Data…

It wasn’t as simple as just putting it to a vote and me plugging Mali’s laptop in and sending out a signal, hoping they’d bite. No, we had shit to do and it all started with a division of labor.

We had two snipers in Trigger and Ghost, more effective together but in this case, it was a luxury we couldn’t afford. Not with so many wives and kids’ lives on the line. Trigger had no kids, so he would be staying here to pick a few of the bastards off that would more than likely be coming. No one here would be wearing cuts, either, to give any that might get away any ideas.

Still, as a precaution, Ghost would be stationed up on the roof of the club, which was going into lockdown until further notice. He would have Revelator, Blue, and Nox on the ground and Disney manning my club control center, watching the cameras and tripping and sounding the alarm if anything came near the fenceline. Dray would remain at the club and be in charge of operations there while Dragon was out here with us.

Speaking of out here, we had the majority of our firepower. Trigger would be out there, likely on some high ground inside a half mile radius, so he would be safe no matter what. Mali and I would be in here, eyes on the cameras and running central. Archer was out there with some of his more impressive bows, a silent killer from a distance. Reaver would be prowling around out there in the same capacity.

Red-Thirteen and Lucky were working up some explosives. Thirteen had struck up a pretty solid buddy system with Cell in the year before Cell had died and had been learning from him. Sort of a natural evolution of things seeing as his ol’ lady, Dani, was fast and solid friends with Cell’s partner, Blue. I digress, though.

Dragon, of course, would be in here. Our general, giving orders; and Zeb would be our first line of defense along with Rush. Of course, if the bad guys got that far, we were in serious trouble. Still, we wanted at least one, maybe two survivors.

It was a busy day after church which, it was both weird and fantastic having Mali by my side for it, to see how the guys really were. Not just the jaded and guarded fronts they put up. She’d sat in my lap, toes pressed against the cement beneath us, idly and nervously pushing us back and forth as she listened. Her expression was both guarded and full of open curiosity. She was street-wise enough to know she didn’t belong here and that what she was witnessing was rare. It was a mark of how much my brothers trusted me that none of them blinked or raised any concerns about plotting this much illegal activity in front of her.

I trusted her implicitly and that was good enough for them, even after me keeping her a secret for as long as I had been. I think that was saying something.

“Right, you all know yer jobs. Go to it. Data, I’m afraid yer gonna have to go to the club and check things over, run Disney through his paces and make sure he’s got it. Anything pertaining to this little pow-wow we’ve had here needs to go over burner not yer regular lines.”

Mali got up off my lap slowly saying, “I’ll just stay here then.”

“Yeah, you will, but not by yer self.”

“I’ll stay,” Trigger said. “Need to make sure you aren’t gonna accidentally blow somebody’s balls off with this.”

He brought out Mali’s father’s gun and she nearly jumped, stopping herself at the last second from lunging for it. She tried to be cool but I could tell it was the last thing she had of her dad’s and she wanted it back, badly.

“Go on and put your boots on, baby. I’m probably going to be a while,” I murmured.

She looked back at me and I could tell that she didn’t want me to go, but I could also tell that she was going to be brave and let me do what needed doing, too. It was the way Mali was, never showing weakness, never showing any kind of vulnerability in front of anyone… except me.

I don’t know what had made me her chosen one, way, way, back… but it was a duty that I took seriously. I took it just as seriously today as I did the first moment I realized that she looked up to me, despite being almost a year older. God, we must have been what? Eight or nine? Just kids who didn’t know a fucking thing about how the real world worked. I couldn’t take care of her then, even though I tried. I couldn’t take care of her as a teen, even though I wanted to be her everything… but now we were neither of those things . I was a man and as the old line goes, it was time to put away childish things.

I’d never killed a man directly. I doubt that I would, even now… but I would start the game and then, if I had to, I would finish it. I had to. I just had to do it the best way I knew how and right now, that was this way. That was by entrusting her care to my brothers while I went to the club and got things set up to protect their families, their loved ones so that they could focus on protecting what was mine.

That was what this brotherhood was about. Give and take, protecting our own and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that the man next to you had your back; had your best interests at heart. That you could put your life, the life of everything you loved and held dear, into his hands and know that it was safe.

“You guys mind if I have a word with my girl before we hit the road?” I asked and a bunch of the guys shook their heads, some even started moving for the exit. Dragon gave me a look that told me not to take too long and I gave him a nod.

When they were all outside, and Mali and I had the illusion of privacy, I pulled her to me and covered her mouth with mine. Her arms twined around my neck unbidden and she leaned into me, holding her body in a tight press against me.

“I won’t take too long, I promise,” I murmured.

She chuckled a little darkly and said, “Afraid I’ll sully your big friend’s virtue?”

It was my turn to chuckle and grin as I said, “Something like that.” I let my tone become more serious and asked her, “You sure you’re going to be okay?”

She rolled her eyes and let out a bit of a scoff, “Sure, I get to have Thor out there mansplain my daddy’s gun to me. What could possibly go wrong?”

I chuckled again and sighed, “He’s a Marine Corps sniper, he might surprise you and you might actually learn a thing or two.”

“I have a feeling I might surprise him…”

“Now of that, I have no doubt.” I pecked her on the nose and reluctantly let my hands slide off her waist. She sighed and went over, grabbing her boots.

“How long you think you’ll be?” she asked.

“If I say a couple of hours it’ll end up being like four. Truth is, I don’t have a clue, so don’t wait up.”

She scoffed, “Good luck getting me to follow that order.”

“Hey, if I had to pick, that would be the one to ditch.”

“Be careful,” she said softly and she had that still and quiet way about her even as she tied off the lace on one of her high boots. She pulled the other one on with purpose and I indulged in just watching her for a few seconds. Leaving her here with Trig wasn’t my first choice. Not because I didn’t trust him, but totally because I’d only just found her again and didn’t think I would ever be ready to let her out of my sight.

“I love you,” I whispered, never taking for granted my ability to tell her again. After not having her close to hear it for so long, I would never deny it a chance to pass my lips.

“I love you, too.” She finished tying off her other boot and stood. She came for me and we shared one last kiss before someone, likely Rush, banged on the outside of the metal sheeting, causing us to jump apart.

“C’mon let’s go! We’re burning daylight!”

“On it!” I called back.

“I mean it, be careful,” she said.

“You know I will.”