3. Edu

3

EDU

Walking into the conference room, I stared at my team, wondering what the hell we were doing. "Anything today?"

Lock shook his head. "Nothing."

"There has to be something. It's been a week since the burial."

"He's lost," Brock answered.

"He's not lost," Lock snapped. "He's taking some time off."

"Alright, then let's step up and take over for him."

"There's nothing to take over," Scottie sighed. "He's in his office. He's working. What more do you want us to do?"

"Get us a fucking job. We can't just wander around here until he decides to get us a job."

Lock shoved back from his seat, pacing the room. "We train, that's what we do. We get prepared for the next mission."

I rolled my eyes at the stupidity of the suggestion. "Like we aren't prepared already? Seriously, it's not like we're out of shape or have forgotten how to work together."

Lock turned to Scottie. "Take some time in the simulator. And take Max with you. We don't need another pilot puking all over the place."

"It was one time," Scottie argued. "Besides, I don't like him in the simulator with me. "

"Why?"

"Because he fucking grumbled the whole time about needing a drink."

"That's because he's with you," Brock chuckled.

Scottie tossed his empty styrofoam cup at him, though it fell short and hit the table. "I'm not just sitting around here doing nothing. I'll go find us a job."

"From where?"

"In town if I have to," I shouted over my shoulder as I turned away.

I wasn't at all surprised that Lock was on my heels two seconds later, followed by the rest of the guys.

"You can't just find a job," Lock protested. "There are rules and procedures."

"Right," I grunted.

"And contracts to sign."

"And some assurance of money," Brock pointed out.

"Does it even fucking matter at this point?" Scottie asked.

"If you want to be paid, it does," Lock argued. "But the main thing you're missing is that Cash has final approval on all jobs."

"Cash is hiding away in his office," I shot back.

"Because he's hurting. You fucking know what he had to do," Lock snapped. "He shot his own twin. That's gotta be eating him alive."

I stopped walking and spun on them, getting in Lock's face. "I get that. I really do, and I feel for him. I'm not suggesting a mutiny or anything. I'm saying maybe we need to take the reins and keep the ship afloat while he's dealing with his own issues so he still has a company when he finally comes to terms with what happened."

Lock stayed silent at that. He knew I was right.

"Alright, let's say we do what you're suggesting," Brock said, "how do we even find jobs?"

"How does Cash find jobs?"

"People call," Lock retorted.

"Right, but he also advertises."

"What if we offer our services to people in town?" Scottie suggested .

"You just don't want to fly anywhere," I snapped.

"Yeah, make this about me."

"Clearly, it is."

"Obviously, you're a little prejudiced," he grumbled.

"Alright!" Lock snapped. "We are not going to turn into Fox and Dash!" He took a deep breath and got in business mode. "If we're going to find work, we need to dig through the files and find something that'll work for us. And in order to do that, we need to get Cash out of his office."

"That's not gonna be easy. He refuses to go anywhere," Brock pointed out.

"We could fake an emergency," I suggested. "Maybe one of us is injured."

"Ooh, Eva could be hurt. He'd leave for her."

"So soon after his brother died?" Lock said, staring at Scottie like he was an idiot, which he was. "Somehow, I don't see that going over well."

He was right about that. "Okay, then we say his father needs to see him. We'll call Michael and set up a meet."

Lock shook his head. "That won't work. He doesn't want to see any of his family."

"What about Libby?" Brock asked.

"She won't come to see him. She doesn't give a shit if Cash is hurting," I sighed. "She walked out of the fucking funeral. Nobody even knows where she went."

"If family won't draw him out and neither will jobs, what other options do we have?" Lock asked.

I had an idea. It was fucking batshit crazy, and would probably put me on Cash's shit list for all eternity, but it might just work. "I'm going to talk to IRIS."

"About what?" Lock stiffened.

I backed away from him. "I can't tell you. Plausible deniability."

"Edu—"

"Trust me on this."

