Page 72 of Call Sign: Thunder
He was relieved to see Ryder giving his question some thought before answering. “I hate to say it, but I’d be a hypocrite if I told you to just suck it up since I literally created an office in Santa Clarita, California for the sole purpose of being close to where my wife needs to spend most of her time. I spend a damn fortune flying between the coasts just because I want to be wherever she is as much as possible.”
Zach hadn’t thought it would be possible to admire Ryder Helms any more than he already did, but listening to the powerful man talk about the love of his life made him that much more anxious to work for the guy.
“She must be pretty special,” Zach said. “You get this glazed look in your eyes when you talk about her.”
Ryder smiled a broad grin, making him instantly look ten years younger. “You have no idea… in fact… well…”
Zach couldn’t figure out why the hard-as-nails guy suddenly looked like he was about to panic.
When Ryder remained silent, Zach asked, “What? Is everything okay?”
Ryder pinned him with a serious glare. “Are you taking the job?” he asked.
“We haven’t really ironed out all of the details yet, but… yeah, I’m taking the job.” The decision felt right the second Zach gave his answer.
“Then there’s something I need to tell you. Information I confide with a few trusted people closest to me. And it’s why I’ll ask you to refer to me only as The King when talking with anyone outside of the team. I’m already uncomfortable with how many people in the intel community know who Ryder Helms is.
“I’ve made powerful enemies, both by running BSO but even before that, in my time undercover in Europe. There are vicious men on this planet that have sworn their vengeance on me. Men who would love nothing more than to hurt the thing that is most important to me — my wife. For that reason, if you take this job, you will not only be trusted with my secret, but you will be agreeing to lay down your life to protect her. If something happens to me in the line of duty, I’m prepared. I accept the risks I’m taking, but…”
Ryder’s voice cracked with emotion. While Zach could appreciate that the guy loved his wife, he didn’t quite understand why Ryder was so worried about her safety.
“I’m married to a celebrity.”
Okay, that might change things a little bit, but still...
“A very famous celebrity.”
Okay, more than a little bit. Zach’s imagination started to run wild with the many problems a deep cover agent and a famous celebrity might have when falling in love.
“I’m guessing that complicates things a little bit,” he said rather obtusely.
“You think? The worst part is now that things have been going well for a few years, she’s pressuring me to go public. She forgets just how dangerous that would be, but that’s my problem to deal with. For now, I’m determined to keep things on the downlow.”
“Well your secret is safe with me, although I have to admit, you have me curious now. I thought I was getting a brush with fame by falling in love with Senator Benson’s daughter, but it sounds like you have it even worse.”
“By a magnitude of a thousand.”
“Okay, now you have to tell me who it is. It will drive me crazy otherwise.”
“I’ll tell you, but again, only because I will now consider you part of her protection detail. I don’t let her go anywhere without a close-body team that I hand picked for her, and believe me, that pisses her off. She calls them her babysitters, and honestly, she’s not wrong.”
Allie and Ryder’s wife had that in common then since Allie got annoyed with her security detail, too.
Before Ryder could say her name, his cell phone started ringing. He face it up telling Zach the call was from the woman of the hour.
“I was just talking about you,” Ryder said as he answered the phone. “I missed your voice.”
Zach couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation as Ryder listened for a full minute before finally answering, “Okay, that sounds like an excellent plan. I’ll wait for you here in DC. We can spend some time at the club this weekend before heading up to New York.” He listened again for a few seconds before ending the call with, “Love you, too. See you soon.”
The guy that was technically now his boss just grinned before he said. “Back to your living arrangements. Now that I think about it, there aren’t enough cabins right now for you guys to have your own place, and I’m guessing you won’t really be comfortable sharing a cabin with your girlfriend and some of the other guys.”
“You think?”
“So… how about you and the senator’s daughter live in the master suite at the big house. Right now we only use the house guest rooms for when people come to work at The Ranch. Like Doc this week. But there are six bedrooms and most of the time they’re all empty. I’d planned on us spending more time there together but it just hasn’t worked out that way. This way, you guys will have more privacy and even when others are in town visiting, they’ll be in the guest wing.”
“I’ll admit, that house is more like the house Allie grew up in. If you don’t think it will cause hard feelings with the rest of the guys?”
“Naw, they like having their own places out around the lake, and if you two decide you want to move out of the house, we can think about adding more houses around the lake in the future.”
