Lili cald down, slowly but surely. Once Matteo returned and inford Alisha he couldn’t find anyone else, we got a little more comfortable on the ground.
Alisha crouched next to us, still texting people, getting updates and making arrangents. Matteo ca over and gave Lili a reassuring head pat before standing over us, watching for threats.
I felt my adrenaline slipping away, getting replaced with cold, and wished I had a blanket to wrap myself in. Or a jacket. As it was, I only had my gun because that had been clipped to my waistband. My purse was still sowhere in the Escapade, though I didn’t dare approach the vehicle. It was a sorry sight. A path of torn up dirt and bent and broken tree limbs was sared down from the road. All four wheels had their tires deflated and misaligned and the body paneling was grotesquely misshapen. Even with bullet proof paneling, an intentional collision left it unsalvageable. There was sothing sad and depressing about that. I’d just discovered there was a massage setting and now I’d never get to try it.
I heard a vehicle approaching, driving fast.
Matteo crouched and readied himself but relaxed as he gauged who exactly it was.
“Alek’s on scene,” Matteo inford Alisha gently.
“Thank fuck,” she sighed and stood.
I braved relaxing a little more and turned to look at the newcor. I recognized him as one of the n who’d been at that head table at the banquet, but beyond that most of that night had been a blur.
“Christ, Alisha,” Alek told her. “Is there any way for you to make a bigger ss?” he asked. He admired the Escapade’s debris, and the torn up ground and the general chaoticness of the scene.
Alisha was unamused. “Do you need more people?” she asked.
“You want this cleaned quietly?” he asked.
She nodded.
He frowned unhappily and mumbled sothing under his breath. “I’ll need to shut the road down and then get this monstrosity upright to get dragged away.” He then looked at the truck with its crumpled front and deployed airbags. “That’s definitely hot, do you want to sink it?”
“Whatever you need to do,” Alisha told him. “I’ll get another captain to help you, though I don’t know if they’ll be accustod to cleaning.”
Alek continued to survey the scene and the ground. “You know they will probably find this. I know this isn’t a busy road but it would take us days to pick up the noticeable debris.”
“Do what you have to. Let know if you need more people or more funding, but keep it quiet.”
Alek nodded his agreent and started dialing a number as he wandered away, putting a foot on the Escapade’s underbelly admiringly. The next car that pulled up was Tye’s and he stepped out of it, looking more than a little concerned. His expression softened seeing Alisha still standing and frowning at her phone.
He fought his way through the underbrush to get to us and acknowledged Matteo.
“Alisha,” he greeted and then looked at and Lili still on the ground, giving us a nod. There was a silence between them for a while as Tye let his gaze follow the gouges in the dirt to where Alek was still leaning his weight against the vehicle, still on his phone. “How many?” he asked.
“I think we hit three. We haven’t recovered the bodies, though.”
Tye nodded. “Kit?”
I looked up at my na but found him still addressing Alisha, who was scowling angrily. Her grip on her phone was tight, her knuckles paling from the force.
“I should see if there’s any survivors,” Alisha said and started to walk toward the road.
“Enforcent’s on their way,” Tye interrupted her.
She paused, looking back at him with restrained fury in her eyes. “And?” she asked.
“They can take care of it,” Tye said carefully. “You don’t need to trouble yourself.”
“I want this done thoroughly,” she said and started to walk again.
“Alisha,” Tye called after her and jogged to cut her off. “You can get so rest and relax. I’ll have another guard take you and Matteo and Lili to a safe house so you can get checked out.”
“I’m fine,” Alisha told him, sounding defiant.
Tye stared at her, and glanced at the carnage again. “I’ll oversee any survivors getting taken in,” he said carefully. “And keep you updated. You can interrogate them later if you want.”
This was finally what made Alisha stop fully. I realized there was another ssage sowhere in his words or his voice. Probably the cadence and phrasing, and it was enough that Alisha understood.
“We’ll catch up later,” she stated and turned away from him.
Tye released a breath as she ca back to Lili and I. She crouched so I sat up, wanting to know she was okay. There was still that dark brown clumping in her hair and the wetness still showed beneath it. I went to get situated to hug her but her hands cradled my face so sweetly and gently. I wanted to lt and breakdown, even sob for a bit, but there were always more pressing issues. Now wasn’t the ti to deal with emotions.
