Chapter Twenty-Six

After the break, they gathered around the table again and this time, Real stayed standing next to an empty chair.

“I belong to an organization known as Genesis,” Real said. “Like Dave already told you, we’ve been operating for a little over a year.” Real reached for his cup of coffee on the table and took a sip before continuing. “A few months ago, I caught wind of runaway kids disappearing from the streets of Los Angeles and I started investigating. During my investigation, I discovered Solomon Mercy was involved, but I wasn’t sure how.”

Real glanced around the table, took a sip of coffee, and then held his gaze.

Ice had known that Real would land on his feet after the military. The former Navy SEAL had gone all the way to chief petty officer before leaving to pursue other things. Real’s area of expertise was in hostage rescue and special reconnaissance. Real had stayed a full thirteen years in the Navy. Not Ice, though, he’d done his six years and gotten out.

“I brought what I knew to Dave a few weeks ago,” Real said, regaining his attention.

“You’ve known about this for a few months. Why did you wait so long!” Wrath growled.

“I discovered that Solomon was involved. I didn’t know he was the head of the snake until two weeks ago,” Real responded calmly.

“How did you find out?” Ice asked, bringing his friend’s eyes back to him.

“We have Genesis on the streets throughout New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. We’re also moving into Houston, Philadelphia, and Phoenix by next year,” Real said.

“Why?” Thane said this time. “What’s the purpose?”

“Those are some of the major cities in the United States. Our hope is to help keep order behind the scenes.”

“You mean beneath the scenes,” Savage said. “You don’t run above board like law enforcement, so you have to keep order without anyone knowing you’re doing so. Kind of like Phoenix and Pegasus.”

Real nodded slowly. “Kind of, but law enforcement entities will not know we exist like they do with Phoenix and Pegasus.”

“So, what are you exactly?” Savage asked.

“We’re military assassins.”

“Are you still in the service?” Thane asked.

“No, but every person in Genesis is former military.”

“Okay, let’s get back to the issue at hand,” Dave said and Real nodded.

“I went undercover as an assassin for Erebus about nine months ago. You all didn’t see me because I didn’t want you to.”

They stared at Real and Ice smirked. His friend was definitely a badass.

“It took months of reconnaissance on Solomon before Genesis saw him taking a child from the streets,” Real finished.

“Why’d it take so long?” Thane wanted to know.

“Because he doesn’t snatch a kid every day.” Real frowned at Thane.

“Plus, Solomon is an assassin, he’d be extra careful,” Savage reminded Thane. “Moving without being seen is our area of—”

“Expertise,” Thane finished with self-annoyance. “I got it. Go ahead, Real. Sorry.”

“Exactly. Solomon is good. And extremely careful. And while he did take the child, my team couldn’t get a bead on where he took him.”

“How is that possible?” Thane asked.

“He quickly disappeared, so we think he has either an escape route or he has help.”

“So, what do you need from us?” Ice asked, pushing away his uneaten food and opting for more coffee.

“We need your craftiness, your secretiveness, and your ability to move through the night undetected. We also need your numbers so we can find every location that Solomon has and neutralize the threat.”

Every head nodded in agreement and the table remained silent—waiting for further information or instructions.

“What we don’t need,” Dave spoke, “is someone losing their cool and killing Solomon before we find all of his facilities.”

The SecDef stared at Wrath and after a moment, Wrath nodded his head.

When Real took a breath to continue, Ice cut in. “One of Erebus’ assassins is missing and his name is Echo. I suspect that his disappearance is tied to him and I being recently set up. Someone took Echo after we got back from the Maldives—and I’d venture to say it was Solomon.”

“Do you know for a fact?” Real countered.

“No. But if it wasn’t Solomon, then one of his men did it. He has to have men to be able to do what he does. So far, the only people I know associated with Solomon’s shit are the kids from his past.”

“And who would those kids be?” Real frowned and Ice had to guess that his friend didn’t know who all had come out of those cages and into this way of life.

“Well, they’re far from kids now, but it’s Echo, Rogue, and Fisher. That we know of,” Ice said.

“I met Rogue in Solomon’s office. I don’t know Fisher or Echo.”

“Well, now you know of them. They might be mixed up in Solomon’s shit, but don’t forget that they started out as innocent children. And that’s one creed we don’t mess with,” Ice said flatly.

“I agree,” Dave said quietly. “We defend the innocent. And we protect Rogue, Echo, and Fisher even if it’s from themselves.”

