Out of Darkness

Closer

I look around the room at my brothers.  Only Kota is missing, because someone had to stay with Sang.  I smile as I think about her.  Man, that comment about me being overdressed just about had me undone.  I close my eyes and imagine what would have happened if she'd meant it the way I heard.  I would have taken my shirt off slowly, and she would have stood, letting the water cascade down her slender frame.  She would have reached out to me, and taken my shorts in her hand, undoing the top button-

"Oi, fuckhead, you with us?"  Gabe chops me on the back of the head, pulling me out of my daydream and back to the meeting.

"Yeah, sorry,"  I say, reaching one hand to rub the spot at the back of my head.  He just smirks at me like he knows exactly where my mind had wandered.

Mr. B clears his throat and motions for Vic to speak. 

"Guys,"  he's jittery and looks like he's about to burst out of his skin.  "I found him."  Those three words sink in and that thrumming energy starts to vibrate in me as well.  I jump to my feet and start to pace as he keeps talking.  "He's in a motel on the south side of town,"  he pulls up the image on his laptop, "and he is still there."

"Fuck!  Let's go," North shouts.  I can't agree more and only Mr. B's command to 'hold' keeps us from all storming out of here.

"Mr. Taylor, sit.  We can't risk alerting him that we know where he is staying.  We need recon and to get cameras onto him.  He has proven himself too dangerous to take head-on."  He gestures to Kota and Silas and reminds us all what could have happened.  "He is a professional assassin, and is likely to have measures in place to ensure his safety.  It's almost a certainty that he has booby-trapped all approaches."  They all start arguing with him, their voices rising in concern and anger.

I interrupt, saying quietly, "I could do it."  A few of them hear me and stop shouting.  The drop in volume has the others tapering off and turning to look.

"What was that, Mr. Taylor,"  Mr. Blackbourne asks me.

"I could do it,"  I say again.  The silence is deafening.  "You all know that I could get in."  I could.  It's not cocky when it's the truth.  I'm the best at stealth.  I take a deep breath and stare into our leader's steel gray eyes.  "I can get past any traps and take him out."  I could make it so that he never hurts another soul.  I could keep Cupcake safe.

A hand grips my shoulder and I look over at my brother.  "No," North grunts.  "No," he reiterates, shaking his head and tightening his hold on me.

"Your brother is right.  We are a team.  A family,"  Mr. B tells me.  "This is not something that any one of us will be doing alone.  It's not how we work.  I will keep you from stepping into that darkness, Luke.  We all will."  I feel seven other hands grasp me in different places and North pulls me into a tight hug.

"Luke, this isn't yours alone to bear.  We do it together or not at all.  You fucking hear me?"  I nod and am secretly relieved.  I'd do anything to keep my family safe, but I don't know if you can come back from something like that.

***

Fuck!  What is he thinking?  There's no way!  I pull Luke into a hug and hold onto him tight.  I can't lose another member of my family.  I tell him that he isn't alone.  That we work together.  He nods and I sigh in relief.  What has happened to my goofball of a brother.  Where is he?  This version of him scares the shit out of me.

Mr. Blackbourne speaks out.  "We need to avoid the possibility of civilian casualties.  We need to set a trap and lure him into a location of our own choosing."  He outlines a plan that will bring the sick fucker to an Academy owned warehouse.  We'll set up beforehand and ensure that he can't escape, and we will catch him and throw him in a damn oubliette if we have to.