South Mountain Pack Ch. 14

"Anybody who doesn't want their youngsters included in the meeting, please send them to the observation room," Carlo said as he looked over the crowd. Nobody moved, all the youngsters who were able to understand what was going on had been told and their parents wanted them included in the meetings so they would have a clear understanding of what was going on.

Carlo nodded and brought everyone up to date on the improvements done to The School House; what happened at the reception with Amy Briggs and the information Paulo discovered; the renewed Alliance with Parr Ridge Pack; their plans for the safe room later that day. He stopped and looked at the Miller girls and projected the revelations made by President Roberts through the bond to those over eighteen plus Anthony, he knew the girls killed by Charles had been friends of theirs and he didn't want them to find out this way. Horrified gasps were heard throughout the training room and Holly and Nana Miller started to cry quietly as they thought of the young girls who had been friends with their girls, they were comforted by their mates who also appeared shocked. "What I sent to your parents, they will disclose to you later," he said quietly and the youngsters nodded, realizing it was something bad.

Carlo cleared his throat and motioned Paulo forward, who blushed as he walked to the table the Hammonds had been, placing his laptop on it. He hated being called out in front of the Pack preferring to be in the quiet confines of his office. He felt the comforting presence of his father and uncle as they walked to his side and he sighed before saying quietly, "I'm okay, just give me a moment."

Damian saw his brothers discomfort and said, "Hey bro, remember that old trick about imagining your audience in their underwear, that'll relax you. No wait, that won't work since you've seen all the men nekkid already and imagining the girls naked is just wrong and imagining the moms naked is beyond disturbing. Wait a minute... I think I just threw up in my mouth."

Paulo put his head down hiding his smile, "Thanks Damian, I can always count on you to say the most absurd shit and make me laugh." He looked at his brother saying quietly, "I know I don't say it enough, but I'm proud you're my brother."

A crooked smile came over Damian's face, "Thanks and I'm proud you're my brother too. You amaze me constantly with the mad computer skills you have and I'm proud of the dedication you show to keep all of us safe."

Paulo smiled at him before taking a deep breath to start explaining the new feature connecting the cell phones to the security systems and that an email would be sent out with an installation schedule since he had to upload and program each individual security system. He hit a couple of keys on the laptop and a picture appeared on the big projection screen and he said, "Originally, we wanted to put tracking devices in the youngsters backpacks and in the girls headbands and shoes, but the more we thought about it, we're going to give them to all Pack members. It would be activated in an emergency after you've been scanned for electronic devices. The device will be specific to each Pack member and will work worldwide since it's programmed to link to the nearest satellite and will send an alert to me, Alpha Carlo, Uncle Frank and Dad. I have it programmed so even if it's destroyed, once the link is broken between the electronics and the battery, there's enough of a charge left to send a split-second burst and we'll get the alarm."

There was silence from the Pack members before Vinnie said, "That's some serious James Bond shit you've rigged up there."

Paulo smiled at his Godfather and said, "Q would love to get his hands on this. If you notice it looks like a mesh screen, the battery and electronics are woven together and it recharges itself through motion. It's activated through pressure; press it for three seconds to turn it on and once quickly to turn it off, you can feel it snap off."

"You can do all that, and your father still can't figure how the cruise control works in his truck," said Vinnie with a smile as Joe glared at his friend.

Carlo slapped Joe on the back and said, "We're also working on a false bottom to the backpacks, incorporating some of the supplies Joel and Jerry put in during the last training exercise. Since it's sneaky and underhanded, I don't have to tell you who came up with that idea." The Pack turned to look at Damian who was smiling broadly and he got up and bowed causing them to start laughing.

"Before we adjourn the meeting, is there anything you feel we need to discuss?" asked Carlo as he looked at his Pack.

Enzo stood up and said, "I'd like to have a meeting here on Tuesday at 7 PM, with all the youngsters aged fifteen and up who'll be left in the safe room during the battle. We need to start formulating our plans."

Carlo nodded, "The building will be made available for you, is there anything you need us to provide?"

"Refreshments would be nice, you know snacks, drinks, steaks, a couple of roasts, nothing too big," said Michael with a smile.

