The Life - Rebirth (The Life 4)

Since the call was coming from the island, it could be anything. “Yeah, uh, Nia tried to hack into the secured again.”

“Wait, I’ll put you on speaker. Say that again.” He repeated himself. “How far did she get this time?”

“A little further than before, but we caught her just in time.”

“What’s she after this time?”

“I have no idea. We brought her up here, but of course, all three of them came. Quinn started questioning her, and before you know it, Catalina was asking about her fish and building an aquarium in one of the underground bunkers, and before we could blink twice, they were gone, and we knew nothing.”

“Amateurs.”

“What kind of fish?” I gave Logan the stink eye for asking that question because really, who cares? The little shits were trying to break into the computer where we keep the most sensitive information.

“Pufferfish, we took a delivery yesterday.” My eye started to twitch.

“Who got Mengele pufferfish?”

“I did. She said she wanted them.”

“And you thought it was fine to give that nut the most poisonous fish in the world as a pet? Do you know what that psycho could do with one of those things?”

“Uh, she ordered twelve.”

“Well, fuck Devon!"

“Hey, Mancini’s the one who gave her an open line of credit.” I have no words.

“Hank, what’s Mengele up to with the poison fish?”

“She didn’t say, just said she wanted some.”

I didn’t even bother arguing with him because it would get me nowhere. I’m still not over the fact that she’d imported a whole human from South Korea under the guise of ordering Hanboks for a wedding, only to have the woman on the island breeding silkworms to weave.

Why do you ask? Well, according to Mengele, these particular worms produce silk that would make Kevlar look like tissue paper. I take that to mean that Mengele is going to be making her own protective vests in the near future. It’s been three years, so I’m guessing production should be almost ready, so she’s moving on to the next.

Every man in this room knew what that nut was up to with the damn poison fish, and I didn’t appreciate the pitying looks they were giving me like I had something to do with this shit. “Fine, anything else of note happen? Why the sudden hankering to know what we’re working on?”

“Nope, nothing, oh, except your cousin called to talk to the women.”

“Was this before or after the attempted breach?”

“Just a little before.”

“Hmm, okay, we’ll be there soon. We’ll talk when we get there.” I hung up the phone, wondering what the hell Kat's spawn was up to this time.

What could Gia have said to the women that had them going on the hunt?

“You guys got anything?”

“Nothing comes to mind; we’d have to know what Gia talked to them about.”

“Okay, let’s move out; we can brainstorm on the plane ride back.”

“How sure are we that the kid is going to stay put, Lyon?”

“He is, but somebody else might not.”

GABRIEL

Who is she talking to? I hadn’t intended to snoop, not that I wouldn’t have, but I sincerely hadn’t set out to do it. I’d forgotten that if anyone got close to my computer, it was set to record speech to text. Because no one else ever gets close to my stuff, it never even entered my head to turn it off.

It was late at night, and the four of them were asleep. She, in my bed, and the kids in the room next to ours in their newly put-together toddler bed. She’d been nervous as hell leaving them there since it was their first night out of a crib, but the kids seemed more excited than afraid. My daughter especially seemed a bit gung-ho and had taken the top bunk, which had given me heart palpitations. I’d thought for sure one of her brothers would’ve taken it.

It seems to me that, as with my sisters and I, the boys took a step back and let their sister have her way in most things. At least in that way, they were like me, and my daughter seemed as bossy as her aunts, though she went about getting her way in a totally different way. She must’ve taught them from the womb because they seemed to acquiesce to her without having to be asked.

I found a new comfort and joy in watching them interact with each other and knowing that I would be there for more moments like this. It was kind of humbling to see their innocence, and the way they’ve just accepted me without question has done something to me.

I’m not sure how long it’s going to take before I stop feeling that cold finger of dread run down my spine at the thought of all that I could’ve lost had I gone through with my plans, but I hope it will always be a reminder.