Page 35 of Fight
“That’s me. Nice to see you again, man,” Rome replies.
“Rage,” I suddenly call out, “get the fuck out here and stop brooding in the van. I don’t get to see you enough as it is!”
“Alright, alright, no need to yell,” my curly auburn-haired friend greets me with a half smirk.
After we’ve spent a couple of minutes catching up, since we really don’t get to see each other that often, I say, “Alright, we really should do this, I suppose. Are you sure it’s okay to take three extra?”
Alaric nods, “No problem. Do you want to give them the same treatment as Daniel?”
I shake my head, “No, he needs the full workup. By the way, he has been injected with something that will keep him knocked out for the next two hours; the others haven’t. They also just need to be out of the picture, not the full workup like Daniel.”
“My kind of out of the picture?” Rage’s smile is dangerous as he asks the question.
I chuckle as I feel Rome’s surprise; I reply. “No, not your kind.”
“Shame,” Rage replies, genuinely looking disappointed.
“How’s the new town?” I ask Alaric and Atlas.
“It’s not much different for me. It just means working remotely.” Alaric replies with a shrug.
“I like it. I’ve met some guys, and they’re like us actually,” Atlas adds, “capable of things that they shouldn’t be, and doing it mostly for good, but in the less legal way like we do.”
I feel my eyebrows rise in shock; Atlas doesn’t make friends, so these guys have to be something special for him to want to be around them, “Oh, that’s not something I was expecting. Are you thinking of bringing them in?”
Atlas’s expression hardens as he shakes his head, “Maybe eventually, but not while my father is such a big threat, I can’t explain it, but they feel like family to me. They understand the broken fucked up parts of me even if I haven’t shared much.”
I nod, “I get it. Hang on to them though, it’s fucking rare to find friends that mean as much to you as family. I can understand why you want to keep them out of it.”
“He’d keep me out of it if he thought he could,” Rage adds with a smile of his own.
“You’re not wrong.” Atlas agrees.
“Hopefully, I’ll get to meet these guys one day, you know, not in a life-threatening way,” I grin, making Atlas smile, although his eyes remain troubled. He really cares about those guys, and I hope for his sake that they don’t get caught in the crosshairs between him and his father and that if they do have to become involved that they can fucking handle it because once Atlas cares about someone, that’s it, you’ve got his loyalty for life and if something happened to them he would never forgive himself.
“Alright, we need to get this done. We’re running on a time crunch,” Alaric interrupts regretfully. “Jynx, could I have a word, though?”
Nodding, I turn to Rome and say, “Do you want to let the guys know it's fine to come out and start bringing the captives out? And get one of the twins to take a picture of Daniel in the back for Malory and send it to her. She needs that.”
“Yeah, I’m on it,” Rome replies.
“We’ll help,” Atlas says, “I’d like to see the others again anyway; make sure they’re looking after you.”
I burst out laughing, “You mean you want to see if they’ll give you any dirt on me that you can use in the future?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” he mutters and then follows a chuckling Rome to the back of the van, where I hear him and Rage greeting the other guys happily.
Turning back to Alaric, I ask, “Is everything okay? Do you need me for a job?”
Smiling, Alaric shakes his head, “No, you know that I can’t risk using you unless I don’t have enough choice. It’s risky enough using Atlas and Rage. However, their skill set is valuable and no one has high enough clearance to be able to assist me with this.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” I point out.
“I know, but Bossman knows that I have extra help, and it’s getting results, so he’s leaving me to it,” Alaric replies and, seeing my worried frown, adds, “I have a bug-out plan ready to go, just in case.”
I nod, “Okay, that makes me feel better. You know I have access to a plane and many other things now, so if you ever need to call in a favor, then do it. We can deal with the repercussions of my involvement after everyone is safe. Family comes first. Always.”
“Got it, thanks, Jynx.” Alaric smiles, “But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about, although I do feel like I’ve just been told off.”