Project Trouble X Three

Recap

I turned and looked at Eagle. He was going through the pockets of the men and women. He looked up at me and smirked, motioning for me to go through the women’s pockets.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to the woman I killed, squatting down to go through all her pockets - front and back. The woman was built. I almost thought she was a man until I went through her pockets on her shirt. I didn’t want to touch anything on this woman, but we needed information and fast. I stood up when I read the paperwork in my hand, not noticing the others looking at me.

“What’s that, Calletti?” My dad asked as he walked over to me.

“Uh, you might want to read this - all of you,” I quietly voiced as I handed the paperwork to my dad.

Caletti’s POV

I walked over to the corner and sat down, leaning against the wall. I couldn't believe it. What the hell was wrong with the stupid bastards? My parents had told them we didn’t want anything to do with their business, but now they want us to sign a contract in blood, saying we wouldn’t receive any money. Who the fuck cared? Not me, not at all. Sign in blood, ha! I sign it using their blood, but they wouldn’t get any of mine.

Dragon, a huge buff guy, walked over and slid down the wall beside me, dwarfing me from his size. “You okay?”

“Uh, hell no. Who are these stupid bastards? They won’t be getting my blood. I don’t want their money, never have. I can’t understand why they don’t believe us.” I stopped and thought for a second, the reasoning coming to me quickly. “They want us to show up so they can take one of us girls. It’s the only reason they want us to come to the Amazon. They think they can pick us off one by one,” I mused, not thinking about Dragon listening in.

“I knew you were smart and would figure this out quickly. Yes, they want to eradicate us and keep one of you girls for their plaything, training you to be as hard as they are. Or, they will kill one of you in front of your parents,” he explained, making me look up at his face.

“They better take me then. I don’t think Sophia would last long in their world. She was scared when they came in. She was trying not to shake but it was a close one.”

Dragon nodded his head, confirming what my parents were worried about. “Yeah, we don’t want any of you taken, but I know you would do better than her,” Dragon whispered, making sure I was the only one who heard him.

“Come on, we need to get to our other house, for now. Keep your suits on and keep your weapons. We don’t know what we will come across but you need to be ready for anything.” My mom looked at all of us. “But, if I see the shine in your eyes when you are close to danger...I will make sure you don’t do anything but squint all day for the next month, Cruz.”

“Uh-oh,” is all I heard from my brother. The boy was lazy. He didn’t really talk unless someone asked him a question. He could sit on his bed all day as he played video games. He would sleep all day if my dad didn’t get him up and out of bed. He wouldn’t take a shower or put on deodorant. Like I said, the boy was lazy.

We followed our parents, the Shadow Cats closing in all around us, keeping us safe from harm. I never liked to be protected. I could take care of myself. I understood why they protected Sophia but not Cruz and me. We could kick ass as well as the rest of the Shadow Cats. We were taught by the Shadow Cats and our parents, so what was I missing?

“You know I hate being protected, Shadow Cats,” I voiced through my microphone. My shoulders slumped when my mom gave me her famous ‘shut up’ face. I had forgotten I had changed back to the channel everyone else was on.

Oops.

“I am not letting anyone take any of my children, understand?” My mom stated and commanded at the same time. I nodded my head and kept quiet so I didn’t say anything sarcastic. I didn’t want to clean everyone’s room ever again, especially my brother’s room. That boy didn’t clean for shit.

I wanted to roll my eyes so bad I could taste it, but I knew my parents and sister would see. I didn’t want my tattle-tale sister to tell my mom on me- and she would if it meant she would be seen as the favorite daughter. She had never been treated any differently than the rest of us so I didn’t understand why she would act as she did.

“In,” was all my dad commanded as all of us loaded up in our bullet proof car. We knew where to sit as soon as we got in the SUV. I put on my four point harness seat belt, leaving my hand on the buckles in case we had to bail out.

We had been in the car for about an hour when trouble showed up. A helicopter flew close to the roof of the SUV. I looked at my dad through the rear-view window, waiting on his go ahead. When I saw him nod I took off my seat belt and kneeled in the seat, pushing a button, opening the roof and allowing a machine gun to raise. The machine gun was a M2 Browning. It was deadly and effective.

I stood up and cocked back my weapon, aiming for what came at us next. I heard the helicopter coming at us again and swiveled the gun around. I waited for the helicopter pilot to notice me and as soon as he did I shot the bird down. I pulled the gun back down and eased myself back into my seat, fastening my seat belt around me again.

“Good shooting, Tex,” Eagle commented through our microphones, causing the Shadow Cats to laugh and me to snort. What did he expect? The damn idiot was the one who taught me, oh, and my mom.

“Yeah, yeah,” I commented, rolling my eyes at them.

“Cat just rolled her eyes at you guys,” my sister told everyone through her mic.

“And, you are a tattle-tale, Sophia. I’m sure mom and dad know I rolled my eyes before I thought about rolling my eyes,” I told her, aggravated at the way she was being.

“Sophia, you need to quit your crap. Cat is right about your parents knowing what she did before she did it. You don’t need to tell on her. What are you two?” Warrior asked, sighing. “You know we love you just as much as your siblings, so zip those lips unless it’s something important.”

I knew I was going to get the brunt of her anger. She was just chastised by Warrior, our uncle, and all of the blame will be on me. I never understood it. It was as if she thought any attention she could get, whether it was good or bad. It put her on a pedestal and she was back being the princess she always wanted to be. Our life had no room for princesses. We were warriors through and through, or at least I was.

We drove up to our safehouse, my dad hitting a button to open our underground parking. It was crazy how many gadgets he could make. There were a lot of gadgets the military didn’t know about. My dad and I had made some gadgets to protect us for just about anything possible. It was always fun to make things myself, things the military could use. Some of the gadgets came to me through dreams and others from just looking at what we didn’t have. My brain was wired differently than my siblings. I was more like my dad than any of us kids.

As soon as we parked I unbuckled my seat belt and waited for my parents and the Shadow Cats to check out the cameras around the house. I knew they were checking for bombs or if anyone had been here yet. It was always a yet with us. I wished the cartels would leave us alone. I loved being tough but at times I would have liked to have a friend.

“All clear,” my dad told us. I was up and out of the Hummer before he clicked his mic off. I waited for my mom to open the door. This door was unlike anyone has ever seen. When she pushed the button the door would open up on the floor. As soon as the door opened a rope would appear, letting us know the booby traps were clear and we could start our way down.

I pulled my backpack on my back and jumped on the rope, repelling down the rope face down. Call me crazy but I loved working my muscles and this one of the ways to do it. It was harder repelling down upside down. As soon as I got close to the floor I let go of the rope and flipped to my feet, landing quietly.