Knight: Heart by L. Ann Marie
Chapter Three
Three days
Walker
I run through the hall, then the stairs to make it to Ops wondering when I changed that from running to my bike. It’s been about six months I’d have to guess. VP – Brinks, he said to call him, pulled me to Ops and I’ve been there ever since. My mind decided without letting me know.
Hitting the keypad, I look toward the flight board. “Status, Blogger.”
“It looks the same as before. A few mixed in with the crowd, two shooting in the air. Pres and Mitena are there. Seaton’s team just pulled in and Enforcers have the two that were shooting. It’s not on my deck but I have surveillance up and close.”
I nod and look at Donner on Ops Control. “That’s all I have. Pres is looking for the others. I don’t get the mind thing but their tracking shows them together.”
I relax. “The crowd?”
“It’s weird, they’re not reacting like a crowd that hears gunshots.” He finds everything weird.
I smile. He’s new here. “It’s normal in Club towns when they’re newly opened.”
He watches his boards. “Not outside the Club in Iowa. It feels safer here but that feeling is nowhere near real or normal.”
Blogger jumps in. “It’s the freaky shit. They’ve got you covered but not the way we normally cover Brothers. You get used to it.”
Blogger makes me laugh. “I’ve heard that for a year now and I have to agree, you get used to it. Did you have questions?”
“I did, VP. Merrill put tracking on the side of my board and said that’s how we follow Pres. Everything else was straight from the book but I almost had a heart attack when she was just gone. Now they’re showing everywhere but she’s not talking to me.”
I nod. “Merrill is familiar with Protector Ops. He can answer the freaky questions.”
Merrill nods. “Sorry, VP. It’s pretty tame here. I’m used to Phoenix and Mase Ops and didn’t think about him being new to Prince or Cort crazy. When it’s clear, I’ll give him some basics and answer questions.”
“I’ll get back to training. Get him on a chat if he has questions you can’t answer. If I need to be here, call for me.” Merrill is a good IT Head and did the right thing but I should have given him a heads-up on Donner.
“Roger, VP.”
I jog back down to training much calmer. Mitena let me know they were out so I knew Aylen was on Ops. Getting called up to Ops had me thinking the worst. I don’t like the feeling and checked tracking while running. I stop. This is on me. Abilities are a shock the first time you see it. I’ll remember this and make sure the Brothers are prepared.
“Very good plan, Brother.” Dakota takes my arm and I feel heat.
I smile at him. “I’m not unsettled, Brother. I just needed a minute to put it in the right place. I’m good.”
“You are, Brother. I felt you earlier. I feel unneeded and needed calm from you?”
I laugh. “Take what you need, Dakota. If you’re bored, we could use ability demonstrations for training.”
“I will be honored to be paraded for parlor tricks, Brother.”
He’s a nut but I can work with that.