Page 30 of Cooper

Leaving me bored out of my mind.

All this rest is great for my body, but my brain isn’t on board at all.

So I go in search of Joe.

I was told he spends most of the day in the security office, and that’s where I find him.

“Hey, Coop. What’s up?” He looks up with a friendly smile.

“Going stir crazy,” I admit. “But I’m not up to working out or anything.”

He nods. “Totally understandable. Not sure I can help with that, but you’re welcome to hang out while I do gate surveillance.”

“Gate surveillance?”

“We don’t get tourists in hoards, like Paris or Athens, but we get enough. And they inevitably wander by the palace to take pictures. So I keep an eye on them, looking for anything suspicious. A backpack left behind. A few weeks ago, a stroller rolled away while the parents tried to take a selfie. There’s always something to look out for.”

I sink down next to him and study the many monitors lining the wall; twenty-four of them, three rows of eight, and then a regular computer monitor in front of Joe, with another that isn’t on in front of me.

“That’s a lot of footage to monitor,” I say, watching a group of what looks like teenage girls approach one of the two guards at the main gate. “Uh oh, that looks like trouble.”

He chuckles. “Teenage girls are a menace sometimes, but usually not of the terrorism kind.”

Sure enough, a cute blonde starts flirting with the guard, who does his best to ignore her.

“Poor Alec,” Joe says. “The girls love him. He gets this all day whenever we put him out front. I try not to assign it two days in a row because it’s exhausting for him, but he has to learn restraint.”

“Yes, he does.” I watch for another minute as the girls take some selfies, attempt to talk to him again, and then wander off.

That looks tedious as hell.

“So, what’s next for you?” Joe asks. “Nice cushy assignment in Hawaii?”

“Looks that way, I guess.” I say it without enthusiasm because cushy has never been my thing.

“You’d rather be back in action?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “I’ve been trying to decide what’s next. Two years in Hawaii where I can regroup or leave the marines and head to the NSA. Or maybe even the private sector.”

“Money’s better,” he says. “That’s why I did it.”

“But you left your own security firm to come here,” I say. “How come?”

He shrugs, a thoughtful look on his face. “I don’t know how to explain it, but once you get a feel for what Erik is doing, and how much of himself he gives to make life for his people better, you want to be part of it. And don’t get it twisted—he pays us very, very well.”

Natalia and I hadn’t talked much about money, beyond the fact that she originally joined the military because it was the only way to help her family—who live up north somewhere rural—survive.

“I have a little time to assess my options,” I say. “And I’d like Natalia to weigh in as well. We just haven’t had any time. To talk or anything else.”

He nods. “That’s her life, you know. If you’re going to be with her, this is what it is right now.”

“Is that sustainable?” I ask. “I mean, how long can everyone work nonstop with the constant fear of attack and no time to decompress?”

“I don’t know. We’re working on it. But like I said—once you see what Erik is trying to do, and you understand the depth of his sacrifice, it feels like a small thing for the rest of us to protect him and his family. It’s not the same as in the military.”

His phone rings and I leave him to it, wandering back to Natalia’s room.

I’ve never had that kind of commitment to something.

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