“Lesson number three: Know your skills, and learn the ones you don’t know. You never know when you are going to need to pick a lock, get out of a bind, or need a car for a quick getaway.”
“Ooh we are going to learn to steal cars?” Antony says excitedly.
“You’re going to learn to think quickly and react effectively.” I grab some handcuffs and take advantage of Austin being near, cuffing her to a pipe. Leaving her, I walk toward Antony to explain what options Austin has to get out of this situation, but before I can say a word, she is back at my side, twirling the cuffs around her finger. She’s starting to piss me off.
“Um… I’m confused. Was that supposed to teach me something or make me laugh? Because I’m having a hard time not laughing at your pissed off expression right now.” Antony laughs, smacking hands with Austin.
“Shut up. I’m breaking for lunch.”
“Oh Dace, don’t walk away mad. I didn’t know you wanted me to pretend I was in danger. Oh Baby, I’m sorry. Look. Oh no! I’m so scared of the big bad pipe,” Austin mocks.
I race back to her and pin her to the ground. “Austin, you need to take this seriously. I understand that you know a lot of things, but when you’re a cop, people will think twice before they go after you. When you’re out there, out in the world where there are no police, no military, just people surviving, they don’t care what they have to do to survive. You get in their way, and they will not give you a chance to think.”
“Stop worrying about me or you’re going to get yourself killed. You can’t watch your back, Antony’s, and mine, Dace. You are so worried about teaching us what we need to know, but you don’t trust us to actually do it. Do you?” I avoid her eyes, and she knows. “Dace, you can’t hide us here forever.”
I don’t care what she says. I get off of her and walk away. Neither of them have any idea what they are getting into. As I walk out, I pass Peter with an expression that tells me exactly how he feels. “What?!”
“She’s right, you know. You are more than welcome to stay with our crew for as long as you want, but you can’t keep them in their rooms waiting for you to come back every day, waiting for you to let them out to play. Neither of them are your possessions to keep safely hidden in the back of your closet.”
“They …are my baby brother and my …”
“Your what? Your woman? She’s not your wife, and she never will be unless you let her live again. You can’t marry a dead woman, Ghost,” he says, glancing my way. I shake my head and leave them all for a place where I can think.
Unbeknownst to anyone, I have been working on a plan to get Michael. Every way I have thought to attack him ends badly for most, few survivors and possibly leaving an innocent child with no family at all to take care of her. I need a crew of my own, one that is inspired to get Michael as much as I am. I need more than a pay for services crew who will jump ship the moment their own lives became in danger. Peter and the rest would be a great help, but they like to keep their work outside of the U.S. Too many eyes and ears keeping tabs on what everyone is doing. Not to mention, the difficulties of getting in and out of the country without alerting the wrong people, are far too risky. They like to work in small areas of the world, the forgotten places that go unmonitored by the big militaries. Though capable of running with the big boys, they like to keep it simple, staying out of the way of anyone with the resources and willpower to chase them around the world. And going after Michael, an important political leader of a prominent country, is more than enough motivation to keep Peter’s hands clean of the situation. I can’t say I blame him. It’s more than I care to get involved in, but I don’t have a choice. My life will never begin again until he is dead.
I have one safe way back into the States for Austin and me, but I can only use it once. I can’t afford to risk it with a plan that isn’t completely bullet proof. Getting out was not easy, and without the help from Peter’s old friends on the Mexican border, we would have never made it. There is a lot to consider when devising the perfect plan; however, the most important element is aligning yourself with people you can not only trust but depend on. Luckily, I do have friends with connections. Marco, a guy that has been a part of our crew for some time, has contacts in the FBI and has managed to get access to their computer system. The information I need is old, so I must work quickly yet gingerly to avoid stirring the virtual dust.
Sitting in front of my self-built computer, I begin my quest and work late into the night until I finally get a few leads. There is hope after all.
“Working on something interesting?” Peter sneaks up from behind me.
I close up quickly. “Just some side work.”
“Is it promising?”
“I think so, but I won’t know until I dig a little deeper.”
“You want to talk about it?” He asks, but I remain silent. “You know, sometimes it helps to bounce ideas off someone else, someone that’s not going to jump before you make a decision. Who you looking for Dace? Your real father? You think the FBI can help you find him?”
I turn away so he can’t read my expressions. “What better place to look than at the people that were investigating my entire family? If there is any record of who my mother was seeing at the time, then it would be there.”
“It’s a great place to start.” He goes silent, waiting for me to trust him enough to open up, something he has been waiting on since he took me in. I have somehow become the son he never had, or according to Le, that’s how he refers to me when I am not around. I feel bad not being able to open up, but my trust issues haven’t gotten any better since my brother tried to kill me. “Okay. Well, get some sleep and get out of here before the boys assume you and Austin are fighting. They will be at her door with flowers within the hour, and we can’t have this place smelling like a flower garden. I don’t care how nice this place is. It’s still a business, not a luxury resort.”
