Page 5 of Tango

“I’ve never wanted something so bad in my life.” Lee rubbed his crewcut with a huff. They were all exhausted but hadn’t let it show, even to each other, until they were finished and somewhat alone.

“We all know how badass Blackstone is, and now there’s a new team that’s gonna work right alongside of ’em,” Perez grinned. “And we’re being considered? This is next level shit.” The guys in the room all gave a hooah.

“I like them,” Moore said quietly next to me. “I think we have something good here.”

“Agreed.” I kept my eyes on Gear.

Perez reached over and offered Gear a hand. “I know we were introduced, but I’m Chris Perez. I respect your answers about your family, by the way. I think it’s cool you included them in your decision. I only have a half-sister, and she’s eleven years younger, so we aren’t that close.”

“Thanks. Tommy Gear.” Gear took Perez’s hand and gave it a shake. “It’s mostly because my sister’s in a wheelchair, so I know my mom needs a lot of help. When I told her about the position I was being offered and that I might give up the idea to try out for this team because of my sister, she smacked some sense into me real fast. Said it was about time I started living for me.”

I glanced at Moore, and he felt it, too. Gear was the right kind of man we wanted for our team.

“That’s impressive.” Lee held his hand out to Gear. “I’m Steven Lee, “and I’m sorry for your sister.”

“She’s living her best life, and she’s super tough. She’ll be okay.” Gear smiled for the first time.

I turned off the camera, and Moore and I went back into the room to spend a little more time with our possible new team.

* * *

We were almost back at the house when Moore got a text message that made his face fall.

“Wow,” he huffed and texted something back.

“Are you gonna keep me in suspense?” I stopped at the first check-in and rolled down my window to give a face ID.

“Guess who asked to be transferred to Camp Green?” Moore sipped his coffee. “Dustin.”

“Dustin?” What?

“Yeah. And with his rank and at his age? That would only mean one thing.”

“Wants distance from Hill and Rivera.” I shook my head. “I wonder if that means Hill’s slipping even more.”

“My guess would be yes.” He held up his ID with mine at the second checkpoint.

“What the hell?” I caught sight of a flashy gold pendant when it slipped out from under his shirt. Moore said nothing as he tucked his ID into his bag. “Are you wearing Gadar?” I reached over, but he slapped my hand away with a laugh. “Don’t act like you don’t have some.”

“I mean I do, but I don’t wear it.” Shit, I still had a ton of Gadar gold left from Afghanistan. We sometimes used it to buy off the Taliban in sticky situations. It looked real but was actually just cheap stuff imported from India. It had saved our necks a few times.

“It’s a memory piece.” He patted his chest then rolled his eyes at my smirk.

“You look like a pimp,” I said, deadpan. “You look like the inside of Flavor Flav’s mouth. You look like LL Cool J’s gangster cousin twice removed.”

“Are you done?”

“No, I’ve got more.” I laughed, and he punched me in the shoulder. We used to make so much fun of the young Taliban men who liked to flash around their Gadar jewelry. They thought they were such hot shit, but we all knew that fake gold only cost pennies.

“Before we go in, I wanna ask you for a favor.” I slowed the car as two soldiers walked by. They held up a hand, and we both waved.

“Sure, shoot.” Moore tucked his phone in his pocket and gave me his full attention.

“When I’m gone, keep an eye on Ivy, will ya? Have her six when she’s in town or off somewhere whenever you can. I need to know you’re with her when I’m over there.”

“We already have a date, so that won’t be a problem.” He grinned, and I eyed him. “We both agreed that we’re the most important people in your life, so we need to get to know one another better.”

“Oh.” I tilted my head at him and pondered if that was a good idea or not. “Just be careful, buddy. She can get inside your head without you even knowing it.”

---