Prologue

Following the directions Akai left me, I walk toward the chopper. He doesn't say where I'm going or why. I got a note to be at the Bravo portico at noon. The Brother at the door throws me chin, so I ask, "You're picking up Keylan Stone?"

"Keylan, Alder's Builder is what I got," he says it with the short A, like ran. They all do. I never have.

I nod and climb in. "He tell you where I'm going?"

He smiles. "We're picking Alder up at the ABSZ IT building, then heading over to Sentinel Rising."

I nod and sit. The Little President sends me lists, plans and payments. Notes are new.

The hop to ABSZ shows an impressive view of the work we've done. Seeing the greenhouses I smile. I can't say the work was hard when it encompasses everything my mom told me about her village life. She grew up dirt poor but didn't know it because she had everything she needed and her family around her. Her parents were killed when she was young, but the family took care of her even after she was taken. The jungles of Brazil are not a safe place for anyone, but a beautiful young girl would get noticed. According to my mom, she was taken by guerrillas with missionaries that visited the village with books, seeds, teachers and a doctor. Her eyes always shine when she talks about their "funny" food.

The missionaries were held for ransom but were rescued and refused to leave my mom and her cousin behind. The village was wiped out. Somehow, someone got papers and my mom grew up learning a new life and country with a new family. She married a soldier that I only know through her stories and the letters he sent her. Other than her cousin going back and not being heard from again, Mom has great stories that tell of an adventurous and eventful life. She loves hearing about my new one.

We lower and I focus on the IT building. Most of what I've built is different, impressive and always interesting. This building takes the cake with the paint that camouflages it. With the paint printers, everything looks more impressive, but this one is my personal favorite. The Alpha-Bits stretch technology to the limits then just make new limits when they want more or different. I just finished a Mayan village using new technology to replicate and strengthen real Mayan building practices. Alder said it was so when it's discovered in the future, the Alpha-Bits will show how old is remembered and honored by them. He's a deep little Brother that takes learning the lessons of our fathers to new levels.

As we're waiting, I think about how the last couple of years has changed my life. I left the military, took member at Bravo, then jumped to a job thinking it was a joke. When the cement printer showed up, I thought Alder was a kid with money and his parents were nuts. It wasn't until VP told me they were grown that I realized Alder was an adult that was a hell of a lot smarter than I was. I smile, he still is.

I love the Little President and throw him chin when he's lifted into the chopper. "LP."

His Protector, Tats, bumps his fist and looks at me. "Spano has him covered from the pad."

I throw him chin. "I'll watch for that and stay with him if they're late."

Tats throws chin and the doors close. The Brother is intense and focused on keeping LP covered. He gave me approval in that care when I clocked an asshole at the first Vision site for mouthing off to the little Brother. He wasn't President yet, but he was and always had been to me.

LP sits. "Boss Keylan. Sorry I send message. I send chat, you ask question." He shakes his head. "I have meet, no time to question."

I nod surprised at the apology and explanation.

"You know Pres Stan Gregory?"

My eyes focus on his. President? "Yeah. He's from Ohio Badass and ran an emergency team in the National Guard." He obviously knows that, so I don't add details.

He shakes his head. "Left Ohio, move to Kentucky. Club get greedy he move here. I tell Pres Stan you build to me, he say he know you."

I nod. Stan is a President here. Good for him. His affiliate was blown up when mine was. A Brothers' only say, when Officers turn, is to fight for the position or to leave and since bad has a following, it usually doesn't end well. I didn't have to make the decision, my Club and Brothers were gone when I got back and the military units on base were talking up the call to the Rising Clubs. "I was in the other affiliate but know him to be a good Brother," I answer, again, not giving details he'd have heard or looked up.

He nods. "He say same. He ask for you to his Club."

I shake my head. "I'm not going back to Ops, LP. I took Flight at Bravo."

He nods. "Pres Stan work Emergency Response Task Force Club. He no work Ops. Pres Cort fucking crazy. I in meet, check numbers, government contract to lawyer. Crazy good to pay bill to Club, fill need to civilian, keep Brother working, Badass growing." He shrugs with a look that could never be mistaken as anything but, ‘What are you gonna do?' I've seen how crazy works here and get it.

"So, Stan is heading a Rescue Club."

"He want you. Pres Cort say Boss Paul Building Club handle building. You like building, you move to Building Club, or Emergency to Pres Stan. I no time to make plans, build." Interesting. So, I'm not out of a job or heading back to Flight if I want to keep building.

"Is that why Paul is sending me work?" It keeps us busy daily.

"Yeah. You like build, stay to Bravo, Boss Paul send you work. Emergency work job, whole US like Op. You like travel, it good. Work to plan, start rebuild. Boss Paul send crew only to local not able to finish."

"We'd need equipment. Emergency Rescue isn't easy on the budget when the location is devastated." It'sa job extending that Badass reach.

