School of Fish (Fish Out of Water #6) - Amy Lane Page 0,103

mob. They wanted to silence him and basically let him get eaten by the prison system, so they threatened the kids and then shipped them off anyway.”

“That’s reprehensible.” It sounded like her throat had turned to concrete, and Ellery didn’t blame her. He and Jackson had been dealing with that feeling for the last two days.

“It is. And Ace and Jai rescued the kids and then called their friend Burton, who probably told his CO—”

“Colonel Jason Constance,” she supplied.

“Yes, ma’am. And Constance is a good guy. He came to help fetch the children and was told that they were going to be used as bait to get the attention of the mob boss in Vegas who was selling kids.”

“Oh no,” Taylor groaned.

“Oh yes. I don’t imagine he’d take to that idea too well. I….” Jackson grimaced, and Ellery gave him a look.

“What?” Ellery mouthed.

“Later,” Jackson mouthed back. Then, into the phone, he said, “Well, I believe Constance found another way to address the guy in Vegas, and he decided to escort the children back to Sacramento himself.”

But Ellery’s mother was a long way from stupid. “Another way to address the situation in Vegas?” she asked archly.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Would you know of any of the particulars involved in that?” she asked.

Jackson grimaced. “Particulars?” He gave Ellery a helpless look. “Ma’am, would you want to know any of the particulars involved in that?”

There was a silence on the line that lasted at least six thousand years.

“Perhaps not,” Taylor said at last. “So you are going to help your friend deliver the children?”

“That was the plan, ma’am,” Jackson said, and Ellery arched an eyebrow at him. “I was going to tell you later,” he murmured.

Well, fine. For once they’d put the relationship first. Sue them.

“Good, then. After he’s done that, perhaps you’d offer to find him a place, an isolated sort of place, where nobody would possibly look for him. Some place out of the way. Low key. Give it a month, at least. Treat it like a vacation.”

Jackson’s eyebrows shot upward. “You want us to send Jason Constance to a cabin in the woods for a month?”

“That would be best, yes,” Ellery’s mother said. “I’m sure you can think of the particulars. By the time he comes back, I would imagine this entire situation would have blown over.”

“Okay, sure,” Jackson said, holding up his hands. “I, uh… well, we’ll think of something.”

“I’m sure you will, dear boy.”

Ellery rolled his eyes. His mother really did adore Jackson. Apparently he’d almost upended the whole of the Washington, DC, military complex, and he got pat on the head.

“Ellery, you’ll help him?” Taylor confirmed.

“Of course, Mother,” Ellery said on a sigh.

“Good. Well, it’s really very late here. I’ll leave you two boys to hash things out on your end. You’re doing well, I trust?”

And suddenly Ellery’s earlier glow was back. He smiled at Jackson, who looked away with a crescent of color on his cheeks. “Yes. We’re doing very well.”

“Jackson’s not overdoing it?”

“Of course he is,” Ellery said, still smiling at him. “But he also really did come home to rest. I don’t think he meant to cause quite so much havoc on the phone while he was here.”

Jackson looked up and nodded enthusiastically, and Ellery brushed his lower lip with a careful thumb. The man just couldn’t sit still—but he’d try.

“Well, good,” his mother said softly. “Jackson?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Remember you’re loved. Don’t roll your eyes at me, young man. It’s a true thing. We look forward to seeing you two over winter break. Jackson, you still have to bring a Hanukkah gift. You know that happens every year.”

Jackson snickered into Ellery’s shoulder. “I do know that.”

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten your birthday. There will be a card and a gift in the mail.”

Ellery actually heard him swallow. “That’s kind, uhm, Lucy.”

“That’s my boy.” Ellery had seen the card she’d sent him last year, right when he’d gotten out of the hospital. It had been a week or two late, but then, he and Jackson had really just gotten together. She’d signed it “Lucy Satan,” Jackson’s personal name for her. It may not have been flattering, but she had apparently claimed it as hers.

“Bye, boys. Try not to get into too much trouble. We love you.”

“Love you, Mother!”

“Bye, Lucy Satan!”

Ellery hung up and looked at him grimly. “So, what was the part you didn’t want to tell her over the phone.”

Jackson’s face screwed up in a grimace. “It involved Burton, Ace, Jai, a few sniper rounds, and some