“You.”
He issued a short huff of disbelief. “You’re asking me to join Black Heart Security?”
Denver gave him a nod. “Think of it as temporary reinforcement.”
“An as-needed basis,” Colt chimed in with a tug on the brim of his cowboy hat. “You and Gabe have already finalized the training program. Until the first class of students arrives, you have some free time.”
Church scratched his stubbled jaw with his thumbnail, the rough rasping noise filling the small pause. “Once the operators arrive for training, I’ll be there exclusively?”
“That’s right,” Theo said.
“In the meantime, you want me taking a bodyguard gig.”
Theo spread his hands. “We could use more boots on the ground until we hire more security specialists. What do you say?”
All eyes fixed on him as he let the proposal sink in.
“Double the wages,” Denver sweetened the deal.
Grant compressed his lips. “It’s not about the money.”
They waited for what he wasn’t saying. What he wasn’t sure he could say aloud.
He glanced at the mountains but didn’t find any help there.
“What about those mental fitness evaluations?” he asked.
“You have all the clearance you need to work with us, Church,” Theo said.
“That’s good—because I wouldn’t pass them.”
More silence buzzed in the room, the kind that only existed between men who’d been in the worst places together and knew better than to interrupt.
He rubbed the back of his neck, the tendons like steel cables. “I keep telling myself that the missions I led were successful. That the teams came home.”
He dragged his thumb along his jaw again, the rasp loud in the silence.
“But there’s still one man who didn’t.”
Crew Diaz nodded in understanding. They all knew what it was like to lose friends, but Crew had walked a path that was rockier than those mountains in the distance.
“Doesn’t matter how many I pulled out of bad situations,” he continued, his voice rougher than he liked. “Doesn’t matter how many ops went right. I still lost one.” He met Theo’s gaze.
Theo leaned forward. “Do you know how many men a commander can lose? Losing only one man in your career is unheard of.”
The room hummed with things unspoken. Every man knew the math of war.
He exhaled slowly through his nose. Maybe they were right. Didn’t make the loss feel any lighter, though.
When he met Theo’s stare again, Church didn’t find pity in his gray eyes—or in any of the others’.
“That brings us back to the job. We wouldn’t throw you into anything complicated. This is about as low risk as it gets.”
His lips twitched. “So you’re pitching underhand to the rookie.”
A few chuckles and snorts of amusement rounded the table.
Theo continued. “A movie production company is filming location shots just outside Willowbrook. Big-budget thing. The studio wants extra protection while they shoot in the mountains. Nothing major. Just a visible security presence to keep things calm.”
