Victoria gave her colleague, her friend, a level gaze. “He’s an excellent asset. Detail oriented. Good soft skills working with clients and potential partners.”
Lizzy smiled. “Good. So we can set him as your permanent partner.”
“No.” The word ripped something inside her, but Victoria pressed on. “He can’t be. We’re going to need to partner him with someone else.”
Lizzy’s dark gaze flicked toward the door and then back to Victoria. “Are you resigning?”
Victoria had thought hard about this. She hadn’t been sure she’d been a fit for Safeguard anymore. This mission had proven to be awkward. But she’d grown. With the experience she had and the years behind her, she hadn’t grown this much in a project in a long time. It’d stretched her in ways none of them had anticipated. She didn’t want a command position, and the Safeguard organization paid her enough. “I was considering it. I wasn’t feeling particularly challenged by the current missions we had lined up.”
Lizzy raised a single eyebrow at her. “Your partner came back with a hole in him. You look like you took on death by a thousand paper cuts and survived. The both of you blew up the client’s property—multiple times—and ended up with a covert extraction from the mouth of Eagle Bay. It’s a good thing there’s shark-eating octopi in the Puget Sound or you all may have attracted more than just Edict’s attention tonight.”
“Obviously this mission was subject to scope creep.” Victoria sighed.
“Scope creep?” Lizzy didn’t bother to hide the incredulous rise in her tone.
“Significant scope creep.” Victoria glared at her, daring her to try to claim it was anything else. “The assumptions in the original statement of work did not cover the extenuating circumstances at all.”
Lizzy laughed. “I should make you write up the contracts from here on out.”
Please no. Never. The idea of a desk job was stifling.
“I appreciate a good contract to keep the mission clear, but I’ll pass on the change in responsibilities.” Victoria plucked at the medical tape holding a stupid cotton ball to the back of her hand. They’d taken blood for testing while they’d patched her up to be sure she hadn’t picked up anything alarming from splinters or random bits of metal or bay water.
“Not fair.” Lizzy pouted. “Gabe didn’t give me a choice.”
“As I remember it, you didn’t argue much.” Victoria hadn’t minded the adjustment in the organization. She’d agreed that the structure of the teams had to change from fire teams to duos. “It’s not that I don’t want to work with Safeguard anymore. I just can’t have Adam as a partner.”
Lizzy’s dark eyes took on a gleam. “Yet you said he was exemplary. If there’s nothing wrong with his performance, are you requesting he be assigned a different partner because you had the chance to assess his potential in...other aspects?”
Victoria narrowed her own eyes. “Don’t be obtuse. Yes. I want to be with him. Which means I can’t work with him. It’d drive us both insane. We’d botch up our work and potentially end up dead. It’s a mess.”
“It’s a wonder the two of you came out of this in such good shape, plus with an extra client.”
“Don’t forget the dog.” Victoria snorted. “I must say, it was significantly harder to come out of there with a furry animal that requires oxygen. Your goldfish is the only other mascot for the office at the moment.”
“Are you keeping the dog?” Lizzy sounded alarmed.
Victoria shook her head. “I have no idea what Roland and Manny will do, but it’s my impression they plan to take Tegan with them.”
Lizzy let out a sound of relief. “I was about to ask if you’d taken a hit to the head too. You were sounding massively changed by this mission. Definitely not yourself.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Victoria winced at the vulnerability in her tone.
There was a long pause.
“If you want to continue doing what we do? Yes.” Lizzy had always been painfully honest. It was one of the reasons Victoria asked her for her opinion. There was little reason to make oneself vulnerable if the feedback was too kind to be constructive. “Owning a dog or other pet, having dependents, is hard in our business. Our schedules are too variable. We make too many enemies to care deeply. It’s dangerous to give pieces of ourselves to vulnerable souls. It puts them in danger.”
Of course. Victoria had been the one to teach teammates those lessons in the past. The truth of it still resonated in her chest, despite the cold ache it left in her gut.
“That said, it’s not healthy for us to be alone either.” Warmth touched Lizzy’s words.
Victoria’s lips widened in a smile despite her caution. “Adam is not a vulnerable soul. He would be in danger far more often than your Kyle or Gabe’s Maylin, but he wouldn’t be who he is if he took a desk job.”
“Neither would you.” Lizzy tapped the side of the hospital bed. “I’m very glad you haven’t asked for your role to be changed to a desk, even if it would be fantastic to have you in charge of contracts.”
“I’m not certain how to ask, but I will. Where possible, can our relationship be taken into account when missions are assigned? Time together would be appreciated.” Though, for her part, time away would be equally important as she and Adam explored what was between them. If she had the assurance it could work within Safeguard, then she could talk to him about their choices. And hopefully, he hadn’t changed his mind or his heart about her.
“We’d have to take your relationship into account.” Lizzy sighed. “There’s no need for an official policy or anything, but we wouldn’t assign you to the same mission considering the conflict of interest. I do think the nature of our missions will be evolving so there’ll be time to think it through.”
Victoria nodded. Her heart sank. The decisions Adam and she had made would result in serious repercussions for Safeguard. “How bad is the damage?”
