Page 22 of Laying Low

Children and young adults were not only heinously bullied by both ICE and street gangs, they were alsoignoredunless they were being exploited.

Reg was pretty sure nobody would get his name, although he also knew he was going to have to borrow somebody’s SUV to get the kids to Vancouver.

All this he knew.He and Dean and Marcus had planned this in between the fight they’d started at the very beginning andwere still havingeven as they finished all the details, like where the SUV was going to come from, because he didn’t want to shove two teenagers in the back of his hybrid for what was going to be a very cramped three-day journey, with few hotels and rest stops on the way.

“He doesn’t need to come!”Reg yelled now, mostly to break up the no/yes/no/yes/no/yes rhythm.He and Dean had been taking turns on the computer as they argued—Dean getting in touch with his buddy who worked for Canada’s version of border security and special circumstances while Reg uplinked and killed different pathways to keep his equipment safe and their location as secret as possible.

“You need backup!”Dean yelled, taking the keyboard from Reg and making a final flourish.“Marcus can’t come with you, Dad’s needed here to relay information, and Prock hates guns!”

“Anthony is teaching me how to shoot,” Reg defended, and Dean snorted.

“Great.I don’t doubt you’re great at it, Reg, but you’re not ready to fire with your left hand out the window while tactical driving with your right hand as you escape bad guys.It’s called riding shotgun for a goddamned reason!”

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!”Anthony yelled as he burst through the door.“This room is soundproofed, you morons, and I’ve been asked to break up the Battle of the Fuckin’ Bulge in the middle of the family den!What’s all this about?”

“My dumbass brother!”they both yelled at the same time, and Dean shoved the keyboard back at Reg while they maintained furious glares.

Marcus cleared his throat.“Dean,” he said courteously while Reg rerouted his uplinks for one more goddamned conversation, “would like his brother to ask you to accompany him on a road trip with two horny teenagers in order to get them to safety.Reg, on the other hand, seems to think that’s an imposition on your time and would like to go by himself.”

Anthony grunted, and Reg couldn’t even spare him a glance, because his secret computer skills had been tested and retested this night and he couldn’t afford to break up his rhythm.

“No, we’re not letting him go by himself,” Anthony said.“Let me call my manager.I take it my dad is needed to meet up with Val for this one?”

“Yeah,” Marcus said.“I’m sorry—”

“No worries.Bailey’s dad is actually registered and certified at small weapons—Bailey ratted him out.Connor would love to come teach classes this week.He brought the kids over while you were waging WWII reenactments.He was in Desert Storm, you know.”

“I did not,” Dean said, looking surprised.

“Well, he’s like the rest of you.Unless it’s worth screaming about through soundproofed walls, apparently it’s not worth talking about.”

Reg actually felt Anthony’s glare at the back of his head.

“Uhm—”

“If you can give me the keys to your apartment, Reg, I’ll go pack for you, then go get my own gear.I just need a—”

“My vehicle’s in the driveway, and Reg’s key is on the ring, marked in blue,” Dean said, digging through his pockets since Reg’s fingers were busy.“Don’t dawdle, McCauley—I want us all under the same roof tonight.”

“Same,” Anthony said.“Reg, you and I get Laure’s old room.Dean, you and Bailey get the foldout bed downstairs with Marcus, and the boys get the guest room in the cottage with Connor.He’s already got them promising no funny business under his watch.It’s cute.”

Goddammit, somebody was trying to track that whole Canada thing, and Reg couldn’t look up right now.He absolutelycouldn’t.

“Uhm, okay,” he said, although he was dying to protest.“Laure’s room?”

Anthony actually came into the den then, and skirting Marcus and Dean, he grabbed Reg’s shoulder, leaned in, and kissed his temple.“Yeah, Reg.Your sister’s room.Where we can sleep in the same bed and talk about why you wouldn’t even ask me to come.”

“Because it’s dangerous,” Reg said, almost sighing in relief as he lost the interloper who kept trying to lock on to his signal.“And I don’t want to drag you into something more dangerous than today.You didn’t sign on for this.”

Anthony was still there, though, his breath stirring Reg’s hair, his lips just grazing the skin.

“I signed on for you, Reg.It’s fine.I’ll be back in two hours.Go to sleep without me if you need to.It’s fine.”

Reg hit the uplink again and shoved the keyboard at Dean, taking him enough by surprise that he actually squeaked.He used his suddenly free hands to cover Anthony’s hand with his own.

“I didn’t want to assume,” he said by way of apology.

“We’ll talk about that too,” Anthony murmured.Then he took one more step into familiarity and kissed Reg’s cheek before squeezing his shoulder and taking his leave.