Page 14 of Luck Be Mine
Would he party with him on Saturday night or invite him to dinner at his house? No.
Deter had tried to get on his team when their sniper had retired, but Hunt took Tommy instead at Scott’s request.
Tommy came to the door of his cage. “Live ammo?”
“Yeah, we’ll get some target practice in while we’re out.”
“Copy. I have a deal with Doc. I cover your back no matter what. You need help with this Deter thing, tell me.”
Dozens of questions popped into Hunt’s head. “When did you make this deal with Doc?”
“When we delivered the red sofa. Wasn’t a hard deal to agree to.” He turned to walk off.
“What did you promise her?”
Tommy grimaced, his stiff posture proof he didn’t want to tell. He came back and lowered his voice. “She made me promise to take better care of myself. Said she’d be watching.”
Hunt grinned. “She’s monitoring all of us. Be happy you aren’t married to her. She keeps track of every scar, cut, and bruise. God forbid I get shot. She’ll be impossible.”
Tommy laughed. “We need Lucky Charm’s kind of fussing.”
“Don’t disagree.”
“Hold that promise for what it’s worth.”
Hunt waved the man off. Doogie came to his cage. “IQS exercise, huh?”
“Yeah, let’s take it to the training area where we can talk without being overheard. Anything on tap?”
“Nope. Asia is in a twist about COVID. But LT Stemmons found me. Told me to tell you to keep your hands off his people. I thought he was talking about the gossip, but the man believes you want to snag Deter.”
Hunt sat in the chair in his cage and rubbed his chin. “He doesn’t fit on this team, and I wouldn’t have him under any circumstances. We have no open slots anyway.” He didn’t know Gil Stemmons well and was mildly offended he hadn’t kept this conversation LT to LT instead of pulling in Doogie.
“No, we don’t.” The grim set of Doogie’s jaw raised alarm bells.
“Have you heard something?”
“Nope. But we should discuss this with the whole team.” Doogie moved to his own cage next to Hunt’s.
“For what purpose?”
“In case he tries to get somebody bumped.”
“How and who?”
“Deter’s not in an explosives slot on five. He wants one. K-Rock is explosives. Our newest team member.” He stopped abruptly, obviously choosing words carefully.
Hunt ground his teeth. Deter wasn’t known for his open mindedness about gay team members. “Hell, no. There’s no justification for that.”
“Let’s make sure we’re airtight.”
He hated this shit. He truly did.
“I should sic Cait on Deter.”
Doogie snorted, then outright guffawed. “Oh, please do. Even injured, she’ll rip him apart.”
Hunt stared at K-Rock, prepping at high speed the way he usually did. The man didn’t go slow unless it involved diffusing a bomb.
