She walked over, and I tried to back away, but he didn’t miss a beat. He placed himself squarely in the middle of us in the rear, putting himself in the line of fire and pissing me off. I pretended to drop something, making them both move ahead of me so I could be between them and danger. He knew but couldn’t say anything because I’d light into him if he scared her.
The only reason I didn’t drop him was that I didn’t feel a sense of danger. Once the initial shock wore off, I was able to put what I’d painstakingly learned to good use and knew that there was no imminent danger at the moment. There were eyes on me, just eyes—no scope of a rifle or any other weapon that my senses were trained to detect.
Still, I didn’t like the feeling of being watched. “You and me, later.” I threatened him under my breath out of earshot of her once we were out of sight of whoever was in the woods. “Gianna, go with Lance; I forgot there was something I needed to take care of.” She looked flummoxed at the sudden change because I’d gone into full shutdown mode, I guess, but I didn’t have time to reassure her right now.
I slipped away from the two of them and made my way in a roundabout way to my hiding spot, making sure I wasn’t being followed every step of the way. I pulled the portable charger for the tablet from my pocket and plugged it in, waiting for it to load.
As soon as the screen cleared, I tapped in my command. “Quadrant six left.” Yes, I’ve hacked into the school security. At first, I’d only done it to make sure no one ever found this place or what I keep hidden here; I had no interest in what the rest of these clowns were doing, and spying on innocent school kids is not my thing.
But after a while, I expanded my field of vision to include the school grounds and the surrounding area, which hadn’t been easy. Hacking into the local municipality spy cams had been easy enough but keeping that shit hidden was not. I watched the area where I believed my watcher to have been hiding on the screen. ‘There you are.”
I watched the figure walk casually into the trees, hands shoved into his pockets, looking as nonthreatening as could be. The hoodie he had pulled over his head hid his face, of course, but I knew what he was wearing. With that in mind, I rewound the day’s recordings to this morning and went to the camera in the parking lot. He had to get here somehow, and this school does not play with security. If you’re not here within fifteen minutes of the first bell, don’t even bother, the gates will be long closed and locked for the day.
“Ah, there you are.” He wasn’t as careful when he pulled in this morning… I know that face. “Where have I seen you before?” I tapped in some more commands, trying to find that hoodie throughout the day, which was tedious at best. That’s when I saw the other new faces. It was the twins that finally clicked it for me. The four of them were good but not good enough.
I sat back and watched them throughout the day, pretending not to know each other when they met in the hallways. To anyone else, it might seem that way but reading others’ body language is a cakewalk for me. What the hell are they doing here? I hadn’t seen any of them in years, not since the family moved from New York, in fact. But what are the odds that all four of them would show up on my campus like this? “Pop!”
I put the tablet away and did my usual recon before leaving the area. Now I just have to decide whether or not I should let him know that I’d spot his little team or play with them a little bit first. The only problem is I have no idea why he’d sicced them on me now.
I spent the rest of the day mowing through my remaining classes as usual before it was time to leave. I couldn’t help myself and smirked at one of the kids in passing. “Don’t I know you?” I didn’t stick around for an answer. I had to fob Lancelot off with a lie, or his worrying ass would turn leech, but I’m not sure he believed me.
“Pop, there were some new faces at school today. You know anything about that?” I ran him down out back where he was winterizing the outdoor kitchen as soon as we got home that evening, after sending Gianna off with the twins to cause mayhem upstairs.
“I’m not the principal. How the hell would I know about their attendance? I mean headmaster.”
“It’s a she so headmistress, anyway, that’s your story? You don’t know anything about it?”
“Yep! Who are these people you’re talking about?” The fact that he didn’t stop moving and didn’t dare look at me was a dead giveaway.
“I saw four new faces that seem very familiar. It took me a minute to remember where I saw them. Two of them were in my martial arts classes when I was a kid the other one; I could’ve sworn I’ve seen at the shooting range, and the other looks exactly like this kid from my Paranza Corta training back in New York.” His, ‘dammit’ said mostly under his breath was answer enough.
“What are you expecting them to do? I don’t need babysitting, and I’ve been shaking your goons for years.”
“Son, I know how this works. Once you get the taste for vengeance, once you’ve wet your beak in that pool, it’s hard to turn back.” He was saying a hell of a lot without saying too much, but when he turned to look at me, the worry I saw there made me think about what I’d come out here to demand.
I was going to tell him to remove them, or I’d make their lives hell, but I owe it to him to give him peace of mind. “Fine, tell them they don’t need to hide anymore; there’s no point. How did you find them anyway?”
“You brought them to me.” He said with a wry smile as he polished the grill.
“Huh? How did I do that?”
“When you were a kid, the twins were the first ones; you don’t remember? It seems like every class you took, you’d find the most underprivileged or the ones who didn’t have a good home life. On the way back in the car after I picked you up, you’d go on and on about them, so I had a look.”
“You mean, you’ve been taking care of them all this time?”
“Don’t make it sound so noble. By the time I was your age, your grandfather had already picked my team; it’s just what we do. I was hoping since I’m making strides in taking the family legit that you wouldn’t need one, but…” He shrugged his shoulders.
“You didn’t train them just to have them watch my back, did you?”
“Of course not; they each have their own lives, but they’ve always known that this day might come.”
“Pop…”
“It’s what they wanted, Gabriel. You may not have realized it, but you bringing them to my attention all those years ago is what changed their lives for the better, and they never forgot it. I started thinking about bringing them in after the fight, and now with Fontane and whoever else you’re tangling with, I think it’s time.”
“What fight?”
“Boy, you forgot the cops were at the door?” Well, shit, I had indeed forgotten about the douche. Gianna had taken over every aspect of my life.
“The Fontane woman made bail, by the way. It wasn’t easy, but we swung it. The case is in three months, so whatever you’ve got planned, you’d better get on with it.”
“No problem. I’m heading in; I still haven’t found Gianna’s dress for the party yet. Oh, by the way, I need the plane this weekend.”