Page 46 of Peace Under Fire

Mandy stared at the road ahead, her chest growing tighter and tighter as her sisters’ faces played through her mind. Would she ever see them again? Would she ever have the chance to tell them how sorry she was that they’d paid the price for her foolish rebellion.

“Mandy?” Jacob prompted, his voice surprisingly gentle.

“Kaylee has an affinity for computers and machinery.”

“What do you mean by an affinity?” Tex asked, his voice intrigued.

“She can fix anything. It’s like she knows instinctively what is wrong with a machine and how to fix it. She’s a genius at taking things apart and when she puts them back together the problem is always fixed, and the machine works twice as good as it did before.” She smiled slightly, remembering all the times they’d tried to stump her with some old, dusty machine they’d found in one of the compound’s buildings. “Dana has super hearing. She can hear things from three, even four times the distance as the rest of us.”

“If that’s the case, she must have heard whoever attacked them,” Tex said slowly, his voice sounding tinny and distant again.

“Yeah.” Mandy’s voice thickened. Dana must have been terrified.

“Jayla can communicate with plants and animals.”

“She’s a regular Doctor Doolittle?” Jacob asked, sounding suspicious again.

Mandy shrugged off his reaction. “Not quite. She doesn’t talk to them. It’s more like she instinctively knows what they want. Or need. And they know what she wants or needs. Brenna is incredibly lucky when it comes to things that bring in money. She knows what the winning numbers will be for the lottery, what horse or team is going to win, what stocks are going to fly or go bust.”

“That would be handy.” Brick sounded impressed.

“It is,” Mandy said tiredly. “We’ve never had to work or worry about money. Brenna keeps us supplied with all the money we’ll ever need.”

Jacob counted the names she’d mentioned off on his fingers. “That’s six. Didn’t you say there were ten of you?”

“Yeah.” Mandy grimaced. Her last three sisters were even more impressive than the ones she’d already mentioned. They were also the most dangerous. Would these men decide they were too dangerous? If so, would they even try to rescue them? They needed Giulia’s help. But the others? What if they decided to just leave them in captivity?

She must have hesitated too long because a frown was forming on Jacob’s face. “What can they do, Mandy?”

“Sybil can move things just by looking at them.” She forced the info out.

“Like bending spoons, or some shit?” Brick asked with another quick look in the rearview mirror.

“Uh…no. More like throwing refrigerators across the room. Or slamming doors shut.” The slamming doors thing had been incredibly annoying when they were kids.

“Damn.” Tex’s voice was quiet but carried clearly through the phone.

“That’s seven,” Jacob reminded her.

Mandy rolled her eyes. It wasn’t like she’d forgotten there were still two sisters to go. She sighed. “Alexis is doubly talented. She can blow things up or start fires just by thinking about it.”

Which had made life interesting as a kid. Back when Alex was learning to control her ability, she’d constantly blow things up or start things on fire. And then Kaylee would step in to fix whatever Alex had fried.

What a strange childhood she’d had.

“One left,” Jacob said.

Good God, he was obsessed with counting. “That would be JoAnn. She can heal with the touch of her hands.” Or kill.

Before she had a chance to warn them about the dark half of JoAnn’s gift, Tex was talking again.

“That’s quite the sisterhood you’ve got going on there. The ‘talents’ you listed would be in high demand with some organizations. No wonder you’ve been in hiding. I take it the people after you know what ya’ll can do?”

“They know,” Mandy said tightly.

Although there was more to it than that. The organization knew what her family was capable of because they’d genetically engineered them…and claimed ownership over them.

CHAPTER 11

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