Lost Bird

21

As soon as they were done eating and cleaning up, they all headed into the war room to go over everything that happened that day. "Alright gang, sound off." James giggled at Axel and looked around. Everyone relayed their days and brought up little things that would probably have to be looked into but weren't a priority. Brandon needed a new supplier for some specialty parts. The one he had now was ripping him off and he knew it. But he just couldn't find them anywhere else. James had a couple of alternatives to give him and promised to contact them in the morning to give them his details.

Corey had a few of the targets in his classes but wasn't able to get past the firewall the school had around some of the faculty computers. James called Max and he and Corey made plans to meet the next day to see if they could find a way together. Axel was a little worried about a couple of rumors he heard from his students. They were going to pull up the surveillance video from his classroom to see if the cameras audio caught more of the conversation. That left Marc and James. They went over everything that happened that day and all of the new names and faces they added to the "Think Board". James let them know that she thought it was important for them to clone Nick's phone. They also brought up all the surveillance and tracking she had done already. Marc told them about the possible code words and names for the different drop off and pick up spots for the different runners. As soon as they went through that James let them know about the additional cameras Max had been able to place in the sports faculty rooms, their suspicions about them being involved. She also told them about Max's hunch that the Asst. Dean was probably involved because of his extra precautions for his personal security.

They all took a few minutes to think things through. James got up and went to the fridge to get them all drinks. As she came back she noticed they were all looking through separate files she had put together so far. She knew they would ask if they had any questions. She was dreading bringing up the next thing, but she knew she had to be a hundred percent transparent if this was going to work. She cleared her throat and they all snapped up to look at her. She had to stifle her giggles at how synchronized that had been. "Ummm guys, there is something I would like to talk to you about." She took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. "I want you to know that I never had any intention of keeping this from you. I know there is a lot going on for us, but I would really prefer telling you about this before you hear it from someone else or see something that makes you ask questions." They all sat up straight and looked at her in fear. They weren't sure what was going on but she seemed really reluctant to tell them about it.

"Ok baby girl, you can tell us anything." Axel tried to keep his voice even. There were so many things rushing through his mind right now.

"So you all have probably noticed that I have a little bit of money. And I'm sure after hearing how I grew up, you're probably wondering how, or maybe if it came from illegal means." No one said anything. A couple of them swallowed and started to fidget. They were thinking that in some ways. Not that it would have mattered, but they really hoped it wasn't anything too bad. She took another deep breath and looked back up at them.

Axel sucked in sharply, he could see the fear and apprehension in her eyes. She thought it was bad enough for them to leave her because of it. Fuck baby, what are you involved in?

"When Max and I first got to the states, we had a little bit of money saved up from when we were with John. We had been able to skim from the legal end of his businesses. I really didn't want to touch the dirty money. I knew what he did to get it and I didn't want any part of it. Max agreed with me. it took a couple of years but we had about three hundred thousand saved up. When we got here we rented a really small studio apartment on the outskirts of the city and sat down to decide what we were going to do next. I started to do research and realised that there were a few ways to make money. I invested a bit, just a few quick high return investments. A little risky, but we both were pretty good at seeing trends. After a little bit I knew we would need something more permanent to have a constant cash stream so I started a little gaming company called Harlow Games."