Chapter One #2
I step aside for Light and hand him the drive when he hops on the deck. “Don’t call them dogs, my partners and the enhanced K-9s have had more training than we have and rank higher than most Brothers.”
I don’t wait for his stunned to answer and turn to Light. “Bios for Flight. They’re not waiting for me to agree anymore. Get our SOP to the Flight Lead and theirs stored for us to read later.”
He takes the flash in his mouth and tilts his head to drop it into the little pocket under his fur that connects to his collar.
Looking at the Lead I say, “We got location and a ride. I don’t know how this works but if you need something from us, let me or Light know. I was told of a Club protocol book but haven’t seen one. Since they decided I’ll take the job, they’ll send it. We have job procedure and protocols, we used in, that will work for us here based on this job. Light will send those to you.”
He nods. “We get flight plans straight from Phoenix Ops for the Maestro Club. It’s the only procedure we got so far. Honor’s VP said you’d give yours.”
He points, indicating Mase.
Light will send ours so that’s done butI feel my eyebrow go up at the name. “Maestro?”
His surprised look and shrug tell me he didn’t come up with the name so I look at Mase. “The Club is named Maestro?”
He rolls his eyes. “Cort came up with it when Alder said Master. You and your dogs run like artists or wizards. They all watched your Op and had shit to say.”
I see and can feel that he’s pissed but it can’t be at me. I smile. “They’re partners not just dogs and have trained more than I have. He said you can’t be our partner?”
He pegs a fiery finger connected to a blazing arm at me and the crew all turn away fast.
I smile right out, shaking my head at him. “We work alone and your fire would have had us all on fire or outed in seconds. You’re VP, run Ops for this huge Club that spans two states and are an Op Lead, part of a Three and have freaky lighting you up while not being your only ability. What is missing in your life that all I listed isn’t enough?”
His smile shows and eyes close, so the fire goes out. I like this Mase better. “You’re right. My girl and kids like seeing me regularly. Thanks.”
I blink, then blink again. Nope he’s not there, turning to the Lead, I ask, “He can make it home from here?”
He smiles. “VP can make it to Bravo in seconds so he’s already home.”
“Okay, so the Club is really called Maestro?”
He smiles looking friendly and open. I hope everyone at the new Club, that I didn’t agree to, is like him. “Yeah. VP had the engineer open the meet for him so we all saw it. Falcon, the President of Bravo, said you didn’t agree four times but no one listened. They’re all sending Brothers they trained or have in their VIP houses.”
He smiles and the man at the door laughs. “They must have had everything ready for this but forgot to ask.”
I sit and look up at him. “He wasn’t going to ask. He knew I’d take it when Colonel Graywolf told him I was a classified operator. I saw his eyes light up and knew he’d find us a job that works for the Club. The job we just did was an easy one we have experience in.”
“That’s how it looked cookie cutter to you and the dogs.”
He didn’t get the no dog reference. I’ll get Light to send it out to everyone so I’m not pointing it out every time they talk.
I smile at the engineer. “This is our first time working with Prometheus. Light is one of my partners so we’ve worked together for years with Shadow.”
The Lead nods. “He’s the Rottweiler mix.”
“They’re both Malinois X. Shadow is Belgian Malinois, King Shepherd, Rottie mix and Light the Belgian Malinois, King Shepherd, Malamute mix. The guy I bought them from loved the giant shepherds and Malinois mix then started mixing that with working dog breeds.”
I don’t give the lineage just to keep it simple.
He nods. “The shepherd and rottie must tame down the energy of the Belgian Malinois.”
I smile. “Yeah, it does and gives them a killer base for the stealth training. Both are incredibly quiet and agile even when jumping and landing.”
“I was on a dog rescue and saw others that were big but weird mixes that in no way looked friendly. The chopper ride was so quiet, I don’t think the crew took a deep breath until we landed. The young Indian was on the flight too but not one member said a word about the dogs or the kid.”
Dog again.
I leave it alone.“Were they enhanced or chipped? It’s odd but service dogs aren’t unruly animals. They’re trained to wait for orders.”
He shrugs. “I don’t know the difference.”
