MC: Moniz: Book 9 (17 page)

“Come to Geek’s office.” He listens. “Them too.” He swipes his phone and calls someone else. “They tried to get a call into us but were sent back to class. Fuckin’ Brother losin’ a cut. Get to Geek’s office.”

I start the video again. Aaron goes in the classroom, but Jeremy stands against the wall. OB grabs his shirt and pulls him forward. VP stands up. “Listen you little fuck get in the classroom now.” Jeremy drops down leaving his shirt in OB’s hand. He flips to the side then over him. OB throws his shirt at him. “You want to go then go. Who the fuck would take you? Can’t talk, don’t show for school, need special everything. Fuckin’ waste, go ahead.” He turns around and sits at the small table to eat. Fuckin’ guy lets Jeremy walk right out the fuckin’ door.

“He’s fuckin’ done. Get him in here,” Pres says his voice is deadly. VP goes out.

I move the outside feed to my center board. Jeremy comes out the door and slides to the side behind the shrubs. If I didn’t know to watch for him I wouldn’t have seen him. I watch the corner of the building and follow along the fence line. He’s crawling with his arms like he’s under barbed wire. When he gets closer to the lot he runs and moves to a higher SUV and climbs the fence. I’m scrambling to get the feeds in front of him. He runs hunched over. When he gets closer to the compound I zoom in and see he’s crying. Fuckin’ dick did this. He moves to the front of the dunes until he gets to Digs’. He stays to the outside of the fence and makes it to Pres and Danny’s moving against the house. He’s in the KC bulkhead in seconds. I pull their feed but he doesn’t show in the common room. He never left the hall. I watch the feeds around Cloud’s and see him pushing his bike straight into the backyard. He runs with it against the tree line and into the woods at the back of Tiny’s yard.

Fuck. I get the trail up and run backward by time. He’s on the bike running the trail Security runs. He jumps the wall going right and flies around the corner. The guard at the gate comes out looking around then goes back in the shack.

“That’s four,” Pres says. I pull feeds running seconds apart so we can see how he gets to the reservation. I follow his movements until Digs picks him up.

“Play me the school from the minute they hit the door.” I bump the clip to the center board and click on my tag. Once it shows I turn it up.

“Are you fuckin’ kidding me? He never said a word about OB. Did you get that from him?” Little Ben looks at Jessie. He shakes his head no. “Sonofabitch! I should have watched the feeds before talking to him.” He goes out the door and I hear his fist hit the wall.

“I want everyone he got by here in thirty minutes. The KC doors send an open alert, he used his watch to get through the doors and no one fuckin’ noticed. The gate guard heard a bike go over the wall and didn’t think it was odd? HS didn’t see him leaving alone on tracking? Didn’t we just put a computer with the guard for that? Not one fuckin’ alert went up when he was at my house? We just took on Baxters and we can’t even keep a kid out of our own yard.” Pres is talking slow and low. A deadly combination for the person he unleashes on. Everyone moves. My office is cleared in seconds. “Get OB on a drive for me and him getting through the compound on another.”

I pull the drives and mark one OB. I save the files and hand him the drives. “Did I miss anything?”

“KC and the school. Did anyone call in?”

He nods. “Brenda at the same time you were on with VP. KC didn’t call in until Brantley. Who was on there?”

I pull the schedule and the feeds. “Nikko was on surveillance.” I back up the feed by time and we watch. Nikko is writing and looks at the computer once then goes back to writing. Pres walks out. Shit.

I’m sitting here and have no fuckin’ clue what to do. I put the school up on the center board and look for my girl. She’s working with the teacher. The woman laughs and hugs her then hands her a paper. Half Pint jumps excited and runs to Harley and Blaze. Everyone hugs, girls are cute. Elizabeth and Sandy lead them to a mat and they all sit.

I look at the feeds. Security has someone stopped, but nothing else is happening. I go to HS Surveillance. Rayne is on setting up for Mitch to go to the Women’s Center. I throw him chin and walk into Security and see Kick is running with a BS guy I don’t know. There are quite a few people I don’t know here. “When did BS start?” I ask Kick.

