Chapter 12 #2
These were the jobs he’d cut his teeth on back when he was first getting started.
They were the only ones that could keep his attention, the only ones he cared about enough to bother trying for.
Eventually, as he grew out of his funk, August had branched out into better-paying work, but he never stopped taking contracts on kidnappers.
Heidi, to her credit, didn’t try to talk him out of it.
“I’ll send the details to your phones. Standard agreements in place—no talking about fight club to anyone on the ground out there, gentlemen.
Other than that, you’re free to finish this one any way you want to.
The only caveat is that the children can’t be involved.
She doesn’t want them traumatized any more than they already are. ”
“That’s fair,” Ricardo said with a nod. “Thanks, Heidi.”
“Good luck, guys.” She ended the call, and August turned a beaming smile on Ricardo.
“Thank you for following my lead,” he said with a sincerity that didn’t come easily to him.
“I know it probably seems like I’m being too cautious, but I want to give us the best shot of going out on a high note.
And there’s nothing higher than stopping a filthy fucking excuse for a human being from holding his own family members hostage for money. ”
Ricardo nodded, but he looked a little pensive. “August… have you ever thought about doing more of this kind of work?”
“What, killing kidnappers? All the time.”
“No, I mean setting up some sort of foundation that helped people trying to find their missing family members, kidnapped or otherwise. Maybe a focus on stopping human trafficking would be better, I don’t know exactly, but… something like that.”
“Oh.” To be honest, August hadn’t ever thought of that kind of thing before.
It felt too much like letting his past trauma dictate the direction of his life, and as a young man—younger, a younger man, he was still young, damn it—he’d been consumed with the need to control his personal narrative.
Killing kidnappers was one thing, but confronting the systems that had shaped his own sob story had been a step too far.
But it wasn’t a bad idea, honestly. August had grown a lot since then, but the world hadn’t grown with him.
There was still a huge need for intervention, whether it came in the form of money for an investigator or a tracking database for victims or a silent, capable person ready to take the final step when it came to rescuing someone from their captors.
Ricardo would be damn good at that sort of thing, actually.
Later. They could talk more about it after the job.
“Let’s wait to plan out our futures until we’ve put this douchebag dad and NightPigeon in the ground.
” He kissed the tip of Ricardo’s nose, then levered himself off his lap and headed for the hallway.
“I’m going to let Elodie know we’re leaving and get her to let us use the jet, so if you’d pack our bags, that would be lovely. ”
“She said we’re not getting the jet!” Ricardo called after him.
“She’ll let us have it once she knows what the job is! And do not fold up any of my suits!”
August found his sister in the kitchen, a glass of red in one hand and the Wall Street Journal in the other. She glanced up at him as he came in. “Quiet,” she warned him as she set the paper aside. “Paschal is sleeping.”
“Did you or did you not take pains to fuck-proof your suite?” he demanded as he sat down across from her. “If I can’t hear you scream his name at night, he won’t hear me chat you up at the table.”
She rolled up the paper and whapped him on the head with it. “He’s on the couch.”
August grinned even as he tempered his voice. “Oooh, what did he do to make you kick him to the couch?”
She grimaced. “It’s nothing like that. I was already awake when he came home. He had a nightmare, and after one of those the only way he can go back to sleep is if he can hear someone else moving around.”
“Oh.” Well shit, that wasn’t funny at all. “I’m sorry. Is he okay?”
“He’ll be fine. Nightmares are thankfully rare for him.”
August wondered if him and Ricardo being here had contributed to it. “Well, we’ll get out of your hair, but…” He explained the situation to Elodie, and sure enough, she reversed her position on the jet without him even having to ask.
“You’re going to be careful, right?” she said as he stood up.
“Of course.” He came over and pressed a kiss to the top of his sister’s head.
Her roots had grown out a bit, and he could see a few strands of silver mixed with the honey blonde.
Oh my God, you’re getting old. Normally he’d have sassed her about it, but he just couldn’t seem to muster the energy for it right now.
“You too,” he said, holding her a little tighter than he normally would.
She chuckled. “I have an entire security team for that.”
“Well, tell them my husband will beat them up if they don’t do a good job.”
“Ah, I see how it is. Relying on Ricardo to fight your battles for you, huh?”
“I’m the brains, he’s the brawn,” August explained loftily.
“Mmhmm. Who’s the one who had to be walked through how to turn the television on five times?”
“Shut up, you have a stupid number of remotes.” He kissed her again. “Thank you for everything.”
Elodie nodded. “I’m here for you, you know that. Just come back, okay?”
“We will.” If the last two disastrous jobs hadn’t killed them, nothing would.