Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 39250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
I liked the sound of that.
“Does that mean you’re leading the red team as top aggressor?” Sue me, I was curious.
He glanced at me briefly, a little surprised. “That’s right. It’s an inside joke to most people.”
I inclined my head. “Former Air Force here too.”
“I’ll be damned. Well, then. Yeah—I was born to be an antagonist.”
“Yes, you were, boss!” With perfect timing, the young guy entered with a tray. “By the way, I’m supposed to remind you to wear your reading glasses when you’re working with screens.”
My mouth twitched.
Carter furrowed his brow. “Did Luke put you up to this shit?”
“He did, and he’s right. Enjoy your coffee, gentlemen. I’ll be at my desk.” The guy smiled impishly and walked out again.
I deduced they had a fairly chill work environment here.
“Kids these days,” Carter muttered to himself and dug out his glasses from a case. “Not only do they think they know everythin’, but they get to enjoy twenty-twenty vision too.”
“Tell me about it.” I’d had contacts for almost two years, but I was shit at wearing them. So far, they weren’t necessary. I was supposed to wear them, but my vision was good enough to manage without.
I reached for my coffee and smirked when I spotted the plate of sugar cookies. They were all shaped like fighter jets.
Hell, at this point, even our recruits would profile the place correctly.
Carter put on his glasses before grabbing his own coffee and a cookie that he promptly dunked in the mug.
That looked good, I had to admit, so I did the same.
“All right, Hyatt. Let’s talk. You have the door already. What else do you want? Security windows? Alarm system? Manned patrolling?”
Fuck yeah, let’s go. “I wouldn’t mind hearing more about those windows,” I said. “But, uh, before we go there—is it possible for me to switch payment options? The door’s fine on the credit card I listed, but I’d like for my future fiancée to become my actual fiancée, and she wasn’t a fan when I told her about my budget for all this. So if I can put that on another card, that’d be great.”
“No problem,” he chuckled. “We can start a new order for you.”
Fantastic.
The important part was that Kiera was never going to find out.
After forty-five minutes of the best shopping experience I’d ever had, I stood outside in the sun and scanned my order confirmation while the MadCo guys went to get my door.
MadCo was surrounded by fields on three sides and the nearest highway on the fourth. If it hadn’t been for the sound of traffic, I could’ve sat here for a while. Possibly to get my shit in order and be able to present an ironclad defense for dropping a fortune here today.
Such as, Carter was an excellent salesman—because he didn’t try to push anything down my throat. Hell, when discussing my alarm system, he’d even recommended a cheaper one because I wasn’t looking to use their personnel if anything went wrong—at least not yet. I’d been straightforward about that from the top, no security guards, no gadgets that required internet, no AI, and nobody who talked to me from a device.
“Don’t worry about it. AI is not a safe tool for security, and we don’t recommend a smart-home setup for private citizens. Too many things can go wrong, and too much information passes through third-, fourth-, and fifth-party vendors.”
My first demand, not wanting security guards, wasn’t set in stone like the rest on my list, but I had to see how things worked out. I was granted a level of protection as an operator at Hillcroft, and I had to sit down with Quinlan to flesh that out before I looked at outside options. For instance, MadCo was closer to our new house than Hillcroft, but we deployed faster at work. We had to be able to be out the door, so to speak, within ninety seconds after dispatch gave us orders. Most of our junior operators flew out to a sister company in LA at some point and received training to handle home invasions. It was the most tedious job you could be tasked with in your early years at Hillcroft, but the bonus pay was great.
I looked through the list once more and decided I hadn’t gone overboard. I wanted every damn item I’d purchased. From the alarm system and bullet-resistant windows to the surveillance and—
The door to MadCo swung open, and I folded the printout and stuck it into my back pocket as someone I hadn’t seen before wheeled out my new door.
Fuckin’ A.
“Where to, Mr. Hyatt?”
I pointed to the Sprinter. “The black van over there. Thanks.”
At the same time, my phone buzzed with a message, so I checked it quickly.
Finally, it was from Kiera.
Guess who’s a new Hillcroft employee? And guess who will gain access to a certain operator’s file to see how stubborn he is about physical therapy?