* * *

We watched him retrace his steps, jogging up the last set of stairs until he was at the door and Mancini buzzed him in.

“Dude, that was kinda harsh no?” I need to shut up before Ty starts his shit, but damn, I kinda felt bad for the women now.

“Really, what are they doing now?” When we looked back at the screen the women did look kinda miserable.

More than one was wiping their nose or eyes. “I’m sorry I got y’all into this. I didn’t mean to get anyone into trouble.” Well, it’s good to know she had a soft spot.

“Oh Kelly it’s not your fault. We’ve been on this for months. Don’t feel guilty.” Dani tried reassuring my girl.

“Still, I feel like it’s my fault.”

“He always does this to me. I know there’s something flawed in his logic, but I can never catch it in the moment. He just always sounds so logical you know.” Kat sat back in her chair.

She sniffed and wiped her nose with the tissue Cierra passed her. “What I wanna know is how did he know though?”

“Susie, are you serious? Have you not noticed what we’ve been living with for the past few months? They always freaking know.”

Dani apologized for swearing, which made the other women, some who’ve said worst, cackle with laughter.

“Oh shit, if he knows does that mean…?” The rest of them looked around the room at Vanessa’s comment. Now they were the ones looking for hidden cameras.

“Hank Mancini if you’re recording our conversation that’s a violation of the law in this…well crap those laws don’t apply here. He owns the damn island. Bastard!”

That gave us guys something to laugh about as we watched Lyon’s handiwork at play. I think we were all holding our breath to see what they would do next.

In that short five minutes we forgot about hunting down assholes and all the other bullshit we had on our plate. It seemed like such a normal thing to do, watching the women get up to their shit.

I for one was glad that we’d made the choice to come here regardless of the doubts I had in the beginning. It felt freer, more relaxed, being away from the compound where we felt like sitting ducks.

Plus, I’m on a secluded island with the girl of my dreams. It’s almost the perfect place. I can get in some quality time with my girl without worrying some asshole had me in his scope.

There was movement in the media room once the women settled down a bit. We were going to leave them tonight so it would be good if we were sure they were going to keep their little asses quiet and stay out of shit.

“Ok this is what we're going to do. We're going to go check on the kids. It’s almost lunchtime anyway. Then we're going to give the boys everything that we've got so far and then we’re going to take a step back.” I guess Kat had become dorm leader down there.

She got up from her chair and the others followed suit. “Oh yes, that sounds good. And you know what let's just enjoy the island, it's a beautiful island.”

Susie looked relieved and no one had to guess why. Cord is the one most likely to wring his woman’s neck out of all of us.

“We’ll just make a vacation out of it and leave all that other stuff to the men since they want it so bad.”

Gabriella still sounded a bit disgruntled but there was a hint of fear in there somewhere. I guess she was still wondering if Lo had heard them too.

“It’s also the perfect place for a wedding.” They all stopped on the way out the door and looked back at Kat.

The men groaned, but it was a better prospect than what the hell they were up to an hour ago. It also gave me something to think about.

Am I getting married? I think I already knew the answer, of course I did. But what about her? How fucked up would she think I am if I asked her now?

Not to mention her old man. How happy was he going to be if I married his daughter a few days after we met? Without his consent.

“Yeah, you know what that’s right. And there's nothing that says that all six of you can’t get married together.” Cierra made that suggestion as she put away her little gadget that she’d been using to take notes.

“Oh my gosh that’s so perfect.” Gaby loves any talk about weddings. Funny!

“Wait a minute six? I just met Quinn like an hour ago. Besides, he didn’t ask.”

“Oh sweetie, first off, they don’t ask. And second, ask these women in here how long they were with their significant others before they found themselves hitched for life, ring or no ring.”

There were a lot of heads nodding at Ginger-Lee’s words. It was like getting a glimpse into the machinations of the female mind. It’s a fucking mind fuck.

“You know what we should do, we should get that movie seven brides for seven brothers.”

“Oh yes I could go for a nice old movie right now.” “Ooh Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

“Oh that’s my favorite.”

“Some like it hot.”

“Oh yeah that's another good one to watch.”

“Do we have any of those?”

“I’m sure if we don’t Hank will find them for us.”

“Shit! Anybody caught all those names?” Mancini was already online looking.

Meanwhile the women walked out of the room talking about movies like nothing.

“Mancini you mind if I have a tape of this? From the time Lyon enters the door till now.”

“Yeah I think I want one of those too, damn Lyon how did you do that shit?” Law asked.

“First lesson boys, you can’t use logic with women. Go for the emotion every time.”

