Livy watches me closely.
“I trust your gut,” I tell her. “And I trust your heart. Both of them are good.”
Her mouth trembles a little before she presses it flat.
“But, baby, trusting you doesn’t mean I want you running headfirst into trouble.”
“I didn’t run headfirst,” she mutters.
I arch a brow.
She looks down at her boots. “Maybe shoulder-first.”
A laugh slips out of me before I can stop it.
Livy smiles, just a little.
I kiss her forehead. “No more shoulder-first justice unless there is absolutely no other choice.”
“That sounds like a rule you just made up.”
“It is. I’m a mom. I’m allowed to do that.”
“Can we write it down on the official Sanctuary rule list?”
“No.”
“Because then you’d have to follow it too?”
I open my mouth.
Close it again.
Lord help me, this child.
“Get in the car, Olivia,” I say, which only makes her laugh.
Ten going on thirty, that one.
***Maverick***
Melvin’s message wasn’t an immediate threat.
But it was concerning enough to put every man in the room on edge.
“Okay,” Tank says, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “So he heard someone over the radio while he was in the air say the target was the Palm Springs compound?”
I nod. “That was all he caught clearly.”
Crusher frowns from across the room. “The Palm Springs compound could mean a lot of places.”
“Only one place in Palm Springs called The Compound,” I remind him.
Tank’s expression hardens.
“He couldn’t make out much more than that,” I continue. “The signal kept cutting in and out. Once he was close enough to reach our radio, he contacted me.”
“Was that a good idea?” Max asks. “If he heard their chatter, maybe they heard his.”
