“I’ll go,” Lu said. “If I curl my hair and put on some make-up, I doubt anyone would even recognize me if they saw me.”
“That’s flat out untrue,” Forrest argued.
“That’s a good idea,” my mom said at the same time. She laughed. “You men have no idea how much of a difference a little cosmetics can make.”
“I’ll go with you,” Cam said. “We can drive pretty boy’s car.”
“Hey, now,” Eli complained. “That’s going a little too far.”
“No, that’s a good idea,” Mark said. “Then if anyone’s asking about your rig and their descriptions, they won’t put it together.”
“I would,” my dad pointed out.
“But you’re not the average bear, Cody,” my mom said. I couldn’t see them, but I imagined she was patting his chest proudly.
“I’m gonna need a list,” Lu said. “We need sleeping bags.”
“New burner phones,” Cam added.
“Groceries,” my mom and Eli said at the same time.
“Toilet paper,” Forrest drawled. “There’s a lot of people here.”
My dad chuckled. “You all figure it out. I’m gonna make some calls, let the boys know we’re stayin’ here for a bit.”
“That a good idea?” Forrest asked cautiously.
I could only imagine the look on my dad’s face.
“We’re not spreadin’ it around,” he said finally. “Only a few of us know what’s happenin’, and for now, we’re keepin’ it that way.”
The room grew quiet.
“Forrest has brass ones,” I finally heard Eli mutter. “Seriously. Can I see them?” I heard a thump and then Eli complaining and laughing at the same time. “Ow! You know you were all thinking it.”
My eyes grew heavy as I pulled Olive up to my shoulder to burp her. A few minutes later, just as I’d put her on the bed next to me and laid down, Mark came into the room.
“You want me to take her?” he asked quietly, resting his hand on my hip as he leaned over to look at Olive.
I shook my head. I wasn’t ready for her to be out of my reach yet. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be.
“Alright,” he said. He rounded the bed and gently climbed in behind her. “Go to sleep,” he whispered. “I’m just going to lay with you guys for a while.”
Within minutes, I was out.
* * *
“What did Wilson say?” Lu asked as my mom passed out plates of pigs in a blanket and macaroni and cheese.
The sun was setting and the darkness was making me a little jumpy, but I was doing my best to hide it. The sun went down. It happened every day without fail. I needed to get a handle on my nerves.
“He’s been talking with Kaley Campbell for a couple of days. He said that at first she thought it was some sort of trap, but it sounds like she’s cooperative now,” Forrest replied, setting his plate on his knees. “She’s full of information. Turns out, if the rest of the militia knew it was Drake that took out his pop, the man wouldn’t have long to live.”
“The problem with that is they’re not gonna believe a word we say,” Cam said. He looked up as my mom handed him a plate. “Thanks, Ma. This looks great.”
I rolled my eyes. He was such a kiss-ass.
“And who knows how they’d feel about Olive,” Mark said. “Could want nothin’ to do with her, could see her as the princess and want her with them.”
“Is there any way we could get word to them and somehow leave Olive out of the equation?” Lu asked.
“Could be,” my dad said. “But makes it less believable since Olive’s birth was the kid’s motivation for offin’ his pop.”
“Even if we get this shit sorted and the Warren kid’s no longer a problem,” Eli said quietly, “the more we find out about these people, the less inclined I am to do nothing.”
“How do you mean?” my mom asked, sitting down between my dad’s feet, her back against the bottom of the couch.
“There’s whole families in there,” Eli said, looking down at his plate. “Women and children with no way out.”
“You’re talkin’ about war,” my dad replied flatly.
“Yes,” Eli said simply, lifting his head to meet my dad’s gaze.
“First, we make sure Cec and Olive are safe,” Mark said firmly. “That’s the mission.”
“Fuck—” Eli began to argue.
“I’m not sayin’ never,” Mark cut in. “I’m just sayin’ not yet. Our priority is Cecilia and the baby.”
“Patience,” Forrest said quietly, reaching out to thump Eli on the back.
“That’s not one of my strengths,” Eli mumbled.
“Yeah,” Lu said dryly. “We know.”
They continued throwing around ideas about how we could tell the Free America Militia that the prince had killed the king, but no one knew a fail proof way to do it. Even reaching out to them put me and Olive in danger, because as far as we knew, the group had no idea we existed. It was decided that Drake must have hired the men who were helping him. According to Wilson, the dead men he’d fingerprinted—ew—had no ties to FAM that he could find, and the woman he’d been talking to hadn’t recognized any of their photos. Apparently that was a good thing, because men who worked for money were far less likely to stick around when shit went south than men who felt loyalty to their leader.