“I don’t have any plans on killing you,” the first gunman stated, “unless you give me a reason.”

  She eyed him and then slowly nodded. “Wasn’t planning on it,” she murmured.

  “Good.” He glared at her. “It’s just weird that you’re all sitting here, eating around us though.”

  “Hey, I offered you a burger,” she pointed out. “Still a couple are over here, if you want one.”

  He stared at her, snorted, and walked away. “God, they’re weird here.”

  And that seemed to be all he had to say about it. She looked back at the others to see Legend munching away on his burgers, studying the gunmen. When finished eating, he walked over and put his empty plate in the kitchen sink.

  The gunman immediately turned, holding his gun at the ready.

  Legend shrugged. “Hey, just returning my plate.” And he stepped away.

  At that, the gunman sighed. “I don’t know why the hell you guys aren’t at all panicked.”

  “I don’t think panic will help much,” Blair noted.

  “It doesn’t matter if it’ll help much or not,” the gunman argued. “This is not normal behavior. It’s as if you guys are waiting for something, although I don’t know what the hell that could be, certainly not a rescue.”

  “No, of course not,” Blair seemingly agreed. She turned, filled the sink with hot soapy water, and started doing the dishes. She figured the complete mundaneness of it all was driving that one kidnapper nuts. All Blair was doing was giving the others a chance to formulate some sort of a plan, but Blair needed them to do it faster because she was quickly running out of ideas. If they somehow thought she had a plan, well, she really didn’t.

  Then she stared down at the hot soapy water and looked over at the two gunmen. When one of them walked over to the window, she glanced back at Legend, who was studying the other gunman closely, but trying not to make it look like he was. She smiled at that, then looked at Brody to see him studying her.

  She shrugged, picked up the bowl with the hot soapy water, then turned. In a smooth move, she flung it in the nearest gunman’s face. He roared, but, even before he had a chance to do anything, Legend had tackled him, and Brody was on the other gunman. It was all over in a matter of seconds.

  *

  Legend looked over at her. “Interesting timing.”

  She shrugged. “I was waiting for you guys to choose the time,” she explained, “and, when that didn’t seem to be happening, I figured that a distraction might help.”

  “It did. We were just trying to sort out who and what they were after,” Brody added, as he tied up his unconscious gunman.

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, unless you guys want to open up that pathway of communication and fill me in, I’m on my own here,” Blair told them. “I didn’t have any idea what you were up to. I figured you were waiting for something, but I didn’t know what that something was.”

  Legend laughed. “It’s all good. Besides, it’s the same result. We’ve got the gunmen, and now we can decide on what happens next.”

  “Yeah?” Blair asked. “So what do you want to do? Is the local government looking for these guys as part of the overthrow attempt?”

  At that, Legend looked at her with respect and nodded. “That’s not a bad idea.”

  Just then a phone rang.

  “Terkel, yeah. I know. It’s fine,” Brody said, speaking into the phone. “We’ve got the gunmen under control. Thanks for the help by the way.” He finished the call.

  Blair looked over at him, one eyebrow raised. “Thanks for what help?”

  He laughed. “I’ll explain later, but just be assured that we weren’t alone on this, and we were trying to figure out who these people were and whether they had others outside, before we took them down.”

  “Well, can’t you do that now that they’re unconscious?”

  “There is only so much information we can get while interrogating them when they’re unconscious,” Brody quipped. “It’s much better if they’re awake because that’s when they’re actively thinking, and we can read their minds.”

  “Oh,” Blair muttered, her heart sinking, as she stared at him. “I didn’t think of that.”

  Legend walked over, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and said, “It doesn’t matter. You did good.”

  “So, you knew about it too?” she asked Legend.

  “I knew they were up to something, and I had a good idea just because of the odd look on Clary’s face,” he revealed, with a smile. “Not exactly sure what all they were up to, but that’s a different story.”

  “As long as I didn’t mess it up.”

  Hearing an odd sound, Legend turned to see Larry getting up, no longer frozen in place. Then, racing forward, he threw his arms around Blair in a big hug.

  She held him close and whispered, “It’s okay, buddy. I told you that it would be okay.” He looked up at her, and she saw the tears in his eyes. “Pretty tough day for you.”

  “Is Dad dead, do you think?”

  “I’m afraid he may be, yes,” Blair replied, with a nod, “but again we’ll have to wait for confirmation of that.” She looked over at the others and saw it on their faces too. “I think all of us suspect he is, but …” Blair shrugged. “You know as well as I do how that isn’t necessarily the truth.”

  “It feels like Dad’s dead,” Larry announced suddenly.

  “That’s why I’m telling you what I think too,” she murmured. “No point in us telling a lie. It feels very much like he’s already gone.”

  *

  Just then Legend’s phone rang. He fished it out and checked the ID on the screen. “Jacoby, what’s up? … It is, is it? … Fine,” he murmured. “I haven’t had a chance to get through too much of the paperwork yet. … No, I am aware. It would have been nice if he’d discussed it with me first.” Legend’s gaze went to his brother.

