AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That had made him quite the bodyguard after leaving the military and was one of the reasons why Ian had hired him to work at Zodiac Tactical, the world-renowned private security business he’d built.
Zodiac were the utmost experts at security work of all types: risk consulting,intelligence gathering, private and corporate guarding, international hostage negotiation and rescue.
If the law couldn’t, or wouldn’t, handle it, Ian DeRose and his team could. Mark had been damned proud to be part of that team for the past two years.
But soon, he and Ian would be having a hard talk. Things couldn’t continue the way they had been.
“Hey.” Ian nudged him. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Mark looked out at the mountains to the north of them. “You ever miss this view when you’re in New York?”
Ian had moved there when his wife Wavy’s art career had taken off.
Ian shrugged. “I appreciate this more since I’m not around it as often. But the city has its own appeal. And honestly, I would take any view as long as I know Wavy’s near it.”
After what had happened to her, it was still hard for Ian to be away from Wavy at all. Even to go rock-climbing while she was in town a few miles away.
“Lord, are you guys talking lovey-dovey stuff about my sister?” Baby asked as he and Riley made it the rest of the way up to them. “If so, I can once again attempt to plummet to my death.”
Mark pushed himself back from the ledge so they could begin climbing again. “No, we were trying to figure out if we could climb a different section of this rock to avoid face-to-ass, good ol’ days stories.”
“Best day of my life.” Riley grinned and started climbing past them.
From this point to the top of the cliff wall, their equipment was set up and anchored for all of them to climb without needing to spot each other. At the top was rappelling gear to get them back down.
That was the advantage of adventuring with a billionaire. They didn’t have a ton of time today, so Ian had arranged for someone to set up and take down their equipment. All they had to do was enjoy the scenery, company, and the challenge.
Challenges had never been something Mark shied away from.
They all began moving up the wall. A few yards in, Mark could feel the slight drag of his left leg and bit back a curse. If the pattern held, his leg would continue to become more useless over the next few hours, then hopefully would right itself later tonight as he slept.
Doctors had warned him that at some point the rejuvenation may stop.
He would deal with that when it came to it. Right now, he was determined not to show any weakness. He knew he was succeeding when Baby and Riley began their joking with each other again. Riley climbed past Mark at a rate he’d never be able to match, current physical issues or not.
But then again, Riley was a world-class athlete and a decade younger, so Mark wasn’t going to sweat it.
Riley got a little farther up, then stopped and flipped so he was almost hanging upside down like freaking Spiderman. “Don’t you think it’s interesting how we don’t see Mark in Oak Creek for like two years until Jenna showed back up here?”
Baby and Ian both chuckled.
“Highly suspicious,” Baby said.
Mark rolled his eyes. “Hey, if I haven’t been around, blame my asshole boss. He’s the one who keeps me out on missions all the time.”
Ian chuckled, not taking offense. “Funny how you let yourasshole bossknow you needed time off as soon as Jenna Franklin resurfaced here.”
They all got a little quiet.Resurfacedwas the right word. For over a month, no one had known where she’d gone, or why she’d disappeared.
But Mark had known. He’d witnessed it.
“I’m not here because of Jenna,” he said out loud. “I’m here because, evidently, I needed more jackasses in my life, and you three were readily available. Tell me what’s been going on around Wyoming’s most notorious town.”
Riley and Baby launched into tales of what had been happening in Oak Creek as they climbed, like Mark wanted. It kept their attention off him and that he was moving a little slower than he should be.
And they had no shortage of stories to tell. With all the Linear Tactical guys and their military backgrounds and contacts, someone always seemed to be in danger or drawing some sort of trouble.
And, of course, everyone was getting married and having babies. That was happening at Zodiac Tactical too.