Her thumb ran across the swollen split in my lip, making the ache co back.
“I’m okay,” I reassured her. Lili was next to still, staring intently at the soil between her feet now. Her gun was still in one hand but it was hanging limply.
Alisha released to address her.
“Lili,” she said sternly.
Lili looked up, exhausted.
“I’m dismissing you from Kitten’s guard duty,” Alisha inford her.
Lili nodded, numbly.
“Matteo can choose where you’ll go next,” Alisha said.
I saw Matteo, still standing guard, but he looked over at his sister. No words were spoken but Lili looked to the ground again, and refused to et his gaze.
“Okay,” Lili agreed quietly.
Alisha stood again, she didn’t try to go off and help with anything again but she certainly watched as more n showed up. I heard a chainsaw in the distance, grinding through so form of wood before a loud crack and thud, like a tree falling. Shortly after the sa sound ca from the opposite direction, down the road. More people kept showing up. A salvage truck ca and a team of these n went about flipping the Escapade right side up again with a thud and more creaking and popping from it. And then it was dragged up onto the tow bed, another loud and unpleasant task when the car had no tires. It was dragged away, the rear bumper hanging down and flapping in the wind.
I did my best to comfort Lili for the ti being. Alisha was still in boss mode, and she rarely showed much affection when she was like this. As much as I wanted to run over and hug her, it wouldn’t be proper right now. Lili, though, was in shock, staring blankly into space, and being uncomfortably quiet. I put a hand on her shoulder as we waited.
Alisha only occasionally gave out orders, usually because Alek or Tye asked her sothing.
When another vehicle finally pulled up, Tye looked over at our group and Alisha started over there.
Matteo ca over and gently urged us to stand and follow so we did so. The vehicle was a large van, another rcai but a much, much lower end model than Alisha’s sedan. Part of my brain wanted to pick apart the details more, but everything hurt and I was tired and eager to get so rest after this debacle. I also wanted Alisha to get checked out by her doctor. We’d all been thrashed around in the car.
Matteo sat in the front with the driver and Alisha and I got in the back, Lili slid into one of the middle bucket seats.
The driver didn’t waste any ti getting us out of there. We ca upon workn–or probably so of Alek’s people dressed as workn– who were working on a large tree on the road, and had blocked it off with cones, though they quickly cleared the way for us before going back to lingering.
Clever, I thought. No one would question people clearing away a large tree from the road, but people would drive around to find an alternate route.
The van continued through the back woods area and then back into the fancy suburbs. I didn’t know where we were going at all. When the van finally stopped, it was outside a random trailer in its own little space. The surroundings were lightly wooded and all of the nearby buildings were small offices and storage units. Matteo hobbled a little when he first got out. He must've been ignoring the pain the entire ti.
Lili and Alisha and I all climbed out as well while the driver unlocked the door of the trailer and let us in. We were imdiately greeted by the sa doctor who had treated Alisha and I before. He started with Alisha, as usual and cleaned up her head wound, determining it only needed a couple small stitches to close up and heal.
He did those quickly, carefully parting her hair so he could avoid shaving or cutting it more than a few thin clumps.
When Alisha was finished, he started to go for Matteo but he imdiately redirected to .
I shook my head. “I didn't pass out,” I explained.
The doctor blinked and looked at Alisha for guidance. She hesitated but did give him the direction back to Matteo, despite his silent protest
In the end, we were bruised and battered, my lip hurt and Lili had a few broken ribs and a bruised diaphragm, but we had escaped relatively unscathed. An accident like that was easily lethal.
Matteo and Lili got a ride back so Alisha and I finally had a mont of mostly being alone. Her new guard was assigned to the outer door, the only door or window in or out, so once the doctor left we had so privacy.
She didn't hesitate to sit on a couch with and pull close again.
I held her back, feeling the gentle warmth from her skin soaking into .
“Are you okay?” I asked her softly.
She nodded.
I stroked her hair a few tis. “You can relax,” I told her. “Its just here.”