  At that, Jacoby added, his voice somber, “There is money, and there is a little bit of time, but we’ll have to move on this right now. It was always in his plans to provide for his boy, but I am still transferring all the property. We moved some of it before this happened, when he jumped up the time frame on me.”

  “Of course,” Legend noted.

  “Whatever there is, as soon as everything is secured in Larry’s name, we’ll sell it anyway,” he explained. “Larry needs a new start.” By the time they finished discussing the business side of things, and Legend ended the call, he turned to face his brother and then nodded. “Your father tried to escape. He felt sure he had the support of the military and that they would back him up, but it appears that wasn’t true. Anyway, during the escape attempt, he was shot, and your father is dead.”

  Larry looked at him and stiffened. “He was your father too,” he pointed out.

  At that, Legend closed his eyes briefly and nodded. “Our father is now deceased.”

  Larry sniffled, looked up at Blair. “We were right, weren’t we, just then?”

  “Yes, we were. Remember that intuitive part? It’s often right.”

  “I know. I just didn’t want it to be right.”

  “Of course not,” she whispered, hugging him close. “He was your father.”

  Larry nodded. “Now I just feel guilty.”

  “Why do you feel guilty?”

  “Because the pressure is over,” he replied. “That pressure to be somebody I’m not, to always be something different from what I am because that’s what Dad wanted. It was never what I wanted, and I could never be that person. Now that he’s gone, I wish I was that person so he would have been proud of me, at least just a little.”

  “Oh, sweetie, your father was proud of you, just as you were—even when you proved to be smarter than him—and you have nothing to feel guilty about,” she whispered and held him close.

  Legend felt a muscle in his jaw twitch at Larry’s words because Legend certainly understood the pressure to be something his father wanted. Despite what Blair just said, Legend had never managed to succeed in making his father proud of him. His father was just not one of those people who could ever give a compliment or even the time of day to somebody who was different than him. He despised those who had different beliefs and values. Legend and his father had come to blows more than a few times, but, when the end had actually come, his father had left him in charge of his son. Which could be seen as both a compliment, yet, at the same time, a huge challenge.

  He gently ruffled Larry’s hair. “We’ll get through this, buddy.” Larry turned and looked up at him, so Legend opened his arms and swung him around and just held him. Together, they walked over to the window, and the two of them just hung on to each other for a long moment, acknowledging that what had happened was something they had both known would occur. Both had tried to dissuade their father, but there was no stopping it. Not once their father had put things in motion.

  “He wasn’t easy,” Larry whispered.

  “No, he sure wasn’t. Yet he was your father, and we’ll honor that.”

  “He was your father too, but you don’t see him like that.”

  “I know. Sometimes it’s easier to forget.”

  “Because you had a different mother?”

  “My mother wasn’t any happier,” he shared. “I’m not sure our father had the ability to make anybody happy.”

  “I don’t think he cared enough to try,” Larry noted, with one of those adult comments that had startled Legend time and time again.

  “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean we have to live that way any longer.”

  “What about the gunmen?”

  “Somebody is coming to pick them up,” Legend told him. “These men are part of the team who went to overthrow the government, so it’s best if they’re taken back to face justice.”

  “What if that means they’ll get shot too?”

  Legend faced his younger brother. “I get that, but they must face the consequences of their actions. Is this how you want them acting when going around the world if they’re free instead of jailed? Kidnapping people, holding them hostage, and trying to get money?”

  At that, Larry winced. “No. I definitely don’t.”

  “If they’re given a trial and a chance to defend themselves, that will be best for everyone, and you’ll see it. However, right now? There is just so much heartache and pain for everybody involved in this whole mess.”

  As Legend laid Larry down to sleep quite a bit later, Legend stared at his little brother for a long moment, watching him doze. Blair came up behind him, gently patted him on the back, and whispered, “You’ll make a great father.”

  “It’s not a role I expected to play,” he replied, his voice harsher than he wanted.

  “No, and I get that. I’m just not sure we have a choice sometimes.”

  He looked over at her and smiled. “Even if I did have a choice, I’m still not sure I would have chosen fatherhood.”

  “Because of what you’ve seen in life?” she questioned.

  “My father wasn’t easy, and I always worried I would be too much like him.”

  “I don’t think you can blame your father for that,” she replied. “I think it’s a common-enough problem with all men. They worry about being a good-enough father or that the influence of the terrible parental figures they had themselves would make them not good father material. However, I think mothers have the same problems. Some of us have terrible upbringings, and we wonder if we should ever be allowed to procreate—in case those same habits procreate as well,” she muttered.

  He considered her for a moment, then nodded. “That’s the real reason you haven’t pursued having a family, isn’t it?”

  “Well, it’s not as if I have a herd sire,” she added, with a pointed look. “At least not one who I cared to go in that direction with. Still, I didn’t have a good upbringing, no.”

  “Any particular reason?”

  “My mother was on drugs most of her life. It was always drugs or men, and most of the time it was both,” she stated bluntly. “Not exactly a good way to raise a child. I was put into foster care when I was twelve, after she died of an overdose, and believe me. That wasn’t any easier.”