“About thirty minutes ago.” The BS guy says sticking his hand out. “Cole, it’s good to meet you Geek. I was hoping I would, but didn’t expect it to be so soon. I have some IT that are excited to be working with you. Yours is the only department that is waiting for the new building and they’re the ones chomping at the bit to get in here.” He’s smiling. Geeks don’t do patient so I get it right away and smile.

“I don’t know when that is. I’m with Danny next week to look at a new console set up. Who knows when it will be done?”

He nods. “Mike is working with Danny; it won’t be long at all. He’s already gutting the building.”

“Fuck I didn’t know we bought it. I need fuckin’ feeds on the lot. Pres told me to leave it.” Shit I don’t like not knowing shit.

“They’re pulling the power lines down so it would have been a waste. I only know because I had a beer with Mike at the Pub.”

I nod and go looking for Danny. He took over an office a couple of doors down from me. He’s got a meeting room feed running but he’s looking at plans. “Got a minute?”

He looks up surprised. “Always Brother.”

“What’s up with the new building? I just got you’re with Mitch’s brother and the power lines are coming down.”

He’s smiling. “Everything is solar and wind. I fuckin’ love it. The new poles are made with solar circuits running through them but Mitch has a new design to them to pull power from the wind too. This is going to be awesome. Your cameras have three-sixty views and they’re setting sensors around the property. You’ll love the new design. I can tell you Jeremy wouldn’t have gone unnoticed here. Between the Baxters technology and our Brothers this is going to be a fuckin’ interesting ride.” He’s got the biggest smile on. I just nod.

“While you’re here I need the basic layout for the consoles. The electricians are going to need the plan.”

I spend an hour going over what each level of techs would need and leave him drawing plans for the electrician. Holy fuck this is moving fast.

I call Ian; he’ll be my partner at Baxters. “Did you know they’re already wiring in the new building?”

He’s surprised. “No, shit that’s fast even for Mitch. I know she got a demo company from Pennsylvania. Do you know when we get in?”

“No, but I wanted to meet about the forms and told Danny to see you about the lead hologram boards.”

“I have tomorrow morning over at the building. Meet me at ten on the second floor. Don’t park too close to the building. We had some flats up there; demo fast isn’t always thorough with cleanup.” He laughs.

“Got it.” I hang up and my phone rings. “Yeah.”

“I need help Geek,” Kate says. “Mitch is on her way and I have no one with computer knowledge that will be able to break down what she says. I have no problem with you being here but some of our support workers are from the shelters. It has to be a woman.”

“Shit.”

“Yes, my thoughts exactly. I don’t know a woman in that position trusted by the Brothers.” She sounds frustrated.

Who the hell could I put with her? Joey is going to Rhode Island. It hits me. “Marty. Josh lets her take work home.”

“Really?” She sounds hopeful.

“Yeah and besides Digs she’s the only one that’s ever gotten into our server.”

She makes a girl sound and I pull the phone away from my ear. “Thanks I’ll call her.” She’s gone before I can say she can’t talk. Since both Kate and Mitch know her and sign she should be fine.

Before I can text her Danny calls me back into his office. I send a short text about picking up Aubrey and get one back saying she’ll be with Kate and it might be a while. Good. She’s doing it and not worrying. I feel like an idiot but send her a smiley face.

Ian is on Danny’s monitor and we go through what each department lead would need. When we finish I get called to the meeting room and run the flash for Pres and VP. While it’s finishing I look at my watch.

“Go. We’re done with IT,” VP says.

“Thanks Brother. Marty’s with Kate.”

He throws chin and I’m out. It’s been a fuckin’ day. I’m smiling when I ride out of the lot. I decide to pick Aubrey up on the bike. I stop at the house and get the helmet and harness I picked up for her. She’s bouncing all over the place. When I lift her on, I put the clips on my belt loops and strap her to me. We’re going two minutes up the road, but she’s small and light. She likes the ride so we do a loop of the compound roads before getting home.

She’s telling me about her day while I’m looking at food. There is nothing here I want. “Diner?” She’s jumping. I call into Security letting them know where we are headed and we go to the Diner.

