Page 7 of War Games (Jacky Leon #11)

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CHAPTER SIX

I was early to the family meeting but was pleasantly surprised to see nearly all of my siblings were also early.

“Good morning,” I said, making sure my mic was picking up my voice and that the camera was pointed correctly at me. I didn’t have to fix them very often, but over time, the camera would move slightly, thanks to people running around the house or stomping or slamming doors, which I had done just yesterday. The mic would sometimes disconnect when I had to update my computer. It felt good to fiddle with things before the meeting, keeping my hands busy.

“Good morning, Jacky,” Zuri said first, but I couldn’t see her. “You knocked the display cable, it seems.”

“Actually, power. You’re on my desk monitor,” I said, shaking my head in frustration at what I had just done. Her voice was coming through speakers, and those were thankfully still working. “I slammed some doors yesterday and seemed to have shaken the house a bit more than I thought.”

“Oh?” Jabari’s interest was bad news.

“Not Heath’s fault,” I said quickly, striking that idea from my eldest brother’s mind. Zuri and Jabari loved Heath; I knew they did. They respected my relationship with him and stood their ground with me when Hasan lost it. Their support meant everything to me.

But Jabari was an older brother, and while I never had one as a human growing up, I knew enough about this particular older brother to know that if Heath made me cry, he would be on the first plane to figure out why. Hisao wouldn’t since that would cause its own stir. Niko was around and wouldn’t just because he wouldn’t.

“That’s good,” Davor said softly, chuckling. “I would hate to have to hurt the man.”

That took me off guard, leaving me wide-eyed as the monitor turned on. Chuckles were filling my office as Davor smiled mildly.

“No, you would cuddle Jacky while I hurt him,” Jabari finally grumbled. “But look at her face; you really got her with that.”

That made me roll my eyes. Davor and I were doing… better. Much better, in fact. He’d done a lot of work on himself to let go of his grief about Liza, which I had inadvertently helped with by discovering the truth behind her murder. In Alaska, we finally connected, finding ourselves only with each other and Niko on a dangerous mission that led to so much more than we thought it would be. I didn’t think we’d ever be the closest of the siblings, but I was grateful there was no more animosity there. I was willing to let it all go, all the comments and meanness, thanks to the smile he had as I finally saw him on the screen.

It was a good smile. A healthy smile. He had some darkness under his eyes, but we all knew he was working overtime trying to find information on the dark web and make sure there were no weaknesses in our security, at least not on the digital front.

There’s something about nearly dying with a person that changes a relationship. I never thought Davor would ever be happy to see each other, but here we are.

“How are you, Davor? You seem tired. Dirk was tired when he showed up today, as well. Were you working on things together last night?”

“Actually, yes,” Davor said, nodding. “Though, he should have gotten plenty of sleep. It was much later for me.”

“Huh…” I pursed my lips until Davor frowned, and I realized he thought I was upset with him. “Not you. He was looking particularly tired when he picked up Carey this morning. He’s taken her to the gun range today. He’s safe enough, and from what Heath said, Carey’s not a true beginner, so they’ll be fine.”

“What kept that young man up all night?” Zuri’s concern was evident, but that was unsurprising. While only Niko and I had a strong relationship with Dirk, the young werewolf was still her nephew just as much as mine.

I looked away, knowing I had to either answer now or not answer at all. Niko was nearly at my house, deciding to do this meeting from my office instead of his own. It only made sense because my house was much more secure than his because I had a territory and a werewolf pack protecting it.

“I can’t say. I have an idea or two, but it’s really not our business.” I tried to be cautious. If I made this a thing, then they would keep asking about it until Niko arrived, and then I would need to tell Niko everything. If Landon thought I had meddled yesterday, I was worried I would destroy whatever friendship I had with him by involving my entire family.

“Boy trouble,” she said confidently, her age and experience able to guess correctly without me needing to say anything more, which I stupidly didn’t consider when I had started this topic of conversation.

“We’ll handle Landon, too, if he needs?—”

“No,” I growled as I glared at the screen to see Jabari’s shit-eating grin. “Jabari, we will not get involved with all of that. We have a lot of things going on right now.”

“War brings a lot of changes to relationships,” he said, leaning back in his seat. His grin fading, his mouth flattened into a serious expression, and he suddenly had the air of old wisdom, not a teasing older brother or uncle. “People change. While I know you’ve had a lot of drama and danger over there, this is different. People will move differently. That’s going to cause friction in any relationship, even the strongest.

“We need everyone to be mentally healthy, not just physically healthy. If someone is not sleeping soundly because they are having problems at home, that directly impacts their abilities when they’re needed by the rest of us. Keep an eye on whatever is going on with him, please. It does matter. He’s a part of this family, and this could get him or Landon hurt if they aren’t able to settle whatever is going on.”

