Prophet: Book One (Princes of Prophecy 1)

by L. Ann Marie

  I look him in the eye and hope I do not get shot right now. “I disobeyed VP. Threatened my crews lead and broke the chain of command not following my own lead.”

  He is watching me and I am scared to death. “Dakota you couldn’t follow a lead that was laughing as you were trying to understand the order. Your crew lead disobeyed you and VP jumped in to settle the fuckin’ Brothers back to some form of professional. This is not on you Brother.”

  “I am, or I was, the command for Prince.”

  Jamie steps closer. “That’s on me Dakota. I allowed them to relax the rules and comment and laugh on air. You did exactly as you were ordered until your command broke down and even then you waited and followed Air Ops command. You did good son, it was the rest of us that fell today. I’m sorry we put you in that position and want you to know it won’t happen again.”

  “You are not going to shoot me?”

  Prez puts his hand on my shoulder and walks me away. They are not shooting me. “No Dakota we aren’t shooting you for saving Bumps, his crew and the military chopper not to mention clearing the threat from two ships. We shoot people for stupid shit.”

  I bend and put my hands on my knees breathing. “I thought I was going to die.”

  Prez laughs. “No Brother we got some Brothers that want to buy you a drink. You did good Dakota.” I keep repeating that until I breathe normally. I stand straight and thank him. “You have one more Op. Are you up for it?”

  “Will the crew follow since I got my lead in trouble with VP?”

  He turns to the chopper. “Dakota has an Op. He needs a crew and a lead.” The men all say they are in.

  Zack is with them. “I’m lead.”

  Prez looks at me smiling. “I knew the unprofessional fucked with your head. The men are proud Dakota, open to them and see. You did a fuckin’ great job Brother. Own it. We have one target left, let’s show them how it’s done right Dakota. I’m your control.”

  I nod. “Roger Prez.” I walk to my chopper and crew. They slap my back and I let them. I thought I was going to die. The zap is good to let me know I am alive. I laugh getting in and Zack asks why. “I thought they were going to shoot me. VP was pissed.” They all laugh.

  “Not at you Brother. I just hope he doesn’t shoot the rest of them.”

  Oh shit. I thank the crew and wish them well in Mohegan then the other crews with VP. Prez guides us to the warehouse up the coast and the doors are open. I lower and Zack peppers inside with his gun. He’s a good gunner hitting everything he can see. This was the destination for the drugs. Prez has me level it. One man crawls out and Rayne shoots him. From beginning to end it takes thirty-five minutes. The other choppers are in and I set down on Princes pad to a cheer. We get everything offloaded and the weapons in a truck for transport to the munitions building.

  The crew is in high spirits. I leave my order for the guns and the maintenance checks. Prez told me to meet them at the Club. In the hangar I get water and decide against changing. I am still so fuckin’ relieved they did not shoot me. I call Jessica and she tells me she is with her mother and Sister having dinner. Her father told them we would be late so they are doing the girl thing. I thought that was nails, but I do not ask her. I tell her I love her she says it back. I am smiling all the way to the Club until I see VP on the step. I hope he is not waiting for me. I ask the ancestors for strength and climb the stairs.

  “No one shoots you. Got my protection, won’t fuck with you anymore either.”

  I breathe then throw him chin. Zack laughs and tells me he owes me a beer. I walk into the Club and get the cheer. Danny and Tiny come over and I tell them just fist bumps. Danny laughs and puts his fist out. I hit his fist and Tiny lifts me in a hug.

  “No!” I hear, but I am being squeezed. Fuck.

  ***

  Jessie

  I see it, but I can’t believe it. Fuckin’ Tiny. Uncle Danny’s trying to get Dakota, but Tiny thinks he’s playing. The fuckin’ giant won’t let him go. “No!” Jesus he’s out. “What the fuck is wrong with you!” He’s still laughing and I pull my gun. “He’s fuckin’ out!” Prez takes him from Tiny and carries him to his rooms down the hall over his fuckin’ shoulder again. “You were told for a fuckin’ reason. I should shoot your fuckin’ ass right here!”

  Uncle Danny takes my gun. “Jessie go with him. I’ll get Cloud.”

