Hidden Impact (Safeguard #1)(79)

“And with the means to pay several mercenary organizations, not just Edict,” Harte added to the list with even less pleasure in his voice. If it were possible.

“Whoever it is won’t be happy to have lost a valuable asset.” Gabe would be damned if they’d send Maylin and An-mei back to their lives only to see them snapped up again.

“No.” Harte settled again, a shit-eating grin on his face. “About that. I reached out to a few contacts.”

“Yeah?” Gabe halted and leaned back against the opposite wall. He’d wait to find out what Harte had in mind. If he didn’t like it, then he’d get up in his CO’s face.

“There’s a few government sponsors concerned about the potential for biological warfare and the best way to develop countermeasures.” Harte lifted his chin to indicate the women in the room behind Gabe. “If An-mei is amenable—and I’m thinking developing countermeasures is better than developing the weapons themselves—they’ll provide a new identity and protection for her. Sort of like witness protection but specialized.”

“And what about Maylin?” It’d be awful to separate the sisters after how hard Maylin had worked to get An-mei back.”

“Option to disappear with her sister.” Harte’s gaze settled on Gabe.

Gabe held steady. “Maylin deserves to be with the only family she has left.”

“Maybe.” Harte let the word out slow. “She does have an entire catering company she’s built from nothing.”

“She could build another one or do something different.” Gabe had no doubt Maylin could do anything, start from scratch over and over. She had the tenacity to make anything happen.

Harte nodded. “She could. She’s made some changes here, even. I’m realizing the recuperation portion of these facilities could do with a stabilizing influence for the teams stationed here. From what I hear about her cooking, she had a lot more of an impact on your team’s recovery than maybe anyone realizes.”

Gabe hadn’t thought about it. Maylin’s impact on him, on his life, was so big he couldn’t wrap his head around it. She’d changed his life, and he didn’t even know what he was going to do when he went back to who he used to be.

“‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.’ Hippocrates.” Harte was looking at him expectantly after the quote, and Gabe wasn’t sure he was following his CO’s logic this time.

Harte sighed. “I considered hiring a bartender because most of you really don’t like talking to a shrink, and outside the military, I don’t have a way of making any of you see one no matter how much good it’d probably do you. But a bartender means booze and some of you would best be as far away from alcohol as possible.”

Yeah. Alcoholism. Drugs. Some of them turned to just about anything that could change a mental state when things got bad. Being a working mercenary, having to stay sharp, probably saved all of their lives every bit as much as the continued danger presented by their jobs threatened to end them.

“I’m thinking your Maylin found something a lot better for all of you. And I heard from a lot of the personnel on the training side too. They were jealous. Not just about the good food, and I hear she is a very good cook, but about the way you all could gather in the kitchen. Talk. Really talk.”

“We talked about the mission.” Gabe didn’t mean to argue. But it was what they’d been doing.

“You relaxed. I’ve checked with Lizzy, with Marc and Vic. It was more about working together and less about the dark side of what we do. Family-like, complete with picnics in the car.”

“If you’re going to offer her a job, offer it to her.” Gabe wasn’t about to try to influence her decision. He couldn’t make her promises, and it’d be damned unfair if the only time he came back to her here was in pieces.

“I plan to.” Harte said. “But I’m thinking this mission showed us some realities about you too.”

“And what are those?” Gabe couldn’t keep the growl out of his voice. He didn’t like where this was going.

“Your back injury never healed one hundred percent. Not letting the medics see to it isn’t going to hide the issue. You’re also stupid as shit trying to walk it off right now.”

Fuck.

Okay, so spasms had been running through his back the entire ride home. “My legs are working.”

“For now.” The words came out short and sharp. Harte wasn’t f*cking around anymore. “I’m requiring you to pass a PT test before you’re cleared for active assignment again. You were damned slow leaving that overturned vehicle, and things could’ve happened before you got clear.”

Cars actually didn’t explode the way they did in Maylin’s television shows. But sometimes they had help. Especially when your ex had a thing for planted explosives. So yeah, things could have turned out a lot worse. And in a way, he should thank his freaking stars Jewel had been up here in Washington State and not out there with an eye on them.

“Jewel is not the only explosives specialist out there.”

Course, Harte could also be a mind reader.

“Didn’t happen this time.” Gabe gritted his teeth. His back muscles spasmed as he spoke, and having his temper up wasn’t going to help him relax.