"How about pizza?" asked Carlo as he laughed while the youngsters nodded. "Anybody else?"

Elder Marvin Whitmer stood and said, "I think we should have a meeting before each Full Moon Ceremony to keep us updated. I know you can update us by using the bond, but by being together it brings us even closer."

Carlo nodded as he said, "We'll start having meetings at the next ceremony." He looked at the Pack again and not getting any more questions or suggestions, he said, "Okay, we'll meet at The Manor House in thirty minutes."

The Pack members were talking loudly as they walked down the bleachers and the Hammond and Mendez families huddled protectively around Daisy and Jade. Seeing the looks that were directed towards the two girls, Sophia walked towards them with her mate and brothers following closely behind. "Can we talk?" she asked quietly and when the two girls nodded, she walked to the middle of the training room knowing the eyes of everyone in the Pack were on them.

"I hope we can move past this," Sophia began as she reached out to hold their hands. "I've always thought of you as friends and this hasn't changed my opinion. When Anthony told everyone at practice, the two of you were the first to congratulate me and I'd like us to be close once more." Daisy and Jade started to cry and their brothers moved forward to protect them but stopped when they saw Sophia hug them. She whispered in their ears, "You don't need to say anything, I heard everything you said earlier and between friends nothing more needs to be said, okay? Now, let's go in the locker room and get you cleaned up a little." A mischievous twinkle came into her eyes as she said, "I hate to say this, but you both look a mess. Your eyes are red and puffy, your nose is red and your hair's a mess."

Carlo, Gina, Frank and Rose looked at Sophia with approval and Carlo said quietly, "She's going to make a great Madame Alpha. Luna was wise in her choice for my son, he couldn't have asked for a better mate."

Ten minutes later everyone had left but the Betas and the Italians since Frank and Joe were discussing what they wanted done at the safe room. Vinnie and Carmelo were getting ready to check the building and shut the lights when Joe turned to Clay saying, "Victoria is still in the small training room."

Clay sighed and said, "We can't leave her here?"

The men hid their smiles as Carlo said, "Unfortunately, you can't. She's young Clay; hopefully after what happened today, she'll get rid of this warped sense of entitlement she has and that arrogant attitude. If she doesn't I have a feeling someone will knock it out of her." He looked at Frank who shrugged his shoulders knowing it would probably be his daughter.

Clay sighed and looked at Frank, "I know you've had an issue with me since I fell on top of Rose..." He stopped speaking as Frank growled loudly and he took a deep breath before he continued, "But I need your advice. We've taken things away from her, restricted her from going out, tried reasoning and talking with her, but nothing helps. What did you do with Sophia? She's such a nice young lady, polite, well-mannered and friendly. What did you do that I didn't?"

"I'm not sure Clay," Frank said as he shrugged. "Your sons have turned out to be fine young men, but somewhere along the way Victoria has gotten it into her head that she is better than anyone because of who you are. It seems like her whole identity is wrapped up in the fact that she is a Senator's daughter, maybe you need to take her to a therapist and find out why she feels that way."

"Thanks Frank, I'll talk to Doc and see what he recommends," Clay replied with a nod. "I guess I better get her."

The men watched as he walked slowly across the room and Dante said, "There goes a troubled man."

Thirty minutes later the Pack was at The Manor House to begin the ten minute walk to the safe house. Alberto picked up Maria and before she could protest, he whispered, "Let me carry you, I like having you in my arms." She nodded and settled against his broad chest. The youngsters broke into their training session groups and started carrying the young ones and little ones.

"I swear to Luna, if you bug me one more time I'm gonna knock you out," Emory Bellucci ranted as she waved her arms around. "There's nothing wrong with me, except for the fact I look and feel like a gigantic beached whale."

"Doc said to take it easy since the little one is due in a month Em. Let me carry you, I don't want to take the chance you'll fall and hurt yourself or the little one," her mate Duke said in a soft soothing tone. "Alberto's carrying Maria."

"There's a big difference, she just had surgery and I'm pregnant," Emory narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Get. Out. Of. My. Way." Duke threw his hands in the air and moved to the side as she slowly followed the others.