I guess I’m giving some lineage after all and point at Prometheus. “All war dogs tested high in sensory skills making them born to work at K-9 level. He’s enhanced with injections that changed something else in his DNA. Originally, he was bred to be a working military K-9 because of his impressive lineage, but someone fucked with them adding shit into them for years so his impressive lineage is more now. Light and Shadow are chipped to me. Our brains are connected through that chip They send and receive information to and from me, like their watch boards but we have tracking, physiological information, and whatever we send like orders and answers. The connection we have gives emotion and a sort of thought process that isn’t seen but was tracked. Their lineage is impressive and enhanced DNA was bred in like Prometheus, but not newly or repeatedly injected.”
I nod when Light sends he’ll help. “Lately they send emojis. We didn’t have that before so it’s their new thing.”
The crew paying attention to us laugh. Light has his hologram board up showing our stats and tracking. I point. “The clown is Shadow. He probably labels me with the clown too but doesn’t show it when I’m close.”
They laugh again.
“If command paid attention, they’d have ranked him higher than us, but they gave it to me, so he’s always riding us, just hoping it’s the day we grow up.”
I laugh with my fist out for the new clown label showing for me.
Light bumps my fist with his paw and drops his board down.
I explain this part to my new crew so they aren’t totally clueless when we need their help. “Our chip shows behind our eyes or inside them or our brain or something like that. Light has all the data on that, I never cared and I’m still pissed they chipped us. It works and we use it so it has a purpose. A tech that was part of a bigger group tore through the main servers so bad the initial programs were lost. The guy was out of his mind but finally understood how bad the collective thought process could backfire. The whole team imploded as one and was supposed to end the study, but they must have remade something similar because my partners found two that were chipped. They connected into me within a week. We never get command intel but our connection never cut off. Light knew and gave a plan for us. It took months but I had an old Marine medic in Texas move the chips closer to our security chips. It kept us safe.”
I pull my collar down to show the newly acquired scar on my neck. “They did look for it but didn’t have time to keep searching. My partners got me away and to the Texas Badass Club. With my chip, they’d have control of us all again.
The engineer has horror on his face when he looks back. “Why would you connect with them? The last big group imploded.”
That’s a good question to ask. I like this guy. “I’m not trying to gain world domination. I just want to live doing a job I enjoy with partners and bosses that are looking for the same.”
He nods watching my eyes. “That’s what we all want. You’re in a good place, Brother. While Mase was watching the meeting, Alder was running code for a program that would help with chipped K-9s. Teller and Justice are going to help him get other chipped dogs on a server so you’re not overloaded with them all. I didn’t understand why and it wasn’t a meet we were invited to so I couldn’t ask. I’m glad you explained. So, they use a similar program for the tracking system for elders and towns. They can open it for one or two at a time so everything doesn’t crash or draw too much on one Club but everyone is covered. Justice said they can code it so other team leads can work with chipped dogs on the new Lead glasses.”
This is good news.
The lost Leads and K-9s haven’t left us and I’m not sure they should. Remembering the fallen means we won’t repeat those costly mistakes.
Alder showed me the glasses and Asa tested me on them. “Thanks. It will be better for all of us. I just finished the testing on those two days ago.”
The engineer smiles and Lead laughs. “Cort isn’t a patient Brother. He’ll do everything he can to make sure you have everything you need but it’s at Mach 5.”
I’ve seen that. “Yeah.”
Positions are taken with new orders given so I turn to my partners for the day. “You did perfect, thanks, Brothers.”
Light chuffs at me sending a Brother and thumbs up. I roll my eyes at him. “I’m working on Brother. It’s easier and came out by itself this time.”
Prometheus puts his paw up so I bump it. He’s like Shadow. “Did the chip and board work for you today?”
His watch pops a board up with a ‘yes’ showing. ‘Easy’ and a bolt of lightning shows making me laugh. “You’re like my partners, Light is fast with the boards too. I’m showing Shadow the bolt so he can annoy Light with it.”
Light moves fast licking up my face. “Bloody beast! Stand down. You call me cheeky.”
I push his big head away getting a laugh from the Brother at the door.
I stand and move away from the unruly, childish, beast, making sure to show him all the words as I think them. Prometheus chuffs and stands with me. He really is like Shadow. I hope my other partner was okay with the kids today.
The Lead points at the Club. “It looks like we’ve got company. I thought some showed in the Honor meeting room.”
“Fuck me. Those are all different Clubs.”
Why are they here? There are three different choppers down there.
He laughs. “Yeah, it’s normal here. Pres and VP try to show at other Clubs so parties aren’t always here. They’re both readers and VP said it’s too much to have everyone close for too long.”