“This place is supposed to be luxury? I think you have been living in shit-holes too long, Peter.” I laugh and walk out before he can ask another question. I don’t look back or even think to feel guilty about not trusting anyone. Instead, I crawl into bed with a very naked and gorgeous human being that makes my heart jump every time I am near her. She wakes up just enough to whimper for me. I move in close and grasp her ass, pulling her body onto mine so we can sleep soundly in each other’s arms, the only way I know how.
“Lesson four …”
“Oh my Lord, how many lessons are there?” Antony smarts off. I give him a sharp glare, and he sighs. “Seriously? I mean because if we are trying to get to some magical number then I would like to know that number so I can start counting down and have some end to look forward to.”
“It will end when I say it will end …Antonio Paul Colletto.” I emphasize my brother’s full name, knowing he hates when anyone does that to him. Before he can say something in rebuttal, Peter steps in between us and holds up his hands.
“No, it’s time this training comes to an end, Ghost. We have a new mission, and we need them on this one.” One word from Peter overrides everything I wanted to do in an instant. He’s our leader, and he’s protected us since we have been here. I can’t go against his wishes and expect this place to maintain any kind of authority. He assigns Antony to Blake, a longtime member of the team with a lot of experience in training others. He assigns Austin to David or rather David to Austin, which doesn’t make me happy at all.
“Peter, Austin should be with me not David. David is too new. We always assign new people with veterans.”
“And I did. Austin is more than prepared to handle herself, better than most of our team. She will help David get accustomed to what he needs to do, and in the meantime, it will keep you from watching her back more than yours. I can’t have you distracted, so you will be placed on another team.”
“What other team?!” I question.
“We have two jobs. One is in more need of your expertise and doesn’t need quite as many men. You wi
ll leave with Leandra and Marcus tonight, and the rest will leave with me in the morning.”
“Peter, why not keep Austin and Antony with me and let …”
“I told you why. You will be too distracted worrying about their backs to do your job right, so to protect everyone and until you can trust them to handle themselves, you will work on separate teams,” he says, staring me down as if he is waiting for me to argue.
Shaking my head, I swear under my breath. “They aren’t ready to go out on a job yet. I wish you would let me work with them a little longer.”
Putting his hand on my shoulder, Peter gives me a stern look, one that reminds me of my father, Dominic, or rather who I thought was my father. I want to say something, anything, to get him to change his mind, but the look in his eyes tells me his mind is made up. “There is nothing more you can teach them. It’s time to let them learn on their own. At some point, you have to let go and trust. Trust the ones you love, Ghost. Let’s see what name they can earn for themselves. Now go pack and say goodbye.”
I want to defy Peter and take my family somewhere else, but my obligations and loyalty tell me to trust him. My history, however, says never trust anyone, especially when it comes to my family. I don’t have much in this world, and I can’t bear the thought of losing any more than I already have. To ease my mind, I sneak a tracking device into both Austin’s and Antony’s gear. I want to know where they are and when.
Packing is not made easier by Austin being excited for her mission. For some reason, I was expecting her to be as upset as I am. I should have known. She’s fearless, a quality I admired when I fell in love with her but hate in this moment. I would, at the very least, think she would be upset about me being alone with Le, but maybe that hasn’t occurred to her yet. Glancing back at her, I watch as she playfully flies a paper airplane I assume she made from a flyer she found in town. A smile stretches across her face, and her body relaxes, lounging comfortably on the bed. “You don’t even act like you care that I’m leaving, Austin?”
“I care, but it’s only for one day. And Peter said it wasn’t a dangerous gig, just a fact finding job.”
“They’re always dangerous, especially when we are supposed to be dead. Remember?”
“I trust that you know what you’re doing, and you have backup that is well trained.” She smiles, seeming to reassure me with a quick hand hold before flying that damn plane around the room.
“Where did you get that plane?”
“Oh, David made it for me. He invited me to go to this club tonight to help relieve some jitters he is having. This was the flyer for their specials tonight. He made a plane out of it and gave it to me.” She smiles innocently as she watches it swirl around the room.
I catch it in midair and open it to read the flyer. It’s an all-night booty shaking extravaganza as it translates. “You’re not going to this, are you?” Austin sits up and gives me a look I have never seen before. ‘What’s that look? Are you actually going to this?”
“I don’t know. It might be fun, but I hadn’t really thought about it. I thought I would see you off and then see how I feel. Are you jealous?”
“No.” I turn away from her and stare at the wall. “I am concerned about you being rested and well for the mission. If you don’t … Austin, I want you fresh and ready for whatever might happen. Do you understand me?” I say in frustration, suddenly shaking my finger in her direction. She sits up on her knees, grabs my shirt, and pulls me to her. Standing at the foot of the bed, I refuse to look at her as she smiles and kisses my face. “I am not joking, Austin. This is serious.”
“I don’t think you have ever gotten angry with me before, not like this anyway. Don’t worry, baby. You know, if you want to be sure I’m well rested, you could help get me tired. I might even be asleep before you go.” She kisses my lips and lies back on the bed, flirting with her foot between my legs. “Ooh I think he needs to get out.” I back off from her foot and huff at her.
