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“He gets that from me,” I tease.
Ma and I always joked that he’s as wound up and high-strung as I’ve always been. But like me, he’s always one step ahead and looking at the bigger picture. I miss those moments when the love of my life and I would sit back and argue about who our kids are most like.
Anytime they did anything bad, they were mine. But if the light was shining on them, they were hers… as should be, because nobody’s light shined brighter than my wife’s.
“Get Leo to follow them from here,” I command my brother, peeking in my rearview mirror where my guard sits in his car a few rows over. “We’re gonna make a pit stop at the liquor store.” Luca chuckles but does as I ask.
I hardly have the gear shift in drive before the back door flies open and one of my most trusted men leaps into the back seat. Marco doesn’t say a word, just nods his head at me.
Guess he’s going to take over for Leo and have my back.
Which may end up being a good thing for me, seeing as he and Tyson connected during a brainstorming, interrogation, and torture session. He can help Tyson rein Gunner in when I tell him I need two of his men to temporarily come out of hiding.
“Maybe we should make a pit stop at the sports store while we’re at it,” Luca states out of the blue.
“Why’s that?” I hesitantly ask, because you never know what’s going to come out of my brother’s mouth.
“Need to get you a jock strap and a cup for your nuts so you come out with your balls still intact,” he answers. Marco spews water all over the back of my head from the sip he just took, before falling over in laughter.
“Find that funny, do you?” I inquire of the two asshats in the car.
“Hilarious,” Luca remarks.
“I give it a three out of five stars,” Marco conveys.
“Just what I wanted, to spend my day with two jokesters who get a kick out of my son handing me my ass.”
“Aww, Pops,” Luca jeers. “It isn’t going to be that bad.”
“If you say so,” I mumble around a huff.
* * *
Ain’t gonna be that bad, my ass.
I’m lounging back on the sofa in the communal center, watching my son pace back and forth, muttering some unfavorable things aimed at me, while his arms are flinging through the air as a punctuation to his dissatisfaction.
“This is a bad idea, Pops. There’s a reason we went, plus stay, underground. You pulling two of my men into civilization puts a target on their backs, on our family, as a whole, and I can’t allow that to happen,” Gunner berates, scolding me like I’m a juvenile who just pulled off the most obnoxious prank, and I’m now facing the principal for a reprimand.
However, the protruding veins throbbing on his forehead show me how combatant he is over this topic.
The twinkle in Kruger, my son’s VP’s eyes, says he’s enjoying my plight a little too much, but so far, he’s kept his mirth to himself. That’s a good thing, since he can get my son strung tighter than a bow.
“Do you want to live down here forever, son? It’s doable, but what about your children’s future? How will they meet anyone and fall in love? Make families of their own?” I ask, knowing that he has a frenzy of mixed emotions over their new underground living environment.
On one hand, he’s happy down here because his family is safe.
But on the other hand, there is no life down here for the children.
No school.
No socialization outside of one another.
They’ll never play sports, go fishing and camping, or smell the flowers blooming and the fresh grass growing outdoors. What they’re doing is surviving, not living in the traditional sense.
Master steps forward, stopping Gunner from wearing a worn path in the flooring. He holds his hand up, letting Gunner know he has something important to say. “Pops is right, Gun. We can’t stay down here forever. We have to reclaim our lives. But his game plan needs some finessing. No matter how well-trained we are, there’s no way in hell we can get in and out of there unnoticed. The walls echo in places like that, and you know this girl isn’t going to go without a fight.”
“What do you suggest, Master?” I ask, leaning forward, curious about what he’s come up with while the rest of us have gone back and forth, arguing about the merits of why thishasto happen.
