Page 28 of Beaches

“Ace? Can you come look at this?” asked Jean, walking in with the others. He tried to turn in his chair but couldn’t move. “Do I need to come to you?”

“You do unless you can get Goliath and Atlas off my feet,” he smirked. “I kind of hate to move them. This is the warmest my toes have been in ages.”

“Jesus,” muttered Miller, crouching down to look under the desk. “It’s like you’re wearing the biggest, furriest slippers ever made by man.”

“Here, boy,” said Tailor.

The two dogs jumped and moved toward Alec and Tailor. They liked the big men because they could pick them up and carry them for their baths. They also ate a lot of food, which meant a lot of scraps for the two of them.

“These are the locations of the other sites he’s holding the women. We want to carefully plan these out. Who are our allies in the area? Who can we count on?” asked Jean.

“Also, who the fuck is protecting this dick in D.C.?” asked Miller.

“It’s more than one person,” said Victoria, wheeling her chair from behind the screens. They hadn’t even seen her.

“Shit, kid. Tell me when you’re in the room so I don’t cuss so much,” frowned Miller.

“What fun would that be?” she smirked. “I like that you act normal around me. It lets me know that you trust me. Anyway, it’s more than one person protecting them. Well, just him now. With his father, it was former presidents, senators, cabinet members, you name it. With the brothers, it’s been primarily the vice president, two cabinet members, and some key lobbyists who have control over a lot of people. The vice president is now the former vice president, but the two cabinet members are still there. Here’s the list.”

She handed them the list and smiled at them.

“Hayes is doing well,” she said quietly. All the men looked up at her, nodding with a grin. “He loves what he’s doing, and he’s already received praise from his commanders. I guess it’s no surprise, right?”

“No surprise to us at all, honey. He’s amazing. Did you want to go see him?” asked Gaspar.

“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, maybe. Can I think about it?”

“Take all the time you need. If you want to see him, we’ll get your dad’s approval, and we can put a team together to get you there.”

She blushed a bright pink and nodded at the men, wheeling herself behind the screens once again. Her fear of the outside world nearly crippled her, but she was slowly coming around with small trips to the General Store, shops in New Orleans, and other locations that were only a few miles away.

For now, she was happy helping the comms team for both VG and Gray Wolf. She loved being the daughter of Mo and Ophelia, and they loved being her parents.

“This is the one you’re going to have trouble getting in and out of,” said Ace, looking at the list of other sites. “Domas, in Jakarta. They’re still not happy with someone blowing up several weapons depots.”

They all turned to stare at Miller, and he looked shocked.

“What? It wasn’t just me, and those damn depots were providing weapons to terrorists. Don’t blame me.”

“It wasn’t just the weapons depot. You blew up that ship in the harbor,” frowned Ace. Miller grinned, nodding his head.

“That one was beautiful,” he smirked. Tailor and Alec smiled at him, nodding. Seeing the serious expressions of Ghost, Ian, Nine, and Gaspar, they cleared their throats and wiped away the expression.

“Sorry. We just remembered how pretty it was watching that ship go down,” said Tailor.

“No ships going down this time,” said Ghost.

“Well,” said Ace, drawing out the word.

“Well, what?” frowned Gaspar.

“Well, one of these sites is using the top of an old barge. You might just have to sink it. I mean, get the girls off, blow the barge.”

“Where is it?” asked Ian.

“Jakarta.”

“Of course it is,” frowned Ghost. He looked at Miller and the others and nodded. “Alright. Get those kids off and get them to safety. Ace, Code? Find a way to get our allies there to help get those kids some help. Who can we count on for Jakarta?”

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