Page 27 of Sor

“Grandpa?” whispered Carl, touching his arm. He smiled at his grandson, gripping his hand firmly.

“I’m alright. Feeling nostalgic as I always do at the holidays. It’s my favorite time of year for so many reasons. This holiday season, we’re going to have a lot of folks here. Lots of people who need the kind of love and attention that only we can give. It’s important that we do this right. That we do what Irene wants us to do.”

“I’m sorry, Matthew, but what do you mean? A lot of folks?” asked Hex.

“Well, that will come in time,” he grinned. “For now, know this. I’m so proud of you all. My chest practically cracks open every time I see you do what you do. Does anyone here have any comprehension of the number of lives you’ve saved? The number of lives you’ve changed?”

“Pops, we don’t keep track of that,” said Gaspar, standing at the back with the seniors. They weren’t immune to Irene’s orders when it came to holiday preparations.

“I do.” All of the men furrowed their brows, staring at the older man. The seniors knew how he would know that, but the others were confused by his statement. “Thousands. You’ve saved thousands of lives, which has led to generations of children and grandchildren being born because of you. You did that. All of you. No greater gift in the world than a man who lays his life down for another. You all were just lucky enough to walk away. To live.”

Matthew touched Sor’s cheek, giving him a twinkling smile and nod. He turned, strolling toward the door of the warehouse.

“Y’all hurry up. Irene will want everything at the Sugar Lodge by tomorrow. I’ll see you at dinner. Oh, and Luke? Send the boys to Cambodia first and get those children out of there.”

Luke frowned at his grandfather as he walked away. He turned, staring at his brothers, teammates, and friends. Frank shrugged, shaking his head.

“You heard him. Cambodia first.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Well, Matthew wasn’t wrong,” said AJ. “We need to get to Cambodia first. It’s no surprise to any of you that the Chinese went to the suspected locations like the house was on fire. They found seventy-one boys between the two mines. All of them were either orphans or had been taken from their parents’ farms or homes in remote locations.”

“How many died?” asked Sor with a serious expression. AJ stared at Sor, unsure if he should answer. “AJ?”

“They think hundreds. They’re still working on finding the bodies and skeletons, but it was done the same as the photos suggested. There was an unalome on the walls. We warned the Chinese to move forward with caution as we don’t believe that monks have anything to do with this.”

“How did that go over?” frowned Luke.

“Like a lead balloon. There have been reports of monks being herded onto trucks and taken to prison. We can’t help them right now, but we have to get to the others.”

“Still no sign of DeWitt?” asked Sor.

“No, brother,” said Hiro. “Nothing yet, but I’ve been able to tap into passport databases and run a search. I doubt he’ll use a passport, but you never know. How smart was this guy?”

“He wasn’t an idiot. At least the man I knew wasn’t an idiot. He has a college degree in international studies. He was a decent teammate. I don’t know. I think knowing what I know now, it’s hard for me to think of him as anything except a dick.”

“I get that,” nodded Eric, “but we have to try and get into his head. I think now that he knows you know what’s going on, he’ll be less likely to come for you and Nell. Doesn’t mean we won’t still be vigilant, but at this point, he’s going to have a lot of people looking for him.”

“What did the Cambodian officials say?” asked Cam.

“That’s another story,” said AJ with a long breath. “I think we need to face the facts that someone is covering for him. They said there were no mines in Cambodia, and if there were, whoever was working them had the government’s permission.”

“Alright. That’s pretty damn clear. But it might also create some issues for us getting into the caves and getting the kids out,” said Eric.

“We could create a distraction, pulling the guards away,” said Nathan. He turned to his brother who nodded at him, then JB, Tobias, Michael, and Nathan Luke.

“Dad’s right,” said Michael.

“Right? Right about what, the distraction?” asked Sor.

“No,” he smirked. “How we do the distraction.”

“Wait. I didn’t hear – never mind. Okay, so you guys have a plan for the distraction. But those kids are deep in those caves. We need to get in there, get the kids out, and blow that mine.”

“That’s the plan,” smirked Frank. “I inherited a lot of great things from my father, but the best was his love of making shit go boom.”

“We’ll drop here at Sre Veal,” said Hiro. “The caves are near Phumi. It’s going to be a hike to get there, but we can’t use vehicles to get in.”

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