Wire
I must be crazy, torturing myself like I do. It was hard enough to stop myself from stripping Remmi naked and devouring every part of her Saturday night on the couch. She looked so wounded that I almost caved and started where I left off.
I’ve never felt this way about a woman before. There are wonderful women out there. I’ve met a few, dated some, but in the end, those relationships all fizzled out. The biggest reason was that I wasn’t readily available as a regular guy working a nine-to-five job. I couldn’t pick up the phone every time they called or drop what I was doing on a dime. I couldn’t give them what they needed, so I broke it off.
Those were good women, and they deserve the lives they dreamed of. I just wasn’t part of the equation, and I’m cool with that. I’d like to think we parted on decent terms. I’ve heard from a couple of women I dated for a short time, and they’re married and happy.
With Remmi, I’m happy to make changes as long as it suits both of us. Remmi needs a patient man who will encourage her to bring out the best of her old self and live free. I plan to be that man. I also intend to be the one who shares all her experiences, the good and the bad. We’ve had enough bad, but I’ll keep my eyes and ears open and do everything in my power to keep the monsters from seeping into Remmi’s life.
There are some hard truths about her situation. For one, her father is brilliant, and any number of people would want to use her as leverage to reach him. That said, I plan to do some internet hacking to make it as difficult as possible to find Remmi. I haven’t discussed this with her, and I’d never do it without her permission, but adding several layers of difficulty and including some warning triggers to let me know someone’s looking for her will mean I’ll find them before they find Remmi. I’ve even discussed this with the team. Falcon didn’t even let me finish my sentence before he said, “Do it.” The others all offered to help in any way they could.
The second truth is that Storm is a low-key operation, and mostly, we remain ghosts. But through the years, we’ve come up against some pretty nasty adversaries. You never know when one of them might rear their ugly head and want revenge on some perceived issue that they blame us for. I know that Phoenix, Rebel, and Bull have put safeguards in place and set up safe houses in different parts of the city, even in different states. I’ve put it on my list of things to talk to them about today.
Leaving Remmi this morning wasn’t easy. I feel better that Wolfie is with her. He’s trained to protect at any cost. On my way to work, I make a couple of calls. I ordered a wheel and a kiln to be installed in the garage at the back of the house. I call it a garage, but it’s an extra workspace I put in. It’s got a ton of my computer hardware in it at the moment. We’ll have the kiln and wheel installed, and when she’s working out there, I can join her when I’m home.
I rarely allow people into my personal space, except for the guys and their wives, so I’ll have to see if I can get some help setting up her workspace.
The next call I make is to Bull. “Hey, man. You got a second?”
“For you, always. What’s up?” he answers.
“I’ve gotta talk to someone about Remmi.”
“Is she okay?” His voice gets serious.
“Yeah. She’s good. I left Wolfie with her today.”
“That’s cool. So, what’s bugging you?”
“Remmi’s been through a lot. I’m not sure how slow to take this. And just to add, she isn’t liking me taking it slow,” I confess.
He lets out a loud laugh. “Isn’t that a good sign?” he asks, still chuckling.
“Is it? Fact is, she’s been traumatized. What if I do something that triggers her? I’m the person she’s always felt safe with. I never want her to look at me with terror in her eyes. I saw that once, when I took her from the cage and carried her out. It took her a minute to figure out we were saving her father and her, and not killing them both. Fuck! The expression on her face is etched in my brain forever,” I grind out.
The cartel had her so doped up, I thought she was dead when I first saw her in the cage. When I went to carry her out, she tried to fight me, but couldn’t because she was so far gone. But her expression was agonizing to see. Eventually, it sank in that our team was there to rescue her and her dad. That was when she held on and never let go. That’s the day I decided I wasn’t going to let go either.
“I understand where you’re coming from, brother, but Remmi’s been seeing a therapist and she’s had a lot of support from her friends, especially Mina. Remmi’s choosing to move forward despite the hell she went through. Talk to her about it. She has a say in what happens between the two of you,” Bull says.
“Yeah, you’re right.” I let out a heavy sigh.
“I had exactly the same hang-up with Maya. I mean, look at her! Maya’s a tiny little thing who has her nose in a book ninety percent of the time. I’m like a bull in a china shop. And I’m not going to lie, I had my reservations about whether she could handle what we do at Storm. Since I disappear for days, sometimes weeks at a time, I thought for sure that she’d want out. I didn’t see the resilience in Maya until it was put to the test, but she was there, waiting for me when I came home.” There’s a slight pause before he continues. “Remmi’s shown her strength already. It took a lot for her to leave the heavily guarded palace where her parents are staying and return to her home.”
“I made her place safer than Fort Knox.”
“But Remmi didn’t know that then, and she still went home,” he counters.
He’s right, I didn’t tell Remmi until I saw her freaking out. She turned on every light in the house and was cowering on the sofa, curled into a ball. Call it what you want, but the second I heard that Remmi was returning to her house, I was there watching and looking out for her. That was the first night I stayed with her and told her I had her back.
“I’ll talk to her tonight,” I agree.
“Good. And let me be the first to tell you that with the right woman by your side, life is sweet, man,” Bull says. We hang up, knowing we’ll be seeing each other soon.
Bull’s a hard man, and dangerous if he’s your enemy. But I know, deep inside, where it counts, he’s loyal to the bone. He risked his life over and over again when we served together in the military. He once ran through a minefield to get a soldier to safety. Even though he had an idea of where the mines were placed, there was no guarantee that he’d make it out of there alive. Falcon tried to hold him back, but when Bull asked, “Would you leave me out there?” Falcon relented.
We did our best to guide him through the obstacle course filled with live mines. I’m not ashamed to say I was scared shitless for him. It was so fucking hot that day that sweat was dripping and soaking into our shirts. Bull would not be deterred. He saw the young soldier and kept his focus on the task. It was easier to get him out to Tim, the soldier who landed himself in this predicament, but bringing him back was torture. Tim was shaking so badly, and one wrong foot would get them both blown up. In one fell swoop, Bull put him in a fireman’s hold and started back. We held our breath with every step and were never more relieved than when he took his last step out of the field.
Tim was a mess. Mess turned into embarrassment, and his confidence took a dive. The only other men around were Falcon, Rebel, and me, and we swore to Tim that we wouldn’t say a word. Nevertheless, Tim only got worse, and in the middle of a war zone, that’s a recipe for disaster. Falcon spent a lot of time with Tim in the months after. He got better, but he was never going to be able to make it past the first stint.