His eyes zero in on mine. "You like Emergency." He doesn't wait for my agreement, he knows. "Pres Stan know rescue, engineering, lead team. You know building plan, get job done fastest way. He say military you Ops and rescue."He waits for my nod but it's slow coming. "You no build before?"

I'm not telling him about missions I did. "I did but not like for you."

His head angles to the side. "You build to other country."

I nod. "I wasn't a builder, I was a soldier. The pictures I sent you are places we worked in. My build team built there."

He stares at me for a few seconds. "You learn build to me?"

"Yeah. I knew the basics. Engineering is easy for me, so even the restoration work isn't a problem." He sends plans that cover everything so nothing about working for him has been a problem.

"I not have building experience you show. Ancestors fucking crazy."

I smile. "I'm not Indian."

"I grown in lab, ancestors help to me, I help to them. I not sure Indian blood matter." He's got a point.

I've seen some crazy shit. "You may be right. Getting back to the reason I'm on a chopper. I can stay at Bravo, take the job with Paul or Stan. I'm leaning toward Stan but want to hear his plan. He wasn't a High Officer at the affiliate but he was anOfficer. Why are we going to Sentinel?"

He nods. "He leave same as VP Jack, Boss Ranger, Boss Boulder, High Officer forget Badass lesson. Sentinel have new Club in Club to Emergency Response Task Force."

I nod, not having heard that at the Club but we were finishing up the Mayan job on the ABSZ. "You should just call it Rapid Response or Badass Rescue. Emergency Response Task Force sounds like the government."

He looks impressed. "I like. I will tell to Pres Cort. I say same to government he change to Badass name."

I smile. He loves Cort but knows how to get around him. I admire that and nod looking toward the door as we lower. "Phoenix." I didn't get the stop in Phoenix from the Flight Brother.

"Pres Cort change plan. Ride to us mean we get new chopper home or hostage to party we no agree to."

"Shit."

I get another, ‘What are you going to do?' look, but he has a plan. "I call to ABSZ I need ride home. Pres Spano know Pres Cort, he help to you or you ride to me."

I nod knowing Spano. "Thanks, LP." Nash is here too and I know he'd help me out.

The doors open and I'm struck again by how big Cort is. I see him from monitors regularly but not in person much. I throw chin. "Boss." He's not my President but I'd never call him Cort because he's President of the West Territory. That comes with a shit load of respect and honor. I live in one of his BSC Clubs in his territory.

"Brothers. Did you decide?" His dog jumps in and I think he's a giant too with the Ops gear I've seen before so he's an Ops dog. I've seen and worked with Perses and think Cort's dog is bigger.

"No. I need to talk to Stan."

His eyes hold mine as he sits. It's unnerving. "Didn't you do emergency rescue with him?" He's always got a lot of questions.

"No, he was a National Guardsman. I helped the Clubs re-piping homes in Flint but it was a Club thing." Stan put together a Badass push there and Clubs from everywhere showed.

"Huh. You're not from National Guards?"

"No, Boss."

Alder helps him out. "Army Corp of Engineer training, 13 Marine Expeditionary Unit."

"Thirteenth. A group of Officers were sent to training with the Army Corp of Engineers. We were Marine and Navy. I had a core team of eight who were assembled for the MEU that took that training."

Cort is surprised. "The shit I learn. Do you have a handbook? Harky sent me his with different shit than the unit he was in."

"Yeah, but it's more about engineering and Security."

He doesn't look like he cares. "Send it to me."

Pulling my tablet, I get to the files and send it because his eyes look intent on getting it now. While I'm at it, I send it to Alder because I know he'll ask. "The second is with my notes. You can't get supplies from home everywhere so we crafted our own shit." There are about six chapters of what and how we made the shit we needed right there. Two more with tables of attainable material for different locations. Home Depot wasn't an option and bases didn't carry our needs. We adjusted and improvised more than we didn't.

He pulls a tablet out of his pocket that I notice is a bigger pocket than mine. "I'll read that one first." He scrolls and starts that now.

I look at Alder who gives me a shrug, then he starts typing on his magical keyboard. No more questions is fine by me.

I watch the sky thinking about Stan here. He wouldn't be in a BSC Club like Sentinel, which is predominantly military, if he was an Officer that turned. I heard most of those died. I met Jack Decker on a construction crew in Flint. He was a good Brother from Michigan Badass. He had Officers that died and the new wasn't true Badass so he moved to Alpha then Bravo. At the first lab I built, he asked if I was from Michigan remembering my name from when I was a kid helping with those re-piping jobs. He wasn't a trainer for Flight when I came into Bravo with the first military group. I was honored he remembered me. When I saw him at the Club, he had my stats and explained about the Alpha-Bits and the labs. From then on, I've been honored to help build their new homes with the supplies they manufacture keeping within the sustainability guidelines. They go way above them but it's better for us all, so I never point it out.