I nod. “We can close down parts of the chip that we don’t need. Chris said the readers can’t do that.”
He gives me a funny look then it clears. “You’ll have to explain that but it can wait. Preses Falcon and Brekan from Bravo and the MC are here. That other chopper is Elite, part of the Squared Club so they may be here for Prometheus.”
I nod and make a note to get with the Flight Crew for regular interactions. They remind me of my old workers so I explain more than what’s normal for me. “I’m trained Green Beret-Delta and met Graywolf at the MC. I was in a coma at his medic room for two months. My partners love him.”
I smile seeing Shadow standing tall and proud by the colonel he’s come to love.
As soon as the doors open, Shadow is charging. I shake my head, hop down and lean back against the deck so I’m not sprawled out on it. Shadow jumps but is gentle today. “It was good and Prometheus did great. How is Leon and the boys?”
I see a feed of Leon’s chart and close my eyes. The boys show on bikes riding a track. I smile when I see Shadow on a bike behind Seth. My eyes pop open when I see Vinny packing a bag. “You invited them?”
He barks at me. I push his face back. “Don’t bark in my face. It’s a question. You can invite them but they can’t sleep in your room, you’re a dog.”
He barks at me again showing ‘Brother’ and chains around me in a picture. The Alpha-Bits need to stop showing them AI shit.
“If it ever happens, I’m crating you. You’re a dog and no label changes it. It’s like me being paralyzed, nothing changes it. They can sleep in the back room, I don’t need an office at home, get beds in there for them.”
He pushes off me and runs the other way. Colonel Graywolf and Falcon laugh. “He’s been pacing, I think he thought you’d say no.”
The colonel is good at reading my partners.
“It doesn’t look good with Leon?”
I ask but saw the chart.
Falcon takes a deep breath so I watch him closely seeing guarded slide down his face. “Alder and the Alpha-Bits are working with Copper and Aiyana. They got the blocker from Copper that helped with the kid cancer and Aiyana has a way to isolate and treat tumors. Alder blocked time.”
He shrugs, I guess, that means to work on it.
In other words, they don’t have anything yet but it’s a possibility. I’m out of the chair and walking, making anything is possible a believable outcome. “I don’t know who to tell, but they can stay as long as they need to. If Leon needs to be close, we have the room here, I just need medics and nurses.”
Anything we can do to achieve the impossible will be done.
Pres and VP show on the side of us as if the circus acts are normal for everyone. No one reacts with even an extra blink, proving crazy to be a normal part of our lives now.
“I appreciate it, Brother. I know this isn’t a great time for you but Leon won’t stay in the medic room for long.”
Pres looks tired, his wild, white and blonde hair more wild than usual and turbulent eyes smoldering color wheels in motion today.
“There’s a house by mine that has two bedrooms so a nurse or medic can stay. The kids will be close and we can merge the two houses so we’re together more than we’re not. I got help with Shadow and Light. Prometheus just proved the enhanced dogs can work for the jobs with their watches, so I don’t need both my partners.”
He pulls me up from leaning back on the deck to standing and hugs me. “Relax. I thought it would be too much for you. You’re walking for the first time in years. Tell me what you need and I’ll get it here. Benny is a PA and can move with the boys. He moved from Alpha to Honor for them. We have two doctors and plenty of medics we can supply you with. Alder hasn’t sent me your release. Did you get that from him?”
I send the question to Light. He chuffs behind me and shows negative. “No, Pres, but Asa was here before I left for the job with VP. The engineer said he was at a meet with everyone talking about the job we were on.”
They all laugh.
“I was on Ops so maybe Cort has it. He’s on his way.”
Pres isn’t laughing. The paper must be a thing for Badass like the military.
Mase bumps my shoulder with his. “It is. The testing too. Justice said Cort has it. If you need help let me know.”
“Roger, Boss, but Shadow and Light will keep me covered. They always have my back.”
Mase smiles wide. “Badass is deep in every one of you. That’s why Cort pushed so hard for this. Call if you need human, venting, or skeleton help, Brother. I got a clear line to the healers too.”
He’s fun. He brought my skeleton when the chip was healed in me and gave me pointers.
I hold my smile. “Will do, VP.”
Pres and Falcon laugh. I shrug at the colonel. They laugh at everything. He nods reminding me that seers see everything.
When Mase nods, I walk away. “I’m checking on the room changes before it gets too busy.”
