The Reds had fallen into a routine that suited them. It had taken a minute, but Jo had figured out who did what best. Now there were four patrols running six hours each. They were protected twenty-four seven. In each group, there was at least one person who was proficient with a knife, another with a gun, a decent manipulator, and a set of muscles. Of course, there was always one complete patrol at their home base. If a member of a group had taken any kind of recreational drug within twelve hours of a patrol, they were sidelined- Jo’s rule-, and replaced with another.
If a person went out on patrol without informing anyone that they had done a drug and it was found out, they were immediately taken to Jo for punishment.
That had happened a grand total of one time.
The boy- and that was what he was, being no older than fourteen- had to be carried away by his patrol’s muscle. The punishment had lasted a week and consisted of being denied food and water. Not to mention the fact that Jo had paid a great deal of attention to him with her knife. Truth be told, she hated to do it, but she couldn’t afford to allow anyone to undermine her authority.
If there was one thing that everyone needed to remember was that Jo didn’t tolerate anyone risking harm to her people- even if that risk was from someone within the Reds.
They got one warning.
No one wanted to find out what happened after that.
Besides the patrols, there were seven people enrolled in different programs at the local colleges. Ana was learning to be a doctor, another was learning computer engineering- Jo was still slightly unsure of Jer-, another two in political sciences, and three in law enforcement. What better way to keep track of their local police force than to have her own people in it?
And Jo's position in the Reds was to oversee it all. She was their leader. It was her job to make sure that everything went smoothly. It didn't matter that she was younger than everyone else. They all looked to her. And she would be damned before she failed them.
Jo sat behind a desk that one of the patrols had managed to bring back. It was usually reserved for the members in school, but she sometimes commandeered it when necessary. At present, she was looking through a hand full of paper work and nodding as she took notes on a separate sheet of paper.
There was something refreshing to her to actually, physically, write things down on pieces of paper.
Toby had once asked her why she insisted upon using actual paper as opposed to datapads-it really was difficult to find paper and pens. Jo had given a snort. "Jer is a seventeen-year-old hacker that managed to infiltrate and change medical, birth, and school records in less than an hour. It may seem paranoid, but I'd rather not give professional techs the opportunity to hack into our files." Let alone rival gangs.
That had been the only time it was discussed.
“How’s school going?” she asked as she made another note on her paper. Ana didn't say anything but shifted uneasily, enough so that Jo looked up from her paperwork. "I asked you a question, Anabelle. It is rude not to answer."
"It's fine," Ana murmured, refusing to look Jo in the eye.
Jo fixed her with a hard glare. "If you're having problems, I need to know about them. I am deeply invested in seeing you succeed." She flipped through a few of the papers to one piece of paper that had a bunch of numbers on it. "I'm sure we could come up with a few extra credits if you need a tutor."
It really wouldn't have been difficult. She would just ask Jer to hack a few bank accounts and take a little bit of money from each. She'd just have to make sure that he made the signal untraceable.
"Oh, no, it's nothing like that! My grades are all fine."
"Then tell me what it is," Jo ordered, setting aside the page with the Reds' current finances.
"My instructors all know that I'm younger than eighteen," Ana informed Jo in a small voice as she dug around in her school bag.
"I am well aware of what your instructors do and do not know about you- I am the one who had you enrolled after all."
Ana blushed furiously and nodded her head. "You're right, Jo, I'm sorry. What I meant was that, in order to do some of the class activities, I need a parent's signature," she murmured as she laid a datapad on the desk in front of her.
Jo picked up the datapad up before going over to the locked filing cabinet. After unlocking it, she looked through until she finally pulled a file. Sitting back down, she pulled a birth certificate. She looked it over before picking up the datapad and signing.
"It's done. If they have any questions or any other problems, have them contact me." She looked back to the papers she had been working on- a clear sign of dismissal. As Ana stood, and turned to leave, Jo stopped her as she said, "Next time you're having problems that need to be addressed, do not hesitate to bring them to me. I will not tolerate you failing."
Jo sighed and leaned back in her chair as Ana walked away.
"If it doesn't rain, it pours," she murmured to herself, pulling her blonde hair from its ponytail and running her fingers through it. She contemplated giving up the paperwork for the remainder of the day and partaking in some Sand. However, if she did that- she would get behind and there was a chance that something could go wrong with the operation.
She wouldn't tolerate that.
Settling down for what was bound to be several hours of work, she murmured, "Happy thirteenth birthday to me."
