Page 25 of Oracle Returns: Time will Stop

“Avalon knows Elizabeth’s Marines?” she asked, surprised. These two had been at the weddings they’d attended and were part of Elizabeth’s circle.

She’d just seen them last year at her son’s wedding at the White House. They’d all been in dress blues, and sticking to their little circle of Marines.

Now, she felt better.

While she didn’t know this Avalon, she knew from her bestie that Maura and Jagger were damn good people and always helped her when she needed it.

Lucian explained as the Littlemoons hugged it out with the two people.

“These are the Marines that helped us guard Avalon,” he admitted. “Maura and Jagger are our friends and family. They were part of our life before we came here.”

It wasn’t lost on anyone that the two people were heavily armed.

Well, no shock there.

Elizabeth Blackhawk was troubled, and they didn’t doubt that Oracle was too. This whole thing just screamed ‘national security issue’, and they knew it.

As Maura headed toward Avalon, she smiled.

“Avi, it’s good to see you again. Next time, pick up a phone. It’s weird having voices in my head. You know how to use your voice to chat on your phone. We taught you that for a reason. Better yet, just have your husband call.”

She laughed.

Oh, well, old habits were difficult to break.

For her, this was the easiest and most natural way to connect with people she considered family.

“Maura, I missed you. You look good. Oh, and pregnant, huh? There’s a lot of that going around,” she admitted.

And that was the truth.

Jagger shook hands with Nate.

“You look like shit, my dude. Did you just turn eighty? Maybe take a vacation and get some sun.”

Nate rolled his eyes.

Yeah, well, he was well aware. It had been a couple of rough weeks as they prepared for this. Before that, it was leisure and just doing simple things like working on cold cases for the FBI. Elizabeth had given him a consulting job so that he and Avalon could stay under the wire.

And he’d loved it.

Until this mess started.

“Yeah, well, I’d prefer to be home with our kids, and not on the other side of the country, but here I am, living la vida loca.”

Weren’t they all?

From where he sat, Julian was hella confused by all of this. What was going on?

“Why do we have Marines here?” he asked. “Not that I’m complaining. Any friends of Elizabeth’s are always welcome here, but this makes me worry. Marines aren’t known for being delicate and calm. My brother was one.”

At his comment, Maura was confused.

“Uh, they don’t know?” she asked.

Avalon was to the point.

“I was getting there. As usual, Major, you’re always early. Maybe slow down and observe speeding limits or pull off in a rest stop and take a nap.”