Status Updates From Winnie Winfield (AKA Simon ...

Just because you’d take a bullet for someone didn’t mean you wanted them to know everything about you.

Some people might think it was weird that they had a viewing room for their dining room, but for Lee, it was normal. The room was as much a part of the house as any of the other rooms. Killian was the only one besides his father and himself that knew about it. And Lee’s friend only knew because Winfield told him about it after Lee had used it several times to win hide-and-seek.

“But still, do I really need a babysitter? I am sixteen.”
“Sure, Kiddo.... Can you do me a favor? While I’m gone, could you please at least try to be a kid? Stop acting so grown up for like five weeks.”
“That’s asking a lot of me, you know.”
“I know, but I believe in you, Kiddo.”

Leading the way, Winfield hopped down from the back of the truck and looked around him.
He grimaced when he realized they were in a parking garage. Nothing good ever happens in parking garages, Winfield thought, shaking his head as he was shoved forward and toward a door leading into the building adjacent to the garage.

It was a text from his aunt.
Biting his lip, Lee hesitated a second before clicking on it.
‘WRU@?’
“What the…?” Squinting at the screen, Lee frowned, then copied and pasted the text into Google search. It took him a couple of seconds, but then he understood what she was saying. “Great,” Lee mumbled.

Name didn’t even flinch, but instead, he grinned at Lee as he yanked his collar out of his grip. “I don't doubt it,” he said, laughing. "But you’re smart enough to know that if you do anything to me, he dies. That would be a real shame, now wouldn’t it? He was here, you know, just yesterday.”
“If you hurt him…” Lee whispered, clenching his fist at his side as he forced himself to stay level headed.

Lee snorted. “Great, now I’m Cinderella,” he grumbled, pacing his room as he glared at his closet. “Sneaking out to a stupid ball, and I have nothing to wear.” Buying a suit hadn’t been one of their top priorities since he came back, and the one he had definitely wasn’t going to fit him anymore. 

Winfield wiped the blood from his arm and grimaced. It hadn’t taken him long after the plane crash to realized he didn’t need to bother going after the people who had killed Fox, they were still after Winfield and his team. But even knowing that, and despite Winfield’s best efforts, Deadlock or whatever they were calling themselves now, always seemed to know exactly where they were.

“Just let me take care of it,” Lee said. “Then I’ll explain as much as I can to you.” Once he reached the shelf, Lee ran his finger over the old leather-bound books, until he came to the encyclopedia.
He hesitated a second, before pulling it out. It was thick enough to hide something in, and who read encyclopedia these days anyway?

The morning light streaming through the living room windows didn’t brother Lee. It was slow enough that his body could tell what it was, not so much for the shadow that suddenly blocked it out.
Instantly, Lee’s eyes flew open and his sat bolt upright, his gaze darting to the person as his grip tightened around the hilt of the blade he’d taken from his attacker.

The paper had burned in his chest the whole time he had it, but he didn’t dare open it in front of anyone else. He had no idea what it would say, but he doubted it was anything he wanted anyone else to see.
He hesitated a second, before unfolding the paper. Holding it up to the nearest light, he began reading it.

Lee thought about going downstairs for his Sherlock book but decided against it. At the moment, he wasn’t in the mood to read it anyway.
Besides, if he went down, his grandmother would probably want to do some ‘family bonding’ and Lee would rather read a book on the history of gummy bears than do anything that involved bonding. Or worse… she might want them to share their feelings. Lee shuddered at the thought.

“Such hurtful words, when I’m here to warn you,” he said, laughing. “Remember how I told you this little game wouldn’t be any fun if your side didn’t play?”
“Just because you think you’re winning right now, doesn’t mean it’s going to end that way,” Lee said, glaring at him. “And I’m not going to play some stupid game of yours, because you’re getting bored!”

“Morning,” Lee said, yawning as he stepped off the last step, which he’d just climbed up, and rolled out his shoulders.
“You’re up early,” Esther said, smiling at him.
Lee nodded. Not really. “Couldn’t sleep,” he said, knowing the reason he couldn’t sleep might have had something to do with the fact that he hadn’t been in bed. “What about you? What are you doing up so early?”