Little Ben is here with Jeremy and Brantley. Since he was chained to the backyard and he’s here I guess Little Ben let up on that. When Jeremy sees Aubrey he smiles and slides out. He bends and she kisses his cheek. He follows me to the table holding her hand and throws me chin before going back to Little Ben. I push it away and sit a little stunned.

Aubrey continues with her day, but I need to ask her about being scared earlier. I wait and she looks serious. “It was the bad men. They were trying to get in the school. I didn’t go outside to play ‘cause they were there. The kids stayed in with me so I still had fun but Jeremy got in trouble. He said he was wrong and deserved it, but I was sad. The man should have listened.”

“You’re right. The man should have listened but Jeremy could have been taken. VP covered the school so no one could get to the kids, but that left Jeremy in danger.”

She nods with big eyes. “He told us, but I saw him crying I can’t hear him when he cries. No one can. That’s scary ‘cause we didn’t know if he was okay.” That’s why the kids didn’t call. They didn’t know what he was doing. “He said we can never leave without our Security even if they’re mean, ‘cause mean still protects us.”

Fuck. “He’s right, but if someone is mean to you, you tell me, Mommy or Brenda–even Jeremy. We’ll make sure you’re always treated with respect. Yeah?”

“Yes Daddy.” I get a flash of an older Jeremy wrapping her in white light and close my eyes. Fuck! She starts talking about a game she played and we eat. Little Ben and Jeremy come to the table just as she’s finishing. “I’m going to show Baker I got the measures right.” I nod and watch her walk away holding Jeremy’s hand.

“Tell me I’m thinking wrong.” I say still watching the doors swing. He doesn’t say anything. “Fuck.”

“The good side to this is you know he’ll be a good man and always protect her above anything else. It was my father that clued me in. Jeremy is acting crazy. A love struck Brother is a war.” He laughs at my expression.

“She’s fuckin’ five!” I growl at him.

“Not a thing will happen until they are much older. It is completely innocent but it’s the building blocks for their future. Prepare yourself for the two sons-in-law you’ll have.” He’s laughing hysterically and I want to punch him.

I freeze. Two! I stand up because I’m going to kill one. His hand stops me. “Sit!” I look at him for a second. My fuckin’ blood is boiling. I sit.

“There are some men and women that warrant two protectors. They are that special. Pres is one. Darren is one. Mitch, Jess, Kaleb, Elizabeth, Devan, Colt, Christian, and Tess. You see it and know it but keep pushing it away. Both Jeremy and Aubrey are the same. I don’t know a parent, aside from Mitch, that understands and doesn’t pull the ‘not my baby’ shit, it doesn’t work anyway. It isn’t about you it’s about how it works.” He gives me a minute to get that.

“Did you ever think Pres and Danny would work? No one did, yet Danny protects Pres as much as Kate. Even when he’s pissed at him, Pres comes first. The connection was made before they even knew each other. Axe was Danny’s father, he was meant to be here to protect Pres. Rich with Tess, Jessie with Darren and Jess. You get it. Nothing you say or do will make that change. They were brought back to you for a reason. You will shape her, guide her, but you need to do it with the knowledge that she’s one to be protected. Who better to do that than Jeremy and Jacob?”

I look away. “You always being right is getting fuckin’ old. I need to get my girl and spend time with the fuckin’ five year old before you have them married.”

I get up and walk away. Fuckin’ kids. He’s laughing, but I’m not turning around. Asshole.

This is like the day that never ends. We get home and I get Half Pint a bath then sit with her while she watches a movie. She’s quiet, but smiling and laughing at her movie. I don’t get much done, but I check all the feeds. Pres is still at Security with VP, Bob, and Rich. They had the pussies from the Jeremy Op then the Brothers that didn’t do their jobs. This is the first day that Baxters run HS and shadow in Security. Pres must have his hands in his hair. I smile looking at the door. Marty walks in smiling and hits the alarm.

‘I have Security following me. Kate says it’s necessary. Does it have to do with Jeremy?’ She’s still smiling and I want to keep that there, but I need her to know what happened.

“Mommy! Yes you have to keep the Security with you even if they are mean.” Half Pint runs and jumps on her. Fuck!