Leader: Book Three (Princes of Prophecy 3)

by L. Ann Marie

  Me: “Air One to Halo. Fly over the boat so I get visual.”

  Jared: “Roger Air One.”

  I look at the other boards. HS is clearing the streets on the outside of town while Driscoll’s PD is running the inner towns. His officers are methodical in clearing grids before moving to the next.

  Me: “Air One to Prince. Permission to engage is standing at the first sign of a threat. Watch your surroundings and try to keep the impact away from residences.”

  Dakota: “Roger Prez.” I see him turn.

  “What the fuck?” Brantley says.

  “Prez we have a lock on the building,” Josiah says, way too calm for my liking.

  Me: “Lock on the building Eagle Eye.”

  Dakota: “Roger Prez.” He doesn’t shoot the fuckin’ thing down. Josiah is still calm.

  I see the chopper from Prince’s camera and hold my breath. A missile is away. Jesus! Dakota shoots it down and rises up. He turns hitting the chopper with his guns. I breathe. This is getting too fuckin’ crazy. Now they’re trying to bomb our buildings.

  The chopper turns heading away from town and Dakota fires a missile at it.

  Dakota: “Prince clear.” Everyone claps and I give them a look. “We have a fuckin’ town still under attack.” They get back to work and I look for Jared. “Josiah get me the Connecticut reservation.” I hand him my phone.

  “No signal Prez.” He pulls a box and hits the keys on a different phone. “It’s your backup.”

  I smile and take the phone watching Halo’s camera. He’s still over land. “Bear this is Little Ben. Are you holding up okay there?”

  He’s got Eagle Feather in an air fight. Fuck. “It’s twenty minutes by chopper. Do you need support?” I hear a cheer in the background and laugh at his ‘not anymore.’ “Let me know if you need anything.” I hand the phone to Josiah and see Halo hit the coast. Dakota is heading that way. He must see something I don’t. I scan the other boards. Everyone is handling their teams without problems.

  Me: “Prince I need status. Halo stay high, but pan the deck.”

  Jared: “Roger Prez.”

  Dakota: “Prince assisting Halo with a lock.”

  I look at the screen. Josiah laughs. “Give it two minutes.” Fuck. I smile. Jeremy comes in and sits in front of Brantley running the computer beside his control. Shit.

  Brantley: “Ops One, Team One I’m switching you to the alternate network. In three, two, one. I need check in Team One.”

  Jared: “Halo to Air One. I have a lock!”

  Dakota: “Prince requesting permission to engage.” I see he’s got the boat in his sights.

  Me: “Permission to engage Prince and Halo.” The words just come out of my mouth and he’s shooting.

  Dakota: “Halo you’re clear. Follow me firing Halo.” I hear him order to fire at everything on the deck. He flies over and comes back with Jared following, firing at everything.

  I scan the boards. Darren is switching to the personal network with Eliza and Sheila. I look for Chevy, he’s on with the PD dispatch. Nice. Everyone is taking the switch in stride. Dakota is guiding Jared, still hitting the boat, I turn to my boards as he calls for cease fire.

  Dakota: “Air One, Prince and Halo clear. There is no life onboard.”

  I look at the boat from Jared’s view. Fuck, they cleared the whole deck.

  Me: “Roger Eagle Eye. Give me a flyover of the area. I want confirmation the boat was alone. Halo, pan the coast.”

  I get rogers and scan everyone’s boards. A truck is tagged visitor heading toward the center of town. “Josiah get the truck in grid four to Driscoll.”

  “Done Prez,” he says pointing to Chevy’s board.

  Dakota: “Prince to Air One. There will be no more threats by water.”

  Me: “Roger, Eagle Eye. Halo, pan grids forty-four to thirty. Prince run twenty-nine to twelve.” I get my rogers and scan. Bull’s got Cleanup running. They have two breathers heading to holding. A crew is picking up chopper pieces. I’ll have to ask Dakota what to do with them. We’ve never had a chopper crash before. “I think we should hold the chopper at a different place.”

  Jeremy moves to Josiah’s console. He starts typing at the second keyboard. “Tracking.” I look at the tracking program. It’s a little primitive and I know right away he’s got their program.

  “Get an IP address to Geek,” I tell him.

  He gives me a look. “Tracking off everyone.”