“Okay…” I certainly wasn’t going to argue with the one everyone called the General. I took a deep breath. “Niko is nearly here. Before any of you ask, he was here when some of the… friction came to light. Also, he’s going to start training me tomorrow.”

“Oh, good. Someone will finally make sure you actually know how to fight. It’s about time,” Jabari said, a teasing tone to the words that covered the real feelings I knew Jabari had about my abilities. He was the best of the family aside from potentially Hisao. They fought differently, so it was hard for me to really pick between the two in their human forms. Hisao would win if he got the jump on Jabari, but Jabari was physically the strongest of my siblings and an expert in every weapon he picked up. Hisao would be on the losing end no matter what if they fought as werecats.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said, shaking my head in a fake annoyance for him as I felt Niko park his car outside my house. “Subira will be on soon, yeah?”

“With Father,” Zuri said, nodding. “She might come on first, or they might want to let Father get his piece out of the way first, and she can relay what we speak about after.”

I only nodded, knowing this care was being taken because of me. Hasan and I split this family in half at the worst time. Mischa and Hisao still weren’t on, but I was reluctant to ask about that, feeling they would show up when he was on and not a moment sooner.

“Good morning!” Niko’s greeting was all too enthusiastic and bright for the moment as he strolled into my office. “Everyone is already here? Good, we can get started fast.”

“We’re missing Mischa, Hisao, and our parents,” I said quickly.

As if on cue, Subira came in, then Hasan.

“Hello, everyone. You all look ready for this,” Subira said. She smiled, seeing us on her own screen. It was somewhat funny to see her now with her own setup, not needing to stand or sit with either of the twins to get on the call. It wasn’t the first time, but it still gave the feeling of a grandparent learning to work a video call for the first time. I wondered for only a second if Davor had to teach her multiple times about how to check her email or how to compose one and add an attachment.

“We’re missing?—”

“Mischa and Hisao, yes, I know.” Subira cut off Zuri. “Hasan will be on any moment and told me that will be addressed immediately.”

“Is something wrong?” I asked, frowning, at the same time as all of my other siblings asked similar, our voices becoming more like a classroom full of children and less like a group of adults.

“I don’t know,” she answered for all of us. “Hasan said he knew they wouldn’t make it and would explain it to all of us here. He’s been… busy.” She looked to the side, seeing something we couldn’t. “The Tribunal deals with more than just us, and something is happening.”

“How is the new workspace?” Zuri asked. “His office is only across the hall from yours now. How does that feel?”

“Do not meddle with your father and me,” Subira said, turning back to look at the camera, any sign that she was still awkward with the camera and screen set up gone.

Hasan suddenly joined, frowning as Zuri sank in her seat, almost comically. Subira stared her down, which felt like she was staring all of us down. I took a step back from the monitor while Jabari looked away.

“I was not meddling, Mother,” Zuri said, trying to smile.

“Don’t lie to me. Now, Hasan, there you are. You have important news about Mischa and Hisao. They’ve missed several family meetings at this point. Where are they?”

“Quarantine,” Hasan said immediately.

That changed the energy of my office as Niko and I glanced at each other, our confusion and worry about that answer a perfect match.

“Please explain,” Subira said, her lips thinning in a line.

“The Tribunal is dealing with a situation that requires a quarantine. I can’t say much other than it’s seemingly unrelated to the witch issues we’ve been facing. Hisao and Mischa aren’t involved in anything that will risk their lives or bring them harm. They are safe and in a secure location, recovering from exposure to something we are still investigating.” He lifted a hand, and I guess most of us must have opened our mouths to ask questions the moment he gave us a chance. “No, no one here can visit them, not even me. Right now, the immortal who runs the Mygi hospital is there organizing and leading the situation so that it doesn’t become something worse. He’s doing this as a favor to the Tribunal so long as we make sure there’s no panic outside of the quarantined area. Mischa and Hisao will be allowed to leave in a month, once they’ve been cleared.”

“A situation of wrong place, wrong time?” Subira was the first to speak.

“Yes, love. I have spoken to them over calls. I can put in a request for you to speak to them the next time I get a chance, but understand that the Tribunal will not allow you to engage with this. I won’t let you get involved with this. We have experts working on it.”

I was curious about why Hasan felt like he could draw that hard line with Subira. He was in the proverbial doghouse, forced to leave his island and now living in the unfinished underground home Subira was having built to keep him. The last update I heard was that some of the main areas were finished, like the kitchen, as well as their room, but the other wing, with rooms for the entire family, wasn’t.

