The Squad

My clothes, the ones I’d stolen not too long ago hung off of me and hid the slender body beneath, giving no hint of the curves that would no doubt draw unwanted notice from the opposite sex. And to round it all out, I’d hidden my midnight black hair beneath a worn cap that had seen much better days.

All in all, my get-up was the best deterrent I could come up with while on the run. I picked at the day-old muffin, not really tasting it. I was much closer to my goal and yet so far. My mind went to the others I’d had to leave behind, and I felt my gut twist itself into knots.

In my head, I repeated the vow I’d made to myself the day I left—the vow to return and take them away. The weight of that promise weighed heavily on me now as I thought of all that laid ahead. This was one of those times when I wished I could lay down my burden or have someone else there to help me carry it at the very least.

But I can’t trust anyone; I’d learned that a long time ago. The ones you’re supposed to trust in this world can sometimes be the most monstrous. Hidden behind veneers of wealth and gentility, they’re the worst society has to offer, as far as I’ve seen anyway, and I’ve seen a lot in my young life.

I saw him walk into the café, just as I’d expected. It was part of his routine to come here at the end of his long night before heading home. He didn’t see me, of course, and wouldn’t recognize me if he did. It had been years after all—years since he ripped me from my home and took me to hell.

He’d been promoted since then and as now a sergeant on the force—another one who should be trusted but was lacking in all virtue. My skin crawled as I watched him smile and flirt with one of the servers behind the counter, and I wondered at the ease with which he hid what he was.

No one paid attention as I left my seat and followed him out the door. He never looked back as he made his way down the busy sidewalk, turning the corner onto the street where he lived. I crossed the street just as he looked back over his shoulder, his police training probably kicking in and alerting him to the fact that someone was on his tail.

I didn’t need to follow on his heels anyway; I already knew where he lived, already knew my way in. I just needed the satisfaction of hunting my prey without him knowing it, the same way he’d done with so many innocents before. I gave him enough time to enter the little one-story house he rented, enough time to get into the act of his late-night routine before crossing the street to enter his house.

Mancini

“Glad you two could make it, come on in.” I waited for Flanagan and his wife to get settled in their seats after greeting the others. I could tell from the way Lyon was sizing her up that he was seeing the guy pinned to the wall by the arrow. We still had no concrete evidence that it had been her kill, but I’d put bank on it.

She’s really good at what she is and has never left anything behind. But because the organization has had eyes on her for quite some time, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. I wasn’t as worried about that as I was her husband and the lengths he’s been known to go to-to protect her.

Only a few players were missing now that they were here since I’d already clued in the kids from Cali. It wasn’t time to bring them all in yet, but soon I’ll have to make the circle complete. Other than Lyon and maybe Arianna, there was one loose cannon left in the bunch that had yet to be brought in.

He shouldn’t be a problem since he already knew the score and has been active for a while, though he may not know the whole story. It’s his nephews I’m a little bit worried about, one of them in particular, but that can’t be helped. The end justifies the means, and after dealing with this bunch, I’m more than qualified to deal with hotheads. At the end of the day, all that matters to me is the end game. If I get Roman Blair and Catalina Lyon together in a lab, there’s no telling what they can achieve for our team.

It’s always been that the organization had people on every level that specialized in all essential fields. Whether that be medical, combat, security, or otherwise, in the past, there has been no shortage of men and women from every walk of life being part of us, and now that we were ready to come out from the shadows, so to speak, it was time to rebuild.