The Squad

Luckily, Bunny’s outside the door, where I’d sent him as soon as I knew that’s where they were headed, but unless he’s inside the room with them, the recording chip in his collar sometimes doesn’t pick up everything, and daddy’s not about to trust him anywhere near where they’re discussing secrets. That’s why I don’t feel so guilty about playing a trick on uncle Hank because it’s his fault daddy found out about Bunny’s secret in the first place.

I know it’s only a matter of time before daddy, uncle Hank or one of the other uncles figures out what I’m doing, but right now, they’re too preoccupied with aunty Roxy and other stuff to notice. “Wait!” I stopped her short of getting on the elevator.

“Why, what’s wrong?”

I had to lean in close because if uncle Hank is anything like daddy, there are probably microphones and cameras all over the place. “Mommy and the aunts don’t know about the thing in uncle Hank’s office; they only know about Bunny. We can’t ask them for help.” I still don’t know how mommy found out about that, maybe Caitie told her, but she knows and has been laughing about getting one over on daddy ever since.

Now all the aunts know, and aunty Cierra promised to get me stuff if I help them out, or more like I made her promise. I have to think fast; we could be missing a lot of important stuff right now, stuff that could help with the research my friends and I are doing.

We’d made some leeway here lately, but after I’d read the printout of what uncle Hank had said yesterday, a lot of things started to make sense. I know daddy is part of the organization, but I want to be part of it too. I want to save little girls and boys. I think they saved aunty Roxy too, but part of that conversation is missing as well.

I had to switch gears in my brain from thinking solely about one thing to concentrate on the other. If I don’t do it like that, my head will be filled with a million things at once. Not that I can’t pick each one apart and work on it separately, but some things need my undivided attention, and trying to trick daddy and uncle Hank is one of them.

So, the men are in the office; I need to get them all out at once. I can’t ask mommy and the aunts for help, but I need it. The only answer is to enlist their help without them knowing. People are more malleable when they want something. Give each party something they want.

I had to close my eyes for this one. What does daddy and the uncles want? I let my mind run back through any and all conversations I’d eavesdropped on in the last week. Not just daddy, but the grandpas as well. My eyes popped open when I found the answer, and my heart raced with excitement. It’s going to work, I’m sure. That’s the men down, and I’m pretty sure I know what would work for the women. Daddy would skin me if he knew what I was up to. Yikes! Oh well!

“Come, Lily Anna, I know what to do, let’s go.” I took Lily Anna’s hand and pulled her back down the hallway towards the lab. “We need to call Nia.” She grew excited because we hadn’t spoken to our friend since the day before.

We Facetimed Nia, who answered right away and exchanged small talk before I asked her for the favor I needed. “You need an HDMI cable and a USB C; I already showed you what those are.” I looked around in the desk drawer and grabbed them, holding them up for her to see. “Walk with the laptop, and I’ll walk you through the rest.”

“Um, let me think. Where’s the best place to do this?”

“The media room, of course.” Lily Anna chimed in. I’d filled her in on my grand scheme on our way back to the lab. I’d forgotten all about the media room even though I was the one who’d shown it to her upon her arrival when I gave her a tour of the house.

I never think about anywhere except the lab since my siblings never let me choose what I wanna watch anyway. Daddy finally broke down and told them they didn’t have to watch what I wanted on movie night since it scares them so much. But he still sits with me, which is fine anyway. Even mommy gets squeamish at the pics I choose and only makes it to just a bit past the opening credits before begging off as well. Daddy does complain about subtitles, though.

We took the elevator to the media room, and Nia taught me how to hook the laptop up to the huge curve TV in there. “Okay, done, I’ll call you back once we’re finished. Come on, Lily Anna.”