  “Get Chevy and Sebastian.” I run. I shouldn’t have left him alone. Fuck. When I run in the room I tell Prez that Chevy and Sebastian are coming. I touch his leg, he’s fuckin’ vibrating again. Jesus! I let go so I don’t make it worse. “Tiny did this? How long did he have him?”

  He runs his hands in his hair. “I think it was a total of the shit he dealt with today. He thought he was going to be shot earlier. I swear to God he believed VP was coming to shoot him.”

  Chevy comes in. “Fuck!” He turns and Sebastian is here with Josiah. “All of us together.” Sebastian chants and I follow. Fuckin’ Brothers. It doesn’t take long for him to stop vibrating. When Sebastian takes his hand off I tell the others to let him go. Prez is pissed.

  He can stand in fuckin’ line. “Why did he think VP was going to shoot him?”

  He stops pacing and I look over, Chevy, Sebastian and Josiah are trying to make it by Tiny. I pull my gun. “One fuckin’ step and I’ll shoot you.”

  He puts his hands up. “I thought Danny took your fuckin’ gun?”

  “I took his. I’m not fuckin’ playing with you Brother. Every fuckin’ Officer knows not to touch him.” Prez stands in front of Tiny. “Sonofabitch!” I lower the gun. “What the fuck were you thinking?” I yell at him.

  “Everyone says he’s like Jeremy. I hug Jeremy all the time Brother I didn’t know he can’t take it. I was just fuckin’ proud of him. You saw the fuckin’ video.”

  “Take a breath Brother he didn’t get it. He does now,” Prez tells me taking Uncle Danny’s gun. “Don’t take mine Jessie.” I step away from him.

  “Why’d he think he’d get shot?” No one ever fuckin’ answered.

  “The leads and command were laughing not answering him. VP got on to stop them from fuckin’ off, but Josiah didn’t change his command. He questioned it, but fuckin’ Cloud and Jamie were still laughing. I had to get on and bring him in. He thought he was in trouble and VP was going to shoot him for disobeying an order and threatening Jake. He doesn’t know the Brothers.”

  Fuck he flew Ops, destroyed the fuckin’ deck of a ship, and didn’t know what to do? That doesn’t sound like Dakota. “Why did he threaten Jake?”

  “VP dealt with him. When he got the order to ready for flight Jake told him to wait so he could get pictures.” He runs his hands in his hair again. “Dakota told him to ready the chopper or he’d dump him out for close ups.”

  “His fuckin’ lead?” Jesus. “They were laughing, didn’t answer then disobeyed his order. Fuck!” I pace.

  “He had a pussy quit his team too. Brothers were fighting to fly with him.” Tiny says and Prez closes the door on him.

  Jesus. “What the fuck happened today?”

  “I want a do over,” Dakota says. It takes me a minute for that to sink in then I laugh.

  “Without the fuckin’ Brothers Dakota. I’ll give you one without all the fuckin’ drama. I love them, but they are more trouble than they are worth sometimes.”

  “You’re right son,” VP says.

  I jump. “Holyfuckinshit will you stop doing that!”

  “No,” he says walking closer to Dakota. I don’t want him touching him, but I don’t want to die today either. “Won’t touch him. Good that you watch out. Would’ve shot Tiny myself, I saw.” He looks at Dakota. “One’s pissed he let you down. Fuckin’ good job when they were playin’ it safe. Could’ve gotten them killed and we lose a chopper. You fixed it. Brothers gettin’ older, not takin’ chances they used to. Watched the feeds saw what you did. Just wantin’ you to know their proud. Glad you’re here. Keep my son safe. Proud of you Dakota.”


  Dakota’s eyes are bugging out, but he nods. “Thank you.” I clench my jaw to keep from laughing. VP walks out and I laugh.

  Dakota sits up and Prez starts pacing. “They’re leaving in the morning. My dad’s right the international pilot could have gotten the whole crew killed. They won’t be on our Ops anymore. I’ll take only the Brothers I trust. I won’t put you out there again, I swear I’ll run your Ops myself if they show again, Dakota.”

  Dakota waves him away. “It was not easy, training and doing are always different. With time I will fly with more teams and have a better understanding of the Brothers. It is just new to me now. I have never had a team.”

