Beast, Part Two (The Church #5)

Plans

chapter Twenty-five

Beast

W e’d been back at the ghost house a few hours after the funeral. Everyone was in their own space.

Summer was trying to keep Gabe occupied. He went into a shell after the funeral. Not even Emory and the dogs could get him to come out of it.

I was in the dining room sitting at the table staring at the wall. My mind was blank but full at the same time. I was trying to turn over in my head how I was going to leave and finish this fight alone.

“Plotting your escape?” Maksim asks, drawing my attention to him.

I had no idea he had walked in. He was leaning up against the doorframe with a water bottle in his hands.

“I’m not escaping.”

He shrugs before pushing away from the door. “Do you know I am only three months older than you?”

I don’t respond. Maksim and I have yet to talk about anything personal about ourselves. Not sure why he thinks it appropriate now.

“I never really felt close to my siblings. I loved them, but there was always a disconnect. The first time I spoke to you on the phone, I felt as if I was speaking to someone I’d known all my life. Do you want to know why?”

Leaning back in my chair, I run my hand down my face. “No.”

He laughs as he takes a seat across from me. “It’s because we are more alike than you know. I know I would’ve questioned myself if I had seen my father shot dead in front of me. I would have tried to figure out what I could have done differently. And in the end, I would’ve been so blinded by guilt that I wouldn’t be able to think straight. Might have even considered a suicide mission.”

Maksim’s eyes narrow at me. I clench my teeth together, not liking how well he just read my thoughts.

“Someone has to pay,” I grit out.

“And it better fucking not be you.”

I turn to the doorway to find Hawk, Lucien, Zel, and Many watching me. Looking away from them, I stare back at the wall.

“It’s my fault. I should have taken the shot. If I had, Priest would still be here. I don’t get to survive when he didn’t.”

“And so you’ll leave Gabe to feel like us?” Zel asks, walking further into the dining room. “That’s bullshit, Beast, and you know it.”

“I can’t look at them,” I say slamming my hand down on the table.

“Who?” Hawk asks.

“Albany and Charlie. I can’t face them knowing what I did?”

“And what did you do?”

We all turn to the sound of Albany’s voice. She hikes her brow at me.

“I’m not in the mood for a pity party, Beast. I’m going to say this one time and one time only: you did nothing wrong. You taking the shot at Corbyn or not wouldn’t have prevented that bitch from shooting Nathaniel. Before you even showed up at the function, that was the plan. They lured you and Nathaniel to that parking lot for that reason. It’s why he came back. It was a setup from the start.”

We all looked away, feeling guilty.

“I shouldn’t have pushed us to go after him,” Lucien says in a low tone. “Priest was right, we weren’t prepared.”

“But now we are,” Albany says lifting her head. “What’s the first lesson Nathaniel taught you? Before he told you to check for entrances and exits. Before he ever put a weapon in your hand, what did he teach you?”

“That we were a team,” Many speaks for the first time since the day Priest died. “He taught us we were brothers.”

Albany nods. “The reason the Church hated him so much was because he had the secret formula. You guys aren’t great killers because you’re blind, or have a split personality, or forms of schizophrenia. You’re great killers because a man that loved you, a man that thought of you as his sons, poured into you. He made you believe that you could do anything in this world.”

We all look away from her. She’s right. Every time a new Priest tried to bring in a blind kid, or an autistic kid, or a kid with some form of mental disorder, they never turned out like us. Everyone tried to copy Priest’s formula. But they never understood what made us so great.

“Even Corbyn tried to duplicate what Priest did with you guys,” Maksim says. “He thought he got close, but me and my siblings never cared for each other the way you guys do. We don’t work like you do.”

Albany steps further into the room. “The last three months you guys forgot the first lesson he taught you. I know you all have families and your own people to look out for, but to Nathaniel you were still his boys and his priority. Every decision he made was not just for me and Charlie but you guys and your families.

“The house in Georgia, came fully stocked with a nursery and around the clock care for Malia, Brooklyn, and Ari. He made sure that they would have the best OBGYN in the city at their beck and call.”

Hawk drops his head. Lucien and Many both look away from Albany.

“The last three months all any of you could think about were yourselves. That’s not what he taught you.”

She’s right. Every decision we’ve made since the excommunication has been for our own benefit. We weren’t working together. Hell, I was so caught up battling the demon in my head I didn’t think about anything else.

“If we need to, we can send the girls away,” Hawk says.

“It’s too late for that,” Albany sighs. “Besides, we all need each other right now.”

“So how do we fix it?” Zel asks.

“By doing it together,” I say looking up at the faces around me.

“Exactly,” Albany agrees. “We need to put our heads together and come up with a plan. Not just making decisions based off our own emotions. Yes, we are angry and hurt right now, but that’s not going to help us win this battle. We need a solid plan. What do we know about Corbyn?”