“Safeguard was mentioned in the newscasts covering the destruction of Roland’s property this morning. It being mentioned with a definitively negative spin.” Lizzy chuckled. The sound of it wasn’t precisely evil, but it wasn’t right either. “Gabe has ideas on how to handle it. Kyle gave him a few suggestions. My man has a scary mind for business.”
Victoria perked up. “That sounds promising. Really, being truly good guys was rather boring.”
* * *
Adam sat, staring at his IV, wishing the drip would go faster. There was almost nothing more boring to watch. Waiting for water to boil and golf tournaments came in as similar experiences.
There was a perfunctory knock at the door before Gabe filled the doorway. “Congratulations.”
Not encouraging, when Gabe had delivered the word in a neutral tone. No clues in inflection or expression to give Adam a direction or hint of how this debrief was about to go. “I wasn’t aware that congratulations were in order.”
He winced. It was very likely the response would be that he should be.
Gabe chuckled. “You’re alive. Your partner is alive. And contrary to the current newscasts and reports from the local authorities, your client is alive plus one additional person and the little dog too. Since that was the plan, I’d say your mission objectives could be considered a success.”
“Has there been a public response from Safeguard yet?” There might’ve been. It was Gabe’s prerogative to issue a response in the best interest of his organization. This debrief could be to let Adam know how Gabe and his superiors had decided to handle the situation. It could result in termination of employment, maybe a refusal of recommendations. Adam would be at square one, beginning again. It’d be even harder to get a position with a different private organization. It’d probably be shadier, with few ethics and a lot more moral decisions for him to make. He’d have to make compromises in order to stay employed.
He sat u
p straight, despite the irritation of the freshly cleaned bullet wound in his shoulder, and decided it was okay. He’d made the right decisions back there with Victoria. These were the consequences.
“No. We won’t be making a public response to any of the news outlets.” Gabe came farther into the room and shut the door, then stepped over to lean against the side table. “As far as the outside world is concerned, Safeguard is business as usual. This was just another contract, and we are not at liberty to discuss the particulars. Discretion is part of the reason our clients trust us.”
Wow. The way Gabe had said all of that, Adam would’ve been pulled in too and led to wonder if everything hadn’t happened exactly as contracted. Which was intended, of course.
“I’m glad Safeguard has a plan for handling the public relations after this.” Adam chose his words carefully. Next steps could still be rough for him, but maybe if he could negotiate, Victoria would be free to continue the work she enjoyed with her team.
“You’ll be receiving a bonus in addition to your salary. Your probation is also officially ended, and you are confirmed as a permanent employee of Safeguard. Welcome to the team.” Gabe held out a hand.
Adam stared at the proffered hand. “Excuse me, could you clarify?”
“We’re happy to have you as a permanent member of Safeguard if you still want to be a part of the team.” There was definite amusement in the other man’s tone. Gabe’s hand remained extended.
Reaching out, Adam took Gabe’s hand and gave it a firm shake. “I’ll confess. I’m still confused.”
“You’re also fresh off a mission, short on blood and sleep, and coming down off the heightened awareness we all maintain to stay alive.” Gabe made it sound like Adam had the common cold. “The med techs were very clear with me when they realized I was coming in to talk to you. Our techs tend to fuss over us. You’ll get used to it. There’s also nothing official or contractually binding for you to sign, so I didn’t feel it was an issue to have this talk here and now.”
“So let me get this straight.” Adam stared into Gabe’s very serious gaze, watching for any tells, any signs of duplicity or a trap about to be sprung. There was nothing but patience. “My first mission went completely off the rails. But you’re taking me off probation and I’m a permanent member of the team. To my understanding, Safeguard’s reputation has been under scrutiny and this is going to reflect very badly on the organization. But, you’re giving me a bonus?”
“Yes.”
Panic hit Adam and his heart pounded in his chest, betrayed by the stupid monitor hooked up to him so the entire room, specifically Gabe, could hear his reaction. “Victoria is not responsible for this by herself. She shouldn’t take accountability, not for what I talked her into doing. Please, don’t let her.”
“Calm down, Mr. Hicks.” Gabe glowered for a long moment while Adam struggled to remain seated on the hospital bed, literally gripping the edges to keep from grabbing his commanding officer and shaking him to pieces. The bastard actually grinned at him. “We could have used either of you as a scapegoat. I gather you’re familiar with how it could’ve played out. Blame the failure of the mission on the questionable decisions of an individual. Ensure they disappear quietly and let the public furor blow over until everyone has forgotten the unfortunate incident. It happens. Sometimes there’s no alternative. Fortunately, Safeguard has some creative minds.”
Adam’s mouth had gone dry. But he was following, barely. Victoria must be okay. Gabriel Diaz was saying she hadn’t taken the fall either. There were no scapegoats in this situation.
This team hadn’t sacrificed one of their own.
