Chapter 10
Chapter ten
“Everyone, meet Dominic.” Mira sighed heavily. “Our latest hopeful recruit.”
Dominic bit back his smile at her less than enthusiastic tone. He gave her the faintest wink, and was rewarded when she pressed her cute little lips into a scowl and glanced away.
Aubrey and Max stared in surprise. Jackson didn’t move from where he sat cross-legged at one end of the long conference table.
“Why do you want to join the Demon Freedom Coalition?” he asked.
Dominic shoved his hands in his pockets and let his shoulders droop forward a little, as though self-conscious about his size.
“I’ve been following the DFC’s mission for years,” he said, softening his voice. “I’m tired of just watching.”
Mira’s mouth fell open at his change in demeanor.
“I want to be a part of it. Of this unit,” he added fervently.
“Why ours?” Jackson returned. His sharp eyes pinned Dominic with the faintest glimmer of displeasure.
His male subconsciousness could probably sense the threat in Dominic. He seemed to like keeping Mira where he’d left her, like a neglected book on a shelf.
“Your display at the North Pier was amazing,” Dominic said aloud. “And the Harold Washington Library demonstration was so… passionate.”
Mira blinked, but Dominic could see Jackson slowly swelling before his eyes, like an inflatable peacock.
Jackson grunted. “Our unit has been together for a while. We’re fairly close-knit. We may not have an opening soon, but you can still hang with us as an apprentice.”
“What does an apprentice do?”
“You watch us, and learn the ropes. Show up only at events we tell you to join. Don’t announce yourself as DFC to anyone.”
“Got it.” Dominic nodded.
“This week will be a bit quiet, because something big is happening. The big annual shindig, so to speak. You can’t ride along for it, but you’ll see it.” Jackson smirked. “The entire fucking city will see it.”
Ah. So that was this week.
Dominic had been tracking the DFC long enough to know all about their little shindigs. All DFC units in a reasonable distance would pool their funds together, choose a city, and launch a massive protest that would keep the news stations chattering for days.
“Distro, you can show Dominic here the basics,” Jackson ordered. “Remember, no real names in apprentice mode. Only code names.”
“No problem,” Max piped up.
It was a bit late for that. Dominic had already sorted out Mira’s DFC associates months ago.
There was Aubrey, with a knack for electronics, as well as financial theft. She was a grad student, but nearly every dime she handled had been filched from somewhere else. Including for her tuition fees.
Max was a wayward rich kid who’d woken up one day and sprouted an allergy to his family’s abundant wealth. He was the youngest in the group, and had tried out a few other ways to rebel before settling in with the DFC. He seemed to be a good kid, but he needed structure to keep from spinning out.
Then of course, Jackson. A penchant for drama, flair, and an almost complete inability to see beyond his enormous ego.
“Mira.” Jackson jerked his head toward the hallway.
Mira frowned, and followed him outside. Dominic kept his face blank while he easily eavesdropped with his demon hearing.
“Where’s your head at right now, Mira?” Jackson was saying. “You were almost late, you’re not replying to my messages, and then you show up with a recruit, out of the blue?”
“I was busy. I could only answer the important ones.”
“The important ones? Asking how you’re doing isn’t important?”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Alright,” Max said behind him, drawing his attention once more.
Max pointed to Aubrey. “That’s Comms. I call her Gadget, too. She finds us locations to meet, like this one.”
Indeed. Dominic wondered whose stolen credit card was renting their current office space.
“That’s the Megaphone. I also call him our Magician,” Max said, when Jackson walked back in. “Our speaker, and a master of disguise. Then of course, our Decoy, or Sleight of Hand. She keeps police looking the other way when we’re getting in position.”
Dominic stared at Mira, shaking his head slightly in disbelief. She smirked.
Max pointed at himself. “I’m Distro.”
“What kind of name is that?”
“It’s from the DFC Playbook. The original founders created a guide so that anyone could spin up their own DFC unit. You pick out some roles from the guide, and build a team. It’s Distro, as in distribution. I drop our reading material to the crowd during our little shows.”
Max handed Dominic one of the QR code cards that had fallen in the park.
“See this? It always points to the most current location of our backups of Professor Rellman’s research. No matter how many times the Council takes our backups down, we have new ones up in minutes. That’s my real job, as a DFC archivist. So, you can call me the RFH.”
Dominic stared at him. “What’s that?”
Max grinned. He pointed to a modified version of the Council’s Heracles emblem on his laptop wallpaper. “RFH. The Real Fuckin’ Hydra.”
A surprised laugh burst out of Dominic. He smiled despite himself.
Frankly, he’d rather think of Max’s goofy grin when walking into the Council’s headquarters every day than his usual grim thoughts.
Mira rolled her eyes. “Distro’s real job is being the little brother in our unit. Every time he goes full cringe, he gets one of these.”
She put Max in a headlock, and ground her knuckles into his scalp.
“Ah! Mir— er, Decoy!” He grimaced, trying to duck away. “You already have a brother.”
“But, not a younger one.”
Dominic watched their play, entranced, and distantly wondered what a sibling would have been like.
“Let’s wrap it up, folks.”
Jackson stood. “Everyone has their marching orders for the next event.” He glowered at Mira. “Don’t be late.”
The group packed up and began to shuffle out.
Dominic caught Mira before she could follow everyone else, then locked the door.
She sucked in a sharp breath when he backed her into the corner. “What now? I already got you in.”
“Oh, no, Mira. That’s not how being in my pocket works.”
He leaned close, until her eyes widened. “Let’s talk about your little shindig.”