Little Broken Bird

Chapter 31

Owen

"Are you sure? No, no, I understand. We'll head that way soon." I ended the call and let my head drop into my hands.

"What's wrong?" Sean asked as he sat in the chair across my desk. "That isn't a good look, Owen."

I gave a rueful laugh, "Not even close. That was Axel. Apparently, some of Carlos's men are regrouping and they wanted us to be aware. The activity has been closer to us than them, so they are heading to Alberto's compound and want us to meet them there."

"We need to warn her," he said cautiously.

"I know. I'm just not entirely sure what we're warning her about," I sighed.

Sean helped me notify everyone and soon we were spread out between three vehicles on our way to the Cortez compound. I had to laugh to myself. While our group had never been normal, we were way out there now. A group of misfit teens taking on missions that most adults would run from, then landing right in the middle of a drug cartel war, only to find ourselves intimately involved with the two largest groups in Mexico. I swear sometimes I think I'm dreaming.

The cars had barely stopped before both Mattie and Erica were barrelling towards them. I'm fairly certain I have permanent hearing loss from Tori and Mattie's screams as they hugged and danced around, well sort of. Mattie looked about ready to give birth at any moment.

"Careful, krolik," Raven reprimanded her as he placed his arms around her shoulders.

"Overprotective, Daddy Bunny," she muttered as Tori and most of us laughed as well. "I'm surprised he even let me come out and greet you."

"You moved faster than I could catch, krolik," he huffed. She stuck her tongue out at him and, grabbing Tori's arm, disappeared inside her grandfather's house.

North slapped his shoulder, "How you holding up man? Ready to have a kid just as ornery as you?"

Corey shivered, "I don't know if he is, but I'm a bit nervous. I'm fairly certain Violet will be the ringleader of all our kids. She already has plans for Sophia, or so she says."

"Planning their own personal mafia?" I smirked.

"Da," Raven said, "They will all be professional Russians." He had a wide grin on his face.

"No, they won't!" Mattie's voice rang out from inside and we all burst out laughing.

"How does she even do that?" Brandon muttered.

Kota groaned, "Mama instincts. Remember how mine caught us all the time? I swear she just pretended to not know about the Academy to make us feel better."

I caught a glimpse of Erica in Uncle's arms as she grinned at his statement, but didn't answer. Wow, we really did underestimate her.

****

We had finished dinner and both girls were asleep when the conversation finally turned to the problem at hand. "Several of my men are reporting activity with the groups Carlos had built up. Initially, they had scattered, most of them dead after the attacks and final explosion that killed Carlos, but recently an old general of his, Drake, has started making appearances," Emilio said. "I'm not taking any chances with this. If his followers look at him as some kind of martyr, they might come after either of the girls or any of us really."

"What kind of activity have you noticed?" Victor asked. "Does it seem organized, or random?"

"At first it was random," Marc said as Mattie leaned into him, "but recently, too many have gathered in one place to be coincidence."

"Drake isn't one to mess with," Axel added. "He's got military training and followed Carlos without compunction." I noticed Mattie was fairly calm. I'm assuming they had already shared most of this with her. Looking over at Tori, I could see the panic she was trying to hide. Luke and Gabe kept her tight between them as Gabe whispered in her ear.

"So what's our next move?" Kota asked.

"Surveillance and a few scouting runs," Alberto said. "We aren't asking you to get involved directly if you don't want to, but we didn't want to keep anyone in the dark, especially not Tori."

"Thank you," she said softly. "C...can I ask something?"

"Always," I said with a soft smile.

"Was there a body?" We all paused. "Did anyone confirm he was really dead, or did we just assume with the blast?" Her words had us frozen. I looked at Sean and then Emilio.

"The entire building was destroyed. The bodies in the back were unrecognizable and we didn't find evidence of any vehicles leaving," Uncle said.

"The tunnels," she whispered, her entire body beginning to shake. "When you pulled up the satellites, did you clear that the shed wasn't on a coyote tunnel network?"

Corey told her, "Nothing showed on the imaging, Tori."

She shook her head and stood, becoming frantic, "NO! They line the tunnels with lead to hid from satellites. You have to trace the footage from the Federales or your government. They tag the tunnels they find with trace radioactive material to show a shadow."

How the fuck does she know that? How don't we? I saw a look of sheer terror flash over both Corey and Victor who dashed from the room. Gabe and Luke were trying to get her to calm down when we heard Victor's roar from the other room, "Son of a bitch!"

She let out a low whine and collapsed in Luke's arms.

Author's Notes:  Yeah, I know several of you noticed I didn't confirm his death in Angel...well, now you know why.

Sorry about not posting recently.  Life hasn't been kind lately. My chronic illness is a bit out of control and it is affecting my mental health.

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