Page 55 of Danger Close
“You’ve always belonged, Ricky,” Marsh said, stepping closer.“You were always one of us.I just didn’t know how to say it without sounding like a goddamn Hallmark card.”
Ricky let the weight fall off his chest.Not all of it.But enough.
“I’m here now,” he said.
Marsh nodded.“And better than ever.”
They shared a look.Not perfect.Not all healed.But closer.
Then Marsh muttered, “I still think it’s bullshit that you took down two guards with a clipboard.”
Ricky grinned.“Weapon of opportunity.”
“You are never living that down.”
“Didn’t plan to.”
When, a little while later, he wandered into the ops lounge, he was surprised to see Dev was already there, propped up against the counter with a box in one hand and a five-pound bag of sugar in the other.
“You runnin’ a bakery now?”Ricky asked, grabbing two mugs from the shelf.
“Finn’s idea,” Dev said, dropping the sugar dramatically onto the table.“Apparently Bateman said we were out, and Finn took that as a personal mission.”
“So, you’re his mule.”Ricky asked as he passed Dev a black coffee
“I have been called worse.”Dev said with a shrug.
They sat quietly for a moment, sipping coffee.Dev wasn’t usually around these days.He worked peripherally, drifting in and out with classified missions and tech prototypes that cost more than Ricky’s childhood home.But when he was here, he had a knack for showing up at exactly the right moment.
Ricky glanced sideways.“You ever think about Veracruz?”
Dev didn’t look surprised.“Sometimes.”
“It didn’t break me,” Ricky said.“It bent me, sure.But I still trust.I still ...believe.In people.In love.That matters.”
Dev nodded.“That’s rare.And valuable.”
“I want Sophia to grow up with that,” Ricky said.“Not with fear.Not with silence.I want her to know that even when the world goes to hell, there are people worth trusting.”
“You’ll give her that,” Dev said simply.
Ricky looked over.“You always that sure about things?”
“Nope,” Dev said, rising to his feet.“But I’m never wrong.”
He handed over a USB drive.“For Bateman.Secure training footage.Don’t lose it, or Marsh will implode.”
Then, with a smirk, “Tell Ezra to stop hogging the gym mats.Some of us need them for actual training.”
And just like that, he was gone.
Later that night, Ricky stood on the back porch, watching the sunset bleed across the hills in crimson and fire.
Sophia was asleep, curled into a nest of pillows and fleece.Ryan had read her three stories and then fallen asleep himself, face-down in the middle of a coloring book.
Celia had wandered into the laundry room and declared it her “fort.”
Blake had a pizza in the oven and Dale was arguing with Marsh about the correct amount of garlic for breadsticks.
