AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Stick that little morsel in your cap and smoke it, Ace.
The lean officer next to me swore under his breath, holding up a hand before the barrage could begin. “You’ve each got two months to find a replacement, or one will be chosen for you. You can opt to be posted, but I’d recommend now that we have a growing family you take the full pay offered until pension time rocks around in your dotage.”
I watched this information sink into men far too young to retire, but hell. Maybe they could consult. Or maybe they’d post. I could bet good money each of their girls would love them at home more and on far less dangerous deployments.
“Retire or post. Not the option I signed on for, boss.” King pressed his lips into a thin line, but for a class A smart-ass, he said nothing else.
“Already been posted around the world a bit. Maybe I will retire.” Joker glared at me. “You’re choosing the replacements?”
“Hi.” I waved and grinned at him.
“Are you going to retire?” Hearts didn’t bother to put his two cents in, delving straight at Ace instead.
“Maybe. I might take on some work with ASIO. The new office is set up but they’re still on a skeleton crew. Plus, I want to keep an eye on mafia boy here. Somehow, his father has influenced military decisions and that hits me at gut level.” He offered his accusation in an eerily calm voice. If I hadn’t seen that mask before, I might have been frightened.
I grew up deciphering that facade every day. Just a prelude to the next storm that threatened to engulf me, though nothing would.
“Not a bad choice.” I kept the smile fixed on my face, though my cheeks ached.
The group glared at me, their combined attention intimidating to say the least. My phone buzzed on cue. I shook my head, checked my screen and threw my own mask on.
“I’ll leave you gents to your thoughts then.” Waving the phone over my head, I wandered out the back door of Fairview House, picking up the call. “One moment,” I murmured in Chechen, never breaking my stride until I stood in the middle of the back yard where I had a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view.
“My boy. Did you enjoy a steaming Christmas?” My father’s deep voice boomed in my ear in truly atrocious English.
We’re talking to the masses then.
“Seafood. Cold, with beer.”
“Ahhh, but not real beer. No vodka?” He chuckled at his own joke.
My smile strained.
Christmas had only become a national Russian holiday a decade before I was born, though we celebrated in our own ways. My father loved discovering new traditions and trying them out on various family members as if he were still living in Russia.
“Not this year, nana. News delivered, as requested.” And a whole lot more—but my father didn’t need more ammunition to keep me in line. No, I was keen to keep Abby and baby Tran to myself for now.
“Good, good. I’ll get your team to you in a few weeks.”
I blinked and stumbled over a silence that shouldn’t have been there. “I thought I was selecting a team,” I said in a neutral voice.
“Of course not. Why do you think I would involve myself in a top-secret special ops group?”
“This isn’t an English spy film,” I snapped, my attention fraying. My phone creaked in my hand.And the Cold War is over right, Dad?
“Ahh, but it’s so much fun. I’ll talk to you after the holiday. Have fun with your odd little China girl, eh?” He ended the call as I stared at the back of the house, unseeing anything but Abby’s bright smile, her eyes sparkling, hair tossed around her face.
Two thoughts ripped through my mind.
She’s Thai.
He knows.
And now I had a new team coming in to fuck with a country I had given an oath and my loyalty to.
Fuck fuck motherfucking fuck.
Dammit, I knew he’d pick up on my attachment to Abby.
A plan began to form in my mind, one designed to keep my father where he’d seated himself in Sydney, and one to keep the older hands on a little longer. The more I thought, the more items I added to my mental list.
I had to convince the current team to stay. I needed to work out who I could trust and who my father was likely to send who would walk through our door in a few scant weeks. We needed to do a little holiday cleaning of Fairview House, top to bottom.
And somehow...I had to tell Abby.
Maybe that one could wait a little.
Dropping my phone on the first step to the back of the house, I put my full weight into the bounce that took me to the top of the flight, leaving the shattered remains of my conversation with my father at ground level.
I had a team to negotiate.
