to change the way we do business all the way around - our team is young. Got a lot at stake here. I heard everybody loud and clear." He briefly glanced at Damali and held her gaze for a moment. "I'm right there with you."
"That's deep," Shabazz said quietly. "Damn, man."
"We need to evolve this operation," Carlos said, leaning forward. "We got teams trying to hold it down, so they need to be able to reach out to us and call us in as their Green Berets, ya know? Like, the way that thing went down ,in Morales, still ain't sitting right with me, man ... they came and helped us, and we lost a lot of good men and women. From this point forward, after the concert to get a beacon on the horizon, they should be calling us to say, 'Yo, we need backup.' Then as the hard-hitting Neteru squad, we go get our people some relief. In and out. Can't lose a whole team again like we lost Brazil." Carlos sat back in his chair hard and rubbed the tension out of his neck and then looked at Damali. "I don't know - that's my two cents. It was off the cuff, on the fly. D ... what's your take? How you think we should play this? Concerts are your specialty; I'm just mapping it out based on old power paradigms I knew."
It took her a moment to make her vocal cords work so she could answer, and a few seconds more to keep from sliding out her seat. He'd blown her mind with an ingenious plan, one that had the best odds of keeping the family safe, and he had yielded the floor, no macho bravado... and had moved furniture all day, too, and was sitting there actually waiting for her plan or endorsement, not just saying that... she could feel the strain in his voice when he'd said it. He wanted her opinion, her view mattered. Talk about evolution -
her mind was singed at the edges from the straight silver charge he'd shot into it. Her throat was dry, her mouth had gone dry, but she had to sit very still and keep her knees together because all the moisture from those sources had collected at the other end of her continuum.
She couldn't believe the words that were forming in her head. Her, a Leo - a Neteru, a Queen. Her breath came out in a rush, coating her reply. It wasn't supposed to, after all, she was co-leader, co-general, partner, but... dang! Could dinner just be over now, and dishes wait 'til the morning?
"Everything he said works for me," she said quietly, then stood up and walked into the kitchen with both of their plates.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Meeting was definitely adjourned. Damali took his plate up from the table for him - in front of the team? He just stared at her retreating form, the way everything just sorta moved in slow-motion beneath her clothes. She'd gone along with his plan - just like that?
No amendments. No drama. Just a clearly stated "What he said" ... Whew. Carlos thought he'd heard Big Mike mumbling something about him and 'Nez had the dishes. That meant him and 'Nez had the kitchen. True, on the surface it was an admirable volunteer move, given 'Nez had cooked, somebody else shoulda had the cleanup with Mike. But no doubt about it, Mike had made the first household claim on community space - message was simple: not here, tonight.
The table was now in the process of getting cleared faster than it had been set. Guardians had almost created what looked like a military sandbag line, passing off casseroles, stacks of silverware, and plates, getting soiled utensils into the sink, dishwasher, and refrigerator so they could move out. Then he watched Damali go MIA. The urge to track and hunt her through the mansion was almost making his hands shake, but he remembered he had to go outside and talk to Yonnie. Yeah, handle your business, first, he told himself, watching the sun kiss the horizon good-bye.
He set the last platter on a side counter by the door, washing the image out of his mind of Mike backing Inez up against the sink. He was out, motion, headed for the mountainside, silver barriers up - tonight was not a night he was trying to drag anything but his own ass home.
"Nice digs, man," Yonnie said over his shoulder as Carlos