It was more like an underground bunker, but the fact that Evan and Winfield had been in the Delta Force might have had some effects on Killian and Lee’s childhoods. They played in underground bunkers instead of a treehouse.
Brushing away some of the dirt, Lee pulled a piece of metal plating back to reveal a keypad.

Lee swallowed and slowly nodded as a frown spread across his face. “You’re expecting it to go south?”
She gave him a small smile. “It always does.” Without waiting for a response from him, Watcher turned and strolled away. The last he saw of her was glancing back at him, before disappearing.

He cleared his throat as she pulled out the smoldering pan of enchiladas and carried it over to the counter in front of him. “Well… that looks…. interesting. Is this a special recipe of yours?” he asked, keeping a perfectly straight face.
“Very funny,” she huffed. “I think you’ve spent too much time with your father.”
“That tends to happen when someone raises you.”

This little ‘kidnapping’ was just getting embarrassing. Lee almost felt sorry for whoever paid them to snatch him. Lee reaches out, grabbed onto the edge of the door, and swung himself out.

At first, none of them seemed to have realized he was even there. He moved toward where Mia sat and bent over her shoulder.
“What you doing?” Lee asked.
“Where did you come from?” Mia asked.
“I came through the door,” Lee answered. “Were you expecting me to materialize through the roof?”

Picking his way through the debris, Winfield made his way towards his friend. Finally, he saw him. It looked like he pinned under a big piece of fallen debris
“Don’t move,” Winfield said kneeling beside him to inspect how badly he was pinned
“Wow! I never would have guessed that,” Evan mumbled. “When did you become a doctor?”
“Oh, years ago,” Winfield said “It was about the same time you got your degree gratitude.”

“Hello, I’m Esther and this is my grandson Simon,” she said “We saw they you were new to the neighborhood and thought we’d bring these over,” she said, holding the plate out to the woman.”
“Cookie?” the woman said, taking them. “How lovely. Thank you so much.” She glanced back behind her then turned to smile at Esther. “Do you want to come in and enjoy a few with me?”
Wow. That was easier than Lee would have expected

“What are you doing?” Jordan asked.
“You wanted to see if I could fight,” Lee said, tying the blindfold over his eyes. “Well, here’s your chance.”
“You want me to fight you while you’re blindfolded?” Jordan said. “Isn’t that a little unfair?”
“For you or for me?” Lee asked.

In truth, Lee was afraid.
Not of the dark or of heights, but something much worse.
It wasn’t the kind of fear you got before eating something you knew was poisoned or even the kind of fear that struck just before you had to jump into a tank of sharks. But a constant knot in the pit of his stomach.

“Last night I was downstairs helping Mia with her bags, and you guys have the coolest gym I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s the weirdest thing,” Lee said. “I could have sworn the gym was past the guest room.”
“So maybe I did a little looking around.”
And that’s why we locked everything important, Lee thought. “So? Did you satisfy your curiosity? Or do you have an uncontrollable urge to look under my bed?”

It was weird to be working with them again, especially after working with Jenny and Skipper just a few months before. Sure these men in the plane were part of his Delta Force team, but Jenny and Skipper were his CIA team and he knew them just as well.
The other difference was, he’d rarely been under fire when working with his CIA team and he was rarely not under fire with his Delta Force team.

“Why are Grandma and Grandpa coming again?” Lee asked. “I can take care of myself just fine. You know that better than anyone.”
“This is what you wanted, remember? But you’re only sixteen and I don’t know how long I’m going to be gone for,” he said. “I already explained the rest to you earlier. Do I really need to go through it again?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lee said, rolling his eyes. “‘Social Services, blah blah blah.’”

“Why are Grandma and Grandpa coming again?” Lee asked. “I can take care of myself just fine. You know that better than anyone.”
“This is what you waited, remember? But you’re only sixteen and I don’t know how long I’m going to be gone for,” he said. “I already explained the rest to you earlier. Do I really need to go through it again?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lee said, rolling his eyes. “‘Social Services, blah blah blah”

“Why are Grandma and Grandpa coming again?” Lee asked. “I can take care of myself just fine. You know that better than anyone.”
“This is what you waited, remember? But you’re only sixteen and I don’t know how long I’m going to be gone for,” Winfield said. “I already explained the rest to you earlier. Do I really need to go through it again?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lee said, rolling his eyes. “‘Social Services, blah blah blah”