“How’s Marc after the surgery?” She’d gotten the update from Victoria that he’d come through and was resting but she needed to catch up on the long-term impact.
“Alive and already bored.” Diaz didn’t waste time with niceties. “Lost a lot of blood though. Took a lot of time to hunt down the bullet fragments in him. Fragments tore him up inside and did a lot of damage. They’re keeping an eye on him now for infection. It’s going to be a long recovery.”
Ah, shit. Their fire team was well and truly a mess.
“Going to need a new person on our fire team, then?” she asked, then bit the inside of her cheek.
Diaz’s stared her. “Yes. Pending some structural changes to the way this division is organized. Been meaning to talk to you about that. Glad you came in this morning.”
“Figured you’d hunt me down if I didn’t.” She owed him an answer. It wasn’t her style to run from it for too long.
“I’ll listen first, then tell you what changes I’m considering.” Diaz motioned to the two armchairs.
Uh-huh. Sure. Don’t drop any bombs to make her doubt her decision. Only leave her insanely curious. Bastard.
She made herself comfortable in one of the chairs. “I joined Centurion Corporation because I wanted to work in the private sector for a team with the same kind of standards I hold myself to. It’s been a good couple of years. I’ve learned a lot.”
Diaz waited.
“Not going to lie, being in one place for too long made me antsy these last few months. I’ve still got to work through this need to be out there and blow off steam. I thought the personal security work was going to be boring. Didn’t want to lose my edge.”
“Valid concern.” Diaz nodded.
“These last couple of days are probably not going to be representative of what Safeguard does. But I figure the situations will come up.” Here, she was fishing some. Nguyen hinted at future collaboration. “Maylin’s sister, then Kyle, neither of those contracts was what we’d normally anticipate.”
Diaz only smiled.
Okay then, he was going to make her tell him her decision first. Probably reserving whatever he was thinking to change her mind if what she told him wasn’t what he was hoping for. The old, contrary part of her would’ve wanted to do exactly the opposite just to prove he couldn’t tell her what to do.
But she didn’t want to be that person anymore.
“They were a challenge though. Both of them. And we did some good in a personal way.” She tapped her heel against the floor. “You didn’t like those sorts of jobs for us, and I agreed because they could get messy as hell. But, they have their moments.”
Seeing Kyle hug his sister and nephew, spending time with Maylin and her younger sister, those had been incredibly rewarding moments.
“I think dealing with the personal complications is a good thing. I don’t want to lose touch with the people we’re working to protect and I think there’s a lot to learn about personal security.” She met Diaz’s gaze steadily. “I’d like to stay on with Safeguard, if you’ll have me.”
Leaving, even going back to Centurion Corporation, would take her down a path to become colder, more solitary. She’d forget how to laugh and Kyle had only just reminded her how much she enjoyed the feeling of warmth it gave her.
Diaz broke into a grin. “Like I was going to let you leave without a fight.”
She rolled her eyes. “I could see you getting ready to talk me around. Trust me.”
“Glad I don’t have to.” Diaz rose to his feet and crossed over to his desk, picking up a tablet. “I’ll get a contract drawn up for you. Standard two year. A couple of perks added for your renewal.”
“You mentioned organizational changes?” She figured he was planning to tell her, but wanted to draw it out a little longer. Torture.
“A couple.” Diaz turned and leaned against the edge of the desk, holding out the tablet to her. “You’re being promoted. I need a right-hand person to run this division and you’re it. Salary to be increased along with the responsibility. In the field, we’ll be partners.”
“Partners.” Interesting. “You’re not rebuilding the fire team?”
“Ours won’t be structured the same way, no. For Centurion Corporation, fire teams work. Safeguard isn’t going to get as many contracts willing to employ four resources or more. Probably never going to need a squadron all at the same time. So I’m organizing us into two-person teams. We’ve got about two dozen resources either on contract or waiting for assignment at the moment. I’d like to expand us by another fifty percent. There’ll be some future training, too, on working in pairs.”
Ah. She liked the idea. Of course, some engagements like the bigger parties and private charity events could still require a larger set of personnel but they could still be organized to work in pairs.
“Makes sense.” She studied the tablet. Victoria’s name was at the top, her partner marked as TBD. “But Marc is going to be out for a long while.”