"Not a fucking chance in hell!" he shouted, chasing after me. I ran for the elevator, then hit the alarm to keep him from getting on. The doors slammed shut and I was immediately catapulted five floors below to the vault. When they opened, I immediately went to the comms systems and got IRIS on the line. It would show up as an emergency call, so I knew he would answer.

"What's going on?"

"I need you in the vault."

"The vault?" he questioned, his face serious on the screen.

"ASAP. It's an emergency."

"I'll be right there."

"And IRIS…don't bring anyone with you."

He quirked his lips to the side and slowly turned. The screen followed him, showing me Slider and Thumper, who looked very curious. "If that was meant to not be heard, you have terrible timing."

"Just get your ass down here."

"Geez, alright. I'm on my way."

I paced the room until they showed up—all three of them. "It's about time."

"Would you relax?" IRIS sighed. "Fuck, it's only eight in the morning. What could be so important?"

"How about your boss losing his fucking mind?"

IRIS's eyebrows quirked up at that. "I just saw him in his office. He looked fine to me."

"He's not taking any jobs."

"Maybe he needs a fucking break," Thumper retorted. "He just lost his brother. Give him a fucking minute."

"You don't get it," I said frustratedly. "He's sitting in his office and he won't go anywhere. He's shutting down."

"Maybe he needs that," Thumper said.

"Maybe you should shut the fuck up and listen to me."

"Ooh, things are getting heated," IRIS grinned. "I smell a battle coming on. Are you gonna take off the leg, Thumper?"

Thumper glared at IRIS and he immediately backed down.

"I'm not asking for your help. I only need IRIS."

IRIS puffed out his chest. "He only needs me."

"You're not blowing anything up," Thumper grunted .

"Just something small," I interjected. "Just enough to get Cash out of the office so we can get in there."

"For what purpose?" Thumper asked incredulously.

"To get to the files of jobs," I said, hating that I had to explain everything to him. "Since he won't leave the office, we need to flush him out—like the enemy."

"Are you fucking crazy? You're going to set the place on fire, all to get some files?" Thumper snapped. "Slider, back me up here."

I turned to him, raising my eyebrow at him.

He leaned back against the wall and grinned. "I'm just enjoying the show."

"You can't really think this is a good idea!"

"Nope," Slider grinned, but think about how much fun it will be when Cash finds out that IRIS lit his new facility on fire. He burnt down the old one. Maybe he'll do the same to this one."

"And that's a good thing?" Thumper snapped.

"He's not going to burn it down," I said, my tone brooking no arguments. "He's going to start a small fire and flush out the boss. While he's out, we'll slip inside and find the files."

"Why do you want a job so badly?" Slider asked.

"Because we're sitting on our hands. If we don't have jobs, we don't have income. I thought that part was pretty damn clear."

"Think of it as a vacation," Slider shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Everyone groaned at his choice of words. "Well, now that you said that, a whole hell of a lot. Now we have to go through with the fire."

"Agreed," Thumper sighed. "Fuck, I really hate it when I'm forced to do shit I don't want to."

Slider held his arms wide, staring at us all incredulously. "All because I said what's the worst that could happen ?"

"Fuck, would you stop that!" I shouted.

"Seriously, one more fucking time and you're off the team," Thumper snapped. He turned to me, obviously pissed that he had to go along with this. "If we do this, it has to be in a controlled environment."

"Sure. "

"I'm serious, Edu. No funny business."

I scoffed at the ridiculousness of his statement. "Do I look like the type of guy who plays with fire?"

1 hour later…

I stood outside the main office, arms crossed as I stared at the flames licking the sky. Smoke could be seen from town, which was evident by the growing number of spectators that showed up by the minute.

"Well, the good news is that Cash is no longer in his office."

Thumper slowly turned to face me. "Neither is the paperwork you wanted."

"Right…" I scratched the back of my head. "That is a problem, but I'll remind you that technically, IRIS is the one who set the explosives."

We all turned and looked at IRIS. He shrugged as he stared at the fire. "You said you wanted something that would grab his attention. I think you got it." Then he faced us. "Pizza?"