.
Lailah, what had happened to you three?
Lost in thought, trying to come up with our next move, I was once again blindsided by my powers rioting in my body.
Thankfully, with Parker driving, there was no danger to anyone as Micah and I got lost in a whirlwind of energy.
This time, flashes of Hudson and Lailah kept appearing, and I got the sense that Hudson wasn’t doing well.
Lailah was worried but this time things seemed slightly more controlled as she took from us, giving me the chance to focus on what she was doing.
She was collecting from us and then pouring it into Hudson until he couldn’t hold anymore, which was when she sent the energy back to us.
It took a bit for her to pull out her own, giving us back what she took and then some.
“The fuck is going on? Now you guys are glowing,” Parker called out.
Whatever Lailah was doing to us wasn’t over yet, trapping us until she cut the connection, allowing us to return to what was happening around us.
Parker was still driving but he looked between Micah and me with wide worried eyes.
Lifting my hand, I could see that he was right.
I was glowing with a faint silver light, matching my energy.
This time, instead of feeling panicked and on the bad side of an adrenaline spike, I felt healed, well rested.
Even the old injury in my knee wasn’t aching. What the hell had Lailah done?
“Jay, I get you don’t want to reach out but we need to contact them sooner rather than later. I don’t like that we have no clue what’s going on with them,” Micah stated, turning to look at me. “How much longer until we get to the base?”
“Fuck the plan of leaving the car, we need to get back faster,” I said, rubbing my hands over my shaved head. “Once we hit the town, it’ll be another fifteen or twenty minutes to get where we need to go.”
“Why the hell can’t anything about this go right?” Parker grumbled.
Following my directions, we finally pulled up to the gates of the base. Parker pulled up to the guard stand and one of my father’s men stepped out. “This is a private facility. You’re going to need to turn around and leave.”
Not wanting to slide into the seat with all the glass, I got out of the car and walked up to the guard. “I’m Jalen Minh, Makoto’s son, and team leader of the Alpha-Seven.”
“Sir.” The guard straightened and saluted. “I apologize, I wasn’t informed you would be coming to the base.”
“At ease, this is an unannounced visit,” I assured him. “We were on a different mission in Cape Town and ran into some trouble. I’m in need of the resources at this base as well as needing to get in contact with the rest of my team.”
“Right away, sir.” The guard nodded and stepped back into the shack and opened the gate. “I’ll radio ahead and let your father know you’re here. I’m sure you’ll want to get him up to speed.”
I had to hide my shock at hearing that my father was here. This base wasn’t one that any of us visited often, since it was more intel related. “Thank you and good work.”
None of us said anything as we rolled through the gate. They both knew how tense my relationship with my father was without the added stress of my mother missing. For him to be here wasn’t a good sign and their agreement was deafening even without saying a word.
“Don’t say anything until we know what he knows,” I ordered as we pulled up to the main building. “My father is a master at getting others to spill their secrets but unfortunately for him, I’m better.”
Parker looked at me in the rearview mirror. “You don’t think—”
“Doesn’t matter what I think, but it would be the first thing that makes sense in all this,” I said, cutting him off before he could say it out loud. “Keep those thoughts to yourself for now, only trust each other, and we’ll make it through this like we have everything else.”
14 - Lailah
It was wise for none of us to drive, since ten minutes into the hour drive, we all fell asleep, trusting that the driver would get us to our destination.
It was foolish of us after all we’d been through but none of us seemed to be able to fight how tired we were.
After I made contact with the guys, I didn’t get any other communication from them.
Knowing they were alive and well was enough until we reached them.
We’d asked the driver to bring us to another hotel, so it didn’t make us stand out like dropping us on some street corner would, especially with us bringing along all our bags.
“We’ll be arriving in a few moments,” the driver called back to us.
Stretching, I tried to pull myself together enough to get with the program. “Thank you. The jet lag is catching up to all of us it seems. People always talk about it when you travel overseas but man, it’s no joke.”
“Where is home?” he asked with mild interest.
“The States. We all live in Wisconsin. This is our big summer trip for surviving our first year of college,” I answered, trying to make the story simple yet believable. They always said too many details were a dead giveaway.
The driver just grunted as he wove his way through traffic to pull into the hotel parking lot.
Hudson and Brayden both seemed tense as we collected our things from the trunk and watched the man drive away.
I shouldered my bag and grabbed one of the others as we trudged to the next part of our journey.
“You guys gonna fill me in on why you’re so freaked out?” I asked after a few more minutes of awkward tension.
“Something isn’t right,” Brayden commented. “I can’t figure out what it is, but something in my gut is telling me to be careful.”
“Do you think the dirty cops could have found a way to reach out and tell them we got away?” I questioned.
We walked past a bar with televisions behind the bar and I caught a glimpse of the destruction we’d left behind in Cape Town.
It wasn’t in English but I got the feeling that whoever knew about the mission to get rid of us would also know it didn’t work.
If it was being blasted all over the news, then we were screwed.
“Well, I guess that answers my question.” I huffed. “At least they don’t have our faces plastered on the news. That would make things even worse.”