Real held Ice’s gaze across the table and a small smile cracked the corner of his friend’s mouth and was soon gone.

“Then I’ll need descriptions and I’ll get those names out to Genesis,” Real said.

“How do we stop from killing Genesis?” Stone finally spoke up.

“What do you mean?” Real frowned.

“I mean…” Stone reached up and unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open to show ripped abs and a muscled chest. The man pointed to the letter E inked on his right pectoral. “We all have an identical tattoo about the same spot.”

Real glanced at Dave, who nodded, and Real worked the buttons open on his own shirt. His friend pulled open the button-down and displayed a small pair of black inked angel wings on the same right side.

“I can just see it now,” Thane chortled. “Us out there pulling our shirts open for each other.”

“It won’t be like that. You can just say who you’re with. But if a member of Erebus or Genesis is unconscious, you can identify them by their marks. I’ll give you the names and show you the faces of the three members we currently have in Los Angeles. But you won’t be able to take their photos, so memorize their faces. They are doing the same with you.”

“Three? Only three?” Wrath looked aghast.

“Remember, we cover a lot of ground elsewhere, not just in California,” Real responded and took his seat back at the table.

“Okay, so three Genesis and all of us should do the job,” Ice said. “If we can find Echo, he’ll join up with us. I can’t speak for Rogue or Fisher. Rogue is in the wind and Fisher wants me dead, so…”

“Who’s keeping eyes on Solomon?” Wrath asked, glancing at Dave.

“I’ll handle that,” the SecDef said.

Stone turned on Dave, who only lifted a hand to keep Stone quiet.

“Okay then, meeting adjourned. Eat up, rest, and I’ll see you all in my weapons room at dark,” Dave said and stood from his chair.

Everybody in the room got to their feet, and nobody moved until Dave left the room followed by Stone.

Ice had placed a bullet proof vest on Grit.

It was designed to look like a doggie shirt and it also served as a harness. He’d put a leash on Grit tonight, but it was only for show. The dog never strayed far from his side.

Earlier, he had pulled one of Echo’s shirts from the suitcase and gave Grit a good sniff. There was a slim chance he’d find Echo in Los Angeles, but it was worth a try.

He and Wrath split, and each of them took one side of the street. The other assassin looked damned good wearing jeans, a pull over, and chunky boots. Add in the fact that Wrath had left his light hair loose, and the man was attracting glances from both men and women.

They looked like ordinary citizens walking down Broadway in the Manchester district, if a person didn’t look too closely at their eyes.

Ice wore his favorite dark blue and black checkered vest with leather around his neck and on his wrists. He had caught his blond hair back with a tie, but some of it had escaped.

“Oh, cute dog,” a woman said and held out her hand to Grit. Looking at him for directions, the big dog waited.

“It’s okay, boy,” Ice said, and Grit wagged his tail, letting the woman pet his head.

“You’re out here pretty early,” Ice said, opening up a conversation.

“Yeah, I have this morning shift at the coffee shop.”

“I’m new around here. What are the places to stay away from?”

“Hmm. Around here?” She tipped her head and then glanced around. “I’d say the underpass at Century and 10. You probably want to steer clear of that.”

“Thanks, I’ll do that.”

“Come by the coffee shop when you can. We are open all day,” she said, giving Grit one last pat and then continued on her way.

Ice pressed the earpiece tucked in his ear. “Wrath.”

“What’s up?”

He filled the assassin in on what the woman had told him and they picked up the pace heading in the direction of where the two freeways intersected. He pulled Echo’s shirt from where it was tucked and hanging out of his back pocket and held it out to Grit. His best friend suddenly wanted to play tug a war.

“Leave it,” Ice warned and Grit gently released the fabric.

“Be careful. You have a target on your back,” Wrath said via the comms, reminding him that Fisher still wanted him dead.

Ice had no clue where the assassin was at the moment, but he couldn’t wait around for him to strike.

“That’s why we have Justice tailing us,” Ice said.

You couldn’t see the assassin, but Stone told both him and Wrath that Justice would be hidden while they walked the streets. Then, once enough time passed, the pairs would switch off and change clothes so it didn’t look suspicious.

“Don’t remind me.”

Wrath didn’t sound too happy about that fact that Justice was even here, but Ice didn’t care. He needed Justice to keep Fisher calm while they told him about the plan to take down Solomon.

If Fisher got the upper hand on Justice, Ice’s idea might not work. And in that case, they were all fucked.

But it was worth a try.