Page 25 of Witch (Gray Wolf Security #24)

“What do you think, Nine?” asked Gaspar as he took his chair, seated around the conference table with the other seniors.

“I think they did what they always do, think differently than us, and figured out a way that we know will work. He’ll follow them, you know he will. At least, he will once he stops shitting himself to death.”

The entire room chuckled at that, the image of Marcus bent over, cramping on the toilet.

“The girls went into this with a clear head, Gaspar,” said Jean. “They’re my sisters as well, and I don’t want them hurt, but they’ve thought of everything.”

“If he were to take them…” he started.

“He won’t,” said Tailor.

“But if he were…”

“He won’t,” said Trak. “Stop second-guessing what you know is right. Your sisters are smart, resourceful women. They’ve planned this well.

We can be inside the house under the netting, give the netting to the girls to leave the house, then the ghosts will walk them to the waiting boat.

The rest of us, inside, wait for Marcus. ”

“And we kill him?” asked Gaspar.

“After we let the ghosts have their say,” said Ian. “There is no one who gives a damn about this man any longer, not even his own parents. I think those women, and his parents, have some things to get off their chests. They have the right to do that.”

“We won’t lose our sisters, mon frére,” said Miller. “You know that we won’t.”

“I know. I guess I’m just tired of risking lives,” said Gaspar. “I suppose that’s a sure-fire sign that this is our time to get out.”

“Archie? You and Eagle Feather get inside the cottage and remove anything that could be used as a weapon. Knives, axes, anything,” said Ghost.

“Already done,” said Archie. “Forgive me, but I suspected that you would see the wisdom of this plan. Eagle Feather, Yori, and I went earlier today to ensure that it was a safe environment for your sisters. You forget that we love them as well and want them safe. We can assure you that nothing will happen to them.”

“That sure of my sisters, huh?” said Gaspar.

“No, my friend. That sure of you,” he said quietly.

“Are we certain that we have no more missing women?” asked Ian. “There were a lot of women found that we knew nothing about, and that only makes me believe there are still more out there.”

“We’re certain,” said Martha.

“Martha? When did you get involved in all of this?” asked Antoine.

“Baby, I’ve been involved in all of it from day one. I’ve been involved in every case, every mission, anything that required me protecting all of you and this family.” They all stared at her, nodding. Then Nine looked up at her.

“Every mission? Even when we were serving?” he asked.

“Nine, did you not understand what Irene and Matthew have been telling y’all?

Through them, we could be used to help all of you.

I followed y’all into jungles, mountains, blizzards, deserts, oceans, and more.

It was rather exciting for me to be off Belle Fleur property and doing some good for my family. ”

She saw the shock and surprise on the faces of the men and laughed, shaking her head.

“I was with Trak in Azerbaijan, strange place,” she said, shaking her head.

“I made sure he heard those men coming from behind. He handled it just fine. I was with Wilson when he stayed behind to tend to those wounded soldiers in Syria. I was with Tailor when he held up that beam, saving Angel’s sister. ”

“But…” he trailed off, staring at Angel. “But that was before we were on this team.”

“Didn’t matter, baby. Irene knew you’d be here eventually, and I knew you were family. Same as I knew Flip was family, and I kept those men away from him while he moved weapons within their reach.”

“How. Never mind. I don’t need to know how. We knew Irene was doing strange things, but you, Martha?”

“Me, honey,” she grinned. “All of us. Since the moment you were known to become part of this family, we were there to protect you.” Ace looked at Tony, the young ghost grinning from ear to ear.

“You prevented the server meltdown three summers ago. We couldn’t figure out how it happened. The generators were down. The air conditioning wasn’t working. We’d had storms and floods. It was a nightmare. We were going to lose everything. You did that. How?” asked Ace.

“Because I’m a genius,” grinned the teenager. “I might be a dead one. But I’m still a genius. I’ll tell you the details later.”

“We’ve given ourselves too much credit,” said Ghost, shaking his head. “All this time, all the times we thought we were so brilliant, outsmarting the tangoes, and it was all of you.”

“Well, not always,” smirked Grip. “We, you did your parts. We just were lucky enough that it almost worked out.”

“Then why did you die?” asked Nine. “Why did Tony have to die? Why did Willa have to die? Couldn’t you have stopped it?”

Matthew stepped forward, the familiar glow of light emanating from his body.

“People must die sometimes, Nine. We hate it. We all hate it, but they live on in other ways. Grip and Tony lived on to help all of you, to guide you. Willa left her sons as a testament to her life and love. Sometimes moving on is what a soul needs to do.”

“And when you need to stay?” asked Gaspar.

“We stay because we want to, son. Because we know that you need us, and we need you.”

Everyone was quiet for a long moment, the team shuffling through their memories and wondering how many times Martha or one of the others was present, saving their asses. In the end, it didn’t really matter.

“What do we tell the girls?” asked Luc. Gaspar stared at everyone and nodded.

“Tell them to get ready.”