Page 46 of Seamus: Unconventional
I laugh. “Then stay here. It’s your life, Sarge. Do all you can, be all you can but more importantly, live your life your way.”
Anchor agrees and Sarge shows me a thumbs up with Anchor’s ID. I nod for him. “He’s a good Brother. You connect when you need us, visit when you want and invite us for dinner when you remember. We got Ops running and need to switch out the teams on the ground so I can’t stay.”
He shakes his head stopping my hand mid pet and pushes his head into my chest. “We’ll miss you being close but you connect when you need it, Brother. We have the spirit party at night. It’s a good time to be connected with us.”
He chuffs and steps back. Shadow bounces over and I use his solid form to stand. “Thanks. He’s going to connect at the spirit party,” I tell Shadow, but I think it’s more for me. He’s really not that far from us.
Shadow pushes me over so he can do the zombie head chomp. Anchor and Malcolm laugh. I snag his collar and pull him away. “Enough. Cranial scratch isn’t by mouth, Brother. Bump paws next time.”
Sarge chuffs sounding happy as he shows the clown face.
Anchor follows us to the chopper. “He’ll be fine. Nike and Oliver love him.”
I nod. “I never held a connection from so far. I know it works because they go on jobs but he’s staying here now.”
He shakes his head. “It may be easier than you think. The chip means he can connect anytime from anywhere. I don’t have a chip, but from what Putam said, it’s like the ability Protectors, you’ll always feel him.”
“Yeah. Amal called me a worry wart. It’s new and this is a first. I’ll know more tomorrow and it will be easier.” I stop and turn at the chopper.
He smiles hitting my arm. “Adjust…”
“Improvise and adapt. I got this.” I finish the Marine tagline.
He laughs. “We all do.”
I bump his shoulder with mine knowing he’s right.
Shadow barks. I nod getting in the chopper. Everyone will protect my partner no matter where he is. I love the Badass world.
***
Maestro
“Roger, Boss.”
Brinks is smiling when Cort signs off. “They didn’t miss a fuckin’ thing.”
“No. We have the players, the plans and the higher ups. Why are we waiting on the north and south?” Some things aren’t worth questioning with Cort watching.
His head tilts then he nods straightening it. “North is Ben Knight and south is Hemy Thunderhawk with Kaleb Baxter and Aaron LaPonte-James. Because this is retired military right up to a fuckin’ general with some pull, we need intel from everyone. Ben has International, the south has DC and the agencies.” Those names all have weight to them so I get it. The general’s pull can’t be so much, he is a disgrace and escaped the stockade by pardon. He shouldn’t have been pardoned. People died on his watch; people died because of his greed.
I nod. “Got it. There’s no point planning without their take or inside intel.”
He smiles. “I forget you’re new to Badass. You fit, Brother.”
I laugh. “Everyone says that.” Falcon, Mase, Walker and Bishop told me at the women’s meet at the ABSZ last night.
“It’s true. So this will take at least a day. The second team is in place and will follow surveillance protocols. Recon did a great job getting everything wired and on audio.” A day is quicker than I expect.
I laugh. “Drones, bugs and clocking cameras to hack. They did great but they don’t wire anything.”
He shrugs. “Same thing. It’s not like the old days but they set us up to collect everything without being close.”
I agree. “Light has the house set. Is there anything you want them on while we’re waiting for intel?”
“I can’t think of anything we missed. IT hasn’t brought anything up for us to gather more on. What do you have?”
“Nothing for the partners to collect but I asked IT to find everything on the players. This is the first time this team is out and I don’t want to distract them from the mission parameters.”