  I laugh. “You fuckin’ killed it today. I say we leave you alone and let you work however the fuck you want. It gets the job done in the quickest way possible.”

  Prez agrees. “You okay to come to the bar?”

  He stands up and nods. “I will be fine.”

  I smile. He always says that. “I’ll shoot anyone that comes near you.”

  “No gun,” Prez says.

  I laugh pulling Uncle Danny’s. “You don’t need two.”

  Tiny’s standing at the door when I open it. “Just making sure no one goes near the little Badass.” I put the gun away and laugh. Dakota is six foot, but to a giant I guess that’s little.

  Everyone is trying to buy him a beer. Tiny is yelling at the Brothers to keep the fuck away and Dakota is smiling. He’s not alone and I’m ecstatic the Brothers are showing him that. When Prez tells him to whistle he lets out a war cry making me spit my beer across the bar. It reminds me of the helium beer.

  Since Dakota’s brewery bottles don’t have labels when they’re shipped here me and Brantley switched out four bottles of home brew for the helium beer we ordered as a gag. I lean over and tell the Prospect to get me two of the home brew that have tape on them. He’s scared to death, but does. He comes back and hands them to me. I pull the tape and wait for Prez to finish.

  He tells us about the Ops today and that DeMarco is no longer a threat to us. I’m sure the cheer was heard across town. He thanks the MC and Baxters for their support in making that happen. I’m surprised when he brings up Dakota, but he tells the Brothers he’s always worked alone and thanks him for flying with the team and saving the chopper and Brothers onboard. Another cheer goes up and Prez tells everyone to have some fun because tomorrow it’s back to work as usual. I’m watching Dakota and laugh. He looks relieved.

  I hand Tiny one of the beers and VP grabs the other. Oh shit. I turn. “VP you might want to hold off on that one.” He looks at me then smiles and hands it to Geek. Thank God, he would have killed me. A Club chick squeezes her way into the Officers and Tiny tries to yell at her. He sounds like Mickey Mouse and the Officers are doubled over laughing.

  “What the fuck!” he says in the Mickey voice. I can’t stop laughing. Geek laughs sounding like Minnie and everyone loses it. Tiny’s yelling, but I have no clue what the fuck he’s saying. There’s something about that little squeaky voice coming out of the big man that has me doubled over. Uncle Danny knows it’s the beer and is fighting Tiny to try it. Prez is just shaking his head making me laugh more. Tiny yells, “Get your own fuckin’ beer!” in the little voice and I think I’m going to piss myself.

  Geek finally gets it and gives the bottle to Uncle Danny. He tells the Club chick to back the fuck away in a cartoon voice and everyone laughs. Tiny points her away from us and the Officers are passing around the bottles. It’s not so funny anymore so I tell Prez we’re out and pull Dakota away to get some dinner. It’s been a fuckin’ day.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Two weeks

  Jessie

  I walk into Ops and Brantley turns to his computer. He’s still avoiding me, but he won’t ever text our business a-fuckin’-gain. Prez throws me chin with a smile. He never gave me shit for Brantley. He finishes with Sheila and turns to me. Sheila pegs me a finger. “Guess she’s still pissed.”

  Prez shakes his head. “She almost shot him and it scared the fuck out of her. That’s not something that happens every day.”

  “She should know the pop ups inside and out. If she aimed at him that’s on her.” He looks at me like I’m deranged. “What? She runs them every fuckin’ day. If I saw someone hanging from the ceiling I wouldn’t shoot first. It wasn’t like I covered his face. She fuckin’ knows a Brother and shouldn’t be pointing a gun at him.”

  He nods. “We should change them up. I’m bored with them.” I follow him to his office. “You know who’s going with you yet?”

  I smile. Fuckin’ Dakota is as Badass as it gets. “Yeah. Uncle Danny, Tiny and Jake.”

  “Jake?”

  I wave it away. “He apologized once Rayne cut him down. Dakota is easy.” He shakes his head. VP had him on the flagpole when we pulled in that night. It was classic VP. My dad told him he’s lucky we didn’t have any C-4. Jake apologized and Dakota accepted, but won’t work with him again. He really thought he was going to get shot.

  “When you get back I have two jobs. I’ll send you both back to back, but they need to be done right away. We’ll meet the morning you’re back to work. Taylor is due back that same week. I’ll give him some time with the family then take you off training. He’s going to love working with Dakota.” He sits then I do.