  He sent it to Geek already. I look at what he’s talking about. Their tracking shows where the bodies and live pussies are. Fuck. “Brantley get the town jammed until we have all tracking from the pussies. Bull pull all tracking from every pussy. Get it off them before they hit holding. Don’t move anyone to our buildings until you have an all clear from VP. Darren pull this up and clear Cleanup to move the pussies.”

  I get rogers back and look at the chopper. Something isn’t sitting right with this. “Josiah get Cleanup away from the chopper for right now.” I’m running places to take it through my head when Josiah points to his screen. The fuckin’ chopper blows up. Jesus. “Tell me Cleanup is clear.” I look at Bull’s boards and scan mine.

  “They’re clear, Prez. Good call,” Bull says smiling.

  Fuck. I could have lost a crew. I put my hands on my knees and breathe. Holy fuck that was close. I shake my head and stand straight. I watch my air views and scan Darren and Bull’s boards. Most of the tracking is at one grid just outside of our town. Jeremy is still on the keyboard.

  “Teams One and Two clear Prez,” Brantley says.

  “Move Security and a PD team into place, Brother.” He rogers me and starts talking to Chevy.

  “Teams Three and Four are clear, Prez. Tracking is clear on all but one that’s waiting to go into holding. His tracking is under his skin,” Darren says.

  “Pull it out and get him to holding.” He talks to Bull and I look back at the air views. All of our feeds are up, but I haven’t gotten a clear from PD so I’m scanning the town feeds. I see two PD trucks and a bike two streets away from us.

  Me: “Halo, show air support for the PD in southeast grid thirty-one.” I get my roger and watch him move. The PD looks up and I see teenagers in front of them. There’s three cops here to deal with eight teenagers? I look closer and see the gang colors. Not fuckin’ likely.

  “HS Teams One, Two, Three and Four to the southeast corner of grid thirty-one. Surround the PD and stand ready.”

  Brantley and Darren look at me surprised, telling their teams to move while they look at the board. “Fuckin’ gang?” Darren asks looking at me. I nod. It certainly looks that way. I scan the boards.

  Me: “Air One to Prince. You’re clear to return to the hangar.” I get roger’d and watch Jared. He lowers and has his gunners standing ready turning the chopper so both are seen. I see the crew and smile. “Where the fuck did they get machine guns?”

  Josiah laughs. “They’re onboard just in case.”

  HS teams start pulling in and stand with their guns pointed down. The kids don’t look so cocky now. Eliza and Jessie show with their teams filling the circle. A woman walks right through them and starts hitting her kid – at least I hope it’s her kid. She’s yelling, but I have no clue what she’s saying. She rips the bandana off the kid and throws it on the ground pulling him by his ear away from the PD and Brothers. More people show, throwing rocks at the kids. The PD moves out and Eliza steps with them. “Flip her on,” I tell Josiah.

  “Throwing rocks at them would be a call for retaliation. You want to keep the gangs out? Tell us so we can help. Educate your kids, report the escalating behavior. Throwing rocks at them will have them giving it back to you. There’s a Boys’ and Girls’ Club for them to hang out at. Get them something to do so this is not their answer to boredom.”

  “It’s too expensive!” A man yells.

  Sheila steps up and Josiah flips her on. “That’s bullshit. The Club has scholarships to cover anyone. You want them off th
e street, get off your fuckin’ phones and talk to them, give them something to do. You’re yelling and making a video right now. What’s more important, your Facebook status or your fuckin’ kids?” Everyone is quiet for a minute then they start pulling their kids away. One is left standing with the PD.

  Taylor walks to the kid. “You want something to do, you come find me. I train the PD and Brothers. It’s a fuck of a lot better than going to juvie for stupid shit.”

  The kid looks at him and I think he’s lost when he nods. “Where?”

  Taylor smiles. “Told you to find me, use your head, if you can’t, you aren’t worth my time. You show I’ll give you a job.”

  The kid looks surprised. “I’m only fifteen.”

  “Do I look like a fuckin’ caseworker?” He turns around and walks to his bike. “I’m on tomorrow at nine,” he says before he starts it up. His Team follows him out. The kid just watches then smiles. Nice.

  “Fuckin’ Blackhawks,” Josiah says.

  “He was in care before Cloud and CJ adopted him,” I say so only he can hear.

