Page 55 of Silver Linings
“What?”
“What we saw Emma and Cap go through, it fucking changes things. I like this little community we’ve moved into. We can do good things here and have a simple life. I never want to see someone else go through what they did.”
“How the fuck do we make sure people don’t go through what they did if we aren’t out in the field? A simple life? Who the fuck are you guys? Where did my team full of adrenaline junkies go? The fucking Santoros are moving into our region. They’re not only moving drugs and weapons, but women and children, and you’re telling me you want to just wash your hands of it?”
“You have a family now, Reap. None of us should be more excited than you to get out of this part of our jobs. You’re telling me the thrill of a mission is better than seeing your daughter smile at you when you go home at night? That it’s better than laying down with your wife in your arms? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Gage’s rage was palpable and Gunner deserved it.
He sat back in his chair. Fuck. They were right.
“Lily is okay with the danger. She knew I wouldn’t give it up when she agreed to marry me.”
“She loves you, Gunner. Of course she is going to say that. But I bet she’ll be thrilled to hear that we don’t want to work for the agencies anymore.”
“We have contracts.”
“Seb is looking into how to dissolve them.”
“You’re telling me Cap is okay with this? Those contracts were worth millions for this company. He’s just okay with dissolving them?”
“He’s our friend before anything else. He wants us to be happy, and he’s okay with us getting out.” Stone shrugged, like Gunner should just accept this new reality. But what they were proposing, running a little security firm that took care of what? The local grocery store? A doctor’s office and the library? Jesus. That sounded like fucking hell to him.
“So, what are we going to do? How are we going to make this business work if we aren’t supplementing it with contracts?”
“Mae wants us to offer a self-defense class for people to come take. I think it’s a good idea,” Hawk said as he shrugged his shoulders. “She joined a book club and said she’d recruit them. And although I trust her to kick anyone’s ass who makes her feel uncomfortable, I know she’s hoping one of us will work with her to teach the class. It can’t be me, though. I already spend too much time with her.” Hawk’s wide, haunted eyes made the guys laugh, and Gunner realized he missed Gia. He mentally added calling his sister to his never ending list of shit he needed to take care of.
“We definitely have the floor space for something like that. I’m happy to work on it with her,” Stone offered.
“Do we have people coming in to use the training equipment yet?” Gunner asked. “Are we actively reaching out to any local agencies to get their employees in?”
“It’s been touch and go. We have a few deputies who will come in after their shifts, and some fire guys, but mainly we’ve been dealing with taking on security clients. We have seven businesses around Clarence County that we’ve installed new or upgraded systems for. I’ve got two more this week that I’m doing a walk-through with,” Gage shared.
“And the new building for tactical training? Is that still on track?”
“I’ve been overseeing that,” Nash said. “It’s on schedule, but there are still at least three months until we are ready to have a team come through and test it. I’ve got a group of Texas Rangers scheduled to run through several drills the last week in September, but I’m hoping we can test it a few times ourselves before then.”
“Okay. I’d like to jump on that project with you, Wings. I’ve got some ideas for scenarios we can write up and run through together before we let any teams train.”
“Yeah. That’s fine.”
“So what else is in the works?”
“Why don’t we do something like a community open night?” Stone asked.
“Is it smart to have a bunch of people we haven’t vetted milling about our business?” Gage asked.
“It’ll drum up interest. I know people are probably curious about what’s going on here. And they’d only be going into the training space. We’ve got everything important behind key card entry doors.”
“Count me out,” Gunner grumbled.
“No can do, Reap. You’re a part of the team. Bring Lily and Sage. It’ll be good for her to meet some new people, and maybe she’ll help settle you.”
“We’ll come for a self-defense class. Lord knows I want her to have those skills. But I’m skipping the germ infested community night with my newborn.”
“A protective daddy? Who would have guessed?” Hawk teased.
“Never say that to me again,” he replied, causing all the guys to laugh.
“God, I’ve missed this. It’s good to have everyone back together,” Gage said.