  “We need to meet and decide what to do with all the fuckin’ applications coming in. I’m not going to lie, I’ll miss training, but we got Nomads, other Chapters, and Prospect applications piling up. The MC has Associates asking if we’ll take them.”

  “I’m not doing any more of them. Let it wait until Taylor is in then you can look at them. I’m not sure I want Associates we have enough on our plate without creating shit. That reminds me did you see what Dakota is planning for the ship?” I smile thinking about how he got it. He traded a business for the ship that he almost destroyed. They had it sanded and cleaned and now have a Casino Dinner Cruise company planned.

  I laugh. “Yeah. Jess is going crazy with the state of the art shit. I don’t even understand half of what they’re talking about.”

  “Rayne went in with him. He has a captain and crew lined up. It’s going to make a fortune.”

  “They’re outfitting schools with it, they aren’t taking anything, but the startup and maintenance.” I’m surprised he doesn’t know. Dakota said he told him, but he looks surprised.

  “Fuckin’ Dakota.” He laughs. “He said something about teaching our kids to be better human beings. I had no fuckin’ clue he meant literally.”

  I crack up. “I’m learning most of his words are meant literally.”

  “You’re happy Brother. It’s good to see it.”

  “Yeah I am. You want to tell me why I’m here and not home with Jess and Dakota?” I was off today so him calling me in is not for chit chat.

  He blows out a breath. “Darren’s speech is getting worse. I wanted to ask if you thought Jess would look at his earpieces.”

  “I would, but he thinks Jess thinks of him as a project. I asked Mitch if she could talk to him. She made new pieces for him and has him up there today. He didn’t tell you?”

  He looks surprised again. “No, he said he was meeting with Ricky and having dinner with the family.”

  “It embarrasses him. I don’t know why the fuck it would, but it does. Mitch thinks the old pieces may be too small. She wasn’t worried.”

  “Thanks Brother. I have no clue what the fuck is going on anymore.” He looks relieved.

  “That’s what we’re for Prez.” He laughs. “If there’s nothing else I need to pack for our wedding.”

  “Go. Thank fuck you’re getting married. If I have to explain to one more Brother you’re not marrying Dakota I’m buying you a fuckin’ thesaurus. You need to pick your words better Brother.”

  “I’m marrying him just as much as I’m marrying Jess.”

  “Brother you’re committing to the relationship, not marrying fuckin’ Dakota.”

&
nbsp; I don’t get why this pisses him off. “If I were gay you wouldn’t have a problem with it.”

  He laughs. “You wouldn’t be shooting people when they make comments.”

  “What the fuck ever. They should know not to say stupid shit. I need to get back. I wish you were going to be there, but Jess didn’t want the circus here. I can’t blame her; the fuckin’ ‘rents are nuts with the weddings.”

  He gets up and hugs me. “We got the feed up so we can watch Brother. Go. Get married, make some money and get back here so I can breathe easy.”

  “Love ya Prez.”

  “Me too Brother. Me too.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Two days

  Las Vegas

  Eagle Eye

  I walk out of the room to go meet Jessie and my father is standing in the hall stopping me in my tracks. “You came.” I hug him and he is surprised. “I am happy you are here. Did my mother come with you?”

  “Yes, she is with the women. Mitch brought her to meet your bride.” He sounds disappointed.

  “We have been to the reservation many times. You are never there.”

  He nods. “I’ve been with the Council. There was some land that needed to be protected. They wanted to put a pipeline through it, but we saved it this time.”

  “I am proud of your work father.”

  “If you want me to understand you, I need more lessons. Is this my new in-law?” Jessie asks making me laugh. My father just watches me.

  “Jessie this is my father. Father Jessie LaPonte-James.” My father just looks at him.

  “I remember you; you flew with the crew to the other reservation. I was on with the kids,” Jessie says taking his hand and shaking it. I almost laugh.

  My father looks at me with a question. I am not answering until he voices it. Jessie will get a kick out of it. “Yes, I was there. Is this who you are marrying?”

  Jessie cracks up, “The other Jess, but I’m the other husband.” He looks at me. “Does he need more go-go juice?”