Page 7 of The Wolf and the Monarch

Benji scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. “I resent that. I’m better at computers than you think.”

“And who do you have to thank for that?” Andi pointed at herself, “me.”

He rolled his eyes. “So modest.”

“It’s true! You’d know nothing if it weren’t for me.” Benji hated to admit that she was right, but she was. No one else could do anything near what Andi could. She was really good at her job.

“Well, it’s not my fault you haven’t taught me much lately.”

“We’ve been busy.” Andi shrugged before she fell silent so that she could focus on the program, she needed to make sure it worked properly for her brother. He imagined the last thing she wanted was for that to be the reason why everything went wrong.

Benji took that as his cue to leave her to it. Standing up, he quietly left the room to prepare for the flight.

Chapter Four

Benji

Benji walked into the gear closet, which was really an entire room, but closet seemed more apt considering it wasn’t used for anything else. They had all sorts of clothing and gear in there, depending on the weather or need. Knowing that he was going to be out in the snow, he felt that white was the better choice than his typical black. He didn’t particularly like wearing white but it wasn’t about fashion, it was about stealth and safety. Walking over towards the winter section of the closet, he began to sift through the selection, pondering about what would be the best thing to wear from there.

He immediately pulled out a pair of white cargo pants and threw them over his arm. Those were a necessity. He then grabbed out a thermal undershirt and a winter vest. Those would have to do. A full blown coat was just far too cumbersome for him. He wandered over towards the boot section and grabbed a pair of white snow boots as well and huffed. The irony of the freeze baby being the one having to traverse through the cold Philadelphian snow was not lost on him. But, such was life. He would do what he had to.

Once he was satisfied with his clothing, he began to sift through the tactical gear. The selection was really quite impressive. Spence really did hook them up with the best of the best. Benji grabbed some gloves, a couple knives, a pistol with a silencer with the appropriate ammo, and a flashlight, just in case. He’d rather have and not need it than be left in the dark. Unfortunately for him, no amount of training could make him see in the dark.

He wasn’t sure when they were leaving but he didn’t feel like walking around with all the things he gathered so he took the time to change. Looking in the mirror in the bathroom, he shook his head as he slipped the gun into the holster on his hip. White just was not his color. It washed him out so badly. On the vest, he slipped the two knives and flashlight into their designated slots then began to lace up the boots, which wound up taking the most time. They were tight to begin with so he had to basically unlace them completely just to get them on. Once on, he jumped up and down a few times to attempt to break them in just a bit then stepped out of the bathroom with his normal attire in his arms. Benji returned to the office and threw his clothes onto his desk and plopped down into his chair. The only other person in the room was his dad, who was currently focused on something else entirely so he didn’t even bother to say anything.

The two sat in silence for quite a while, which was fine with him. Not every minute of the day had to be filled with some sort of sound. Soon enough however, he heard his dad shifting more than he had been and when Benji looked up from his phone, he saw him staring at him. He blinked a couple times and put his phone down. “What’s up?” he asked. Clearly it was something.

Matthew huffed. “Just wanted to make sure you’re good with this.”

“Yeah,” Benji nodded. “I’m so ready for it. And, really, it’s just another mission, right?”

“Your sister doesn’t seem to think so,” he shook his head. “I wouldn’t agree to anything that I didn’t think was a good idea or good for the business. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, Dad. I do.” The business was usually Matthew’s top priority. Of course he cared about them but making sure they were still good with the everyone who hired them was also something he cared deeply about. Benji understood. They were the source of their paychecks. Without them, the whole operation was moot. “I can do this.”

Standing up from his desk, his dad crossed the room and stood in front of Benji, holding out his arms, and said “give your old man a hug, would ya?”

He couldn’t help but chuckle as he stood up and wrapped his arms around his dad. Compared to the rest of his family, besides Andi, Benji was rather short so the top of his head was basically resting at his dad’s chin. Matthew immediately returned the gesture and squeezed Benji tight. “If I didn’t think you could do this, I wouldn’t send you in.” Those words hung heavy in the air. Benji knew his father was serious about that too. “But it’s going to be easy. Get in, get out. No more than a half hour in there.”

He nodded. “I got it.”

“I know you do,” Matthew pressed a kiss to his temple and pulled back, placing his hands on his shoulders. When Benji looked up to him, his eyes were glassy, which wasn’t something he was used to seeing.

“Dad…”

Matthew smiled. “I’m just proud of you, Benji. You’ve come a long way, kiddo. That’s all,” He quickly pulled back and huffed. “Plane takes off in two hours.”

Sitting at the table in the center of the room, Benji was playing a game of rummy with Travis and Spence, just to pass the time before they had to drive to the tarmac. With their line of work, they had a tarmac and small six seater plane that was reserved specifically for them from the military. It was pretty cool, honestly. From the corner of his eye, he spotted his sister walking into the room and before he knew it, she was standing beside him with a USB drive and a key card held towards him. “All set,” she smirked. “I made it so easy to use that even you can figure it out.”

Benji rolled his eyes and grabbed them both, immediately slipping it into a pocket in his vest. “You’re making it sound like I don’t know how a computer works.”

“You don’t.”

“Bullshit. I’m better than the rest of them here.”

Andi immediately laughed and swatted at his arm. “I’m just messing with you. But it is super easy. Just plug it in and pull the program from the drive onto the computer. As soon as you open it up, I’ll be able to remote into the computer and do what I need to do.”

“I don’t need to install it?” He asked, his brow raising.