Capturing Ella

Chapter 7 - Joe

I sat in the front of Jake's car, arms crossed and tapping my finger on my upper arm as we drove down the M25 on our way to the base. Not much was said after he told me that as I was more in silence. Near enough everyone knew about the Benedict family, mainly because they were the ones who founded the Savant Net to start with. Based in Colorado, America, the family contains one more than the normal Savant family; with eight kids rather than the seven. Seven boys and one girl – with the girl being twins with the second youngest. Their gifts were strong and unique and they are one of the most talented families at putting away criminals, but they all work for the FBI only occasionally travelling over here if the crime Maui was working on was international. It was rare, though.

It was safe to say everyone who worked at base was part of the Net. The Savant Net was for people who use their Savant gifts for good, and we are vowed to keep ourselves at a low profile in order to protect ourselves. Many out there want our gifts, or to destroy those who use their Savant gifts for crime, or just to expose us. Maui and certain parts of the FBI are dedicated to stop this. The Net was a massive group of Savant's, at least five thousand strong, who are dedicated to stopping this – and the Benedict's are at the heart of it.

Seven of the family are on the visible Net, which you can see if you belong to Maui. The parents, Saul and Karla, and five of their children. Three of them are only visible on the Grey Net. Occasionally, some Savant's need their names and gifts hidden for reasons that are unexplained – and three of the Benedict's are on the list with their gifts hidden. Just their names visible; Trace Benedict, Victor Benedict and Ella Benedict all belong on this hidden area of the Net. I always found it weird that the girl was hidden as well. The older two made sense – they both worked for the police or the FBI and would need to be hidden. But the girl? As far as I knew until only seconds before, she was twins with Yves Benedict – they were both eighteen nearly nineteen. Well, that turned out to be a lie, didn't it?

'Yeah, Ella's like nineteen. She's not my age.' I told Jake as he continued to watch Jeremy Kyle. He just frowned, and I couldn't tell if it was at me or at the show.

'Can't believe you fell for that lie.'

'What do you mean, lie?' I asked, sitting down on the armchair as he paused the television.

'What do you know about Ella, Joe? Who's her brother?'

'Why does this sound like a trick question?' I asked, and Jake just smiled. 'The Benedict's, right?'

'Nope. Trick question!' He simply said. 'What I am going to tell you are a pretty big secret and for her sake you have to keep it quiet, okay?' And I nodded as he took in a deep breath. 'Ella is adopted by the Benedict's, if we track the genetics she is only their cousin. She's nearly twenty one, two months older than you. She was in a car crash when she was four that killed all her family apart from her older brother who was two and a half years older than her. Does that story sound familiar, Joe?' I hesitated. 'You're literally now part of the secret service, put it together Joe.'

'Michael...' I remembered someone telling me how he was in a crash that killed all this family apart from his little sister. He was up stupid times on the phone and texting and Skyping his sister in America. It all fell into place.

'Good boy! Yes, she is a Benedict especially in the way she acts, but she's come over for a few weeks on holiday and is willing to try and sort out this murder case with you to see if it'll work. If you two are good to each other, she might come over a few more times a year or consider moving back over here for a couple of months a year. Ella's lovely, but her gifts are very strong and are dangerous if you annoy her. I've always got on well with her ever since she started when she was 12 –' Jake continued to talk, but soon after Jason came back downstairs and we all left to head back to base.