She shook her head. “Anyone could have died,” she stated. “You, Lili, Matteo… .”
“I know,” I told her. “But you and Matteo handled it very well. And Lili– she couldn’t have known. I don’t really think it was her fault.”
“It wasn’t, she agreed. “But she’s way too young for this.”
I hesitated to ask. “What’s going to happen to her?”
“Matteo will probably put her back on monitor duty. It’s boring but it's definitely one of the safest jobs we have. Maybe she’ll even start monitoring the distribution center, that pays very well.”
I nodded. “As long as she’s okay,” I agreed.
Alisha nodded and we sat in the quiet for a while. The trailer was pretty basic but it was clean and had running water and a bathroom and small kitchenette. The couch was soft and comfortable, large enough to sleep on if we chose to, but Alisha went back to her phone before long until Tye ca, the sound of the door opening, even after his knocking, startled both of us into high alert and I floundered to get my hand behind my back until I saw it was him.
He shut the door behind him and finally sighed.
“Did you get nas?” Alisha asked imdiately.
He didn’t answer right away, making her narrow her eyes at him.
“Alisha,” he said finally.
She waited for him to continue. He took the ti to grab a folding chair from against the wall and set it up to sit in, facing her.
“I’m glad that you have emotions again,” he said carefully. “But they’re making you reckless.”
“I am not reckless,” Alisha told him sourly.
“What were you planning on doing out there?” Tye asked her, “torturing them?”
Her lips narrowed.
I wondered if I should retreat sowhere, but even the bathroom didn’t have much to give them privacy. standing outside would be a pretty obvious indicator that she was here, too.
Tye took a breath, steadying his voice before he continued. “I know there are certain things that you care deeply about, but emotions can cloud your judgent. You were still in the middle of a cri scene. We hadn’t even picked up the shell casings and you wanted to beat on so guy for answers.”
Alisha nodded, though her expression was still sour. “It was, perhaps, a bit reckless.”
“You’re playing a dangerous ga,” Tye reminded her. “And even a small mistake can kill you.”
Alisha didn’t answer right away. “I know,” she finally agreed.
Tye relaxed. “To answer your question, it was a few of Toni’s soldiers. I suspect there were more that fled once you gunned down the first few.”
“Were there any survivors?” Alisha asked.
“Yes. We’re bringing him into the enforcent offices. Out of the way, if you choose to do anything, but I can also give the order to dispose of him.”
I felt the now familiar unpleasant shiver in my blood. Though I was grateful Tye had intervened earlier. I hadn't seen the darkest of Alisha’s monts, but I was sure they were horrifying in ways I couldn't process and didn't want to have to process.
“Dispose of him,” Alisha decided finally. “As long as you're sure they were Toni’s n, I know who needs to be held responsible.”
Tye nodded. “I'll pass it on. In the anti, do you want to secure a better safehouse and… the Escapade.”
Alisha shook her head. “I'll take care of it. Just have… I guess Matteo is going to be down for a while…”
“I'll get a security check up done on your house’s security and do a sweep of the property. I don’t think anyone has found it yet.”
Alisha nodded again. “Thank you, Tye,” she said with a great deal of genuinity.
“I’ll find another trusted mber of enforcent to drive you for the next week.”
Alisha shook her head.
Tye waited for any more direction. “I’ll drive you from your house to a public space,” he offered. “So no one has to know.”
“Okay,” Alisha agreed.
I slid my hand over to her knee, wanting to help her. But there wasn’t much I could do.
Tye headed out, returning quite a while later to find Alisha and I both on our phones. Alisha was doing more business things but I was just passing the ti, feeling more helpless again. He nodded to the door and Alisha stood. I hurried to follow and found Tye’s Hon-yoda was waiting for us. He drove us back to Alisha’s house, which took a surprising amount of ti but he was also taking an unfamiliar route to . Perhaps, it was a thod of ensuring we weren’t being followed but between not knowing the area well and not knowing security protocols, I couldn’t be certain.
“Get so rest, Alisha, I’ll take care of things tonight,” Tye said.
“...thank you,” Alisha told him, and beckoned to follow her into the house. I listened, giving Tye a grateful, “thank you,” before he left.
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