Page 4 of Vapor (BSC #32)

“She’s Sergeant at Arms for my Club but will be important to you because she’s a fighter pilot and trainer for flight. She flies everything.”

I nod and watch the door open. The young girl surprises the hell out of me.

“Pres, Brothers. Commander Kwolek, I’m Jeti. Stella is going to meet us for lunch. I hope you can stay or she’s going to follow you home. She helped with the new flight suits made from silk.”

There is no way. “The silk worm?” I heard about the possibility but it never got done.

She laughs. “Yep, that’s what she said with something about spiders.

Copper will want in so you’ll be on virtual.

They used the silk stranded with Kevlar to make our clothes and suits lighter.

Stella loves the lighter clothes, we all do, but she bitched about them daily and it stopped so it’s notable. ” That’s more than I need.

SAA in biker comes with a rep for physically keeping that peace. “This is better than a dream.” Jeti can’t be more than twenty and she’s SAA. My kind of people live in this weird old place even if they bitch about wearing Kevlar clothes. I can ask why they’re wearing Kevlar clothes but I don’t.

Jeti looks like she’s trying not to laugh.

“You’re going to fit right in, don’t ask for a dog, keep any guy you’re interested in away from Cort or he’ll have you living together in a week and just take his help because Badass as a shield is never bad.

He’s going to push Club in a Club and Justice said you take it.

It all works and Mucimi will babysit while your team is here. ”

Mucimi, Club in a Club and living with a guy in a week make me want to run the other way. I ask about the one that won’t bring back an answer that sounds life changing. “No dog?” Is the safest thing for me to ask and it doesn’t sound life changing to me.

The adults laugh but Aaron slides a tablet my way with numbers that can’t be real.

Badass as a shield looks damn good but I have a team that’s going to have questions.

It takes me ten minutes but Aaron and Marli Champion send me the numbers that I’ll need for the teams. Aaron has someone else send me the Clubs around the world and where they have hangars with military assets - with a list of the assets.

That’s really the word Jeti used. I had to ask but those assets would be available if we need them which is why I got the list. Unbelievable.

~*~*~

Jeti left me with Stella and a virtual Copper.

They are both my mom level smart. I am not my mom and don’t think I’ll ever make it to a quarter of mom level smart.

I understand words but those two see particle make up, chemical break downs and I don’t even know the other shit they said.

I want to understand words but they don’t speak a language I know.

The gear is made by synthetic something that Copper copied from the silkworm strings and spider things and wove the coding together for the printer.

I knew I didn’t need to hear more but they kept talking.

I looked at the little guy that followed Stella in and asked, “You can just copy and paste it into a printer and that will make you material?”

“Spider different. Boss Stella give code to me, I print.” He said, then turned back to the Einstein-like women talking about hand-held games for Stella’s babies.

The babies are months old so I didn’t ask but thought maybe if I had games that young, I’d know what the hell they were saying.

Copper closed us down and Stella had to get back to her Club but they both thanked me and Stella promised to send whatever they thought of for material I didn’t understand was for me.

Smiling at the crazy that Badass really is may be a sign that I should not be making decisions without team input.

Jeti said Badass is all about the hands.

I see the crazy but they remind me of the old neighbors and mom’s work friends.

Everyday people just living and working for their families, communities and country.

Even young, I recognized we were all a little crazy, but we helped everyone with everything and laughed afterward about the whatever we didn’t plan for.

Four toilet paper roll scopes we left on the dock, forgotten by the draw of a canoe ride, comes to mind.

It was a pirate game that caught the dock on fire.

The yelling and screaming gave way to our canoe being spotted, adults relaxing and by the time we rowed in, they were laughing and so happy we were alive they cut the strawberry shortcake that was meant for after dinner. Crazy but real.

I see the trucks coming toward the gate and stand.

Jones said elderly people in a van showed up with toys, clothes and kid technology.

He left the security vets and Moss’s tech engineers watching over them and the ranch.

I didn’t ask about a Mucimi but I’m glad to see so many Night Stalker hands that I do know about right here in east nowhere Nebraska.

Jones gets out with a big smile. “Moss and Sarah were giving us the stats on Badass. They’re bigger than I heard of.”