  Me: “Air One to Halo. You’re clear to the hangar.” I get roger’d and hand my headset to Josiah. I flip my earbud on and turn the mic off. “Make sure they’re clear before you turn it off.”

  “Roger Prez. Good call with the chopper.” He throws me chin and turns to his console pulling the hangar to his monitor.

  I stand back and watch the Cleanup and Security Teams. HS is pulling in. Jeremy stands beside me. “Thanks Jeremy. This seemed too easy. Are we done?”

  He smiles. “Yes. Tracking was off.”

  I nod. This is good. Tracking would have pin pointed too many of our low profile locations. Darren hands his headset over and steps back with us. “What do we do with chopper pieces?”

  “I was thinking about that when it blew. Maybe we can salvage pieces for the homeless houses.”

  Jeremy cracks up. “Yeah. Fast. FAA.”

  Fuck. “Bull get the chopper pieces moved. I need the area scoured and wiped clean.”

  “Roger Prez.” He looks at his board then back to me like I’m crazy. “Do we take it to the dump?”

  I smile. “Town three’s dump will work. Keep it separate for right now.”

  He’s thinking I’m nuts, but throws chin. Jeremy cracks up again. I look at him. “Thanks Little Brother. I need to call Co and Pres.”

  He nods. “They’re good.”

  I nod and walk to the hallway. I get the update from Bear. Aiyana and Co are leaving tomorrow. Christian is there and Cloud will transport them when he picks up Christian. I swipe him off and pace. Christian has been on the reservation a lot. I wonder if he feels more comfortable with them now that he’s older. There are less people than the towns for him to deal with. I put it on a list for Dakota and call Pres. They’re clear. They had a chopper go down close to the bluff. It blew in the water. He’s trying to get a boat out to pull it up before anyone gets wind of it. With an order to be at the Security meeting tomorrow I swipe him off wondering if he realizes he’s still ordering me around. Since it’s a meeting we need, I’ll show, but I need to bring it up so this stops before it’s a problem.

  HS and Ops leads are moving to the meeting room. I pull up the boards and scan for injuries then the Cleanup board for body counts. I flip my mic on. “Josiah I need transport to the MC tomorrow at nine. Clear my schedule and Dakota’s.”

  I get a roger and pace. We had a reader trying to gauge our strength. An attack testing our ability to keep running and tries for our women. We have an unknown puppet master, Outlaws, readers, MC turned and Chin. So far we’ve kept ahead of the pussies. I hope Geek finds us a location so we can attack and not defend. This can only last so long before we end up hurt.

  When Driscoll comes in I follow him into the meeting room. I tell them what was lost, commend their teams and ask how things ran for them. They tell me it was easy. “I think being prepared is what made it look and feel easy. This is the first time choppers were locked on the building we were in, the first time with air and water threats. I believe the next strike will be worse and we’ll have to work harder at keeping each other safe.”

  Darren’s wondering about the satellite. ‘At the patio,’ I tell him in his head. I think he’s right; we need it running yesterday. I have no questions from anyone and tell Brantley to text the all clear for the women and support staff. I close the meeting telling them I’ll see them at the Club in half an hour.

  Dakota sits back down and Jeremy comes in. Jessie and Darren stay. “Prez we will get hit again soon. It will be worse and we have people that get hurt. Geek is getting close but not fast enough.” He stops and I wait. Dakota won’t say anymore if he thinks the outcome will change for the worst.

  I look at Jeremy. He won’t look at me. Fuck. “If I get Jason and Mitch working with Geek will it help?”

  Jeremy looks up. “And VP.”

  Dakota doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t look so stressed. “I have a meeting tomorrow up at MC. I’ll get them on it while I’m there. Brantley, get Jason cleared for three days and have him on the chopper with me.”

  “On it Prez.” He’s typing on his tablet.

  I look around. “Is there anything else I need?”

  No one has anything so I follow them out. I pick Lily up on the way to the Club. She’s happy to see me and thanks me for lunch with a kiss. “You keep that up and the Brothers will have to wait for me to give them the status.”

  She steps back. “Oh.” I take her hand and she slides in behind me. I have to adjust myself and swear, making her laugh. I run through the status and what I know about the next threat. By the time I shut my bike off I’m not hard and have a plan forming for the meeting tomorrow. When I walk in I see Dakota and Jeremy first. They’re both smiling. I’ve thought of something that’s going to help. Thank fuck!

