Jo’s heart was beating out of her chest as she stepped past her grandmother and walked toward her father. He didn’t move, only stood there with his hands on his hips, his head dipped slightly, as if he were searching for words or struggling with emotions. He looked thinner than he had the last time she saw him, maybe even a little gaunt in the face, like instead of eating once or twice a week like he usually did, he wasn’t eating at all. Had she done that to him? Or was it the weight of everything else?About two feet in front of him, she stopped, his eyes locking on to hers as she fought to put a sentence together. When her lips parted, she only got the first syllable of “Hello” out before his strong arms were around her, pulling her close and holding her tight like he had when she was a little girl with a scraped knee or a bad dream. Jo stood still, a petrified tree, for a few moments before the surprise wore off enough fo

Her grandparents’ dining room became a makeshift board room. Jo sat in the corner, between Zane and Brandon, trying to be inconspicuous. After the conversation she’d had with her father, Jo had washed her face and built back the part of her wall he’d managed to bring crumbling down. But now, as more and more LIGHTS team members made their way into the room for the meeting, the last thing she wanted was to appear weak. So she found her resting bitch face and kept her mouth shut, something she hoped she’d be able to do no matter how long this lasted or what topics they touched on.Some of the people who joined them were familiar; others she knew she’d never met before while a few were legendary. Her dad knew she wanted to lay low, so the few times people asked which one was his daughter, he’d gestured in her direction but hadn’t insisted she get up and come over, which Jo was happy about. She did her best to act as

The sound of conversation and laughter poured out of the house so loudly, Jo thought the neighbors might call the cops if someone didn’t make the loudmouths tone it down a little bit--especially Elliott whose laughter was noisy enough to wake the undead.She took a sip of her beer and set the bottle back by her boot. The sky here was even more polluted by light than it was in the city since most of Denver was desolate now. Hardly any of the stars were bright enough to compete, but those that did made her wonder for a split second if it was possible her dad was right, and her mom was stuck between them somewhere. She dismissed the idea and took another swig of the alcohol, wishing it would do something--anything—for her.The door behind her creaked open, causing her head to whip around. Relief washed over her when she saw it was Zane--not her dad. Or Cadon. Or Scott. Zane had two bottles of Bud in his hand. “Mind if I j

Flying on small planes was nothing new to Jo, but this one was even tinier than the ones she remembered traveling on when she was younger, and she doubted she’d have much of a chance to speak to Cassidy without everyone else hearing while they were in such cramped quarters.The plane seated four besides the pilot and the co-pilot. She climbed in next to Zane with Brandon and Cassidy behind them, and hooked her seatbelt. It would be a long flight with several fuel stops, but Jo decided not to drink too much since there was no bathroom on board, and she doubted they’d be stopping frequently enough to accommodate too much water in any one bladder. She couldn’t help but wonder if her brother was on a nicer plane, one with a restroom, maybe even seats that reclined. No one else was complaining, so Jo didn’t either, but the seat was uncomfortable, and she had no idea how the guys were managing to squeeze their longer legs in behind the

The Russian soldier standing next to Brandon’s window barked orders at them in a language none of them spoke, though their IACs were capable of translating what he was saying. That didn’t help in replying. Brandon said, “English,” politely about ten times before he finally held up his badge for the gun toting militant to see. This guy was more of a boy than a man, maybe nineteen at best. Jo fought the urge to reach inside her jacket pocket and finger the cold steel she had strapped there. She caught Cassidy’s eyes and knew the Hybrid was considering tossing all of them out of the way.Once the soldier boy had the badge in his paw, he shouted for a few of his comrades to come over. They looked at it, exchanged some speculative jibes with each other in their native tongue, laughed and then, in broken English, a different soldier, one a little older than the other said, “You all LIGHTS, eh?”&ldquo