The Gender Plan (The Gender Game #6)(62)

“Jenny’s fine. She’s back with the others, holding down Mags’ fort.” He nodded at Mags, who was standing patiently to one side, a hand on the strap of her rifle. Her blue eyes sparkled in amusement as she watched both of us, and I did a double take, staring from Alejandro’s eyes back to hers. They were definitively similar, and Alejandro’s grin widened. “Oh, come on, boy—don’t tell me you haven’t put it together.”

“She’s…” I trailed off as it clicked. “She can’t be.”

“The very same,” Mags replied, smiling broadly, and I let go of Alejandro and immediately pulled her into a hug as well, laughing heartily.

My command line beeped, and I switched to hear, “Viggo, what the hell is going on, and why are you hugging that woman?”

I laughed harder at the sound of Violet’s voice coming through my earpiece and pressed my fingers together. “Because she’s family,” I announced, pulling away from Mags and looking up. “She’s Alejandro’s niece! I haven’t seen her since she was, what? Seven years old?”

“What? Really! Alejandro’s there?”

“Sorry, guys, gotta cut the family reunion short—Thomas! Where the hell is Vox’s team? We’re pinned down out here.” Ms. Dale’s sharp retort cut through the rest of the chatter on the command line.

“He’s almost there, according to the thermals. Just hold on.” The line went silent, but I was immediately sober. The transmission we’d just heard meant that Ms. Dale still hadn’t captured her position yet, meaning she and her team, people we all cared about deeply, were still in great danger.

I turned to the two rebels in front of me and dug around in my backpack, producing twelve sets of handhelds and earbuds. “These are for you and a few of your men. The rest need to get to Drew’s team. We have two channels, but you’ll only need to worry about the team ones for now, although we might need you on the main channel from time to time. We also have backup channels in case these are compromised—your team leader will brief you on that when you get connected. We don’t have enough to go around, so we separated our men into teams with leaders who receive orders.”

“Smart,” she said as she and Alejandro donned them. “Carmen! I want you, Pete, and Stacy to get these over to Drew. He’s waiting in what remains of the quartermaster’s office. You know where that is?”

The short, dark-skinned woman with a downturned mouth listened carefully as Mags continued her explanation. I paid attention with half an ear as I began directing people over the radio about what needed to get done. I could see Gregory had already gotten a jump on it, so I avoided giving orders regarding anything he was working on—namely, removing the bodies. But the harvester needed to be moved and barricades righted, if only so the gate team could have defensible cover, in case trouble came knocking.

Once Mags was finished, the woman repeated the instructions correctly, and then turned to get ready to go. Mags watched her go for a minute, and then gave me a thoughtful look.

“So, I was actually eight and a half,” she announced softly. “Before my father and Alejandro had that fight.” I frowned, remembering how broken up Alejandro had been about that argument. Not because of what had happened between him and his brother, but because by ostracizing that part of the family, he had lost his chance to see Mags. And since he and Jenny had never had kids, it had been a blow to him.

“But that is in the past,” Mags added with a smile. “Congratulations on your engagement. Did you actually propose on a sinking boat?”

I gave Alejandro a look. “You told her that?”

Alejandro’s smile was unapologetic. “My boy, I told everyone that story. The romance, the excitement… the drama. It was one of my better tales about you two.” He winked.

I shook my head at him, unsurprised by his response, and looked at Mags. “Let me warn you, his stories are mostly secondhand, and grossly exaggerated.”

The radio in my ear beeped, and I switched over to the next channel. “Objective B captured,” Ms. Dale announced, her breath coming out in a sharp pant. “That was a doozy, but the good news is, the barricades here are mostly intact, so you can send in the guard team.”

“Excellent,” came Henrik’s voice. “Viggo, status update.”

I did a quick scan to check everyone’s progress and pressed my fingers together, prepared to transmit, but the comm beeped as Cruz came on the line, interrupting me. I clenched my jaw, reminding myself to pull him aside to have a little conversation about teamwork and the radio—and why he was failing at both.

“We had one casualty, and have taken one prisoner. But even now, we are working together to clear the road and repair the defenses.”

“Unless Viggo is injured or dead, get off the main channel, Cruz,” grated Henrik. “You’re mucking up the system otherwise.”

Cruz made a quick Cruz-like apology, but the man’s excuse that I seemed busy debriefing Mags and Alejandro, while technically true, didn’t mean I wasn’t capable of multi-tasking. Or just doing my job.

“Cruz is right,” I said once he was done, unapologetic that we’d kicked him off regardless. My people were still busy, but it was a vast improvement over minutes earlier. Several of the bodies had been moved to the side, while the harvester had been moved back slightly, blocking less of the street. The engine had never stopped running, even after its impact with the wall, and someone must have managed to back it up a few feet. I doubted they could get it back any farther than that, recalling the mangled wreckage of the barricades it had left in its wake, but it did provide additional cover, should any patrols swing by. I noticed the hole it had broken in the barricades was wide enough to get the truck through, and felt confident that our guard team could at least hold this position should trouble come knocking. “We’re progressing a little bit ahead of schedule.”