"Um... okay, I guess. I've never been kidnapped before. Or chloroformed."
"Let me know if you experience anything that doesn't feel normal.
"Like the last two days, you mean?"
That makes the older man laugh, which makes the other men stare at him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TALON
I've knownHarlan Frost for years and I'm not sure I can remember the last time I heard the man laugh. It's not that he doesn't have a sense of humor, he just has one of those faces that are incapable of smiling.
I thought.
"Imagine this hasn't been your best vacation, huh?" Harlan reaches over the table and shakes Arizona's hand. "I hear it has a bright side though?" His eyes shift to me seated beside her, my left hand casually draped over her thigh beneath the table, doing not a damn thing to hide that fact.
Zona blushes and I steel myself for a lecture similar to the one Austin dressed me down with earlier.
"Ward mentioned you'd struck up something with our cabin guest." Harlan's expression returns to its customary stoic position, giving away nothing.
Arizona's hand squeezes over mine and I feel her body tense beside me.
"I have." I confirm. "I understand if that's not acceptable. I'll resign."
Those words don't come as easily as I expected them to. Arizona is my first priority. I knew that the moment I saw her. Choosing her isn't a question. Leaving the team though, that comes with feelings I hadn't expected.
Despite having only spent maybe sixteen of our first forty-eight hours together, the men assigned to the mountain security protocol team have grown on me. Even with Leo's obvious psychopathy, and Austin's disapproval of me acting on myattraction to Zona-- and whatever chip Sagan is carrying on his shoulder-- I sense the same kind of brotherhood among these men that I found in a few of my units back in the Army.
I might be the new kid, and they've regarded me with the cautious acceptance that comes with that, but not one of them hesitated this afternoon when Arizona went missing. They showed their dedication to our mission, zero hesitancy to protect the innocent, and support for me knowing I had a personal interest in ensuring Zona's safety.
These men will have my back when I need to count on them, and I'm willing to have theirs.
That's something I haven't found in my colleagues in the civilian sector.
"That what Ward told you?" Harlan leans back on the chair, his eyes darkening as they look toward the hallway leading to the back room where the Ward brothers are presumably already busy working on syncing their maps.
"If I thought for a second that you lacked the integrity, the discipline, and the just plain common sense to know when your dick should stay in your pants, you wouldn't have gotten hired with Frost Security, let alone made it to Rogue.
"You're here because you've already proven you belong here. There is no probation period... Ward needs to get laid."
He adds that last observation under his breath, but not low enough that the man beside him doesn't laugh lightly.
"Caspian, by the way," the man shakes my hand over the mostly empty pizza boxes and then shakes Zona's as well. "Former field surgeon-- mostly light medic duties these days if we can help it."
"Talon Avis," I introduce myself, "it's usually the other guy who needs the medic."
"Heard that!" Sagan pipes up from where he's lounging across the living room sofa.
"Pft," Leo scoffs, "with me, the other guy needs a priest, not a surgeon."
The two men on the couch click beer bottles and turn back to the game they've found on the television.
Caspian shakes his head, a lazy smile forming as he looks at teammates he's obviously used to spending time with.
"I mean it, Arizona. Chloroform is nasty stuff, call me if you have any side effects; dizziness, nausea--" He turns my way, "If she seems confused or has memory issues-- keep a watch on her for the next day or two... good to meet you."
Caspian leaves the table, heading down the hallway to the where Jay has the bulk of the team's operations set up.
