The Squad

I’ve been around my nieces and nephews my whole adult life, and it’s not the same, and when the kid looked dead at me with a smile after her last move, I was sure she’d been aware of my presence this whole time. What the fuck? Since I’d been busted, I cleared my throat and walked into the room.

“Hi, sweetheart.” I smiled at Roxana as I made my approach. “I didn’t know where you were when I came back. So this is what you were up to.” In a dress no less. I love the flustered look on her face when I put my arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple in a nonsexual non-threatening way. I figure it’s the best way to get under her defenses and keep her off balance.

“Are you done here, baby? There’s something I want to talk to you about.” I felt the slight jerk in her body at the endearment, and then she looked at the kid as if asking her for help. “It’s okay, aunty Roxy, I’m done.” She walked back to the table as if she’d not been interrupted for the last half an hour; strange kid.

I led Roxana from the room and back to mine. “I think I need another shower; how long were you standing there?”

“Since you started showing her the basics. You get the idea she knew what she was doing?”

“You saw that too? But somehow, it seems like she was trying to pretend she didn’t know like she was humoring me or something.”

“Yeah, if you need to shower again, go right ahead; I’ll wait for you here.” She headed into the shower and locked the door while I went to the computer and booted it up. Her absence was just perfect because it gave me time to talk to Track before just dumping her in the mix.

The guy looked like he was already busy working on something as always when his face came on the screen. Behind him, the room looked like a hive. There were a few desks scattered around, all with high-end computers, and one wall looked like a screen, same as Mancini has here. “Where're your friends?”

“They’ve got other shit to do. What’s up? I thought we were getting together later on?”

“Something came up,” I explained to him about Roxana and why I wanted her to work with us.

“You’re letting her get involved?” He seemed offended, and I hid my smile. The kid is younger than me in years, but from dealing with him, I know he’s what they call an old soul. One thing I will say for him, though, he doesn’t act like he’s the richest out of this whole bunch. In fact, I never even remember it most of the time when we’re dealing with each other because he’s so laid back.

“It’s not that I’m letting her; she’s already involved, remember. And I get the feeling that if we don’t do things this way, she will go rogue.”

“Oh, I see.” The look he gave me wasn’t exactly readable.

“What do you see?” He didn’t speak for a minute, and when he finally did, he left me wondering what the hell.

“You move fast.” That’s all he said, but I knew what he meant.

“Why do you say that?” He didn’t answer, just quirked his brow at me.

“Okay, I’ll rephrase; how did you know?”

“Because only a female who’s got you by the balls can get you to go against yourself.” I was lost for a second until I recalled a conversation we’d had while working together to find her. That and the way he shuts everything down when his wife walks into the room.

“Well, like I was saying, she’s already deeply involved, and if we don’t let her in, she’s going to get it into her head to handle things herself. I just need to figure out where she came from and take it from there.” He got a look on his face before it cleared up. “What’re you thinking?”

“Mancini should have what it takes to get you that info.”

I gave that some thought and realized he could be right. The guy seems to know everything else. “Maybe he wants us to do it ourselves for whatever reason.”

“On second thought, I don’t think he’d play around if there were other kids at stake.”

“Yeah, there is that.”

“We already know most of her past had been wiped clean, but there must be a thread we can tug on.”

“I know that, but I don’t think we have time. She’s not talking, but I know for a fact she hasn’t given up on the idea of going after them herself. The good thing is, there’s no way off the island, which gives us time to work on her.”

“What do you have planned?”

“The way I see it, if we let her see what we’re working on, get her involved, it’ll show her that we’re here to help. She had her own reasons for coming here, but she doesn’t trust us, and I can’t blame her. She has no idea what we’re about, and it’s only been a day for her.” Which makes her hesitance understandable even though it feels like a lifetime to me.