to hear is: Nothin’ good happens after midnight. The only things open are bars and legs, and you don’t need to be in either one of them .”
“I heard that from my daddy more times than I can count.” Gideon laughed.
“Seriously, Vivi. I’ll go sit in the bar. We don’t know anything about this guy.” Joel crossed his arms and studied the breathtaking woman before him. There had to be a way to stop this date. He just needed to figure it out in the next sixty seconds.
“I will not have a chaperone on the first date that I’ve had in three years.” The doorbell echoed through the house, and Vivi stood. “Prince Charming has arrived. You all sit here. Wyatt doesn’t need to know that I keep company with the likes of you two.” She waved her finger between the two of them and scrunched up her eyes. “Behave.”
The sound of her heels clicking filled the silence. When she laughed and greeted her visitor, Joel felt sick to his stomach. “I hate Wyatt,” Joel said to himself.
Gideon smirked and slid another piece of pizza onto his plate. “If you’re interested, I suggest you do something about it. Now that the girls are closing the widows’ club, it’s every man for himself. And I can tell you, there will be a long line for each one of them. So don’t sulk and give her a hard time if you’re not willing to do something about how you feel. Which, by the way, is obvious to everyone.” Standing, he then walked over to the bar cart in the corner of the kitchen and studied Vivi’s selection. “I think we need some bourbon.”
“No bourbon for me. I’m going to stick with beer. Who knows? She may be calling me for a ride home,” Joel replied.
“Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that.” Gideon laughed. “So tell me about this little business you have down in Florida.” He poured them each a generous shot and returned to the table.
Joel pushed the glass away and took a sip of his beer. He was still recovering from the other night with Uncle Buck. “Our company provides executive protection, security plans, and policies for companies, specialized security training programs, crisis-and-emergency-management planning, high-risk-travel planning and coordination, maritime security for commercial and private clients, and military leadership and tactical training.”
“So, you handle the easy stuff,” Gideon replied.
“Yeah, nothing too complicated. Everyone in my group is a former SOF operator. Most of the men in my office are from the Teams. They all have a ton of experience. I’ve discovered the more times you’ve experienced danger, the better able you are to slow it down. And my team excels in dangerous situations.” Tipping back in the chair, he shrugged. “Protecting the girls and making sure the clinic is secure is easy. The hard part is figuring out who is doing it and why. Fortunately, that’s your job.”
Taking a sip of the dark amber liquid in his glass, Gideon stared at the floor. “Having two federal agencies involved is guaranteed to screw this up. They each have their own agendas, and that means they’re not going to share information. I’ve seen this shit before, and it hardly ever goes down well. All I care about is what is happening in this city and how I can prevent it from happening again. My takeaway from the meeting was that we have two national crime groups that are interested in our corner of the world. We haven’t seen a lot of this in the past. I hate like hell to think this is what we have to look forward to.”
Closing the pizza box, Joel thought about a case that they had been on last year. “We worked security for a mid-level bureaucrat from Mexico last year when he was in Florida speaking on the growing gang wars in his country. He spoke about the increasing ‘cooperation’ or ‘partnerships’ that neighborhood-based gangs are creating with national street gangs. If they can create an alliance that can increase their power and thus their access to
“I heard that from my daddy more times than I can count.” Gideon laughed.
“Seriously, Vivi. I’ll go sit in the bar. We don’t know anything about this guy.” Joel crossed his arms and studied the breathtaking woman before him. There had to be a way to stop this date. He just needed to figure it out in the next sixty seconds.
“I will not have a chaperone on the first date that I’ve had in three years.” The doorbell echoed through the house, and Vivi stood. “Prince Charming has arrived. You all sit here. Wyatt doesn’t need to know that I keep company with the likes of you two.” She waved her finger between the two of them and scrunched up her eyes. “Behave.”
The sound of her heels clicking filled the silence. When she laughed and greeted her visitor, Joel felt sick to his stomach. “I hate Wyatt,” Joel said to himself.
Gideon smirked and slid another piece of pizza onto his plate. “If you’re interested, I suggest you do something about it. Now that the girls are closing the widows’ club, it’s every man for himself. And I can tell you, there will be a long line for each one of them. So don’t sulk and give her a hard time if you’re not willing to do something about how you feel. Which, by the way, is obvious to everyone.” Standing, he then walked over to the bar cart in the corner of the kitchen and studied Vivi’s selection. “I think we need some bourbon.”
“No bourbon for me. I’m going to stick with beer. Who knows? She may be calling me for a ride home,” Joel replied.
“Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that.” Gideon laughed. “So tell me about this little business you have down in Florida.” He poured them each a generous shot and returned to the table.
Joel pushed the glass away and took a sip of his beer. He was still recovering from the other night with Uncle Buck. “Our company provides executive protection, security plans, and policies for companies, specialized security training programs, crisis-and-emergency-management planning, high-risk-travel planning and coordination, maritime security for commercial and private clients, and military leadership and tactical training.”
“So, you handle the easy stuff,” Gideon replied.
“Yeah, nothing too complicated. Everyone in my group is a former SOF operator. Most of the men in my office are from the Teams. They all have a ton of experience. I’ve discovered the more times you’ve experienced danger, the better able you are to slow it down. And my team excels in dangerous situations.” Tipping back in the chair, he shrugged. “Protecting the girls and making sure the clinic is secure is easy. The hard part is figuring out who is doing it and why. Fortunately, that’s your job.”
Taking a sip of the dark amber liquid in his glass, Gideon stared at the floor. “Having two federal agencies involved is guaranteed to screw this up. They each have their own agendas, and that means they’re not going to share information. I’ve seen this shit before, and it hardly ever goes down well. All I care about is what is happening in this city and how I can prevent it from happening again. My takeaway from the meeting was that we have two national crime groups that are interested in our corner of the world. We haven’t seen a lot of this in the past. I hate like hell to think this is what we have to look forward to.”
Closing the pizza box, Joel thought about a case that they had been on last year. “We worked security for a mid-level bureaucrat from Mexico last year when he was in Florida speaking on the growing gang wars in his country. He spoke about the increasing ‘cooperation’ or ‘partnerships’ that neighborhood-based gangs are creating with national street gangs. If they can create an alliance that can increase their power and thus their access to
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