I nod. “The President of this one, Jinx, said international and they could set us down anywhere they had Clubs.”

The whistle has me turning toward Sweet. “Badass protection is no joke. They have more military than the bases we were on…all of them.”

I smile at that while they all one up the others with Badass facts. I start walking and they follow like a parade. The gate guard throws me chin and smiles when I do it back.

The view of the Club has facts coming out quicker. Since I don’t know all they do, I listen without interruption. At the steps they quiet, so I turn and tell them what I’ve learned, the offer and what will be made clear with this meet. Everyone’s eyes veer to my side so mine do.

“President, Jinx Solaita, these are some of the old Night Stalker team members.” I wave my arm out indicating the eight we have here.

He nods and looks back at a man bigger than him walking out the door. “Cort Masters, President of Badass West Territory, Phoenix Rising and Badass Security Council here in the West. BSC mainly consist of Rising Clubs or MC Badass that run a clean Bible.” He looks back at Cort Masters.

Jones steps up so he’s in front of the huge guys.

“Crew Chief Jones. We split teams and jumped into the website and news. We’ve all heard of Badass but only knew gossip overseas.

It’s been a whirlwind coming home and getting us up and running.

Any and all information is welcome since we’ve been here for a couple of months and had no idea we’re surrounded by you.

Commander Vapor is the last here and didn’t get any warning since I didn’t look. ”

I smile shaking my head. Pres smiles and a few more Badass move closer chuckling.

Cort Masters nods. “You’re already Badass.

You’re saving kids with profits from rescue jobs.

Taking responsibility for your Commander not having information is another Badass trait.

We have Brothers that can and will answer your questions but Ops is running and I have Protectors that I need to connect with.

” The words come out fast as he reads his phone.

Jinx turns. “I’ll bring them up, Boss. Ops or the meeting room?”

Cort Masters moves toward the door with his long stride eating up the distance in four steps. He never turns back. “Ops.”

We all look at Jinx. “Protectors protect the Clubs. I told Commander Vapor earlier. Every Ops comes with an Ops Control, your Ops command, IT and a BSC Control that is like oversight. They answer procedure and make judgment calls if needed.”

“Centcom?” Jones asks.

Jinx nods. “Like that yes. My brother told me of a position called overwatch. That’s not the same as Ops or BSC oversight.

You run your Ops, we’ll watch your back or answer for intel needed.

We run Ops for us, the FBI around the country and other BSC Territories.

Cort is a BSC Ops Control but the Protectors are protected by us all so he won’t settle until he knows the Brothers are.

He won’t leave Ops until he knows the Protectors are safe. ”

Jones eyes find mine. I see the approval and nod for him.

Someone at our back feels good. Out of country can go sideways in seconds and leave us stranded with no rights.

More than likely, we’d be auctioned off or killed.

The reason we get the jobs is because they’re in the places no one else will go.

“I’d ask who you all are but Cort will want it so let’s do that once. Presidents are addressed as Boss or Pres. VP’s the same. Kyler is my VP and tried ordering the Brothers to call him by name but they don’t.”

“Pains in the ass. Every one of them,” VP says getting laughs and murmurs from Badass and the Night Stalkers.

We learn more going up to Ops. Pres, as he’s called, talks while going upstairs with his hand on the banister and dog beside him.

“The shields I wear and eye is from an attempt to kidnap the President of Alpha-Bits, Alder Ford. My President at the time was Trask McCabe. He’s got more obvious scars but we lived through it and Alder is safe and sound. ”

“All here to save more kid, slave, Alpha-Bits.” A little boy I haven’t met says from the landing above us.

I turn to my teams. “The CIA kids, they have a hundred and forty on the ABSZ I mentioned.”

“It’s more than we did for them,” Sarah says softly and I don’t have to see her to know she has tears in her eyes.

The woman cries for everything. Her hyper-vigilance isn’t a PTSD thing.

The navigator has been teary-eyed from the minute I met her on the original Night Stalker team.

Jones says she’s like an empath and feels everything deep.

She’s good at her job and has always been a damn fine soldier so she can cry if she wants to.