“Teach me the hardest one first, of course; that way, the others will be easier.”
“And which do you think is the hardest?”
“Restraining someone who’s trying to hurt you without hurting them.” Whoa, who the hell is this kid? Any other person would’ve gone with the kill, how did she…I started to ask just that but got caught in that look in her eyes again.
When she smiled, I could almost believe that she was as innocent as she appeared, but I’ve seen enough in life to know that this kid if left untethered, could be worst than me, and we haven’t even started yet. Even more, surprises came once we did. I was beginning to feel like I was being played.
“Have you trained before?”
“Not in this no, I like it, let’s go again.”
We spent the next hour going over the basics, and it was obvious that she’d been trained in something, no way she was a novice. Her concentration was scary as shit; it’s almost like she’d shut down everything else and was totally focused; not even I had been that way in training, and it had been a matter of life or death for me.
“Do me a favor, do everything I just taught you on the dummy.” It was a test, of course; there’s no way that she will remember all the steps I taught her, I’m sure. I’m wrong. “What the…” I watched in amazement as she went through every step from beginning to end without missing even the smallest detail, and I locked away the fact that she had a photographic memory for now; there’s no other explanation for what I was seeing.
Thank fuck she was raised in a loving home and is surrounded by people who adore her. If she’d endured anything like I did, I’m afraid she’d be a killing machine. She was all but jumping out of her skin with excitement when she was done, and I was having second thoughts. But we had a deal, plus I wanted to learn how to build a bomb without blowing myself to shit, and she makes it look so easy.
LYON
“Lyon, what have you been teaching her?” I told this fuck to turn that shit off like an hour and a half ago, but as soon as Mengele mentioned learning to fight, they were hooked. I don’t know what their fascination is with my little spawn of hades, but whatever, they’ll soon learn.
“All my kids know self-defense; what else that one gets up to I have no idea.”
“I saw Lily teaching her how to use the bow.”
“Speaking of which, I think I came across your wife’s road kill Flanagan.” Mancini is such a fuck; he just threw that out there at the guy. I’d all but forgotten about that.
Flanagan seemed thrown for a second, and then I guess he figured in for a penny in for a pound. “She told me about that. Sorry, she left you with the cleanup.”
“Guy deserved what he got, asshole.” That was my contribution before the conversation switched again like we hadn’t just been talking about this guy’s wife pinning some pedo asshole to the wall with a crossbow.
There was a slight beeping sound, and Mancini looked at his phone, read something, and then put it away again. “Heads up, I just got notification that the senator will be here tomorrow. Brandon, you should get your girl prepared. We won’t be overrun by his security team; he’s only bringing his aide and one other guy along since I warned him of the need for secrecy.”
“He might need more than that if these women don’t like what he has to say. Fucking women are cantankerous as shit.”
“Damn Lyon, what did Kat do to you this time?”
“What she always does when she gets together with your women. Tell me the rest of your wives haven’t been acting the damn fool since they got on this island.”
“You got a point, but I say since we’ve got shit to do that don’t concern them, it’s best to leave them alone for the moment. How much trouble can they get up to here anyway, right?”
“Logan, you are so delusional. I bet you anything you haven’t seen the fuckery a gaggle of females can get up to in all your days in the navy.”
The room broke out in laughter, but I knew I would have the last laugh; well, maybe Flanagan wasn’t laughing as hard since he seemed to be the only one other than me who knew the score. I turned my attention back to the screen and rolled my eyes at Mengele conning that poor girl.
Jason
Watching her body move as she taught the kid was like poetry in motion. She seemed different somehow as if all of her defenses were down, and there was something about the way the kid interacted with her that seemed almost as if she were the adult. It’s weird, but I keep getting this vibe from the kid that I just can’t put my finger on.