The Squad

They’re not yet ready to hear about the many times over the centuries that they’d tried to find each other and failed because one or more had already died or because they’d been dismantled before they could bring the whole team together. This is the first time in more than three hundred years that the team has been complete, and I know it’s not a coincidence.

“Shit! The kids from Cali.” I sat up straight. This is what happens when you’ve got too many forks in the fire. Cierra had given me some half-ass excuse when I confronted her last night about the coded message. First, I’d had to navigate my way around explaining how I even knew about the message, so instead of coming right out with it, I’d asked her if she’d heard from them. She hadn’t lied, but her special agent training had kicked in, so she’d skirted the issue like a pro. Now I have the unenviable task of intercepting all of her messages or taking out the one behind bars to get the shit over with, which I can’t because I’d promised Jace that I wouldn’t.

I heard the door open behind me but didn’t turn. Seconds later, Lyon was standing next to me, looking out at the water. “If I take over this shit, can I protect my daughter from having to do that shit again?”

“What are you asking me?”

“She’s part of your team, isn’t she? So if I take over, she’ll have to take orders from me. Fuck knows as her dad I get nowhere with that shit.” He’s figured it out.

“You can try.” How can I tell him that even I am unsure of how to reel her in? I’m pretty sure we all know by now that she’s a genius, and as such, her brain outpaces ours by a mile. And she’s got backup thanks to me in Flanagan’s kid and the one who will be landing here in another day or so. As Lyon would say, fuck me.

“What do you mean try? You can’t control her either? Very good I’ll just leave her here, and you can deal with her shit.” For some reason, the thought broke me out in a sweat. I’d already promised my daughter to her in a way.

If I remember the conversation correctly, she’d maneuvered me into agreeing to let her babysit my kid when she gets older. In all fairness, at the time, I thought of her as just an extremely intelligent kid whose only interest was in science and learning how things worked so she could improve on them.

“I don’t think we have to worry about her going off the deep end and becoming some kind of rogue assassin. I mean, she’s never done anything like this before… has she?”

“Listen, do you know how many times I’ve had to protect her brothers from her? I used to think she wouldn’t go too far, that she didn’t even know how.”

“Her experiments, while not necessarily harmless, weren’t lethal. She’d give some kid diarrhea or put something in shampoo to take a kid’s hair out, but this, this is beyond me. Aren’t you the one who’s always buying her poisons and shit? How did you not see this fuckery coming, you fuck?”

Before I could answer her dad, who was about to roar at me like his namesake, there was a knock at the door. “Come in. Senator?” I was surprised to see him up here. The man had only left his daughter’s side to sleep. I haven’t been told much of anything except that the meet had been a success, and the two of them were acting like long-lost acquaintances. I’m waiting for Law and his boys to give me the inside details on that.

His ex-lover was here as well, but so far, I haven’t heard anything from that front. It must be something seeing each other after all these years, plus the fact that I hadn’t given him much warning before bringing him here. Just to bring his most trusted aide with him and let no one know about his trip. As far as the public was concerned, he was taking a much-needed rest in between campaign stops.

“Did something happen?” Of course not, I would’ve heard.

“Um, who’s the kid?”

“Which one? There are a ton of them running around here, senator.”

“Do you need to ask?” Lyon huffed and found a seat. I just gave him a look since he seems prone to blaming his poor kid for everything these days.

The senator held his hand about thigh-high. “Dark brown ringlets with a hint of blonde the widest most beautiful brown eyes, at least I think they’re brown and smart as a whip. I don’t think I caught her name; she didn’t offer it, to be exact.”

“She’s mine; what did she do?” Lyon sighed while the senator wore the look similar to the one that I’ve been wearing since the day before when I realized that she’s more than even I expected.