Page 3 of Do You Understand?

Mauri prayed that the necklace had mistakenly popped off. All of her other locator tags were pinging at her condo.She must have been at her condo, Mauri thought.

“She’s not answering her phone, baby.” Yetti didn’t know all the details, but he cared for Lyn as well. He didn’t want anything to happen to her.

Mauri grabbed her laptop. She moved to sit next to Yetti. “I’m going to hack into the cameras.”

After a few clicks, she was in. “Who the fuck is that?”

Yetti’s finger pointed to the figures that moved throughout her condo. Mauri flipped the camera feed to her bedroom. What she saw made her almost piss herself. Her hand flew over her mouth. “Oh my God! I have to put out an alert. Mont is going to go ape shit.”

Yetti wanted to go, but he had to stay with their babies. “Mauri, call me if you need me. I’m not fucking playing.”

She nodded her head, then put in the alert. The alert that she used only went to a specified list of people. That list consisted of active and retired agents. This list was only used in the direst of situations. This qualified as just that. The instructions on the alert were for everyone to meet at The Ranch.

Mauri wasted no time jumping in the shower while Yetti packed her computers and retrieved her guns from their wall safe. He didn’t know much, but what he did know was that the streets were going to bleed.

Back Over the Cooper River (Mount Pleasant)…

The loud alert sound of Mont’s bat phone woke him from his slumber. His arm was wrapped tightly around his wife Xena. He wanted to wish the alert away but knew that wasn’t how it worked. If he of all people was getting an alert, it had to be detrimental. Trell LaMont Smith Jr. hated detrimental shit. He kissed his baby’s neck which caused her to stir in her sleep. Outside of his touch, Xena was a hard sleeper.

Mont’s lips went to her ear. He kissed it before he spoke. “Baby, I have to go handle some business. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Xena rolled over to face her husband. Although her eyes were sleepy, they still offered him love. She kissed his lips. “Be careful and make it back to us.”

“You know I will. I’m going to jump in the shower.”

After a final kiss, he climbed out of the bed sure to grab his bat phone on the way into the bathroom. He started the shower, then looked at the recipients of the alert and who sent it. Only he and Jacob had the access to see who sent it and who received it. Mont’s brow furrowed as he went through the recipients list. What the fuck! It wasn’t out of the norm for the alert to be sent from Mauri because almost all of them were. This recipient list was out of the norm and more than that, the rendezvous point was The Ranch.

The recipient list put urgency in getting ready. His shower lasted less than ten minutes. When he walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, he stopped. His eyes landed on the chaise in their room. Xena laid out his clothes as well as his guns. These were the small things that made him love her more and more every day.

She was in the center of their bed fast asleep. She always slept there when he wasn’t home. After he walked over to bless her forehead with a kiss, he hurried to get dressed. Before he left the house, he peeked into his son Tre’s room. His son was his twin. He’d recently made it to the double digits in age, so you couldn’t tell him anything. Mont blessed him with a forehead kiss.

Mont made sure that he was affectionate with his son like his father had been with him. It was important for Mont that he instilled what healthy love looked like. Next, he popped his head into his daughter Xia’s room, who was a year younger than her brother. She was her mama’s little Amicette who was on her way from a girl to her pearls. Xia had been involved in the youth affiliates of her mother, auntie, great auntie, and grandmother’s sorority since she was four years old as a Pearlette.

Mont’s children meant the world to him. Early in his and Xena’s marriage they thought children was a dream that wouldn’t happen. God saw different twice. The Big G hit them with a boy and a girl, before Xena had to have a partial hysterectomy.

When he got to the bottom landing of his stairs, he was not surprised to see Brandon, his best friend, waiting for him. He lived in a house down from him in Washington Circle with his wife, Mont’s sister Tana. “What it do?”

“You know what this about?” Brandon immediately asked. It had been a long time since an alert went out. He knew it had to be serious though.

Mont sighed before he responded. “Nah, I don’t, but I know it’s about to be some shit.”

Moments after Mont prepared a cup of coffee, they were out the door on the way to The Ranch. The Ranch was on his family’s property; therefore, it didn’t take long at all to get there. Over the years, a few more back roads had been laid to provide multiple exit and entrance points. One of the roads led directly to Christianson Circle which was about five miles to the left of Washington Circle in the Six Mile neighborhood.

Mont and Brandon pulled up to their destination. There were already six cars there. He didn’t see Mauri’s car, so she must have been on the way. “Let’s get in here.”

“What’s up, Nephew?” Smoke greeted Mont as soon as he entered the door.

Mont took in the people scattered throughout the home that had also been renovated and expanded over the years. This was not the only location the organization had to handle business. The Ranch was where it all began and only certain people in the organization knew where it was. Not all were privileged to experience this location.

Smoke, Choppa, Codeine, Khiajah, Lamik, and Mauri’s parents Zaakiyah and Reece, as well as Jacob and his wife Galiana, were in the house. If Zaakiyah and Reece were there, that meant whatever happened Mauri did not intend to lead on the tech side. The smell of coffee permeated the air. Based on the recipient list, Fiona and Croy were also alerted. The fact that everyone in the house was related by blood or cum outside of Croy and Fiona brought pause to everyone. It was at that moment that Mont realized his baby sister Taelyn was not on the alert.

“Ain’t shit, Unc. Waiting for Mauri to see what the fuck is going on.”

Although they had secured communication with their network, they still preferred to communicate face-to-face. Fifteen minutes later Fiona, Croy, and Mauri arrived seconds within each other. They all watched Mauri rush to her designated workspace. She booted her system at the same time that she used the remote to turn on the monitors around the room. Mont didn’t like her silence or demeanor. Mauri was always professional, but whatever this was, it was personal.

“Alright, I received an alert on my system a little over an hour and a half ago from Taelyn’s locator. When I checked her location, she pinged at her condo with all of her other locators. As you all know, I take extra precautions when it comes to family.” Mauri’s voice held a tremor because her anxiety was at its peak.

Everyone in the house listened attentively. They were all trained not to react without all of the information. She let them know that she tapped into her surveillance. Without further explanation, she pulled up the footage. Mont’s entire heart dropped to his feet from what he saw on the footage. Professionalism aside, that was his fucking baby sister.

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