Page 24 of Maverick

“I did notice that,” nodded Katelyn. “Maverick’s father and mother are extraordinarily beautiful.” Chelsea nodded, then pointed to a table of older men.

“That group there makes my heart race,” she whispered. “Skull, Max, Dan, Noah, Frank, Dom, and Bodhi. They’re part of what we call Team Big.”

“Babe?” called Eazee as he walked toward their table. “You okay? You’re flush.”

“Am I?” Chelsea said, clearing her throat. “I think it’s just warm today. Katelyn and I were getting reacquainted.”

“Okay. As long as you’re feeling alright.” He walked back to grab more food, and the girls laughed, hugging one another.

“It’s good to have you here, Katelyn,” said Chelsea.

“I’m so grateful that Mav heard me screaming that night. I have no idea where I’d be without him.”

“We might be about to find out,” nodded Chelsea toward Kennedy, Suzette, and Riley. “Good news or bad?”

“That depends,” said Kennedy. “I think we all need to talk. All of us.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Instead of trying to shove everyone into the auditorium, Mama Irene insisted that they stay in the grove and eat while Kennedy and the others talked. AJ brought out a portable speaker and microphone, allowing Kennedy to speak in a normal tone of voice.

“Kennedy, what’s going on?” asked Cam.

“We looked at the tests for all of our genius ‘kids,’” she said, smiling at Chelsea and Katelyn. “Blood work was normal for all of them, no obvious surgeries that would suggest anything odd. Then we did the CT scans of the brain.”

“Please tell me I don’t have someone else’s brain,” frowned Katelyn. Kennedy smirked at the young woman.

“No, honey. It’s all yours. At least, we think it is.”

“What the hell does that mean?” frowned Maverick.

“There are places within their brain scans that show scar tissue. It’s tiny, extraordinarily tiny. It’s not large enough to have been an actual surgery, but it is large enough to be multiple needles injected over a defined period of time. Judging by the scarring, it was before the age of two on all of you.”

“Are you saying that we’re not really smart?” asked Marilisa.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I feel certain that you were all relatively intelligent. But someone injected something into your brains to enhance your skills. The interesting thing about it is that they injected each of your brains in a different part of the brain.”

“Kennedy, we need more, hun,” said Luke, shaking his head. Kennedy turned to look at Riley and Suzette.

“We all know that the brain is a complex organ,” said Riley. “There are thirteen functional areas of the cerebral cortex. Some areas control sight and image perception. Others control motor skills, some the muscles of speech, smell, pain, or hunger. Others control things like concentration, planning, judgment, and creativity. The cerebellum controls motor functions for coordination, balance, and movement.”

“Isn’t that what the Russians were screwing with in the athlete training programs?” asked Dom.

“Exactly. No one was ever sure, other than, of course, the use of steroids, which had nothing to do with those things. At least we didn’t think so,” said Riley.

“Riley, you’re starting to scare me,” said Katelyn.

“The frontal lobe of our brain is the most complex part of the brain. It’s what separates us from primates. It is the largest lobe of the brain and is responsible for things like reasoning, decision-making, sensory integration, and execution of movement.

“When you look at brain scans for individuals who have had brain injuries, you see a lack of activity in certain areas. Sometimes, we look at people who are musical geniuses or prodigies, and we see high activity in that part of the brain.”

“Or low,” said Miguel. “Like me. After the stroke.”

“Something like that,” nodded Riley. “Yours was damaged because of the stroke, and when we do your brain scans, we can see that. This is different. This is intentional needle indentations into the different portions of the brain. It’s almost as if they were creating your specialty.”

“Oh, I get it,” nodded Nigel. “Like Brady knows everything there is to know about marine life, and Victoria can compute everything in her head in split seconds.”

“Exactly like that,” smiled Kennedy.

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