Page 7 of Benga's Rise
He scans his boards before answering. “He got excited about something and left. One of the As was following but stopped at the front door.” He’s curious enough to have watched that play out.
I look at tracking on my phone. Web’s got it so I can filter for Officers. Banks is at the courthouse.
“Thanks, Brother. How did the kids do?”
His face smoothes out looking younger. “It was good. There are a couple that started with the ass and they aren’t sold yet, but the others are new. The dealer was looking to expand by picking up the young. The oldest was promised a car so he’s holding out for the dipshit.” He shakes his head. I can see this bothers him.
“Masons have a garage close to them. Bet we could find something at the junkyard to help that sale. They asked if we had ongoing projects. A new project dealing with kids would interest them too.”
Now he’s happy again. “Yeah. I’m off in a half-hour. I’ll call and find out. Who did you talk to?”
“Dan called, but I don’t know him. You can ask Trask, his dad is doing something with kids.”
“Thanks, VP. I’ll call him. McCabe had him over for dinner and we talked. I got his number.” They talked and he’s asking me who to call? Before I can ask, he’s smiling again. “I may join. They’re like the Brotherhood.”
I hit his shoulder. “Crow was a Mason and theyarelike us. If it’s not secret, I’ll go when they let you in. Later, Brother.”
Brothers make me proud. Falcon, a Mason. I shake my head walking out.
I need to call Banks. Something has him at the courthouse. I hate elevators, which makes walking and talking difficult. Training is loud when I walk out of the Ops hall. I’m looking for the why and see Hade running toward the center of what looks like a fight. Mounty has his back toward me, but he’s holding someone.
As I get closer, I hear Hade yell, “Stand Down!”
“Sit the fuck down!” I yell, pushing trainees out of the way.
Finally, I get to Mounty and Hade. Hade is holding Freedom and Mounty has Victory. Shit, just what we need.
“What’s going on?”
Hade juts his chin at atraineeon the floor. He looks like he’s not breathing. Fuck. “He grabbed Victory and had the other two trainees shielding.”
I have to look at where his eyes are to see what he’s talking about. Another two trainees are on the floor face down. Jesus. “You good?” Falcon yells from the door.
“Get Cort down here.” I won’t ask what happened again until he’s here. No sense getting them riled up twice. It looks like Victory is just barely holding on. Mounty relaxes some so he doesn’t look like he’s trying to cover her body with his.
Falcon throws chin going back in. Freedom’s face is showing rage. Her eyes are following every movement that we make. Hade isn’t letting her loose just yet. I’m not a pussy, but she’d kick my ass and I wouldn’t do anything to stop that, so I’m glad he’s still holding her. She’s a good woman and putting my hands on her isn’t an option.
Feeling the air change, I know Cort is close. The trainees behind me are still standing, but make a path letting him in. I’m pissed, just now realizing that they didn’t listen.
“Sit the fuck down. I shouldn’t have to repeat myself.” I pull my gun and thetraineessit.
Cort is smiling until he sees Freedom. “What happened?”
“Intent changed for him and his two lackeys, then half the fucking class. I changed it back.” She’s more than pissed.
He nods, looking at the trainee, then toward the other two. “Did she encourage it?”
Freedom glares at him. Shit. Victory tries to pull away from Mounty. “She hasn’t said much but gave encouragement when they were positioned right. Meaning,good jobandnice form. I was right on the floor watching, Boss. She’s been quiet.”
Cort nods and we watch Falcon come down. He’s got a tablet in his hand. “Anton said to give you this, Boss. I called Jinx in early,” he says, looking at me.
I know he wouldn’t walk from Ops so I nod and watch the feed. The fucking trainee was pulling Victory toward the storeroom. The other two tried to block Freedom and Mounty was wading through trainees to get to them both. I notice the other trainees aren’t listening when he tells them to stand down.
Cort hands me the tablet and looks at Freedom. “Are they dead?”
“He needs a hospital. The other two will wake up soon.”
He looks at Mounty. “Enforcers with each of them when they’re on the floor. If they’re touched, the order is to shoot. They’re done today. That starts tomorrow.”