“He’s smart,” Hawk says. “And patient.”

That’s been proven by how long it took him to come out of hiding. We were so ready to go after him after Yohan shot Summer. However, he never showed himself even though he had the upper hand. He waited until we were so desperate we wouldn’t stop to think if it was a setup or not. We ran headfirst into his scheme.

“His money and influence run deep,” Lucien says dropping down in a seat.

“But he’s not the muscle,” Zel states, leaning against the back wall. “He surrounds himself with his paid bodyguards and his kids. I bet if you get him by himself, he’s defenseless.”

“How do we do that?” Lucien asks. “He will never be without his guards or one of his kids.”

Maksim rubs his chin. “Then we eliminate his protection.”

We all turn to look at him.

“You sure you’re up for that?” I wasn’t dumb. Although Maksim and I have grown somewhat close over the last few months, I won’t act as if he doesn’t have a connection with his siblings. What he is suggesting means we take them out. He has to draw a line in the sand and decide which side he’s going to stand on.

He shakes his head. “If I thought I could save them, I would. Trust me, I tried before I left. The damage Corbyn did to them can’t be undone.”

“Yours was,” I reply.

He nods. “Torture does that to you. Also, like I told you, I’ve always been different. If you want to know what side I’m on, I’m with you. I’m with all of you.” he says looking around at all of us.

“Good,” Albany says pulling a chair out and taking a seat. “Because I want to know every sibling you have, and I want to know everything about them. Many, grab that dry erase board.”

Many goes to the corner of the room and rolls out the giant whiteboard we’d been using to keep track of the names on that excommunication order. He wipes off the words on the board before grabbing the black marker.

“There are eight left,” Maksim says. “Micah, Zeke, Adam, Nolan, Archie, Evan, Yohan, and Victoria.”

Many writes all eight names on the board.

“I want Victoria,” Albany says with a growl. “No one touches her.”

Maksim shakes his head. “Don’t set your sights on the last two. They are Corbyn’s favorites. He will keep them closest to him.”

“Then we start with the others. Who’s the easiest target?” Lucien asks.

“I know what you’re capable of,” Maksim says. “But I don’t want you to get ahead of yourselves. My siblings are well trained. Just as well as all of you. This won’t be easy.”

“Yeah, but didn’t Beast take out two of them by himself?” Hawk asks.

“I did, but that’s because they were arrogant. They weren’t expecting me to be a step ahead of them. We won’t have that advantage this time.”

“He’s right,” Albany says. “We take nothing for granted. We have to be smart about our attacks. The goal is to pin Corbyn against a wall. A trapped rodent will always make a mistake.”

“If we take away his protection, he will tuck his tail and hide and you will never be able to figure out where he is,” Maksim says. “Corbyn owns properties all over the world. He can go from one house to another. I know about most, but he has one or two that no one knows the location to. It will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

“Then let’s remove some of the hay,” I say as the thought hits me. “The goal is to trap him where we want him. Let’s lure him into his own trap. We burn down all his hideaway houses that you know leaving only one or two. It will force him to take refuge in one of those two houses.”

“You said there are only two you don’t know right?” Lucien asks. Maksim nods.

“Then we eliminate all the others. It will give him a sense of false protection. If we can narrow the search down to one or two places, I promise me and Kyra can track him down.”

“Who are we going to get to attack the homes? It’s not smart for us to separate, plus Maksim said some of those places are overseas,” Hawk states.

“D.O.E has already offered their services,” Albany says. “They try to stay out of Church business. But this is personal. They will do it for me.”

“Cardinal Thomas and Trigger Gates both offered their services as well. They said they are here for whatever we need,” Zel offers.

It’s good to know that Priest still had some true friends in the Church. It wasn’t just our lives he impacted.

“I’ll give you the list of all the safe houses I know,” Maksim tells Albany.

She dips her chin at him.

“With that out of the way, who’s our first target?” Lucien asks.

Maksim rubs a hand down his face as he looks over at the whiteboard. “We will start with Zeke. He’s the most likely to be alone. It won’t be easy, though. He lives a solitary life.”

“He has to come out of his house for something,” Hawk says.

“Running,” Maksim replies. “He does it every night, but he always picks random times and spots around the city. Corbyn always taught us to never form routines.”

“So, all we have to do is track his movements and follow him to wherever he runs.”

“Still won’t be easy,” Maksim says, responding to my statement. “The moment he spots anyone near him he will be tipped off. Zeke is paranoid. He doesn’t trust anyone, man, woman, or child?”

“There has to be some way to get close enough to him,” Zel says.

Maksim shrugs. “He likes animals.”

Many chuckles, pulling my attention to him. “I think we will take care of this one.”