Water dumped over the building edge, dousing them when they moved into the spot, followed quickly by birdseed. Then a crate of pigeons and doves were released and they descended onto the pair. Jacqueline screamed as she ducked behind Dayton, who didn’t seem to care. He looked around, searching for something.
He wrenched his arm free from Jacqueline, apparently having enough of her screeches, and marched himself, ignoring the birds as they pecked and pooped on him, to the SUV parked at the end of the block. The paparazzi continued to take pictures of the madness, knowing a front-page story when they saw it. Jacqueline was curled up into a ball now, swatting away the birds as best as possible. Strangers tried to help her, but she only hit them away, apparently not knowing the difference.
Everyone in the conference room laughed at her plight, and a sense of pride filled me that they weren’t mad at my digression from the plan. I beamed, watching as Dayton finally made it to the SUV. The car pulled away as he went to open the door, and not even I had anticipated what would happen next.
Leaning against a flashy sports car in a suit was none other than Atticus himself. I guess he was released from police custody already.
Dayton stopped, and I wished I could see his face. The cameras I had access to were only on his back at the moment. The Siren I had there followed at a reasonable distance, but I wanted to see it all. Quickly, I entered some codes and found a camera on the corner of a building that might give a better angle. When it loaded, it showed a side view of Dayton. He smiled at his son, stopping in his tracks.
“I didn’t think you had it in you, Son.”
Atticus grinned, not breaking his laid-back stance. “Oh, this? This wasn’t me. I’ve been in police custody until five minutes ago, remember? When we left the station, I saw the debacle you were making on social media, and I had to come to see it for myself. You’re everywhere. You won’t be able to escape this for a while. You know, in case you were planning on doing anything shady soon.”
I wished the film was clearer; the grainy angle was not enough to make out the facial expression of the Masked Kingpin. The Siren present continued to sneak around some cars, finding an excellent spot to keep the recording going. Thankfully, she wasn’t filming live any longer in case there were things shared we wouldn’t want everyone to hear. From her spot, I could make out more of his expression and see how red he was getting at the embarrassment of the whole ordeal.
Atticus nodded, and I looked to see what he was referencing when a few men made their way to Dayton. “Looks like you have some messes to clean up, Kingpin. If I were you, I’d remember just who you were dealing with. I’m not some snot-nosed little kid. I’m better than you in every way that counts, and we’ll be the ones standing at the end. So, if you keep coming at me, know this, Father. You. Will. Lose.”
Dayton let out a raucous laugh, throwing his head back. It was all for show as he tried not to show his emotions. Atticus rolled his eyes, climbing into his car just as the men reached Dayton.
We all watched as his car pulled away, and the Siren flipped the camera, coming into view. “Need anything else, Pixel?”
“Nope. Great job, Songbird.” She nodded, hanging up. The video feed on the screen cut off, but was quickly followed by an incoming call. Answering it, I sent it to the screen so everyone could see it.
“I’m guessing you guys were behind that?” Atticus asked as he drove.
“Yep. How did we do?” I asked, typing in some more commands as I shifted the money I’d stolen into a charity.
“It was risky, but I can admit it felt good to see my father sweating. What happened?”
As the rest of the group filled Atticus in, I shut down the bots before setting off another attack on Jacqueline. She’d be finished after this. In a lot of ways, she was the easier of the two. She cared too much about her image and didn’t have the same protections a mafia crime lord did. There would be nowhere for her to go, no money in her accounts, and no standing within her circle. And when she was served with criminal charges tomorrow, there’d be no future for her either. Jacqueline Hanover was toast.
Sitting back, I glanced around the room, the pride of a job well done simmering in my belly. I always dreamed of an environment like this but never fully achieved it back with my family. Perhaps a permanent change of location was in store for me. It might be nice to stay here and feel like a valuable member of the group instead of the annoying Siren who couldn’t even pass seduction training.
I just needed to keep proving myself useful. Turning to Nicco, I kicked his chair with my foot.
“So, Cous, what’s a girl gotta do to get a tattoo?” I wiggled my eyebrows, waiting for him to respond.
“A tattoo, huh?” he asked, rubbing his jaw. “That could be arranged. I’ll call the shop tomorrow and see what my schedule is.”
I nodded, feeling like a plan was coming together. These were my people, and I was glad to have finally found them. Now, I just had to convince Aunt Phea.