“Can you hold that line?” Subira’s question was a challenge and a dare.

“I have to. I can’t risk anyone else getting sick and spreading it.” Hasan met that challenge, and I saw his eyes flash gold as he realized he had given away more than he planned. With a stressed look and a quick rub to his temples, he continued. “Subira, don’t make this difficult for me. Two of our children are recovering from an unknown illness that I shouldn’t be mentioning here, and the rest are preparing to hunt down witches. I can’t be fighting with you right now. We have an immortal and a nephilim dealing with it, both of whom are immune while the rest of us are not. You cannot visit Mischa and Hisao. Once they are fully recovered and cleared to leave, they will be escorted out by those uninfected and allowed to go about their way.”

“There’s nothing we can do to help them?” Zuri asked.

“It’s magic in origin and attacks magic,” Hasan said, shaking his head. “The Tribunal is trusting the immortal and the nephilim. The immortal is immune for obvious reasons. The nephilim is a masterful healer and is immune for whatever reason we can’t determine. If anyone here goes there, you will catch it, and those two are already working as hard as they can to keep it contained. Luckily, Mischa and Hisao weren’t hit as hard, but once they got sick, they decided to stop moving, realizing something was wrong.”

“Well, of course, we don’t get sick,” Subira said, her nostrils flaring. “Let me guess, neither took a phone or laptop while they were running around so Mischa could throw her tantrum in peace.”

“Yes.” Hasan’s short answer made his annoyance with that part as clear as Subira’s.

“If they are being taken care of, that’s fine. They’ll report to me when they are both fully recovered. You will get them here, Hasan. Understand?”

“Perfectly. I was planning on dragging their asses here to talk about it myself.”

“Good.” Subira purred the word, her eyes glittering in a way that made me grateful I wasn’t the one in trouble today. “Now, onto the real business of this meeting. Hasan, I take it you have the information we’ve needed from those damn witches.”

“I finally have the files, and I’ve already digitized them.” Hasan started clicking, and I heard a notification sound from my phone, and Niko’s vibrated. I quickly looked while everyone else seemed to be checking their own, Niko pulling his from his jacket beside me. I had an email from Hasan.

“There’s a master email and individual files for convenience. The largest file is for Niko and Jacky…” Hasan trailed off for a moment, but no one said anything. I wasn’t going to stop him from saying my name or explaining something. We weren’t on real speaking terms, but I wasn’t so petty to make him explain to someone else just for me to hear it secondhand. This was too important.

“Continue, Hasan,” Subira said gently, giving him what he was clearly waiting on.

“It’s all the witches with the potential skills, education, and innate abilities who could have helped with the creation of their… new trick.” His distaste for the witches being able to hide the smell of magic was apparent and matched by the growls, grumbles, and hisses from the rest of us. “Some don’t meet that criteria but may have had some connection to the family coven in your area that tried taking over the Dallas Pack. Since they started this, that was the best place to start. Since we’re going to be looking further into this than the witches were willing to, I’m recommending that you reinterrogate every name on the list. Smell for the lies, dig into their employment and lives until we know everything.”

“Dirk will need to help us,” Niko said, already scrolling through his version of the email. “Davor has enough on his plate. Dirk has a lot of the same skills. He might need you to hack things sometimes, though, Davor, if you can offer that.”

“Of course. He’ll be a priority whenever I get a request.”

“Thank you, but Niko, we don’t have the same list,” I pointed out, showing him my phone and the PDF I quickly downloaded from Hasan’s email.

“Huh.”

“Niko, your list is a bit more expansive in area, and it leaves Texas,” Hasan continued, explaining the difference to us. “You’ll be using your contacts to look into other groups that might have had contact with the coven family in Texas, either temporary business arrangements, marriages, and the like. Find out if those people are even still around or if they’ve gone to ground. Find out if they purchased anything from the Texas coven. For both of you, investigating so close to the origin point of this, I caution that you take care. Any one of these witches could be violent, and they won’t be expecting you.

“The Tribunal has kept everything quiet, so these witches don’t know that you have their information or what the Tribunal has already investigated about them. A few of them are already known criminals.” Hasan paused but didn’t give enough time for anyone to interrupt, just taking a quick breath. “As for Dirk helping, I would recommend that you ask anyone you trust to help. If Davor has been teaching him, I’m certain he’ll be a fine addition to the situation there. Since both events have happened in the Americas, you need the support.”

“The werewolves are training outside right now to run protection in Jacky’s territory and fight if necessary,” Niko said, making my jaw drop as he exposed that to Hasan. For a horrifying second, I wondered what the fallout was going to be and hoped someone else in my family recovered faster than it seemed I would.