  Dakota does his war cry and everyone stops and looks for me. I raise my hand and tell them our status and how proud I am of everyone. IT for making the jumps to alternates smoothly and HS and Security for clearing the pussies so quickly. The PD for catching and keeping the pussies away from the town centers. Dakota for clearing the lock on the building, especially since I was in it. They laugh. I tell them about the boat and Jared and Dakota clearing it. Once I’m done I walk around making sure I thank everyone for their part. I hug Dakota then Lily does making him laugh. Since we had no casualties and only two injuries everyone is in high spirits. I watch Dakota leave with Jess, not really surprised he isn’t staying. Jessie is talking to Jax and his crew – the Nomads help keeping the businesses safe. I’m glad he recognizes them. I thank Jax and get a big smile. “It’s a good day Prez.”

  I laugh. “It is.” Lily puts her arm around my back and I look down then follow where she’s looking. Fuckin’ Ramsey is hitting on a whore. I just shake my head. He is a moron. Sheila walks by him and he moves away from her making me laugh. I guess it’s good to keep him around.

  I put my water on the bar and ask for a beer, surprised to see Trapper. He hands me a beer smiling. He looks good with his hair cut and beard trimmed. “I didn’t recognize you Trapper. Glad to see you’re making yourself useful.”

  He laughs. “It feels good Prez Little Ben Knight.”

  Lily cracks up. “Just Prez or Little Ben works. Done didn’t have to take you to work with him. I thought he was covered?”

  I’m looking around for Lee. “I asked. He’s been good enough to show me where everything is. It’s a job I can do and I’m happy to help. A good way to give back ya know?”

  He’s a good man. “I do. We pretty much live by that. If you have experience in a job let Done know. We have a shit load of businesses that are always looking for help and a temp agency that helps people find jobs.”

  He stops wiping the counter. I’m surprised watching him, he never hits a bottle or glass. “I’m blind Prez.”

  I laugh. “You’re not dead Trapper. You’ve cleaned the whole fuckin’ bar without hitting a bottl
e. I think you see better than some people with full sight.” He shrugs, not quite believing me. “You know our VP is deaf, our Treasurer has broken bones that healed wrong in her back and we come from a place where disability is not an acceptable excuse. The MC has a woman in High Security that is mute but talks through a chip and another with Down Syndrome. The way we see it, if you’re not dead you’re useful somewhere. Don’t cut yourself short because you can’t see. Use what you can to make your life happy.”

  His eyes tear up. I look away. “Is that true, Jessie?” he asks, looking toward Jessie. I smile; he knew right where he is standing.

  “Every fuckin’ word. He didn’t mention the robotics and prosthetics, but you get the picture. Prez won’t tell you something if it isn’t true. Let Done know what you can do and we’ll find you a job doing it or something close to it. We’ve got a whole fuckin’ world of crazy out there and we need to find a way to make it better. You being useful is a way to make that easier on us. Tomorrow we may find someone else that needs a place in useful. That’s how it goes around here,” Jessie tells him and I’m so fuckin’ proud.

  Trapper has the biggest fuckin’ smile on. “I’ll talk with Done. I was a pretty decent mechanic and worked with PAL. Maybe I could find something in there. Thanks Jessie and Prez.”

  Jax steps closer to the bar. “I’m Jax, Trapper. I was just talking to Jessie and overheard. I have a group of kids coming from the Boys’ Club to help in the garage. It sounds like you may be able to help. I got no fuckin’ clue about kids and these fuckers are bitchin’ about being too old for the Boys’ Club.” Trapper laughs and I slap Jax on the back. He throws me chin.

  “I’ll let you get on that job Trapper; I’ve got Brothers to thank for saving my ass today.”

  He laughs and I walk on. “That is an awesome thing to do. Thank you,” Lily says as I’m walking to Driscoll.

  “Fuckin’ Brothers always surprise me. I am proud of Jessie for putting it so easy for him and Jax for giving him the hand he needs.”

  She laughs shaking her head, but I’m at Driscoll and don’t ask what that’s about. I thank him and tell him about the meeting tomorrow. My dad already texted him. I get to Jared and tell him about the HS comments on the bikes. They love the hologram boards on the shield. He’s happy they’re using them. With my thanks out of the way I look at Lily. “Ready to be done here babe?”