“Exactly,” Calliope replied. “The next one, after me, is Luca.”
From the picture, the man had short auburn hair and bright brown eyes. He even wore glasses. He looked no different from any other average man. In fact, he looked more like an accountant than a killer responsible for over a thousand deaths. “Luca is my biggest worry inside the house. He’s a computer wizard, but not just one who likes to set traps; he likes weapons, too, one of them being robotic dogs he has watching over the grounds.”
“You’re kidding,” my father scoffed. “As in the sci-fi movie shit?”
“Welcome to the new age,” she replied.
“The last is Mary,” she said, showing the woman with short, buzz-cut hair, no eyebrows, and scars around her face. “As you can see, she is a bit intense. She is a hammer. Everything is a nail. She likes guns, grenades, and anything else that blows bodies apart. She’s also very good with a meat cleaver. She doesn’t hide from hand-to-hand combat. You’ll most likely run into her on the grounds while Luca runs support.”
“What were you supposed to do?” I asked her, and with ease, she replied.
“If my cover isn’t blown, I’m supposed to lead you into the house and stab you in the back, but that is if you are attacking in the house. If they were to attack us, I was to let them in and stab you then.”
“And if your cover is blown?”
“Bring Gigi and stay in the center of the house with my grandmother and wait for you,” she replied.
“Why are they so confident in all of your loyalties?” my mother asked. “Why would they believe you’d so easily kill or risk your own child or betray Ethan for them?”
Was she asking? A few weeks ago, she was dead sure she was betraying me, too! Apparently, she had forgotten.
“We all have some grievance against the Callahan family,” she replied. “For Luca, I believe you killed his whole family and hid it as a gas leak years ago. He was away on a camping trip. He was put into the foster system, and Siena found him, faked that he was sick and died, then brought him with her. For Mary, Liam, you killed her father in Ireland. I believe he was stealing money and product on the side.”
“That often happened. How the hell am I supposed to remember who she’s mad about?” He frowned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This is why we always made sure to take out the whole family.”
“Yes, and you did well, but nothing is ever perfect. Even if you took out 99.9%, there is still that .1%. Siena found them. Then she broke us down. Over and over again. But she was smart; she also played the role of mother or grandmother. Taking care of us. Making sure she showed kindness. That’s what makes us four different. Siena isn’t just the leader; she’s supposed to be our family. When the big, bad Callahans ruined our lives, she came in and made us strong and protected us. That is the loyalty that binds all of us. The hate for the Callahan family and the desire to protect the only one family we each believe we have left.”
In the end, everything really did come down to the love of family.
I looked over every detail and every entrance of the house she’d give us. They’d most likely have more people, hired bodies around their estate to keep us from getting inside.
“How do we know they are still there?”
“The same reason why they know the Callahan family wouldn’t abandon Chicago,” she replied. “It’s home. Besides, Siena, due to her illness, is attached to the estate. It’s where her sons were reburied. They are still there because she won’t leave. That and they believe they have the best security.”
There are at least forty acres of land around their main house, which sat slightly on a hill. A shoot out would start if we tried to break in directly. Part of me wanted to bomb the whole place, but I was sure they had safe zones within the house as well.
“Is there another way into the house?” I asked.
“Yep.”
And I looked at her, waiting.
“I’ll give you that information on our way there,” she said, and I rolled my eyes. “We can get in directly. That’s why I’m not worried about anyone they may have hired to fill the gap in security. Ethan, we talked about it before. Once inside, we can blast out the power grids in and around the house and even force Luca to fight hand to hand, too. Then from there, we make our way through to the center, where I believe the last one would be to protect Siena in my place. All that is left to figure out is where to leave Gigi until this over.” She looked at me, waiting.
I nodded. “We’ll leave her with Dona.”
“Dona?” she said, surprised.
“She’s a monarch, and Gigi is her niece. She’ll watch over, and the press will also be watching with her. Along with a whole palace of people. It won’t be easy to get to her.”
Calliope paused, thinking it over.
“Can you think of anyone else?” I pressed.
“Fine…we will drop her off on our way. But Dona is still dealing with a lot. I don’t want to just drop her with some maid. You never know—”
“Again, can you think of anyone else?”