Angus shouldered Dakota easily. "What do you want?" he asked Dakota. She babbled back at him and he frowned. "But you just ate," he replied. She babbled back at him in response. He groaned. "You realize I'm spoiling you, right?" he asked her. She began chattering at him, and he took her into the kitchen.
"Cookie," Brian grinned. "That girl is working him."
"She can have all the cookies she wants," Khaat said.
"No she can't," Brian said. "I refuse to let you spoil either of them rotten. Alright. So we need to send them a message. Then, if we do that, I say we strike at the core of Gelding's operation. I say we strike right at his Paris headquarters. Lets take it out. In order to do that, we'll need to send the men ahead to be sure that there are no children inside. Once we know that we're clear, let's just go in and take it out. And I'll wipe out both their bank accounts again. That and the accounts of anyone associated with them. That'll make it hard for them to regroup. No money, no resources, no place to operate out of, might even take out Burke and Gelding's mansions in Paris. Let them be homeless for awhile. Find everything we can do to make them worthless to the trafficking industry. If we can't kill them, we can, at the very least put them out of business for awhile."
"If you do this, I want in. I don't want to be sheltered," Khaat said. "I'm a fighter. Lets keep the girls safe and lets go get them."
"If we do this, we're not going alone. We're taking your father along. He's their chief target. We need him as the primary bait. He knows that. And believe me, he can take care of himself and distract them long enough that we can do our jobs. If we do this, we need him," Brian said. She looked at Brian, uncertain she wanted to risk her father for this.
"This isn't about you," Angus said to Khaat, returning with Dakota, who was now happily munching on a cookie. He handed one to Abbey as well. "This has never been about you, Khaat. This is about Robert Lupin and the trail of dead bodies he's left behind him. Noble as his cause has been, he's created enemies. He needs to be allowed to be part of his own fight. It'll never be over until he settles it once and for all."
She sat down, overwhelmed, unwilling to think of a world without her father in it.
"You haven't lost anyone yet," Brian said. "And I'm not planning on losing anybody. Stop grieving for something that hasn't happened."
by 