“We’re using this opportunity to be more discerning in what contracts we accept.” Gabe rolled his head and a few vertebrae popped. “When we first started, it’d been advisable to take on some of the more publicly sparkling engagements. Bodyguards for the people with the right contacts, political figures, and wealthy had been key to securing funding and gaining immediate exposure. But none of us wants to babysit celebrities for the rest of our active careers. Now, you and Victoria have done a fairly spectacular job of demonstrating the concentrated impact of just two resources on a limited budget. The visual results are reasonably spectacular and the actual outcome is sufficiently mysterious. We needn’t make any public statements.”
Gabe chuckled as Adam’s mouth fell open.
“Celebrities and social butterflies won’t touch us now. Too rough, too dangerous. They are sufficiently outraged to take their business elsewhere.”
Adam tentatively grinned at Gabe. “And the real players are starting to reach out to us, see what we can do on more challenging contracts that need a certain level of discretion.”
“Which we’ve demonstrated admirably here.”
Adam shook his head. “I wish Victoria and I could take credit for the level of genius.”
Gabe shrugged. “You each have good instincts. We have other minds for making the most of what happens next. This will mean higher-profile work, off the grid. The missions we’ll take will be covert and likely international. They’ll still lean toward protection and personal security.”
“Sounds good to me if it does to Victoria.” Adam wondered if she was nearby, in another infirmary room or resting someplace else.
“About that.” Gabe waited until Adam met his gaze again. “You’ll be assigned a new partner at Victoria’s request.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Victoria was waiting when Adam arrived at the cabin. This was the larger residence on the Safeguard property for extended recovery. Originally, the entire fire team had stayed here: Gabe, Lizzy, Victoria and Marc. Marc’s room was empty. Gabe and Maylin stayed in the nearest small guest cabin on short retreats, now that it’d been repaired from when it’d taken explosive damage during Maylin’s initial time with them. Lizzy rarely made use of her room since she and Kyle preferred to stay in Seattle or travel on their time off. Today, it was just Victoria...and Adam.
He strode down the long hallway, past the kitchen, and came to a stop when he spotted her.
“You have a choice of rooms,” she told him quietly.
His face was neutral as he took a few more steps toward her, his dark eyes churning with some strong emotion. Trouble was, her nerves told her it could be any number of negative things. Her heart hoped for better. Her mind tended to tell her heart not to hope, but this time, she did it. She hoped. He’d convinced her of the good things a positive attitude could create.
“There are empty rooms,” she continued. “Or, mine is here.”
He turned his head, looking past her into her simply appointed room. The main characteristic was a very comfortable king bed. The only other furniture was a simple desk for her laptop. Everything else was shoved into a closet.
“Gabe tells me you’ve requested a new partner.” Adam’s voice came out hoarse.
Ah. They were going to do this in the hallway. “Yes.”
“Why?”
It was her turn. She needed to tell him how she felt, what she wanted. And then she needed to ask him if he’d agree. But the words rushed up and stuck in her throat. She’d never been good at asking for what she wanted. She could defend what was already hers, and she could stand against anyone trying to take something from her, but asking was new.
Here she was, fresh out of a divorce. Her ex-husband had decided she was a coldhearted bitch and hated her. Her former partner had decided not to continue in their career field, and his empty room was just down the hall. Life moved on, changed, and she was trying to define new steps forward.
It was terrifying.
“I know how to do my job well. So do you.” She needed to put a question in somewhere but explaining came easier. “From a practicality standpoint, it makes more sense for each of us to train new partners.”
“So you’re
staying with Safeguard too.” He took a step toward her. His posture was a challenge. He wasn’t approaching her with caution. That wasn’t his style.
“Yes.” She glanced past him down the hall and back to him. No one else was in the building. She should be able to ask him, but she was still stuck on the information exchange. It was steadier ground. “Lizzy briefed me on the change in direction the organization is taking. I like it.”
Adam covered another few feet. He was standing right in front of her at this point. “I don’t have a lot to go on, but celebrity and political clients weren’t all that exciting to me. Transitioning to more covert assignments sounds interesting. But, Victoria, why are you giving me a choice of rooms?”
She had to tilt her head to look up at him. “There’s always a choice. There’s several rooms.”
“Including yours?” His gaze searched her face.
Maybe he wouldn’t make her ask. From the beginning he’d looked past the surface with her, had the patience to dig for what she couldn’t put out there on her own. “Yes.”
His lips spread in a slow, wicked smile. “Permission to enter, Ms. Ash.”
She stepped back, giving him space to step inside her room. He did, filling the small area with the power of his personality and a tense awareness she savored.
Questions. She had questions for him. It wasn’t fair to make him dig for what she was thinking all the time. If she wanted this, she needed to meet him halfway. “How is your shoulder?”
He dropped his bag against the wall. “I’ll show you if you show me your injuries.”
“I...” She was caught off balance. “Minor abrasions and contusions, nothing serious.”
He lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “Same. I still want to see. Don’t you?”
Swallowing hard, she nodded.
His gaze never left hers as he shrugged out of his shirt, revealing his broad chest and shoulders. The one shoulder was minimally bandaged to protect his bullet wound. The bandaging was clean, no signs of bleed. The medical tape didn’t even obscure his tattoo. His ta moko.
Contracted Defense Page 19