  “I’m sorry. We never really know what somebody else is going through in life or what they’ve gone through in the past, do we?”

  “Well, the fact that we even get to adulthood with our sanity is sometimes a miracle in itself.”

  He chuckled at that. “I won’t argue with that because it makes far too much sense.”

  “The fact of the matter is that this is what you’ve been dealt with now,” she stated, “and I’m not sure how you’ll handle it.” He ushered her back into the other room.

  “After having one quick conversation with the lawyer handling my father’s estate, it seems there is a certain amount of property. Some of it’s being moved right now into Larry’s name, and some of it is being seized. Whatever is retained will ultimately be sold, and the proceeds will go to Larry’s care,” Legend explained.

  “Good, that will help, and he’ll need that—although I think he needs a father figure far more than he needs money.”

  Legend laughed. “Honest to God, I hear that time and time again, about needing a father figure, and then you see what there is for a father, and you realize that maybe you didn’t need that father figure after all.”

  “That goes back to the conversation we just had,” she said, with a nod.

  Legend asked, “I guess what I’m wondering is, if you’re interested in still looking after him?”

  She stared at him, then sank into a nearby chair.

  “What I’m really asking is, do you want a job?” Legend added.

  Chapter 8

  “Well, that’s not what I expected you to say.” Blair stared at Legend, but, inside, her heart swelled at the opportunity being tossed her way. She wouldn’t have to separate from Larry right away. It would help all three of them.

  “And it’s not a bad answer right now,” Clary noted, joining in. “For stability alone, it would be a good idea. Larry can’t keep losing people.”

  “Puts my life on hold,” Legend noted.

  “Puts my life on hold too,” Blair stated, with a shrug. “I’m not sure what I want to do or where that would be. Now that I have the termination, and freedom in one way, I have to take another look at my life too.” Then she stared in the direction where Larry was sleeping. “I could certainly do it on a temporary basis to help him get settled somewhere, somehow. I’m just not sure about long-term.”

  Legend nodded. “Well, if you could even do short-term,” Legend replied, “I would appreciate it.”

  She sighed. “A couple months kind of short-term?”

  “How about a year?” he offered. “Then we can reevaluate.”

  She glared at him. “How about we compromise at six months?”

  He grinned. “I figure by then that Larry will have you convinced that you need to stay.”

  “Listen. I’m not his mama,” Blair stated, “so there is that to consider. If you get married or maybe settle down with someone at some point, having me in the midst of it wouldn’t help Larry bond with someone new in your life.”

  Legend snorted. “Yeah, do you see anybody lining up for that job?”

  At that, Brody burst out laughing, joining them for the moment. “Good luck with that. You know that there is an underlying thread here that I find absolutely hilarious.”

  Clary reached over and pinched her husband. He glared at her. “What was that for?” But she just shook her head at him and gave him a pointed look. He tucked her under him and continued. “Hey, we all went through this. I think it’s only fair.”

  Blair looked at him in confusion.

  Brody sighed, as he glanced at the couple before him, then spoke to his wife. “It will be much more fun when they understand.”

  “Yes,” Clary agreed, “but they’re not there yet.”

  “Maybe not,” Brody concurred, “but, if she doesn’t agree, they won’t get there either.”

  At that, Blair glared at him. “What are you two talking about?”

  Brody raised both hands in frustration. “Never mind. I’ll go outside for a bit.”

  “You do that,” Legend agreed, “and keep an eye out.”

  At that, Brody froze, then turned toward him. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking that where there was one group, there could be others,” he shared. “And, no, I don’t know for sure that anybody will still be after the boy, but we can’t be sure.”

  “Fine,” Brody replied. “I’ll do a reconnaissance mission and confirm it’s all clear for the night at least.”

  “And then,” Clary spoke up, “we’ll have to have a talk about what to do next time because, as much as we might want to think it’s over, I’m not convinced Larry is safe. Even if you guys think so, I’ll stick around him for at least the next few days to ensure he holds up okay. I don’t want him dropping out of life because it’s become too hard.”

  At that, Blair gasped. “He wouldn’t do that, would he?”

  “He’s really strong, much stronger than when he was younger, but his spirit is suffering right now,” Clary explained. “As anybody would be who has just lost their one and only parent, but you also know how he feels about being a burden, and that’ll play into this as well.”

  Blair winced and shook her head. “Yeah, we really didn’t need that conversation to happen, but hopefully he didn’t hear anything.”

  “It doesn’t matter whether he heard or not, he’ll know on an intuitive level.”

  At that, Blair wandered back to the bedroom to check on Larry and smiled reassuringly as he slept. She returned to the other room and nodded. “Six months for sure, and then we’ll see,” she declared, with a glance at Legend.

  “Fine,” Legend said. “I’ll take it.”

  “Good,” she muttered, then looked over at Clary. “What are you thinking? What does Larry need?”

  Clary hesitated, then spoke. “Well, I would say that you guys might as well come back to our place, but I don’t know what stage of reconstruction we have back at headquarters.”