"I told you when you made your declaration she was a handful," his father in law, Roman Sabatini said as he slapped him on the back. "Did she tell you she got mad because I wouldn't let her help re-tar the roof of the skating rink? She threw a fit, stomped her feet and screamed like a toddler. She said I wouldn't let her on the roof because I thought it would collapse under her weight."

Her oldest brother Austin continued, "Dad said it wasn't true, but I don't think he helped when he told her she was becoming 'unwieldy'."

Duke watched as she slowly walked with Anna and Cynthia and said, "I don't know what to do anymore. She's hungry, but won't eat because she says she's fat or she wants food Doc says she shouldn't have or she wants it at 3 AM. She's sleepy but won't lie down unless it's on freshly laundered sheets. She gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom at least ten times and won't come back to bed until I change the sheets. During the day it's the same thing, I'm changing the damn bed twenty times a day. She's bored but doesn't do anything except watch 'The Princess Bride' and then cries. She's thirsty but only wants coffee which she can't have and hated before. I'm losing my fucking mind."

Roman laughed, "She's yours now and you can't give her back."

"I HEARD THAT," Emory hollered and both her mate and father looked at her with terror in their eyes.

"Oh fuck," muttered Duke as her brothers and Dad started to laugh. He ran after her and said in a soft tone, "I only meant that you're such a nice loving mate and I love looking after you and our little one Em."

"Yeah right," she replied rolling her eyes as she stopped walking. "Now carry me." Duke smiled as she told him she could have walked but she didn't want to get her shoes dirty, not that she could see them, but she still wanted them clean.

When they arrived at the entrance to the safe room Joe looked at Papa Mike and said, "Can you see the entrance?"

"Here? All I see is rocks, evergreens and trees," said Papa Mike as he spun around looking for anything that looked out of place.

Carlo called the Millers over to a grouping of boulders and said, "Watch carefully, if you do this wrong, you'll get zapped with 100 amps of electricity." Thinking he was kidding Todd and Papa Mike started to laugh and Carlo said, "I'm serious. We wired the ground to shock anyone who's trying to access the panel without using the correct sequence. There's a ledge on the back of the boulder and underneath is a button that needs to be pressed in a certain order for it to unlatch; five quick, one long and two quick. Anything else and you'll get shocked." Carlo then pulled on the top of the boulder separating it revealing a keypad and he punched in the code. Replacing the top he moved quickly to a smaller boulder and pushing on the front it separated at the bottom, "Hitting that code will unlock the next keypad. It has an internal locking mechanism, there's no other way to access it and if you try and force it open it'll self-destruct. You must open it within twenty seconds if not it relocks and you have to do the whole sequence over. If you do it more then two times, both systems will cease to operate until Frank, Joe, Paulo or I reset the system."

As Carlo typed the ten digit code Frank said, "I'll give you the codes later. Like the code to the website if you're under duress simply add '01' to the end and it'll send an alert to Carlo, Joe, Paulo and I. After you put in the correct code, you need to replace the top of the rock within ten seconds; if not the door to the safe room won't open. Turn around and watch the rocks."

The Millers stared at the numerous outcroppings and within seconds one of the larger ones moved similar to an old fashioned garage door, where the top tilted back and the bottom swung upwards. Their mouths fell open and Papa Mike said, "That's fucking unbelievable. I never would've guessed the door was behind a whole outcropping of rocks. That's got to weigh a ton, how did you get it to lift?"

"Four large hydraulic lifts, and it weighs several tons," said Joe motioning the Millers forward. "Once inside, the hydraulics can be disabled preventing the door from opening. As you can see the door is solid steel and the rocks extend over the edges so it looks like a natural formation."

Todd glanced inside the small room and said with a confused tone, "Where's the door to get inside? All I see is dirt and more rocks."

"There's one more keypad. Again, the floor is wired to shock anybody who doesn't do things correctly," Carlo said walking to the right side of the small area. Squatting in front of a group of rocks imbedded in the wall, he pushed one on the bottom right, one on the far left and then pressed one on the back wall. Todd watched as Carlo walked over to a rock, the size of a quarter and pressed it into the wall and a small panel opened on the floor. Carlo punched in the code and the left wall started to separate, moving back and sliding into the mountain. "They would naturally look for the door in front of them, so we put it on the side."

