Page 25 of Maverick

“So, we were taken as infants or sold to the school by our families. Some of us were then sold again to another school or kidnapped. Some were to be ransomed off to some maniac in Russia. All the while, they’re injecting our brains with something we can’t identify to make us even smarter. And if I understand this correctly, the CIA is in on all of this. Do I have this right?” asked Katelyn.

“I think you have that right,” said Kennedy. “What I want to know is what they injected into your brains. There’s never been one single study that proves you can dramatically improve brain activity and function by taking certain medications or injecting medications. Whatever this is, I don’t know of it.”

“They could have injected us with something that will kill us eventually. Right?” asked Monroe.

“Truth?” Riley asked him.

“Yes, ma’am. Always.”

“We don’t know, Monroe. That’s a possibility. The good news is that there is no tracking device in your brains or bodies, and we don’t see any deterioration of your brains.”

“That’s good,” said Chelsea. “Most of us have been out of those schools for quite a while now. Surely, we would have seen something by now if it were going to happen.”

“It is good, and we don’t believe that any of you are in danger. But if the CIA was behind these schools, you’re in danger from them.”

“And the one most vulnerable is Hayes,” whispered Victoria. “He’s out there. Alone.”

“We’re still trying to find him,” said AJ. “The team he was assigned to was deployed to an undisclosed location. We’re trying to find out who’s on that team to get a message to watch him closely.”

Victoria just stared off toward the big house. They knew that she was struggling with the idea of not being able to get to him if needed, but they also knew that Hayes was a lot smarter about the outside world than she was.

“How do we stop them?” asked Katelyn.

“Babe, maybe you should let us take it from here,” said Maverick.

She looked at him and cocked her head with an expression he hadn’t seen before. He heard his father groaning behind him and turned to see the men all giving tiny little shakes of their heads.

“Take it from here? Meaning that Chelsea, me, Marilisa, and the others aren’t capable?” She gave a nod to Monroe, Spencer, and Nigel.

“No, that’s not…”

“I know what you meant. You meant that the big bad team from Voodoo Guardians would step up and save us all from the bad men of the agency. Well, news flash, Mav, we may not be as adept at hand to hand, guns, knives, bombs, and all the other amazing things you guys do, but we have a skill set of our own.”

“Honey, I know. You’re all brilliant.”

“Brilliant. Yes. Also very resourceful,” she said, grinning. “See, while you all were staring at us, wondering how you’d stop us from leaving, Monroe, Spencer, and Nigel gathered, how many, boys?”

“I got nine,” said Spencer.

“Eleven,” said Nigel.

“Sixteen,” laughed Monroe, holding up the wallets.

“What the fuck?” muttered Luke. “How the hell did you do that?”

“It’s easy,” smirked Monroe. “It’s about rerouting your senses. While we were taking your wallets, Marilisa was putting the bread pudding in front of each of you.”

“But you did that so quickly,” frowned Cam. He felt his back pocket and looked around. Nigel waved his wallet in the air, laughing.

“Do you guys do this at school or anywhere else?” asked Paige.

“No. I mean, not since we got here. We used to do it just to have money on us in case we could escape. Then they figured us out and watched us more closely,” said Nigel.

“No more pickpocketing,” said Luke.

“We are capable, in spite of our age. I think some of you forget that Hayes and Victoria are twenty-one and twenty-two now. I’m twenty-one, almost twenty-two,” said Marilisa. They all looked at one another, unsure of how that had happened while they were looking.

“We’re obviously highly intelligent, but we’re also highly resourceful. We can find who is responsible for this if you let us help.”

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