into view, but I don’t look to closely. Instead I am shoving Bones to the side, and putting my hand on Elda’s arm that’s holding the gun.
It’s clear that she isn’t a novice gunman when her finger doesn’t react to my touch, nor does her arm when my hand is placed there. She doesn’t even take her eyes off of her father when I touch her.
“Elda, this is your father.”
She doesn’t react to my words externally, but the tension seems to slowly unwind from her.
I look at my boss, and then quickly look away. He’s wiping tears from his eyes, like a man who’s looking at the most sublime landscape before him.
“Hiya Boss,” Tony says, smiling in the doorway of the apartment, further breaking some of the tension.
Alonzo gets a hold of himself quickly, though his voice is still thick when he says, “Good job boys, you’ve brought my lost girl home.”
I notice Bones clench is teeth a moment before I hear Elda breath out a long suffered sigh. She finally lowers the gun, and holsters it, in an honest to God bra holster by lifting her crop top and clicking it into place under the band between her breasts. She doesn’t seem to give a wink about us men standing around her, as she adjust the bra into what I’m assuming is a more comfortable position, and a part of me, a part I try to beat down with a stick, finds her uncaring attitude attractive as all get out. Just the fact that she’d held a gun on my boss should have had me freaking out.
“Technically, you’re in my home,” she says, and Alonzo surprised me yet again by giving a loud laugh.
“You are just like your mother,” he says, and at that she finally smiles, but she looks away from him to look at Bones.
“Come on big guy, put the gun down, no shooting my long lost daddy and all,” her voice is carefully joking and Bones rolls his eyes at her before slowly lowering his weapon.
Alonzo stands up from his perch on her couch, and I see his eyes flit to Cobra for a moment before focusing back on his daughter.
“Hello Elda, I am Alonzo Conti, as I’m sure you’ve gathered. I am your father.”
Elda sits down in a chair I didn’t notice, slightly shaking her head, and while some of the frost in her gaze has waned, a slow burning anger seems to be swirling in the dark orbs now.
She gives a chuckle, surprising both Alonzo and I, I can tell from Alonzo’s tilted head, like his examining something unexpected.
“Sorry,” she chuckles again, “that was just a little too Darth Vader for me.”
She takes a deep breath, trying to get herself together.
“Sorry, again, but at this point it’s find something amusing or shoot something, and since the latter isn’t really an option now that I know you aren’t some other crew with a death wish, I gotta burn the adrenaline off somehow.”
“Other Crew?” Alonzo asks.
Shit, I hadn’t told him about her crew status. I’m not worried about his reaction, exactly, but I wanted time to explain it so he didn’t take out his potential irritation at her being in even the slightest danger out on Cobra until he could see that Cobra had actually done him a favor. Having searched for her for twenty years I knew full well just how overactive his imagination can be when it comes to his own mental picture for how he imagined her to be fairing, and anything resulting with potential harm was always blown out of proportion at first glance.
“Boss,” I try to cut in but she’s got his full attention so he disregards my voice.
“Yeah, this is Phoenix Crews founding members right here,” she gestures to Cobra and Bones, and of course Bones grins, because I’m sure he thinks this whole thing is amusing. Cobras face is blank, probably trying to anticipate whatever Alonzo was going to do, but at this point even I couldn’t quite gage where Alonzo was sitting on the meter of rational decisions and irrational ones.
So I was surprised when his gaze swings to Cobra, and before can blink, he’s drawn the gun from the small of his back and has it pointed in Cobra’s face. Alonzo’s face is a mask of partially concealed rage and betrayal. I’d heard the stories of how close they were in their childhoods and teen years, and no one but the two of them knew what had