“See you soon,” Xander said to his R&D team.
Ares stood in front of the empty reception desk. Xander smiled. To his brother’s annoyance, he was always a step ahead of him.
“Xander, come here, I got someone for you to see.”
Xander shook his head. “Nope, I know that tone of voice. It’s the same one you used to use when we were kids and you dared me to do something, like steal Mrs. Grady’s garden gnomes.”
“You had fun, didn’t you?” Ares slung his arm around Xander’s shoulders, and he shook his brother’s arm off.
“Listen, Xander, we’re getting slammed with requests for personal security details, for bodyguards, and we don’t have enough staff. You’re right, that prospectus has potential. I would like to acquire three more companies by the end of the year, I want to focus on more projects like that, not constantly running people. This Spring, we have new jobs for Team Stealth and know you want to keep those contracts. Something from Axis Management has to go.”
“I know. I was just thinking I would like more time to tinker with technology up in the labs.”
Xander’s phone buzzed.
“What is it?” Ares said.
“The team on Harper only texted me with a thumbs up. They haven’t given me an actual update, and I don’t know where Harper is. She didn’t come home last night.”
“Maybe Harper told them to back off,” Ares said.
“Yeah, I don’t like this. I think we need to get rid of that team.”
“How many times have you called them? Maybe they’re finding you to be a distraction?”
“They need to communicate,” Xander said bluntly.
“After you.” Ares opened the door to the barely used conference room.
They were confronted by a stack of boxes that had been dragged up from storage, some old desks, and a kitchen table in the vast room.
“You got to be fuckin’ kidding me,” Xander said, turning to glare at his brother.
Straddling an old kitchen chair, with his thick arms crossed in front of him was River Stone. The first guy Xander had ever hired for Axis Management. They’d disagreed and parted ways, and it wasn’t all that amicable on either side. In the following years, River set up his protection agency, called Stone Security.
“Consider his offer, Xander. It’s a good one.”
“Xander, good to see you.” River extended his hand.
“I don’t know if it’s good to see you. I don’t like things being done behind my back.”
“If I told you, you wouldn’t have agreed,” Ares said.
Xander shook his head, pulled out the chair at the top of his table, and spread his arms. “So, how’s business?”
“Great. Couldn’t be better. What about you?”
“Fine,” Xander said.
River returned Xander’s stare unflinchingly. In the second year, Axis Management was in business River Stone wanted to take on a job to help an old friend out of trouble. Said job involved ties to the mob.
Team Stealth walked the line. Xander paid good money for a host of lawyers but providing personal security to the niece of the head boss of the mob… Xander considered that too close for comfort.
River didn’t like that Xander wouldn’t okay the job, so he left and started Stone Security. He was the first employee to leave, and it stung. The people made Axis Management so successful and recruiting new people who had the skill, experience, and certain personalities to fit in was the hardest part of the business. Also, River, being an ex-US Marine, might have easily slid into Team Stealth.
“So, Ares said that you guys are being overrun with requests for personal security and you might want to offload this part of the business?”
Xander glared at Ares, who was standing against the wall. Ares shrugged. “You know, it’s true. We just talked about it.”
