Page 20 of A Brother's Secret

8

Data…

Mali threw open the door and it slammed into the workbench beside it, causing the whole damn side of the building to shudder. Dray scowled and Dragon smirked and I just hung myhead.

“Always like that, brother?” Trig asked gently.

“I think she’s gotten a little more fire, maybe it’s the stress.”

“She tell you much?” Dray demanded and I shook myhead.

“Not a lot, notyet.”

Trigger sighed and Ghost stared at the big man, asking the question, “Who we gottakill?”

“Nobody, if I have anything to say about it,” I answered.

“Eh?” Dragon asked.

“I’m not bringing them here, not with all of you and your families. This one I can handle,” I said, wandering over to a chair and dropping into it. I looked around and my shoulders dropped again. “Thanks, you guys… this is going to be a long operation.”

“What do you have in mind?” Dray asked and I never expected to see him shift nervously.

“Whoever is after Mali, I have the feeling is some kind of criminal organization.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much a given,” Triggersaid.

“So, I do my thing. I figure out who, piddle around on the dark web, pick them apart and make the pigs do my dirty work forme.”

“I don’t even want to know how you plan on accomplishing that, do I?” Dray asked with a sardonic smile.

“You wouldn’t understand it even if I explained it to you,” I confessed.

“Did you just call me stupid?” he demanded, his brow crushing down into a frown.

“Compared to the lot of us he’s a goddamned genius, boy. He’s not being disrespectful, he’s just telling the fuckin’ truth,” Dragon grumbled and I put up my hands and nodded. He was right. I wasn’t trying to be an asshole, I just seriously doubted I could explain what I had planned in layman terms well enough to not generate more questions than answers.

“As long as he keeps Em and our boy out of it, we’re good,” he said shoving off the edge of the workbench he was leaning against.

“Where you going?” Dragon demanded.

“Home to my woman and my kid, since I’m too stupid to know what the fuck he’s talking about, anyway.”

“Dude, Dray, don’t be like that,” Isaid.

“Relax, homeboy. I didn’t mean that the way it came out. My boy isn’t sleeping through the night yet, and I’m fuckin’ tired.”

“Oh, gotcha.”

“We’ll talk another day about why you never told us abouther.”

I shook my head and answered him now, “I couldn’t. Not being able to find her has been my biggest failure…”

He looked me up and down and nodded, “Can’t be good at everything, you know.” He smiled and turned around and walked out the door. I caught a glimpse of Mali whirling and looking through the portal, concern mixed with the anger on her face and I felt an echoing smile in my heart, even if it didn’t quite make it to myface.

“He’s going to make a good Pres someday,” I heard myself say but then I had to sigh. “Never thought I would ever hear myself saythat.”

“Just needed a good woman was all.” Dragon said, but I could hear the shine of pride in his voice. I turned back, tearing my eyes from the battered metal door and the woman I knew lay beyond it to essentially face the music.

---