“No,” Shade says. “Over time, people begin to suspect. Then, we usually move on.”
“This is the first club we agreed to stay with and take a permanent patch with,” Jackal says. “When we arrived in Colorado, it felt like home. For the first time, we both felt it was the place to try and put down roots.”
I glance out over the snowy fields beyond the ranch. “I know what you mean.”
“You feel like you belong here too?” Shade asks.
I give him a wry smile. “Definebelong here.”
“There’s something about Colorado that speaks to your soul and you want to stay here long enough to figure out what it is, right?” His eyes tell me he knows what I was really saying. That people rarely fully accept me wherever I am.
“Yeah. Something like that.”
“For the record, there’s a low-key undercurrent of acceptance,” Jackal says. “Even though they fuck up on your pronouns, occasionally.”
The coffee pot bubbles and hisses, and I release their hands.
“Finish making the coffee, Wild,” Shade says.
Jackal shoulder checks him gently. “Only because you asked nicely.”
“Wild?” I ask.
“Long story,” Shade says without any further explanation.
There’s a quiet silence as Jackal makes the coffee, asking me how I take it, until the cups appear on the counter.
“I don’t like being left out of the solution,” I say. “It puts me in a box I don’t want to be put in.”
Shade looks over at all the equipment. “Then don’t stay in it. You’re more powerful with those keys than the rest of us are. Do your part.”
“Security. I said I’d set up a full security system with proximity sensors for the club and for Catfish’s mom.”
Jackal turns to smile at Shade. “Remember how you won my mom over?”
“Shut up, Wild.” Shade looks at me. “Not telling you that story either. We should go take a walk through the house, come up with some plans of our own.”
I take my coffee mug over to the table with my laptop on it and make a video call to Vex.
“How’s my favorite troublemaker settling in?” he asks when his face appears on the screen. He’s backlit by neon server lights and looks as though he hasn’t slept for a week.
“I’m taking you up on the offer of helping me help Colorado. I need to secure them.”
Vex’s shoulders relax, as if what I’m asking is less than he was expecting. “What do you need?”
“Everything,” I say, running my fingers over the handle of my coffee mug. “Ground-to-sky coverage. Physical locks. Biometric gates so people can get in and out fast without having to worry about keys. Motion sensors. They’re lucky they have a long road up to the land the clubhouse is on. Basically, a digital and physical fortress layered so deep that the NSA can’t make it inside.”
Vex laughs. “I love it when you talk dirty. I’ll hook you up with an air-gapped system running the custom OS I built for our clubhouse. Real-time monitoring, facial recognition, the works. Do they have a generator?”
“Given the amount of snow we keep getting, I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t have one as standard. But I’ll check.”
“Ask Grudge or Atom. I think we should also consider solar backups with battery storage. I seem to recall Colorado having the clearest blue skies in the summer. A combination of the two will help you live through a siege.”
Just as I’m about to ask another question, Calista throws her arms around Vex’s neck and places her chin on his shoulder.
“You couldn’t wait ten minutes before hijacking this call, could you?” Vex asks, patting Calista’s hands.
Calista’s grin is beautiful. “And let you have all the fun? Plus, you always forget the basics, like network segmentation, when you get overexcited.”
