Here Comes the Rainne Again (Invertary 6)

Lake couldn’t help the grin that broke out. The startled expression on Callum’s face made him smile even wider. Yeah, he smiled now. A lot. Well, a lot for him. It shocked the life out of anybody he’d known before he’d moved to the Highlands. Life in Invertary had changed him. Kirsty had changed him. In fact, some might even go so far as to say he’d mellowed.

“You won’t be working with Harry,” Lake reminded his friend. “You’ll be heading up the London end of the business. You get to work with Harry’s operations manager instead.”

Yeah, and Lake would love to be a fly on the wall for that encounter.

Callum must have seen something in Lake’s expression, because he became instantly suspicious. “What’s wrong with the guy?”

“Nothing. She’s called Rachel. Harry and her had a falling out a couple of years ago and he’s only recently started talking to her directly. He used to communicate solely by email, Instant Message or through his wife, Magenta.”

Callum rubbed his leg, once, caught himself doing it and folded his arms. Lake hadn’t been there when Callum lost both legs—he’d already retired from the SAS by then—but he knew all about the car bomb that ended his friend’s career.

“He was in a huff with his manager?” He let out a sigh. “How old is he again? Twelve?”

“Look.” Lake leaned forward, put his forearms on the table in front of him and stared at Callum. “I’m not going to bullshit you. Benson Security doesn’t do things the way we did in the service. We aren’t staffed solely by military personnel. But each and every person who works with me is skilled and experienced. You won’t find a better team anywhere. My team is the main reason I have to expand business or start turning people away. When someone hires Benson Security, they know they’re getting the best. But I can’t carry on unless I have someone I trust heading up the other office. I need someone who thinks the same way I do. That’s you, Callum.” He looked over at Harry, who was busy arguing the merits of Babylon Five over Star Trek: The Next Generation with his very bored older brother, Flynn. “You can put up with some eccentric behaviour. If you couldn’t, I wouldn’t have called you.”

“I don’t know.” Callum wavered, running a hand over his sandy brown hair, which was still military short, even though he’d been over a year out of the service. “I can’t do this social shit. It’s taking all of my self-control to sit here right now. I’m torn between running or punching someone. It’s taking a lot of energy to do neither.”

“You don’t have to do this social shit. You’ll be in London. Far, far away from Josh and his breakfast club. All you need to do is turn up at the office, run the team, then go home to stare at your four blank walls until the next morning.”

“I’ve never been any good at office stuff. I like to be out getting the job done, not telling someone else to do it.”

Lake didn’t point out that with two prosthetic legs, Callum’s only real option was to be an office guy. His days of running the enemy down were over. Physically, anyway. That didn’t mean he couldn’t oversee a team. Or put his contacts and years of expertise to good use.

“You can manage a team. You did it for years. Julia will do the office admin stuff. She’s a good assistant. She’s only been with me a few months, but she’s on top of the business. She’ll steer you right.”

“Julia?” Callum was obviously searching his memory. “Have I met her?”

Crap, that wasn’t a question Lake wanted to answer, but the man deserved the truth. “No, you haven’t met her. She’s shy.” Terrified. “Timid.” Borderline agoraphobic. “Doesn’t cope well with new people or forceful personalities.” Or any people. At all. Ever.

Callum stared at Lake long enough for him to wonder if the man was going to get up and hike through the snow to get away from Invertary.

“You want this Julia to set up an office full of ex-military men. You want her to assist me. Are you insane? Our guys only come in one type—forceful and overwhelming. How exactly is she supposed to help me if she can’t talk to the staff?”

That won’t be a problem because she will never see them. She’ll hide as soon as they set foot in the office. Lake thought it wise to keep that information to himself.

“She’s an organisational genius. She’s fantastic with computer systems. Amazing at project management and scheduling. She writes great emails and she can talk on the phone—mostly.” If pushed.

“And she’s scared of her own shadow?”

“Yeah.” Lake grinned.

Callum shook his head. “Do you even realise how crazy this is? You want me to set up an operation with Julia the mouse and Rachel the bulldog.”

“Look on the bright side. At least you won’t have to be sociable. Rachel won’t stand for it, and Julia will just hide if you invite her to anything.”

Callum stared at him. He wasn’t what you would call a silver lining type of guy.

“Okay,” Lake said. “How about this? You’ll make money and get to shoot things if the occasion arises. Plus, you’re the boss. What you say goes. If you don’t like working with Julia and Rachel, replace them. Only make sure you send Julia back here. I don’t care that she occasionally hides in cupboards, she’s indispensable.” He leaned back in his chair and smiled at his friend. “So, what do you say, Callum; ready to get back into the game?”

Callum cursed. Lake reached for his beer, unwilling to acknowledge that he was anxious about his friend’s decision. If he couldn’t get Callum on board he’d be back to square one with the business expansion, and he couldn’t do that. He’d barely had time to sleep these past few months. He needed this partnership just as much as Callum did—although Callum didn’t know that yet. Being alone, staring at walls wasn’t good for the man. He needed people around him. He needed a challenge. And Lake was handing him one on a silver platter.

Callum looked around the room as the muscle on his jaw flexed. At last he faced Lake.

“The crazy old woman stays here with you, right?”

“Absolutely.” He held his breath and waited.

“I am going to regret this,” Callum said.