Page 79 of Unraveling Connections

“That’s quicker than I thought,” I reply, “I’m glad though, I’m fucking done with all things to do with Hunt now.”

“Aren’t we all?” Alaric replies. “Atlas, I want to check with you, and I need you to be honest, if he pulls this off and he manages to set up a meeting then we are going to be workingwith your father, and you are going to have to interact with him to a certain degree. Are you going to be able to handle that?”

“None of us would blame you if you had to sit that part out,” I add as gently as possible.

Atlas’s fists clench, and his icy blue eyes flash with anger, “I’m good. There is absolutely no way that I'm letting you all go into a massively dangerous situation like that will be, with my fucking father, no less, without me. It’s not happening. I will be absolutely fine.”

“I thought you might say that,” I grin.

“There are enough of us that we can keep the direct interaction between you and your father to the very minimum anyway,” Rage points.

I nod, “Yeah, that’s true. It will be easy enough.”

“What about you, Alaric? Will you be okay?” Atlas asks his uncle, a concerned look on his face.

“I have been dealing with your father for decades. I'm used to it by now,” Alaric replies and then adds slightly hesitantly, “I’m starting to think that we may have gotten a few things wrong.”

We all share a look, it is something that the majority of us have been thinking since Liam started to help us, and quite honestly, none of us have brought it up because of Atlas.

“Yeah, but I’m not dealing with that now, we sort Hunt out and then we can maybe revisit that.” Atlas surprises me by replying, and it's clear that is as far as he is willing to take the conversation.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Trick

“Okay,” Alaric replies. He changes the subject, getting us back on track for the original conversation and moving us away from all the talk that Atlas, and most likely he, isn’t ready to deal with yet. “I’ll sort some things out so that we’re ready to go and put a plan in place as soon as we’ve got word from Liam.”

“Sounds good to me,” I reply, “we will let you know what is going on at the shipping yard and if there is any sign of Hunt being there.”

“Great, thanks, guys.” Alaric replies and then promptly hangs up, making me smile.

“Right, that was a whole load of information I didn’t expect to deal with right now, but lunch has been ready for a while, let’s eat,” Rafe says standing up and ending all of the serious talk.

“Thank fuck,” Luc says as he stands, “I’m even more hungry now.”

We all leave my office and run back into Peter, who is putting everything on the table ready for lunch, “I thought I would get this started. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Alaric called,” I reply and quickly fill him in on what happened.

I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I saw all the food laid out, and now that I see it, I realize that I am absolutely fucking starving. We don’t bother talking as we eat, all of us hungry. I do wonder if Ever and the others are okay, and their missing presence is definitely very noticeable. I hate it when we split up like this for jobs, but it really would have been pointless for us all to go on this one. There isn’t enough for everyone to do, and we would have posed more risk of being seen and someone realizing that the place was being watched.

That is the only problem with us being a team that is so big. We are easily noticeable and don’t tend to blend in very easily.

I wouldn’t change it for the world though, obviously.

“Atlas and I need to head into town for a part for the generator,” Rage says, interrupting my thoughts.

“I’ll come with,” Rafe says, “I need to grab a few bits.”

“Alright,” Atlas smiles, “we can take the truck.”

I nod, “Alright, you guys have fun. I’m going to stay here and start working on our contingency plans, hopefully I can get a few in place so all we have to do is say go.”

“Good idea,” Atlas agrees, “is there anything you want us to pick up in town?”

I shake my head and then change my answer, “Actually, yeah, could you grab me a cinnamon bun and a caramel latte from the coffee shop? I love their coffee.”

Atlas grins, “Yeah, no problem. Their chocolate cake is calling my name actually.”

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