Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
It was Leighton’s turn now. We took the elevator down two floors, and I was suddenly glad I’d had my place cleaned not too long ago. But he might have to throw out some condiments that’d expired in the fridge.
I unlocked the door and gestured at the camera in the ceiling. “Same here as upstairs. Increased security wherever operators live.”
“Got it.”
I let him enter first.
My place was simple, and I didn’t have many belongings. Bathroom in the entryway’s hallway, then the kitchen. A small one. Past that, a living room and a sleep alcove.
“By the way, I noticed something,” he said, peering into the kitchen. “You always swipe your ID card at Hillcroft. You know you can just tap it, right?”
I chuckled—but then I smiled as an idea struck. “You should be able to get some profiling out of that, actually. Why do you think I swipe the card?”
He glanced at me curiously, and I let him think about it. In the meantime, I showed him the bathroom, then the kitchen, where the dishwasher needed special care. You had to shut it hard enough that you heard two clicks. Otherwise, water would run out.
He nodded in acknowledgment and turned his attention to the living room. Rather, the walls.
“You don’t have any pictures or personal belongings,” he noted.
Not many of them. “I have a couple photo albums at my ma’s place.” I gestured back to the kitchen. “A few drawings from my niece and nephews on the fridge.”
He came to a stop at the couch, and he looked at the shelf above it. He found some books there. And a snow globe Alex had given me last Christmas.
I’d been so useless that holiday, first one without Vince, that Kat had had to take care of my gift-giving. I didn’t even know what I’d given Alex.
“I think I figured it out.” Leighton looked away from the shelf and dropped his duffel on the couch. “I’m guessing Hillcroft had an older system where you had to swipe your card. Now that you can do both, you stay with the old habit.”
I smirked and nodded with a dip of my chin. “That’s it. I’m old.”
He smiled faintly and scrunched his nose. “I’ve noticed that too. Most operators I’ve seen so far are over forty. Like you and Coach and Riggs and Rose…”
“Do you think Operator Rose is forty?”
“Thereabouts…?”
“Do me a favor and tell him that,” I said. “It’ll make his day.”
Meanwhile, I’d rather knock the boy on his ass. Forty wasn’t fucking old. I’d been kidding. We had operators in their fifties who were in the prime of their lives.
I shook my head to myself and stuck my hands down in my pockets. “Only a twentysomething-year-old would call me old.”
That one actually made him grin, and it was nice to see. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I just expected to see more younger people.”
We had younger operators too, but they were lucky enough to be busy working.
I reckoned it was time to give Leighton some facts. “Half the recruits will drop out before final selection,” I said. “During selection, another three or four will fail. That leaves us with four or five new junior operators every year who sign up for a minimum of four years with us. Sometimes fewer—it depends how many we accept and how many apply in the first place. And last but not least, even though junior operators are contracted for four years, they can opt out of fieldwork if they can’t handle the pressure. And someone always does.”
The kid turned pensive. Maybe he considered, for the first time, the resources we spent to ultimately have two or three new operators every year—operators who actually stayed with us long-term.
“What’s the number one reason they drop out?” he asked.
“The young ones? The pressure’s too much,” I answered. “We put our recruits through a lot of teamwork exercises, but in the end, it’s a lonely field. You’re your own backup out there. Your own guide, your own translator, your own weapons expert.”
There were plenty of agencies that shipped entire units overseas, from four to twelve people. Hillcroft took on contracts that required one, two…sometimes three and four. Mostly one. It depended on the nature of the mission.
Leighton hummed. “It may sound weird coming from the Army infantry, but I’m good with lonely work.”
I tilted my head. “Is that because it’s your preference or because it’s all you know?”
“Can’t it be both?”
“Sure. But is it?”
He broke eye contact and knitted his brows together. “Like I said, straight outta the infantry…”
Uh-huh. Where he’d had to go to the bathroom to get solitude. But that didn’t answer my question. Being alone wasn’t restricted to the number of coworkers you had. Even lonely operators needed someone to come home to. Family, kids, a spouse…