“Chief, are you sure?” Jason’s voice pulled him from the family happiness back to the business at hand.
Chief nodded. He’d said his piece. It was time for him to move on. Do different things. The training complex planning was done, and Dixon and Drake could take his position without missing a beat. “The twins will do a good job, they’ll manage just fine without me. Just bring another trainer on staff to fill in when they’re busy.”
“What makes you think they’ll stay if you leave?” Jason sat back on one of the many chairs scattered across the porch of the administration building.
“Your folks, Frank and Amanda. They’re the family those two never had. Besides, they have their eye on a woman.”
Jason chuckled. “Must be one hell of a woman to take on both of them.” Chief gave Jason a sidelong glance.
“You’re not going to tell me who they have in their sights, are you?”
Chief shifted in his chair so he was looking directly at the new CEO of Guardian and lifted one eyebrow.
“I figured. So tell me why you want to leave the ranch.” Jason took a drink of his ever-present soda.
“I was burned out when I came here. The team was fractured. This, for me, was never a long-term plan. Doc is happy here. Dixon and Drake will be once they figure out how to catch their woman. Jacob is in D.C.” Chief shrugged. “It’s time. I don’t want to go to another team, but I can be useful in the operation you’re planning.”
“You realize you’d be undercover, and I mean so far under it could consume you?”
“Yes. I’m a ghost anyway. I have no past, so the Engineer can do his magic. I trust him to ensure I won’t be detected.”
“It won’t be easy, Mike, and if you’re caught, there will be no team to pull you out. You realize what you’d have to do? This isn’t a simple go in, get the info and get out operation. You’d be buying people—people who’ve been drugged, beaten, and as they call it… trained for complete compliance.” Acid tinged the words Jason spat.
Mike nodded. “I assumed, and I understand what I’m volunteering for. I get in, get involved, deep, become a pipeline and learn their system, so when the time is right we can take them down.”
“This operation could take years to develop, Mike. I already have the Russians on my ass, and after talking with Gabriel, we’ve decided to change the way we are approaching this one. Basically, Guardian will appear to pull back. Let the Russians settle down while I get my operatives and resources in place. As much as it sickens me, going at this half-assed with the Russians on alert will only allow them to move operations and we’ll be at ground zero.”
“You’re doing what’s best.” Chief watched Jason’s new wife and Keelee walking across the gravel parking lot from the clinic, going toward the corral. The woman and her child had been with Jason at the ranch for a week. Amanda and Frank had opened their arms and hearts to Jason’s new family. Chief liked the woman. She softened the big man, gave him a purpose, and that was a good thing. Jason had always held too much inside, allowed his anger to turn into rage or self-hatred. It was easy to see how this woman grounded him and brought out his protective qualities.
Jason’s eyes found his wife as she climbed the fence and sat with her father-in-law. Her laughter put a smile on the big man’s face. That happiness was something Chief had never thought he’d see. Jason’s demons ran deep, but that woman had performed an exorcism.
“The people I can’t save now, the knowledge of what is happening to them as we speak, is killing me.” Jason’s low words carried one hell of a punch.
“If we take down the entire system we will save thousands. From the briefings I’ve been in on, the Russians’ operations are expanding. Putting a Band-Aid on a hemorrhaging bleed won’t help. Moving in now is just that.” Chief had to focus on the endgame, and so did Jason. “That is what you remember when you need to calm the storm that rages inside.”
“I will take them down.”
“We will take them down. You have other priorities to consider. Don’t let this become a poison in your life.”
“She wouldn’t allow it.” Jason shook his head and added, “I never would have found her if Gabriel hadn’t forced me to look back and find closure.”
“A man has many paths he must walk in his life. Your path has not always been easy, but your rewards… they’re bountiful. Would you have been ready to love as deep as you love her if you hadn’t experienced the valleys you’ve walked through?”
“I honestly don’t know, and I thank God I won’t ever have to find out. And when the hell did you become so talkative?” Jason chided.
Chief chuckled and stood. “When I have something to say that I believe needs to be said, I can speak volumes.”
Jason chugged the remainder of his soda and crushed the can before he tossed it into a trashcan. “I’ll start the process. Clear things up here, and let me know when you’re ready to walk away. Make sure this is what you want, Mike. This won’t be an easy assignment.” Jason offered his hand, and in gratitude, he accepted the big man’s offer.
“What I want is irrelevant. It is what I need. My destiny isn’t going to be found at this ranch.” Jason nodded and stepped off the porch.
Mike knew he needed to leave South Dakota. The empty feeling inside him ached to be filled. He’d come back, but when he did he’d be complete.
He watched as Jason strode across the distance to his wife and son. The setting sun cast a warm golden glow on the small family, turning them into silhouettes against the backdrop of the magnificent beauty of the Black Hills. Mike lifted his face to the heavens. No, his destiny wasn’t here, but he’d be back because those people were his family, and this land was in his soul.
The End
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Jason (Kings of Guardian #4) Page 22
