Page 16 of Hearing Hank

I walk up to him so I can lower my voice. I’m not anxious, I just don’t want anyone overhearing me. “I’m actually kind of worried about Frankie. He was terrified. He had the same look that a horse that’s been beaten over and over gets. Do you know anything about what goes on at their ranch?”

Sam gets a thoughtful look on his face. “I don’t know that I do. Big Frank doesn’t come to town much, and Frankie always just seemed like a jerk. I’ll keep my eye out, though. Maybe talk to Frankie sometime when he’s calmed down. Trust you to care about one of the guys who made your life miserable.”

I shrug. “I’m not saying he hasn’t been a complete ass, I’m just saying he’s really scared of something, and I don’t think it’s me.”

“I’ll ask the guys at the station too,” Sam says. Then he grins at me. “How was your sleepover in Denver?”

The way he asks makes me sure that I’ve been set up. “Paul didn’t have a test to take, did he?”

“Nope,” Sam says, popping the P at the end.

“Well, in that case, tell him thank you,” I grin. “I have to head back to the ranch, I’m sure I’m behind on something.”

“I’ll see you soon,” Sam says, then give me a direct look. “And Hank, good job.”

I climb in the truck and head for home with a new lightness in my chest. I’m not sure what the difference was today. Pretty sure devirginization didn’t magically make my anxiety better. But whatever it is, I’m grateful.

20

Lee

I’minmybedroomcontemplating my outfit choices for my surprise job interview. I start reaching for a slacks-and-shirt look, just to play it safe, but I stop myself. I’m just not interested in another job where I’m not allowed to be who I am. I pull out black linen fisherman pants, a red tank top, and a colorful overshirt with glitter threads. I go for full make up too, with eyeliner that matches the glitter. There’s not going to be any confusion about what they’re getting. If they don’t like it, I’m not interested is working for them.

Twelve-thirty finds me on the road headed to the address John texted me. Google Maps takes me to a six story building on the edge of downtown, sort of on the rough side. It makes me feel a little better about it when I realize there’s a guarded parking garage. I pull up to the booth and let the guard know that I have an appointment with a John Alden. He asks for my ID and checks it against a clipboard. Apparently they take security seriously around here.

The guard directs me to visitor parking and tells me to take the elevator to the lobby. I consider it a major point in their favor that he didn’t seem to have any reaction at all to my appearance. The garage is well-lit and clean, and the elevator is smooth and spotless. All good signs so far. When the doors open into the lobby, it’s to a neat, simple, bright space with a fairly standard reception desk. I notice that there’s another security guard on the front door.

The woman at the front desk looks formidable with short steel gray hair and ramrod stiff posture, but she smiles at me as I step off the elevator.

“I’ve already called John, dear,” she says. “You can take a seat if you’d like, he should be out in just a second.”

It is literally a second before a good looking, heavily muscled, dark-skinned man with just enough silver in his hair and beard to look distinguished comes out of a hallway reaching his hand out to shake mine.

“I’m John,” he says, “We spoke on the phone. Would you like to come back to my office?”

Other than a look that I’d swear was mild appreciation, he doesn’t seem phased at all by my appearance. I’m wondering if this place has the best inclusivity training ever. I usually get at least a little side eye, even from people who end up being generally positive.

John leads us down the hall into a comfortably decorated lounge-type room in a corner of the building and offers me a seat in a comfortable leather chair. I decline a drink, and he sits in a chair opposite me.“We usually meet clients here, but it should do for this conversation just fine,” John says. “Normally my husband David would join us, but he was called away this morning, and we didn’t want to hold off talking to you. I want you to know that David and I through read your employment file from Image Professionals. We did recommend to someone in authority, whom I can’t name, that both your dismissal and your unfortunate manager be investigated thoroughly. I would not be at all surprised if they called you in the next few days to offer you your previous job back. We wanted to meet you and maybe make you an offer before they have the chance.”

I’m momentarily speechless. “There’s a lot to unpack in that,” I begin. “If you’ve read my file, then obviously you are connected to the government and have the security clearance for me to speak candidly about my work. I still can’t discuss intelligence specifically, of course.”

“You could say we’re government adjacent,” John says with a smile. “Some of the work we do does come from that direction, but we have the distance required for plausible deniability. The majority of our business, and the only one as far as the public is concerned, is our personal protection and security service.

“We are looking for someone to analyze both government and civilian data. We have a guy on staff who’s a genius at obtaining what we need, and we’re hoping to find someone to work closely with him to make sure that our people are getting the best, most accurate interpretation of that information.

“The position would occasionally require real-time operation work, but that would be from a distance, not in the field. I know that wasn’t what you did at your last job, but we are a smaller operation, and we require a few more hats from our employees. Most of the work would be very similar to what you were doing before.” He names a salary that is almost twice what I was making before and then asks me if I have any questions. Once I get over my surprise, I have a lot.

“So you are looking to have your tech guy send me information and for me to use my knowledge and experience to pick through it to see what is relevant to the jobs that you have going on? Also, you mentioned a husband, so probably me being gay isn’t a problem around here? And since I would be dealing only with information, what are the chances of me working remotely, at least some of the time?”

John doesn’t appear taken aback by any of the questions I’m asking. “No, your sexual orientation would actually be more of the norm around here. We hire by recommendation, and we tend to get a fair number of ex-military or government personnel that got a hard time because of their sexuality but were otherwise talented operators, exactly like you. We would need some in-office orientation, and we would need to make sure that your home office had the equipment you would need, but working remotely wouldn’t be a problem, hypothetically. I was under the impression that you lived here in Denver. Is that not the case?”

“No,” I say, “I do currently live in town. I’ve just been thinking about other options, and I’m not sure I want to commit to something that will tie me here with no flexibility. Otherwise, this sounds absolutely like the kind of work I’d enjoy, and the kind of place I’d like to work. I think it would be satisfying to be able to see my work helping people in real-time. My last job was missing that element.”

“I think this will be a great fit for both of us,” John says with a smile. “I know that you are technically on vacation and wedding planning for another week or two. I appreciate you taking the time to come talk to us. We can stop and give Marie at the front desk your email and she’ll send you the employment forms to fill out. We can set your start date for two weeks from now? Will that work for you? I’ll have her send you a list of all the benefits too. We have a gym and a pool in the building for employees, as well as all the normal retirement and health insurance things.”

“I sort of feel like I fell asleep during yoga and I’m dreaming,” I tell him. “I’m not sure I could make it more exactly what I was looking for if I designed a job myself. I’m excited to start.” I stand, and John does too and reaches to shake hands.

“I’m glad to have you on board. Let’s go up front and I’ll introduce you to Marie,” he says. “She’s the one to ask the other questions I’m sure you’ll have later. She knows everything about everything.”

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