Night Marks by Amber Lynn Page A

girl’s window late at night, trying to serenade her?” Just the thought of it makes me laugh.
    “No. I have learned that during this fight, personal relationships are liabilities. They make you weak and give your opponent leverage against you. When the Collective is overthrown, I will think about settling down. Until then, my hand reaches just fine.”
    “You are a smart man, J-Dawg. We have about thirty minutes. Do you have your stuff all packed?”
    “My bag is by the door. I am always ready to leave at a moment’s notice. It is another thing you pick up quickly when you are constantly at war.”
    “Right. My bag is ready, just not at the door. I will have to remember that step.”
    “You will get used to things like that the more cases you take away from home. Even though we can usually smell a threat before it gets to us, precautions must be made for a quick getaway,” Jonas relays.
    He is one smart cookie when it comes to these things. Over the past couple weeks, I have been able to get a little bit of information about his life. He is a pretty private guy, but he has told me about his family and how they have always been loyal to my father. He claims his great-great grandfather was a commander in my great-great grandfather's army.
    He was raised outside the Collective and trained from birth to play a part in the resistance. He is the oldest of three kids, well two now that his brother was murdered. His other sibling is a twenty-six-year-old sister. He hasn't seen her since she was in her early teens. His parents are both alive and the group lives in hiding because of the Collective's knowledge of their loyalty.
    I grew up in the Collective, and yes, it sucked big hairy pineapples, but I cannot imagine what it must feel like for his and other families that have had to live their lives on the run. Even with all the shit and abuse I had to put up with, I think I ended up on the better side of things.
    “I suppose we better load up,” I say standing and heading for my room.
    “I will be waiting outside for you. Jake is already out there.” That makes me pause. As far as I knew, he didn't pass by us and we are in visual sight of both exits, so I give him my W.T.F. look, indicating I am going to need some further explanation. “Don't ask me why, he went out the window a few minutes ago.”
    I put up my hands in surrender and complete my original path. Obviously, he didn't want me to grill him more on his girlfriend. What a dork.
    Feeling nice, I leave a note before we go for Smitty telling him we will see him back at the ranch.
     

Chapter 11
    The things you see when you don’t have a gun or a priest handy
     
    The trip to the airport is passed mostly in silence. Jonas is deep in thought as usual, probably reliving breaking every bone in some poor saps body. Jake is being the moody teenager he tends to be. I am starting to think someone needs to check his estrogen levels. He is so muscular I cannot tell if he is growing man boobs, but I wouldn't doubt it.
    Left to my own thoughts, which are usually pretty scary, has me thinking about the situation between the Collective and the resistance. From what I gather, we are just doing a bunch of rescue missions, when someone gets kidnapped, and some covert ops work to try to get information on the Collective's movements and plans.
    It is a little too passive aggressive for me. If it were up to me, I would be storming the Bastille at dawn and taking no prisoners. I would start with that punk Tommy and strap him to a board with a mirror in front of it, so he can watch as I remove his entrails. Then, since werewolves are tough motherfuckers to begin with and he is on some super soldier werewolf drug, I would lay the table flat and have him drawn and quartered. Even with his super strength, that should probably do him in, but just to be sure I would saw off his head, stick it on a pike and feed his heart to whoever I can find stupid enough to eat the wretched