The Squad

Now I turned back to the Flanagans to answer their exasperated question. “Do you trust your daughter?”

“Who Lily? Of course, why?”

“And I trust Catalina Lyon. When you’re dealing with minds like theirs, you don’t stifle them; you give them room to flourish.”

“So you’re saying you did it on purpose. Well, what do you plan on doing now? They must’ve heard everything that went on in here yesterday.”

“That’s the whole idea, now we wait and see what they do with the information.” I’m about as excited about that as I am about the squad planning our first job together.

“Are you sure that’s wise? These are children we’re talking about…wait, did my kid hear about what happened to her grandmother?”

“No, that’s not how it works, Catalina is too smart for that, to just sit and listen. That’s why you saw a readout of the meet. The device she used transfers audio to text. Since I know where and what it is, I can turn it off when I need to, and it wouldn’t show on her end.”

"Had she been listening in, that would’ve been a different story. I’ll demonstrate later so you’d see what I’m talking about. You didn’t touch anything in there did you? I don’t want them to know that I know what they’re doing. Since you already know what they and their friend in Asia have already uncovered, you should know what they’re capable of. I’m just giving them what they need to carry out whatever it is they have planned.”

“But, they’re eight.”

“And when you were eight, you were already very proficient with a bow and arrow.” I raised my brow at her at about the same time her husband put himself between her and I. “Calm down Flanagan; there are no secrets between the members of the squad. You heard everything I said yesterday.” I’d gone over it all with them after telling her the truth about her mom.

“You know what we’re trying to do here and what’s more, you know that we’re all of one mind. No one here will betray the other you can put your mind at ease on that. And Colton Lyon, the one who you would eventually be having these kinds of conversations with, would never stand for any kind of betrayal from his men or women.”

“About that. Isn’t that guy a bit rough around the edges to be doing what you do?”

“You got that shit right.” Colt came into the room, followed by the others. I looked through the men until I saw her, little Roxana. Arianna saw her at the same time, and the two women sized each other up.

I hid my smile as I welcomed the others back after making sure that Colt’s response was as lighthearted as it sounded. He’s been kind of prickly ever since he learned about the nobility thing, and I know it’s only a matter of time before he has one of his tantrums. It’s going to be fun watching him in the leader’s seat.

“What’s the deal, Flanagan, what’s this little meet about? You just here to bash me?”

“Nah, we came to ask Mancini about some stuff your kid and ours was up to.” Oh shit! Lyon looked back at me with a raised brow as if waiting for an explanation, and Flanagan was only too happy to fill him in. Dammit!

“Dafuq Hank, you let my kid listen in to that shit?”

“She didn’t hear everything, just enough to keep her busy.”

“Bruh, how many times must I remind you that she’s eight fucking years old?”

“Colt, do you know how she was able to listen in?”

“What? You didn’t let her?” Damn, he’s only now getting over the fact that she’d bugged his place, and I’m sure he was going to be pissed that she was up to her old tricks again. I’d planned to ease him into accepting that she’s never going to stop, not because she’s disobedient, but because she can’t help herself, it would be like turning her brain off and that she cannot do.

“Ah fuck Hank, she bugged you?” His warped ass threw his head back and laughed. I guess I should’ve seen this coming. Now he didn’t feel so put out that his eight-year-old and her mini squad had got the best of him because now she’d done the same to me. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I knew and had been well prepared for her to do just that.

“All kidding aside, I gotta talk to my kid about her snooping shit. Since she didn’t hear it all, I’m guessing you know where it is and was turning it on and off. Which means she wasn’t listening in but was recording to text like last time; otherwise, she’d have been up here asking what gives.” He shook his head and tried not to look too pleased with her.