Phillip and Irene came down the stairs with Jimmy, Mandy, and baby Dotty. Phillip and Irene had worried looks on their faces.

His mother came out of the office. "Oh good. You are both here. Lee just called from the car. He got the surveillance tape from the park. I am going to go to the Agency and help him."
Phillip spoke, "I'm going with you. If it is Irene's family. I want to help bring them down."

Phillip kissed Irene, "I will call as soon as we find out anything. You and Matty take care of the kids."

Matty wanted to go to the agency too. He wanted to help. His mother seemed to know what he was thinking. She put her arm around him. "We need you to stay here to protect everyone. Ok?"

Matty nodded. Then she said, "We probably are scaring all you kids for nothing. If it turns out to be nothing. I will make it up to all of you. I promise."

Phillip and his mom left the room. Irene looked at all of them. She smiled at them. "Do not be scared, children. I am sure it is going to turn out to be nothing. We can watch a movie together. I know we were going to watch the new Seed of Chucky movie we got in the mail from Netflix, but we left in such a rush. But since Joey is here. Maybe no horror movies. Maybe you should pick out the movie, Joey. So, none of us will get in trouble with Carrie."

The twins seemed disappointed. Jimmy spoke, "Grandma Carrie is such a drag. Sorry Joey. Grandpa Joe is ok. At least he can be fun sometimes when it's just him."

Joey looked kind of sad, "I'm sorry about my mom. My dad has been trying to get her to lighten up. We can watch whatever you all want to watch. I would rather watch what you all want to watch anyway. I won't tell my mom. I'll just tell her we watched Finding Nemo or something."

Matty always felt kind of bad for Joey. Whereas they all could escape from Aunt Carrie and come home. Joey had no escape and had to live in that really awkward cold house with his parents.

It took a little while for Matty to get to know Joey because he was a really shy kid. But once he did, he really liked him. Matty knew what it was like to feel left out and like he didn't belong. Just Matty felt like he was luckier than Joey because Matty had awesome parents.

Now that Joey was 13, Joey was more interested in Phillip because his mom hated him so much. Joey was starting to see that Phillip was a lot of fun. Aunt Carrie had been making more of an effort to be a little better towards Phillip because it was hurting her and Uncle Joe's marriage. Uncle Joe had been sticking up for Phillip way more after the twins were born.

Matty just went over and grabbed The Goonies. None of Phillip's kids ever said no to The Goonies. Matty figured his own mom also would not like if they watched a horror movie. Especially because baby Dotty was there. Except baby Dotty liked the scary movies most of all of his nieces and nephew. Phillip's kids were just as crazy as he was.

Matty put the DVD in the player. He went over and sat next to Irene. Irene put her arm around Matty. She tapped on him. "I heard you were cheating on me, Sunshine."

Matty tapped back, "Well, you do have 3 and a half kids with my brother. I thought that maybe that meant it was over between us."

Irene gave Matty a side hug, "I suppose, but if your brother does not start picking up his dirty clothes. You may still have a chance. But all jests aside, how did your first date go?"

Matty blushed a little and smiled shyly, "I think it went ok. I was so nervous. I tried to make my mom come and help me in the middle of the date. But even that did not scare Rachel off. She thinks I'm cute. We are going to Goofy Golf on Sunday."

Irene smiled, "You are cute. This girl has good taste. I am so happy for you."

Matty tapped, "Is Phillip doing anything on Saturday? This kid from school Jeff is coming over here. He is in the Phillip King fan club. And well, nobody likes hearing about Phillip's statistics and how awesome Phillip is more than Phillip does."

Irene laughed, "I am sure it will not be a problem for him. He really does enjoy people telling him how wonderful he is. But believe it or not he is looking forward to you breaking some of his records at the school."

The movie was just about over when Phillip and his mom came downstairs with pizzas.

Phillip spoke first, "The good news is that it was not your family, Irene. Your two brothers are still in prison. And well your father does not seem to have made actions towards sending anyone here."

His mom came over to Matty. She tapped on him, "Can we talk in the office for a minute?"

Matty followed his mom in the office. His mother gave him a very serious look, "Matty you're in danger again. It wasn't the Kovacs family. Karbala is back in DC. The men following Leann were known Karbala operatives. Now your daddy and I are going to keep you home from school tomorrow. We want to keep all you kids down here until we have all the proper security measures put in place."

Matty looked at her, "What about Joey? Leann thinks they might have thought he was me." His mother nodded, "Yes, of course your dad will make sure Joey has protection as well."

Matty looked at her, "At least Leann is not as much of a target because she is a girl. I always kind of thought or hoped that would not want me anymore because I am deaf now."

His mom sighed, "I just used to tell you kids that when you were little. I think you are old enough to know the truth now. Matty, you were not even five years old yet when you were taken. You were about to turn five. All the other Karbala kids were boys aged 7-12. You almost escaped twice but they never killed you. Did you ever wonder why?"

Matty looked at her. "Gregor used to say I was too valuable to kill. I just figured it was because you and dad were super spies. That it made me worth more money to have the son of Scarecrow and Mrs. King."

His mom nodded, "That is part of it. But there is a man that your father and I put in prison years ago. His name is Addi Birol. He is very high up in Karbala. He wants revenge for us putting him away. That is why they targeted you. It is also why even though she is a girl, Leann is in danger too. The warehouse raid crippled Karbala's operations in the United States for a few years. But it looks like they are getting stronger again. Addi Birol was released from prison last year. He is in Hungary right now from what we can tell. But you are in danger. We all are. I need you to keep your guard up and your eyes open."

Matty looked at her. "Mr. Harrison is not all that great of an interpreter mom. He falls asleep in my classes, and he was late the first day. I don't really need him though. Except when they call on me. But I have my whiteboard when he falls asleep. But Leatherneck signs really well and he is a really cool guy. What if he came to school with me undercover as my interpreter?"

His mother smiled gently at him. "That is not a bad idea. I'll talk to your dad. Although, I am not sure he is ever going to let you kids see daylight ever again right now. I think it may be more likely your dad is going to go to school with you for a few days. I am not sure he is going to trust anyone else to protect you. Go to the game room and tell your sister to come in here. I want to talk to her alone too."

Matty nodded and hugged his mom. He walked over to his sister in the game room. She was talking to Joey quietly.
Matty went over and tapped on her, "Mom wants to see you in the office."

Leann nodded and got up and went into the office.

Notes:

I knew it was going to be Addi Birol. Oh wait, I wrote it. LOL Although I don't think that was a shocking twist since I did have Matty kidnapped by Karbala. Who else would it be?

Next chapter - Phillip & Joey do some bonding. Lee comes home and has a talk with Matty.