Steele didn’t like tests or simulations, but if this man was the administrator, he might reconsider.
“Everyone goes through the simulations, not—”
“The streets are not a simulation, lieutenant. You wanna see what I can do, put me in the field. Where the real test can begin.” Steele finally turned away from those sexy brown eyes and looked at his new bosses. “There’s nothing that can come from his pretty little head that will show you what I can do. No offense.” He looked back at Tech, whose ears were turning back to their natural color… oops… spoke too soon.
“None taken.” The young man finally spoke, his voice deeper than Steele expected, but still gentle.
He couldn’t have been over thirty. Steele almost felt like a creep, staring at the guy like that, but he was too unique, stood out too hard not to stare at him. That ivory skin and those deep brown eyes encased in long, soft-looking lashes. Even behind the black-framed glasses, those eyes were mesmerizing. Instead of continuing to fluster the sexy detective, Steele walked over to the window and looked out into the parking lot.
“I think you have the details of this job confused. There’re only three bosses.” God scowled at the back of Steele’s head. He could feel the heat of those intelligent green eyes. Yes. He already liked his new lieutenant. He looked strong and capable of leading such an imitable group of men. The way he maneuvered his truck and shot those weapons, Steele had to respect him. God was a true commander and Steele knew the strength it took to uphold that position. The responsibility, the courage needed… the honor.
“You’ll be in the field. Sooner than you think. But we are a well-oiled machine here, and if you wanna work with us, we have to trust you… and I’m sure you need to trust us.”
That was Syn again. Obviously, he was the level head of the group. The negotiator. He was good at it. But how was Steele supposed to fully feel comfortable risking his life with these men? What had happened to his partner had him doubting a lot. All these muscled, testosterone-filled detectives looked like they nibbled on tits when they went home each night. Steele didn’t blurt out his sexuality or have a rainbow magnet on his bike’s exhaust pipe, but he wasn’t in the closet, either. If he met a guy… and he liked him… he wasn’t hiding him.
“Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself? This is an interview of sorts,” Day asked.
Steele turned around and spread his arms wide, looking directly at the shorter of his bosses. “Ask away, lieutenant. I’m an open book. I’ll tell you anything you wanna know.”
“What’d you do in the Marines?”
“That’s classified.” Steele smirked. He turned back around, holding in his laughter. He and the guys in his platoon used to love to do that to officers, just to piss them off. He thought about his men and quickly tamped it back down. This was no place to drudge up those memories. It’d been seven years. Would the ache in his heart every time he thought their names ever fully go away?
“Real cute,” God grumbled.
“So you think I’m going to send my men out there with you and we don’t know shit about you except you have a liking for cheap whiskey and Swisher Sweet cigars?” Day retorted.
“You guys got my file, I’m sure.”
“Regardless. All that file tells us is that you were better than most of the detectives in Oakland. Your partner was killed off duty and you left. Are you grieving?” Day stepped a little closer and propped his hip up on one side of his large desk.
Steele lowered his voice to a rumble. “No. I’m not. He was a good man. He didn’t deserve what happened, but he died saving lives. I don’t need to grieve him. It was a good death.”
“Excuse me?” Ruxs balked.
“He means it was an honorable death,” God answered for him. “You were a Marine twenty years. You have nothing to say about that?”
“Nothing I can say, lieutenant. I fought wars.” Steele turned back to the window. Day’s eyes were too observant, keen and knowing.
“I can tell you some things,” a quiet voice said from behind him.
Steele didn’t turn around; instead, he let the sound of that sweet voice caress the back of his neck. So, Tech wanted to join in on the interview, huh. No problem there. But he still wasn’t going into the details of his service and he’d never again recount the details of the night the Taliban took his brothers. The thirty-two he’d killed – their lives would never be retribution enough to ease him through the hurt he’d live with forever. The hole that losing Ackerman left in his soul.
“Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Leks Steele. Comes from a long line of Marine men, including his father – Robin Steele – and grandfather. Information here dates back four generations to his family in Estonia. He has one living relative in the United States, who also served in the Corps but was injured in combat and honorably discharged in 2003… name is… one second.”