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Before he had found him, years ago, Marc had thought he would forever be trapped inside his old gang. The gang had taken him in when he was young, and brought him up, but they’d fed him drugs and laughed when Marc did stupid things under the influence. They forced him to be the underdog, and when he worked his way up in the ranks, he grew to hate himself and the things they did, until he couldn’t feel anything anymore.
It wasn’t until Marc worked beside Axel and the others that he realized the truth. Axel and this Academy family were completely different. The gang he’d been involved in controlled him through threats on his life. Axel and the Academy weren’t like that.
Axel sat on the coffee table now. His face was stern. Marc recognized this look. Whenever one of his team members was out on some dangerous assignment, he wore this expression. Since all of the team members were here and accounted for, he knew that face was now for Kayli.
Axel coughed to get their attention. “The Academy is unhappy with what we’ve done. First the camera was stolen, which we were able to get back, but there’s no telling how much information Mr. Fitzgerald got out of it and possibly could have shared with Coaltar. And now we’ve shown ourselves to not only Coaltar and his crew, but also to a member of the cartel. We’ve exposed ourselves.”
“Did you explain we weren’t in the lead? We were just following her?” Raven asked.
“It doesn’t seem to matter,” Axel said. “We still broke protocol. They understand and they sympathize, but they can’t allow members to be persuaded by an outside source to break the rules. We got lucky this time. They only docked us a few favors.”
“Should we appeal?” Brandon asked, frowning and sitting back.
“I don’t think we should fight this,” Axel said. “I think we’re getting off pretty lightly.” A small smile crept onto his face. “But when were we ever the type of group to follow the rules?”
The boys laughed at this. Marc did, too.
“We shouldn’t have done this at all,” Kevin said, his deep voice grumbling. His fingers ruffled through the tight curls on his dark head. “I can’t believe you let her steal a boat. You helped her crash a multimillion dollar yacht, and she shot someone.”
Marc shrugged. “She was upset.”
“What happens next time she’s upset?” Kevin asked. “What’s wrong with you guys? You’re giving her excuses for firing a gun at someone?”
“It was an accident,” Raven said.
“You’re all insane,” Kevin asked. “If it were any one of you guys...”
“We’ve all done it,” Axel said. “Yourself included.”
“I’ve never shot someone!”
“But we’ve all made mistakes,” Axel said in a sharp tone. “You were no different than her when you first started.”
“Why are you talking like she’s coming back?” Kevin sat back and shook his head, frowning. “The job’s done. We can ask the Academy to send a scout team to monitor for trouble. We’ve tagged Coaltar and we’ll keep an eye on him, too. The Academy will help Kayli get the job we promised. We don’t have to be involved anymore.”
“I promised her I’d help her brother get into college,” Corey said.
Kevin shrugged. “That’s nice of you, but you should have made him do it himself. He shouldn’t be handed anything.”
“Like we weren’t handed things?” Brandon asked as he stared at the leg of the coffee table.
Kevin rolled his eyes. “That’s different. We work for what we’re given.”
“Which doesn’t mean he won’t,” Corey said. “I’ve seen his transcripts. He’s good.”
“Well transcripts don’t tell us anything about him. He could be a shithead.”
“Enough,” Marc barked at them. He turned on Kevin. “What’s with you? We agreed to help her. We can’t just go back on that.”
“I just don’t want another accident involving us,” Kevin said. “I’m trying to protect us. We worked too hard to be making these kinds of mistakes.”
Marc frowned. He wanted to argue the point with him. Maybe it was a mistake, but Kayli didn’t know any better.
Personally, he doubted if even the Academy could have held her back. He saw that determination in her eyes. She was going to hunt Coaltar down to the ends of the earth if it meant she could spare someone’s life. She didn’t even know the village Coaltar was headed to was abandoned except for the very worst of outlaws that had taken over, determined to overthrow one of the major cartels in Mexico. But he was glad they did it. There was no telling if an innocent woman or child may have drunk that water from the well, and poisoned themselves. Even if they’d just gotten sick, something like the JH-14 could have killed a little kid. Marc may have never known for sure. Schrödinger's cat.
But now, he didn’t have to wonder. Kayli found a way to stop it. Despite her tough outer shell, she was all heart.
Axel shook his head. “We need to come to terms with this, guys. She’s seen a lot of what we do. She’s a lot like us.”
“I don’t know,” Kevin said. “Why not send one of the girl teams to make friends?”
“You know how picky they are,” Axel said. “And we’re her first contact.”
“Are we looking to bring her into the Academy?” Brandon asked.
“I don’t know,” Axel said. “She expressed interest. She has some potential.”
“But we don’t know if she’ll fit in,” Kevin said. “Right now, she’d never pass registration, let alone the extensive testing. She’s too wild and angry.”
“Right,” Axel said. “And there’s a chance she’s simply not interested. But at the same time, she’s a useful tool.”
“Is that what we’ll think of her as?” Corey asked. “Something useful to use?”
“Aren’t we?” Axel replied. “We work together because we offer different talents. Maybe some of you don’t want to hear it, but she jumped in and worked with us pretty well. I haven’t seen someone blend in with our group as quickly since Marc.”
“You can’t be serious,” Kevin said. “You’re talking like you want her to join with us. I mean our group.”
“I wouldn’t have a problem with it,” Marc said.
Kevin slapped a palm against his forehead. “That’s ridiculous. We can’t have a girl on the team.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s against Academy rules.”
“Not it isn’t,” Corey said. Marc had to hide his smile at Corey knowing policy. The Academy had very few actual rules to follow. Everything else was just strong suggestion.
“Okay, it isn’t a rule,” Kevin said. He held out his hand. “But they don’t want us to work like that. I mean, let’s assume she’s a good match and she joins our team. What am I going to tell Mindy when one day she spots me out with her on a job? How am I supposed to explain that?”
“We’ll work it out,” Marc said.
“No.” Kevin stabbed his finger at his thigh as if trying to make a point. “This is exactly why a single bird doesn’t join a team like this. I’ll admit, she has talent. I don’t mind adopting her for her own protection. I’d even let Corey help get her brother into college, but I have to draw the line somewhere.”
Axel sat back on his hands, and sighed. “You’re probably right.”
Corey perked up. “Well, if she joins a girl team, she’ll still be around, right?”
Marc shrugged. “How often do you see girls on other teams? I don’t think I’ve worked with one in the past year. They’re so short in supply, so they get asked on assignments all the time.”
“Which is why the Academy would be interested when they find out she’s as talented as we know she is,” Axel said.
“But we’d be her contact,” Brandon said. “We’d be her initial adopted team.”
“And we’ve fucked with her a lot,” Raven said, grumbling. He tightened his arms around his chest, sitting back and glaring at the floor. “Once she met up with the other teams, she’d probably find a bird
team she liked better.”
The team grew quiet. It was true. Now that the initial threat around her was gone, she was free to pursue whatever road she wished. If she did express interest in the Academy, if the Academy investigated closer and decided they want to put her into a test team, more than likely she’d pick one of the girl teams. Wouldn’t she? The Academy would encourage it, and she’d be so busy that they’d never see her. With everything the Academy provided and did, it would probably win her over and she’d do anything for them. Just like they’d do anything for the Academy.
“Then again,” Axel said. “She may not care to do it at all. She might go for college, or a normal job.”
“Do you really believe she’d go for any type of normal job?” Marc asked, eyeballing him.
Axel shrugged. “She could surprise us. I don’t think she would, but she’d be the one to do it just to throw me for a loop.”
Raven huffed. “I don’t think she’s the normal type. More like crazy with a side order of insane.”
