The Boss's Daughter

04

Neither of us speak again until we're back inside the walls of the sanctuary. I finally ask him the begging question.

     "So what's this 'trouble'?"

     Daddy sighs  "Let's wait till we get inside."

     I agree, and we start towards headquarters. As he and I approach the yellow bars, everyone below lowers to one knee. I smirk as I scan the crowd. I lean towars Daddy.

     "I'll never get tired of that," I mutter, smiling.

     He smiles and leans closer to me. "Me either, darlin'." Then he straightens back up, as do I, and puts his game face on. "Alright, listen up," he says, though everyone knows he doesn't need to. When we arrive, you shut your mouth. You do not speak, you do not move in any direction other than down, and you do not look away.

He continues. "Got some bad news," he says. "I received word earlier that a group of our men were killed out on a run. Blown. All. To hell." He pauses between words to enunciate, like he does, as he shakes his head. There's a bit of reaction from the crowd below. Slight murmuring and shuffling.

I'll admit, some of the shuffling is from me too. Blown to hell? Blown to hell how? A grenade? Mines? There are so many possibilities. I need details.

"However," Daddy belts. Everything goes silent again. "Everything is being taken care of. So there's nothing to worry about," he grins. "It'll all be figured out in a few days." He starts to walk towards the stairs. "As you were!"

The crowd rises to their feet, and the chatter picks up where it left off. I catch up to my father, walking along his side.

"What do you mean blown to hell?" I quietly ask. "Blown to hell by what?"

He stops in his tracks. "Do I look like a detective, Eli?" He exaggerates the 'de' in 'detective'. He continues walking, as do I.

I'm immune to his smart ass-ness by now. He's an ass to everyone else, why not his own daughter too? I don't take it personal like some. That's just how he is.

I don't want to pester him with questions, but I have a right to know. I'm just as much in charge here as he is. "How exactly is it being taken care of?"

He doesn't stop this time. "I've got a few from the satellite outpost on it. They're the closest."

The next day, I have to sneak away to go to the forest. I trek down the same path I did yesterday. When I arrive at the fallen tree, Carl is nowhere to be seen. I sit down on the log and wait.

About five minutes later, I see the boy with the brown hat approaching from the opposite direction from which I came. I smile.

"Well howdy, partner!" I mock.

He smiles and shakes his head. "Ha ha, very funny. Like I haven't heard that one before." He sits next to me.

I shrug. "It's hard to be original these days." I look at his bandage and find myself becoming curious again. "Let's go on a walk today," I say, jumping up. I need to distract myself from the curiosity. The day will come when he tells me about it. I just need patience.

"A walk?"

I lean forward, letting my arms hang. "Did I stutter?" I leave a grimace on my face for a moment. Then I smile. I straighten up and hold my arms out to my sides. "A walk! Let's go on one!"

One corner of his mouth curls. He stands up. "Which way?"

I do a slow 360, pretending to think. I face towards our log. I smirk and point my finger straight ahead. "That way!"

"Any reason in particular?"

I shrug again. "Never been that way."

He just looks at me for a moment before walking past me in the direction I wanted to go. I follow. One day, I'll take him in the opposite direction. To my hideout. But we're not that close yet. Soon, though. Soon.