"Who the hell thinks of these things? Wiring the ground to shock people? All the secret panels and sequence things, it's unreal," said Todd as Frank, Joe and Paulo walked into the security room while the other Betas quickly searched the entire safe room. Moments later, shouts of "Clear" rang out and within minutes the Pack was inside the safe room. Carlo typed in the code to bring the outer door down and they were completely sealed inside.

The young ones moved to the corner where small tables were set up and took off their backpacks getting out coloring books, dolls, toys and books and sat quietly while the women put the little ones, newborns to toddlers, in an area with a short wall around it. The area had cribs along the wall, playpens in the center and toys scattered around. Carlo looked at his Pack and the Italians and said, "Let's get started. Victoria, please go to one of the exam rooms." She looked at her Alpha and nodded and went to the exam room sitting on the only chair and staring at the wall.

Gina broke the women into groups; Rose - bunk rooms, Annie - kitchen supplies, Holly and Rita - food supplies, Annabelle Pinelli - linens and Teresa Giovanni - batteries and emergency supplies. Each group was assigned several women and they started inventorying and inspecting their areas. Ric and Rocco went into the security room and the Betas inspected the electric, air and water systems while the Italians checked everything. Doc and his mate, Elaine, went into the medical area and started their inventory. The youngsters kept the younger ones entertained.

"Come on Millers, I'll give you the tour," said Vin with a smile. He showed them the four bunk rooms, the men's shower room, the women's shower room, the medical rooms, the two cell rooms, the kitchen, the dining room and the security room.

"How in the hell did you all build this?" asked Todd as he looked around.

"We didn't build all of it. When the Pack first arrived, they found a series of caves and used that as a safe room with a wooden door as the entrance. Over the next two hundred thirty years, we've made some improvements," Vin answered with a shrug. "We've reinforced the walls with concrete and steel beams. The ceiling has I-beams every 24" and is concrete with rebar. It's taken us years to get it like this and as new technology becomes available we update."

Dom walked up carrying Hope and Jackie and said, "Vin, this little munchkin was asking for you."

"Vinnieee," Hope squealed and put her arms out for Vin to hold her. He lifted her out of Dom's arm, pretending to drop her as she laughed in delight.

"What's the matter munchkin?" asked Vin as he settled her on his hip.

"Nuttin, I was tired of doin tha collers," she said with a big smile. "Mommy is doin tha countin wit Miss Hawlley and Daddy is wit Mister Carmellow. I's bored."

"Why aren't you playing with Brooke?" Vin asked as Hope placed her head on his shoulder and got comfortable.

Hope sighed loudly and said, "She's pwaying dohllies with Wenzo. She fixeded his haier weal pwetty too, puts bows and wibbons in it." Vin, Dom and the Millers started to grin as she continued, "Antny and Daymian too. Daymian letted Toni put ALL da bows an wibbons in his haier. He wooks bootiful."

"I bet he does, how bout we go see them?" asked Vin as they walked into the main room and began to laugh. Almost every boy had bows and ribbons in their hair, even the ones that were in front of the TV playing video games or were in the corner with Marcus as he showed them defensive moves. As long as it kept the girls happy, they would put up with it. The older girls were grouped around Emory, Cynthia and the six other pregnant women and were talking about little ones.

Hope giggled and said, "I gots one for yous too Vinnie." He laughed and put her on top of the table and bent down as she put the lilac with white polka dot ribbon in his hair and she clapped when she was done. "Yous pwetty."

"Thank you. Jackie, where's Dom's bow? I think he needs one too," said Vin with a smirk as Dom pretended to scowl at Jackie. She giggled and pulled a red bow with little white hearts on it out of the pocket of her overalls and clipped it in.

Dom and Vin set the little girls down and they ran back to Brooke, Abby and Toni. "I know what I wanted to ask," said Todd as he looked at Dom. "Why do you all only go to school four days a week?"

"Well, we don't take winter or spring breaks; have teacher professional days or other things like public schools. We also start a week earlier than they do," said Dom as he shrugged. "We've always had a four day week; I believe it's written in our charter. We have off Fridays, except for the week of the Full Moon when we take off the day after; or Federal holidays, like Labor Day, so we'll be off that Monday."