Page 13 of The Story of Danny Rose

My utility dresser by the window that faced the porch had become the twins’ loading zone. Their duffel bags were on the floor, some clothes spilling out after their hasty exit.

The living room area was spotless. Fire blazing, coffee table empty, two sofas forming a sectional. I saw no outward signs of Danny having spent the night, except for one thing. His backpack sat on the floor by the end of one couch, with his sleeping bag resting on top.

Having no plans to leave the property anymore tonight, I went into my bedroom and dropped my bag on the bed. First things first, unpack the kerosene and get some light in here. I had a kerosene lamp sitting on two stacks of books that functioned as a nightstand. With that out of the way, I changed into a pair of sweatpants and a new tee.

Then I grabbed the catalogue I’d packed with me and returned to the living room.

Danny joined me just as I sat down on the couch, and he stowed away the dishes before he opted for the other sofa.

“What’s that?” He nodded at the catalogue.

“My next shopping venture, I hope,” I replied. “The boys have been working their asses off for five months now, so I thought I’d give them something.”

A watch, more accurately. Every operator needed a good watch.

“Ah.” Danny leaned back, folding his arms over his chest, and rested an ankle across his knee. He didn’t take his gaze off the catalogue. It had an expensive-looking watch on the cover, nothing like what I planned on ordering.

“I’m guessing you have a G-Shock like all the other soldiers these days.” I couldn’t quite see his wrist.

I had an ancient Rolex myself, from the days it’d been practically a standard in the Vietnam War. My old man had given it to me. I was due for an upgrade as well, but I struggled to let go of the analog days in favor of all things digital.

“Yup.” Danny let his arms fall from his chest and eyed his watch. Today’s watches were spectacles in comparison to whatI was used to, though they had all the appealing features. Backlight, alarm, stopwatch. “It’s good,” he said. “I’ve had mine for four years—barely a scratch—and you know what environments I’ve exposed it to. Haven’t even had to change the battery yet, and I wear it day and night.”

I supposed I was generationally damaged, thinking everything with extra features was going to drain the battery too quickly.

“How much was it?” I opened the catalogue to go to the G-Shock section. It was a popular watch and came in countless colors and styles.

I noticed Danny started tapping his foot restlessly.

“Uh, about five hundred, I think.”

That sounded reasonable.

The catalogue had about twenty of them on display, and I ruled out anything plastic or military-colored. No army green or desert sand. There was nothing covert about those watches.

While I perused and nixed several options, I kept Danny in my periphery and picked up more impatience for every moment that went by. He bit his thumbnail, he ran a hand through his hair, he tapped his foot, he bounced his knee.

There. A sleek G-Shock in stainless steel. It had the features the twins would want—and need. Danny’s watch wasn’t as bulky as some of the others I’d seen. That was good.

“Do River and Reese live with you?” he asked.

“At the moment.” I nodded with a dip of my chin and flipped the page. “I want them close to me—and DC—so it was easier to just let them have my spare room than them finding their own place.” They couldn’t afford it right now anyway. Their training was a twenty-four-seven kind of investment, paid for by Hillcroft, and it left no extra time for work. Soon, they’d be even busier when their in-house education began.

“That’s funny,” Danny chuckled. “I asked some basic questions about your field, and you had zero answers. But you had no issue taking on two kids for around-the-clock training, having themlivewith you…and, right, buying them watches.”

There we go. Safe to say, I’d managed to trigger a reaction.

I closed the catalogue and gave him my full attention.

“The circumstances were different,” I explained. “I met the twins at a bar for old grunts when they’d already left the Army. You were at the top of the elites in between deployments. How do you think it would look if they brought me in and I recruited you to the private sector?”

He scowled to himself and bit at a cuticle.

“You’re also Army through and through.” I had to be honest. “Your version of blending in is to dress up in camo. Ours is to become one with the local population.”

That one pissed him off. “You think I can’t learn? I’m ten times more?—”

“Prone to turn everything into a competition,” I cut in. “I’m not saying you don’t have what it takes tobecomea private contractor, Danny, but you would have to start over completely. We’re talking ten years of Army mind-set to deprogram. All your goals and how you attack a problem would have to change. You can’t let your emotions control you, you can’t get angry at every turn, you can’t give yourself away—even for a bloody second. I’m not the PMC they send into war zones to blow shit up. I’m there to do my work undetected. I sneak in and sneak out. If shit goes sideways, I’m obviously trained and equipped to shoot my way out, but it’s an absolute last resort.”

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