“Isn’t that kinda manipulative?” Creed didn’t sound like he minded too much.

“The fuck I care? I gotta go put my kid down, fucker’s giving me a crick in my arm.”

He left the room with his sleeping son on his chest and I’m sure every man in the room was wondering who and what the fuck he was.

“I’m gonna be him when I grow up.” Ty joked, but the truth is he’s exactly like that guy. Which is not necessarily a good thing for the rest of us.

Since we were through spying on the women I decided to share the conversation with the admiral. “I think it’s safe to say he called Cali already, his exact words were, ‘you’re expected.”

“You think they know what we’re dealing with here Lo?”

“I doubt it Dev. I think they would’ve told us at this point. But I think it’s safe to say they know something.”

“Especially the admiral. I can’t see him holding out with his kid getting nabbed like that. My guess, the old man knew something that the others didn’t. But I’m pretty sure from the pattern that Khalil holds the whole team responsible.”

“That makes sense but we still don’t know what that thing is. I don’t think Khalil is gonna give up, and I for one do not want this fucker breathing down my neck for the rest of my life.”

“We won’t brother, we’re gonna take care of this shit once and for all.” Each man nodded just as Lyon came back into the room.

“Okay, what’s next? You boys need lessons in how to change diapers and shit?” Lyon ragged on us for being newbies to the game and we appreciated the light banter.

Since we weren’t leaving until later and the women seemed to have wound down we decided to spend the rest of the day with them.

They were right about one thing; this place is a perfect getaway. If you didn’t have issues of national security to worry about.

They were out on the patio watching the kids run wild. There was a buffet set up with servers waiting to serve. I wonder if the women noticed that the waiters were all strapped?

They looked like a completely different group. In fact they looked lighter than they had when they were plotting.

I think it’s easy for us men to expect them not to worry because we’re so confident that we have the situation under control.

But the truth is, it’s their lives too. I guess I can see things a little clearer now that I had my own woman.

The fact that she’d been touched directly by this makes it easier to understand why she’d want to know more than we’ve been sharing.

But that’s as far as I’m willing to go with that line of thought. The others were right. It’s okay for the women to wonder but not for them to get involved.

Except we now have Mancini’s woman who’s a certified agent and with Vanessa’s know how, that whole thing could go south on us.

I hope Lyon’s little experiment holds up, because I’m not sure how long it would take them to find Mancini’s toys and use them. Shit!

I put it aside for now when she patted the seat next to her and held out her glass of sunset colored liquid to me.

“Kelly you drinking?”

“No, it’s tropical fruit punch and it’s the best thing you’ve ever tasted.” She wasn’t lying, shit tasted like ambrosia.

The scene was surreal. Happy children running around, laughing. Baby Zak in the mix happy, carefree, the way she’s supposed to be.

It was easy to tell that those older boys were Lyon’s. The way they watched over their sisters and Baby Zak, and their little brother.

The oldest girl had her head down reading her phone. Every once in a while her fingers would move over the screen at the speed of light. She was texting someone.

Davey was following her around like a lovesick schoolboy, which in essence is what he was and I was about to go save his ass when I saw Lyon glaring in his direction, but Kelly sidetracked me.

“What is it baby?” I nibbled the fingers she’d placed near my mouth to turn my face towards her.

“Nothing I just like looking at your face.”

“I spoke to your dad. The girls are okay, their dads are there with them.” She got tears in her eyes and I pulled her into my chest.

“They’re okay baby, why are you crying?”

“I know, it’s just…am I ever going to see them again?”

“Of course you will, I’ll make sure of it.”

“Are you guys for real?”

“What do you mean?” She shrugged and turned to look at the others with her head still on my chest.

“I don’t know. You guys seem so close, so together. My dad used to talk about his old team a lot, but I never really saw them together. I didn’t know why because he really loved those guys. I guess I kinda imagine that this is how they would’ve been if they’d had the choice.”

Her words gave me room for thought. Was this thing we were dealing with the reason those men had stayed apart over the years?

It’s obvious they’d kept in touch, but she had a point. Why were those men never seen together in almost twenty years? I’ll have to remember to bring it up with my brothers later.

For now I just held her close. It was hard to imagine all that she’d been through in the last coupla days.

I’m almost expecting her to break at some point. But then again, if she could join the other women in a coup to fuck me until I passed out she can’t be doing all that bad.

“So, where did you go when you left me asleep in the cottage?” She went tense and tried to sit up. I guess the others were being questioned as well because of all the guilty looks they shared with each other.

They must’ve had some sorta signal worked out between them because no sooner had I seen those looks than they started turning their attention to Dev, who looked like he was ready to bolt.