“I love you!” She went soft at my words, and her eyes lit up. Still, after all these years and Mengele, she still has it in her to look at me like that.
“I love you too.” She cupped my cheek, and I kissed her palm before getting to my feet to leave.
“That one’s going to jail.” I pointed at one of the twins, just to mess with her.
“Get out!” I do love messing with Kat and her kids.
I headed back to the war room, and each man turned to look at me like I was walking into something. “What happened?”
“Ah, there’s something you should see.” Tyler beckoned me over to where they were all standing as if protecting something. I didn’t see anything in the spaces between them, but I know when they put Tyler in the front seat, it’s going to be something they think I’m going to blow up at.
"Ty, tell me.”
“Put it up on the screen, Track.” I was a bit confused but figured they were just trying to force me into the leadership role again like always. I turned to look at the screen and wasn’t sure what the hell was going on. “Who’s that? Did you freaks photoshop Mengele and Elena? Do some age regression thing or something?” I turned my head at an angle to get a better view and still couldn’t figure out how they’d done it.
“What’s this, a new program Mancini?”
“No, that’s neither Catalina nor her grandmother.”
“Get the hell out of here. That’s my mother or my daughter’s face that you played with.”
“No, I think she might be your cousin or some relation.” I turned to look at Cord, who’s like the quietest of the SEALs and only speaks when he has something worth hearing.
“What the frig, who is she?”
“Gia Fontane, the girl we’re looking for. Show him.” Mancini ordered Track, who brought the rest of the picture into view on the screen. They’d blown it up somehow enough to remove the Russo kid at first. Now with resizing and hitting a few other keys, the kid was visible again.
“None of us noticed the resemblance at first because he was the focus, but there’s no way this person isn’t related to your mother.” Mancini’s lips were moving with his thousand-dollar words, but I wasn’t computing as well as I should.
“Yeah, you might wanna talk to your parents, especially your mom.” Tyler got closer as if he expected me to explode. I’m not sure why they have this opinion of me.
I went to the intercom where Mancini has it set up so we can talk to anyone down on the beach. I’m pretty sure that’s where she was this time of evening because she’d grown fins since I brought her here. Both her and her husband. “Elena, you and the pothead get up here right now.” Keep it calm, Colt. You don’t want her bitching to your wife, then the two of them gang up on you for losing your shit when it was either one or the both of them who caused you to lose your shit in the first place.
“Hey Colt, what’s up?”
“I need you up here back at the house, now, please.” Her damn voice sounds too cheery, and I can only take a guess as to why.
“Why Colton? What’s the problem?”
“There’s something I need you to see.”
“Oh, do we have to come right this minute? We’re sucking up the last rays of the sun.”
“Ma, you’ve been on the beach for two damn years. One day isn’t gonna do anything.”
“OK-ok, I guess. Give us a minute. I have to put my suit back on.” She said some other shit that got lost in the wind, and I was eminently grateful to the others in the room for not snickering at my old ass mother saying some outlandish shit like that.
“Elena, who’s down there?”
“Just me and your father.”
“Why aren’t you wearing a suit?” She giggled like a teenager. “You know, there’re some things your son just doesn’t need to know.”
“Boy, relax and leave your mother alone. Not everyone has to be a stick in the mud like you.”
“Ain’t talking to you pothead. You two got into Mengele’s home-grown stash again?” That tic in my jaw started going nuts. Between Kat and her nursery school of kids, the men in this room who are always up my ass about taking over their squad shit, and these two who are more or less responsible for bringing me into the world, I’m not sure which of these groups of people are more annoying.
“You two, don’t make me come get you. You’ve got ten minutes.”
“Now, Colt, you’re always so hyper. We’ll be up there in a little bit. Daniel, stop it.” She giggled, and the pothead could be heard in the background claiming they were going to need more than ten minutes. I don’t even wanna know.