Pres walks with me. “You’d check no matter how busy it is.”
His eyes were disorienting when I first met him, but now I’m comforted by them. Different doesn’t mean much here. No one seems to care what’s different or how you work as long as you get it done.
He bumps my arm. “We don’t care. No problems climbing today. Mase said it wasn’t even a thought in your head.”
“No, Pres. I realized on the way back that I didn’t plan any moves but let training and experience guide me. It worked, so I decided I’ll keep doing that.”
He laughs with Falcon and the colonel sounding off from behind us.
“You’re not just Green Beret.”
I turn a little too fast and VP steadies me. Everyone stops but Falcon’s eyes are boring into mine. He was on an assassin team so he’d see traits that others don’t. “Delta Force before that one. CIA dropped me to captain but paid me higher than colonel. I didn’t know I changed branches until after I woke up chipped to my dogs.”
My words come out low so I’m not overheard because I’m too young for colonel but got the pay for it. Harky said quite a few Brothers and Presidents here got it too but he didn’t give names so I don’t, or ever really mention it. So many Brothers deserved better pay; without the extra training I grew up with from my uncle, I would have been one of them.
“We’re all on camera,”
the colonel says.
VP laughs. “He jams us or one of the dogs does.”
I nod and turn back. “Teller gave the code to Light so I’m not wearing another cuff. I can activate it through the chip.”
“Isn’t your chip tracked?”
Pres is a smart Brother that you wouldn’t think is IT but they all understand IT better than you’d expect.
I’ve learned they’re all trained for it.“No, the program and all data was lost at the underground EU base with all the leads and dogs. The tech that went nuts burnt through the main servers. It took them almost six months to find us the first time. The chair was a flag but when we made it to the US, I had a PA living on the farm. He did my therapy and I helped with the forms and paperwork for him and his family. They had Border Patrol riding their asses. Asa has us on the Badass tracking now but that just happened last week.”
I lift my coat and show my wrist.
The colonel surprises me. “The PA is who Harper sends updates to. When you got here, he was calling daily. Light hooked him up with feeds so he could see your stats on the monitor in your room. Do you talk to him?”
“Yeah, well, I talked to him before I got the skeleton. We chat now so he can see us. He’s how I got good in the skeleton. He’d do virtual therapy on my off days.”
He laughs. “Never give in, or up.”
I smile at the familiar line. “Never. This is me.”I point so Pres turns.
Barking has me running. “Shadow, Light!”
I yell in German. The bark wasn’t from my partners but the one behind me is. I turn fast and trip to the side but don’t hit the floor, Light does for me. Shadow streaks past us toward the back with Falcon and the colonel following.
“Thanks. Luz , Pres.”
I take the offered arm and Pres pulls me up. When I’m steady, I bend and check Light. “You okay?”
His chuff and the thumbs up in the link is all I’m getting. He runs, so I close my eyes and look for them in the link. Shadow is pissed. Prometheus and a dog I don’t know are standing over a kid mopping water from the wood floor.
I smile at Pres. “They have it under control.”
He follows me to the kitchen. “You’re not going to see what the water is about?”
“When it’s done, I’ll get it. Right now, they have VP, Falcon and the colonel in there with four pissed off dogs. The Prospect is already a wreck.”
He takes a water and sits by me at the table part of the island. “A Pres stepping in means he’s more terrified. They don’t know you’re Pres yet though.”
He is so he’ll get why I’m staying here in a second.
I shrug. “We’ve been the only ones on the compound for a week. Even the kid can figure that one out, Pres.”
“Call me Kristos and you’re right, he knows. Cort is landing at Honor so he’ll be here in a few minutes.”
Seer shit never stops for him either.
Wonderful.
He laughs, leaning to bump my shoulder. “He won’t stay long. The small Clubs aren’t where he hangs. He’ll be at the big Club and pop over here. Spano said he clears the meeting room for him and gets round-the-clock Prospects on him. I started doing it and it works. My Club knows so Seth already has it set for him. You’re new, he’s intrigued with Delta Force and the chip in your head. He loves freaky and has a suit to fly in, meets at the reservation and now the possibility of reading without reading.”
“Fuck.”
He smiles bigger. “Yeah. He asks a million questions so be prepared. He’s not a bother to me or my Club and has his own house in VIP so he’ll be here until he gets his answers.”
Fuck. He laughs right out now.
***