“Austin, damn! Will you take this seriously?”
“Okay. I’m sorry.” I continue packing while she stares at my back. “So it’s going to be just the three of you going?”
“Yes. Marcus handles being our eyes and ears, and Le and I break in and allow me time to get into their computer system. We’ll get what we need and then help each other get back out again. We’ve done it a hundred times before and know how each other work. Should be easy and out.”
“Wow, that’s good, I guess. So, I assume you will be sleeping in tight quarters tonight.” She sighs. “At least you will be with people that know what they’re doing.”
I glance her way, noticing her sudden gloom. I know I shouldn’t do this, but I can’t help myself. “Yeah. Le is great with everything, we will stay overnight like we used too, not a big deal.” I look her way with a smile and immediately feel guilty for trying to start something I know shouldn’t matter anymore.
“I trust you … don’t you trust me?” she says strangely. I turn to look at her as she sits up and seems to be searching for answers within my eyes. I turn away before she succeeds in understanding too much, but I melt the moment I feel her hand on my arm. “I love you. You know that, right? I would never do anything to hurt you or jeopardize what we have.”
Damn, I am an asshole. Taking hold of her hand, I turn and wrap my arms around her. “I love you too. I only wish I could give you a better life—a real life somewhere away from all this.”
“I’m not exactly a white picket fence type of woman, Dace.”
“Maybe not, but at the very least I would like to be able to keep the target off your back.”
“Oh Honey, that target was going to be there with you or without you, so will you please stop feeling guilty about it? We would have never met under normal circumstances.”
“You don’t know that. Maybe we would have met at the playground one day. I could have given you a kiss at the jungle gym.” I give her a soft kiss on her neck. “Or maybe you could have given me my first erection under the bleachers in high school,” I say, rubbing her ass up on me as she laughs, playing with my rapidly growing but still very short hair. She misses my hair long, and I miss feeling her hands running through it, it’s not quite there yet, but it’s long enough now, to enjoy her touch. “Who knows, we could have met between classes in college and had fallen in love instantly as we talked about Nietzsche under a weeping willow tree. Hmmm… what was it that he said?” Holding her hands, I smile into her eyes. “‘We love life, not because we are used to living, but because we are used to loving.’ And I am very used to loving you.”
“We have been dealt a very different life than most, but if faced with the choice of never knowing you and living a life of peace and rainbows, I wouldn’t trade you for anything,” she says, causing my heart to smile. Holding her in my arms, I crave a time when we can be alive again, free from our pasts and our fears. “Please be safe and come back to me. I know of a quaint, white chapel I would like to marry you in one day,” I whisper in her ear.
Chapter 3
Austin
I can understand why Peter is in charge. He is able to read people well. He knew Dace would never be able to concentrate with Antony and me near. His innate drive to protect us would have gotten us all in trouble. Dace doesn’t handle not being in control very well. He has to be everyone’s protector and guide. After this mission, maybe he can learn to trust that we can handle ourselves, and hopefully, we can all go home again.
Antony is bouncing off the walls; he is so excited and anxious to get involved in something. Before Dace let us try our hand at things, we tried to entertain ourselves while Dace would be away. It wasn’t easy, especially when we were locked up in that dungeon of a warehouse we called home. At first, we spent our time imagining what we could do to Michael, each of us trying to outdo one another’s torture methods. Our imagining turned into needing to act it out, so we made a Michael dummy. The dummy took quite a beating before we finally decided there wasn’t much l
eft to do except use him for target practice. So, I helped Antony and spent days teaching him how to shoot. Dace never knew. While that was fun, Antony felt he owed me a lesson, but what could he teach me? He wasn’t sure at first, but I had an idea. I just wasn’t sure how to ask.
“I don’t know. What do you have an interest in but have never tried?” Antony asks, seeming clueless until he looks at me. “What? Oh no. No. That’s just too weird.”
“What’s too weird? I didn’t say anything.”
“No, but I know what you’re thinking, and I am not helping you do sexual things to my brother … ewww.” He fakes gaging until I smack him on the arm.
“Stop. I don’t need to know how. Just…maybe how to do it more interesting. What do men like? I would think that you are an expert in what men like. I saw how you were with Preston.” He looks at me wide eyed and concerned. “No, I don’t mean I watched you having sex. I just mean I saw him with other men before you. He liked them and all, but with you, he melted every time you walked into the room. He could barely speak without his knees giving out from underneath him.”
“He did?”
“Yeah, how could you not know that?”
“Well, I am an expert at men,” he says, posing in a suave manner. I think I’ve created a monster. After sighing for the fifth time, he finally gets back to me. “Okay, so what do you want to know?”
“Well … how … I mean … what … when …”
“Oh my God, really? Does Dace do everything for you?”
“Well I don’t just lay there. He’s just so good at knowing how to move and how to move me.”
“He moves you? Like you’re a doll? A sex toy doll?”
“No! He leads, he directs, and I follow … I mean, oh never mind. I’m sorry I asked.”