‘I know that.What can I do to help?What can I offer?’
‘Honestly?’
‘Always.’
‘Hiring from the outside is too difficult now.I need people I can trust with solid training and competent backgrounds,butI’d need them to be my people, not yours, and they would be yours, so,’ he sighs, ‘the answer is nothing.’
‘I can give you people.’
‘What did I just say?’
‘I know an excellent team, some of the best.You can thoroughly check and interview yourself.I know your hesitation,’ he adds, watching Lachlan levelly.‘They can all take care of themselves, Danya in particular.’
Lachlan is considering it.‘Maybe.Tell me why you want Vasily here.I don’t believe for a second that you can’t protect your own son.’
‘Not all threats come in bullets,’ Sorrenko says, oddly Lachlan so much ofsome deaths don’t draw bloodthat it’s uncanny.‘And as I said, I must travel with Roman.Vasily would, at best, be bored out of his mind.He is happy here.I want that for him.You will take the team?’
‘I’ll vet them and see.’
Sorrenko smiles.‘Good man.’
?
Lachlan, Blaire, Jules, Vasily and Mimi all see Alistair off with the others.Mikhail hugs his son briskly and Roman speaks with his little brother for a minute before he leaves, cupping his cheek and winking.Mimi is humming to herself, counting down in her head from two hundred like Lachlan told her because it helps for her to have something to look forward to and he knows roughly how long thesegoodbyestake.
Penhalyx seems to have calmed down from his tantrum earlier, gives Lachlan a pleasant smile goodbye and tells him to take a day off in the next week or so if he needs it, the condescending fucker.Jules frowns when his father says that, but Lachlan gives nothing away.The painkillers help.
As the helicopter lifts off, the blades kick up a beautiful storm of vicious wind and then, thankfully, they’regone.
Mimi breathes a happy sigh of relief.‘Finally.’
‘So, what shall we do this evening?’Blaire asks Jules.
‘Cake maybe?’he suggests, smiling at Mimi.
‘Cake,yes!’she agrees, arms open when he comes to take her from Lachlan’s hip and Lachlan is happy to see her go to Jules with such enthusiasm.The breach between them is healing.‘And games too?’
‘What games?’he asks, the pair walking inside while Lachlan hangs back, needs a moment to catch his breath.
‘Hide and seek?’
‘My favourite.Come on, then.Vasily, you can start us off.’
‘Get your ass to medical,’ Blaire intones under cover of a smile, when the kids are far enough away not to hear it.‘Now.’
‘I will,’ Lachlan assures her even though he won’t for reasons he can’t even begin to analyse.He goes to the Control Room instead to start vetting.
?
Of the small team Sorrenko recommends, all five appear solid, but three stand out immediately to Lachlan.He’s experienced enough not to keep them grouped together, though.Better to fracture the existing dynamic early so they’re forced to adapt to a new operational structure instead of clinging to old loyalties.Just as Sorrenko had said, one profile in particular reads exceptional to Lachlan.
Danya Yashin’s background bears some resemblance to Lachlan’s own.Flagged young, accelerated hard, operational by twenty, burned through three years of off script work.The difference is that Yashin was sold into the private sector afterwards, while Lachlan was officially discharged.
Though if Lachlan is being honest with himself, the distinction feels increasingly cosmetic.One way or another, they both ended up belonging to powerful men.Lachlan just happened to sign his own contract.
He makes his decision, informs Sorrenko he wants three of the five, and later, once the sun has set on Jules’ nineteenth birthday, he follows the sound of life deeper into the Estate.Half eaten cake, orange juice and a movie playing on the TV in the den.Jules is half watching, half on his newly returned tablet.Vasily is reading a book, curled up like a cat.Mimi is snuggled in Blaire’s arms.
For a while, Lachlan just watches them, lets it stir warmth where he needs it most and then, as if sensing his presence, Mimi looks over at him and beams.‘Daddy!’
