AllFreeNovel
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”I didn’t run. I got out when there was a shift in leadership-”
”So you waited until it was safe to leave? What about the kids that you all rounded up? They can’t just leave when it’s safe because their lives are never safe!” His voice went from loud to shouting, and everyone is left speechless. “You think you can come here, play superhero, then what?”
”You have no clue what you’re talking about,” I hiss. He stands abruptly, stomping toward the table we’re at.
”I don’t care if you’re president or vice president, the hypocrisy is unreal. We have an entire mission to save these children, yet we’re now just throwing that all away because you needed safety!” He claps loudly, turning around toward the others. “All those in favor of kicking Tornado out, say Aye!”
It’s silent for a moment, before several voices call out, though it’s timid. Whipping toward Prez, his face is beet red, probably from anger. It’s odd because I feel like he’s also seen a ghost.
“You have no room to open the floor for vote!” Prez shouts as his hands slam on the table. The entire room jumps in surprise. “This was made as an executive decision and will not be challenged. Do you hear me?”
“Did you not hear that we’re in fucking outrage?” He counters, arms swung wide. “You put our fellow member in harm's way, and we’re the bad guys!”
“Alright, I think we all need to settle down,” I call out, standing from my seat. “Yes, we get that you’re upset. We understand that we should have said something sooner, but we need to think logically now. It’s too damn late to throw a fit over it, and we’re running out of time. Tempers are high, we all feel the pressure with the knowledge of what not getting Leather back means. Can we seriously afford to hash this out right now?” Again, silence. Prez is fuming next to me, but I don’t think anyone is willing to refute anything at this rate.
“Why doesn’t Daryn know about her being gone?” Phisher asks, his hands clasped over his laptop and tucked under his chin.
“He does. He’s been working with his guys to scout locations since they are a hell of a lot closer than we are.”
“What are we doing here then?” Knuckles’ voice stays loud, and a single look from me has him plopping down into his chair. “I stand by my question,” he grumbles. After everything that’s happened in the past hour, I can’t help but smile at his petulance.
“Well, we were trying to get you all to shut up so we can figure out the team that would be flying with us. They are giving us room and board while we stay, but there’s limited space.” Like a tsunami wave, names are called out and slammed into Prez and I as we try to figure out who is saying what.
Raising my hand, it takes a mere second to have them silent again.
“If you would like to be part of the rescue, raise your hand,” I call, and just like that, the entire room has their hand raised. All except Knuckles. His head down, his fingers twiddling and picking at his nails.
“Phisher, you’ll stay here and run coms. Twelve and Bear will also stay and help keep everything running,” Prez announces, and the two men grunt as their hands drop down. “Tornado, Kalico, Moose, Sear, Steele, Knuckles and I will go to Vancouver for the recon.” When hearing his name, Knuckles’ head snaps up. He shakes it, obviously uncomfortable with the choice.
“Go pack a bag with a few nights worth of shit. I’m not planning to stay more than a few days, but we’ll see what happens when we get there. We hit the road to the ‘port in thirty,” I shout loudly, dismissing them all with a wave of my hand. Four out of the six names Prez called get themselves up and haul ass out of the room. The others linger while Knuckles and I simply stare at one another. I honestly can’t tell what he’s feeling at this moment, his face devoid of any emotion.
Finally, after breaking our staring competition, he stands and makes his way over. Leaning low, he says, “I can’t go.” My brows drop into my head, furrowed in confusion.
“What do you mean you can’t go? You on your period, princess?” I scoff, irritated that he would just fucking dip after his whole speech.
“I can’t go,” he repeats, this time with more fire in his voice.
“And why not?” Prez asks, drawing closer to him. “We were all here when you made your big speech, what changed?”
“Nothing changed. I can be more useful here.” Standing straight, he brushes nonexistent dust off his jacket and starts to walk away.
“You’re going, and if I have to drag you to the airport with us, I will,” Prez announces, and Knuckles halts mid-step. He doesn’t turn around, just standing stalk still.
“Then you’ll have to drag me out,” he calls over his shoulder before continuing on his path. Prez looks shocked, and that’s about how I’m feeling at this moment.
“You guys should really close your mouths, you’ll catch flies.” Squinting at Phisher, he just laughs it off as he walks closer to the table. “You both are such idiots.”
“Want to try that again?” Prez sneers, glaring at his tech guru. Plopping in the chair next to mine, Phisher tilts his head back and forth, debating on his next words. I could see his answer from a mile away.
“Nah,” he shrugs. Prez’s eyes roll so hard into his head I’m afraid they will get stuck for a moment. “But, the fact that neither of you have caught onto it yet is really dumb.”
“Caught onto what?” We both ask in unison, this time with real confusion.
“You seriously don’t know?” He has the audacity to act as if we’re the one’s fucking around with him.
“If you could spit it out, that’d be great,” I snap, my fists clenching and unclenching. He studies Prez and I for a few more moments, obviously trying to determine if we’re actually idiots. Turns out, we definitely are.
“He’s upset with himself,” he sighs. “Did you ever think that Knuckles might take the metaphorical fall for her ‘napping? Yeah, we finally realized that it was basically a set up-”
