Thorns (Sequel to A Dozen Roses)

Chapter 23 Preparations

Chapter 23
Seto POV

Our dining room doubled as a meeting room. Our entire team gathered up here, most of them seated at the table, and a few had to stand.

"Listen up. We've got a general reference on their location. On Ghost's location. It's a wide radius and we want to lure him into a smaller one." I clicked on my laptop and a map appeared on a white screen behind me.

"This radius here." Ty exclaimed using a laser pointer to draw a circle around a small portion of the map. It covered five small towns outside of Germany. "Is where we've been told he's located. If we can narrow that down and send search teams into each town then we can figure out where our base of attack needs to be located."

A hand at the back of the table goes up. Bashur is tapping his other hand on the table anxiously.

"What if he's not not not In the towns? In the towns?" He sputtered and ticked. Bashur had never really had control of his tongue, in his choice in words or how many times they decided to pass his lips.

"If he's not in the towns, then I'm going to personally put Vikk's head on a stick because it's his intel guy whose feeding us this information." I gave Lachlan a pointed look and he subtly pulled out his phone under the table to text Vikk.

"We've never had an issue with Vikk's intel before. And his crew here" I motioned to Woofless and Preston, "Have been a wonderful help, so I'm taking his word." Ty cleared his throat.

"Anyways. We narrow down our search to a single city and from their we use our little tech friends to find specifically what we need. New cars, new housing, it's easier to search a single city than it is five. On foot we can notice more than just a paper trail. Especially if Ghost is smart and uses cash or his wiped card."

Ghost had a history of relocating, new names, new stories, new homes. Most importantly a new wiped card. It had a name on it that was fake, but once it was used the name didn't register on a stores history or anywhere in its files. It was basically a card that wasn't real.

"Is everyone clear on the plan? We'll be giving you locations to stay at and multiply cars each to keep things going. Theirs food on location but I know you're all fucking loaded so buy pizza if you want." Ty clicked off the projector and rolled up the white screen. "Any questions? No? Dismissed."

I left the room before I saw anybody else move. Brice was the only one who hadn't joined us, but I'd already gone over the plan with him.

Now I needed to explain a second plan to my children.

Inside our room upstairs, the kids were sitting on the floor absorbed in who could solve a 17x17x17 rubix cube, blindfolded, the fastest. Brice was their time keeper.

The record for them is a minute and 28 seconds. Eve holds it and she is mighty proud of it.

I watch Isaac take a breathe and begin solving the cube. It's amazing watching the kid go from being stabbed, to sitting on the bedroom floor like a kid again. Solving the hardest Rubik's cube they could get their hands on.

The blindfold comes off at 2 minutes and 19 seconds. Solved.

"Hey sorry to interrupt your games, I wanna talk to you kids." Izzy made a loud annoyed sigh but spun around on the floor to look at me, along with her twin.

"Is the meeting done?" Brice asked moving off the floor to sit cross legged on the bed. I nodded.

"Yes. Now it's time for our talk."  I sat down next to him facing the children. "Now you all know that Brice and I are going after Ghost. The police will try and stop us, and if Brice and I were to be taken by the police and so does everyone else. Do you remember what you're supposed to do?"

Isaac didn't say a word, he stared at the floor refusing to make eye contact or acknowledge I'd spoken.

Izzy and Evelyn shared a look and nodded simultaneously, before looking at Brice and I.

"We remember." Evelyn said, "If the police man asks us, we tell him we don't know anything. That you never included us because we are very young." He accent was still thick and firm.  I smiled and leaned over ruffling her hair then her sisters.

"Good Girls. Isaac?" He raised his head slightly. "Come on, you know what we told you." He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

"No."

"Isaac."

"No."

"Isaac Hamilton Solace!" I snapped getting to my feet. In an instance he was on his feet as well, matching my stance. "You know your orders. You know what to say. Repeat it back to me."

He tried to look to Brice for help, but Brice knew as well as I did. These kids had to know exactly what to say if the police found them.

"Isaac. Please you know what you have to say." Brice said calmly standing up, he placed a hand on Isaac's shoulder. "Just tell us so we know."

My son stared at me long and hard, before tears began to drip slowly down his cheeks.

"I was raised by Brice and Seto Solace. Seto is not my biological father; I met him when I was one." He choked out, "Seto forced me to grow up as a serial killer, I've never killed anyone in my life but he wanted me to. I never wanted to grow up to be a killer. I never wanted to be a monster, a murderer."

"And if they ask about your siblings?"

"I take care of them. They can't be separated from me; I can't lose them. They're all I have left anymore. I never had a life, or friends, or anything. They're innocent and we deserve a future together."

Brice smiled softly and patted his shoulder.

"See? That wasn't so difficult was it?" Isaac shook his head.

"Are we done? Can I be dismissed?" I sighed and nodded my head.

"Yes. Thank you."

He wasted no time bolting to the other side of the room and into the bathroom. He didn't even yank the door shut behind him before he threw up.

Concern suddenly flooded through me and I hurried after him placing my hand on his back.

"Hey hey breathe. I didn't mean to be rough on you. Are you alright Isaac?"

He slowly lifted his face from the toilet bowl, it was extremely pale and he was heaving slightly.

"Isaac?"

"I don't wanna lie to the judge dad. I want to kill people."

"Excuse me?"

"I wanna kill people. I want to take their lives from them."