Closing my eyes, I replay the ABSZ from the chopper. I haven't been up in one since I started working for Alder. It was an eye-opening view. Paul's jobs are okay but the Alpha-Bit planned jobs mean more and are always more fun for me and my crews. The Mayan themed town in three weeks is one of them. We were flat out running day and night but it was an amazing the Alpha-Bits deliver regularly. The men love that their jobs are without stress, changes or complaints. The crews were pumped for the next job when we finished.

"Boss Keylan, you make what you need."

My eyes open as I turn toward LP. "Yeah, LP. Some were islands, deserts, or jungles without stores and shit. We used building techniques of what we saw still standing after whatever happened that we were sent there for. Locals were always willing to help us out with how their people built."

He nods and goes back to his magic keyboard so I close my eyes again.

"This is good. I'm getting Ben on international." Cort has my eyes opening.

I need to stop this before it starts. "Boss, I've settled on the Club with Stan but I don't want to run International Emergency Rescue again."

His head shakes without him looking up from his tablet. "You're training and the US." It's not his plan for me with that response thrown out like that.

I'm relieved.

"Badass Rescue better. Emergency Response Task Force is government name." Alder has me smiling.

"I like it. Get that to everyone so their shit comes in with Badass Rescue. I'll get Ben on Badass Rescue International."

"Roger, Boss." Alder never stops typing.

I guess I'm training and running national jobs. Since Alder is moving on from building, it works for me.

I will get to see the Vision park at Sentinel up and running since I'll be close. I wonder if Nash hits the Clubs in this one. I shake my head, he can't get into the teen Club anymore.

"You look relaxed." Cort has my eyes opening again.

It's just as well, we're lowering. "I never saw the Vision up here when it opened. I was thinking of Nash getting a rash of shit at the adult Club in Bravo. He's more confident and bigger now."

"You went to the Clubs?"

"Never the teen Club but the adult Club twice. The first, we met Nash. The second was with him." I don't give details.

He nods. "You stopped him from getting shit?"

I shake my head. "I stood close until his crew came in. The next day he had a date set up for me with his girl's friend." I shake my head. "At the Club, you know the Club chicks, "Princess" would have fit right in with them. She already had the name for it."

He smiles. "I hear you, Brother. It was never my scene either." With Seren, I can see that. No ol' ladies are Club chicks from what I've seen.

"Food first." Cort stands with the order.

Alder rolls his eyes as he stashes his glasses. I stand holding back the smile.

Ford and Luke Rayne gave me a ride back to the ABSZ, so I take the Phoenix road and loop around outside ABSZ and military compounds, glad my bike made it to the airfield before I did. The ride helps focus me. Everything I heard today works for me.

The bakery woman I've had my eye on crosses my mind but she's not close to ready and I think my attraction is because she looks like a woman that haunts me. It's enough that I never pushed or even said more than my order to the woman. I shake my head, I'd never reel her in knowing it's not what either of us need. New beginning is without an ol' lady from the start and I'm okay with that.

I'm not willing to lose this chance, it's the job of a lifetime.I didn't ask how they got everything decidedso fast but it mirrors our military objectives. Cort seemed proud of it so he had some say there.

You never really see how smart Brothers are until the planning phase. I was never an Officer in Badass so I never planned with them and found it to be quicker and easier with so many Brothers specializing in their own fields. Ford has three military transport planes for us and our equipment. Pres, or I should say my old Pres, Falcon, has Security with medic training moving up to the new Club in a Club Compound. They'll be some of the first trainees and will be staying on. Zeke has two trainers that are Protector level for us to train in our procedures, but they have civilian rescue training and experience. Justice, Stella and Alder have new and better equipment already built and more on the way. Akai has four military doctors in the first training class that starts in two weeks. Banks handed a list of what's paid and what's not. Cort says Controls will make decisions on what's necessary but we should read the list. I know he'd bypass government bullshit and accept it knowing our Controls are trained by us. Life and death situations mean we do whatever it takes and it's the Lead's decision. Stan didn't blink an eye at Cort but I saw amusement in his eyes when they landed on me. We think alike.

All in all, this job is more in line with my military training, we get the lightweight gear and the name isn't a block long. The job was made for me and since Stan said it, him too. A week of Ops dog training means we need less Security on each job and we have cadaver, bomb, gas, chemical and whatever the fuck else they're trained for. I jumped on it. Stan liked the budget aspect, but I've seen the dogs and know they're trained for everything we'd need. The amount of crated specialty equipment we aren't carrying into jobs means we can get to the job that we're called for faster. I smile, cadaver training would be needed a whole lot less.

I'm ready to start tomorrow and turn into the ABSZ west gate. Bravo is twenty minutes from this one and my home for one more night. Pres already set Prospects on getting me moved tomorrow with the crew that are military trained and willing to jump with me. The rest are jumping in with Paul which suits me fine. I don't have a problem with straight laborers and carpenters, but military Brothers are easier to deal with.

Love the fuckin' Brotherhood.