Page 24 of Beaches

“Shit! Fuck, shit, damn, son-of-a-bitch!” yelled Jean.

Everyone turned to stare at him, his brothers filled with the most concern for their normally calm, quiet, and controlled sibling.

“Jean, we’ll find Levi Kaplan. He won’t get away with any of this, mon frére,” said Miller, hugging his brother.

“Someone let their father get away with all of it,” growled Jean. “They let him, and then they allowed his sons to become military officers. Who the fuck let that happen? Who missed that memo?”

“When Lucifer was executed, they purged his records from existence. There is nothing that can be found on him in military or government records. The fact that Ace and Code found those records is a fucking miracle,” said Michael.

“Actually, it was Victoria. Again,” smirked Ace. “She wrote a program that was able to glean deleted information from encrypted files.”

The men all stared at Ace and Code, frowning like they did when they didn’t understand something.

“Think of it like the old pencil trick. Someone writes something on a notepad and tears the sheet away. You come in, shade it, and now you see what was written. Victoria was able to do something like that, sort of, for electronic communications.”

“How far back?” frowned Ghost.

“All the way back to the existence of paper records that were scanned. Almost seventy-five years,” said Ace. “We have them all in a locked vault of our own.”

“Nice to know we have that little piece of ammo if needed. But how do we find Levi? Where is his current command located?” asked Nine.

“He resigned command yesterday,” said Ace. “Cited health concerns and noted that his brother had died in a terrible boating accident. Not terrible enough if you ask me, but whatever the bastard wants to believe is fine.”

“Hi,” said Calvin, knocking on the doorframe. “Mama Irene told us to come in with these.” He was carrying plates of cookies and sandwiches, some notably missing from the tops of the stacks. The others just grinned at him.

“Come on in, Calvin. We’re talking about Levi Kaplan,” smirked Ghost.

“Oh, my favorite person,” frowned Damon.

“First, how was your visit with the medical team?” asked Gaspar.

“I’ll say it again. Y’all have some kind of magic here. Your staff is beautiful, and I’m man enough to say even the men are beautiful. They’re intelligent, kind, and thorough. We’re all doing okay. Better than we thought. No problems with cholesterol or blood sugars, as you can imagine. Our diets didn’t lend themselves to those issues. We’re underweight, but I doubt that will last long staying here.

“Miss Londyn, she’s one of the best dentists I’ve ever known. Pulled a few teeth, filled some others, and I’m already feeling amazing.”

“Same,” nodded the other two men.

“We’re glad to hear it. I hate to ask this, but can you tell us what you know about Levi?” asked Ian.

“He was the worst of the two. One of the islands we were sent to when he first took us still had men that his father had placed there. They died off pretty quick, but those poor bastards had been tortured. Limbs cut off for trying to escape. Tongues cut out. It was barbaric. One of our own was doing it to us, doing it to them, and forcing us all to live in squalor and filth.

“We all agreed that at least Levi and Lawrence didn’t have the balls to kill off an American soldier right away. They’d rather let us die off slowly. At least Lawrence wouldn’t. Levi, he was different. He took part in all of it. Especially the girls. I think his daddy trained him with the same techniques they used on the girls. He didn’t cry. He didn’t yell. He felt no pain, but he damn sure enjoyed giving it.” He took a breath and then gave an expectant look at the men, unsure if he should continue or not.

“I’m not going to like this, am I?” asked Jean. Damon stared at the big man and shook his head.

“No, sir, you are not.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Ro found her husband sitting in the grove by himself. He was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, and just staring at the bayou. She’d received a text from his brothers saying that he might need her, and it looked as though he did.

Although just as fit, just as strong, just as fast as all of his brothers, Jean was more cerebral in many ways. He thought deeply, felt deeply, and couldn’t hide his feelings very well. It was why she loved him. Or at least, it was one of the many reasons why she loved him. Others were more obvious.

“Hi, handsome,” she smiled, taking the seat beside him. “Care for some company?”

“I’m not much company, Ro. Not today.”

“That’s okay. We can just sit here together. You and me.”

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