Page 32 of Home Again

9

Sebastian sat quietly sipping bourbon as his grandfather, and the other three men who had accompanied him in the helicopter, continued their conversation in the study. It took all of his training to stay calm and listen to the plans that his grandfather and his cronies had concocted.

“I pulled a few strings so his re-enlistment papers have been lost,” one of the cronies, a bald man, said.

What the fuck?

Sebastian sat up straight.

How is that even possible?

Sebastian loosened his grip on his glass so that he didn’t break it.

“And I had my girl register him in the primary, so that’s been taken care of.” Sebastian remembered the name of the bald man—MacDougal. He hadn’t liked him from the start. He had a sweaty, limp handshake and kept kissing his grandfather’s ass.

“What about you, Archie? Are we going to get any funding from the state level, or are we going to have to do this all on our own?” His grandfather pointed at the third man who was smoking a cigar and on his third glass of bourbon.

“Oh, I’ve got money coming out our ears. When I told people we have an actual Navy SEAL who will be running for State Legislature they were all sporting wood.” Everybody laughed.

Sebastian struggled to remain in his seat and not storm out the door.

“Did you hear that, boy?” his grandfather turned to him. “You’ll have this in the bag.”

“I heard.” Sebastian gave his grandfather a grim smile and wondered how fast he could get ahold of Kostya to find out what the fuck had happened with his re-enlistment papers. He sure as hell didn’t want those held up, so his Lieutenant better get this shit straightened out as quick as fucking possible.

“I gotta tell you, Lazar, having two Durands in Louisiana politics makes me pretty goddamn happy,” MacDougal said. “There are a lot of fucking things that need to get done, and you’re the men to do it.”

His grandfather shot him a dark look. “You know I always look at all sides of an issue, Fred, and my grandson will do business the same way.”

Bullshit. I know how things operate; my grandfather is the greasiest pig in the pen.

“But Lazar—”

“Shut up, MacDougal,” Fred barked. “Young Durand will do his job with honor, just like he has serving our country. Isn’t that right, Bastian?”

Sebastian nodded. He just needed to last a little bit longer.

“Isn’t Armand going to be pissed?” MacDougal asked.

“You leave him to me,” Lazar said as he waved his arm. “Armand knows his place.”

“That drunk couldn’t get elected anyways,” Archie pointed over at MacDougal as he took another sip of bourbon.

Sebastian snorted. Dumb bastard can’t even see the irony as he drains his third glass of bourbon in an hour.

“We need to figure out who’s going to run the campaign. Can’t be Madelaine, cause she’s running yours,” Fred said as he glanced over at Lazar.

“I’ve got some people in mind,” Archie chimed in.

“Don’t forget, we’re going to need Bastian to do a lot of photo ops, and some commercials. We’ll need him wearing fatigues and holding a gun. That will be best, don’t you think, boys?” Lazar asked the group.

Sebastian was done. He couldn’t stand it another minute. He stood up. “It seems like you have this well in hand. I’m going to step out and take care of some business.”

“What kind of business do you have to take care of?” Lazar shouted. “This is what’s important.”

“If I’m going to quit the teams, then there are a lot of things I need to do. There will be a lot of hand-offs required. I’ll need to report in.”

“Nonsense. Take your leave and never look back,” Lazar glared at him. “Fred will cover your ass.”