Little Queen

31

Gunner's POV

:::

This is a fucking shit show. Everything's been fucked since we landed in Italy and it seems like it just keeps getting worse.

As far as the rest of the family knows, Idalia snuck out one night and was killed by Coonan's men; and as far as Coonan knows Idalia stuck her nose into another family's business at the ball and paid the price when she left the compound.

Everyone played the role of a grieving family well. As for the few of us that knew the truth, we grieved too; because when we left America we threw her to the wolves and turned our backs on her while she begged us to stay.

Range and I shipped out of Italy not even a week after landing to come search for Séamas. The bastard was hard to find but we finally found him hiding away in the Colombian jungles. We've been stooped in the treetops since yesterday morning and every inch of my body aches and itches from bug bites. Ranger nudges me with his forearm snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Movement 10 o'clock," he whispers.

I bring the binoculars up to my eyes searching for the face of Coonan's capo. I barely notice the white phosphor tint from all of the recon work Ranger and I have done over the years.

The house we're scoping out is built like a fort, not unlike our own. A wall with guards stationed at lookout points surrounds the perimeter along with men on the ground patrolling each entry point of the house. There were only five of us and nearly thirty of Coonan's men. I grin, imagining myself sending a bullet through Séamas' head and getting one step closer to going home to Idalia.

Something rushes past the window snagging my attention. I stare at the bottom corner, waiting for it to pass by again- my heart drops when it does. Two little kids run through the living room with smiles splitting their faces in half, as a preteen chases them with his arms outstretched. I drop the binoculars once they leave my line of vision and Ranger gives me a confused look.

My teeth grind and I shake my head letting him know that we would speak once we got back to base. We sit stooped up in the canopies until three AM, finally propelling down during a guard shift.

The walk back to base is silent and tense. I can tell Range is more tense than normal from not knowing what I saw but I don't want to risk making too much noise.

The sun has risen by the time we make it to camp and my pack makes a heavy thud when it hits the ground. I drop down next to it using it as a pillow. Range walks past me to patrol the perimeter of camp like he always does when we get back from recon.

I cover my eyes with my bicep trying to block out the sun. The kids faces flash through my mind and I let out a frustrated sigh. We were going to have to find a time when all of the kids were out of the house before we attacked, and that meant we were going to have to be here a lot longer than planned. It's going to take time to learn their routines and even then it's a long shot that there is ever a time when the children are all gone.

My head is spinning with possibilities when Ranger kicks the side of my thigh.

"All clear, Marco, Enzo and Dominic are ten klicks out. They have word from the Don."

I grunt and force myself to sit up, "good, we should've had an update by now I'm going insane."

My head jolts forward from the hard smack he gives me, "he's our boss, if he doesn't want to update us he doesn't have to, whether we like it or not. Now what the hell did you see that has you spinning out?"

The annoyance slips from my face faster than a monkey on ice.

"There're kids in there Range. I only saw three while we were there but if there's three there may be more."