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Taking a deep breath, I made the next toughest call.
To my mom.
Who thought my father was out of the woods when it came to all of this since he was stepping down.
"Hey, bud, what's up? It's late."
"Mom, dad's fine," I started.
"But?" she prompted, voice sharp, knowing. This wasn't her first rodeo.
"But there was an ambush in North Carolina. Adler, Edison, and Slash seemed hurt the worst. Pagan has a bone sticking out. I should call Kennedy," I said, talking to myself aloud, thinking of Pagan's woman.
"I'll call Kennedy," my mom said. "I will get to her before the Hailstorm troops arrive to shuffle us off. That's the plan, right?"
"Right," I agreed. "We're still waiting for information on everyone's condition. As soon as we know, we are going to send a crew down to pick up our men."
"Buddy?"
"Yeah?"
"You're going to need to breathe," she said, voice soft. "I know you're stressed. But you are going to need to take an actual deep breath every so often if you're going to be able to get through this."
She was right.
I felt like I'd been all but holding my breath since the first text came in.
"Thanks, Ma."
"You've got this, Fallon," she added. "I'm going to call Kennedy before the caravan shows up and scares the crap out of her."
"Okay. Thanks."
"Love you, bud."
"Love you too," I said, hanging up, feeling a bit of weight lift at getting the bad news delivered.
I took my mother's advice, and stood in my room to breathe for a minute, getting my mind together, then making my way back out into the common area to find that Brooks had given everyone their assignments, and they were already hard at work on them.
"What's up?" I asked Malcolm who let out a deep sigh.
"Billie."
"What about Billie?" I asked, stiffening.
"Hope said she is refusing to go to either Hailstorm or here."
"Why?"
"Well, there was a whole rambling speech about not letting violence win. I zoned out," he said, shaking his head. "But we're going to have to go pick her up."
"Take Rowe," I suggested. "She's less likely to embarrass herself in front of him," I added. "Rowe, Malc, Sugar, and Virgin are on a team to go grab stubborn-ass Billie," I called, watching Virgin and Sugar nod from where they'd been looking at weapons and vests spread across the pool table.
"What about the others?" Seth asked.
"Malc?" I prompted.
"Hope is coming here. I couldn't get through to Willa. But she's always working late. She'll probably want to come here too. The others are going to Hailstorm."
I would have preferred they all go there where I knew Aunt Lo and Chris could keep them safe no matter what, but I knew better than to argue with Hope. And if we let Hope come, then a few of the others were going to follow as well.
We had fail-safes in case we needed them.
My father had re-done the basement to act as a shelter if need be. And from there, if there was a breach, the girls could get up and into the glass room which was—for all intents and purposes—impenetrable. The glass was made by DARPA to withstand just about anything modern militaries could use against it.
It would be fine.
We would keep them safe.
"Okay. Suit up and head out," I said, nodding to the four of them. "I want updates as you pick up each girl, and when you're on your way back."
My dad's trusty SUV was bullet-resistant. No car was truly bulletproof, but it would do the job. And once that was handled, everyone would be secured somewhere where they could be kept safe, no matter how ugly this might get.
There was a collective held breath until we got word from Aunt Lo and Chris that the wives and kids were safe, and Malc and the others were parking the packed SUV in the garage.
A minute later, in walked Hope, Willa, Malc, Sugar, and Virgin.
"Where's—" I started, trailing off when the garage door was kicked open.
And there they were.
Rowe and Billie, making their way in.
Or, rather, Rowe making his way in with an uncharacteristically irate Billie thrown over his shoulder.
"Put me down. I have plans this week. I have a job. I have clients!" she shrieked, banging her fists on Rowe's back.
"Keep it up and we're going to chain you in the basement," Rowe said, tone calm, casual, as he pulled my cousin off his shoulder, and put her down in front of me.
"Sugar couldn't talk any sense into her," Rowe supplied, meaning Billie's father that I'd sent on the mission. "So we had to fucking kidnap her," he said, shaking his head.
"This is how you run things?" Billie asked, jerking her chin up. "Letting your people manhandle me? I lost one of my pussy flower earrings!" she hissed, waving toward her bare ear.
"I need a drink," Sugar declared, closing his eyes at his daughter's outburst for a second before making his way toward the bar.
